Reading takes work and since the work goes “underground” the concept becomes daunting for students who need to work harder than others because it is not a visual process. How do we impress upon all students that reading at any age takes practice and work?
Working with struggling readers, I often see them frustrated when they cannot read when they are in the older elementary grades. I try to encourage them that we all struggle with things, we just can't give up and keep trying. I am an avid reader and will share some of my struggles I encounter while reading, such as an unfamiliar word and how I look the word up if I can't figure out the meaning from context clues. I certainly would struggle too if I had to read and understand a medical text book or law book, so as adults there are things we struggle with too.
-What stood out to you in these chapters?
A few things stood out to me. I think it is great this book addresses the need to stop teaching to a test. When districts are putting more emphasis on a test score, it makes it difficult to be able to teach the students to become independent thinkers because the teachers feel the pressure to make sure the students are learning what they need to pass a test rather than what the students need.
Another thing that stood out to me was the difference between responsible readers and responsive readers. Responsible readers are surface readers while a responsive reader dives deeper. I find I struggle with getting my students to become more responsive and I hope to learn more strategies to help in this area.
-How does the Science of Reading impact your instruction? (regardless of content area)
In my classroom, I provide instruction on phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition on a daily basis. Due to the students I work with, we embed vocabulary and fluency instruction as we can. I try to focus on the phonological awareness and phonics the most because of the needs of my students.
-What skills are important to be able to read?
I really like figure 3.1 skilled and less skilled readers, it is really a great list to see the differences between what a skilled reader can do and a less skilled reader struggles with. I think all those skills are important to be able to read, and as the author said there are probably more skills that are not on the list. I can see so many of my students skills and needs on both lists.