Building Bridges to Text

Chapter 5 gave many more  strategies to getting EL learners involved in literacy. "Reading activities should aim to build bridges into the text that the learners are reading, so that they are set up to be successful readers" (page 105). Learners need to interact and actively process text in order to fully comprehend the meaning. Successful content area reading relies on the kinds of reading activities and explicit reading instruction around the text. Reading activities can happen before, during, and after reading the text. Reading activities should help learners comprehend text and at the same time model effective reading strategies. Learners need to be shown multiple strategies to use in reading text and take on a range of reading roles.

There are four approaches to teaching reading:

1. Bottom-Up Approach- this is the traditional way of teaching reading. This approach focuses on the basic skills for decoding written symbols.
2. Top-Down Approach- This is the Whole-Language approach. This is approach is to read for meaning.
3. Interactive Approach- This is a combination of Bottom-Up and Top-Down.
4. Critical and Social Approach- earners critique and question the text. How one interprets the text depends on their viewpoint, interpretation, and background.

You have to think of all these approaches as pieces of a puzzle. You can't just use one while teaching. You have to use all of them at different times and connect them in order to have well rounded and successful learners.

Successful readers also have to take on different roles while reading. There are four roles that the reader takes on:

1. Reader as Code Breaker- reader engages in the "technology" of the written text.
2. Reader as Text Participant- reader connects the text with their own social and cultural knowledge and prior experiences.
3. Reader as Text User- reader knows how to participate in the social activities in which the written text plays a major part.
4. Reader as Text Analyst- reader reads critically.

There are many activities that you can do in the classroom with your students before, during, and after you read a text.

Before Reading Activities are used to support the overall meaning of the text by building useful topic knowledge and to prepare the learners to read the text.

• prediction form a picture, diagram, or other visuals- uses pictures to illustrate something about the text. 
• prediction from key words, title, or first sentence- using 5-6 key words follow the same process as prediction form a picture, or show the students the title or a first sentence and have them brainstorm info and key words they think might be int he text. 
• personal narratives- powerful ways to build engagement with the text, they are relating the text to the real world. 
• semantic web- the sharing of info about what they already know about a topic; this can be a form of informal assessment to see what the students already know about the topic.
• reader questions- introduce the topic and have student write 3-4 questions they think might be answered in the text. 
• sequencing illustrations- give students some of the illustrations and ask them to suggest and explain a possible sequence. 
• skeleton text- shows the overall outline of a text but has key pieces of info missing, the first and last paragraphs stay in tact. 
• previewing text- this is a teacher directed activity that provides students with specific info about what they will read. 

During Reading Activities define the unconscious processes and practices  of fluent readers. 

• scanning for info- readers scan the text to search for key words and ideas.
• pause and predict- learners read to predict what will happen next. 
• margin questions- questions written in the margin of the text that point to the focus of the question within the text.
• scaffolding a detailed reading- provides explicit support on how to read a complex text. 
• identifying paragraph parts- helps learners identify the way info is organized in a paragraph and helps them predict what they will read next.
• reading critically- the reader must think outside the text and look at the text as an object.
• questioning the text- learners need to take a critical approach toward the text by asking different questions to get a better understanding.

After Reading Activities make use of the familiar text to further language development.

• true/false statements- ask students multiple true or false questions about the text, they need to refer to the text to support their answers.
• graphic outlines- students represent the info from the text in a graphic outline such as a timeline, cause and effect chart, compare and contrast bubble, or information summary. 
• summarizing the text- students pull out important ideas from the text.
• cloze activities- some words are deleted from the text and the students fill in the missing words.
• sentence reconstruction- cut up sentences form the text in to individual words and have students reassemble them.
• jumbled words- but up individual words for the text into individual letters and have students reassemble them.
• innovating the text- rewrite the text with different content, such as different characters, setting, or instructions. 
• cartoon or cartoon strips- students turn the text into a comic strip.
• readers theater- students act our the text.

There are so many different strategies and activities that can be used with your students in order to create successful learners and readers. As an educator my main focus is creating an environment that is beneficial and stress free. I want my students to succeed and go far, but in order for them to do so, I have to scaffold and encourage them in all that they do in class.