Something that stood out to me in this chapter is the "Promoting Joy in Learning" section. He says that "effective language instruction...is social and dependent on relationships with others, with context, with the environment, with the world, and with self. Such learning is enjoyable as well as meaningful." Good readers draw on prior knowledge and experience to help them understand what they are reading and are thus able to use that knowledge to make connections. Struggling readers often move directly through a text without stopping to consider whether the text makes sense based on their own background knowledge, or whether their knowledge can be used to help them understand confusing or challenging materials. By teaching students how to connect to text they are able to better understand what they are reading. Accessing prior knowledge and experiences is a good starting place when teaching strategies because every student has experiences, knowledge, opinions, and emotions that they can draw upon.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Kathryn Quinn September Blog Post
It's easy as a teacher to get anxiety, but Routman clarifies that "teaching with a sense of urgency" is not teaching prompted with rising stress levels; it is simply making every moment in the classroom count. He states that to do this, students on a daily basis must be engaged, self-evaluating, reflecting readers. He lists his top five things teachers can do to ensure students become excellent readers which include: Demonstrate that I am a reader; provide an excellent classroom library; let students chose books they want to read and give them time to read them; teach strategies students need to know to process and understand text.; and evaluate student regularly, giving them feedback and helping them set goals. I look at each of these suggestions and cannot pick out one that is more important than another. Students need a leading example and a set framework. Time makes doing all these things in one day hard sometimes, but they are very important because how beneficial they are to each child.
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Katie, I like the way you are reflecting on your practice. We as teachers can never stop learning. I agree that it is difficult to do all that you see your students need every day. We can only continue to strive for that goal. Everything is important to leading students to be more successful readers. And, yes, you are correct to focus on making those connections. For struggling readers we have to be explicit in our instruction and be great models for them.
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