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.