2/28/08 Blog

I think that book club is a reading group, where all of the students read the same book at the same rate and time. Periodically throughout the book, the group discusses what is going on within the story. Comprehension is taught in book club, because each student discusses what went on in the text, what could happen next, characters, etc. The students learn comprehension through discussion and sharing of ideas. Knowledge of text facilitates comprehension, because there are many contextual clues that you can get from the text, outside of the actual sentences. I think that when students use literary devices and such, their comprehension really increases.
There are a variety of ways to teach language arts with literature. Teachers can read aloud, have students read aloud, read individually, read as groups, etc. They can also access differently too, through book reports, discussions, essays, plays, etc. I think that using literature in a variety of ways helps diverse learners. I think this is the case because each teaching style caters to a different diverse learning style- therefore by mixing it up and teaching using different approaches; it enables students’ needs to be met. I think that students who struggle with reading should be taught the context clues and literary devices- although this doesn’t help them with the actual words and sentences, it will help them with overall reading comprehension.

-Nicki Lendo