Chapter 4

Page 59: "Familiar text time provides time for students to flexibly use their reading strategies and skills while reading easy material. It provides balance between easy reading and the challenging tasks that lie ahead."

I connect with the idea of balance suggested in this statement. Reading can be such a frustrating task for students that I try to balance challenging material with high-interest and engaging material. If the material I know that I must teach is out of their realm of personal connection, I will create an activity that provides them with the necessary background knowledge to help them gain a toe-hold on the material. For example, I created a web quest (pleasure) and combined it with the short story (challenge). The web quest gave students a way to investigate one of the largest cases of racial profiling in US history (the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII) and read a letter of apology from the US government (a rarity, as the government seldom apologizes for anything). Their reading was a personal account, an expert from the long work, From Farewell to Manzanar.


Page 61: "Taken together, the elements provide a vehicle for monitoring the effect of instructional adjustments and the balance of instruction using strengths and instruction in areas of need, of contextual reading and strategy lessons, of implicit and explicit instruction, of challenging and familiar reading tasks, of self-selected and teacher-selected materials, and of assessment and instruction."

How do you handle and assess the paperwork associated with this multifaceted approach? How is this laid out? What comes first? What is the end goal? How does one assess the level of progress? What if that is not achieved? How will individual students be accountable?

Page 65: "Task analysis of reading performance pinpoints specific strategies or skills that could increase students' reading."

This seems like an intense process. It also appears to be something that would be constantly reassessed and reevaluated. Do the students practice these strategies on their own? How can one tell if they are using them? I really like that there is a self-assessment component built in. One of the best ways students learn is through self-reflection. This will give them a sense of personal accountability.

Page 69: "The focus is communication between students and teacher; therefore, the teacher should not correct any spelling or grammatical errors."

This could be difficult, especially if they are repeated errors. However, I think it is important for students to feel that they are able to express themselves without red pen worry. Besides, reluctant readers are often reluctant writers and having these types of students practice writing for enjoyment will give them a toe-hold into developing their ideas on paper.

Page 71: "He uses charts to encourage self-assessment and continues the discussion about strategy use. Therefore, he builds responsibility within the students by gradually giving them the control to monitor their own reading behavior."

I wish I could convince all students to buy into this form of self-monitoring. Some students will find success and grow through the process, while others will decide to rely on coping skills.