Name & Summarize (a few sentences) about the chapters you read.
I read Chapter 13 on Fluency and Automaticity. The gist of this chapter is that good readers decode without having to think about it and how we get there is through practice. There were a few examples of students in this chapter and suggestions on how we work with those students. The chapter also touched upon how we teach intonation and why read alouds are important.
I then skipped chapter to Chapter 16 and the Value of Reading More. This chapter explained how many minutes a year a student would need to practice to help them continue to become proficient readers. Children who are exposed to a million words by the time they are five, which equates to a book a day, don't start off with a reading gap. However, we need to keep that momentum throughout their education so that the word gap does not widen. The author defined deliberate practice which is different then Drop Everything and Read. She also explained how we can scaffold reading to make students better independent readers while they are deliberately practicing in the classroom.
Chapter 17 discussed the relationship between skill and will. The chapter broke down how we can motivate students when they are feeling emotionally stuck and unable to work.
- How will these impact your teaching?
It is no mystery that the more we read the better we become at reading, but the way Kylene Debeers describes how to fine tune our practice with deliberate reading and also to help student move along in their practice in working with reading will be a game changer for me. I plan on giving my students intentional work for their reading time, and also working more with students one on one especially the students who don't currently have the will or the confidence to tackle what is getting in their way of being a reader.
-What strategies did you take away and how will you implement them into your teaching?
I loved the chart on p.289-290 on Ways to Counteract Negative Behavior. I plan on taking that with me into the classroom this year.
I also plan on having my students talk more about what they are reading this year. We will have a minilesson, work time, and share at the end of the period when we are in reading units. That is the only difficult element of our schedule is we only have 40 minutes a day and I have to work on reading and writing. I am strongly considering doing a bend of reading and then a bend of writing so that they don't go too long without practicing either skill. I am still pondering how to do this.