What role does a foundation play in regards to a house? A good foundation is critical to keep a house standing, to keep it from sinking, to make it a strong house. It is put into place and then the rest of the house is built upon it, it is the proper order. As I was reading the materials this week, I began to think about how frontloading is like a foundation in regards to our students learning and understanding what they are reading. Buehl states that this approach, prepping the students before they read a text, is to 'build academic knowledge for reading' rather than 'through it,' and I think this is a foundational point! Students so often are given a material without proper knowledge to build a house of understanding of the material. Using the various strategies that Buehl presents, and keeping in mind the different points addressed in the other readings regarding cultural identity and students abilities to respond appropriately to a task, frontloading can be used to build a foundation with students to have the knowledge for reading. This then sets them up to, in a way, build a strong house with the information they then read, but the foundation must come first. When we don't frontload, its almost like we are asking our students to build a foundation or to just make sense of the material we've given them to read without setting them up for success - and without the foundation, it makes for some pretty wobbly structures.
I think as teachers, we often do frontloading to an extent, but this material helped me to realize the importance of doing so with more purpose, more precisely, and with more structure!! The difference in students knowledge levels does affect the way we lay a foundation for them. Its important that we, as teachers realize that the frontloading activities are more than just quick warm-ups. I know on many occasions, I've brainstormed with my students, but even a task as that can be done with more success if we do it with a purpose - for example, brainstorming frontloading - it isn't just asking students to come up with ideas, it is a method in which 'strategies should engage students in a side-by-side analysis of prior knowledge as it compares with their reading and learning disciplinary' (p 136). If we frontload with purpose and precision, we will help our students have a much stronger and solid foundation with which to go forward and read. I found Buehl's suggestions for the different ways to frontload to be exciting and very helpful - very doable, and it even made me want to do it with the kids!
Frontloading seems like that small amount of time that could be really beneficial to student learning and literacy. Just as a foundation in a house is actually the first, small piece, its also critical. I think of times when, in my own time as a student, a teacher says after we read a book we'd get to watch a movie....I've done that myself, too as a teacher. However, reading this chapter in Buehl made me realize that showing a movie before asking students to read something could be really effective. It reminded me a little about the readings from a few weeks ago about getting students engaged by role-playing and other methods....while watching a movie isn't role-playing, it does make a piece of work more real and alive in a sense....and I can see by knowing the story, how a student might be more interested in then reading it, and how having already seen it, a teacher could then use that to go more deeply into the meaning of a story and other aspects because the students would already have a foundation from the frontloading!
A few other things that stood out to me from the other readings were in Anderssen - how college students were given a different role to look at a piece of work from, and how that affected what they got from the reading....I think that would be a great way to get students into a reading - by having them read from different perspectives and then compare or share....I think that would be an exciting approach to reading a text!!
As it keeps coming up, one thing I think really relates to all things we read is the importance of knowing your students....as teachers, that seems like a foundation we need to build our learning environment upon, so that we can help our students build the strongest foundation in all of their learning!
As always I love your analogy of the foundation of a house being so important just like frontloading being the foundation of learning and equally important. I also agree that as teachers this is usually something we do subconsciously, but it is important that we take the time to be purposeful when we do so. I actually showed the movie A Tale of Desperaux to my class and now we are reading the book. I knew it would be a challenging book for kindergarten but they have the movie to refer back to. It seems to be helping keep their attention during the book.
ReplyDeleteTrisha,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the things you are saying, it is a foundation we need to build. I had talked a little about how teachers naturally tend to 'frontload' but not in the precise way the article goes into talking about.
Knowing your students is extremely important and I recently learned a great way to do so! What you do is create two questionnaires; one for the student and one for the parent. The parents' questions would ask about their practicing religion, routines, jobs, marriage, involvement with their student, contact information, etc. These will give you great clues to what the students' home life is like and establish communication to the parent/guardian. For the student you could ask them their favorite book genre, hobbies, favorite color, etc. Here you have a source to instantly know your student and have a hard copy to refer to. These questionnaires are usually sent out and returned before school starts; but if you feel like you need to get to know your students better or strengthen your classroom community, you could use this at any time!
I really like your connection to the house. You can't build a house without a foundation. And, it's true in learning too. We can't expect our students to know and understand something unless we give them some of the knowledge needed before they can be successful.
ReplyDeleteJust like Amy said, this year we decided to show the movie of Tale of Desperaux first, then read the book. I think the kids have really enjoyed the book more because of it. They are really engaged and can connect with the story. It's also amazing that in kindergarten they are sitting for such a long chapter book each day (1-2 chapters a day only) without getting bored. Showing the movie was the foundation they needed to understand it better.
Another great analogy! I really like how you set up your blog posts with these analogies and a picture to go along with it. It really helps to explain the ideas in more depth! I liked how you mentioned frontloading with a purpose. I think that it is important to be setting up our students for success with the material we provide them and frontloading is a great way to do that. In order to ensure that we are providing students with the right information beforehand it is important to have a purpose or a plan of action.
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