Chapter 15 Reflection:

Chapter 15 in Kylene Beer's "When Kids Can't Read" was extremely interesting. I think the author's choice to end the book by writing a final letter to George was clever. Throughout the entire book, Kylene Beers has written letters to George, allowing the reader to understand how teachers struggle with ideas of working with struggling readers. However, the book provides a sense of courage for future and current teachers alike. It gives them some hope, and also a sense of reality in which most teachers face- not always being perfect. But Kylene Beers does not stop there. Insead, she provides the reader with loads of helpful information that she learned through her troubles with George. In the last chapter of the book, Beers is sure to relay one underlying meaning: the idea that teachers do not teach subjects, they they teach kids with individual needs. The chapter gives me so much motivation, and makes me very excited about my future career. It is nice to be able to read a book by someone who has such a passion for teaching.

4/16/09: Chapter 13 Reflection

After reading Chapter 13, I became aware of one of the most important things that teachers must know. There is a strong need to create confidence in the classroom. This allows students to have a secure outlook on themselves, and enhances their ability to participate in the learning system. As Kylene Beers states, "We can help students become more skilled readers, we can help them find books that they will enjoy reading. But unless we help them rebuild that confidence that has been missing for many of them since second or third grade, then we've addressed only part of their reading struggles." Instead of just relying on saying "you can do it" to students, teachers must realize that what really matters are the suggestions that help students develop social and emotional confidence. It is important for teachers to realize the depth of their impact on students. Teachers are with students for most of the day. I think teachers not only serve as teachers, but also as a role model type. Because teachers have so much impact on their student's life, it is important to remember to keep expectations high.

Book Talk: "American Born Chinese"

4/14/09: Chapter 12 in WK:

Chapter twelve is about teaching spelling, from examples of how words work, as well as from word lists. An important idea that Kylene Beers brings to the table is the notion that spelling and reading should go together. “That division continues today even though we know that as spelling knowledge improves, word recognition improves. Logically, we should be able to see the connection: as children read, they connect sounds to letters; as they write, they connect letters to sounds.” Therefore, why don’t more teachers link the two together? I have noticed in my field experiences that this notion is true. All of the students that struggle with word recognition struggle with spelling. Beers adds some ways to help struggling spellers. Constructing word walls, Homonym lists, thematic spelling, school words, spelling rules, and spelling patterns are all ways in which students can improve their spelling.

4/9/09: Chapter 11 in WK

Kylene Beers focuses on word recognition in Chapter Eight of “When Kids Can’t Read.” She writes honestly within the chapter, and begins by admitting her hesitation before writing it. Kylene Beers writes this chapter in order to influence teacher’s thoughts about “what comes after ‘sound it out’?” This idea spurred many thoughts back into my head from my childhood experience. I remember hearing that phrase constantly when I was learning how to read. I can see in a small way how that could help, but it is important to look at the bigger scheme of things. For example, there are thousands of ways to sound out different letters and letter patterns. Therefore, this method does not apply in most instances. Instead, teachers must work to build a common student vocabulary. Thus, word recognition, or the many ways students can access print, can help encourage readers to gain a bigger sense of vocabulary. Also, high frequency words, sight words, decoding, phonics, graphemes, phonemes, vowels and consonants are all ideas that when understood, help students build their vocabulary.

Book Talk: Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer

4/7/09: Chapter 10 in WK:

Studying fluency is helpful for students. One obvious way to increase student fluency would be to have them read aloud. Student will get into a “rhythm of reading,” and will become better readers. When one fluently reads, they spend their time- not on sounding out the words- but on constructing a higher level of thinking geared towards expansion of meaning within the text. When students can quickly say sight words, they limit their time spent on everyday words- thus allowing more time to focus on meaning and comprehension. Allowing students varied opportunities for hearing texts is also important. Kylene Beers reminds us that students learn how to vary their tone and voice when reading. Rereading texts allows students to get familiar with the writing, and then will speed up their ability to read. Also, there is a particular way to teach students the correct way to recite words. In order to eliminate the “in one ear, out the other” effect that correcting has, teachers should prompt the student by asking them questions to peak their prior knowledge of the word or word forms.