D&Z Final Chapters

 Chapter 11 connected with me a great deal because I hyper-analyzed what I would do with a “struggling” student through my observation paper last week. I am still not a fan of this term (read prior blog) however, I did appreciate that D&Z gave me more to think about on this topic.  

My prior definition only covered one kind of struggling learner, but D&Z’s reading also showed other types. The introduction of Chapter 11 describes the students who couldn’t do the work originally because they had issues imaging the reading. With the help of their teacher they eventually persevered (233-34). This situation is semi-similar to the situation I analyzed in my observations in that the students didn’t give up. What interests me more was Samone, the only student who was” averse” to reading (235). According to D&Z, most of the struggling readers analyzed in a study had something they enjoy reading except for her. In my desire to rid myself of the term struggling learner I drastically narrowed the definition so Samone technically wouldn’t be included under my revised definition. I am still going to avoid the use of that word, because I still don’t like the connotations that come with it. I will just have to add sub-categories to this term. Doing this will avoid the use of “struggling” and will help me get a handle on what is the students issue because I am taking a closer look at the student to then work with in an empathetic manner.  

Think more about Samone, I actually wonder if there a book Samone just hasn’t been introduced to yet that would cause her to enjoy reading? Thinking back on how I came to enjoy reading, I realize that the excitement of another played an important part. Many of the books I read in school bored me. I never found the contents riveting and I don’t remember my teachers’ getting excited over the material either. Reading was just another task we had to do.  Due to the idea that all reading was like school (i.e. boring) I didn’t read on my own until middle school. What changed all of this was the Bridge to Tarabethia. I came across the story through one of my friends. During a classroom presentation she just become so excitement about the book it was literally contagious. Soon after her presentation I gave it a try and loved it. I used to think it was because the story was so good, but those who read the book know it was just a decent story. Over the years, I came to believe that it was the excitement of my peer that made the book seem better than it was. I had it in my mind that because she loved the story, it had to be good. Now, this obviously isn’t the most critical attitude to reading once could have, but I still think seeing other people’s excitement is important. Passion is what gets others interested especially if you are lacking some. So even though book club conversations was not among the list of most “crucial” stratigies to implement with “struggling learners,” I actually think it should have made the list given the power of passion students can develop from simply listening to their peers (237-238). 

I think the most important strategy mentioned by D&Z this chapter is self-monitoring (240). Earlier in my observation reflection I spoke about how I would be available to help my future students after school. I think staying after school is still necessary, but if I don’t use class time or after school time to teach the student how to self-monitor they might just start to become too dependent on me. They need to learn how to think for themselves and self-monitoring is the way to do it. The idea of using sticky notes reminded me a great deal of the strategies used in chapter 5. However, coding the text is used for more than just marking when you are confused as the passage on self-monitoring seemed to indicate. They can also use it to think about what interests them, strikes them as important, or contradicts there thought (115). I want the students to come away not just being able to get through a passage, but really connecting to it as well. This should definitely be possible too if we follow point five of the “Key Stratigies to Help Struggling Readers, “which is to give the all readers something they can be successful with (236). As we saw in Kenya’s class she allows some choice for students, which can cause them to choose something that will be more at their grade level. If the reading level is something that doesn’t overly challenge the student they should definitely be able to use that task to make other connections. However, even if it turns out the student is challenged by a task, we could always give them extra time to figure out their confusion and then re-read the text to make connections. I keep stressing this because all learners need to be able to critically think about the text they are comprehending and I think that making these connections is a clear way of doing so given how much more thinking needs to occur when this happens. My only concern doing this is how do you get group back on same page again?

Overall, as I sit here still thinking about different reading strategies, I realize there had been a drastic shift in my thinking. Earlier in the semester when I read the UBD chart that asked me to take into consideration what the enduring understanding is for my class, I just thought of the knowledge needed for my content area (12). However as I think about that chart now, I know ideas like self-monitoring will fall in that list too. I am not quite sure when I actually learned this lesson, but I know D&Z helped me along that path. Realizing this lesson is important for all educators though given how much reading occurs in our subjects, which is why I think more educators should read this book in its entirety, At the very least they should read chapter 12 given how it was a summary of most of D&Z's major points.

Links

1. http://www.thoughtfulclassroom.com/PDFs/lsis-help-for-struggling-students.pdf