Final Reflection

I absolutely loved our Teaching Reading with Literature course. I learned so many valuable things that I will use to guide my future practice. I will definitely keep our textbook as a future reference. Beers filled this book with numerous suggestions/strategies to use with struggling readers which will be especially beneficial as a future intervention specialist who will be working with struggling readers on the regular. I have already used several of these strategies in my field experience, and they truly are helpful. I have already bookmarked pages with strategies that I found especially useful. It will also be great having our blog posts as a reference to flip back to. Beers is specific and detailed, all while making her textbook enjoyable to read. This will definitely be one textbook I add to my library.

I also love all the rich young adult literature we encountered in this course. I literally have a list of at least 20 books I am asking for as a Christmas gift. I really enjoyed our book review assignments with different types of novels. It was interesting doing an author study, also. I love how Dr. Pytash gave us choice in our assignments, as I think this is critical to our young developing readers also. Throughout the course I learned many vital things I will transfer into my future practice. I recommend this course to any student looking to pursue a career in the education department.

Chapter 14: Finding the Right Book

Beers discusses the importance of book selection and offers several great suggestions to encourage reluctant readers to read in chapter 14. She begins with an important point: As teachers we cannot use ourselves as guides for what makes a good book for our students. It is important to determine the features that they want to see in a book. She did this by asking reluctant readers what they like to see in a book if they absolutely have to read one. Many responses to this question will be irrelevant; however, some responses may help determine crucial features for the perfect text for your students.

The number one suggestion Beers provides us to motivate reluctant readers, in my opinion, is getting to know your readers interests. As a teacher, it is paramount that you take the time to get to know your students. By doing so, you will have infinite opportunities to adapt lessons to better suit their interests, including the books they read. I also love the idea of book talks/reading as a tease. After every class we have had this year, I always have a new book I want to read because Dr. Pytash has given us a preview of a book---generally at a pretty juicy part. This is an excellent idea to get readers excited. Booktalks are always a great tool too. I find myself continuously doing this with my friends about books that we have recently read. Both of these suggestions are vital to encourage students to read.

This chapter also has several great resources for finding appropriate books for ourselves and our students. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because I believe it is paramount that we learn how to find the right book so we can enjoy reading. We (teachers) have to make reading enjoyable for students so they want to read and ultimately become successful readers.

           

Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond

I loved that this strategy wasn’t about your everyday reading strategy/skills. Often times we forget about the social/emotional aspect of learning and look solely at cognitive ability. Beers states, “So, the foundation for success is in improving their comprehension, vocabulary, and/or word recognition skills. What follows are additional suggestions that help students develop social and emotional confidence as readers.” I couldn’t agree with her more. Even sometimes today, as a fourth year college student, I am hesitant to respond in class because I am afraid I may sound stupid. How silly! It is paramount that we consider this aspect of learning, particularly with our adolescence readers who are very concerned with fitting in with the ‘in’ crowd.

Beers gives us several suggestions on how to build confidence in the classroom. One of her suggestions, which I believe is wonderful, is to create a classroom that encourages risk. This requires more effort on the teacher’s behalf, but it is vital to our students confidence that we are not “dumbing down” the work. The success of the students in her example (with Moby Dick) was tied to the work the teacher was willing to do in providing the necessary scaffolds for the students.

Another suggestion that I believe is vital to any successful classroom is to celebrate the diversity found within. It’s often hard for teenagers to embrace differences. If you create an environment that celebrates differences and one in which all students feel equal and comfortable, then they students will have more confidence to participate. I went to a very diverse high school and am so appreciative for that experience that I believe this is an important part of education.

Beers has many other wonderful suggestions, but I must comment on her example of the “ding-a-ling” idea to reduce put-downs. I absolutely love this idea, and would love to try it in a classroom one day. The sound of the bell would be annoying enough for me to keep my comments to myself. However, I am a little concerned this would be very distracting to the classroom. I am curious to see how it would work.

Finally, the last idea that I would like to comment on is efferent vs. aesthetic reading stances. Readers might take an efferent stance toward reading when their goal is to carry information from the text. Readers may take a more aesthetic stance when the goal is to live through the text. It is important to note that most struggling readers take an efferent stance toward reading. It is our goal to move them toward a more aesthetic reading stance. We have to encourage students to bring the text closer, let the ideas and issues, conflicts and contests, triumphs and tragedies become a part of who they are. Once students are able to do this, they will probably enjoy reading much more. This also brings me to the idea of sustained silent reading, where students are able to choice read. If students are able to pick out a text that is right for them, they will be more apt to read aesthetically, rather than with an efferent stance.  

Chapter 10: Fluency and Automaticity

In Chapter 10, Beers discusses the importance of fluency and automaticity in reading and offers suggestions on how to increase these skills in struggling readers. Automaticity is that ability to do something quickly without a lot of conscious thinking about the task. Reading, for most of us is an example. Same with driving, we do not have to think too much about how to drive when we need to go to the grocery store. Reading automaticity refers to a reader’s ability to recognize words without conscious decoding. It means that when we read, we recognize words as entire units, and we recognize words quickly and accurately. Students don’t develop automaticity through decoding, but rather by repeated exposure to a word they are already able to decode. I find it interesting that because I am a fluent reader, and have been reading for so many years, I struggle with decoding. I am having an awful difficult time in my phonics course, trying to learn how to teach the basics of reading.  

Automaticity leads to fluency---the ability to read smoothly and easily at a good pace with good phrasing and expression. Fluency develops over time as students word recognition skills improve. Beers provides us with two ways to measure fluency in our students on pages 209-211. Beers also gives us several suggestions to use in a classroom to help improve our reader’s fluency. Her first suggestion is to use sight words. The Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary contains 220 words that are high-frequency. My cooperating field experience used this with her struggling readers and it really seemed to help. Another suggestion to increase fluency is to ensure that students are hearing text. This can be done by reading to your students, echo reading, choral reading, etc. Students need to hear fluent reading in order to become fluent readers. Aside from many other suggestions Beers provides, one that I find interesting is to prompt students, and not correct them. I absolutely agree with this suggestion, but believe it is easier said than done. It is so easier to just tell a student what the word they are struggling on is instead of providing them with a prompt to decode it. Every since I was in school, I can remember teachers simply telling me or my peers what a word is if we were stumbling on it. I will remember this when working with my struggling readers in the future.

Finally, we can’t stress enough that nonfluent readers are most often nonfluent because of a lack of practice with reading. Students need ample time to read, read, read. It is also a great idea to try to get students reading for leisure on their own time. The more practice the readers have, the better readers they will become, more quickly. As a future invention specialist, it is also important to note that struggling readers need to see a word as many as forty times before remembering it, compared to the ten times that fluent readers need.

Chapter 9: Vocabulary

Chapter 9 offers many suggestions on how to move away from the traditional vocabulary instruction that teachers have used for years, memorization. I particularly enjoyed this chapter because so often students are learning words that they will probably never use just to pass the vocabulary test on Friday, and then forget the words by Friday afternoon. I remember as a student memorizing words upon words that I have rarely ever used. I probably wouldn’t even be able to put them into a sentence in the proper context because I was only concerned with getting an A on the spelling test. So what can teachers do to get past the old-school vocabulary memorization strategy?

Beers provides many useful suggestions in this chapter. It is paramount that teachers find interactive, fun ways for students to learn new vocabulary that will be beneficial to future reading and writing. One idea that I really liked from this chapter was in lesson 2: teaching students how to use the context as a clue requires that students see relationships among words and can make inferences about the passage. In my field experience, my students get all of their vocabulary words for the week from the text that they are engaging in that particular week. I believe this is really helpful for them, as they are seeing their vocabulary words being used in a real text. My field experience cooperating teacher introduced to me to an activity that our students really enjoyed. It is called Vocabulary CPR. (Context, Product, Resource). In this activity students use the context of the word to figure out the meaning. They then use a resource to identify the definition of the word. This has been very useful for my students, and these are students who have special needs.

I believe there are numerous ways to make vocabulary instruction fun and meaningful. It is up to the teacher to decide how to do so. Beers provides us future teachers with many great ideas pertaining to vocabulary instruction. I will definitely use these as a reference in my own classroom one day.  

Chapter 8: Extending Meaning After-Reading Strategies

Chapter 8 offers strategies that extend the meaning-making process to after-reading activities which will ultimately help dependent readers figure out “how to get it” throughout the entire reading process. Just like Chapter 7, Beers shares several strategies in great depth and then touches on a few other reading strategies that are equally beneficial to all readers.

I really liked how Beers discussed how it is important for teachers to view comprehension as a process and not a product. Beers suggests that if we view comprehension as a process, versus a product, then meaning making extends to activities that occur once the books is read. It is not sufficient to hand students a worksheet with 25 comprehensive questions after reading a text. We must engage them reading strategies that help students focus on constructing meaning.

One reading strategy Beers discusses in this chapter is the concept of a scale. This was new to me. These scales help students make comparisons, recognize contrasts, draw conclusions, and distinguish between facts and opinions. Scales are beneficial for students who need assistance organizing their thoughts or who benefit from seeing information arranged in graphic form. As a future Intervention Specialist, I can see a scale being very useful for my students who struggle with reading and organization. My students may be more apt to engage in discussion when understanding that there is no right or wrong answer and they can only be assessed on their participation.

Another strategy that I believe can be very beneficial for those who struggle is text reformation. Text reformation is a strategy where students transform a text into another type of text. For example, a student may turn expository text into a narrative. I believe that if dependent readers can turn a story into something they are more apt to relate to, they really will have comprehended the text. I could aid in doing these reformations for those students who need extra help, so they are more apt to get the meaning behind the original text. I believe students will enjoy this strategy as they work towards fully comprehending a given text.

All of the strategies that Beers provides in this chapter are great, but there is one more that I see extra beneficial, especially to the audience that I will be catering to as an Intervention Specialist. I believe my students will really find the Sketch to Stretch strategy useful. In this strategy, students work independently or with a partner to create symbolic sketches of their interpretations of the text. Drawing is also popular among young students and this way those students who may struggle with writing can show what they took from the text in a different manner. Beers has really suggested some great strategies in this chapter that I look forward to using in my future classroom. 

Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning During-Reading Strategies

Chapter 7 offers several during-reading strategies that will help dependent readers gather more meaning from texts, and ultimately help them transform into independent readers. Beers suggests that, "it is more critical for dependent readers to talk about text during the reader experience than after it," p. 104. This means that we, as teachers, must pull the invisible process of comprehension to the visible level, which suggests bringing conversation into the classroom as the students are reading, and not just after they have 'read' a text. In order to do just this Beers provides us with numerous reading strategies that can be used in a classroom to aid in comprehension during reading.

The first during-reading strategy Beers suggests is called Say Something. Say something is a really simple strategy that interrupts a student's reading, giving the reader an opportunity to think about what he or she is reading. This strategy is done with a partner. When each reader has reached a specific point in the text, they will stop and discuss what they have read so far, what they understand, what they don't understand, making predictions, etc. I believe this is a great method for students to use while reading. Say Something can also be done silently, where the student would simply jot down their ideas on a post-it or piece of scrap paper. 

Another during-reading strategy to aid in comprehension is rereading. According to Beers, rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It is also probably the last strategy dependent readers use. I believe rereading is very important for readers to do, whether the purpose is to gather more meaning because the reader didn't understand it the first time, or to look at the text in an alternative way. I also really enjoyed how Beers questions how often teachers-the people who should see the most value in rereading- convince students that there is no value in rereading important texts. For example, how many times have you been told that you can not use a book you have already read for a book report? This is a great point Beers makes and I agree that the advantages of rereading far outweigh the disadvantages.

Finally, the third during-reading strategy Beers provides us with is the Think-Aloud. This strategy helps readers think about how they make meaning. As students read, they pause occasionally to think aloud about connections they are making, images they are creating, problems with understanding that they encounter, and etc. This oral thinking helps the student analyze how he/she is thinking about their reading. It also allows the teacher to understand why a student is having difficulty with a text. I believe think alouds are important for students of all ages and of all subjects. It is also imperative that the teacher often models think alouds when introducing new things.

Beers provides us several other strategies that would be of great use in a classroom. All of these are equally as important as the three that I just described in detail. Double entry journals, logographic cues, bookmarks, ABC’s of comparing and contrasting, post-it notes, character bulletin boards, syntax surgery, signal words and reflections are all strategies that I would someday love to use in my classroom. 

Chapter 5: Learning to Make an Inference

Chapter 5 discusses inferences and how to effectively teach children how to make inferences when reading a text. Too often teachers tell children to make inferences during reading to gather meaning without ever explaining what an inference is. Chapter 5 provides us with several activities that will help children learn how to use inferences to gather meaning from texts. It is not enough to simply explain that an inference is the ability to connect what is in the text with what is in the mind to create an educated guess. We, as teachers, must model how to make inferences and show the different types of inferences. Figure 5.3 in the text is a great tool to refer back to, to show the types of inferences skilled readers make along with comments that teachers can make to help students make certain types of inferences. For example, “Skilled readers recognize the antecedents for pronouns.” The teacher could comment and say something such as, “Look for pronouns and figure out what to connect them to.”

Beers also explains that, “readers must transact with the text, constructing meaning from the information that the author provides in the text and the information they bring to the text.” p.69. As a future Intervention Specialist, it is important to understand that this transactional nature of reading often escapes readers who struggle. Their job, as they see it, is to simply decode the words written on the page. If the meaning isn’t immediately apparent, struggling readers often just give up or ask the teacher to explain the meaning. Knowing this, it is paramount that we, as teachers, use the suggestions provided by Beers to help students make inferences while reading.

Some useful activities for students who may need additional help in making inferences include:

1. Posting a list of types of inferences that readers make on a large poster in the classroom. Referring to this list will ultimately turn the word infer, or inference into something more concrete. I like this idea for students who struggle. Having something laid out in front of them is often helpful for those who need a reminder or something to see laid out in front of them.
2. At least once a day, read aloud a short passage and think aloud the inferences that you make while reading. This will inevitably help the students. Modeling making inferences often will help students understand how to make an inference while reading.
3. Syntax Surgery. Turn a short passage into a transparency, and model how you use inferences to create meaning in the passage by marking up the transparency as you think aloud.
4. Bring in cartoons or bumper stickers that require the reader to make an inference to understand the meaning behind the cartoon or message. This would be a short but run activity for the students to practice making inferences and to see how they make inferences with texts across all types of genres in order to create meaning.

Chapter 6: Frontloading Meaning

I absolutely believe that getting students engaged before actually beginning a text can the making or breaking point in a student’s understanding or interest in a text. Beers provides several great activities to use before beginning a text to engage them in the text prior to reading. I love the idea of an anticipation guide. This activity really seemed to get the students in Mr. Davidson’s class engaged and wanting to read the story. They struggled through the questions, so when it was time to discuss, each student had something to contribute to the conversation. The students were struggling to answer the questions on the anticipation guide for Anne Frank not because they were too difficult, but because they were decision-making questions. Not knowing what the correct answer was really made the students excited to talk about the questions and furthermore jump into the text that related to this anticipation guide. I see this as a wonderful tool to get students engaged prior to reading a text.

I am very familiar with a K-W-L chart and see it as simple and easy tool to use not only to activate students prior knowledge about a topic, but also as an assessment. I think this could work as an individual assignment or as a small group task. Sometimes you need to engage in a small discussion to get your prior knowledge activated. I think it is important to also think about what you want to learn. Often times, I never sit down and think what I really want to gain from a particular reading. If I did that, I may be more apt to pick up on things in the text that are important bits of information. Finally, writing down what you learned will help you see how much you can gain from a text. It can also serve as a great point of reference for future needs or can be used by a teacher as an assessment for students.

All of the activities in this chapter are great and are ones that I will come back to in my future career to help students become engaged prior to reading. I see many benefits from each and every activity described in this chapter, but really enjoyed the anticipation guide and the K-W-L chart. 

Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

If the purpose of reading is to gather meaning, I suppose it is rather important to teach students how to comprehend text. We sometimes confuse explaining to students what is happening in a text with teaching students how to comprehend a text. In order to really enhance our students’ comprehension abilities (as opposed to explaining the meaning of one individual text) we must teach explicitly and directly. One how to show students how to do it, instead of just instructing them to do it, is through a read-a-loud. My experience with read-a-louds have been wonderful. I think they are very beneficial to developing readers. However, they do take careful planning by the teacher. You really have to plan exactly how to explain to children what different reading strategies are, and which parts of the story are good parts to stop and model the reading strategy you are teaching. Another great method of teaching, if you are a fan of a workshop style, is through mini-lessons. I have found mini-lessons to be beneficial in my past. A mini-lesson will focus on one reading strategy and then the students will practice this strategy in a workshop style classroom. This may be better for more advanced readers.

I absolutely agree that there is indeed a difference between direct and scripted instruction. I also agree that almost all of the time direct instruction is going to be most beneficial for the students. Anybody can set foot inside a classroom and read a lesson plan that tells them exactly what to say. It takes a good teacher to understand her students’ needs and plan accordingly. I see it very difficult to follow a scripted lesson, especially when you never know what may come out of some students’ mouths. It is important to be able to adjust to individuals needs and make accommodations for those who may be struggling.

I also enjoy how Beers explained the difference between skills and strategies. Strategies will help you learn the skill. A skill is the end product. Her analogy of bike riding was of great help. Beers includes a very in-depth example of a new teacher who learns that you cannot just explain to students, you indeed have to teach them the strategies necessary to comprehend a text. Overall, this chapter was great in explaining why it is important to teach the strategies that will lead to our students’ obtaining a skill necessary for fluent reading.

Chapter 3: Assessing Dependent Readers’ Needs

I love how Beers admits to herself saying “this kid can’t read,” just as many of us have probably said before. Not being able to read can mean a range of things depending on the student. This really confirms my belief that we cannot help struggling readers until we understand why they are struggling. I love how Beers included a list of what not being able to read might mean. This can range from not being able to easily and quickly recognize single-syllable words to having trouble recalling information from a text. It is up to us to identify the problem idea to help our students become efficient readers. Figure 3.2 is a great resource outlining if/then situations with struggling readers. Beers also includes great examples from inside the classroom to allow the readers to practice identifying what each student may need help in—cognitive confidence, text confidence, and emotional confidence.

It is not always easy to articulate what good readers do while they are reading. If someone asked me what I do while I read, I may struggle to explain what I do. Reading comes so natural to me that it is difficult to model what I do while reading without really planning a lesson. Beers does an excellent job laying out what exactly good readers do, other than just reading the words on the pages.

Good readers:

-Recognize the purpose for reading is to get meaning

-Use a variety of comprehension strategies

-Make a range of inferences about the text

-Use prior knowledge

-Monitor their understanding of the text

-Question author’s purpose

-And many more.

I believe the last paragraph is so powerful and really supports my belief of finding the best way to teacher our individual students.

“It’s not enough knowing what good readers can do or struggling readers can’t do. We must also know what we believe about teaching, about learning, and about our role in both. Once that’s determined, we can make intelligent choices about the instruction that best suits the needs of our students.” (p.39)

Chapter 2: Creating Independent Readers

I should begin by saying that I absolutely love the way this textbook is set-up. I really enjoy how Kylene Beers begins each chapter with a letter to her past student, George. Beers shares her experiences and admits to her mistakes that will inevitably help us, as future educators, learn from her experiences to enhance our own. There are definitely a lot of George’s out there, and as future teachers it is paramount that we learn how to accommodate struggling readers like George.  

I really enjoyed Beers point that not every student that struggles in reading is going to show the universal signs of a so-called, typical, ‘struggling reader.” Sometimes the students that struggle with reading are the ones that we had the least concerns about. Another point that Beers made that seems like common sense, but all teachers need to understand is, “Remember that anyone can struggle given the right text. The struggle isn’t the issue; the issue is what the reader does when the text gets tough.” (p. 15). We, as future educators, cannot just assume children know how to read; we must teach them the skills necessary to read. This will vary from individual to individual.

I also enjoyed how Beers described the difference between independent and dependent readers. I have never heard of a distinction between different types of readers. Figure 2.2 is very helpful in describing how independent and dependent readers struggle with a text. Independent readers have the skills necessary to get through a text when they are struggling. Dependent readers, by contrast, do not have these skills. They depend on an outside source to tell them what to do or to do it for them. So, the big question is, how do we move dependent readers toward becoming independent readers?

Beers provides us with three areas that dependent readers struggle in:

1.      Dependent readers may lack the cognitive abilities to read independently.

2.      Dependent readers may have negative attitudes towards reading.

3.      Dependent readers may not know what type of books they may enjoy.

After identifying which area our children are struggling with, we will be able to move forward in helping our students become independent readers. I believe the key in helping any student that is struggling with reading, is to first identify which area they are struggling in. Not every student will need extra attention in comprehension, vocabulary, word recognition, or fluency. It will vary among students, and with that being said it is absolutely necessary that we teach to meet our student’s individual needs.