Kuunari

The series “Reading Notice and Note” features essays I wrote for a distance learning class while reading the book Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by G. Kylene Beers and Robert E Probst. Overall, I found the book and the class enjoyable and hope this series helps others as they read and think about the book. 

A Memory Moment is when the author has a character remember something from the past that is pertinent to the story. As students start to read more complicated texts starting in third grade, Memory Moments can confuse students. By understanding what a Memory Moment is and what it can teach us about the text, students will be able to understand the story better and deeper.

Memory Moments often confuse my fourth grade students, particularly my students who are struggling readers. Memory Moments by definition jump the action around in time, and students need to become adept at identifying this signpost by looking for clue words like remembered or reminded. If they don’t recognize the scene as a memory moment, the students can become confused about what is happening. Once students become adept at identifying Memory Moments, the students will be able to utilize this signpost to identify more about the character and his or her background. The students will gain a better understanding about the characters, problems, and themes when they are able to closely read Memory Moments. 

While I have introduced Memory Moments for my students this year, as I begin to implement the signposts with fidelity, I will need to go over this signpost again with the students. Utilizing the lesson provided in Notice and Note, I will explain and model the signpost before having the students investigate and discuss the signposts in groups and independently. As my class is currently reading The City of Ember, I want to highlight the Memory Moments in the book. I will discuss with the students what the purpose of these Memory Moments are, particularly because the moments can be so subtle in The City of Ember. We will use the focus question, “why might this memory be important?” to drive our conversation about the memory moments as they come up. 

I will also start to introduce some of the additional questions suggested by the authors to help my students dig deeper into the memory moments. Once again, these questions can help guide the students to connect these memory moments to other signposts and to the fourth grade standards. The questions can direct the students to investigate if the memory moment explains something about a problem, internal conflict, or even reveal a Words of the Wiser as the character remembers something that someone once told them. In Among the Hidden, Luke remembers what Jen has asked him about making a difference, combining Tough Questions, Again and Again, Words of the Wiser, a Memory Moment together in one signpost. If my students had been fully exposed to all those signposts before reading that book, they would have understood right away how important that question Jen asked Luke was to the story. 

My fourth graders want to read interesting and engaging texts, but many of the books they are interested in end up being too complex for their reading comprehension. Memory Moment, more than any of the signposts, explains a common structure used in narrative stories that can be confusing for readers. Once they understand how these Memory Moments unlock meaning in the text, the students will be able to read books that once were too difficult for them.