Signposts

For weeks, well, perhaps months now, your child has been learning about Signposts in the classroom and I decided it was time that I explained just what these are to you as well.  My apologies for not doing so sooner.

In the fall, teachers participated in a book study on Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst.  I thought the strategies outlined in this book made a great deal of sense and would help the students to improve their reading skills, so I have implemented these strategies into my own classroom.

By the time most children reach 4th grade, they know how to read.  Thanks to former teachers and parents, I do not have the daunting task of teaching children how to sound out words or how to make meaning of sentences.  My job, as a 4th grade teacher, is to teach them how to read for understanding and of course to deepen their love of reading.

Students are reading chapter books independently, and while I have read many of them, in no way have I read all of them, and so helping students to keep up with their reading can be challenging.  As we read novels together, I often point out things that stand out to me or that I notice, but I want to make sure that students know just how to do this on their own.  That is where Notice and Note comes into play.

Beers and Probst spend many years talking with teachers, researching in the classroom and reading the books most taught in schools.  Based on their research, they found six signposts that are present in a lot of books and that help children to better understand the story.  By looking out for these signposts, the children are able to spot clues from the author that will help them better understand the characters, make  predictions about what will happen, and help them decipher the theme of the story.

The first one that we talked about is called Contrasts and Contradictions and it is one that you encounter not only as you are reading, but in your daily life as well.  Imagine that your children always fight and argue with one another, but all of sudden they appear to be incredibly generous and kind to one another.  I imagine your first thought is: "What are these two up to?"  Same sort of thing when looking at this signpost.  Let's say a character says or does something that contradicts what they normally do, you stop and ask, "Why is the character doing that?"  By answering this question, you may be able to make a prediction or an inference about the character.  For example: in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Edmund first meets the queen of Narnia, she is harsh and even calls him an idiot, but upon learning that he is one of four siblings, she suddenly calls him "dear" and offers him food and warmth.  Why?  Well, of course she knew the prophecy about the four human children taking the throne of Narnia and she wanted to ensure that did not happen.

The second one that we discussed was Again and Again.  How do you drop a hint for your children or spouse to do something?  Do you often say it again and again?  If you hear your child or spouse mention something again and again, do you start to think, "oh, this must be important!"?  Well, it is the same with this signpost.  When an author mentions something again and again, obviously there is a reason behind it, so you should stop and ask, "Why does this keep showing up again and again?"  By answering this question you may be able to make a prediction about the theme or the plot.  For example, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, at the beginning of the story, Harry and Hagrid made a trip to Gringotts, the wizard bank.  Here, Hagrid took something from one of the safes.  The safe number was mentioned over and over.  Since we took note of that as we read, we soon realized that this safe had been broken into the next day and we made predictions about what might have been in that safe.

Aha Moments happen to us all of the time when we suddenly realize something.  They happen to characters to.  When a character realizes something, readers often ask, "How might this change things?"  Perhaps the character has just solved a problem, which would help the reader to learn more about the conflict.  Or perhaps the character just learned a shocking fact about another character which will help the reader to better understand the characters and often the plot.  Or perhaps the character understood a life lesson and the reader now has insight into the theme of the story.  In Crash by Jerry Spinelli, our main character of Crash has bullied a boy named Penn Webb for years.  But when they are in middle school, Crash begins to realize that Penn is a great kid and should be treated with respect.  In one moment before a deciding-factor race, he realizes that he could give Penn a great gift by allowing him the opportunity to win.  In this aha moment, the story changes direction, the characters change and a great life lesson is learned.

Children ask lots of questions and while some of those are easy to answer, many of those are Tough Questions that may never really have an answer.  When characters ask tough questions, sometimes aloud but often times to themselves, we can begin to understand the character better by putting ourselves into their shoes.  When these difficult questions are posed, readers should ask: "What does this question make me wonder about?" to learn more about the conflict and what will happen later in the story.  Often, these questions are posed when a character is going through a difficult time (How will I ever get through his?  Why did he die?  Where am I going to live?  Will I ever see them again?) or perhaps facing a difficult decision (What should I do?  How can I choose between the two?).  As a reader, put yourself in their shoes and begin to wonder with them.

I believe my favorite signpost is Words of the Wiser because it turned a seemingly difficult concept, theme, into one that seems easy to pinpoint.  Children (and adults!) often struggle when trying to identify the theme of a story.  But think back to some of your favorite books as a child....  Do you remember there being an older and wiser character?  One that probably shared many life lessons with the main character?  In Harry Potter there was Dumbledore, in Chronicles of Narnia there was Aslan, in Number the Stars there was Uncle Henrik, in Tuck Everlasting there was Mr. Tuck, in Charlotte's Web there was Charlotte and SO many more!  By asking, "What is the life lesson and how might it affect the character?" a reader can probably pinpoint the theme of the story.

And the last one that we discussed this week was Memory Moment.  Often times authors interrupt the action of a story and tell you a memory.  They are not doing this to fill pages, they must be doing this for a reason.  Perhaps they are telling you more about a character, the conflict, the theme, or foreshadowing what will happen later in the story.  Stop and ask, "Why might this memory moment be important?"  How many times did your grandfather tell you the same story about himself as a child?  Why do you think he did that?  In thinking back, was it something really important that happened to him?  Is it something that perhaps helps you to understand him?  Sharing memories gives us an insight into people and helps us to better understand who they are.

I have already been pleased at how the children are spotting these signposts in their own books and in the books we read in the classroom.  The signposts seem to be able to spark conversations and start good discussions about the books, which is a skill that is very hard to teach.  We will continue to be on the lookout for signposts and discuss them as I do believe they will help the children to grow as independent readers.