-Name & Summarize (a few sentences) about the chapters you read.
Chapter 16: The Value of Reading More - the chapter begins by discussing the million-word gap that students entering kindergarten will have if they haven't been read to every day from birth until they enter school. The gap will continue to widen when students don't read for fun as they get older. Figure 16.5 shared the progression of sharing a text from reading aloud to reading along to reading alone. These progressions help to develop fluency, build word recognition skills, and help students work towards the end goal of being able to read alone.
Chapter 17: The Interdependent Relationship of Skill and Will - struggling readers will develop negative behaviors to avoid having to read and to take the focus off them. This chapter focuses on how to combat those behaviors, help motivate students to stick with it, and build confidence in struggling readers.
Chapter 18: Monoligic and Dialogic Talk - monologic talk occurs when the person asking the question already knows the answer whereas dialogic talk is more of a back and forth conversation in which the person asking the question does not know the answer. The list of dialogic questions to ask students on pages 308-310 are fantastic. Small group discussions and turn and talks with these questions would encourage a greater amount of dialogue as opposed to just one word answers to questions.
- How will these impact your teaching?
I often read aloud in my math classroom when introducing a new topic, posing word problems, and when giving directions. I would like to encourage students to follow along while I am reading and also be able to encourage them to read more problems on their own. I feel that dialogic questions are already present in my classroom. One of my favorite bell ringers to do is called "Which One Doesn't Belong". There is a website (wobd.ca) that presents four pictures and asks students to decide which one doesn't belong. I have done this as an independent bell ringer as well as in pairs or small groups. I enjoy hearing their explanations and I love questioning them about ones that they did not pick. I think that I could get creative in my questioning and really relate a lot of this book into the math classroom.
-What strategies did you take away and how will you implement them into your teaching?
I don't often have students read aloud in the math classroom. I feel like I could do this more, especially in small groups. There was a strategy that mentioned placing a post-it by certain things in the text based on a question from the teacher. I could have my students do this with a highlighter in word problems and have them read what they highlighted aloud.