Day two was all about the students’ rereading their articles and setting specific reading purposes for their reading.  Our teachers guided the students into creating specific reading purposes by asking a few text dependent questions and referring to the genre characteristics. After a few minutes of discussion regarding setting a purpose for reading, the students created their reading purposes and went right into the work of rereading.

What I noticed right away was an obvious level of comprehension of the articles that was not there the day before.  Students were underlining different sentences and referring back to their reading purposes.  After the students were done rereading, they participated in talking with their table partners.  I heard students sharing the sentences they had underlined and also talking about the big ideas in the articles.

When we had the students share out their thinking about their reading and discussions, it was great to hear the majority of students report that the article information made sense and they actually understood the main ideas of the articles. That is what rereading with a purpose is all about!  Day two was a great success!  Students were rereading with a purpose, talking about text, referring to textual evidence, and beginning to think about the author’s claim.