Final Reflection About Semester

This was by far my favorite class this semester.  What I liked most about this class was its in depth use of young adult literature.  I think this type of literature provided some great topics for classroom discussions.  These discussions were also a product of some great activities.  Even though the class was kind of long the time always went by really fast.  The people were always entertaining and I enjoyed hearing everyone's opinions.  I learned a lot and had a blast doing it!

Chapter 14 Finding the Right Book

The appeal of a book can definitely be affected by its phyiscal appearance.  Many readers want to find shorter books with bigger fonts and pictures.  While these books are appealing in theory, they may not be the best books that are out there for students to read.  To get students to look deeper into the book I think Beers as some really great ideas.  The one that I really liked a lot was the good book box.  When books are brought to students directly there is a greater chance that students will actually pick them up and look at them.  Even if it gets students to flip through only a few pages, it is better than having them look at nothing at all.  I also agree that it is important to get to know the students interests.  When you know what appeals to them it is easier for them to read something that interests them. 

Chapter 13 Creating the Confidence to Respond

I believe that confidence is a huge issue that is present in reading.  My good friend, is an incredibly smart person but because his teacher in elementary school scolded him for his stammer he gradually lost his confidence in reading aloud; which further lead to a discomfort in reading.  When students lack this confidence they easily make excuses for themselves by stating that they are just dumb, when this is normally not the case at all.  To keep this from happening there are several measurements that can be taken in a classroom.  The main one being to encourage each other.  Students should never be talked down upon for making mistakes or not having the correct answer.  Also, the diversity's within a classroom should be well respected.  Respect is key.  A great way for students to learn about the differences between each other and gain each others respect is to have classroom discussions.  I always enjoyed the class talks we would have and I think this provided for a very relaxed and comfortable environment.  This positivity can only help students attitudes about reading.

Chapter 10 Fluency and Automaticity

One thing that I thought was interesting was that it was mentioned that silently reading in the classroom can increase fluency.  When I think of reading silently in the classroom, I typically see it as an activity to take up time throughout the class period or as an allotted time for students to get their reading done when an excessive amount is assigned.  I never really thought about the positive effect that it could have on the reader.  I think it is a great way to promote higher reading rates, and with this knowledge would definitely consider using this as a classroom tool. 
I also liked how Beers mentioned how students should hear texts through a variety of means.  Whether it be reading in small groups or simply the teacher reading aloud, it provides for students to follow along and note how it sounds and is phrased.  Also, I thought it was interesting that echo reading could be used.  It is fascinating that if teachers just took a little time out for students to repeat them, they could have great benefits. 

Chapter 9 Vocabulary

I think chapter nine brought up alot of really good points on vocabulary.  It covered many good mechanisms on how to better absorb different words.  The first suggestion is that of assigning word study instead of memorizing.  I know that when I was in high school many of my friends and I would just cram things before tests, instead of actually understanding and comprehending.  If we would have focused more then, we would not have to go back now to see what certain items mean.  Knowledge is never gained quickly, but if we do take our time to reflect on what is being processed, the information will stay with us much longer.  I also really liked that she brought up teaching students how to use context clues.  Teachers are always telling us to use them, but I don't recall anyone ever really teaching me how to utilize them.  If we teach students how to define words by using other words around it, we can greatly increase their ability to read.  They will be able to use their own inferences to make sense of the sentence, even if they do not know all the words in it.  I also really liked here section on read aloud and SSR.  I found it quite astonishing that she stated, "In fact, adults, when talking to other adults, will use about 17 rare words for every 1000 words"(197).  That is not even one percent.  It makes me wonder what kind of example we are setting for those who look up to us.  If we want all of our future generations to have an enriched vocabulary I think everyone needs to start reading more now.

Chapter 8 Extending Meaning

Surprisingly, I did not like many of the after reading strategies.  One in particular that I did not agree with was the scales.  Likert scales in particular were my least favorite.  To me, they appear to require very little thought.  Anyone could make up statements about the book and then either agree or disagree with them.  Semantic scales were also lacking, using polar opposite traits to describe characters.  I think this strategy would be more effective and efficient if it required explanations to their decisions.  If they expanded on their reasoning, I think they would get a lot more out of the activity.  On a brighter note, I really liked the somebody wanted but so strategy.  What I found most interesting about this was that it could sum up an entire novel into one sentence.  It was able to identify the characters, plot, conflict, and resolution.  Also, it encourages you to use "then", to continue breaking down the novel.  I think the more we simplify certain parts of the story, the simpler the ideas become.  This really exercises our decoding skills, not just by reading words, but by undersatnding what they mean when they are all together.

Chapter 7 Constructing Meaning

I found all the strategies in this chapter to be very enlightening.  I never knew that there were so many different types of during reading strategies.  Compared to before and after reading strategies, I find during strategies to be the most beneficial.  I like the idea of trying to decipher the text while reading it because, in my opinion that is when most confusion occurs.  If you conduct these strategies at that moment, text can hopefully become clearer, earlier.  One activity that I found particularly interesting was say something.  I liked that it involved peers working and collaborating together.  It allows them to bounce ideas off each other and expand their thoughts, perhaps  even on something they did not pick up on right away.  I also really liked the concept of the character bulletin board.  I think this really can help the visual learners understand the text.  If we can put words into pictures, perplexing thoughts and ideas can be displayed in more simplistic images.  It reminded me of the classroom activity we did with our first book review; which I really enjoyed doing.  Drawing pictures really helped me recognize main points and themes of the novel.  Which brings up another good point about this strategy, I really believe it could work for all age groups.  Drawing pictures enables kids to express their creativity, which in terms of classroom lessons, is more appealing than simply just reading. 

Chapter 5. Helping Students Make Inferences

What I found most interesting in chapter five was Rosenblatt's idea of transactional reading.  This idea states that readers don't just translate text, but that they also are "constructing meaning from the information that the author provides in the text and the information they bring to the text"(69).  While decoding is a very important part of understanding literature, we also need to realize that making inferences is essential to comprehension.  As readers we need to be able to connect text to real life knowledge.  When we create these links we enable our ability to predict and infer. 

Frontloading Meaning

Chapter six was primarly about using different strategies to help readers understand what they about to read.  Beers discusses what actions we need to take before we read, so we can actively engage ourselves in the reading.  I have previously used K-W-L's in other classrooms, which I found to be beneficial but simplistic.  By organizing information that we know and what we want to know into charts, we provide ourselves with a clear and concise map of what we should gain from learning.  I found this to be very basic.  The strategy that I found most interesting was the tea party idea.  What I liked most about it was the fact that it allowed other students to interact with each other.  I believe that a lot of learning can be done, when peers discuss class information with other peers.  It provides a good environment for them to bounce ideas off each other; because there is no right or wrong answer they can feel comfortable voicing their opinions of the reading.  I could see this as something I practiced in my future classrooms.

Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

What I found most beneficial from this chapter was the use of lists and charts.  The way that these were organized made it easier for me to read and comprehend.  Her list is divided up into different strategies that help us, as teachers, teach explicitly and directly.  She places a lot of emphasis on identifying the strategy being used and then explaining to the student body, how to use that strategy. I thought it was very interesting that she made reading a very active activity.  By pausing every so often to reflect on what was being read is not something that happens very often.  Most people just break down reading by chapters, but here every few sentences or pararaphs were being broken down.  I thought this was important because it kept the brain constantly thinking, helping readers stimulate the brain to help them gain the strategy and skill of reading.  This also went on to determine the difference of direct and scripted instruction.  I found scripted instruction to be very restricting in some aspects.  I felt that it did not leave much room for individualistic teaching.  Not all people learn the same way, so we need to be able to shape our teaching styles to those different learners.  So what I question, is that if we are trying to help each student individually with their struggles, why are we going to give them instructions based on just one idea?

Assessing Dependent Readers' Needs

Beers states in this chapter, "Once we can define what's working and what isn't working, then we know how instruction should proceed."(24).  What she explains, is that there are different confidences in reading that effect the way a person reads.  These three areas consist of cognitive confidence, text confidence, and social and emotional confidence.  By identifying which area or areas are being struggled with, we can narrow down the problem of the struggling reader.  This made me think back to our class last week when did the timed readings.  Once we each took our reading test we had to evaluate our fluency and comprehension.  I realized that the quicker I read, the less I payed attention to what I was actually reading.  I had never noticed before that I did not always comprehend what I was reading when I read at a quicker pace.  This was something that I could work on and improve, now that I identified a weakness of mine.  This realization afirms Beers idea of first identifying the problem to solve it.

Creating Independent Readers

There were many lessons that could be learned from reading chapter two. I never really thought about having to teach students how to read, teaching at the high school level.  Since I assumed that they would all have the knowledge to do so, I never thought about the challenges of having to teach it.  I feel like Beers provides good insight on how to go about doing so.  She gives good examples on how to figure out what the child is struggling with.  Persistent questioning of what is not being understood is a huge part of starting to solve the problem.  The questions helped to figure out what exactly was not being understood. Communication from student to teacher and vice versa was very important.  Beers also helps us acknowledge who the struggling readers are; and I completely agree with her opinion on them.  Deep down we are all struggling readers.  She comments,"The struggle isn't the issue; the issue is what the reader does when the text gets tough."(15).  I agree that every person can struggle with different types of literature.  I have difficulty reading dystopian novels; but instead of just putting the book down, I find someone who can explain it to me.  As teachers we need to determine where individuals struggle, and find a solution that benefits their reading skills.