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Strategy Circles

The teacher directs the students to focus their attention on one proficient reader strategy, modeling the kind of work that needs to be done. The students read and sticky note or code when they observe that they have used that strategy. The group comes together and shares their observations. While these groups are used to clear up misconceptions about the reading, the focus is on how to use a new proficient reader strategy to do that. The students come together - under the guidance of the teacher - to practice using a new strategy for just a few days. Eventually, students return to guided reading groups where they use all strategies and all types of response.

Getting Started

Short Texts: Perfect for Introducing Strategies

Often, when teaching strategies, I choose short stories, poems, newspaper articles, and picture books, something that can be read in one reading-group time. If we use a novel, we only need a few chapters for studying one strategy before we're back to using all our strategies.

Ahead of time, I plan for releasing responsibility to the students by dividing the selection into sections. When it comes to strategy circles, the magic number 3 works for me: (1) I usually model first (think aloud), (2) then we work together (think along), (3) then the students finish the reading on their own.

Let's say, for example, that the students are reading a newspaper article about an elephant who got so stuck in the mud, the fire department had to lift her out with a crane. The students use their overviewing skills to determine that they are reading a newspaper article (title, subtitle, city in all caps at the beginning of the article, and the words, "Associated Press" at the end). The article is about an elephant. (The title is, "How do you get an elephant up?") We share what we know about elephants. (For me? Not much.)

Let's also say we're learning to distinguish between observation and inference. I make a public, double-entry T-chart: observation - inference. I invite upper grade students to make one in their daybooks as well, depending on the writing skills of the students. I read the first section aloud. On the observation side, I tell the students that I observed the elephant is 8,000 pounds, lives in the L.A. zoo, a fire department had to rescue her because she was stuck in a pond. I record the facts, the details that no one can argue.

On the inference side of my DEJ, I write some brief notes to show my initial inferring, "elephant won't get up - lazy? heavy? sick?"

In the second section, I recorded that the elephant was in her 40s, the pond was shallow, and this happened on a Saturday morning. On the right side, my notes read, "old elephant? (Is 40 old?) hadn't eaten? too late to rescue her?" I try to think out loud why I'm making the inferences I'm making. I'm reading to find out why the elephant got stuck. I see my brain trying to puzzle that out. Then I get worried she may not be well. That's probably a piece of background knowledge that slipped in there; when people/animals have accidents, sometimes it doesn't turn out so well.

By now, I've modeled and we know I can observe and infer. Can the students?

We work the next section together. We find out just one more fact: the curator, J. McNary explains that the elephant doesn't usually lie down. I record the students' inferences on the right side and ask students who can to record their inferences as well: "curator - scientist? cures animals?"

By recording their responses, I see if I need to re-teach or if they're on track. I usually get the opportunity to teach the difference between an inference and an assumption. And inference is based on evidence. An assumption is not. (Comprehending Math, Hyde) Almost always someone jumps to a conclusion not substantiated by the evidence in the text. I handle the child gently, thanking her for the input. I AM thankful - really - because I get to explain the difference and surely someone else is thinking the same way.

Ready to be Cut Loose?

We continue working together. Depending on their level of understanding, I ask them to take over. Upper grade students finish off the article independently so I can assess their knowledge of the strategy. Primary students turn to a partner and talk and then share.

In this lesson, we found out that it took a truck, a crane and a forklift to move the animal but the reporter never tells us why she got stuck in the first place. Of course, the students love to tell me why but there is no evidence to support their claims. That's a big debriefing point.

In addition, the writer ends by quoting the fire chief who says from now on he will go to work with a handful of peanuts. You know, kids just don't get that - that he's making a joke. Students have to infer to get jokes. Explaining that and finding the references is part of this lesson, too. This short newspaper article turns out to be a great selection to begin a study of inferring.

Reflection

At the end of the reading session, I ask the children to reflect on their reading work with me or write in their reader-response daybooks: What did you learn about reading? How can you apply what you learned to other reading you are doing?

I begin the next day's reading session by reviewing the responses, asking students to explain their thinking, OR doing some more think aloud, modeling my reading process.

A Strategy Circle: Asking Our Questions for the First Time

The students in this story asked their own questions for the first time. They were used to being asked comprehension questions. I share a short transcript of just the beginning of the discussion part of the lesson. Even though we're practicing using questioning, you can see from my story that I also have book clubs in mind. I'm preparing them from the start --- a model for independence.

This story and so many others like it demonstrate why I am so grateful to Keene and Zimmermann who started me on this journey! It's just easier to engage students when reading is puzzle-like instead of test-like.

Tommy began our discussion session for us by asking, "Why did Tecumseh cry?"

The group sat in silence, heads down, flipping through their book, The Defenders.

"Watch me assume the leadership role, kids," I said. "Tommy has not given us enough information to help us answer his question so I am going to ask him something like, 'What page are you on?' This way we know to what he is referring and can better help him."

We turned to page 55 as per his response.

We sat in silence again.

"Watch what I do now, kids. Tommy, would you tell us where Tecumseh cries and read the sentences around it for us?"

"It's at the bottom of the page. It says, Tecumseh hated the white man, but he had compassion and he cried - - - (turn the page) - - - to his Indian brothers and said, 'You are not acting as men."

Still silence.

No one caught that the author used another meaning for cry in this sentence. So I pushed them further asking what was happening in this scene that would force Tecumseh to cry. "Sometimes you will find that you have to back up and read the whole paragraph before you can help someone answer his question," I continued, modeling. They pieced together that the Indians burned a white man and then asked what burning at the stake meant. With no reference book to help, I explained.

Then, I asked Tommy to listen to me read the sentence and I read it without the page turn. "...and he cried to his Indian brothers."

"Oh," said Tommy. "That was a stupid question. He didn't cry."

"No question is stupid," I assured him. "Plenty of readers confuse words because English has lots of words that mean more than one thing." I went on to explain that the page turn got in his way and his group members had also been stumped. Thanks to Tommy's question, we discussed Tecumseh's war experience for 5 full minutes, exploring related issues. "Plus, you discovered different meanings of cry for yourself. That's what readers do."

And we were off. Off into the world of talking about books on our own terms. Not where the teacher asks the questions, but where the students do the thinking, asking about things they truly do not understand. They ask about things that most teachers would not dream their readers tripped over until teachers give students an opportunity to ask.

So... Slow down! Strategy Circles at Work!

Often, each child brings one question to the discussion which then last 30-40 minutes. Sometimes the process seems painfully slow. However, it has been my experience that OVER TIME the process speeds up considerably as the children gain confidence. They learn to reference the text with the page number and read the confusing part aloud for their circle-mates without being asked. They learn what needs discussing and what can be passed over.

The hardest part for me as a teacher is to not answer the questions. "Wait time" is a skill I work on constantly. Letting Tommy search for why Tecumseh was not crying takes patience. It would be so easy to just point him to his mistake. Letting him discover different meanings of words will stick with him longer and allows him to feel successful. Understanding the value of mistakes, and joining the world in making them, but learning from them, is what I wish for my students. This lesson is learned within the safe structure of a reading circle. It's a lesson I believe I can teach my students to apply to many other situations.