Hi Beth!schoolmom2 wrote:Is there a reading teacher out there?
My 4th grade son just took the CTBS test, and needs to work on Reading: Evaluate and Extend Meaning. The subcategories are: author/point of view, predict/hypothesize, extend/apply meaning, and critical assessment. I have been staring at those words for two days now, and I still hear the Charlie Brown mom's voice, "Wah wah wah, wah wah."
I need help to first translate that into normal-speak, then figure out how to practically help him with that in the coming year. Thanks,
Beth
I am a lover of children's literature, and I have a Master's degree in reading. I don't know if either of those qualify me to help you out, but I thought I'd just throw out a few ideas that came to mind as I read your message.
Author/point of view can mean: Who is the author writing for? What is the author's purpose for writing? To entertain, inform, persuade, etc.? Is the story written in 1st person ("I" am telling the story--the narrator is also a character in the story), 2nd person ("you" are telling the story, like Choose Your Own Adventure stories), or 3rd person (a narrator is telling the story and the characters are all "he" or "she"). Your son should consider these things as he is reading.
Predict/hypothesize: Ask your son to look through a story/book before reading and predict ("guess") what is going to happen in the story. After reading a chapter or two, ask him, "What do you think is going to happen next?" He should use information or "clues" found in the story/article to help him make his prediction or hypothesis. You can practice this with him using a short story or a novel. Have him stop reading and you ask him to predict what he thinks will happen next. Perhaps write his predictions down so that you can revisit them later to see whether or not his predictions were accurate.
Extend/apply meaning: Take what has been learned in reading a story/article, and apply it to new situations. I can't really think of a practical example of this right now.
Critical assessment: When reading, your son should use his prior knowledge or background knowledge, anything he already knows about the subject, to help him make sense of what he is reading. He can use that prior knowledge to help him understand inferences in the story. In other words, he can make an educated guess about what is going to happen in the story based upon both his prior knowledge about the topic and the information he finds in the story.
I hope that helps a little. If you look up the subcategory topics on the internet, you may find some things that could help you as you help your son work on these reading skills. I'll try to pop back in if I think of more practical ways you could use this information.