Small Group Reading Instruction

Until the 70's fluency was not studied extensively as a reading component, but people have found that fluency is integral to successful comprehension. The author states that fluency is effected by automacity and prosody. I thought that it was very interesting that the most effective way of enhancing fluency is by doing repeated reading orally. Intermediate readers should be doing this in small group instruction, and even advanced readers are advised to work on this at home. In the classroom this could manifest in a couple of different ways: reader's theatre, choral reading, etc.

5 Homework Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities

I really enjoyed this article because it gave very practicle homework strategies for struggling students. Infact, many of the suggestions are beneficial for all students. For example, teachers must give clear and appropriate assignments to students. I loved how she tells teachers to establish homework routines at the beginning of the year. This includes information about credit, late assignments, etc. I found as a classroom teacher that this is crucial to holding high expectations! I also liked how she suggests that students graph their homework returns and completion. This will give struggling students the visual accountability they need to stay on track. Also she suggests that students keep a homework calendar. Students with disabilities need this additional organizational support.

ELL's and Reading

This article made a couple very important points when adjusting instruction to meet the needs of 2nd language learners. All of these are critical to succesfully teaching ESOL kids. The following are some of the most interesting points to consider:

1. Teachers need to be aware their ESOL kids language structures. Spanish phonetics and sentence structure is similar to English in many ways, but many Asian languages are very different in not only their sounds but their writing styles. This can easily hold back students until they can associate an English sound with a letter.
2. Read alouds are very important as they model intonation and expression. These kids need to hear fluent readers as much as possible.
3. Reading instruction must have connections with prior learning or with real life. These kids need to make connections to facilitate the reading process.
4. Finally, Students must receive direct vocabulary instruction by the ESOL teacher.

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.