Final Reflection

Overall, I really enjoyed this class. I loved the reading selection. I have a huge list of books I want to read now after hearing so much about them in class. I also learned a lot of things I can use in my classroom. I've already used the strategies in my other literature and teaching classes this semester. I also really liked the textbook that was chosen for the class. I liked that she offered a lot of suggestions, but I also liked that she broke the strategies down and applied them to a classroom. That really helped me to have a better understanding of what was actually happening and how it benefits students. As for class, I really liked that it wasn't a straight lecture and that we did different things in class. It kept my attention. I also thought it was really neat when we were able to practice some of the strategies in class. This was one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken at Kent.

Chapter 14

"If we listen, we'll hear very specific criteria for what makes a book appealing to a reluctant reader."

In this chapter, Beers talks a lot about what type of books reluctant readers want to read. She also talked a lot about how to encourage students to read more books. One of the ways to do this was to use a read aloud. One of the suggestions she had was to put a lot of expression and excitement into the reading to get student's attention. I was a little surprised by this because I wasn't expecting that much emphasis to be placed on the teacher's reading. Another strategy teachers could use would be the Read and Tease. The teacher would read a chapter or two and then stop at a compelling part in book. The goal is to peak student interest in the book, so they want to read it. I really liked this strategy when we used it in class because I really wanted to know what happened in book. I think it's a very effective way of catching a student's attention and motivating then to read.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 talked about creating a classroom that encourages students to take a risk with reading. One of the most important things she said was that teachers should not tolerate put-downs. In one of my high school classes, a particular student would make negative comments all the time to other students if they got something wrong. The teacher never stepped in to stop the student from making the comments. Sometimes the teacher even laughed. Eventually students became tired of being made fun of and just quit participating in class.

I also liked that she talked about using appropriate literature. By appropriate, she meant that the text needs to be easy enough for students with word recognition problems and also choosing literature that appeals to them versus the normal classics. I really liked this chapter because I think it's very important for students to feel comfortable and confident in class in order for them to succeed.

Chapter 10

One thing I really liked in this chapter was in measuring fluency. Beers was talking about why fluency matters and how it can be a problem. In one paragraph, she broke down the rate of words per minute a student reads. I was really surprised by just how long it could take a high school student to read 20 pages. For a student who only reads 60 words per minute, it would take that student 2 and 1/2 hours to just read the assignment. It would be very hard for a student to complete reading and assignments if he or she struggled that badly with fluency. I also liked that at one point Beers said, "Flash cards drills, placing words on word walls, listening to a teacher read aloud, following along in a text while listening to an audiotape of the same text-these teaching strategies are not reading." I liked that she offered strategies on how to help improve fluency, but the main way for students to improve in reading is simply by reading.

Chapter 9

As future teachers, we all know the importance of vocabulary in reading. One of suggestions Beers gives is to teach students how to use the context as clues. Teachers often tell students to use context clues when trying to understand what a word means. A problem occurs when a struggling reader doesn’t know how to interact with a text and look at the context around the word. To me, this strategy is really important because readers of all ages look at the context in order to find clues about an unknown word. Readers will always struggle over words as they read difficult books in their lives. I think this strategy can not only improve a student’s vocabulary, but also help him or her later on in life with understanding different texts. I really like the use of graphic organizers as well. When I was in middle school, I was forced to copy vocabulary words and definitions every week. It was a waste of my time and it didn’t help me with my spelling. I think graphic organizers are creative ways of helping students visualize words and their meanings. I think graphic organizers would help students to have a better understanding of a word and when it would be used in a sentence.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 talks about different strategies teachers can use to get students thinking about a text even after they have finished reading it. One strategy, Somebody Wanted But So, allows students to restate the main character, plot, conflict, and resolution into a concise summary. I really liked this strategy because it allows the student to trace characters throughout the text and figure out the main event. It’s a really good way for students to work on identifying plots and conflicts within a text as well. Beers also mentioned a strategy called It Says-I Say that helps students with making inferences after they read. I think it’s a great visual for students to see how inferences can be made from a text. It allows them to compare what is happening in the book to what they are thinking.

Chapter 7

“You Mean You Make It Make Sense?”

Chapter 7 offered a lot of different strategies teachers can use to help students make sense of a text. At the beginning of the chapter, she gave a really good example of a student who didn’t know how you construct meaning from a text. The boy didn’t realize that there are different strategies you can use to help you understand a text. I think it’s important for teachers to remember that students who aren’t good readers don’t know what good readers do to help them make sense of a text. Beers talked about a partner strategy called Say Something. When students use Say Something, the students make comments about the text as they are reading it. I’ve never heard of this strategy before and I thought it was an interesting way to get students actively engaged in reading. I think it can be really useful too because it can help a student clarify what is happening in the text before the student continues on reading. I also thought the double-entry journals and the post-it notes were really neat ideas. I really liked the double entry journals because it’s a unique way for students to keep notes on the text and their reactions. I loved the idea of the post-it notes. I think that’s a great way for students mark passages and keep track of comments and questions within the book. I thought this chapter offered a lot of fun and useful strategies teachers can use within their classroom.

Chapter 5

In Chapter 5, Beers talks about helping students to make inferences as they read. In the beginning of the chapter, she gave two different classes the same passage to read and tell her what was going on. One class was successful at making inferences about what was happening in the text. The second class, which contained struggling readers, had a much more difficult time distinguishing what was happening in the passage. I really liked this example because it helped to show me how students figure out what is happening in a text. I haven’t really thought about how students learn to make inferences. I do it so often now that I don’t even think about what I’m doing as I’m reading. Beers also gave some strategies for teachers to use when trying to help students who struggle with making inferences. One example was to read a short passage aloud everyday and think aloud the inferences that I would make. Then have students decide what types of inferences I’m making based on what I said. She pointed out that the comments teachers make can help students to create certain inferences. I thought this was a really good idea because it’s really hard to show students what you’re doing when you make an inference. At least this way, students know what you’re thinking as your doing it.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 talks about getting students to become active readers. One of the ways to do that is to get to get students to anticipate what will happen in a story. I really like the example of the Anticipation Guide for The Diary of Anne Frank. I think the questions the teacher asked really got students to think about how they would respond to these difficult questions. I think that was a creative way to get students to think about what happens in the play and how the characters would answer those questions. I also liked the K-W-L strategy to help students better understand a nonfiction story. I think this approach would be very useful for students because nonfiction stories often require background knowledge and K-W-L helps students organize their knowledge. I also thought the Probable Passage was really interesting. I think it’s a good idea to try to get students thinking about what they read. It’s very interesting to me because I’ve never heard or seen the Probable Passage used before. I think it would be a different and creative way of getting students to think about what they’re going to read. I’ve also never heard of the Tea Party strategy. It’s a neat way to play with the text of a story in order to get students involved. I think all of the strategies mentioned in the book are fun and different ways to get students active in reading.

Chapter 4

“How do I know unless I already know?”

I thought chapter 4 was really interesting because it talked a lot about comprehension and the actual process of teaching comprehension. Beers’ example of Al’s confusion over identifying the main ideas and his lack of comprehension helped me to understand just how difficult teaching comprehension can be. Even though she had tried to explain the assignment to Al, he just didn’t understand what she was telling him. She was telling him what to do; instead, she later said what she needed to do was show him.

In the first transcript, I really liked how Beers made a point to ask Kate what her students learned that would help them with comprehension in other stories. A lot of things build on comprehension and I think it’s really important for students to have a firm grasp on comprehension. I liked how transcript three and four showed examples of teaching comprehension strategies explicitly. I’ve never had a teacher use comprehensive strategies like that and I was a little confused at first as to how that would work. It made much more sense after reading about them used in a classroom.

Chapter 3

In Chapter 3, Beers talked a lot about what it means when a teacher says “This kid can’t read.” I really like how she used specific examples of students to show what they could and couldn’t do while they were reading. The examples made it easier for me to understand what exactly each student was struggling with. I also liked that she followed right after that with what good readers do. I think it’s a really good idea to stop and look at what a good reader is doing compared to someone who is struggling with reading. I think one of the most important points in this chapter is that different students need different types of instruction from teachers in order to learn. I think that shows just how important the teacher is in understanding his or her student and what the best approach is in order for the student to learn.

Chapter 2

The main idea that stood out to me from Chapter 2 is Kylene Beers' struggle with George. He just couldn't "get it" when she tried to help him in reading. There have been many times in my life when I just couldn’t get something in school, but until now, I’ve never stopped to think about what it is that I didn’t understand. Now that I’ve actually thought about it, many different questions crossed my mind. George wasn’t able to say what he didn’t get when he was reading and I think that’s something very important for teachers to remember. The interact between George and Beers helped me to understand just how important it is for a teacher to recognize what exactly the student is struggling with even if they can’t say it themselves. I also liked how Beers talked about the stereotype of a struggling reader and the difference between a dependent reader and an independent reader. I think it’s really important that she drew attention to students who don’t fit the stereotype, but still are struggling readers. I also really liked that she pointed out that anyone can be a struggling reader if given the right text.