Assistance in Learning

Preparation, assistance, and reflection. These are the three steps to the PAR framework that is a common lesson strategy to follow. While in past posts, I have discusses preparation steps within this framework, today I will be focusing mainly on the assistance aspect of it. Reading is a typical routine that occurs in classrooms across the curricula. Whether you are teaching a math class, a science class, or an elementary class, I am sure that you expect your students to read the text that you assign. To some, this process may be burdensome so it is your job as the teacher to facilitate learning and help them overcome this barrier.

Several techniques exist to encourage students to read more actively and comprehend the material that is put before them. As a refresher, the preparation step exists to help the students recall information that they have learned previously that relates to the topic at hand. The assistance step exists to aid the student in understanding the material. Presenting questions with the reading is a good step to take but there are other more effective methods to consider. Having the students create a concept map while they read will help them organize their thoughts while being able to continue to make further connections after the reading is finished. Another good organization tip is to have the students create a chart to organize the information.

In fear of becoming repetitive, questioning students may not be the best way to get them to understand the information; however, using proper formatting when presenting the questions can be essential to fixing this issue. If the questions are presented in such a manner that they follow the text, then the material might be easier for the students to discover. A technique that I learned about in this reading that I felt was interesting and helpful was the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA). This method allows the students to predict what the upcoming text will say based on what they previously read and compare it later on to what they actually read. Students can use DR-TA for both fiction and non-fiction readings and study the different parts of the text (ie. Pictures, figures, graphs, titles, etc.). The last activity I would like to bring up were the study guides that do exactly what their title suggests. They guide the reader to finding the information in an orderly fashion.

This reading has helped me get a better grasp of how teachers can engage their students while reading and assist them through the “suffering” that some may feel. How do you feel these techniques can help your field of teaching?