I have always loved to read, and I LOVE to teach reading. I love it when my students get excited about books, and I love to help them find authors and genres that they can get excited about! Every year, I have such an incredible mix of kids. My second graders range anywhere from a 4th grade to kindergarten reading level. It can be challenging to keep up with such a diverse group, but I have found strategies that have really helped me!
I attended a conference last year at Furman by Dr. Richard Allington on What Really Matters for Struggling Readers. I learned 3 points that have really shaped my whole outlook on teaching reading:
- Struggling readers need to read MORE.
- Struggling readers need access to books that are on their independent reading level. This means they can read them with 99% accuracy.
- Struggling readers need more one-on-one time with a highly trained reading teacher.
{Read More}
In order to get my students to read more, I did away with centers during reading time. I felt that my advanced readers got really bored doing them and my struggling readers never really knew what was going on. Allington stated that the average struggling reader only reads for about 5 to 10 minutes a day. This fact was SHOCKING to me. Now, my students have a bucket full of books that they can read, and they read for over an hour every day.
{Books They Can Read INDEPENDENTLY}
At the beginning of the year, I teach my students how to find a "just right book." We typically read Goldilocks and the Three Bears to illustrate this point. Goldilocks needs to find a book that is just right. Some are too hard, some are too soft {easy}, and others are JUST RIGHT! I use Beth Newingham's idea with t-shirts, too, and create a poster that illustrates this point for my students.
This strategy works really well because it teaches all the students to find a book that they can read with success.
{More One-on-One Instruction}
This, or course was the hardest to implement! I just can't devote my whole day to teaching just a handful of students how to read. I have tried my best, however, to find ways to help those kids who are below grade level. Jan Richardson's book The Next Step in Guided Reading really helped me to find ways to meet with students and provide more meaningful lessons for them based on their needs. She has lesson plan templates for each level that truly changed the approach that I take with each guided reading group.
What I Do Wrong...
After reading the chapter, I realized that I still need to work more on culturally responsive reading instruction. I loved the quote from the book that "the construct of culture is so much more that foods, holidays, and customs." As an educator, I need to dig deeper to learn how our diverse students see the world. I need to learn more about what my CLDE students value, how they learn, and how they interact with their family. How I'm Going to Fix It...
I think that I could design a survey to send out at the beginning of the year. This survey would help me see how culturally diverse students see the world, and what they value most. I could also research more into the culture of the students that I teach so that I have more background knowledge concerning students who are culturally different that I am. I loved the ideas from the chapter on how teachers could become more culturally and linguistically responsive. Some ideas that I would like to try are:
- more learning opportunities designed for students to make connections between what we are learning and their own lives
- more time to build background knowledge {maybe through read alouds or guided reading groups}
- more personal links established with parents to see how literacy is utilized at home
- more participation with the members of the community
- more high expectations set for ALL students to achieve
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