Catching Readers Before They Fall [chapters 1-3]

            In E340 we have learned different strategies for reading comprehension.  These strategies are meant to help learners understand and put meaning to the text—not just “read the words”.

·       Connecting Background Knowledge to the Text

·       Asking Questions

·       Making Inferences

·       Visualizing

·       Determining Importance

·       Summarizing and Synthesizing

As I read chapter two of Catching Readers Before They Fall, I kept thinking about how learning these strategies at a young age can help students read and not fall behind.  All students have the ability to be a good reader if they are given the right tools and plenty of opportunities to practice their skills.  It is reiterated throughout the entire reading that a reading process system is essential for students to be successful readers.  Johnson and Keier say that readers who have a reading process system are (1) constantly thinking while reading, (2) notice when their reading doesn’t sound right or make sense, (3) stop when something isn’t right, and (4) use different strategies to fix their mistakes or confusions.

            I think it is important for teachers to be strategic when teaching students how to read.  Teachers need to provide opportunities for students to practice reading, guidance to help construct reading process systems when they’re struggling, and support so students have confidence in their reading abilities.  Personally, I wish I took more chances when I was in grade school to read out loud or maybe put more effort into reading than I actually did.  I can honestly say that I was one of those students that just “read the words” and didn’t put meaning to them.  It was hard for me in grade school but learning about these strategies at the late age of twenty makes me wish that I enjoyed reading—school work or at leisure.

            Vygotsky’s theory focuses on the connections between people and their interactions in their own experiences.  This theory emphasizes the students’ role in learning and how they apply their knowledge to the environment around.  Vygotsky’s theory can be beneficial to all types of learners and can enhance cognitive development.  The zone of proximal development is another crucial concept to fully understand Vygotsky’s theory.  He believes that teachers are doing their best when they are working within the child’s zone of proximal development.  This “zone” is the distance between a student’s ability to perform a task with your guidance and their ability to solve the problem independently.  I think that scaffolding is an effective way to teach.  You first show them how it’s done, then give them a little guidance, and then allow them to do the task on their own.  Step by step a learner will understand what is being taught!  Using Vygotsky’s concepts as an aid to teach readers how to read will help me better understand that some students will struggle with reading.  I understand that everyone learns at a different pace and I think that this theory does a good job explaining how to implement this type of teaching into the classroom.

"What Really Matters for Struggling Readers" by Richard Allington

            History has shown the human race that the ability to read and write gives one power.  Literacy is power.  In chapter 2, What Really Matters: Kids Need to Read A Lot, Allington discusses how much reading kids should fit in to their daily schedules and the correlation between the amount of reading time a child partakes in and standardized scores.  Early in the chapter he discusses the differences between students reading aloud in groups and students silently reading.  When I was in elementary school, I remember I always enjoyed reading aloud with the entire class rather than silently reading.  In hindsight, it probably was not the most beneficial way to enhance my literacy skills.  I only enjoyed reading aloud because I did not have to read as much, say as many words, or listen to the entire text.  If I had to read the book and comprehend by myself on a more daily basis, I most likely would have had higher reading scores throughout my standardized testing and would have felt more confident in my literacy abilities.

            Just as practice makes perfect—Allington repeatedly suggests that reading more coincides with improved reading.  I think it is hard to say how much reading students need as a group.  Every student is on a different level with literacy.  Therefore, I think it would be most beneficial to have individual reading time and class reading time.  My third grade teacher would always end the day continuing the chapter book we were reading throughout the year—Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.  I really enjoyed this time not only because it was a fun book to read at that age but because she would follow up with questions that we would have to comprehend from her reading the book.  She would then leave the book on her desk if we wanted to look back and read it ourselves.  We could read at our own pace and that was comforting to know.  In my future classroom, I would like to set aside time each day or every other day for reading—alone or in groups.  I think it is important to acknowledge that everyone learns differently and at different paces.  Having time for students to read on alone is beneficial to their cognitive development and will help them discover how reading and writing can be fun.

            As I continue reading Allington’s excerpts from chapters two and three, my mind keeps going back to the “Accelerated Reader’s Program” we had at our elementary school.  I was not in the higher levels whatsoever, however I did enjoy this system.  Every student was able to read books that they were comfortable reading—not too easy and not too difficult.  It was easy to find a genre or topic that you were interested in.  After each book, there would be a comprehension test of that specific book for you.  Personally, I thought this was a great way to see how well I understood the book.  And depending on the books I read, I would move up a level.  The “Accelerated Reader’s Program” was one tool to help students and teachers track the progress made regarding reading and literacy.