Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning

I feel that this chapter had a lot of good strategies to use in the classroom. The "Say Something" strategy seemed like a nice strategy to use but I would have to see it actually work before I think I would use it. I could see it working with students who know how to make inferences and be engaged with the texts but I am not sure how it would work with students who cannot do these things. I could see student becoming easily distracted if they are not engaged in the text. I liked how Beers pointed out some ways of grading the strategy and using it as participation points, which may be an incentive for students to actually do the strategy. I really like that she was using "The Tell-Tale Heart" because it is by Poe, who is one of my favorite authors.

Another strategy I really liked is the Character Bulletin Boards. I am a firm believer in having visual aids in the classroom. I really hated it when the posters on the walls had NOTHING to do with what we were actually doing. They were just inspiring quotes about success or from famous people. They became more of a distraction than anything else. Instead of adding to my knowledge, they just gave me something irrelevant to look at. If you have the Character Boards on the walls in the classroom, I think that it would help those students who may get bored or become uninterested in the class to at least look at something that pertains to what they are learning.