Reading Workshop for Struggling Readers

Holding kids accountable for their learning is a vital part of the process. I loved in the article where she explains how and why she uses conference forms. Not only does this type of document give a teacher valuable information about the student (as far as the student's interest, etc.); it also gives teachers that "carrott" to hold over kids to help keep them on task. When a child knows they must write or conference with a teacher about the book they are reading, the student feels an impetus to pay attention and complete the task.

I also liked how students had some control over when they wanted to attend a conference. When they completed the form, and they signed up for a conference. As long as a teacher sets up guidelines for when and how students sign up for a conference, this can be very successful.

Orchestrating Multiple Intelligences

Planning for the multiple intelligences can be hard and time consuming; however, I agree with the author that rich environments are more efficient then planning lessons for the 9 different intelligences. When I envision "rich environments," I see centers about the same topic highlighting the different intelligences. However, is it feasible to create such environments for every lesson? Can a teacher apply every intelligence to every topic? Some of the intelligences, interpersonal, spatial, and linguistic can easily be hit in many lessons. It will take time and TRAINING to help teachers include musical, naturalistic, kinesthetic, etc. How to create such rich environments needs to be a professional development emphasis, but I feel that our own district policies for developing linguistic skills will block PD about developing other intelligences. This is not in only our district but an emphasis in most districts. Thus, it is critical that teachers of other disciplines (like art, music, PE, foreign languages) or classroom teachers whose strengths lie in other areas need to stand up for their students and demand training and teaching time in the other intelligences. Students SHOULD NOT lose instruction in the arts and humanities for the sake of developing linguistic and logical/mathematical skills. All of these disciplines should work together to create well rounded citizens of this new century.

Guided Reading for Developing and Fluent Readers

What impressed me the most about these articles is their attention to the learning after the reading.

One of the "after reading" suggestions is metacognition. Helping kids to think about their learning, whether it be their strengths or weaknesses, is something that teachers should model. On a personal level self reflection is so important because it makes me revise how I do something. This is a skill which is not always easy as it tends to highlight on what we need to work; however, I find that when I do metacognition, I can better support my view points.

I also loved the extension ideas. This certainly hits higher level thinking where they take what they have read/learned and apply it to make something of their own. The author suggests writing sequels or alternate endings even for developing readers. How cool is that? If you take a book with a controversial ending, you could really illicit some interesting writing from your students! The ideas for developing readers I think are still very appropriate for fluent readers when graded and scaffolded differently.

Response 2 - A Matter of Interest

Older readers who struggle shy away from reading when they constantly have bad experiences with texts. These kids need literature that challenges them and not defeats them. So, what motivates a person to read? Well, I have to agree with the author of the article that people read what they are interested in. Giving students good experiences with topics they are interested in will motivate students to read more and more.

The interesting and useful thing about this article was her discussion and explination of why certain types of text work. I loved the street rhymes idea where students collected the rhymes from the community and compared and contrasted them as a class. What a great way to tap into personal experience with repetitive language! I also liked their discussion behind the use of comics and magazines. These types of literature really motive your struggling and disintrested reader! I know from experience that boys love these type of texts, and it is exciting to see them become "addicted" to reading.

Lastly, schools and teachers should provide interesting materials available for free reading. THis is VERY important, as stated by the author. Although some of these texts might not be deemed "educational," it is important that we allow students to read what they want for pleasure. If we can get them feeling great about reading, I truly believe they will be more willing to read assigned texts.

Response 1 : Overview of Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers

The article pointed out an interesting fact about struggling readers. The data doesn't show a difference between Learning Disabled Students and poor readers. Wow, if this doesn't motivate teachers to move students out of the struggling category, I don't know what would. So what should we do to reach these students? Intensive instruction and early interventions are the key to helping struggling readers. These interventions would be closely aligned with the curriculum currently used in the classroom. The article listed many methods to use when trying to intervene when students are struggling with reading.

My concern is the logistics of pulling kids from classroom/realted arts instruction. I know that intervening when they is a reading Logistically, does this mean the interventionist needs to find materials that support what the students are missing? From what classes will they be pulled? Kids need to be able to use their brains in different ways. That's why related arts are so important, but I know that the classroom teachers are reluctant to give up more instruction time with these fragile students. It truly is a conundrum.