readicide

I can't believe that I could agree with a book more.  This book was great!  I fully believe that the schools are the reason kids don't like to read and they should be the reason why they DO like to read. 

There is no longer a time and place for students to free read.  There is so much focus on passing a test that there isn't time anymore to allow kids to pick what they like to read and just enjoy the peace of reading. 

The book spends time explaining the ways that schools are hurting the level of student reading.  The focus on test is brought up again.  Gallagher explains that teaching to the test isn't a problem unless it isn't a good test.  The standardized test are being developed to help all students pass, so they are full of multiple choice questions and low level readers will continue to be low level.

There is also a bulleted part of chapter one that goes through the ways to prevent readicide, really it is questions to ask yourself and school to see if you are harming students reading.  There are three main reasons listed in chapter two that I couldn't agree with more!!!
        *there is a dearth of interesting reading materials in our schools
       * Many schools have removed novels and other longer challenging works to provide teachers and students with more testing preparation time.
        * students are not doing enough reading in school!

I couldn't agree more.  I see so many classrooms of English and reading that have no reading in class.  Students need to have some time in class to be able to read.  Why is reading the part of schooling that is sent home for students to "figure it out" when it really is something they need to do well to succeed.  Students can spend an hour in a history class hearing a lecture on Yugoslavia that they actually will never need to know but reading isn't something important enough to do in class.

Another thing I found interesting was that teachers are over teaching books.  Gallagher talks about there being too many reading  hoops for students to get through that they don't just take time to read a book and love it and forget where they are. they aren't getting a chance to experience reading as they would as adults that love to read.

One of my favorite topics was "the overteaching of academic texts is spilling over and damaging out students' chances of becoming lifelong readers.   This was so true for me.  I didn't know I liked reading until I got out of high school.  Reading was always about answering questions after each chapter.  or it was about a book that wasn't relevant to me. 

differentiated instruction

I read “How to differentiate Instruction in a Mixed Ability Classroom.”  This article is actually one that I am currently using in my comp writing class.  I really like how easy Tomlinson makes the content of the article.  It is easy to understand and makes it clear what differentiated instruction is and isn’t.  The article literally goes through things that make differentiated instruction and what doesn’t.  It states that it shouldn’t be chaotic, it isn’t the same as the model in the 70’s, and it isn’t just away to group different leveled students. It is organic, student centered, proactive, provides multiple ways to get to the same result, and it’s a blend of whole class, small group and individual instruction.  My favorite quote from the article is, “At its most basic level, differentiating instruction means "shaking up" what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. In other words, a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products.”  This quote has been helpful in thinking of what differentiated instruction really is.  I also am using in my paper the example that is given of a typical classroom where differentiated instruction isn’t used: 1st graders may listen to a story and then draw a picture about what they learned. While they may choose to draw different facets of the story, they all experienced the same content, and they all had the same sense-making or processing activity. A kindergarten class may have four centers that all students visit to complete the same activities in a week's time. Fifth graders may all listen to the same explanation about fractions and complete the same homework assignment. Middle school or high school students may sit through a lecture and a video to help them understand a topic in science or history. They will all read the same chapter, take the same notes, complete the same lab or end-of-chapter questions, and take the same quiz. Such classrooms are familiar, typical, and largely undifferentiated.  It really opens my eyes to how many kids might not be getting the education they really need.  Or how much better prepared for the world after school kids could be if they were taught in a way that worked for them. 

   
 

I Read It, But I Don't Get It

This book was interesting.  It was an easy read but very repetitive.  I think there were a lot of good tips but some are common sense or we have learned the tips in other classes.  I have personally don’t remember struggling with "being" in a book while reading.  I do know lots of people like that.  It seems fairly common with people who don't actually like to read.  I have also found that it isn't that people don't like to read, but that they don't know what they would like to read.  Once you find something that catches your interests it is easier to read.  Once you get practice in reading what you like it is easier to take those skills and new confidence to a different type book. 

 

I really learned the most from some of the examples of getting out of reading!  I was amazed at the efforts students out into not reading a book for a book report.  One author looked for a book that hadn’t been checked out and read the first and last parts, then returned the book and put it in the wrong spot in the library so a teacher can’t check her work… Wow!  Another kid made up a book.  These kids are obviously smart. 

 

The book was right on with the CCSS.  The author was upset when she hear teachers of middle school and high school teachers who were claiming it wasn’t their job to teach students to read.  A lot of times it isn’t actually teaching them how to read letters but instead how to comprehend what they read.  Which the author seems to think these students can’t read. 

 

The author gives tips to keeping students heads in the book to help them focus on what they are reading.  One of my favorite examples was marking in the book.  Giving students codes or highlighters when reading a text can help them stay involved.  They can use the codes to show parts of the book they relate to or they can highlight what they aren’t understanding. 

 

There are a lot of tips to using follow-up strategies.  This is the part that I thought was repetitious.   All the bulleted points seem to be obvious to me.  For instance, making connections to text and your life, visualize, retell what you’ve read. 

 

I found it funny but interesting that the author’s daughter was supposed to read 40 pages in a night and was flustered by it.  It was a book about the Revolutionary war but the young girl was intimidated by the text.  It wasn’t until her mom helped her realize that she actually is learning about the war in her social studies class.  The girl was relieved that she knew so much already before she read the book.  The weird part to me and the point I took from this example is that the English and Social Studies’ teachers weren’t connecting the two points for the students.  It would have been very easy to tell the students that they would be reading a book about the Revolutionary War and that is what they are learning in Social Studies.  Instead the students are left to figure out the connection and many aren’t going to make that connection. 

 

I think the man thing is to get students reading and asking questions.  Whether they completely understand the text or not, there should be questions.  Following a reading with a discussion is a good way to help students understand their reading.  And Practice Practice Practice. 

social Justice

I found two articles for Social Justice.  Both come with a different perspective.   One was a bulky document from the NCTE.  It gives a brief and gave a generic definition of social justice.  The document was good for involving students into the finding the meaning of social justice.  For every section of the document there is a K-12 activities/assignments section.  It gives great questions to bring up to students to get them thinking.  For example, the first one has questions like: ask students what social justice means, have students find examples in their lives, ask why it's important, and there are many more.  I guess the thing I found most important about this article was the part that it lists all the different forms of possible discriminations groups: race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, age, appearance, ability, national origin, language, spiritual beliefs, size, sexual orientation, social class, economic circumstances, environment, ecology, culture, and the treatment of animals.  I guess I am always mindful to the more common groups, but it is good to remember that there are so many other groups besides race and sexual orientation to remember.  The other article I read was "Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice."  This article was a little easier to read and was more of a overview.  It talked about making the classroom feel safe for all students.  It also explained that teachers should be mindful of what they are teaching, for example, if you do a unit on Columbus and his discoveries, you might also talk about the other cultures involved.  It wasn't just the white Europeans that were in America.  There were natives that were in this area at the exact same time.  As a teacher we should talk about their lives as well, and not forget about a whole group of people. The rest of the article talks about making sure all students have an equal chance at learning. 

response based approach

This article was the best I have read of all the articles.  I guess it appealed to me the most.  Being a Social Studies major and English minor I completely get the reading for an answer.  That is always how I have read literature and that is how I have always been taught to read it.  The assignment is always read pages 35-78 and answer the questions.  Rarely was there discussion and never was the discussion to deepen the understanding and to ask more questions that maybe aren't even answered.  I especially liked the analogy of the horizon.  It really illustrates the meaning of reading for a deeper meaning and not just to find an answer.  Instead you discuss and there may never be an end, but we are always working towards it.  It seems that with this horizon way of thinking the reader is able to apply things they may already know from personal experiences or can draw from other things they've learned.  With the discursive approach the reader is to come to the same conclusion as every other reader and isn't encouraged to use their own knowledge.  Not only should this literature bases approach be used in an English class but I think I can take this approach to parts of a history class.  Within the article there are also steps to follow that teachers have developed and continued to improve.  It gives the framework and the guidelines to having a more thought provoking discussion.  I believe that every student knows something that I don’t, or might just know it different.  This is a good time to learn for myself and everyone else in the classroom. Classroom discussions add to the classroom.  This article was the best yet! Not only full of useful information with examples and instructions but also easy to read.