Making connections to text to better understand your reading is often a difficult task for young readers. It can sometimes seems out of focus for them or they are not recognizing they are even doing this naturally. It takes time, patience, and practice. When I was taking a children’s literature class in collage, I remember dissecting books to match them with life experiences. For me I felt this was fairly easy. However, I have been exposed to many different things and have had many life experiences. The area I am teaching in right now has a low socio economic population. Many of my students have not had experiences that I would consider common as a child. They are in fourth grade and when asking who has traveled out of MI, I only had 2 hands up. Only 2 of my 30 students have been on a vacation outside of Michigan. Some of my foreign speaking students have been exposed to a variety of foods and cultural experiences, but most of my class cannot relate to them because they have not been raised to encounter these experiences. I really noticed this to be true when eating lunch with a group of students. We discussed favorite foods and I said my favorite food were grape leaves. Mediterranean food has a very popular place in the food market now. The group of students had no clue. Once I pulled up a picture only 1 of my students was aware. Making connections can be difficult when the children have nothing to connect to.
My new pattern approach:
So for new pattern learning. I would like to purpose that students make and have life experiences in my classroom that they may not have had the opportunity to experience. For example, tasting vegetable or exotic fruits. I would like them to create a list of things they would like to experience and I want to try to bring that into the classroom for them to experience. We have so much exposure to technology and there is so much that can be done with it. I would like to use it to being things to life for my students. Then, when it comes to making connections and developing an understanding of their text they will be able to recall their experiences. This exercise will force students to think about their experiences and what they have and have not been exposed to. I am excited to try this patterning approach with my class for many reasons. Like, giving them exposure to many things they may not have the opportunity to get a such a young age; using our new social studies program to take virtual field trips across the United States, and to make them more well-rounded individuals.
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