Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Becoming Thoughtful, Attentive Readers Through the Use of Signposts

One of my main focus points and/or goals as a teacher, especially this year is to provide my students opportunities to engage in accountable talk with their classmates about the text we read as a class. When the students interact with each other about the text they grasp a better understanding of the meaning at a higher level, because they are able to build explanations and interpretations, reason with evidence, make connections, consider different viewpoints and perspectives, and form conclusions. At the start of the year I began implementing a close reading strategy called, signposts. This strategy comes from the book titled, Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst. 

The strategy is called signposts, because similar to signposts you might see on the road, signposts in reading are points in the text that emerge as very important parts in the story.  Identifying and analyzing signposts help readers become more thoughtful and attentive by raising questions about literary elements in the story. Signposts can be used with a majority of text, including nonfiction! 

The students have been introduced to the first three signposts in the book: Contrasts & Contradictions, Aha Moments, Tough Questions. When the students notice these points in their reading they highlight and engage in discussion with a partner or their table mates.

Contrasts & Contradictions: The students stop, notice, and note points in their reading when a character says or does something that is opposite (contradicts) what he/she has been saying or doing all the way.


Aha MomentThe students stop, notice, and note points in their reading when suddenly the character realizes, understands, or finally figures something out.



Tough QuestionsThe students stop, notice, and note points in their reading when the character asks himself a really difficult question.




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