Chapter 11 and 12:
I live with two teenagers that refuse to read a book even if
it is for school. Creating a lifelong reader is not an easy job when they have
it set that they hate to read. This is the challenge that I am going to face in
the schools because by the time the students enter high school their mind is
made up. Chapter twelve brought up get ideas to help create lifelong readers. The
idea that students have to read certain material will always be there but they
also need choice. There are many dry and boring books about history that to be
honest I do not even want to read. However, there are also books about history
written as a narrative that conveys the same information. This goes back to
Nukirk’s talk about narrative and how life is a narrative so we understand
material better in a narrative form. The material needs to be level appropriate
and the students need choice, making this harder for me as a teacher to find
the best books. However, a little extra effort to create a reading community is
worth it if the students are actually excited to learn and read. Chapter eleven
talks about the difficulty some students have with reading which makes them not
like to read at all. The change over in the third grade from learning to read
to reading to learn is critical. Once the students learn to read it does not
mean they know how to read to learn. These strategies need to be taught and
expanded on with every reading assignment. The use of an organizer, think out
loud, and self-monitoring are things I have been doing so long it is an unconscious
response. The hard part is making sure to stop myself and make that I do not
just assume the students know how to do it because I do.
Another reading strategy and what researchers say about it:
I was definitely a difficult student when it came to reading. I had to really like a book to read it. Throughout school, it felt like I was forced to read, which made me want to read even less. I also believe that giving students choice in what they read is a great approach. I remember having to do summer reading assignments in high school, and going into my Junior year, I had to read "Team of Rivals," which is like a million page book about the whole life of Abraham Lincoln. I could not, for the life of me, bring myself to read that book, never mind write a five page reflective essay about it. However, going into my Senior year, we had a list of like twenty books to choose from and we had to read three, all about the theme "Coming of Age." It was a heck of a lot better because I got to choose the books I liked and they were relate-able, all about growing up into adulthood.
ReplyDeletePS Don't ever make your students read "Team of Rivals" !!!!!!!