Name & Summarize about the chapters you read.
Chapter 16: The Value of Reading More
The biggest takeaways from this chapter is the importance of books starting from a very young age and deliberate practice. Although many of us may know the following fact already, it is important to reiterate when it comes to summarizing this chapter. That fact is that, if children are read one picture book a day from the age of 0-5 years old, they will hear 1.4 million words whereas a child who gets read 1-2 books a week will only hear 63,000 words by the time they turn five. (p. 269) However, reading to kids each night many times is a habit that was passed on from previous generations. Additionally, time and access can be problematic to some kids reaching the one book a day minimum. Personally, I know that my two children rarely go to bed each night without reading 3-4 books (tonight it was 6). It just so happens that tonight we read Ada Twist Scientist, which is written by the same author described on page 268. As Beers mentions, there are many tier 2 words being used in this book which will set my children up for success academically. Lastly, the art of deliberate practice was discussed in detail. Although people like to think if they practice something for 10,000 hours they will be the best, it comes more from deliberate practice or having a focused, purposful and valuable goal of said practice. A teachers role in this is to set goals for each "practice session", this may be better known as homework, give feedback and have the practiced skill or task be ongoing and repeated. By doing this a teachers end goal is to move students closer to being classified as read alone students versus read aloud.
Chapter 19: The Power of a Book
Can you think of a favorite book or author? Many people may be able to think of multiple favorite authors or books! However, some students may struggle with this question. A story was shared in this chapter about how libraries can be overwhelming places for students that don't know where to look to find a "good book". By simply narrowing the choices they have to find a good book may help some of those students who are on the edge become readers. All it takes is one book. I've personally seen it happen and have been searching for that moment again.
Chapter 20: The Role of Relevance
This chapter is about the importance of PERSONAL relevance, not the teachers but each individual within the learning community. There are three different types of relevance: Association, Usefulness & Identity. From this list of three, identity is the most relevant. One way to help students see a deeper relevance in any type of lesson gives kids choice because "when a voice is silenced, an identity is silenced". (p. 326)
How will these impact your teaching?
After reading these chapters it just solidified the importance of reading. Even reading to students aloud will be beneficial to help students whose families may not value reading begin to close some gaps. One book that I read recently to my children, Tomatos for Neela, I think would be a great leaping off point for my unit on European Exploration because there is a small reference to the Columbian Exchange. More often than not food can spark memories and means something more to people just like in this book. I would then challenge students to find a recipe that moves them in some personal way to put into a class cookbook. All the chapters I chose focused on reading because I am so passionate about it and wanted to learn more. As I let myself think and ruminate over these chapters I read, I am sure more ideas will pop into my head.
What strategies did you take away and how will you implement them into your teaching?
Some strategies that I took away from this section that I will be implementing into my teaching is helping students find more relevance in Social Studies. I plan to do this by sharing more of my relevance that doesn't relate to getting into college or passing a test as well as giving students a choice whenever I can. Another thing I want to do is more book reading in my classroom in general. I want to have a class book we are reading that may not relate to my content at all. I think about the many books out there that will entertain students and make them think on a deeper level. Maybe if I can just find a "good book" for a few students that would be the difference in them reading for a grade versus reading for pleasure.