As a child, I was an average reader but never enjoyed reading. I especially dreaded reading chapter books because once I had completed the book I had forgotten what had happened at the beginning. Even though I struggled with the comprehension of reading for pleasure, I was able to pass comprehension assessments on assigned text with little difficulty. This was due mostly to the fact my teachers had drilled what needed to be known for the assessment into my head. I had never been taught specific comprehension strategies which made it difficult for me to really dive into a book for enjoyment.Once I became a teacher, I was exposed to methods for teaching reading comprehension strategies, but most of these focused on specific skills such as finding the main idea, cause and effect, drawing conclusions, and sequencing. After focusing on and modeling a specific strategy for some time I would say to my students, "As we read today, I want you to think about cause and effect." However, if I did not direct the students to think about cause and effect, they did not recognize to do this on their own.
[...] If I find that LD students are unable to employ the metacognitive strategies at all, this may imply they need more practice or this approach does not meet their learning style. If I discover that LD students are able to learn the metacognitive strategies in my resource room and transfer and employ them in the regular classroom, classroom teachers may be encouraged to begin incorporating more of this type of instruction on a regular basis for all of their students. What benefits one student may benefit many. [...]
[...] The results of this study provide evidence that a metacognitive reading program can be used with learning disabled students to improve awareness about reading and their comprehension skills. Vaidya (1999) suggests that students with learning disabilities are limited in their metacognitive awareness of their learning needs and therefore may be limited in their ability to create and employ a learning strategy out of those needs. Learning disabled students need repeated instruction in metacognitive strategies that involve modeling and teacher think alouds, focusing on the process rather than the product. [...]
[...] Pressley, M., & Harris, K. R. (1990). What we really know about strategy instruction. Educational Leadership, 31-34. Quicke, J & Winter, C. (1994). Teaching the language of learning: Towards a metacognitive approach to pupil empowerment. British Educational Research Journal, 429-446. Rhoder, C. (2002). Mindful reading: Strategy training that facilitates transfer. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 498-512. Short, K.G. (1991). Literacy environments that support strategic readers. In D.E. DeFord, C.A. Underwood, T. (1997). On knowing what you know: Metacognition and the act of reading. [...]
[...] Most LD students lack the self-regulatory skills necessary to know effective learning strategies for a given situation and therefore must receive direct instruction in the area of metacognitive reading strategies (Vaidya, 1999). I would suspect that my LD students would improve their comprehension of text read in my resource room through direct instruction of metacognitive reading strategies. However, I think only a few of the students will independently apply these strategies in the regular classroom. Additionally, I think the degree to which these students will apply metacognitive strategies in the regular classroom will relate to the reminders or encouragement they receive from their classroom teachers and assistants to employ the strategies. [...]
[...] By taking the time to provide explicit instruction and modeling in metacognitive reading strategies my hypothesis is that teachers and students will more bang for their buck.” References Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate: The construction of inner control. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Cooper, J.D. (1997). Literacy: Helping children construct meaning. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Englert, C.S. Hiebert, E. H., & Stewart, S. (1988). Detecting and correcting inconsistencies in the monitoring of expository prose. Journal of Educational Research 221-227. Fisher, R. [...]
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