Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension: Role Plays, Text-Structure Tableaux, Talking Statues, and Other Enactment Techniques That Engage Studen

by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm

Book Overview

Before reading, hand out lines of a poem and have students try to build an idea of what the poem will be about invite two students to play good angel/bad angel for a book character have students... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439218578
• ISBN13: 9780439218573
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Teaching Resources
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.4" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 9 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 12

Customer Reviews

You can use these ideas!

What I love the most about Jeff Wilhelm's reading strategy books is that I always come away with ideas I can use the next day in the classroom. This book has ideas you can use in the classroom on EVERY page. Teachers, myself included, don't have all the time in the world and can't read all the articles and books on new research that we wish we could. But make the time to read this one. It is worth every minute!

Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension

I have not found a better book to help students really get into literure and LOVE IT!!! It is exciting, informative, and has great ideas for teaching literature!

A terrific resource for all teachers!

Wilhelm's book, Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension is one of the most valuable teaching resources I own. I've had phenomenal success with the hotseating and tableaux activities, only two of the terrific resources in this great book. Kids of all ages love hotseating in particular because it's so much fun. In a nutshell: one kid gets in front of the room (I drape a piece of red fabric across the stool) and "becomes" the character. He/She may have a "helper" of their choosing by their side. The rest of the class are "reporters" who ask the character any question they choose. The student in the hotseat may confer with his "helper" in order to answer as the character would...and therein lies the beauty of this. As the questions and answers unfold, everybody is thinking and when an answer doesn't ring true, the majority will know it and question it. We've done this with multiple characters as well as the "author." The questions are nearly always completely authentic; as kids, most would feel stupid speculating about motive, etc., and asking questions, but as "reporters" it feels completely natural. I love to see the light bulbs go in everybody's head when new ideas--synthesis!--occurs. One of my best hot-seating moments was after reading "The Gift of the Magi," a difficult work for my 8th graders. We'd hotseated the two main characters as well as O. Henry, and it was the question to O. Henry that did it. A girl who had a real problem with making inferences asked him why he'd written the lines about Della being afraid that her new short hair made her look like a Coney Island chorus girl. My student, Tony, clearly had paid no attention whatsoever to that description--in fact I was surprised that anyone had-- and he really had to think. Finally, he answered, saying, "I wanted Della to be a little bit afraid that maybe she didn't look like a (and he stressed thsi)nice girl." The book also offers a number of other "action" activities that you can use. For my money, these are terrific for any age! I encourage you to check this out. I also had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Wilhelm present his research and findings on his new book, Going with the Flow, and I was wowed to hear him in person as well.

You must buy this book!

I took a workshop with Wilhelm this summer. He demonstrated these techniques and I quickly bought the book. This book has revolutionized my teaching and I am going back to school this year incredibly excited about using it in my classroom. I teach kids that struggle and this is going to be great for them. Wilhelm is a dynamic speaker. If you can, snag him for your school's professional development or run to any workshop he is giving. Enjoy!

It's about engaged reading. . .

Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension is a wonderful resource for any educator who wants to engage students in learning and in critical thinking about text (fiction and non-fiction). The drama techniques outlined in this book are based on research and on Dr. Wilhelm's real classroom experiences. Dr. Wilhelm explains how these strategies can be used before, during, and after reading to 'help students enter the community of expert readers.' Every time I go back to this book to try another technique (and there are tons of them with many variations) I feel inspired by Dr. Wilhelm's enthusiasm so that I can't wait to try it out with my middle school students. I can say with confidence that I haven't had one fail yet. The movement, interaction, and creative outlet provided by these action strategies help my students connect with text and comprehend its meaning.