¶ … Reading Skills
Motivation and Background Building: Pre-Reading Phase
Appropriate activities may include the following:
Vocabulary instruction
Prior knowledge connection
Skill Development (may be done throughout)
Establish purpose for reading
Predicting
Teacher think-aloud
Setting/location/context
Development of time/historical context
There were four vocabulary words that the students learned during this phase: imperious, treacherous, tenacity and betrothal. They were provided with contextual sentences (three sentences in length) to introduce them to the words, guessed what they meant, received dictionary definitions, and had to use the words in a sentence. The prior knowledge connection included a summary of the first two chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the children were introduced to the characters and the plot thus far. The development of the time/historical context contained information about the setting / location; I taught the children about the French Revolution and Napoleon's role in it, as well as the dangers of partisan politics in France in the early 19th century. This information was requisite for understanding the plot. Their purpose for reading was to identify why each of three characters (Caderousse, Danglers, and Fernand) were jealous of Edmund Dantes.
GUIDED READING (SILENT AND ORAL): During-Reading Phase
Appropriate activities may include the following:
Comprehension development
Questioning
Vocabulary skill instruction
Prompts
Teachable moments
Character education
Articulate predictions
The students were instructed to read the five-page, Chapter III in the Bantam Classic abridged version of this text. After completing each page, they were instructed to answer general comprehension questions about the information on the page -- notably who the characters were, and what their relationship to Dantes might be. They could only continue reading after successfully answering the questions; those who failed to do so worked with me to get the questions answered. Some of the questions were less related to comprehension and more so to vocabulary -- the children each had to identify a synonym for the aforementioned four vocabulary words. The skill development part of this assignment was detecting sarcasm in literature. The children were taught during the pre-reading phase that sarcasm might be difficult to detect in literature, but that it is frequently accompanied by exclamation marks, laughter and language...
The students also had to write down instances of sarcasm that occurred in the final three pages.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND PRACTICE: Integrated Throughout
Appropriate activities may include the following:
Word analysis
Word recognition
Vocabulary elaboration
Study skills
Since the principle area of skill development was for students to identify and understand points of sarcasm in the text, elements of word analysis and word recognition were used to reinforce this concept. The students were tasked with writing down three instances of sarcasm on each of the last three pages. Additionally, the students had to identify what specific words in a particular sentence indicated sarcasm. They were also free to identify punctuation marks and italics that indicated it, but the greater emphasis on this part of the lesson was to identify which particular words denoted sarcasm. For instance, one of the sentences in the text reads: "Ah, you see, Danglars," said Caderousse, winking at his friend, "this is how things are…" The students would need to write down this sentence as one in which there is sarcasm, and also circle the word winking which indicates Caderousse is saying something sarcastic. This aspect of word analysis/recognition was shared amongst the students after completing the reading of the assignment.
FOLLOW-UP AND ENRICHMENT: After-Reading Phase
Appropriate activities may include the following:
"Purpose for reading"- asked as a question
Writing workshop
Portfolio development
Drama activities, readers' theater
Integrated curriculum hands-on projects
Response through personal reflection or literature circles
Mini-lessons: grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, phonics, spelling, etc.
Computer instruction
Spelling practice
Comprehension strategies
Integrated language activities
Whole-class, community, or family activity
Reading of related stories or genres
As part of a writing workshop activity which simultaneously included reading comprehension, the students then wrote half a page responses to the purpose for reading question: why Danglars, Caderousse and Fernand were jealous of Dantes. The students shared the results amongst one another first, and wrote criticisms of each other's papers in which they attempted to correct them for grammar, diction, syntax, and accuracy of content. Students then had the opportunity to read their works aloud. When their were…
