Catching Readers

I was told by a knowledgeable student that I was supposed to wear my pjs inside out, flush two ice cubes down the toilet and sleep with spoons under my pillow to make a snow day happen. I did not do any of that - and I guess that's the reason we didn't have a snow day on Thursday. We have another chance on Monday - so maybe I need to get on the ball Sunday night. 

I mentioned in another post that I was leading a book study loosely based on this book:


{It's really just an excuse for me to make the time to read this book!} 

I was looking at Chapter 7 - I Thought I Knew How to Teach Reading, but Whoa! Whoa is right! Much of the discussion is for students that are in earlier grades, but it seems every year I have one or two {or, yikes! more!!} that are still struggling to read. Well, let me clarify - I always have students that are lower than we'd like on their DRA - but those 1 or 2 students are considerably below where they should be. 

"The best thing is to catch it (dependency on the teacher) and encourage self-monitoring from the very start" (page 123). Do you have students that don't even realize that they've made a mistake, particularly when it's one that doesn't make sense?? When the authors talked about self-monitoring, I realized this is something that many of my students don't do. So, here's something to work on for me {and my kiddos - even though they don't know it yet!}

When I got done with Chapter 7, I just couldn't stop - so I kept reading - Chapter 8 - Comprehension. 

"Comprehension strategies are not an end in themselves, but rather a means to understanding. Our classroom instruction must reflect this." - the authors are quoting Harvey and Goudvis. The authors also discuss the difference between spotlighting a strategy and heavy-handed teaching. 

Ack - I think I'm guilty of heavy-handed teaching. Our basal reader has a strategy for the week - and that's what I focus on. At one point in the chapter, the authors ask if the strategy is something you as a teacher use when you are reading. Well, this week our comprehension strategy was story structure. For me personally, I do sometimes make lists of characters and their relationships to each other if I'm getting confused. But what about beginning, middle, end? I guess, yes, I think about these things. I guess what was a light bulb moment for me was when the authors said, "The teacher treats the strategy as the end goal" {heavy handed} versus "Teacher gives time for students to talk about how the strategy helps them understand the story." {spotlighting}

Anyway, this has given me lots of food for thought. If you've read Catching Readers - what are your thoughts??