Ballenger November Post

"Teach with a Sense of Urgency".  The title of this chapter could have easily been an entry on the top five list the educators in this chapter were asked to make regarding the ways that they teach students to be excellent readers.  It can be easy to lose sight of our end of the year goals as we get mired in the day-to-day and all of the "things" were are to get accomplished that, at times, are unrelated to developing young minds into life-long learners.  We (the actual presently represented and the collective educators that students have and will encounter) really only have such a short time in which to make an impact and redirect students on their way to their own personal best reading level.

This chapter makes us think about the relationship involved in teaching.  I am reminded of the TED Talk by Dr. Rita Pierson where she reminds us that teaching is very much about relationships.  We can very obviously be a reader, and possess all of the great qualities of a most efficient reading teacher, but students will learn very little from us if those implicit criteria on page 44 have not been meet.  Students must realize, too, that their learning time and the learning time of their peers is precious.  I am proud of how effective one of the re-directions I frequently use with my students who are exhibiting disruptive behavior can be.  It is some variation of, "If you choose not to use your learning time, that is your choice.  However, you are not allowed to make that choice for anyone else."  It makes them think about how their current behavior impacts not only their own education, but that of others.  It also serves to remind students that we are all working together to improve.

I am realizing that I very infrequently include opportunities for students to reflect on what they have read, outside of whole group questions about the text read.  While opportunities for paired reading are a part of many lessons, I don't efficiently offered structured opportunities to practice the comprehension strategies modeled beyond answering literal and inferential questions about the given texts.  Are my students dependent on my correction?  I have not thought about that.  Sure there are a few students that will watch me for my reaction before completing their responses, but when I think about it, how many students are truly word calling without internalizing their reading?  How many are waiting on my follow up questions to mentally structure what has been read and glean meaning from it?

I believe it is easy to overlook the importance of thinking out loud and modeling the thought process behind reading skills.  Decoding most certainly lends itself to this, but comprehension strategies that we share with our students may not.  The example about highlighting is such a vivid one.  I cringe at the thought of using highlighting as a strategy, as my mid jumps to images of solidly yellow paragraphs and the explanations that all of the words are important... aren't they?

Teaching reading is reminiscent of dance.  There is a great deal of choreography involved and so many unseen hours of practice and preparation as well as underlying skills that are needed.  An adept reader will appear to move effortlessly through text and thoughtfully express their feelings about what they have read.  The fragile reader stumbles through, very obviously unsure of himself and his skills, and exhibits a hindered ability to internalize the meaning of the whole reading.  His expression of what he read is limited and stilted.

I really like the list on page 53 that offers some guidance to "turn and talks" that are genre specific.  These kinds of breaks really do serve to reinforce the relationship between reading and talking.  Likewise, the idea of class-generated literature as a part of the study of reading and later as a n addition to the classroom library is a wonderful idea! What better way to demonstrate the reading/writing link?