Upon starting my second mini lesson, I asked George and
Wilma what they remembered from the week before. I was pleasantly surprised to
hear them rattle off several of the strategies that I had taught them,
including gaining background knowledge and making predictions. This gave me
hope that they were ready to tackle more comprehension strategies that they
could use during and after reading. These included: considering text organization, summarizing the text, checking understanding,
and using fix up strategies. After explaining each one, I asked which (if any)
they were familiar with or used before in class. George said how his teacher
makes them summarize. Wilma echoed his sentiments, but added how they also have
to do self-checks for understanding, but they did not say anything about the
other two strategies. I made sure to go over these strategies more in depth
since they were not familiar with them.
One of my personal goals for this mini lesson was to model
how to create a graphic organizer
using Maniac Magee as an
example text. I hoped that by doing this I would help George and Wilma realize
the countless different ways that they could create graphic organizers to aid
in their comprehension. I ended up isolating chapter 8, which is the same
chapter I used for my vocabulary blog because it had several expressive words
that described Maniac. It was also a short chapter that my students would be
able to read in a short amount of time. After they read, I told them how I used
to struggle with comprehension and that I would have to go back and write down
important information to make it more concrete. I emphasized how what I was
about show them is still useful to me today. I then proceeded to draw a web
with the center bubble labeled as “Maniac Magee” and said that we were going to
surround that with examples from the chapter that are used to describe his
character. At first they were confused at what I was asking so I had to be more
explicit in what I wanted and gave an example that flap-soled was one. This
provided a rich discussion of what that meant, which enabled Wilma to come up
with the descriptive bubble of “runs everywhere”. The rest of our lesson
unfolded in much the same way, with George and Wilma going back in the reading
and finding words that we would define together and I would add to my graphic
organizer. Below is a picture of our finished product:
They really responded to this form of graphic organization.
By reminding them that I also struggled/ still struggle with comprehension made
it more real and they were able to grasp the value of creating one in the
future. I really felt like we accomplished a great deal during these two mini
lessons. While I was giving updates to my teacher, I informed her how I thought
Wilma grasped the strategies a little better than George. I then learned the
sad truth that George used to see a special education teacher from the East
Lansing school district, but then how he was dropped because they decided he no
longer needed assistance. This news broke my heart, as it is so obvious that he
needs the extra one-on-one time with an educator. I wish I could stay and work
with him the rest of the year, because his hard work is rarely reflected in his
grades. I can only hope that I made an influence in his comprehension
abilities.
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