(From the theme of Beers's book....)
Dear Dr.Pytash,
Thank you so much for all you have done for me this semester. Coming into your class as a Social Studies student was a completely different experience than I have had my entire undergrad. The ideas and concepts to help students along with comprehension in the classroom have really hit me hard. I really and honestly can't wait to use them in a classroom. I enjoyed coming to class every week, and really enjoyed the literature you introduced me too. I have dipped my toes into the young adult literature genre, but now I am totally diving head first. I know some may think this as brown-nosing, but I just want you to honestly know how I feel about your class.
I am pretty sure I will use more methods and got more ideas on how to use literature in the classroom that I have in any other class. I am glad When Kids Can't Read was picked for this class, since I really learned a lot about struggling readers that I never would have without the text. I have definitely become more conscious about struggling readers in the classroom and have the tools to begin to help them. I also am motivated to incorporate literature into my Social Studies classes more than ever.
Thank you Dr. Pytash for everything you do...you have truly made a difference in my life.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Chapter 14: Finding the Right Book
"I also had to learn that while I wanted lots of characters, non readers often wanted few. I wanted a complicated plot; they wanted straightforward. I wanted to grapple with the biggest human issues set upon the individual human heart and consciousness while they wanted Captain Underpants." p.282-283
We have been exposed to a lot of books in class, and I'm very thankful for that since I love to read and have now been exposed to the world of young adult literature.
Beers gives some things to think about when picking books, some of my favorites are:
-white space (students can become overwhelmed with tons of text page after page)
-funny books (there is nothing better than a book that can make you laugh out loud, and I would think it would be nice for students to realize that)
-characters who face though choices (since most teens have this in common with the characters)
-realistic (I know language can be a barrier, but teens talk like teens....so it makes sense to put it in a book)
Beers talks about how to sell the books to the students, some of my favorites she lists are:
-Read and Tease
-Good Books Box
-Know your students' interests
Along with Dr.Pytash's list of places to find books, Beers provides great sources.
Yours Reading,
Sara
We have been exposed to a lot of books in class, and I'm very thankful for that since I love to read and have now been exposed to the world of young adult literature.
Beers gives some things to think about when picking books, some of my favorites are:
-white space (students can become overwhelmed with tons of text page after page)
-funny books (there is nothing better than a book that can make you laugh out loud, and I would think it would be nice for students to realize that)
-characters who face though choices (since most teens have this in common with the characters)
-realistic (I know language can be a barrier, but teens talk like teens....so it makes sense to put it in a book)
Beers talks about how to sell the books to the students, some of my favorites she lists are:
-Read and Tease
-Good Books Box
-Know your students' interests
Along with Dr.Pytash's list of places to find books, Beers provides great sources.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond
"Our dependent readers don't believe they can succeed and they don't believe they have anything to offer. You must believe for them." p.280
Beers tackles the topic of confidence of the student in the classroom. Thinking about being in a classroom and having the nerve to speak up and say what is on your mind has always come easy to me. I do think a lot of that has come from me being a confident reader, outgoing person, and being accepted in the classroom. Teachers need to encourage their students and make the environment comfortable to speak in. Beers gives some ways a teacher can help with the environment: Make sure students know each others names, Embrace the diversity in your classroom, and make sure there is ZERO tolerance for put downs.
These don't always let students know it is okay to respond in the class so Beers also makes it known that teachers should also provide the students with various ways for engagement. Several of her suggestions are:
-personal response log
-response notes
-very small groups
-in-class literature circles
-online literature circles
Beers also makes it known that picking an appropriate text is important, you need to think about the level of your readers and also the subject matter that is covered in the book. Picking something out of their level range and something they are totally not interested in will not result in them finding reading fun nor important. This is where SSR can fit in, making the students know what is available for them to read and that they have many options should be something presented in class. Beers seems to cover this in Chapter 14 about picking the right books.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Beers tackles the topic of confidence of the student in the classroom. Thinking about being in a classroom and having the nerve to speak up and say what is on your mind has always come easy to me. I do think a lot of that has come from me being a confident reader, outgoing person, and being accepted in the classroom. Teachers need to encourage their students and make the environment comfortable to speak in. Beers gives some ways a teacher can help with the environment: Make sure students know each others names, Embrace the diversity in your classroom, and make sure there is ZERO tolerance for put downs.
These don't always let students know it is okay to respond in the class so Beers also makes it known that teachers should also provide the students with various ways for engagement. Several of her suggestions are:
-personal response log
-response notes
-very small groups
-in-class literature circles
-online literature circles
Beers also makes it known that picking an appropriate text is important, you need to think about the level of your readers and also the subject matter that is covered in the book. Picking something out of their level range and something they are totally not interested in will not result in them finding reading fun nor important. This is where SSR can fit in, making the students know what is available for them to read and that they have many options should be something presented in class. Beers seems to cover this in Chapter 14 about picking the right books.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Chapter 10: Fluency and Automaticity
"It's so important to remember that students don't develop automaticity via decoding but rather through repeated exposure to a word they can decode."
I like how Beers really tried to hammer in the fact that reading automaticity will lead to fluency. I also like how she pointed out the fact that when we think we are helping students by providing them with the word we are helping them out. I will be the first to say it is hard to listen to a struggling reader read aloud when they have problems with fluency and I do have problems myself with just giving them the word they are searching for, and I will work on that.
My two favorite improving fluency suggestions from Beers is:
#2 Give varied opportunities to hear texts (I think this is important so that we can really help the reader connect with the text.)
#3 Give the students the opportunity to reread. (We have heard from Beers earlier how important and beneficial it can be to reread a text with her To Kill a Mocking Bird reference.)
Yours Reading,
Sara
I like how Beers really tried to hammer in the fact that reading automaticity will lead to fluency. I also like how she pointed out the fact that when we think we are helping students by providing them with the word we are helping them out. I will be the first to say it is hard to listen to a struggling reader read aloud when they have problems with fluency and I do have problems myself with just giving them the word they are searching for, and I will work on that.
My two favorite improving fluency suggestions from Beers is:
#2 Give varied opportunities to hear texts (I think this is important so that we can really help the reader connect with the text.)
#3 Give the students the opportunity to reread. (We have heard from Beers earlier how important and beneficial it can be to reread a text with her To Kill a Mocking Bird reference.)
Yours Reading,
Sara
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Chapter 9: Vocabulary
“It only took my struggling readers about one week to figure out that if they were honest and listed all the words they didn’t know, they would have very long lists; so instead. They didn’t choose any.” P. 177
Vocabulary to me means getting out flashcards and reviewing them until my brain can’t possibly hold anymore information for the day!! I think calling certain vocabulary work ‘TV Work’ is completely correct, since in college and in high school I would sit in front of the TV or be chatting with friends while I was reviewing my flashcards.
The Word Across strategy is really cool, since it makes the students think about how differently one specific word can be used in different contexts. This will not only expand their vocabulary, but hopefully expand their comprehension with different meanings of words.
The Word Collection is a great strategy in classrooms. I observed and taught in a classroom where the teacher used this strategy, and would then put up the words all around the room, by the end of the year she would have a ‘boarder’ of words around her room. This was really neat because the students could look around and really get a feel for all the words they now knew. This was also in a US History class, in which the students needed to know a lot of vocabulary for the OGT.
The Logographic Clues is a great way to give the ‘flashcard’ a makeover. Drawing a picture to connect with the word, and still writing the definition and other information about the word is a great alternative to typical flashcards. I can see this being used in a Social Studies classroom, or specifically in a geography classroom.
Vocabulary is important and so many teachers have always done it in the same way, but I do think these strategies can be used to enhance student vocabulary….without the specifically knowing we are working ON vocabulary!!
Yours Reading,
Sara
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Chapter 8: Extending Meaning
"That limited vision is particularly damaging to dependent readers. These students, more than any others, need activities that bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level." p. 175
This chapter was once again very useful when thinking about using strategies in a Social Studies classroom. While I have been reading I have been trying to envision myself using strategies in the classroom, because for me I have to come up with my own ideas how to use the strategies to incorporate them into a content area classroom. This has helped me, but it also takes me a little time to sort things out in my head to find a place for some strategies in the classroom.
Scales
The Likert scale would be good in the classroom because it concentrates on the idea of themes, conflicts, and symbolism. These are always concepts that Social Studies teachers are trying to get students to grasp. Creating the scales doesn't always seem as easy as one would think. Beers talks about how you have to use scales that require reflection and thought, which not that creating one wouldn't , but I feel that the scale would be something that would/could be tweaked each year (like almost all other things) to better the learning experience.
Somebody Wanted But So
I love this for the Social Studies room. The scale and the process, would work really well in a history, geography, government, economics, and MANY other Social Sciences classes. This would eventually push the student towards the concepts of the time period. I am looking forward to using this in a classroom....someday....someday. (If I can obtain a job :-P)
Save the Last Word for Me
Once again...never heard of this strategy, and really like it! Like Beers says, it is completely perfect for those students who are afraid to speak up in class for fear they are wrong or shy. This is also a very good way to make sure when students are in group work, there isn't only a few students participating.
Over the span of reading this book, I keep finding myself more anxious to get into MY OWN classroom!! I hope the opportunity will come soon for an interview and I can talk about my knowledge, and I can eventually whip out my arsenal of strategies and really make a difference. Now I just need an interview....
Your Reading,
Sara
This chapter was once again very useful when thinking about using strategies in a Social Studies classroom. While I have been reading I have been trying to envision myself using strategies in the classroom, because for me I have to come up with my own ideas how to use the strategies to incorporate them into a content area classroom. This has helped me, but it also takes me a little time to sort things out in my head to find a place for some strategies in the classroom.
Scales
The Likert scale would be good in the classroom because it concentrates on the idea of themes, conflicts, and symbolism. These are always concepts that Social Studies teachers are trying to get students to grasp. Creating the scales doesn't always seem as easy as one would think. Beers talks about how you have to use scales that require reflection and thought, which not that creating one wouldn't , but I feel that the scale would be something that would/could be tweaked each year (like almost all other things) to better the learning experience.
Somebody Wanted But So
I love this for the Social Studies room. The scale and the process, would work really well in a history, geography, government, economics, and MANY other Social Sciences classes. This would eventually push the student towards the concepts of the time period. I am looking forward to using this in a classroom....someday....someday. (If I can obtain a job :-P)
Save the Last Word for Me
Once again...never heard of this strategy, and really like it! Like Beers says, it is completely perfect for those students who are afraid to speak up in class for fear they are wrong or shy. This is also a very good way to make sure when students are in group work, there isn't only a few students participating.
Over the span of reading this book, I keep finding myself more anxious to get into MY OWN classroom!! I hope the opportunity will come soon for an interview and I can talk about my knowledge, and I can eventually whip out my arsenal of strategies and really make a difference. Now I just need an interview....
Your Reading,
Sara
Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning
"For too long we've told them to "think carefully" about what they've read without showing them how to do that thinking." p. 137
This chapter was a nice link to Chapter 5, since we were actually able to read strategies to help students with the ability to inference while they read. The idea that Beers presents about beginning to inference before the reading even starts is a very good point. How should we expect students to comprehend and predict what will happen without even knowing a basis about the text.
The examples I really liked were Say Something, which just happens to be one of the strategies my group is working on in class. The chart with the stem starters was a really good idea to place in the classroom or on the overhead during a Say Something activity.
The Rereading section of the chapter really made an impact on me, and I was actually able to implement it into a classroom today. One of the volunteers in the Kindergarten class I was subbing in began talking about how the students had already had a book read to them the day before, and I was able to talk about Beers's book and how rereading can actually be beneficial to students. I LOVED the example Beers gave about her daughter and reading To Kill a Mocking Bird through the different school years.
The post-it notes activities I have used frequently in the classroom with my students during my student teaching and practicum. It was very nice to know I was doing something in the classroom, which was reinforced in Beers book to helping students with comprehension and the ability to inference.
Yours Reading,
Sara
This chapter was a nice link to Chapter 5, since we were actually able to read strategies to help students with the ability to inference while they read. The idea that Beers presents about beginning to inference before the reading even starts is a very good point. How should we expect students to comprehend and predict what will happen without even knowing a basis about the text.
The examples I really liked were Say Something, which just happens to be one of the strategies my group is working on in class. The chart with the stem starters was a really good idea to place in the classroom or on the overhead during a Say Something activity.
The Rereading section of the chapter really made an impact on me, and I was actually able to implement it into a classroom today. One of the volunteers in the Kindergarten class I was subbing in began talking about how the students had already had a book read to them the day before, and I was able to talk about Beers's book and how rereading can actually be beneficial to students. I LOVED the example Beers gave about her daughter and reading To Kill a Mocking Bird through the different school years.
The post-it notes activities I have used frequently in the classroom with my students during my student teaching and practicum. It was very nice to know I was doing something in the classroom, which was reinforced in Beers book to helping students with comprehension and the ability to inference.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Chapter 5: Learning to Make an Inference
"This transactional nature of reading often escapes dependent readers who expect the text to provide everything." p. 69
This chapter made me think a lot about how grateful I am to be a good reader. I don't know when it happened or how it happened but I am a good reader, I have always been the girl who LOVED going to the library and was always doing the Pizza Hut reading books, and the library reading challenges. I guess I should thank my parents for being the ones who took me to all of those, and supported me through all my reading conquests.
Being a dependant reader and 'expecting' the text to provide all the answers for you HAS to be extremely frustrating when the text doesn't. It is SO true in the classroom that when a student doesn't comprehend and/or the meaning isn't directly presented the student will either stop reading, or come and as us (as the teacher) to explain the story or the answer they are looking for.
I have found myself during subbing thinking about how I am HELPING the students. Am I HELPING them, or am I GIVING them the answer. I do have to admit, now that I am really starting to think about helping vs. giving I don't get as frustrated with students when I hear the same questions over and over and over again. Instead I really think about how can I find a different way to approach the students to help them figure out or find the answer.
I know my thoughts aren't all about the 'inferencing' talked about in this chapter, but I think that teaching inferencing has to do SOOO much about HELPING the students, since we have to learn how to teach the students how to draw inferences while reading.
Yours Reading,
Sara
This chapter made me think a lot about how grateful I am to be a good reader. I don't know when it happened or how it happened but I am a good reader, I have always been the girl who LOVED going to the library and was always doing the Pizza Hut reading books, and the library reading challenges. I guess I should thank my parents for being the ones who took me to all of those, and supported me through all my reading conquests.
Being a dependant reader and 'expecting' the text to provide all the answers for you HAS to be extremely frustrating when the text doesn't. It is SO true in the classroom that when a student doesn't comprehend and/or the meaning isn't directly presented the student will either stop reading, or come and as us (as the teacher) to explain the story or the answer they are looking for.
I have found myself during subbing thinking about how I am HELPING the students. Am I HELPING them, or am I GIVING them the answer. I do have to admit, now that I am really starting to think about helping vs. giving I don't get as frustrated with students when I hear the same questions over and over and over again. Instead I really think about how can I find a different way to approach the students to help them figure out or find the answer.
I know my thoughts aren't all about the 'inferencing' talked about in this chapter, but I think that teaching inferencing has to do SOOO much about HELPING the students, since we have to learn how to teach the students how to draw inferences while reading.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Chapter 6: Frontloading Meaning
"Pre-reading strategies that focus on active engagement with the text help struggling readers do what good readers do -- think all throughout the reading process, not just at the conclusion." p. 101
I am happy to finally read a chapter that will have some actual physical strategies I can try in the classroom. I have not heard of 3 out of the 4 strategies Beers listed in the book.
I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with the first strategy of the Anticipation Guide. Since I have a Social Studies background I found this strategy to be the most relate able and I would LOVE to use this in a classroom. The fact that the students will be able to question and think about the subject before it is even presented lets the students use their prior knowledge, opinions, and thought processes to work through what they will eventually be introduced to. To me this is awesome!!
KWL charts were introduced to me at the undergrad level, and I do find them useful in the classroom, but I find that a lot of students have done them in so many classes and so many times, that their thought process are kind of automatic. It is a good strategy for those students to chart and layout their thoughts, but I would rather use the other three strategies since they are new to me and I have never seen them used in a classroom.
Probable Passage is nice too, since it allows the students to set up a chart and really get a visual sense of the text they are about to read. This seems like a nice independent activity a student could do, if a teacher has a large class but only a small amount of dependent readers, or a group of small readers. Without the use of a KWL chart.
I think that the Tea Party strategy is a good strategy too, since the students will be able to get up and out of their seats and be physically involved in the classroom, however I do think this is the biggest activity that would take the most monitoring. Since the students are allowed to move around the room and talk. I would also like to use this in the classroom, but I would think that this would be a strategy that I could use a little later in the year, so I would know my students better, and be able to keep track of their progress of comprehension during the activity.
Overall, I thought that this chapter was pretty great, since I really enjoyed the fact we were finally given some really good strategies to use in the classroom. It was also really refreshing to me to learn new ones to use in the classroom.
Yours Reading,
Sara
I am happy to finally read a chapter that will have some actual physical strategies I can try in the classroom. I have not heard of 3 out of the 4 strategies Beers listed in the book.
I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with the first strategy of the Anticipation Guide. Since I have a Social Studies background I found this strategy to be the most relate able and I would LOVE to use this in a classroom. The fact that the students will be able to question and think about the subject before it is even presented lets the students use their prior knowledge, opinions, and thought processes to work through what they will eventually be introduced to. To me this is awesome!!
KWL charts were introduced to me at the undergrad level, and I do find them useful in the classroom, but I find that a lot of students have done them in so many classes and so many times, that their thought process are kind of automatic. It is a good strategy for those students to chart and layout their thoughts, but I would rather use the other three strategies since they are new to me and I have never seen them used in a classroom.
Probable Passage is nice too, since it allows the students to set up a chart and really get a visual sense of the text they are about to read. This seems like a nice independent activity a student could do, if a teacher has a large class but only a small amount of dependent readers, or a group of small readers. Without the use of a KWL chart.
I think that the Tea Party strategy is a good strategy too, since the students will be able to get up and out of their seats and be physically involved in the classroom, however I do think this is the biggest activity that would take the most monitoring. Since the students are allowed to move around the room and talk. I would also like to use this in the classroom, but I would think that this would be a strategy that I could use a little later in the year, so I would know my students better, and be able to keep track of their progress of comprehension during the activity.
Overall, I thought that this chapter was pretty great, since I really enjoyed the fact we were finally given some really good strategies to use in the classroom. It was also really refreshing to me to learn new ones to use in the classroom.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Monday, September 13, 2010
Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension
"What doesn't seem to ever be confused, though, is every one's belief that the point of reading is comprehension." p. 59
I think this chapter really shows us something that we have all done as educators....confuse teaching comprehension with explaining what is happening in the text. I know I have done exactly what Beers talks about in the book, and thought nothing of it. She points out that we must show the students HOW to do it, and focus on being very direct and explicit while doing do. Her instructional practices really made me take notice, and it was nice to finally be able to see something that we can try to use in the classroom and how to use it. In a way I think that Beers is modeling how we can use these practices in the classroom with the six guidelines:
1. Decide on specific strategies you want to model and text you want to use.
2. Tell the student exactly the strategy you'll be practicing, before modeling.
3. Model the strategy.
4. Give the students multiple chances to practice.
5. Continue to model as student needs change or the genre changes.
6. Give the student a chance to complete without support from the teacher.
Beers also made it very clear that if we spend more time on strategies NOW then we will have to spend less time on them later....this being really important I think since once a student can use a strategy they will really be able to stick closer with the class as a whole, therefore increasing their confidence. Guided questioning was brought up all the time in my undergrad, and I will have to really try to focus with the struggling readers to guide my questions towards how to COME UP with the answers, not WHAT the answers are. This hopefully leading to my students gaining comprehension skills and making sense of the text.
Yours Reading,
Sara
I think this chapter really shows us something that we have all done as educators....confuse teaching comprehension with explaining what is happening in the text. I know I have done exactly what Beers talks about in the book, and thought nothing of it. She points out that we must show the students HOW to do it, and focus on being very direct and explicit while doing do. Her instructional practices really made me take notice, and it was nice to finally be able to see something that we can try to use in the classroom and how to use it. In a way I think that Beers is modeling how we can use these practices in the classroom with the six guidelines:
1. Decide on specific strategies you want to model and text you want to use.
2. Tell the student exactly the strategy you'll be practicing, before modeling.
3. Model the strategy.
4. Give the students multiple chances to practice.
5. Continue to model as student needs change or the genre changes.
6. Give the student a chance to complete without support from the teacher.
Beers also made it very clear that if we spend more time on strategies NOW then we will have to spend less time on them later....this being really important I think since once a student can use a strategy they will really be able to stick closer with the class as a whole, therefore increasing their confidence. Guided questioning was brought up all the time in my undergrad, and I will have to really try to focus with the struggling readers to guide my questions towards how to COME UP with the answers, not WHAT the answers are. This hopefully leading to my students gaining comprehension skills and making sense of the text.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Chapter 3: Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs
"As we teach necessary skills, we must also convince disabled readers that reading is an active process, one that requires their engagement, their active construction of meaning." p. 35
(Honestly I think I was a little overzealous with the last post, I'll try to calm it down this time....)
I really liked how this chapter talked about CONFIDENCE being important to a reader. Beers really made it clear that cognitive confidence and emotional confidence were both really crucial to becoming a good reader. This make so much sense, because think about the students in the classrooms that either read really quietly, refuse to read, or those who read...but very reluctantly.
Beers's list about What good readers do was pretty awesome. I really liked how in the book she listed what good readers do, and elaborated on each point. My personal favorite point was Monitoring Understanding. I thought this was vital because readers would be able to tell when:
Beers's section on Underlying Beliefs was also pretty influential on me. My favorite beliefs were:
2. Use a variety of methods
-learn how to TEACH methods, do not rely on programs
5. Fluent word recognition is super important
-if the student is spending most of their time figuring out the words then they won't have time to figure out what they mean
6. Teachers who encourage a wide range of reading
-this will improve fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
I am really learning a lot though reading this text, and am excited to try and apply some of the strategies in the classroom. I also feel that the way Beers writes is very personal for herslef and the reader, this has been helping me and the examples/scripts in the book are also very interesting to read.
Yours Reading,
Sara
(Honestly I think I was a little overzealous with the last post, I'll try to calm it down this time....)
I really liked how this chapter talked about CONFIDENCE being important to a reader. Beers really made it clear that cognitive confidence and emotional confidence were both really crucial to becoming a good reader. This make so much sense, because think about the students in the classrooms that either read really quietly, refuse to read, or those who read...but very reluctantly.
Beers's list about What good readers do was pretty awesome. I really liked how in the book she listed what good readers do, and elaborated on each point. My personal favorite point was Monitoring Understanding. I thought this was vital because readers would be able to tell when:
- they have stopped paying attention
- know when vocabulary is an issue
- know when the text confuses them
Beers's section on Underlying Beliefs was also pretty influential on me. My favorite beliefs were:
2. Use a variety of methods
-learn how to TEACH methods, do not rely on programs
5. Fluent word recognition is super important
-if the student is spending most of their time figuring out the words then they won't have time to figure out what they mean
6. Teachers who encourage a wide range of reading
-this will improve fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
I am really learning a lot though reading this text, and am excited to try and apply some of the strategies in the classroom. I also feel that the way Beers writes is very personal for herslef and the reader, this has been helping me and the examples/scripts in the book are also very interesting to read.
Yours Reading,
Sara
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Chapter 2 : Creating Independent Readers
"Teaching reading to adolescents is both rewarding and frustrating; it's a science and an art." p. 22
I first have to start out by saying....Pshhhewww!! I am so thankful this book is written in the style that it is!! I have read so many books while getting my undergrad that were painstakingly hard to get through. I find myself really being able to relate to what the author, Kylene Beers is talking about.
I can't tell you how many times, while being a substitute teacher in the school system, I find myself in a Language Arts class with students telling me exactly what Beers starts out her chapter with. Asking me question after question, that to ME sounds exactly like the question they have just asked before. Beers defiantly points out that you have to 'begin to listen' to what the students are really asking, and sometimes the students will not always be able to articulate and explain, in the detail we are expecting, why they aren't grasping the text or concept.
The students which I have most come into contact with have been the students Beers talks about in 'Moving Dependent Readers Toward Independent Reading' section, the second area. The students who are often saying to me, "I don't know how to read" (sarcastically), "reading is boring", and/or "I don't like to read". I just encountered an 8th grade student who said all of these phrases to me in one week. It makes total sense for Beers to say that these students have SO many moments of failure that their opinion of reading is extremely tainted and consider it a hassle with extreme dislike. I do think that this second area is greatly influenced by the first (lack of cognitive abilities) and can be helped by the expansion of the third area (don't know what type of books they would enjoy).
Determining who the 'Struggling Reader' is was another very interesting section. It is extremely true that the majority of us only really consider the students that show physical and verbal disdain for reading. The example of the quiet girl sitting at the side of the classroom, the popular boy in the front of the classroom, and the international students may all be considered when looking for a struggling reader. While Beers example while working with Hayley was wonderful to read and to see the transition, I am glad the side note talked about how the transition and getting to the comprehension stage is sometimes like pulling teeth.
This example was great, but I have to sit and wonder when a teacher would really have a full amount of time to sit and work with students in this one-on-one setting. I would hope that intervention specialists would really read this book, so that the teacher and the intervention specialist would really be on the same page when working with a student who is a struggling reader. Beers makes is very clear that Patience, Repetition, and Understanding of the students confusion must be considered when working with these students.
Yours Reading,
Sara
I first have to start out by saying....Pshhhewww!! I am so thankful this book is written in the style that it is!! I have read so many books while getting my undergrad that were painstakingly hard to get through. I find myself really being able to relate to what the author, Kylene Beers is talking about.
I can't tell you how many times, while being a substitute teacher in the school system, I find myself in a Language Arts class with students telling me exactly what Beers starts out her chapter with. Asking me question after question, that to ME sounds exactly like the question they have just asked before. Beers defiantly points out that you have to 'begin to listen' to what the students are really asking, and sometimes the students will not always be able to articulate and explain, in the detail we are expecting, why they aren't grasping the text or concept.
The students which I have most come into contact with have been the students Beers talks about in 'Moving Dependent Readers Toward Independent Reading' section, the second area. The students who are often saying to me, "I don't know how to read" (sarcastically), "reading is boring", and/or "I don't like to read". I just encountered an 8th grade student who said all of these phrases to me in one week. It makes total sense for Beers to say that these students have SO many moments of failure that their opinion of reading is extremely tainted and consider it a hassle with extreme dislike. I do think that this second area is greatly influenced by the first (lack of cognitive abilities) and can be helped by the expansion of the third area (don't know what type of books they would enjoy).
Determining who the 'Struggling Reader' is was another very interesting section. It is extremely true that the majority of us only really consider the students that show physical and verbal disdain for reading. The example of the quiet girl sitting at the side of the classroom, the popular boy in the front of the classroom, and the international students may all be considered when looking for a struggling reader. While Beers example while working with Hayley was wonderful to read and to see the transition, I am glad the side note talked about how the transition and getting to the comprehension stage is sometimes like pulling teeth.
This example was great, but I have to sit and wonder when a teacher would really have a full amount of time to sit and work with students in this one-on-one setting. I would hope that intervention specialists would really read this book, so that the teacher and the intervention specialist would really be on the same page when working with a student who is a struggling reader. Beers makes is very clear that Patience, Repetition, and Understanding of the students confusion must be considered when working with these students.
Yours Reading,
Sara
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