Engaging Students With Rereading

As a book lover, I know the joys of rereading a text and noticing something hidden or unveiling a new interpretation. For many of my students, however, there is no way they want to read a text in the first place, never mind rereading it. Yet rereading has so many benefits, especially for struggling readers; by showing your students how comprehension increases with each subsequent read, you turn reading from an insurmountable obstacle to something that any student can do, given time. Proficient readers benefit, too, as they often read quickly but forget to stop to notice deeper meanings and subtle messages. I cannot speak highly enough of the benefits of rereading! 💕

      Of course, knowing that rereading has benefits and convincing your students of the same can seem daunting. That's why I teach this lesson every year, to students ranging from 5th to 8th grade. It has always been successful and opened up an engaging dialogue about the way we return to favorite books, movies, or texts because of the subtle gifts those revisits can bestow. Here's my lesson for introducing the importance of rereading:

Step 1: I begin by telling students that we are going to be listening to a song today, to determine its main idea (or big idea, if students have not been introduced to the concept of main idea yet). We are also going to determine all the evidence that supports that idea.

Step 2: I explain that, while we watch the lyrics music video for the song "Little Talks," they are to write down what they believe the main/big idea is, and all the evidence to support their interpretation. I don't give any further direction or explanation than this. (The task of figuring out both the main idea and the evidence is meant to be overwhelming, so DON'T give in if students ask you to pause or replay the video.)

Step 3: After the song, students share their interpretation of what the big idea of the song is, while I chart their responses. I like to use this song, because it has such an ambiguous meaning. Eventually, some student always hits on an idea that is close to the accepted interpretation of the song, which is that an older couple is trying to carry on as the woman develops Alzheimer's (I always make sure to explain what Alzheimer's is at this point). After declaring that, while there are many ways in which the song could be interpreted, we as a class will focus on the idea just shared as our big idea, 

Step 4: I tell the students that we will watch the video one more time. Keeping in mind our big idea, students only have to focus on writing down text evidence to support it.

Step 5: This is one of my favorite moments all year, because it is my moment when all my readers--shy, struggling, or otherwise--realize that they can find evidence to support a textual interpretation. When I ask for evidence and explanations following the second showing of the video, I have students practically (or actually) leaping out of their seats to share their ideas.

Step 6: We discuss when it was easier to find evidence (obviously the second time, when everyone already understood the overarching idea) and how satisfying it was to notice new significant statements and find deeper meanings. Students share times when they have reread a book, or replayed a video game, or rewatched a movie, and what led them to enjoy their second, third, or eighth visit better than the first. This is when I introduce the idea that, in my class, we will be rereading many texts, to find hidden clues and new ideas, to catch the things that most readers miss, to invent new connections and find subtle meanings.

               

      I'll write about part two of this lesson tomorrow!

Cheers,