Understanding?

Often times there will be a wonderful external trigger that will spark a complete and unabashed understanding of something that you have been struggling with. Those sparks are relished, to finally be able to grasp an idea that you have been reaching at is a relief. Although not all sparks lead to understanding, some lead to the question that drives you to understand. That is the kind of spark that intrigued Ellin Oliver Keene to investigate the concept of understanding; culminating in her book titled To Understand New Horizons in Reading Comprehension. Keene acted on the spark she received from a bodacious 7 year old named Jamkia, who dared to ask what does it mean to make sense?

While reading I attempted to answer the same question and came up with all the short falls of Keene, yes i can explain comprehension in 12dollar words and long sentences full of commas and semi-colons. But how to do explain understand/make sense/comprehend to a seven year old so they can grasp that idea they longingly desire to know. It is a task that took Keene several years to complete. Along her journey she stated that she felt worried about the books use to other educators. Worry marks a concern and passion for the topic at hand, when you worry you care about what you are doing. You want to do it justice.

"...how rewarding is it to teach children to think rather than to recall, retell, and answer endless comprehension questions." This excerpt from the prelude explains, rather succinctly, the overall aim of the text. This aim is one I wish to accomplish in my own teaching as well. Through the reading it seems as if there are many people saying: we barely have time to teach what we do teach and now you want us to add this too. Personally I don't see the shift to teaching comprehension instead of testing comprehension as taking up more time. I see it as a rewording of what is already said. Give the children a chance to show us how much they can and do understand before we go question their ability. I think the students will show us how resilient and knowledgeable they really are.

Children are like sponges they absorb and absorb and if given the chance they will willing share their contents. As a child I was always part of the adult conversations at the table, unlike Keene, I was encouraged to share my opinions on the world happens as I knew them. My opinions and ideas were seen as equals at the table; this respect gave my intellect a chance to flourish under the supervision of my family. Teachers should foster so intellectual discussions at school too. There is no reason that they should be excluded form the happenings on that are all around them. Perhaps more open respectful discussions in schools will lead to a better sense of knowing for the students.