-Name & Summarize (a few sentences) about the chapters you read.
I read chapters 13, 17, and 19. Chapter 13 talks about reading fluency and the importance of understanding that automaticity is not something that just happens because students can decode words, but that it comes from continued exposure to those words that they can already decode. Reading this chapter made me think of conversations that I would hear my mom would have with her teaching teams over the years about the difference between "word callers" and students who were reading with understanding. "Word callers" could read the words on the page well, but when asked specific comprehension questions about the text or what they thought a word meant, a lot of times they couldn't answer- they just knew that the word on the page was what they were supposed to read. Chapter 17 talked about how as children get older, they begin to read less and less, especially if they are not a confident or fluent reader. This can lead to challenging behaviors and a reluctance or flat out refusal to read in school or at home, which can in turn affect their grades. Finally, in chapter 19 it talks all about the power of a good book and ways that teachers can help their students in finding not only that "just right book" but a book they will enjoy and that will spark some joy into their reading.
- How will these impact your teaching?
In chapter 13, I began to think about the different levels of readers that I see in my classroom daily. I know that every year I will have disfluent readers, fluent readers, and some readers that fall right in the middle. Knowing what each of those groups of students need, whether its word recognition practice, working on decoding or retelling details from a story, or diving deeper into what a text is trying to teach a reader will be very beneficial for me! Chapter 17 was impactful almost in terms of validation for me. I thought to myself, "okay, so I'm not the only teacher in the world who is having a hard time getting my student to read. This isn't all my fault! I can help them and hopefully use some strategies to begin to steer away from these negative thoughts and behaviors about reading and towards more positive ones." Chapter 19 was my favorite, because guiding my students towards choosing a book is important to me. Not because I just want them to read, but because I want them to know that yes, we need to read to gain knowledge, but we can also read to escape to a different world, teach ourselves something new, or simply to make us feel happy. I love having conversations about reading with my students and always find it important to share with them that we may not all love the same book. Someone might LOVE the Magic Tree House Books more than anything, and for others, it's just not their cup of tea. That's the magic of reading- there is something out there for each student to enjoy. We just have to guide them there sometimes!
-What strategies did you take away and how will you implement them into your teaching?
Chapter 13 made me think that it's never too late and kids are never too old to continue to practice sight words. That continued exposure can only be a positive for any student and will set them up for success as they get older and the material they read becomes more challenging and vocabulary heavy. I want to make more of an active effort in exposing my 5th graders to sight words whenever possible. I really liked the chart (figure 17.1) in chapter 17 that gives options of things to say to students who are demonstrating negative behaviors. I can definitely see myself using this chart for student or parent teacher conferences as a tool!