Matching Text and Readers

macmillanmh.com

I chose to read the article by Rog and Burton about leveled readers. One of my favorite statements from the article was at the very beginning when it said "if students are to learn and apply reading strategies, they need texts that provide a balance between support and challenge." How true is this? As future teachers, we are constantly learning about all of these reading strategies we are supposed to teach our students to apply in class, but how will they even be effective if the text is far too difficult for them? Students should be reading 'just right texts' which are where the students can read 9/10 words. Difficulty of a book is determined by many factors and the article states, but some included are

• length of the book
• appearance and placement of print on the page
• degree of support offered by illustrations
• complexity of concepts and familiarity of subject matter
• degree of predictability of text
• proportion of unique or repeated words to familiar words

The authors describe the levels 1-10 they created. Level 1 starts with one-two words on a page with illustrations to accompany them. Level 10 have pages full of text, but the print is still considered enlarged. There are more sophisticated concepts included in the level 10 books. Levels 2-9 obviously go from easier to more difficult.

I don't have a very firm opinion on leveled readers. While I think they could be very effective in the classroom, I just don't like the idea that students could more easily know which level they are at. If there is a way I could easily distract from that, I would love them. What do yall think? Have you seen these to be effective, or not really?

Guided Reading

I read an article called Guided Reading in Inclusive Middle Years Classrooms. It was an interesting read and I have seen a lot of the things discussed actually successfully played out in a classroom. It first discussed how all children should learn together and be provided with instruction that accommodates different styles and rates of learning. The article then goes in to discuss how guided reading is not some distinct, explicit program; however, it is part of a literacy program that contains different balanced components in order to be successful. Typically, those balanced components are modeled reading, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading. For effective guided reading strategies the article discusses teaching before, during, and after reading strategies. Before reading strategies activate prior knowledge, during creates connections to personal experiences, and after allows the students to question and analyze what they have just read. Guided reading is important because, well, reading is the most important thing we do. It isn't just for reading, but it is cross-curricular, so we are constantly reading at all ages in all subject areas. Guided reading also accommodates a range of readng levels. To help make guided reading successful in classrooms, persons responsible for teaching this should be identified, start and finish dates for the readings should also be identified, resources needed and data collection procedures should also be identified. The article identifies important features of guided reading: small group instruction, use of leveled readers, prompting, and independent activities. Small group instruction is what I think is most important because it allows the students to get the other students perspectives and it allows the teacher to get to know the students better. The teacher can see what level they are on, teach at that level, provide feedback to them, more individualized instruction, and sometimes even effective behavior management.

This article was pretty beneficial in explaining guided reading and how to successfully implement it in the classroom. Also, as mentioned above, it helps when I have actually seen much of this, especially leveled readers and small group readings implemented in the classroom. Have you seen any of this in place in a classroom? Some people disagree with leveled readers, do you have an opinion?

Vocabulary Connections.

I like that the Blanchowitz and Fisher article had a picture of a crossword puzzle at the top.

The article talked about developing word awareness and love of words through word play. To do this, it says you should use activities, materials, and resources that allows students to play with words using crossword activities and such.




Another activity that the article discusses is a word wall, which we are all familiar with since we have one in class. All of my classes at the intermediate school where I'm placed for my practicum have word walls. Not even for just reading, but every subject. I think thats awesome. They put all of their vocab words on the word wall and discuss the words over and over in different ways so that the students really know what these words mean and the students understand them. The article also discusses that when students think words are fun, they see them as objects they can use and examine. How true is that? I commented something about this on Holly's blog I believe. If a student sees a word that looks fun, no matter the definition, the child is going to think that word is cool. The definition will just stick because the student will like that word. Playing word games with students is crucial to building vocabulary! I'm all about games as you can figure out in my other blogs, but really, they're so effective. 

In Education 100 for my service learning project I created a game for my students. The game was kind of like bingo mixed with suffixes and root words. The kids learned to use the correct ending of words attached to root words and it was reinforced through playing a game, and they loved it! Games are powerful, as long as they are educational when played in the classroom. Do you agree or disagree? Will they be something you incorporate in your own classroom? Anyone had classes where they played games that were not educational in the classroom and just a waste of time? I have.