In the spirit of the holidays I had students analyze popular holiday songs. One of the areas they had to analyze was any literary devices or figurative language included in the lyrics of the song. (This falls under the category of tools authors use in their writing.)
I considered this assignment to connect to reading comprehension because not only did the students have to find and present the literary devices used in the song, but they also had to look up and present the history of the song and what the song meant in their own words. I told them to look beyond the literal meaning of the song. For example, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" is not just a song about a reindeer having a red nose, but is talking about being different and accepting those differences.
I have learned from experience that one can connect reading comprehension to almost any assignment and it can be made entertaining to the students. The Holiday song project was a big hit with the students and I think it was partially due to the fact that they were listening to songs that they have heard since childhood and yet now they were looking at it from an adult point of view.
My students enjoyed working on the High School Reading Task Cards. They worked in groups of four and they created good questions to accompany the reading assignment. This assignment helped them with reading comprehenshion and their critical thinking skills.
I constantly use anticipation guides with my students. I feel that it sets the scene for what they will be encountering and it provokes student conversation and interest prior to attacking the content. Overall, I've had positive feedback working with the strategy because it gives students a reason to read and see how the points of discussion are embedded in the content of the class. Having students try to make the connections and find interest in the topics of the anticipation guide, clearly assists students in becoming better with their comprehension skills and makes the material studied that much more meaningful.
In the spirit of the holidays I had students analyze popular holiday songs. One of the areas they had to analyze was any literary devices or figurative language included in the lyrics of the song. (This falls under the category of tools authors use in their writing.)
ReplyDeleteI considered this assignment to connect to reading comprehension because not only did the students have to find and present the literary devices used in the song, but they also had to look up and present the history of the song and what the song meant in their own words. I told them to look beyond the literal meaning of the song. For example, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" is not just a song about a reindeer having a red nose, but is talking about being different and accepting those differences.
I have learned from experience that one can connect reading comprehension to almost any assignment and it can be made entertaining to the students. The Holiday song project was a big hit with the students and I think it was partially due to the fact that they were listening to songs that they have heard since childhood and yet now they were looking at it from an adult point of view.
My students enjoyed working on the High School Reading Task Cards. They worked in groups of four and they created good questions to accompany the reading assignment. This assignment helped them with reading comprehenshion and their critical thinking skills.
ReplyDeleteI constantly use anticipation guides with my students. I feel that it sets the scene for what they will be encountering and it provokes student conversation and interest prior to attacking the content. Overall, I've had positive feedback working with the strategy because it gives students a reason to read and see how the points of discussion are embedded in the content of the class. Having students try to make the connections and find interest in the topics of the anticipation guide, clearly assists students in becoming better with their comprehension skills and makes the material studied that much more meaningful.
ReplyDelete