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BMR-Module 6

Name: _Kavita Lal__________

1. Consolidation of my current understanding

· Using the same text for different purposes helps in understanding it, especially for ESL students.
· It helps to explain possessive pronouns and reference words such as ‘this’ and ‘these’ to ESL students and then link them to the point of reference.
· Students need to be supported to see how meanings are made across the text. Some words link meaning beyond the sentence level and such words are of great importance (cohesive conjunctions like ‘however’, ‘on the other hand’ etc.) while writing a text and connecting paragraphs together.Providing lists of cohesive conjunctions and linking and binding conjunctions is an interesting idea and will really help students in the construction of texts.

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading

· I found the idea of foregrounding really interesting. It helps the students to make sense of the reading and also enables them to make a good choice of words while writing a text of their own.


3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement
None.

BMR-Module 6

Name: Deepika Sethi

1. Consolidation of my current understanding

Reading is more than just a meaning of each word in a written text; it is the usage of a range of resources and processes to make sense of the given text. The three resources which we use to link meanings across the text are: The reference system, cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions; and foregrounding.

Deconstruction of the title, use of picture cues, chunking of words, repeated usage and review of new words are some simple references used in reading for meaning across the text.

The usefulness of foregrounding is letting the reader know what is coming. Foregrounding with the use of format, font and colour helps with the reading, leading on to writing activities. It can be organized at the paragraph level with clear topics and at the whole text level.


In a given text, the students focus on the type of conjunctions that are working to link meanings beyond the sentence level.




 2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading


The importance of topic sentence which orients us to the rest of the paragraph was very interesting to note. Foregrounding therefore functions as a signal to the reader what the rest of the paragraph will be about. Activities and examples to get the children to use topic sentences seem very useful and interesting.

Understanding the functions and usage of cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions and providing lists of conjunctions around the classroom are some examples of developing an understanding of conjunctions.






BMR 6 Neelam Saigal
  1. Consolidation of my current understanding:

We can use various strategies to understand link the meaning of text we read.
Usually the first sentence of a paragraph orients us to what is going to be dealt with in this paragraph.
Foregrounding can be by reference, cohesive or rhetorical conjunctions and time sequence words like as time passed or later, or finally etc.
Joint deconstruction helps the students not only to “unpack” the text but also to write independently in a cohesive and lucid manner.
Students were asked to pay special attention to the opening line of each of their paragraph.
  1. Something interesting/surprising I came across
It was interesting to note that while reading a variety of texts, students drew upon previously learnt strategies to plan their independent writing.
For instance when it came to independent writing, some students chose to draw a web for planning various headings and subheadings while others chose to draw a Graphic Organiser in oreder to sort out their thoughts and ideas.


BMR-Module 6 By: Aradhna Chawla Yr 1A November 2009 Consolidation of my current understanding Studying this module, the benefits of three critical resources came to the fore, namely the reference system; cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions; fore-grounding. Working with the younger age-group, I realized that giving the reference and providing the basic foregrounding would be more productive then the use of conjunctions. This is owing to the simplistic format of the sentence construction, generally done by younger children. Something interesting I came across.
  • The use of possessive pronouns such as ‘this’ ‘these’ ‘that’ and ‘those’ in reference to tangible ‘physical objects’ would make concepts more lucid. The reference system, used with these terms, would be more effective.
  • The advantages of employing visual organizers for the students as well as teachers became apparent. Breaking down of a text into heading and sub-headings, especially with a use of a different colour makes the content visually compartmentalized. This would definitely aid the struggling students to understand the text better.
  • Use of topic sentences is an effective teaching tool. However, this could apply to students who have successfully reached, not only the level of sentence construction, but also paragraph construction.
  • The suggested activities for foregrounding of the newspaper text were interesting. In my opinion, not only an ESL student , but also a fluent reader could gain a lot from these activities.
Questions or queries The suggested use of rhetorical and cohesive conjunctions would be more apt for a higher age group. In lieu of that, providing lists for basic connectors like ‘and’ ‘but’ ‘as’ or ‘because’ would be more helpful for ESL students in the lower classes. BMA-Module 6 Option 2 On the basis of ideas discussed, develop an activity to support ESL student in reading a piece of text. Try with a group of students and observe the outcomes. The designed activity was tried out with the ESL child as well as a group of students who are struggling with blending and reading simple text. The prepared text had simple sentences with primarily CVC and CCVC words, along with a few tricky words. On the first day, the text was presented in a regular paragraph format. The layout was simple and the font used was in basic black colour. On the next day, the same text was broken up with headings and pictorial cues were presented for each part. Each different character was introduced in a different coloured font. The children were provided a bit of foregrounding before starting off on the reading activity. The results varied a great deal. The students had a better grasp on the text on the second day. Here the visual demarcation of text with headings and pictures help them organize their thoughts well. The verbal foregrounding also prepared them vis-a vis what to expect in the content. The most interesting part was that the students who were not actually ESL also benefited from this activity. I now plan to employ this technique more regularly in class, for other subjects as well as other students. By: Aradhna Chawla Yr 1A November 2009



BMR-Module 6


Name: Vandana Aggarwal


1. Consolidation of my current understanding:
  • Three resources we use to link meanings across the text: the reference system; cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions; and foregrounding.
  • Reference system: Teachers can develop this understanding in their students in order to help them write more clearly, and to successfully read the complex texts they meet in school.
  • Provide opportunities for the learners to focus on the kind of conjunctions that are working to link meanings beyond the sentence level.
  • The first sentence of the paragraphs orients us to the rest of the paragraphs, or it foregrounds the readers what the writer will discuss in the paragraph.
  1. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading:
  • Whether reading a simple or multimodal text, we draw on a range of complex resources and processes to ‘read’ or make sense of that text.




BMR-Module -6
Name: Ira Dewan
Date: 6.12.09 1.
Consolidation of my current understanding · Reading is more than just understanding the words on a page. · There are complex systems that underlie any text. · If the reader cannot unravel these links, it will not be possible to make full sense of the text. · We draw on a range of complex resources and processes to ‘read’, or make sense of the text. · The three resources which we use to link meanings across the text are: The reference system; cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions; and foregrounding.

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading · The use of cohesive conjunctions and just how intricately they work, across the whole text. · Providing lists; of conjunctions under the various headings are very useful to students · The use of rhetorical conjunctions and how they are used to organise the arguments in a text. · The usefulness of foregrounding; ie, letting the reader know what’s coming.





3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement





BMR-Module 6 Name: Sumita ******* Date: November 24th
· Consolidation of my current understanding
- Reading involves much more beyond the understanding of individual words. -language works when we make meaning through the reference system. -clear understanding of the reference system is needed to ensure immediate understanding of the context. -supporting students with the reference system can be done through familiarizing them with clear and unambiguous referencing like the use of possessive pronouns, cohesive conjunctions which are both binding and linking conjunctions. -a sound reference system not only will help to read complex texts but also write clearly and succinctly. -providing lists with headings to distinguish the different roles of conjunctions was useful. - Foregrounding with the use of format and font also helps the with reading and writing. -foregrounding can be organized at the paragraph level with clear topics and at the whole text level.

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading

It was interesting to notice that a great level of foregrounding is done especially at the whole text level and many of the activities mentioned in the reading were familiar.
Perhaps more work on the skills required to get an understanding of the reference system would be difficult but very effective in the long run.

3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement

.



BMR-Module 6
Name: Sneh Wadhwaney Date: 29th Nov 09
1. Consolidation of my current understanding
I re-read parts of module 6 to try and understand the whole notion of reading for meaning!! Interestingly, we spend a large chunk of our time in school reading text with/for children or listening to text being read by children, while constantly checking for understanding by questioning, finding meaning, paraphrasing, actively listening etc. This module consolidates my understanding of the fact that we do use multiple resources for finding meaning in texts. I have tried to explain my understanding by referring to classroom experiences.

Use of phonics to read words, referring to pictures to help break down meaning of texts and often just breaking down or deconstructing the title at great length by predicting, brainstorming and relating personal experiences are great ways/ resources for reading for meaning across the text which further exemplifies for me, foregrounding. When I read for pleasure, I sometimes skip parts of chapters because the foregrounding has established for me the contents of the rest of the chapter.

We are also constantly trying to break down unfamiliar texts irrespective of subject area while discusses new vocabulary (we introduced children to the word cairn) and asked them to look up meanings in a dictionary, found pictures to show them and then tried to contextualize the word by finding out which cultures it actually holds meaning for, it began to make sense!

Of course this also takes me back to my BMA reflections in which I stated that one can never take for granted that just because you’ve said it, it has been understood, which is why breaking down is essential.

Referencing is useful not just for ESL students but I feel for every child. While reading and writing, we often use referencing, children need to be asked, who is saying this? Who is being referred to here? Who is ‘she’? Can you replace ‘My father’ with a different word?

Providing lists of specific vocabulary related to the focus area is always helpful. Children must always be given key words or have a word wall to refer to. Often we laminate and stick on each table so that it is available to students at all times. I am not just referring to conjunctions here because that I believe is just an example by the author but instead – a number line, letter sounds, adjectives, connecting words, nouns, theme related vocabulary. Not only do they serve as visual prompts but also help to make students independent and self reliant, if trained to use them correctly.

Making meaning and explicit deconstruction is invaluable for me!

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading
The resources described in the text by the author are great examples of linking meaning across a given text - using reference systems (which in a way takes us back to, module 5 where cultural semiotic systems, symbols and vocabulary are sometimes necessary to understand the meaning of texts), cohesive and rhetorical conjunctions and foregrounding.
The terminology is new for me, but one can see various resources that are used for making meaning.

While reading about foregrounding on pg 96, I remembered how easy it was for some children to find an alternative title and write a blurb for their versions of the traditional tale but how tough it was for them to try and weave a story around their very interesting titles! This comes back again to foregrounding, we had to constantly re-iterate to students, to go back to read the blurb because the story they write must match what they’ve stated! So the beginnings of understanding the scope of foregrounding!


3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement
None for a change!

Name: __Lydia Dennison_Date: 29.09.2009


1. Consolidation of my current understanding

Iv learnt through this module how to make explicit the language resources needed to foreground, its use and also what the reader might expect to see intext.
It just creates a logical and clear set of stages and when students understand them coherently achievement isbound to follow. The works and structure of any written material has a pattern to it and when its revealed to the student it ends up making full sense to him/her.

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading

I completely enjoyed learning about the various kinds of foregrounding and I agree that if used properly this scaffolding really does wonders. I especially enjoyed teaching about organization of a paragraph : topic sentences. To us it seems obvious but to our little ones even this small piece of information really means a lot.
3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sucheta Khatri
BMR 6


1. Consolidation of your current understanding
(What reinforced your current knowledge?)

When we provide a certain text to our students then we need to make the reference clear. They should understand the purpose of the text and the relation of the characters in the text. This is where a character sketch and the perspective of different characters come in handy. Once a child is able to handle these then he would be able to comprehend any text provided to him.
Highlighting important lines or words which is called foregrounding is another aspect which is very important tool to analyze a given text or understand it.

2. Something interesting/surprising you came across while reading
(Something you can say…
I didn’t realize that this could have been done this way.
This really made me think this way.

To make a child develop a thorough understanding of conjunctions (Cohesive and Rhetorical conjunctions) is an essential element in order to enhance his comprehension of the text. This fascinated me a lot and definitely motivates me to make a greater use of it.


3. Question/Clarification/Disagreement
(You can say…
I can’t agree with this, so I need to have a clarification.)





BMR-Module 6
Name: Neena Jain Sharma Date: 23th Nov 2009

1. Consolidation of my current understanding


· ‘Reading’ is not just knowing the separate meanings of the printed words in a text. We draw on a range of resources and processes to make sense of the text that we are reading.

2. Something interesting/surprising I came across while reading


· Resources such as the reference system, cohesive and rhetoric conjunctions, and foregrounding can be used to link meanings across the text
· As teachers, we should make these systems and patterns explicit to enable them to read complex texts.
· Knowing the functions and usage of various conjunctions is very helpful for ESL students. A list of the conjunctions can be displayed strategically around the class.(I have prepared one for display in my class)
· Foregrounding prepares the reader and the writer for what follows. The role of foregrounding can be explored with the ESL learners through a number of activities



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