Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning During-Reading Strategies

Chapter 7 offers several during-reading strategies that will help dependent readers gather more meaning from texts, and ultimately help them transform into independent readers. Beers suggests that, "it is more critical for dependent readers to talk about text during the reader experience than after it," p. 104. This means that we, as teachers, must pull the invisible process of comprehension to the visible level, which suggests bringing conversation into the classroom as the students are reading, and not just after they have 'read' a text. In order to do just this Beers provides us with numerous reading strategies that can be used in a classroom to aid in comprehension during reading.

The first during-reading strategy Beers suggests is called Say Something. Say something is a really simple strategy that interrupts a student's reading, giving the reader an opportunity to think about what he or she is reading. This strategy is done with a partner. When each reader has reached a specific point in the text, they will stop and discuss what they have read so far, what they understand, what they don't understand, making predictions, etc. I believe this is a great method for students to use while reading. Say Something can also be done silently, where the student would simply jot down their ideas on a post-it or piece of scrap paper. 

Another during-reading strategy to aid in comprehension is rereading. According to Beers, rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It is also probably the last strategy dependent readers use. I believe rereading is very important for readers to do, whether the purpose is to gather more meaning because the reader didn't understand it the first time, or to look at the text in an alternative way. I also really enjoyed how Beers questions how often teachers-the people who should see the most value in rereading- convince students that there is no value in rereading important texts. For example, how many times have you been told that you can not use a book you have already read for a book report? This is a great point Beers makes and I agree that the advantages of rereading far outweigh the disadvantages.

Finally, the third during-reading strategy Beers provides us with is the Think-Aloud. This strategy helps readers think about how they make meaning. As students read, they pause occasionally to think aloud about connections they are making, images they are creating, problems with understanding that they encounter, and etc. This oral thinking helps the student analyze how he/she is thinking about their reading. It also allows the teacher to understand why a student is having difficulty with a text. I believe think alouds are important for students of all ages and of all subjects. It is also imperative that the teacher often models think alouds when introducing new things.

Beers provides us several other strategies that would be of great use in a classroom. All of these are equally as important as the three that I just described in detail. Double entry journals, logographic cues, bookmarks, ABC’s of comparing and contrasting, post-it notes, character bulletin boards, syntax surgery, signal words and reflections are all strategies that I would someday love to use in my classroom.