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Code!

Text copy is available to each child, usually nonfiction. Students read sentence by sentence coding the text silently. Then, groups or partners share their codes. For example, W = wonder about, I = very important, * = know that, L = learned something new, and C = connection. It's fun when students make up their own codes, too. Students begin by coding every sentence. Eventually students code naturally in their heads and mark places to discuss with sticky notes. I teach coding as part of our study of connections.

When frustration sets in, teachers need to identify what it is the students are getting and help them settle into a bit of successful work, while planning the next best step... Realizing that struggling readers and writers may require multiple demonstrations and multiple opportunities for guided practice before they can apply a strategy or skill by themselves can reduce frustration on both sides.

Ganske, Monroe, Strickland, The Reading Teacher, October, 2003.

Getting Started: Slow Down to Consider Meaning

If your goal is to slow readers down to consider what they're reading and their connections to text, coding is an excellent strategy.

In the beginning, I select nonfiction texts to code. Many schools buy Time for Kids or Weekly Reader. The students can write on these materials without any work on my part. An added benefit is that my students, especially my boys, enjoy reading about real events. (Plus, students will be required to read nonfiction articles accounting for 60% of our state reading test. Our state allows our students to write in test booklets so coding can be very helpful as a test-taking skill.)

When introducing coding, I DO encourage students to consider EACH sentence and their response to it. I show them how I code, talking though the logistics: What codes do I use? Where do I write the code? Can I use more than one code for one sentence?

Coding sentence by sentence is tedious, so I don't make my students do that for me more than a few times. However, the initial experience helps them see the value of thinking about (coding) each idea. In the beginning, they enjoy comparing their codes.

Later, coding is a choice. I've been reading a difficult text, one that I own. I plan to come back and use this book and I won't have to reread to find what I want to use because I coded it. Similarly, some students find coding text easier than writing in a journal. Soon, they develop their own plan for coding. They rely on the codes so they remember what they want to discuss or if, like me, they plan to write about ideas they discovered while reading. Many find coding useful when taking tests.

Also, students can code texts they CAN'T write in by ripping sticky notes into smaller bits. Leaving the sticky notes in place provides a history of their thinking like footprints left in the sand. Students can assess their progress in using connections by looking back at the sticky notes and evaluating their growth.

One word of caution, however.

Coding interferes with the comprehension of some readers, especially readers with disabilities. Be on the alert for high frustration levels and as always, be aware of students' modifications. The real point of coding is to read a sentence or portion of text and think about it, read another and think, read and think. We can do that in our heads. Some children code what they want to talk about while they read. Other children go back and mark important discussion points when they finish reading. Differentiate for learning styles by offering the choice.

Planning instruction at students' zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) so that what they are expected to do is just beyond what they can do independently helps to reduce the chance of frustration.

Ganske, Monroe, Strickland, The Reading Teacher, October, 2003.

Reflection from my Daybook

I viewed a new video the other day. Linda Hoyt models minilessons built around the proficient reader strategies. Snapshots: The Video by Hoyt and the accompanying minilesson book made me decide to try a pair of reflective questions in my lessons: asking the students (1) what they learned and (2) how the new learning could apply to their lives. The second question, the application question, is something new for me.

For closure, we shared what was difficult and talked through solutions when we gathered back together on the rug. Most students liked coding and agreed that it helped them read more slowly and thoughtfully.

I asked them to compare their codes with a partner near them on the floor. When the partners coded in the same way, they giggled and yelled out to me. They just had to tell me!

I asked two students to stand by me and share with the class what they learned and how it applied to their lives. The assessment part was VERY difficult for them! To be fair, I had never asked them to think through how they would use any of the reading strategies in other situations before. I thought the summary would take a couple minutes, but it took 10. As a result of taking a couple minutes to orally assess the learning at the end of reading time, I know my work with coding, fiction and nonfiction is not done.

Through my questioning, I was able to help my students see that coding can help with any informational text. When they read social studies and science, they don't have to write codes in the book, but they can stop and think about what each sentence means and consider their reaction to the information.

Also, I like Hoyt's idea of not only sharing what was learned (which could amount to parroting back a play-by-play of my lesson), but asking students to apply the information to other situations where the strategy will be useful. Young readers do not make these connections without our help and so, we will continue studying.

Here's the lesson I created:

Sample Lesson Day I: Fiction or Nonfiction?

Materials

• several nonfiction and fiction books children will recognize
• chart paper and chart stand
• markers
• books for students to read independently

1. Gather the students together on the rug.
2. Write the word fiction and nonfiction on chart paper. Explain that fiction means "not true" and that nonfiction apparently means "not, not true!" It seems like nonfiction should mean ... not true. But since fiction is imaginative, nonfiction means not imaginative or ... true. Tell the students how you remember the difference between the two categories.
3. Ask the students to talk to a partner about what the two words mean and how to remember them (about 30 seconds).
4. Show copies of several books, one at a time. Ask your students to classify the books as fiction or nonfiction using their definitions and memory devices. Flip through the selections and read some parts so the class can recognize them. (Classifying was very difficult at first. My students labeled Cinder Boy as nonfiction and Time for Kids magazine as fiction. But after looking at many examples, the students seemed to get on track.)
5. Talk about author's purpose. Reading fiction is fun and entertaining and can be read at quite a good rate of speed. Nonfiction is informative and requires that we slow down to learn new information.
6. Ask the children to read a nonfiction book from the ones gathered or from their bookbags. Ask them to be ready to share their strategies for reading nonfiction. Let them read! Use this time to confer with 1-3 students and remember to take notes as you talk to individuals and listen to them read. Or, work with a small group together at this time.
7. Closure: Gather back on the rug. (1) Ask the students to share their understanding of fiction vs. nonfiction. (2) Ask them how knowing the meanings of these two words might help them in their reading lives. If the students are old enough, ask them to record in their daybooks what they learned and how they will use the information later .

Sample Lesson Day II: How To Code

Materials


• short nonfiction magazine article taped to a board or chart paper stand
• chart paper
• second article for students to read independently
• poster of codes to use
• Nonfiction Matters bookmarked to page with codes (optional)
• student daybooks or response journals

1. Tape a copy of a nonfiction text on the board or chart stand. Bring the students around you in a semi-circle. Refer them to the Time for Kids article pasted on chart paper.
2. Tell students that they will learn a new comprehension strategy. It's not one that works for everything. It seems to work best with nonfiction and it's called "coding." Explain to students that to get started with coding, they will mark every sentence they read.
3. Tell the students that across the country boys and girls are learning to code text. To build excitement, show your readers the codes from Nonfiction Matters so they can see that they are a part of something bigger than just the classroom. Tell them that you want them to try coding today as well and see how the technique helps them understand a difficult text.
   I = important ideas
   W = wonder about this
   * = interesting fact
   L = learned something new
   C = connection,"reminds me"
4. Model how you want your students to code. For example, I read the title and coded it. I read each sentence and marked a code in the margin. I showed my young readers how I decided which codes to use. Sometimes I thought I needed 2 codes for one sentence and that's okay, too. The codes helped ME record MY thinking - not the thinking of my neighbors.
   Example: In an article in Time for Kids about President Bush that I used as a model, I coded this way:
   A sentence about giving $1 to every child in Afghanistan. I marked it as /L/ because I learned something new. I didn't know that.
   A sentence about helping children in Afghanistan. I marked it as /C/ because I have a connection to helping children that will help me understand this article better.
   A sentence about how many children needed help. I marked it as /I/ because it was the most important idea in the article AND /L/ because I learned something new.
   
5. Ask the students to try reading and coding a different Time for Kids article. Use this time to confer with individuals or groups, as needed. If students finish before their peers, give them the opportunity to read from their bookbags. (10-30 minutes, depending on their age)
6. Arrange partnerships so the children can compare their codes.
   • What did they mark the same?
   • What did they mark differently?
7. Ask students to write in their daybooks (response notebooks):
   • What new strategy did you try today?
   • How will that strategy help you in other reading situations?
8. Read the reflections. Choose 2 or 3 student-made points that will help you highlight the benefits or coding or improved comprehension as a result of the experience. Or, use the reflections to reteach weak understanding of concepts. If students mentioned having difficulty with coding, discuss the merits of the strategy. Assure students that you will not ask them to code every sentence for every article! Explain your long-term goals.

Over the next few days, continue to try coding with different texts. As you discover new codes that are needed or suggested by your students, add them to your class list. GIVE CHILDREN TIME to code their personal reading books and science or social studies textbooks by marking stickies instead of writing in the books.

You may want to experiment with creating your own codes. (Teacher Terri Griffith's class worked with the codes in the box, right). If you are in a school working together to teach the proficient reader strategies, there is merit in keeping the codes the same, grade to grade, class to class. But, it is fun to create your own codes, especially if the suggestions grow out of the discussion in your classroom.

You will want to show students how to code their standardized-test passages if you are in a state that allows marking in the book. Lead them to an understanding that coding forces the reader to slow down his reading rate. Discuss reading rates and which rates match which texts.

Remember: you will probably find that some students can read and code effortlessly. Others find that coding interferes with their reading. If you need students to use the codes for support in discussion groups, plan for differentiating the time spent. For example, I tell my students, "We will read for 20 minutes. If you like to read and code at the same time, use the full 20 minutes to do that. If you like to read without interruption, I will set the timer for 15 minutes. When it goes off, go back and code the ideas you want to discuss with your group."