This week, we continued to work on monitoring our comprehension and our main strategy lesson was "Noticing When You Lose Your Way." Danny offered a great word to describe this: WANDER! Yes, our mind definitely wanders when we lose our way when we read! The big idea of this lesson was to encourage students to stay "tuned in" to their reading so they know when they're getting it and when they're not! I modeled this lesson by reading a Newsweek magazine article about the environment. As I read, when I found myself "losing my way," I explained what was going on with my thinking. At times, I wasn't understanding the material, other times, I had to work hard to figure out a tricky word, and other times, my focus just drifted away from my reading material!
In addition to helping students cue into how they might "lose their way," we also talked about "fix-up strategies" they can use to get back on track, such as reading on, rereading, using clues to figure out a new word, asking questions, drawing on their background knowledge, etc.
Home Reading Connection
I think the biggest take-away from this lesson was the acknowledgement that reading is hard work! All readers, young and old, have times when they lose their focus. That's ok, but you've got to know how to get yourself back on track! Sharing a reading experience with your child and thinking aloud about your reading process--both when you're "getting it" and when you're a little "lost"--is a great way to reinforce this important monitoring strategy for your child!
