I am going a little off topic in today’s blog, as I had the chance to review a book I was recently sent titled “Raising the Standards through Chapter Books: The C.I.A. Approach” by Sarah Collinge. If you are a teacher or even a homeschooler, you might this find to be a great way to help elementary-aged students with reading longer texts.
What usually happens in the classroom with students who have reading difficulties is to give them something that is easier to understand. While that may be a temporary fix, it doesn’t challenge the student.
It also doesn’t help the teacher, with standards being raised on their teaching abilities. In the city and state I live in, Milwaukee, there are great concerns about the quality of teaching and how well students are doing in reading, writing and math.
What the author does through this book is show you a method where instead of expecting the student to grasp the meaning of longer text, it is broken down. Bite-sized pieces, you might say.
I like how the author compares reading to assembling a puzzle. It is done piece-by-piece. Although you have a whole picture, it is broken into segments. That’s the way reading can be done.
Continuing on with the puzzle concept, what you usually look for first are the corner pieces. She compares that to finding the corner pieces of a story—character, setting, problem and main events. Once you have these main elements, you can begin to fill in the missing pieces.
C.I.A. stands for…
Collect critical information
Interpret the text
Apply to your life
I see something similar in this to a recent way I was taught to study the Bible. You take a verse and circle the main words (collecting critical information). Then you indicate what those words mean (interpreting the text) and finally, you ask yourself how that verse impacts your life (apply to your life).
What I like about this is that you aren’t just reading to read. You are reading to comprehend and understand how it can apply to your world. That makes it more motivating.
The specifics of how this method works is too long to get into. But I would highly suggest that if you are a teacher or know of one, or if you are a homeschooler, you might consider purchasing this book. Even if you are just a parent whose child is struggling with reading, you might find this helpful.
You can find the book at “Read Side by Side.”
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