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Evolving Readers are Evolving Writers

At the same time that evolving readers develop their reading abilities, they also develop their writing abilities. As they begin to read different genres, these readers also begin to experiment with writing for different purposes. Evolving readers need teacher support to study the various components of the writing progress in depth. Who are these evolving readers? Evolving readers are best described as readers who have made the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. This stage is critical because it create the pattern for life-long learning. There are many comprehension extension activities that are beneficial ot evolving readers. The expectations for intermediate readers have risen dramatically over the past few years. The Common Core State Standards have increased the rigor required for these readers. These students need support to fully engage with complex texts.

Maturing Readers

Students need to be exposed to a variety of complex texts. These types of texts challenge students to fine tune their thinking about and comprehension of a given text. Maturing readers must learn to adapt their thinking to promote understanding. Maturing readers have developed their fluency in oral reading. They can read expressively with the appropriate pace, phrasing, intonation, and rhythm of speech. Fluency is a skill that needs to be practiced. Maturing readers understand the differences between the characteristics of narrative and informational texts. Maturing readers use text features appropriately. While reading, maturing readers are learning to generate and respond to literal, inferential, and application questions before, during, and after reading. They begin to use this information to make inferences and draw conclusions about a given text.

Skilled Readers

Skilled readers are strategic readers. We all know the readers who are mindless readers, not mindful readers. These kids look like they are reading, but they have zoned out from looking at the printed page. Real readers monitor their reading and know what to do if they zone out. Strategic readers rely on proven strategies as they process information and ideas in complex texts. Struggling readers just give up. Reading research shows that skilled readers know how to construct meaning from text before, during, and after reading. Strategic readers aren't necessarily bookworms. In fact, my bookworms are sometimes my least strategic readers as they often read only for entertainment. A quarter of Americans did not even read a book last year.

Comparing Strategic and Nonstrategic Readers

Strategic readers know why they are reading a piece of text while nonstrategic readers think that reading is a single attempt to identify words on a page. Strategic readers ask questions from multiple perspectives while they are reading. nonstrategic readers do not know the value of and the necessity for asking questions in order to remember and understand the text. Strategic readers activate relevant and accurate prior knowledge and experiences, connecting what they know with what they read. Nonstrategic readers attempt to make connections with prior knowledge and experiences that are irrelevant, or they don't make any connections at all. Strategic readers make inferences bsed on evidence in the text, both stated and unstated while nonstrategic readers make wild guesses about what the text means or what the author's purpose is.

Creating Graphic Representations of a Text

Graphic communication uses graphic elements like symbols, drawings, and photographs. It is the process of creating, producing, and distributing material incorporating words and images to convey data, concepts, and emotions. The term representation can carry a range of meanings and interpretations. In literary theory, representation is commonly defined three ways. To like like or resemble something else. To stand in for someone or something. To present a second time or to re-present. Representation as a literary theory began with Aristotle and Plato and has evolved into a significant component of language.