Hi fellow readers and welcome to my blog!
As you can tell by my blog name, The Book Whisperer, I feel a deep connection with books. All my life I have LOVED to read. It is my ultimate comfort and indulgence. Without books I feel somewhat lost in life. Yes, I know that it sounds strange in this time of technology. However, there is something safe about books for me. Therefore, it was only a natural flow that I chose to teach English Language Arts which heavily focuses on reading. Yet, imagine my dismay to realize that many of my students could easily go months, even years, without feeling the urge to pick up a book and lose themselves in the pages.
Despite the pleas, gimmicks, and cheap tricks most of my "kids" don't want to read. Sigh....what's a book lover to do? However, I have discovered that many of them do not posses the tools to be effective readers on their grade lever. If you read on a 4th grade level in the 8th grade, you wouldn't want to be "that one" with the small book.
Chapter one from All Children Read addressed the struggling readers of American classrooms. It was like looking into a mirror of my classroom. The number of students reading several grade levels too low. The article I read, Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective
Classroom and Intervention Practices, correlated nicely with the chapter. The article listed and discussed ways to engage adolescent readers. Thankfully, I discovered that I was doing everything that was stated as important. I need to expand on some areas such as more individualized instruction and interventions for students who are not on an I.E.P. .
This home piece is the section of reading from chapter 1 that resonated and has even stayed with me for the past week. For years we have strived to activate a larger number of consistent parent participation. Yet, we have not heavily focused exclusively on family literacy. This is such a huge task that I was daunted even thinking of ways to implement this endeavor. I initiated a Family Literacy Night at my school a few years that has been very successful. But, it's not enough. How can I engage my parents as well as my students to read at home? If you have any suggestions I strongly welcome them!
HAPPY READING!!! :-)
Latasha,
ReplyDeleteI can feel your passion for reading through your blog entry. It’s wonderful to see how much you love books, sounds much like my childhood and early adolescence. I love to read also, however I never have any extra free time to enjoy a good book, besides the summer months. I definitely agree that books are safe, just as pencil and paper; reminds me of electronic planners and paperback planners, there is nothing like pencil and paper.
Being a Pre-K teacher none of my students can read, besides being able to identify their names and some environmental print, so I haven’t really experienced students reading below a grade level. What do you do for the students who don’t want to be "that one"(as you put it) with the small book? How do you encourage them to read? Do you ever have time to take a step back and attempt to identify what areas (phonics, phonological awareness, etc.) they are struggling in? I hear many teachers discussing students who struggle with reading and I have also read articles regarding this topic. I also know that this is a major issue once students transition into middle school. Hopefully some type of reform can be put into practice in your school for this issue. Is this a common issue in your county? school?
Great blog post! Hopefully your excitement about reading will rub off onto your students, it has certainly made me think about picking up a book of my choice.
Camellia Foston
Latasha,
ReplyDeleteI too am an avid reader. When students say, "I don't like to read," it's like a stake to the heart! I quickly tell them, "NEVER say that to an English teacher-even if it is true....OR you haven't read the right book yet!" Many students are shocked that I have 5 (five) FULL bookcases in my home with a stack of about 40 books with no shelf to put them on. I was very interested in this first chapter as I am the Reading Specialist at my school. (and this is my first Reading class) I was also happy to find that my common sense strategies to help students become better readers are actually research based best practices.
I have begun my classes with choice in reading material. My strategy is to get students to enjoy reading before we transition into "required" reading. When asked what they might like to read, most students did not know so I asked about their favorite TV shows and movies to find areas of interest. Once we began talking about shows that they watch-it was easy to offer suggestions of adventure, suspense, or sci-fi books to begin with. So far all students are excited about reading-even those who are still trying to pretend otherwise. I feel that updating the curriculum to include more "pop-culture" classics rather than English canon classics into literature curriculums will also help to engage students. The other problem I have found is vocabulary. While they are reading, the majority of my students do not recognize or know basic fiction vocabulary and I was a bit surprised. I'd like to find more "fun" ways to incorporate vocabulary into English class curriculum so that students expand their knowledge base. I can't wait to discuss this with you more in class!