Variety in Literacy Framework and Assessments

Readings:
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 5 A Comprehensive Literacy Framework by Johnson/Keier
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 10 Assessment by Johnson/Keier

Chapter 5 of Catching Readers Before They Fall covers the many different aspects involved in a "comprehensive literacy framework."  In short, it discussed the importance hitting reading and literacy from many different angles.  This part of the book reminded me of the Daily Five.  It all revolved around reading, but sometimes there was reading alone, sometimes reading with other students, sometimes reading with the teacher, and sometimes just having the teacher read to the students.  This system bypasses all of the extra reading tasks that Allington hates so much.  However, it still uses different methods to give students variety and also target different aspects of reading.  There is writing involved too.  This can also be done individually or as a group.  I particularly liked the example of group writing in the book.  Letting students work together but also show off there strengths will help them gain confidence, as well as help the teacher identify each students' strengths and weaknesses.

The chapter on assessment tied in nicely, again discussing the importance of variation.  I agree with the fact that although standardized type tests certainly have a place in our educational system, it is not the place that they are currently in.  Some students excel at tests, but others flounder.  Stress and anxiety can massively affect student performance.  Students with different learning styles show their knowledge best in different ways.  Giving all students the same test is like teaching all of them the same thing, which we have already decided is not the best idea.  I like that the book provided many methods of evaluation to use, especially since reading is a difficult trait to evaluate by exam.  I especially appreciated the two profiles of different students, Edward and Hannah.  This is the perfect way to show that two students require two very different methods of evaluation, assessment, and assistance.

Each student is different, meaning that they would, in a perfect world, have their own individualized education plan.  Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to do this.  The best that we can do is offer options in every aspect possible, including methods of reading/literacy instruction and especially assessment.

Don't Sound It Out

Readings:
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 4 Beyond "Sound it Out" by Johnson/Keier

This chapter brings to light what everybody working with a child on reading has experienced.  "Sound it out," you say when they stumble over a word.  "S-ch-o-o-l...sCHool!" they exclaim, proud to have figured out the letters. "Actually no," you are forced to say, popping their bubble of success, "that word doesn't follow the rules."  The thing is, there are a lot of words that don't follow the rules, and when nothing follows the rules, it is hard to use the rules.

Kids deserve better than just "sound it out" as the go to response.  This is likely to confuse and deflate them much more than it will help them.  If you are constantly telling a child to use a technique that won't work half the time, they will begin to lose confidence in themselves and their reading abilities.

This chapter delved into more ways to help kids figure out what that mystery word is.  The authors focus on three different ways to solve the problem, thinking about what makes sense, what sounds right, and what looks right.  While these are great strategies individually, they are most useful when utilized together.  If we begin to emphasize these strategies more, then we will be helping students learn truly useful strategies instead of one that works just sometimes.

By using these more realistic strategies, we will help even struggling readers boost their confidence levels.  Since there is no longer a focus on only the phonetics and letters in the word, the child is more likely to find the correct word instead of something wrong or invented.  This means less "actually no"s and more "good job"s.  Something as simple as that could make or break reading confidence in a struggling student.  The balance between self confidence and self doubt is precarious, and we need to do everything possible to tip the scales in the right direction. 

Reading as a Second Language

Readings:
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 1 Expanding Out Paradigm of Reading by Johnson/Keier
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 2 How Reading Works by Johnson/Keier
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Ch. 3 Vygotsky Takes a Seat in our Classrooms by Johnson/Keier

This week's reading focused a lot on thinking about reading as a complex process. For people like us, who have been reading for many years, it seems like such a simple, natural process.  However, for children just learning how to read, it is a difficult task.  We forget how many steps are truly involved in decoding words and interpreting their meaning.

Reading is almost like learn a whole new language.  Essentially it is, since children are still figuring out English and how the language works when we teach them in schools.  But talking is very different from writing/reading.  Many people who grew up in bilingual homes claim that they can speak their second language (i.e. Spanish) very well, but due to the lack of technical instruction in school, have poor reading/writing/grammar skills in that language.  English though, which may not have been their first language, is what they have more technical skill in, since that is what was taught in schools.  So if you look at reading in this way, it really is it's own separate entity from speaking.

Therefore, in order to remember what it was like to learn to read, it would be helpful for teachers to learn a new language.  The best option would be one with a totally different system of written language, like Russian or Chinese.  This would be an excellent exercise, even if only for a day at a professional development workshop, to get teachers back in the head space of their students who are just learning to read.  Everyone has already taken a foreign language in school, and therefore remembers whether they thought it was easy or hard.  If it was easy for you, it was likely that reading and writing was easy for you.  If you were the type of person who struggled with a foreign language, it is likely that you might have struggled with reading as well.

Another important thing to consider is Vgotsky's Sone of Proximal Development.  This learning theory is perfect to relate to reading instruction.  It emphasizes focusing on only what children are ready to learn. Often times we expect an entire class to be on around the same level, but some students end up struggling or being bored.  Te ZPD focues on finding the appropriate level of instruction.  This fits n nicely with the idea of "good fit" books and leveled reading.  Vygotsky's theories compliment our current reading practices nicely.

If we were to ignore the ZPD, it would be like placing a student who has never spoken Russian in a 400 level college class, where the professor speaks no English to the class.  This panicky feeling would be similar to that of a student being forced to read a book that is not the correct level for them.  Vygotsky's theory just reminds us how important it is to provide proper instruction to each child.  This way, nobody is allowed to fall through the cracks.

Reading a Lot of the Right Books

Readings:

Ch. 2 What Really Matters: Kids Need to Read a Lot - Richard Allington

Ch. 3 Kids Need Books They Can Read - Richard Allington

Practice makes perfect.  That goes for basketball, playing the piano - anything.  It goes for reading as well.  This is the topic of Allington's Ch. 2.  He stresses this endlessly, citing numerous studies and research projects that back up his ideas.

I firmly agree with this idea.  A lot of this is based off of my own experiences as a reader and a student.  For whatever reason I adored reading from a young age, devouring book after book.  The more I read, the more I wanted to read.  It is a self propelling process, and once you start it is hard to start.  I credit the fact that I have done well in school partially to the fact that I have gotten so much practice reading.  I would follow Richard Allington's statistics very well, I think.

There is still the question, though, of whether students will read more because they are good at reading, or whether they are good at reading because they read more.  This is almost a chicken-and-egg question, and I doubt we will ever truly know the answer.  Whatever the true root is, it is important that we continue providing quality literacy education to students from a very young age.

What is a quality literacy education?  This is what Allington discusses in his second piece, Ch. 3.  He stresses the importance of not only reading a lot, but reading the correct books.  Books that are too easy or too hard are both equally likely to throw a developing reader off track via boredom or frustration.  Our students need books that are designed to be on their specific reading level.

However, they also need books that interest them.  Reading material that does not grab your attention is the most difficult to get through, and yet we constantly force children to read books that they do not choose.  Giving a little bit of a selection will help them to become excited about what they are reading.  Finding appropriately leveled and interesting books will always be a challenge.  This is why teachers must utilize the school library or media center, as well as focus on building a large classroom library of their own.  This is a part of being a teacher that I really look forward too.  I cannot wait to introduce my students to books that I have loved as a child and to have them introduce me to books that they enjoy as well.

Allington also states the importance of involving reading in areas other than "language arts."  Readings, books, articles, and magazines can relate to lessons in social studies, science, and more.  Why should they not be included in lessons?  Allington is also a fan of uninterrupted learning time, especially when dealing with reading.  Finding time in the day to focus on nothing but the actual act of reading will likely be challenging, especially with the large amount of standards we are forced to teach too.  But some creative thinking and careful planning will hopefully make it possible.

These chapters form an important basis for what the core of literacy/reading/writing lessons for children should be.  The best way to get kids interested in reading is to make it easy, accessible, and interesting by providing a lot of the right books.

Image Credit