EXPERIENCE FIRSTHAND

Video Transcript: Reading
	[opens on students in class] Student, reading out loud: Dutch and English both. Teacher: What did we learn in that paragraph? Please paraphrase that last paragraph. [cut to Henry, a seventh grade student, searching through his reading materials, teacher waiting at the blackboard] Dr. Mel Levine: Henry, what would you say would be your weakest thing? Henry: Understanding. Dr. Levine: Understanding...? Henry: Reading. Dr. Levine: And maybe it's understanding language? Henry: No, understanding like, when I read, I don't pay attention. I don't, like, when I read, I read it but then they ask me to say what it was about, I won't--I won't say it. Dr. Levine: Why? Henry: I don't know, 'cause I don't, I forget about it. Dr. Levine: uh-huh Henry: I don't understand it. Dr. Levine: OK. It's hard to remember things you don't understand. Henry: Yeah. Dr. Levine: Right. Dr. Levine: It's not unusual to have a child whom if you interrupt her after every couple of sentences and ask her a question about what she's reading she gets it right. And then if you ask her after a page to summarize what she just read, she can't remember any of it. And you can see some pretty significant disparities between understanding and remembering during reading.
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