Guest Post Bethany Hunter: Synthesizing

When I first started teaching, I assumed a lot of things about my students. I assumed my students knew how to visualize while they read. I assumed they naturally predicted as they read. It didn't take me long, however, to realize I couldn't assume anything when I taught.

Synthesizing quickly became one of my favorite reading strategies to teach. When I introduce synthesizing I normally start off by asking my students if they have ever read a book or watched a movie where, half way through it, they just "knew" what was going to happen. Then as they continued to watch or read they changed their mind. Most of my kiddos can think of a book or movie, so we spend a few minutes talking as a class about our examples. I then create this anchor chart with my class:

Once we know what synthesizing is, it is time to practice it. I ask my students to grab two post-it-notes and I share a mentor text with them.

Here are a few of my favorite mentor texts to teach synthesizing. All of them have clear story lines that you can use to help teach your students how to synthesize.

Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie starts with a cat who shows up one day at a families home. I ask my kids to write down where they think the cat came from...as the story continues they learn this little cat has two homes.

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg starts out with a stranger being hit by a car. I ask my students who they think the stranger is...as this story continues they are able to synthesize and infer that the stranger is Jack Frost.

 

The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting is about a little girl and her grandmother. The story makes it seem as if the grandmother is helping the granddaughter learn to read...as the story continues the children learn it is the other way around.

With all of the mentor texts, I share part of the story and have them jot down what they think on the first post-it-note. Then as I finish the story, the students jot down what they know on the second post-it-note. The students put their post-its on the anchor chart before they move to their "comfy" reading spots. Here is an example of our thinking after reading The Stranger:

To help my students stay on track when they read independently I give them a bookmark I created.

I also give my students a graphic organizer to help them record their thinking. You can pick them up by clicking here.

I have found that having my students track their thinking as they read helps them become stronger readers. It also helps me be more on-purpose as a teacher when I conference with my students. I hope these book suggestions and organizers help your students become stronger readers as well! 

Hunter's Teaching Tales Blog
Hunter’s Teaching Tales Facebook Page
Hunter’s Teaching Tales TPT Store

Read More

Mentor Texts... Are they worth the time?

Mentor texts.
     I have tried, and tried to make them work for me. I have a shelf of picture books. I have several professional texts that explain all about how to use mentor texts. I have an extensive classroom library from which I can pull many popular books from which to use.

     It just wasn't fitting into my day or my lessons. I was unsure of how to make it work. I wanted it to be a part of this year's writing lessons.

     Que the lights! (Yes, those bulbs and candles that burst in to life above our heads...)

     Our school's new writing program! WAHOO! Not only  is this writing program pretty extensive, it has mentor texts embedded into the lessons. It is a dream come true.

     Take for example, my lesson with my 4th grade writing class on Wednesday. I used the book Bobby vs. Girls.

OH.
MY.
WORD!

Back Story:
We have been working on revising in class, and we read  a section from the book and talked about which of the 6+1 traits could be found in it. (We have been learning that the 5 revision traits are: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency.)

Back to the Present:
I read a section from the book and then put a copy of a page under the document camera. The students then called out traits that stood out to them as really great examples. This was a great lesson and I really enjoyed using the mentor text. This is actually the third mentor text I have used this year, but the first one where the students were actually engaged! SCORE!

     Then, in the afternoon, I had my 5th grade writing class. The lesson called for the book Bud, Not Buddy to be the spotlight text! (Can I just tell you that this is an EXCELLENT book!) 

                             

     I read several pages from the book while the students listened for good examples of the five revision traits. I again put a copy of several pages under the document camera and we talked about them as a class. I was amazed at how engaged the students were with the text. In fact, they got mad when I told them we wouldn't be reading the rest of the book. (Two students came to class yesterday with a copy of the book and were very into reading it! A great side-effect of mentor texts.) 

     The program then had the students do a short writing assignment to practice the skills we had been reviewing all week.

     So, what is the point of this posting? 

Mentor texts are TOTALLY worth the time. 

Do it. 

Do it today. 

Take the book you are reading aloud to your class or take a book off the shelf and find a few pages that students can look over and discuss. Authentic text experiences are vital to students building writing skills.

Thanks for stopping by. Have an amazing day... and USE MENTOR TEXTS!

-Mr. Hughes

Join Me Here:

Pinterest    

Facebook     

Blog     

Twitter     

Instagram    

TeachersPayTeachers     

Tools for School

Read More