Response to Chapters 3 and 4

While reading Chapter 3 of Literacy For the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach, I was struck by the information on page 76 about the different reading levels and choosing reading material appropriately, not because it was anything terribly new to me as I'd learned about those levels before, but because it reminded me of something that I learned in another class that I thought was really important information, so I wanted to share it here.

Not only is it important for teachers to be able to judge a book's reading level and how appropriate it is for a particular student or the class as a whole, but it's important to teach the students how to do this as well, so that they can also choose books that match their own interests and abilities. For example, if a student likes sharks, then they might well want to read a book on sharks, but it could be discouraging for them to pick up a book on sharks that is massively too difficult for the student, especially since they might be doing this on their own or with limited help if it isn't school reading. And, what I think is the most worrying part of that is if they don't feel as though they can read well on their own because they are discouraged by their book choices, then they might feel as though reading in itself is not a fun activity and lose their internal motivation to do read even when not being prompted by a teacher, which is the last thing that I think most teachers want to see happen. But if you teach your students what they should be looking for, then they will be less likely to end up frustrated because they will know when they look through the book that this is a book that they either should wait on or read with someone else.

The main method that I've learned about to teach students how best to choose their own books is by teaching them that before they begin to read a book, they should flip through the first few pages and identify the number of words that they can't decipher and understand. For example, if the student sees that on the first page alone that he/she counts between five-ten words that the student cannot identify at all, then perhaps that's a book to read with a parent or a teacher or a friend, rather then by the student alone. That's not to say that new vocabulary in itself should veto a book as it's wonderful to learn new vocabulary while reading, but if there seems to be too many words on a page that are above the student's level then perhaps the book is above the student's level and it's important that the student identifies that before he/she becomes frustrated and discouraged by trying to read the book. It's good for students to feel challenged, but too much challenge can lead to frustration and disappointment instead of pride of an accomplishment and students need to learn how to tell where that line is for them. While the students are learning how best to decide on books to read, it might be helpful for teachers to encourage the students to bring potential books to them, so that the students' can learn more about this process and become better at it.

This website is a fantastic one that was recommended by the teacher of the other class that I took and, while it has a great deal of value when it comes to teaching reading, I'm posting it here for the links to lists of books that can be recommended to students and used in the classroom as well as the articles about how best to evaluate reading levels. The first link is only the general link to the websites main page, but here is a more specific link so that you don't have to really search for it.