Chapter 13 - Creating the Confidence to Respond

I will tie my connection to this chapter to the student I just finished working with. After all the test scores and "present level of performance" assessments were in, the one thing that I felt needed attended to first was her level of confidence. I felt that there would be no use introducing reading strategies, if she didn't believe she could learn to read more fluently.

I did a Confidence Survey prior to starting any intervention strategy. I discovered that she had zero confidence and was embarrassed that she could not read as well as her peers. I felt that Ashleigh was at risk of giving up if we didn't establish a strong foundation of confidence. She needed to learn that she could become a better reader, she needed the opportunity to be successful. Beers tells us "students won't believe us unless we create opportunities for success."

My situation with Ashleigh is actually reversed from what Beers says about confidence. She indicates that once students experience success with fluency skills, they will become more confident. While I completely agree, confidence building skills need to be introduced early on in the teacher/student relationship. With Ashleigh, it meant going back to her independent reading level and independent word lists, so that she could experience success.

I liked Beers suggestion of creating a classroom where students can take risks. The "What if I get it wrong" thought process keeps many students from participating in class. Beers gives us some suggestions on ways we can create this safe-house for our students. Some of them are just common sense, but a couple of the strategies really struck home for me.

1.  Make sure your students know one another's names (same goes for the teacher). When you know someones name, you can actually connect with them at a different level than just their face.

2.  Do not tolerate put-downs. I applaud Beers for taking this stance. Put-downs are a form of bullying and should not be tolerated. Put-downs also go against the idea of creating a safe environment where students feel at ease taking the risk of orally participating. Beers points out that this goes well beyond the classroom, and that we should take our show on the road (cafeteria and hallways).

I never really thought about the aesthetic and efferent stances toward reading. Beers makes a good point, that we need to teach our struggling readers how to read differently throughout the text, making shifts from efferent (answer the questions at the end) into aesthetic (connecting with the emotional side) modes. Good readers use these techniques with both fiction and non-fiction text.

Aliteracy...what a shame. These are not struggling readers who are reluctant to read because it's tough for them. These are good readers who choose not to read. Beers states that this is not only an academic problem but also a societal concern. "One of the greatest tragedies of contemporary education is not so much that many students leave school unable to read and write, but that others graduate with an antipathy to reading...despite the abilities they might have" (278).

It takes some special effort to connect unmotivated readers to books. They need lot's of choices, we need to know what interests them, and we must make books readily available to them.

Chapter 15 - My Final Letter to George

Well, after I dried my tears…I realized the most important thing I know about teaching, Beers writes in this chapter “We must, at all times, remember that we don’t teach a subject, we don’t teach to a test, we teach you--specific children with specific needs.” Teaching is my second career, but more importantly teaching is my dream. I believe that becoming a teacher is a privilege, not a right.

My challenge to every one of us on the course of becoming a “Teacher” is to approach this journey with an open mind and a willingness to learn…only then, will you be able to teach.

In conclusion, I will end with another Beers quote “To be called ‘Teacher’ might indeed be one of the greatest compliments one could ever receive.” 

Chapter 14 - Finding the Right Book

Boy is this important! I don’t like reading something I’m not interested in…why would my students? And, Beers points out that we typically want to share what we enjoy and that just might not be what our students enjoy. Ah Ha!

Beers shares some terrific resources for finding good reading material and points out the value of text features, length of text, pictures/illustrations with text and more. All of her strategies make sense, but I think the “Know Your Authors” could be a real selling point for some students. Students could connect to an author before they connected to one of their books. The “Book Jacket Bulletin Board” is another terrific idea. You could extend this and have students put sticky notes on the jacket after they read the book with comments. And the “Good Books” box was brilliant! I loved the fact that the Librarian really got involved in attracting the students to books…adding the “More Good Books” box.

Finding books, articles, and text that students want to read takes time. Beers shows us that taking the time to find material your students will read is worth it. Taking the time to get to know your students will pay off in the long run; they will see that you care and are willing to make the effort on their behalf. This might be all they need to make the effort for themselves (selfish-readers). 

Chapter 10 - Fluency and Automaticity

This was a particularly meaningful chapter for me. As part of an assignment from another class, I had the opportunity to work with a 7^th grade student who struggled with fluency. I saw first hand the frustration that these students feel. My main focus was building my students confidence (when I started working with her, she considered herself a ‘bad’ reader.) She wanted to be a better reader and was embarrassed that she didn’t read as well as her friends.

Repeated reading was a key part of our work together and really gave her the confidence that she really was a good reader. Becoming familiar with the text through repeated reading resulted in a more fluid reading pattern. We practiced with Fry’s Hundred Word lists, most of which she knew with automaticity. If not, we added them to her Word List. We did Echo Reading and taped reading practice so that she could hear herself read.

In my research, I discovered that fluency is an area that many middle school and secondary school students struggle with. Simple decoding instruction is not necessarily the best approach to improving fluency with these students. Beers gives us five great strategies we can use to help teach older readers who struggle with fluency and automaticity.

From a special education prospective, I think it’s critical for the general education teachers to recognize that many students struggle in this area and need additional help. Don’t just assume they are “bad” readers…give them some tools they can use to improve. Give them a chance to learn!

Report Card: My student improved from approximately 85WPM to approximately 103WPM and her confidence level improved 100%. Even with my limited experience, I think I helped!!! 

Chapter 9 - Vocabulary

I love vocabulary! That being said, I'm not sure how I learned it. Beers gives us some great strategies to use when working with instructionally naive (thanks Christy) students. Why some teachers continue to use worksheets is beyond me. The only logical explanation is laziness. I thought it was terrific when Beers was successful in getting her group of teachers to admit that learning 20 random vocabulary words/meaning per week was too much for them, let alone their students. The exercise of making the teachers use the words throughout their instruction prior to introducing them to the students was brilliant!

I can relate to the disconnect between new words and making meaning or even remembering them in the first place. Some of my first SPED courses used language that was completely foreign to me. But now that I've heard the words, read the words, and used the words myself...I have made huge progress in making the connection to the words and their meaning and how to use them in many applications.

I liked all of the suggestions that Beers offers to us in this chapter, but there were a few that I really liked:

Lesson #2 - Context as a clue: Teaching students how to use the context as a clue requires that students see relationships among words and an make inferences about the passage (187). There are specific strategies we can teach our dependent students to help them learn how to derive clues from the text they have read: Explanation clues, synonym clues, antonym clues, gist clues.

Lesson #3 - Teach word parts: We must also help dependent readers increase their word knowledge by teaching them how words work (188).  Not surprisingly, when we successfully teach students the meanings of prefixes, roots, and suffixes, they can unlock the definitions of many words.

Lesson #5 - Graphic Organizers: Graphic organizers help dependent readers organize information and see relationships that they otherwise might not see (194). The point of this lesson was to take dictionary definitions and make them real life for the students. Again, teaching students to make a connection to what they are learning increases the student's ability to generalize the information.

There are more, but now I'm rambling. In closing "Words matter, but how teachers help students learn words and learn about words matters more" (203).

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 8 - Extending Meaning

Incase you have not noticed that I am a bit older than the rest of you...I truly do not remember my teachers teaching us any strategies for the purpose of enhancing my comprehension about a text back in my previous life! I was raised in the "test at the end of the chapter" era and I can assure you it was not an effective method of learning.

There are so many strategies that we can use as teachers to teach our students that will help them  become an active part in the learning process. The purpose of reading is comprehending, but it does not happen without some effort on the part of the reader. If we are asking our students to put forth the effort to comprehend what we've given them to read...we should put forth the effort of teaching them how to comprehend. Beers reminds us that readers need to bring the invisible process of comprehending to the visible level.

The strategy SWBS (Somebody-Wanted-But-So) is a great exercise to engage an entire class, small group or individual instruction. Readers can be proficient or struggling; elementary level or secondary level learners. Summarizing a story can be overwhelming to many students. The process of breaking the story down into parts is not only easier...it's much more enjoyable. Students are able to engage in active discussions giving consideration to other perspectives or details they had not considered important.

Finding the right strategy for your students is as important as the strategy itself. Beers gives us some great tools we can take into our classrooms!

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 7 - Constructing Meaning

I liked the fact that Beers points out that sometimes our students think that they should "automatically" be able to read and understand what has happened. Struggling readers don't think that successful readers use strategies that help them understand text...maybe because they can't actually see it.  Explicit and specific instruction dictates that we need to model (teach) our students successful strategies. Beers tells us "What we must do is show them how skilled readers build meaning" (104).

There are many strategies we can teach our students to use independently, as a group, in the classroom, at home. From a special education standpoint, I really liked the "Say Something" strategy. This strategy encourages students to think about what they have read. Helping them with questions to consider will provide the framework they need to begin to analyze the text in a way they may not have previously considered.

I was surprised when Beers tells us "Rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It's probably the last strategy dependent readers use" (113). I am a HUGE fan of rereading...sometimes I even reread a passage out loud. I'm working with a 7th grade student who is struggling with fluency, but does well with comprehension (I know that's odd). One of her strategies for fluency is rereading...I think this may be why her comprehension is good! The process of making a list of why it's important to reread makes a ton of sense; all of the reasons that Alexis (page 116) notes are important comprehension tasks.

I think the biggest point this chapter presents is that the point of reading is thinking. As teachers we must teach our students how to think efficiently and effectively, these skills will benefit them in all aspects of their educational career and out into the world. Knowing what you have read is an important life-skill.

Adolescent Literature - Chapter 5 Learning to make an inference

I know from my experience, making an inference can be tricky...what if we're wrong? That's the beauty of making an inference about what's happening or going to happen in a text. The whole idea of making inferences is based on a "best guess" strategy. Beers explains that this process is based on our "internal tex," or what we are thinking as we read the external text (printed information).

We're given some great suggestions we can use to help us as we consider what inferences we are going to make. Many of these are very obvious, many may require us to really think about what we have read and what it means to us. After reading the text passage on page 64 and comparing it to the classroom discussion on pages 66 - 68, I was amazed at how many different inferences there were!

It is important for us to teach our students how to make inferences and to understand that if your inference does not prove correct...it's not bad; it's just an opportunity to reconsider the facts.

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 4: Explicit Instruction in Comprehension: "The reading classes that I have taken to this point have all emphasized that comprehension is one area in which struggling readers tend to b..."

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 6: Frontloading Meaning

Adolescent Lit Blog: Chapter 6: Frontloading Meaning: "I found myself in agreement with the fact that the large majority of teachers introduce a text by telling students something about the text...."

Ashley,

I completely agree with you about the Anticipation Guides. I think this is a very powerful tool for students to use as they formulate what they think is going to happen. Giving the students something to think about encourages them to become actively involved in the prediction process. As Beers reminds us throughout this chapter, when students are actively involved in predicting/anticipating what is going to happen they develop a deeper level of comprehension. Waiting to the end of the story to see what happens leaves a lot of opportunities to be engaged in the reading process behind.

After reading this chapter, I began to think about how I read and realized that I do a lot of predicting. Even if I end up making the wrong prediction, my comprehension level has increased because I've become involved in the process of reading versus just reading to find out what happens.

Predicting or frontloading meaning gives students of all learning levels an opportunity to participate. Nobody knows for sure ahead of time if a prediction comes true or not. Everybody seems to have an equal opportunity to predict.

Chapter 6 - Frontloading Meaning

I really liked the idea of frontloading meaning. I think this is a very useful strategy to help students make connections with the text they are going to read. Probably without realizing it, we all try to guess what is going to happen next in a book, especially one that we really are enjoying. I know some people who actually read the last chapter first! But the idea of predicting or anticipating what is going to happen in a text seems like the first step in comprehension; you're either going to be right or wrong. The best part is that you have already become actively involved in the text.

While I've heard of anticipation before, I've never heard of a formal "Anticipation Guide." This seems like a very effective way to help students guide their anticipation and encourages constructive discussions between the students. Beers states "Effective Anticipation Guides present students with pertinent issues that are worth discussing but that don't have clear-cut answers" (78). Through productive discussions, students will continue to make connections and develop a deeper understanding or comprehension of the text.

I have actually used the K-W-L strategy in my field experience with a fourth-grade inclusion class. I have seen first hand how K-W-L can help students talk through different thoughts. These discussions can be very enlightening for students and seems to be an environment where students feel relatively safe participating. Beers reminds us that in order for this strategy to be effective, we need to remember that the students should be creating the link between what they currently know to what they want to know; we should not be creating the questions. Comprehension is linking the unknown to the known.

I think Probably Passage is a really fun and engaging activity that facilitates a deeper level of comprehension. Beers tells us "Probably Passage forces students to think about the characters, setting, conflict, resolution, and vocabulary of the story before they read the story" (91). As students move through the process of what might be probable, they form concrete thoughts about what might happen. Probably Passage actually helps students bring the invisible thought to the visible level. This strategy provides an opportunity for students of all learning levels to participate.

The strategies that Beers introduces as "frontloading students knowledge of a text" teach students to become actively involved in constructing meaning prior to reading. If students are engaged in the prediction of what is going to happen next, they will be more engaged readers from the beginning. Engaged reading leads to comprehension. Beers summarizes "Pre-reading strategies that focus on active engagement with the text help struggling readers do what good readers do-think all throughout the reading process, not just at the conclusion" (101).

Chapter 4 - Explicit Instruction in Comprehension

Beers letter to George in Chapter 4 really made me think about how important it is for us to teach struggling readers how to comprehend text. Even more important is the fact that we can teach these students how to comprehend text. As I read this chapter I tried to visualize in my mind some of the strategies that I used to comprehend text; Beers lists several specific strategies that good readers use to help them comprehend text. These are the strategies that we must teach our students…The challenge is how?

Beers stresses the importance of very direct and explicit instruction. We cannot expect our students to “just do it,” we have to show them how very explicitly and directly. Beers describes six instructional practices that have been successful for her and reminds us that by having a plan (direct and explicit), it takes the guesswork out of what we want our students to learn.

The analogy that Beers uses to make a connection between skill and strategy was really helpful to me; the strategy takes you (or prepares you) to the skill. That means that without a strategy, you will never acquire a skill. Preparing our students with strategies today will pay off later when they are more strategic readers. Her advice to teach comprehension strategies early in the school year makes perfect sense to me!

The progression of Kylene’s coaching with Kate was very educational for me. Seeing the development of Kate’s teaching style evolve as a result of Kylene’s coaching was enlightening. As with Kate, I find myself coaching to the answer instead of coaching to the strategy to find the answer.

Addressing the issue of a Workshop Approach made sense to me. I can’t imagine being a middle school student and sitting in a 45 minute lecture in English/language arts. The idea of introducing minilessons as a means of incorporating direct instruction into your lesson seems like a terrific idea. This would help break the pace of lecture, allow time to target one strategy “good readers use” and provides an opportunity for the students to actually use the strategy in this class time.

The goal of reading is to comprehend. Our job as teachers is to teach our students strategies that good readers use to increase their comprehension level. These strategies don’t come easy for some and require explicit and direct instruction by us. Our students deserve to have the tools they need to be successful, independent readers.

Chapter 3 - Assessing Dependent Reader's Needs

Beers tells us “Not being able to read can mean a variety of things, depending on the student’s strengths and weakness” (24). She gave us a list of things to consider when we make the conclusion that a student “can’t read.” This is a very important part of the process of identifying and assessing the needs of the dependent reader.

Last year I worked in a fourth-grade inclusion class. Two of the students were working on becoming independent readers. When reading aloud, one student was so expressive, making certain to pause and stop at each punctuation mark. However, most of the time she had no idea what she had read. Knowing where her strengths were, helped us develop a plan to work on her area of need. Going back to Chapter 2, this also gave us the opportunity to build on her social confidence while working to develop cognitive confidence.

I think the biggest idea this chapter left me with is the importance of knowing what your students can and can’t do, so that you can make a plan to teach them. I loved Beers “Instructional Plan for George.” This plan was simple, to the point, and fact based. I know that I get overwhelmed in “how do I???” when I encounter a problem. Breaking the problem down into small parts is the best way to make sure you tackle each component.

Another key point in Chapter 3 are the Good Reader skills that Beers identifies. Prefacing our instruction with “good readers…” helps students reinforce the importance of using specific strategies in order to become an independent reader. We have to remind students that reading is an active process, one that requires their engagement, their active construction of meaning (35).

Beers spells out her beliefs about teaching struggling readers and I couldn’t agree with her more! These beliefs are the foundation from which her book is built and encompass three premises:

• Teachers – not programs – are the critical element in a student’s success
• The goal of reading is comprehension
• Comprehension is a complex, abstract activity

Chapter 2 - Creating Independent Readers

I loved the exchange between Kylene and Leah, the five-year old she took to the fair. Making the connection to George’s inability to verbalize his embedded questions when stating “I don’t get it” was eye-opening. There are many times that I can’t find the words to explain just exactly what I’m trying to say. So, I’m sure for a student that is not understanding what he’s been asked to do…it is equally frustrating!

Beers points out the importance of listening and observing what her students were saying about what they were studying, and found this to be more valuable than what they were actually studying. She shares “Their conversations gave me a glimpse into what they were thinking, and often those glimpses were far more interesting than whatever conclusions they reached” (11). Beers realized that being aware of the process her students were going through was far different than grading the end product.

I liked the fact that Beers acknowledges that anyone can be considered a struggling reader, depending on what they are reading. Struggling readers are not just the disconnected, disinterested students sitting in the back row. In fact, they could be sitting right under your nose and you don’t know it.

The ability to draw on strategies that good readers use is the difference between independent and dependent readers. As educators, it is our job to make sure our students are armed with as many effective strategies possible. We can’t eliminate the struggle, but we can give them the tools they need to struggle successfully. Beers tells us that she wants to do is “teach them how to struggle with a text, how to develop the patience and stamina to stick with a text, how to figure out on their own what is separating them from success with the text, and what they should do to fix it” (16). These skills will stay with them forever and can be used in any area of their life.

Confidence is a huge part of being successful in anything we try to accomplish, reading is no different. I recently spoke with the mother of a 7^th grade student who is struggling with her fluency. The mom states, “She’s beginning to loose her confidence.”  For a young girl in 7^th grade, this is the last thing we want to happen. Beers presents different areas of confidence that come into play with reading as: cognitive confidence, social and emotional confidence, and text confidence. Helping move dependent readers to independent readers builds confidence in all three areas.

Finally, I loved Kylene’s story about her daughter Meredith and realizing that making mistakes is a part of the learning process. Giving kids the correct answer (maybe even repeatedly) can reinforce the learning process. As Beers points out, sometimes we learn best from mistakes we make. We can’t be afraid of making mistakes…and we certainly can’t be afraid to let our kids make mistakes and help they learn through them.

Chapter 1 - A Defining Moment

As with all new adventures, there will be apprehension for each of us as we take our first step into our own classroom. Kyleen Beers shares some of her first teaching experiences and how they have shaped where she is today. Her decision to write this book was based in part on three beliefs:

• Teachers want to help the struggling readers who sit in their classrooms
• These struggling students want to be helped
• The right instruction can make a difference

Beers tells us that students who struggle with reading are fully aware of their problem. Many students who reach middle or high school may have even given up on the possibility of being able to read, they are discouraged and disheartened. These students often get lost in the shuffle or become disenchanted with school altogether. Beers celebrates the fact that these kids even show up, “I believe we must celebrate the courage required to walk through the doors day after day of a place that is designed to reward those who can read when you know you are on of the ones who can’t” (6-7).

As a person who loves to read, I am committed to finding strategies that I can share with my students in order for them to become successful readers, both in and out of the classroom. I know that there is not just one answer for one or all students and I am empathetic to students who feel “deficient” because they have difficulties reading. 

Introduction Post

This blog is for the purposes of posting comments and responding to material as required by the course Teaching Reading with Literature.

Please feel free to comment as you please.

Cheryl