Sara Council's Blog

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction? What connections have you seen between what you observed and our readings  and/or class discussions.

This week I worked with two kids once again. When Stacey and I started working with them, we started off with a game. The game covered rhyming words. It was complicated because the students were looking at the pictures and not the words. We decided that it would be best if they couldn’t see the pictures. The students would first sound out the word and then try and find the word that rhymed. This was hard for one of the students because he has a hard time sounding things out. After we completed this activity we worked on prefixes and suffixes. The rest of the class was separated into their groups of instruction level. They worked on reading skills.

Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

On tuesday I brought my show me game to the elementary school. The boys were so curious about the game just looking at it. I taught them how to play the game. They seemed to have a hard time sorting through each pocket just to find the right letter. I decided to take all of the cards out. This was very helpful to the boys. I then started pulling cards from the rhyming game. I would ask them to sound out the word and then I would turn the card over once they got it. This allowed the students to think about the word and then try and sound it out. The boys loved playing this game. One thing we did do is cover up all the letters and show one at a time, so they could practice their letter sounds.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

Today the teachers were working a lot more on worksheets. The students had about five sheets to do. The teachers once again worked on murmur diphthongs. The students seem to be excelling in their studies of murmur diphthongs. The students write and mark the word with the correct markers. The students do a great job at repeating the words that they have written on their white board. This allows them to learn new words and understand why they are spoken and written a certain way.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

Why is it so hard to get through to some students in reading? What is the best way to grasp their attention?

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction? What connections have you seen between what you observed and our readings  and/or class discussions.

• Through out this past week I learned so much more than the first two weeks. I worked with the QWIK and WRI. I found it very interesting how the students reacted to all of the testing. In this situation I worked with fourth grade. When we mentioned that we would be testing them, they all sighed. I thought about it and they are preparing for their EOG testing. It was extremely complicated to agree with the teacher in times of our testing when they were preparing for an even bigger test. In my personal internship class I worked with a student that I was doing observations on all week. We worked on reading skills and writing. It was extremely difficult to get through to the student. The student made it very aware that he had gone to sleep at 1 am the previous night. He had an extremely hard time focusing. Later on in the afternoon he went to a reading specialist where he worked one-on-one with the specialist. She mainly focused on his reading. During this she gave him a big book and asked him to look at all of the pictures. This allowed him to observe. Then she asked him questions about the pictures. When that was over with she asked him to help her echo read. She would read the page and then he would. He would also finger point. It was amazing to see this done with a student.

Have you done any teaching in your internship? What have you taught ? Have you worked with a child or a group of children? What did you do with them (e.g., picture/word sort, DRTA, Text Talk) ?

This past week I worked with the student I mentioned above. We mainly focused on his learning how to read, where to place consonants, and beginning/ ending sounds. He once again had a hard time performing but when we played games he would perform better. So we would work with another intern and student playing bingo. We would have one student say what the column was and the other would sound out the word. Then they would find it on their card and then the interns card. They took turns sounding out the words. I also helped him on his math worksheet. I noticed that while we were going through his work that he showed tendencies of dyslexia. He would write his numbers in the wrong order or backwards. I would explain to him if he wrote it the right way the first time then he wouldn’t have to work on it as long.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

This week we met with the RTI specialist and the Principal. I learned that my grade level that I was placed in was one of the most improved grade levels. The principal mentioned that the teacher that I was working with took him by surprise. She is a first year teacher and really has changed the way her students are learning. The students are all showing improvements and if they aren’t she works with them and finds ways that they are able to learn.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.

How can you work with a student that doesn’t perform because the lack of sleep?

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?

This past week our teacher was still focusing on teaching the kids about murmur diphthongs. We also worked in guided reading groups where I only got to work with my student once this week. I continued to help him work on his worksheets that he is given each week. The teacher also had reading time where the students were able to sit and listen. The teacher asked the students to sit on the carpet. They all had their own spot on the carpet. The teacher then began reading a book. There was no finger pointing. She would ask them questions as she was reading to make sure that they were paying attention. I notice this is very similar to what we practiced in our class. This was very interesting to hear the students answers and watch their reactions when the heard the end of the stories.

What have you taught in your internship?

This week I did a lot of observations and wasn’t really able to teach anything since I wasn’t able to help the students. The observations that I did consisted of the Diagnostic interviews where I was unable to help the student. This was a math interview. It was so hard not to help the student solve the problem. I had to stop myself a couple of times because I was attempting to help them.I also did my qwik testing with my other classmates where  I was giving them the test but once again was unable to help them. I also observed  one particular student the entire week. I watched how he behaved, learned, and reacted around the other students. All of these observations were extremely interesting and I enjoyed doing them. However, I wish I had more time with the students and the teachers because I feel like I have learned so much more in the field.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

This week I noticed that the school offered many programs that can help the students further their learning. Many students were able to go to tutoring. I also noticed that all of the teachers had their own opinion on curriculum that they were using. One thing that I did notice is that the school has a reading program where the students take home a book to read. When they have mastered the book they bring back to school and then have a test that is done on the computer. They get a certain amount questions all depending on their level of reading.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning

What is a the best learning environment for a new student?

What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?

Most of my time during the guided reading instruction I spent with one student. The class was split up with the other first grade class based on reading levels. I assume during this time that the instruction level was much higher than the student I was working with during this time. The school is based on a system where there are reading levels 1-30. The student I was working with wasn’t registering on a level and that was the reason he needs one on one help. The student worked on worksheets during the hour of guided reading time. The worksheets consisted of figuring out the first letter of the word that was given and the next page the ending sound. The student also had a worksheet that asked him to figure out what they drawing was and attempt to write out the word. He also played word bingo. To finish the hour up we read two books together. I had to do most  of the reading.

What have you taught in your internship?

During the internship so far I have taught/reminded students how to sound out the beginning and endings of words. I have also worked with students on murmur dipthongs. The students were also working with contractions and other techniques during class.

Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.

In the first grade classroom I noticed that the rooms are very open. The walls aren’t complete throughout the entire room. Also the building is a circle so no matter where you go you don’t get lost. The teachers are very open to the interns being there. They are willing to put you to work in a heart beat. The students are very diverse in populations. The students are also at different level of learning which is interesting. The curriculum that I have learned about so far is that guided reading is extremely important for helping their students to learn how to read.

Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning

How should I go about helping the students with severe learning differences? For example what if the student doesn’t speak any english and is a foreign student that speaks a dialect unknown at the school.

1. What grade is Curt in?

• Curt is in the third grade.

2. What was the flash score for words at: first-grade level? second-grade level? third-grade level?

• First-grade level: 75%
• Second-grade level: 50%
• Third-grade level: 20%

3. What was the accuracy score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

• 1-2 level: 97%
• 2-1 level: 90%
• 2-2 level: 84%

4. What was the rate score at: 1-2 level? 2-1 level? 2-2 level?

• 1-2 level: 65 wpm
• 2-1 level: 44 wpm
• 2-2 level: 36 wpm

5. What was the percentage correct score for: first-grade words? second-grade words?

• First- grade words: 60% correct
• Second grade words: 0% correct

6. Which grade-level flash score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

• I believe that Curt’s Preprimer flash score is the best choice for instructional level.

7. Which grade-level accuracy score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

• The best choice for Instruction level is the first-grade level accuracy score.

8. What do Curt’s rate scores indicate about his grade-level reading? Where is he instructional according to rate?

• Curt’s rate scores indicate that he is at first-grade reading level. Curt is at a first-grade reading level.

9. What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instruction Level.

• Curt’s spelling scores indicate that he is at a first-grade instruction level.

10. Put all of these scores together, and what do they indicate Curt’s reading level to be?

• Each and every score that is reviewed shows that Curt is a first-grade reading level.

1.    What are the three dimensions of fluency? How can you assess each dimension?

Accuracy in word decoding: Readers must be able to sound out the words in a text with minimal errors.

• The teacher will calculate the percentage of words a reader can accurately decode on the grade-level material.

Automatic processing: Readers need to expend as little mental effort as possible in the decoding aspect of reading so that they can use their finite cognitive resources for meaning making.

• The teacher can assess automaticity in decoding by looking at the students reading rate.  Reading rates increase as students mature. This increases as the student moves through school. Have your students read orally a grade level passage for 60 seconds and then calculating the number of words read correctly.  The teacher will then compare the student’s scores with target rates for each grade level.

Prosodic Reading: The reader must parse the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units.

• The teacher will listen to a student read a grade-level passage and to then judge the quality of the reading using a rubric that scores a student on the elements of expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness, and pace.

2.   Rasinski refers to fluency as a “bridge” between decoding and comprehension. What does he mean by the “bridge” metaphor?

• When using the word bridge this means making connections between the two things. Fluency is what makes the connections in the end.

3.   What instructional methods does Rasinski suggest for students with difficulties in automatic and prosodic reading?

• Rasinski suggest that the students that are having difficulties with automatic and prosodic reading should be advised to use assisted reading and repeated reading.

4.   Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MFS) is used to measure prosodic quality of oral reading. List components of the MFS and describe briefly what each refers to (p. 49).

• Expression and Volume: This is the way that students use expression and volume to match their idea and understanding of the passage that they were reading.
• Phrasing: This is the way that students read words and sentences and understand the phrase boundaries.
• Smoothness: This is the way that students resolve word structure difficulties and the amount of times they pause during readings.
• Pace: This is the rate at which the students read.

1. Describe in broad stokes the reading processes that take place during comprehension of informational text (p. 362, under Construction of Meaning and Concept Development with Informational Texts).

-Accessing accurate and relevant knowledge: mentoring to help young readers to activate relevant background knowledge.

-Managing mental processes during reading within the confines of a limited and working memory, which instruction helps the students learn to use their prior knowledge to make connections to text that they are working with.

-Construction a coherent mental representation through organizational processes: using discussion can help to scaffold the meaning and create coherent mental representations for the person.

2. Specify the effect that background knowledge may have on constructing mental representations from informational text. Why should teachers be concerned about activating prior knowledge?

In this article the information shows that young children rely heavily on background knowledge in their interactions with text.  Mediations that helps prompt young readers to activate relevant background information is an important support. The teachers must be sensitive to dialogue indicating that children may be relying on inaccurate or irrelevant prior knowledge.  The Ideal thing is that children should learn to use their prior knowledge of both content and genre to effectively make specific connections to text.  Also using discussion can play a critical role in showing forms of prior knowledge that will not help. and in scaffolding the meaning construction process of novice readers.

3. What are the three instructional approaches that can be used to help primary-grade students comprehend informational text? Describe their common (p. 365) and distinctive features (p. 363-5).

The three instructional approaches are picture walk, know-want to learn, and directed reading.  These three things have instructional approaches that have an emphasis on reader engagement and social mediation, activation of relevant prior knowledge, and possible information that might be included in a text. These three things also have a different way of approach.

-The Picture Walk formation calls for students to look over the entire text before they start reading. This allows the teacher to have a discussion with a page-by-page to make predictions on what will happen in the book.

-The Know want to learn discussion is more open-ended than the other two procedures.  Know want to learn invites students to discuss whatever they know about a topic.

-Directed Reading Thinking Activity doesn’t include the extensive buildup before reading. The teacher carries a brief discussion with the student’s predictions and justifications. The students read selections of text and then discuss the text off and on section by section.

4. What is the purpose of the experimental study reported?

The purpose of the experimental study reported that Picture Walk, Know Want Learn, and Directed Reading Thinking Activity might help to influence the over all developmental reading abilities or acquisition when used with informational text in the primary reading group context. The over all information that came out was how Novice readers were influenced.

5. Who were the subjects?

The subjects were 31 second-grade students. There were two demographically similar schools that were in the same school district The school district was in a midsize Midwest city.

6. Describe the reading materials used during the intervention.

The materials that were used in the intervention were informational texts. These topics were familiar to the second-grade students.  The texts that they addressed were about science topics that they had learned about in their first or second-grade science curriculum.  The topics that were covered in order were: spiders, the moon, how water changes form, and insects.  Each week new text was selected that dealt with the topics.

7. How long did the experiment last?

The experiment lasted 10 weeks. Over time they conducted two four-week periods of intervention.  There were 12 days of intervention in each cycle.

8. What were the experimental conditions?

The experimental conditions were all of the lessons were recorded on audiotape.  In School A, sessions were held at a table in the hallway.  At School B, sessions were held at a table in the school’s kitchen or at a table in the partitioned room shared with other teachers working with small groups of children.

9. Describe the procedures specific to the Picture Walk, KWL, DRTA, and the Control Group conditions.

-Picture Walk: is engaging in an interactive discussion about the book page-by-page. Then as talk about the pictures. The text should work with the student’s prior knowledge and when making predictions about the text. This introduces new vocabulary words before reading the text. The students are also taught the meaning of the vocabulary as well as how to decode these words.

-KWL: The class made a KWL chart interactively.  The children talked amongst the class about the topic and their input was written down on the chart in the Know column.  Next was for children to come up with questions about the topic.  The teacher provided a short overview of the book and shared the table of contents so that students would come up with questions in the What I Want to Learn column that would be answered in the story.  After reading the story students then completed the learned column with information that they learned from the book.

-DRTA: Before the teacher reads to the students the students came up with possible predictions based on the title, cover, table of contents, and prior knowledge.  The students made predictions for a two-page or three-page section of the text then they mumble read this section of the text.  After the students are done reading each section of the text the teacher holds a discussion. This showed whether or not the predictions and summarization of the information in the text was right. This allowed the students to make new predictions.  At the end of the entire text the discussion wasn’t very large.

-Control Group Conditions: A control group is used to compare how it affects the providing of reading opportunities in informational text versus providing a social context for the activation of prior knowledge.  The same interventional texts were read in the intervention conditions.  Before the teacher began reading they presented a short overview of the text that had been provided to the treatment groups.  The children then would independently mumble read the text and then they had to draw a picture or write about something that they would like to share with the group based on the text.

10. What measures were used to determine the relative effectiveness of the treatments? Describe the measures briefly.

The measures that were used in this treatment were: Vocabulary Recognition Task, Maze, Free Recall, Cued Recall, and Post Intervention. These were the ways they were used:

-Vocabulary Recognition Task (VRT)- This was to evaluate entry-level vocabulary. This showed the vocabulary gains were occurring and whether any of the treatments were helping in a better way for children and becoming more familiar with the content vocabulary.

-Maze- The maze task was a multiple-choice close modification.  The maze was a timed group-administered task.  The original text that was read by the students was reprinted after the deletion of 10 of the original content words.  The score on the maze task was the number of correct responses that the student got.

Free Recall- The children provided a free recall of the day’s text.  These students responded to the prompt, “Please tell me everything you can remember about the book.  Also tell me anything the book made you think of.”  The answers were written on the code sheet and scored.

-Cued Recall- After the free recall each of the children were asked to answer three explicit and three implicit questions based on that day’s text.  First, the items were scored as correct or incorrect as a measure of general comprehension.  The answers that were correct and partially correct were scored as correct.  Then a four-point scale was used to produce weighted scores for each answer.

-Post-intervention Interview- At the end of each research cycle there were individual strategy interviews with the students in that cycle.  The questions surveyed three types of strategy knowledge declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge.

11. Which treatment(s) were found to be more effective in increasing students’ vocabulary knowledge and maze performance (p. 381)?

I believed the picture walk and DRTA was the most significant when it came to the effects on maze.  These methods that were used provided an introduction to difficult vocabulary that was used and the page-by-page walk through were very helpful when starting a new text. These were great for before starting to read the text, which was the Picture Walk and was also great during the reading, which is DRTA. This finding demonstrates that the use of informational texts with novice readers extends their vocabulary knowledge .

12. Students’ comprehension of the texts was greater under the DRTA condition than KWL and the control conditions. What do you think explains DRTA’s advantage over the KWL condition (p. 382)?

The advantage that DRTA’s had was that it gave the teacher a more direct connection to focusing the student’s attention on the story.  In KWL’s it allowed for a great time for background knowledge before reading and more time to understand the text before it is ever read.  Howevere, it does not give the same amount of opportunities that DRTA’s does to make sure the student is focused on important ideas from the text.

13. It was found that the treatments did not differ in the quality and quantity of students’ retellings (p. 384). In other words, students were not differentially affected by the treatments in the way they integrated textual information with prior knowledge. What does this finding mean in terms of the different emphases employed by experience-based (KWL) vs. text-based (DRTA) treatments.

In this case this means that when the teacher is asking a student to recall or retell the story that was told from an informational text. This does not matter if you do an experience-based instruction or a text based instruction.  There is prior knowledge and they did not really have an effect.

14. In light of the findings from this study, what conclusions can you draw about the role of teacher support in children’s construction of mental representations from informational text?

The teachers in this article need to give their support to children. Helping the children can help them get the correct mental representations from informational text. In many times the students have mental representations about a specific topic. These can be incorrect because they are from previous ideas. The teachers need to be able to support their students in coming up with the correct mental representation, while facilitating and using their previous experiences with the topics.

1. How does a Preliterate (Emergent) speller read and write?

The preliterate student’s write with random letters and scribble. These students are able to read familiar books from memory. The pictures in the book are helpful when they try and recall the story. This is known as the pre-reading. These students are also able to remember things from signs that they see regularly. An example is a restaurant sign they remember these possibly because it is their favorite restaurant or the visit it regularly. This is and example of logographic stage. Another example of this is when a child can remember one of their friend’s names by just looking at the first letter. These signs aren’t always consistent so this makes it difficult for the speller and reader. Pre- Alphabetic phase is when the student has little or no understanding of the alphabet. However, using visual cues or selective cues can help the student remember words.

2. How does a Letter Name-Alphabetic speller read and write?

When students start to represent vowels in one-syllable words they get the short vowels wrong and that within word spellers confuse the long vowel mark in words. In the stage Letter Name- Alphabetic students are beginning to use systematic letter sound matches to remember and save words to their vocabulary. Most students are in the partial alphabetical phase. This phase is when they have a limited knowledge of the other letter sounds when they try to figure out words. Most of these students use the context along with partial consonant cues to read words that they are given. It is very helpful when students have predictable and memorable texts. This can be extremely helpful during this stage. Students normally start to include vowels, which are sometimes incorrect in their words they use. When the students have finally reached a different point in reading and writing they are at the full alphabetic readers level. The students’ reading is in most cases dis-fulent and word-by-word. However, their reading is often dis-fluent and word-by-word. In many cases these students will benefit most if they read aloud and have predictable stories.

3. How does a Within Word Pattern speller read and write?

In the Within Word Pattern stage students are beginning to recognize patterns and chunks of letters that they are reading and writing. Normally when students are recognizing beginning letters sounds, digraphs, and blends they have reached the onset position. In this case students are beginning to recognize vowels and what comes after the vowels. Short-vowel rimes are learned first while using simple word families or phonograms. Students by this time are beginning to use long vowel words. However, the students do this incorrectly. The students are now coming into an orthographic stage. This is when students use higher-order units of words structures to read and spell.  They are also working on a stage with consolidated alphabet phase, which the students are reading and they are supported by familiar patterns. In this stage, the students are beginning to need the support of materials and techniques. This will eventually help them to read on their own. The students are able to read fluently at their instructional level, which is known as the confirmation and fluency stage. This is because students are able to use their previous knowledge of stages they have completed.

4. How does a Syllable and Affixes speller read and write?

The syllable and affixes speller read and write because, they are reading most texts with accuracy and speed. The students can also read out loud and silently. The students’ achievement depends on their understanding and familiarity with the topic that is discussed. In most cases students experience great range of genres and are able to develop a variety of reading styles because of this. Some students will take interest in one genre.

5. How does a Derivational Relations speller read and write?

Derivational readers have a much broader experience and in most cases are able to choose from a variety of reading styles. This choice will normally match the students’ own purpose of reading. Students will read on their own and will in turn integrate previous knowledge to what they are reading with other people. In the students are able to write with a purpose and practice, which will help them develop their personal writing styles.

6. What is the existing research evidence on the relationship between spelling and reading. Briefly describe research findings discussed on page 20.

In most situations students who have more spelling instruction seem to do better on reading tasks. These reading tasks include oral reading, s of silent reading material, and other measures. In the existing research it also shows that student’s spelling attempts predicts how well they will do in reading achievement. Spelling is one of the better predictors used above some phonemic tasks, such as segmentation. If a teacher teaches in a way that will help a student develop in their spelling then their students will have great potential when it comes to reading.

1. What was the hypothesis tested by the researchers?

The hypothesis that was tested in this research was about how students will learn the pronunciations and meanings of new words. They will learn them better when they actually see the spellings of the words rather than when they do not.

2. Who were the subjects?

The participants in this research article were twenty second graders. The average age was about 7 years and 7 months old. The students were in an urban school. These students were a large group of minorities. Most of the students in this research article were reading at the second grade level. In the next group of students there were thirty-two fifth graders that were also a large minority population in an urban school.

3. What were the experimental conditions?

In the first study there were six words used along with their spellings and their meanings. These were introduced to the students. For each of the words that were used, a card was shown with a drawing. There was also a noun and the spelling written under the picture. The word was pronounced along with its definition. The student then repeated the word and definition. When the pronunciation recall trials happened the student saw each one of the drawing but there was no spelling shown and then the student would try to remember the word and its pronunciation. If the student was incorrect then the correct answer was given by pronouncing the word then showing its spelling and the definition. If a sentence was needed then this is when it would be read.

4. What did the treatment involve?

The treatment that was given was having the students learn the spoken words that were followed by the spellings during their study time. The students were learning the spoken words without the spellings.

5. Which group (spelling-present vs. spelling-absent) gained more in vocabulary learning?  How were the groups’ recall of pronunciations affected by the treatment?

The spelling- absent group didn’t gain as much vocabulary knowledge as the spelling-present group. This experiment shows that students will recall the pronunciations better when they are able to see the spellings than those who hadn’t seen the spellings.

6. Why do you think that fifth graders who were high on a word reading task benefited more from the spelling aids than their peers with less orthographic experience and knowledge, even though the two groups did not differ on receptive vocabulary knowledge?

I think that the fifth graders ended up benefiting more from the spelling aids than their fellow students. Most students in this case when they were at a higher level of reading they were able to understand more than the lower level students. The high-leveled readers were at an advantage while trying to for the larger syllabic-spelling units.

7. What general conclusions were derived from the study findings by the authors? What implications were offered for vocabulary learning and instruction?

The conclusion that I gained from the reading was that it is extremely important for the teachers to understand that teaching spelling and vocabulary is important. The students and teachers should go over the spelling of new vocabulary words very carefully this is a time where students have the most growth and understanding of words. Students should also focus on their personal reading because it also helps grow their vocabulary.

Look at the spelling errors that Curt makes.  What stage of word knowledge is Curt in?  Why do you pick this stage of development?  What are the key characteristics?

While reading through this article I was able to focus on what was happening with the student. I realized from our class discussions that Curt was having troubles spelling the words. He did start by writing what he was hearing. This means that he is at letter name stage. He is able to hear the vowels but doesn’t realize that the vowels that he places in the words are incorrect. This made the spelling of the word incorrect. This is turn makes him misspell the preconsonantal nasals. This makes his writing patterns at a later stage in first grade.

Describe Partner Reading

Partner reading is when a student and a tutor get together and pick out a book to read. They look the book over to see what they may think it is about. They look at each of the pictures in the book. Then they will talk together and make a prediction about what will happen throughout the book. Then they will take turns reading each page. While reading together the tutor should ask questions about the book so it can help the student understand better.

Which is harder for a student, partner reading or DRTA?

I think that DRTA would be much harder for the student. I believe that is very challenging for the student. DRTA makes the student think more intently about the book or the story. In turn this can be more helpful to the students learning.

In planning a DRTA, what is important about selecting places to stop?

DRTA is very similar to text talk. The instructor should allow for places in the story to stop at to ask question about what has happened throughout the story so far. This allows the student to think back at what has already happened in the story.  This also gives a chance for the student to predict what will happen next.

In planning a DRTA, what is important about deciding questions to ask?  What kind of questions?  How many?

The teacher should come up with questions before hand that will help the students to stop and think about what is going on throughout the story. This is also a time to ask the students what they think will happen next.  The teacher should start by explaining the title and the cover of the book. This in some cases will allow the students to predict what will happen in the book. This again is similar to text talk but the teacher does not have to stop as much. The teacher should stop roughly three to four times. The teacher should ask a few question each time the have stopped in the book. Some of the questions should focus on the characters of the book and what is going on.