Greetings Fellow Readers!
Who knew there were so many intrinsic pieces to reading! No wonder so many kids and adults struggle and eventually give up on this process. It's hard to believe that the ability for reading proficiency begins before humans reach their first birthday. We all know that research states that babies begin learning their mother language at birth, well actually probably in utero because they can hear the mother's intonations when she speaks. However, I was shocked to learn through Patricia Kuhl's video, The Linguistic Genius of Babies, that their brains take statistics of the mother language up to one year old. Before the age of one humans are able to "learn" any language spoken on a consistent basis to them. And more than one at that! At one year of age they have taken on their mother language and learns to speak it. So, it is imperative that babies are spoken to by parents and adults on a consistent basis. This in turn prepares them for reading because they will have a vocabulary. Any child can learn to read, but the better readers will have a proficient and working vocabulary.
As a teacher, these chapters and video really made me reflect on my students. The ones that have a larger vocabulary really do comprehend quicker. Also, they have the tools to use context clues without having to be prodded. They have a mass of synonyms in their brains to help decipher meanings of unfamiliar words.
But, as I read I was a bit overwhelmed by all the pieces that go into effective reading comprehension. Prefixes/suffixes, vowels, syntax, clauses, sentence structures, and so much more. If I can do all this and am overwhelmed, how must the struggling reader feel? There is so much that goes into reading that children who come in unprepared don't seem to stand a chance at advancement. Because I see this frustration in my students so frequently I take it piece by piece for struggling readers. I incorporate a large amount of reading partners. This allows each student to read and be read to by a classmate, plus time for discussion of the material. They also edit and revise classmates' essays. This allows more reading practice as well as the chance to discuss the content.
We all know that parent and family participation is a crucial key to literacy. In one of the chapters I saw a suggestion to make a DVD of a parent helping a child read. This sparked many ideas for my school's Family Literacy Night in November. This year the department will focus on more tangible, realistic ways to help parents encourage their kids to read. Hopefully, this will have an impact on our student's literacy and overall comprehension.
Did you find any ideas you can take to your classroom or whole school?
Happy Reading!! :-)
Yes, the older children get the harder it is for them to become proficient readers.The window of opportunity closes early for most children and seemingly researchers argue that if a child can't read well by the end of third grade, odds are that he or she will never catch up. The effects of falling behind and feeling like a failure can be devastating. I can imagine that at the high school and middle school level this can be extra embarrassing. As educators seeing students struggle as readers is very hard and oftentimes we ourselves struggle to find solutions. Unfortunately, when students have a hard time in class this often leads to misbehaviors which interfere with teaching and learning, and produces tremendous stress. On the same token when beginning readers have deficiencies in language development this can also lend itself to bored, unmotivated students. Looking at language as conversation written down, it seems the most effective type of instruction in conversational in nature. Teaching the linguistics of language such as phonemic awareness and decoding skills engages students in natural conversation about ideas, issues and relevant worldly topics they care about.
ReplyDeleteHey Latasha!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog today. I loved the idea about the dvd of a parent reading to their child. I must have overlooked this part in the book by accident. This would be a great way to model to other parents on how they can be involved in their child's (literacy) education every day. I had a parent conference this afternoon and she was telling me how frustrated she was with her child learning how to read. She didn't learn phonics in the early grades so she lacks the knowledge of some of the letter sounds. She admitted to teaching her child some of the letter sounds incorrectly. I think it would be nice to have a DVD that also teaches the letter sounds to the parents so they can help their child who is in the primary grades. Our literacy night is usually around March surrounding Dr. Seuss birthday. This will be a great idea that I could mention to our academic coaches to get their opinion. In the above comment it's true that once a child reach a certain point its hard to catch them to the level they should be at. At my school there are some 4th graders who are reading at a 1st grade level. Somehow the foundational block is missing from their literacy knowledge. I try my best to give my all to each and every one of my students especially my struggling readers. I want everyone to succeed and they can if they put their minds to it.