Before, During, After Reading (4-1-08)

This week in my Tuesday Experience I had done a read aloud that went really well. The teacher let me choose the book that I wanted to read; last time she had assigned me the book. I had picked the book, Westlandia, by Paul Flieschman. I got introduced to this book through my children's literature class and fell in love with it myself. The children really took to it too!

I started off the reading with a brief discussion on what the student's thought that book was about. I only showed them the front of the book, asking them what they thought that book was about and why. Going into the lesson I wanted the children to focus on why the children had this thoughts. So most of their responses I went back with a 'why' or 'what clues give you that idea.' This really had the children get more involved and feed off each others responses.

During the reading I was asking the children what they thought would happen next. And again I would make sure that they would tell me why, using clues from the text. This book also had difficult vocab that i went over with the children. I had first asked them what they thought it meant and rephrased the whole sentence with an alternative meaning. The students really seemed to find this helpful; they were able to get more meaning at out the theme of the book.

After reading I had asked the children what they thought of the book. We did a comparsion of the main character from the beginning of the book to the end. We also discussed if our predictions were right. I checked for the students understanding by giving them a question to respond to. I asked the children to write what they thought was most interesting and exciting in the book, making sure to use detail from the text. This showed me the children that understood the material and was able to recall information.

To end the read aloud I had some of the students share their work. I tried the 'Author's Chair,' for the first time. I had choose one child to sit in the author's chair and read their piece to the class. I also choose two other students to give them feedback on their piece. I had them focus on the positive things, and what they liked about the story.

Overall I am excited about how the whole thing went. It seems to me that the children really enjoyed the activity.