Working with Groups and Individuals

Listening:
Making Decisions for Individual Learners within a Small Group Setting webcast by Reading Recovery

The webcast from the Reading Recovery website touched on several very important issues.  There were several great points that they made which I had not previously thought about.  The first of those was to teach to readers, not to the books.  I know I would be guilty of picking certain books for the sake of using said books.  That, or I would find stories that I like and find an excuse to base a lesson off of them.  And this is okay, but I need to make sure that I focus on what the readers need.  You can pick a book that will focus on the readers, but you should not make the readers the secondary focus of the lesson and the book the first.

I also really liked the comment on how reading was more non-visual than visual.  It really is thinking, and I think many people overlook that.  People who are not avid readers to not appreciate the amount of thinking that goes into reading a text.  When you read, your brain is constantly working to imagine scenes and scenarios and predict what will happen and comprehend the text and make connections.  These things are what we must teach to young readers so that they can understand and appreciate what they read.  Without this brain work, reading is difficult and dull, and struggling readers are hard-pressed to continue when they don't see any point.

They also talked about giving students an adequate amount of time dedicated solely to reading and writing.  This is something we have discussed often, but that does not make it any less important.  I think it should be highlighted frequently.  It is something that people think is obvious, but that tends to fall by the wayside once teachers get into the swing of things.  Therefore, it should be brought up as much as possible.

I also really liked the discussion on ELL students that took place.  These students will be included in our classrooms and we are going to need to know how to best serve them.  However, they learn differently than our native English speakers will, so it is important to realize that.  It is especially important to realize that talk is critical for these students, and that reading and language cannot really be separated.  The more that we talk to these students and expose them to English, the easier they will be able to learn.  We must work to make sure that they have access to texts that are easy for them to connect to and interesting to them in order to help encourage the process.  ELL students require a little extra attention, but they are just as capable of learning.