Beck and McKeown (2001) Assignment

1. In the article “Text Talk” what are the most important points?  Discuss several of them

In “Text Talk” the authors discuss the importance of reading aloud to children to encourage language and literacy.  Text talk is an approach to reading aloud that is directed toward enhancing children’s ability to construct meaning.  The most valuable aspect of text talk is that it gives children experience with de-contextualized language requiring them to make sense of ideas that are about something beyond the here and now (10).  Research shows that “text surrounding the text” or “getting children to think about what was going on in the story” were keys to literacy growth.  It also shows that the most effective talk involved encouraging students to focus on the most important story ideas and giving them opportunities to reflect rather than expecting a quickly retrieved answer (11).  The most effective features of text talk include: focusing the discussion on major story ideas, dealing with ideas as they come up in the story instead of waiting until the children have heard the whole story to ask them questions about it, and involving the children in the discussion with opportunities to be reflective.  An important point in the article involved the pictures.  The children should not be shown the pictures while they are hearing the story.  They will pay attention to the picture and base the story on what is happening in the pictures.  Though the pictures follow the text, they are not followed closely enough to understand the story without the words.  Another important point was about the follow-up questions.  They should be open ended questions so students can give detailed answers.  By asking open ended questions it allows the students to give more that one response, and helps them to build on previous questions and answers.

2. Summarize the key steps in planning and performing a Text Talk lesson.

1. The text should be age appropriate and challenging, but not too difficult.

2. Come up with questions to ask before you read the book to the students.

3. The questions that you come up with to ask should challenge the students, and allow them to answer questions about what they think will happen.

4. After reading about a “scene” stop and ask a question or two, and show the pictures that match what they children just heard, after they have answered the questions.

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