Jun 24
How Do You Rate Yourself as a Reader and Writer?
Posted by FOR-PD at 7:47 am in Comprehension and Instruction
According to Keene (2007), the more effective comprehension teachers: are themselves readers and writers, constantly scrutinizing their own reading and learning processes in order to provide the most responsive instruction; don’t follow recipes, scripts, programs, and prescriptions; they understand basic reading theory enough to generate enough instructional options to respond to students’ needs; use a wide variety of texts in terms of genre and level; set aside daily time to confer with kids; this is the key instructional venue; create a classroom environment conducive to scholarly oral interactions and long-term study of comprehension strategies and concepts; and, provide lengthy periods of time for students to read every day.
- How do you rate yourself as a reader and writer?
- How do your abilities and understandings help you relate to your students’ needs, engage your students with text, and assist those struggling with reading and literacy skills?
- Do you feel you reflect enough on your own learning and reading skills/strategies?
How Do You Rate Yourself as a Reader and Writer? has 14 Comments
-
-
Subscribe to our Blog
June 24th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I am a reader; I always have several books going at the same time. I love to write; but struggle with it. I have always been able to turn my students on to reading because I read a lot of YA novels. It’s easier to ‘sell’ a book if you’ve read it and your enthusiasm for it is evident. A requirement of my reading class is that students share the books they have read through short book talks. I participate in this conversation by sharing the ones that I am reading or have finished.
However, I am in a quandary at the moment. Our district is implementing Hampton Brown’s reading ‘program’ called the Edge. We are required to use a rotation model of instruction; to which I am not adverse. I have tried it with teenagers before and have found that the students spend an awful lot of time socializing. I abandoned it for whole group instruction and practice with teacher rotation as an alternative. In addition, I provided for large chunks of time for active independent reading. My students would show me their thinking by briefly writing about it in journals.
The new system that we are implementing with the Edge WILL use the rotational instructional model (RIM.) All the lessons have been planned and written by district employees who are not classroom teachers. The lessons will be provided for us online, even the TE is online. A reading ‘coach’ has been hired for our school to oversee fidelity to the District’s plans. Even the bell ringers have been planned daily. Bell to bell is the district’s mantra. How do I keep my job and turn kids on to books while working on their deeper understandings under these circumstances? How does one size fit all? What will happen to teachable moments?
I’m frustrated.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
I agree with Keene that teachers have be readers and writer themselves and that they must scrutinize their own reading and writing. I do feel that there are many excellent programs that incorporate the research practices for good readers and writers. What teacher need to have is a firm and indepth understanding of the reading process so that when a child begins to struggle they can assess the situation and make decisions on how to help the child. If the teacher doesn’t have the understanding of how to teach reading then the program just becomes a recipe and things can cause event the best recipe to fail for even the best trained cook.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I have always been an avid reader. I never let a day go by without reading something for pleasure. I try to instill this love of reading in my students. I find it works pretty well if you can see their interests and tailor their reading to that. When they say they have no interests, I then try to encourage the other students to tell about books they loved. Students seem to trust what other students have to say more than what I say, sometimes. I think this helps the struggling students. Once they pick up something they love to read, they won’t put it down. To this day (and she is married now), my daughter will turn back to reading The Giver. This has always been her favorite book; and when she wants to “get away” this book takes her mind off of her everyday stresses.
I also love writing, which I think goes hand in hand with reading. As a reading and writing teacher, I try to show my enthusiasm and encourage my students to write each and every day. So, I think I would rate myself as a very strong reader and writer. I let the students know it is fun to write. We often do quick writes which are much less intimidating to those struggling students. Then, we can work individually to further enhance what they have written. They seem to enjoy the variety of activities we do with writing - and I ALWAYS tie in the skill to literature. I love using Write Traits and expanding upon those concepts.
I must admit, I really don’t ever take time to reflect on my own learning and reading strategies. I do model strategies for my students (questioning out loud when reading with the class, etc.); but I wouldn’t call this time of reflection. I do know that without a doubt, one reason I love being an FOR-PD facilitator is because it sharpens my brain and I learn something each and every time I facilitate. My participants challenge me with questions and I learn so much from their experiences also. I think it is a good idea to reflect on what is coming to me, as a facilitator, when I have finished each week’s lesson. So, through this reflection, hopefully I will grow as a teacher! Learning never ends.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I am an excellent reader and writer, but don’t have or take enough time for either. I read books I want the kids to read during the SSR time in my class, so I get reading time then. But I coach three sports so I have little time after school or in the evenings. I have the start of a YA novel written, but I need to work more on it. Summer is my time to get a lot of reading in.
My abilities should make it difficult to understand those who don’t read well, but I can do it easily. Many teachers who read well cannot understand students who do not read well. But I can use my experiences in playing basketball and tennis as a way to help me understand. Also, I can just look at a piece of text and see the problems the kids will have with it. I read aloud often to my students, sometimes reading with speed to pull them along and other times reading and talking about the process I am undertaking as I do so.
I reflect on both as a way to help the students learn. My way of teaching has always been to try to figure out what the kids need, figure out how I do it, and then try to teach the kids a way they can do it.
Any reading program which does not include some time for the kids to read what they want to read is DOOMED TO FAILURE!! No matter how much you teach them, you have to give them time to practice on their own with something they like to read. No matter what grade they are in, they may not be able to find the time outside of the classroom, so we must give them that time, even if it is 10 minutes a day, in the classroom.
Lastly, one of my former students, with big problems as a reader, came to me six weeks ago looking for a book to read. I asked her what she wanted to do in life and she said she wanted to be a vet. I gave her All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot which is a 300-page book. She read it in three weeks and came back for the second. I just gave her the third and the fourth in the series. I never would have guessed she would actually read these, but it is something about which she cares!
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
This is a great discussion question! I love to read and I write very well (albeit too quickly sometimes and I make stupid errors in spelling and grammar), but I don’t like to read and write all types of genre. For example, I absolutely LOVE to read fiction stories that aren’t written in 1st person (I almost didn’t pick up “Twilight” because it was written in 1st person, but my love of vampires made me attempt it and I am so happy I did!), but I hate reading non-fiction and will avoid it like the plague. I don’t read magazines unless I am in a waiting room, but I love the newspaper (which seems to have less and less news stories these days.) With all of that said, I would rate myself as a pretty good reader, so long as it’s not technical jargon I am supposed to understand, and a decent writer.
I definitely didn’t “get” why other adults and students didn’t like to read when I first started teaching. It took many years of being in the classroom and taking lots of professional development classes on reading to understand why so many people don’t like reading. Since I don’t like reading every thing, I can now relate to my middle school students who say they “HATE” to read. I like to share with them that I too don’t like to read certain things, and I try to expose them to lots of different kinds of reading they may not know exist. Empathy and sharing personal experiences has gone a long way to winning over even my most reluctant readers. I also have found students who hate to read are often my poorest writers, so again, I try to introduce fun ways to write (such as with sticky notes on Thinking Maps or with colored pencils) to get them to forget they are “writing” and just enjoy (or try to enjoy) the activity. I model often and work in small groups or one on one to help all of my students become more proficient in reading and writing.
I honestly only reflect on my own reading and writing when I am facilitating a FOR-PD course, taking a PD class or talking to my peers. It’s during these times that I take the time to think about what and how I read and write, and how I can change or help students in the classroom. I think reflection is a fantastic activity and can certainly help one become better!
July 6th, 2009 at 12:49 am
I believe that I am a strong reader and a proficient writer. Thank goodness, since I’m a fourth grade teacher charged with preparing my students for the Florida Writes test each year! I do try to instill a love of writing with my students so they become skilled beyond the annual assessment. I demonstrate the 6 Traits of Writing (developing ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions) by frequently modeling the writing process. My students witness, first hand, my enthusiasm toward composition. I believe this influences their own desire to write and therefore increases their performance.
One of the most effective methods I’ve found in improving my students’ literacy skills is conferencing with them. By conferring together, we locate reading materials on their ability levels, and that they find interesting. This practice must be done quite often with my reluctant readers to keep them engaged and motivated!
Finding time for reflecting on my own reading and writing abilities is usually something that occurs during the summer. I do believe this process of self-evaluation increases my effectiveness as an educator and should be done more often! However, during the school year, my reflection consists of my students’ needs and abilities so I can plan an effective literacy program. : )
July 7th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Hi Linda, The Edge is new to me. I’d love to her how it works for you and how you are able to add in those teachable moments. I know it may not be easy. Plase do share with us when the new school year begins. I think we can all benefit from your experiences.
Lourdes
July 7th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Excellent point, Betsy, that teachers do need to understand and grasp what quality reading/literacy instruction looks like in order to be truly effective. While many teachers hold firm to programs, and many programs are research based, teachers also need to realize the importance of the needs of their students and what from the program will be most useful and what can be added to the program to make the difference.
Lourdes
July 7th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Margaret, I also feel I am a strong reader but learning about reading and reading strategies has helped me even more. I think once we turn reflection not only on our own teaching, but our learning, that true growth can be found.
Lourdes
July 7th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Ken, your point about the need for choice is right on target. In order to create readers we must give them the opportunity to choose what they enjoy. And, while we must provide them with new and exciting books that we deem as “great”, we must also give them room to choose books that we may find boring or uneventful.
Lourdes
July 7th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Hi Laura,
I agree with you on the point that reflecting on our personal abilities and needs in reading. When I teach FOR-PD I also reflect on my own teaching and learning and how to improve both. I think that making the connection with sharing personal stories and experiences is what makes reading more than just about words on paper. We have to teach students how to find connections and help teachers use strategies that offer making connections part of learning.
Lourdes
July 7th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Karen, you make an excellent about the power of conferencing with students. Taking the time to conference with the students in your classroom on literacy skills, likes/dislikes, and overall understanding of material is a wonderful way to truly understand what they need and even desire with regard to literacy instruction and motivation to read.
While I have found general discussions to be useful the use of a simple conferencing form can provide a template for meeting goals. Try this one. http://www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/l/lessonplans_graphicorg_pdfs_conference.pdf
July 18th, 2009 at 10:49 am
This sounds like an interesting observation. Although personally enjoying both the reading and writing process, I don’t know that I would want to say to a roomful of reading teachers that they all need to be readers and writers. I am a little concerned that by indicating that teachers need to view themselves as readers and writers, we may be leaving out those teachers who though currently successful, may feel they have struggled in this area.
Since early experiences tend to impact self-concepts, they may not view themselves as readers and writers. These could be the teachers who can most easily identify with our striving readers and show their students strategies that have helped them to be more successful.
Sometimes those that have struggled, have reflected on the process much more than those that naturally excel in this area.
July 19th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I feel these are all poignant questions. They remind me of the phrase from the FOR-PD course content, “Teaching reading is rocket science.” For this reason I’d like to begin with the question:
How do your abilities and understandings help you relate to your students’ needs, engage your students with text, and assist those struggling with reading and literacy skills?
I remember when I first heard the term metacognition. I was anxious to try it out…I took the time to really think about what I was thinking about as I read. I was surprised at all of the strategies that I was using naturally. I truly believe that my ability to understand the strategies that I use as a good reader helps me be a better teacher. When I teach students comprehension strategies, it is not just rhetoric. I am completely aware that I use these strategies as I read. I believe that teaching reading is a complex process and that all teachers need to have an understanding of the process to be effective teachers.
How do you rate yourself as a reader and writer?
I feel that I am a good reader and writer. I know that I have my strengths and some weaknesses, but I am aware of both and work to use the strengths to my advantage and improve my relative weaknesses.
Do you feel you reflect enough on your own reading and writing strategies?
As a teacher, I know that one of the most effective strategies I can use to improve my skills is reflection. I constantly reflect on my reading and writing. As many years as I have been doing both…I know that there is always room for improvement.