Personal Reflection Before Reading Unit
Question: What was your reading confidence level before this reading unit?
1. Reflect upon how much you comprehended when reading in all subjects from a variety of texts (narrative, informational, news articles, graphs, charts, plots, math world problems) before this unit.
2. Give a visual display of how you would work through a reading before the unit.
Consider: old work samples, reflections from the beginning of the school year, creative displays such as cartoons, charts, graphs and tabs on a website
1. Reflect upon how much you comprehended when reading in all subjects from a variety of texts (narrative, informational, news articles, graphs, charts, plots, math world problems) before this unit.
2. Give a visual display of how you would work through a reading before the unit.
Consider: old work samples, reflections from the beginning of the school year, creative displays such as cartoons, charts, graphs and tabs on a website
Emily Favorito
1. Before starting and completing this reading unit, my reading confidence level was very high. I really enjoy reading, especially when I read for pleasure, and I think that enjoying reading adds to the reasoning behind my high confidence level in reading. While reading narrative pieces, charts, graphs and other math problems I am able to comprehend most of what I read. I think comprehending narrative pieces are easier to comprehend than non-fiction pieces, because normally when I am reading a narrative it is for pleasure reading. While pleasure reading I do not normally think closely about important information given and how well I am understanding words, I just read. If we are reading a narrative piece in school, I find it easier to comprehend than non-fiction texts because in narrative pieces there is not generally straight facts and research given to you in the text. In narrative pieces, the research is given to you in a story form or mystery or some other plot. I find it easier to comprehend a story or mystery that just reading fact, after fact, after fact in a research paper or textbook. When I read science and social studies texts, new articles, and other informational pieces it is harder for me to comprehend the reading. When I read non-fiction texts, which includes science and social studies texts, news articles, and other informational pieces, I cannot comprehend the reading as well because there is almost fact, after fact, after fact given. Normally when I read from textbooks or news articles, it is for school or school related. The purpose for reading these textbooks is normally to summarize and test yourself on the information you read. When a lot of information is given to me at once in one article or a single reading, I find it hard to comprehend the text because I am so focused on picking out important information and looking for necessary information to highlight and take notes on. Overall, the reading categories that I succeed most in comprehending are narrative pieces and math related problems. The reading categories that I find harder to comprehend are textbooks, news articles, and informational readings.
2. Depending on what type of text I am reading, I will work through a reading differently. Before this reading unit, if I was given a social studies reading or a research paper and told to highlight the important details and information, I would basically just highlight the whole reading passage. Highlighting the whole reading passage wasn't really helping me and it did not show that I was comprehending the reading very well. In the picture above I have included a pie graph of the percent of highlighting texts before this reading unit. Also, before this reading unit I noticed that most of the text that I was reading was for school. As I said before, it was hard for me to comprehend science and social studies texts, which was what I was mostly reading. Because it was hard for me to comprehend, I didn't want to take the time to read it and at least try to understand what I was reading So, below I have also included a paper that is highlighted, that shows how I used to highlight research papers and informational pieces before starting this reading unit. As you can see I have basically highlighted the whole reading passage because it was hard for me to comprehendthe text, and therefore I didn't know what and what not to highlight.
2. Depending on what type of text I am reading, I will work through a reading differently. Before this reading unit, if I was given a social studies reading or a research paper and told to highlight the important details and information, I would basically just highlight the whole reading passage. Highlighting the whole reading passage wasn't really helping me and it did not show that I was comprehending the reading very well. In the picture above I have included a pie graph of the percent of highlighting texts before this reading unit. Also, before this reading unit I noticed that most of the text that I was reading was for school. As I said before, it was hard for me to comprehend science and social studies texts, which was what I was mostly reading. Because it was hard for me to comprehend, I didn't want to take the time to read it and at least try to understand what I was reading So, below I have also included a paper that is highlighted, that shows how I used to highlight research papers and informational pieces before starting this reading unit. As you can see I have basically highlighted the whole reading passage because it was hard for me to comprehendthe text, and therefore I didn't know what and what not to highlight.
Alexandra Shingleton
1. Before we started and completed this unit I was a confident reader. I was mostly confident when I read for pleasure and not as much for school. I found myself over-thinking the text and trying to make it more complicated than it was. Then when thre were questions involved about the text, I just didn't understand. I was overwelmed just because I was afraid that I wasn't going to get a good grade. When I read for pleasure I was relaxed, and still am, so I was able to understand what I was reading. When I was reading for pleasure sometimes I got too relaxed and started thinking about something else. I bagan to start reading and once I was finished, I did not remember what happened in each chapter. A lot of the time I would start thinking about something other than my book, which got me side tracked, so I was reading the text I just wasn't comprehending it.
2. Before the reading unit I had my own strategy in each subject. In math it was to star the things that I needed to do to complete. In Language Arts it was to re-read something if I did not understand it and keep re-reading and using context clues to figure it out. In science I just took notes to answer the questions in our book, and in social studies I would highlight the important information in a passage. In social studies I ended up highlighting most of the passage, so when I went back I had to reread the whole passage over to understand it. Highlighting wasn't really working and I didn't realize that it was making me not able to obtain the important information because I put into my brain that it was all important.
2. Before the reading unit I had my own strategy in each subject. In math it was to star the things that I needed to do to complete. In Language Arts it was to re-read something if I did not understand it and keep re-reading and using context clues to figure it out. In science I just took notes to answer the questions in our book, and in social studies I would highlight the important information in a passage. In social studies I ended up highlighting most of the passage, so when I went back I had to reread the whole passage over to understand it. Highlighting wasn't really working and I didn't realize that it was making me not able to obtain the important information because I put into my brain that it was all important.
Luke Bailey
1. Before our experiment I was a confident reader, I usually comprehended almost all the information being portrayed. I understood everything I read. The trouble I had was not liking or not being interested in what I read. I would only read science fiction, mainly spy books such as Alex Rider. This was bad because I wasn't getting a variety of books. I was pretty much reading the same thing over and over again, which meant I wasn't improving as a reader. Some of the books I read before the reading unit and in previous years were:
- The Outsiders
- Harry Potter book 1
- Pictures of Hollis Woods
- How to Eat Fried Worms
- Alex Rider books 1-2
- 39 Clues book 1
- The Hunger Games books 1-3
These are all low level books that I most likely could have read in forth or fifth grade but I was reading them in the sixth and seventh.
2. Before the unit I would work through a reading by simply reading and taking notes on important information. Although I was a good reader I am a great reader now! Before our experiment I was an OK reader but only would read a realistic fiction or science fiction.
- The Outsiders
- Harry Potter book 1
- Pictures of Hollis Woods
- How to Eat Fried Worms
- Alex Rider books 1-2
- 39 Clues book 1
- The Hunger Games books 1-3
These are all low level books that I most likely could have read in forth or fifth grade but I was reading them in the sixth and seventh.
2. Before the unit I would work through a reading by simply reading and taking notes on important information. Although I was a good reader I am a great reader now! Before our experiment I was an OK reader but only would read a realistic fiction or science fiction.