-Name & Summarize (a few sentences) about the chapters you read.
I read Chapters 15, 16 and 20.
Chapter 15 was all about Phonics and Phonics instruction. I liked how they broke everything down, General Vocab., Words about syllables, Words about Letters and Sounds etc. Figure 15.6 Scaffolds for Teaching Phonics I found to be helpful and I could use in small group instruction.
Chapter 16 The Value of Reading More started off talking about The Million-Word Gap. Figure 16.1 The Million-Word Gap says it all. Reading to children everyday from birth until they enter kindergarten exposes them to a MILLION MORE WORDS than children read to only once or twice a week. We need to find a way, to spark children's interest in reading and to get parents/guardians to read to their children daily/nightly to lessen that gap.
Chapter 20 The Role of Relevance. "Relevance is what motivates, and what motivates is what engages." I found this quote to be very powerful. As educators we want students to be engaged in reading so that they can learn. I think we need to teach and explain to students why things are relevant to their life, so they want to learn and apply that information. I liked figure 20.1 (pg 322) which shows how Association, Usefulness and Identity are all linked to Relevance.
Since I work more with small groups I am hoping to be able to apply alot of these strategies within my groups. I want to plan out atleast a 5-10 block for a read aloud with my groups either at the beginning or end of our session. I think I will be referring to this book and it's figures for references on Phonics Instruction and well as many other things.I am hoping to be able to incorporate and make big changes within my small groups and help classroom teachers along the way as well. Pinpoint where a child is at, start there and see the progress being made each day.