Chapter 9

Page 152: "Series books are often easier for readers because the authors use the same characters and the same language structures in each book...In fact, some of these series appeal to older readers and can be used to develop fluency."

Last year the Twilight series spread like wildfire throughout our school. It ran beyond cliques and genders and generated some much needed "good press" about reading. Some of the struggling readers just looked at the sheer thickness of the book and needed convincing. However, many of those same students are on the the third and fourth book. Not wanting to miss out on such an important opportunity, I bought multiple copies for my classroom library.

Page 153: "The diagnostic teacher collects a sample of the reading behavior she is going to teach. She selects about 50 to 120 words from the story and writes questions focusing on the main ideas and key facts or events. After the student reads the passage, the diagnostic teacher computes error or miscue rates and a percentage of the comprehension to decide whether the text is at the student's instructional level."

Makes me wonder if this is a cold read or if the student would have some prior knowledge of the content of the text? Would the diagnostic teacher create a word list of some of the more challenging words in the passage before the reading or is it more important to see what the reader is able to accomplish without support?

Page 159: "Interest is crucial in selecting books. If the topic/or story line is interesting and engaging, then the book is usually easier to read. Students can be drawn into a text when the characters are interesting and readily befriended, words provoke strong images, and stories have unanticipated twists."

Reading is perceived as work to struggling readers. As long as they feel that way, they will not buy into reading for enjoyment. The largest hurdle I find is locating easier reads that entice students. I am constantly reading books, short stories, and articles that I could use in class...and while I find it a major achievement when I find something that works, I feel that there should be more out there. Most of the "classic" literature is criticized by some colleagues (the others, non- English teaching teachers :) as being too "heavy" or "sad" and while this is true, there just doesn't seem to be a wide selection of literature with the depth of character, symbolism, and clearly drawn themes as most of the classics commonly taught at the high school level. The classics also provide our class with loads of juicy discussion topics.