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Students get lessons in reading comprehension

Countywide learning project begins at Paca Elementary

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy of Joanne Durham Students in Amy Dougherty’s fourth-grade class at William Paca Elementary School in Landover listen intently as Dougherty (left) and Anne Goodvis teach about reading comprehension.

The teachers were from Glassmanor in Oxon Hill, Glenridge in Landover Hills, William Paca and John Carroll in New Carrollton and Carole Highlands in Takoma Park.

They were chosen to attend the co-teaching sessions that travel to each of the five schools on different days.

Students from Amy Dougherty’s fourth- grade class at Paca listened to author Anne Goodvis’ instruction on how to read articles and write down questions on sticky note cards.

Goodvis, author of ‘‘Strategies that Work,” also told students what questions they should ask themselves while reading. They read either with partners at the sessions or by themselves.

After reading the articles, the students came back to the group and shared their understanding of what they read.

‘‘I think it was fun because we took turns talking and sharing,” said Brittany Green, a fourth-grader at William Paca.

The program, sponsored by the county school system, was part of the countywide project in which Goodvis co-teaches and shows teachers how to boost reading comprehension among students.

Her book shows teachers how to get students to understand what they read, using clipboards and note pads.

On the importance of strategic reading and thinking, the book suggests giving students interesting articles from books, magazines, or newspapers and letting them use the clipboards and note pads to record their inner conversation.

Joanne Durham, supervisor for Prince George’s County Schools Reading⁄ English and Language Arts pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade, said Region 3 Director William Barnes selected Paca for the program.

She said Paca was picked because it was considered a school that could transform the training to into a model for reading comprehension at other schools.

‘‘At Paca, the teachers were enthusiastic about doing this,” Durham said.

Durham said Dorothy Clowers, principal at Paca, is always looking for ways and resources to help her students.

Clowers said Paca was picked based on the strength of its reading resources. She said although the scores were not that low, the school missed the Adequate Yearly Progress for Maryland School Assessment by two students.

AYP is the statewide standard for schools’ progress based on the 2001 federal ‘‘ No Child Left Behind” Law.

The co-teaching program at Paca and the other schools was videotaped. ‘‘Each school will use the video to train the other schools in the region,” Clowers said.

Goodvis said the project is great because the teachers all get to learn together in a hands-on way.

‘‘The idea is that reading is about learning information and understanding it,” Goodvis said.

She said reactions from the teachers have been positive, and that teachers are working hard to teach her way of reading comprehension.

Dougherty said her students did really well with the training program and expressed pride in their achievements.

‘‘I gave them a choice in what they got to read,” Dougherty said. ‘‘I think that definitely got them eager to read.”

Darius Ross, fourth grade, said he thought it was helpful when the teachers walk around and read with the students.

E-mail Tia Carol Jones at tjones@gazette.net.