Final Reflection

Between going to class and reading When Kids Can't Read, I have picked up a lot about how to diagnose problems in dependent readers and strategies to help them.  I have learned many classroom activities that all kinds of students can do, like the worksheets we created on vista.  In tutoring I helped a student to better grasp making inferences using one of Beers's activities in the text.  I especially like Chapter 14 which gives sources for teachers to review and choose books for students to read and ways to get them involved in reading on their own (see below entry).  I combined my experience with tutoring, in classroom discussions and reading the text to feel more confident in how to teach when I get into my field.

Selecting Books for Classroom Assignments

Obviously when assigning books to read for assignments teachers cannot please every student, except for with a choice project.  I definitely want to have a choice reading project as part of my English class curriculum.  I can compile a list of books through surveying the students to find out what kinds of books they like, then have them choose a book off the list, or have me approve one of their own selections.  Part of the survey could be asking students what their reasons for reading are--entertainment? For information? For learning something new? The reasons the students give will reflect in the books I put on the book list.

After giving the assignment and handing students the book list I compiled, I can spend a day in class having a talk about all the books so the students have a better idea of which one they want to read,  A good idea from When Kids Can't Read is doing book teases, where the teacher reads just a short but climactic excerpt from a book so students want to read it to find out what comes next.  This can be done separate from the choice project book talk, just perhaps in the first few minutes of a class here and there to motivate students to read on their own time,

Another good idea Beers presents in the text is taking the class to the library once in awhile (maybe once a month) and helping students check out books.  She makes a good point that some students will read if someone shows them a good book, but will not wander in alone to search for a book in a library.  All of these ideas are easy ways to try to interest students in reading more.

(Chapter 14)