Chapter 6: I will use the following questions to help Miss
Judah in her reading comprehension of The
Giving Tree. I am planning to focus on the main ideas, themes, problems,
solutions, and feelings of the characters in this book. I think that these
elements would be easily identifiable in such a book. I am hoping that these
questions are grade-level-appropriate, as our textbook states. I am hoping that
this will also help Miss Judah to understand the larger ideas/themes that are
going on in this text and help her to identify the feelings of the two main
characters involved in it. I think that some of these questions do sound a bit
challenging and hope that together we can work through the answers and she can
gain full comprehension of the story.
LESSON
1.
What lesson does THE TREE learn in this story?
2.
The lesson in this story is:
3.
At the beginning of this story, the tree was
a.
Here is an example
4.
At the end of the story, the tree was
a.
Here is an example
TITLE
1.
Another good title for this book would be:
2.
This is a good title because the text is mainly
about:
3.
Here is a detail from the book that shows this:
FEELINGS/Characters
1.
Using information from the story, write a brief
description of how the tree felt when the boy took things from her.
2.
When___________happened, the tree
felt_____________. The tree showed this by:
PROBLEMS/SOLUTIONS
1.
How did the boy solve his problems? Give a
detail from the story to explain.
2.
The boy’s problems in this story get solved
when:
3.
Here is one specific problem that was solved:
CHARACTER CHANGES
1.
How did the tree change from the beginning to
the end of the story?
2.
At the beginning of the story, the tree:
3.
At the end of the story, the tree:
4.
Here is how the tree changed (give a specific example
from the story)
Chapter 4: “Three
important ideas from today’s lesson are talking about ideas is a great way to
develop reading comprehension, collaborative work is essential in this
comprehension process, and being sure all classmates are involved/no one is
left out helps to build a culture of collaboration, but the most important
thing I learned today is that collaborative work is more relaxed and it is not
as scary to participate with only a small group.
Chapter 5: “Three
important ideas from today’s lesson are that great answers always reference the
text in a specific way, identifying a reading strategy helps students in their
assessments, and an idea must be elaborated upon in order for the
reader/teacher to understand it fully, but the most important thing I learned
today is that a longer answer is not necessarily a better answer.
Shannon, these are fantastic questions for this book but I believe this may be overwhelming for her grade level. I could be wrong but at Miss Judah's grade level the focus is "teaching" one strategy at a time. If you had previously taught a strategy you could review it with the same text as a review. My thought would be teach one or two strategies using The Giving Tree. Then use other texts to introduce other strategies and possibly refer back to The Giving Tree to review new strategies to see if she can apply the strategy to a story she already knows.
ReplyDeleteMy thought is this type of questioning would be more appropriate for say middle school or even high school when students have had years of practice using and identifying these strategies. I would be interested to hear Caitlin's input as to whether she covers this many strategies with one text and if so, how do her students typically respond to it.
Curious as to what everyone else thinks?
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI agree that these are wonderful questions. Did you think of these yourself? If so, kudos! :)
I too was wondering if you would split theses questions up into individual lessons as you teach the specific strategy to accompany the questions. I think it's wonderful that you have high expectations for your student; however, this may be overwhelming if presented all at once.
I do have a "Giving Tree" mini unit that I'm going to send you via your FSU email address. It's geared for 2nd grade, since it's a level J; however, if Miss Judah is struggling it may be appropriate for her.
I love the idea of asking how the tree felt! I think sometimes kids refuse to look outside of the box. For example, this week I asked my students if an antagonist could be something other than a person, and they sat there for a minute and then responded with things along the nature of,"I never thought about it that way!" I wonder if you could break some of these ideas up and use one idea at a time with other books. Maybe that way, when she is thinking back to big ideas you could just ask, "Remember the characters from ________?" Or "Remember when we looked at theme with _______?" That way she has one solid book to remember back to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the great feedback! I eill separate the questions. I am not teaching yet, and have not had a methods & materials class yet either, so I'm so glad we have this forum!
ReplyDeleteWhitney,
ReplyDeleteI would be very interested in seeing that lesson! My personal email is: shannonddewitt@gmail.com
I agree that these are excellent questions! I also agree with Gina and Whitney that it may be too much for one sitting but I do think you should introduce all these questions with the same book! This will help improve her comprehension of the complex ideas in the book! Research shows students are often able to comprehend text that are too difficult for them to read independently!
ReplyDeleteShannon, these are great questions! If I remember correctly, Miss Judah is an amazing reader and doesn't seem to be struggling at all. She seems like she is actually above level with her reading skills. I believe that she reads very similarly to my daughter, who is a gifted reader (I know I am biased, but she really is a great reader). I think that Miss Judah will be able to answer all of these questions and that they will help her to learn to think outside the box and expand her thinking beyond the text. I do agree that it would be overwhelming to try to answer all these questions and teach all these strategies at once, but this is a great book to teach multiple lessons with. I notice that all your questions are involving the tree and it's feelings, I wonder if you would also ask some of the same questions about the boy and how he might feel when he takes things from the tree or ask her questions about what is going on in the boy's life as he gets older.
ReplyDelete