Chapter 10 and 11

Chapter 10 and 11

1. Engagement and social interactions in reading are keys in successfully learning to read and developing as a reader.

It is really great when students discuss what they have read. This happened to me a lot when I used to teach high school. Not only did it really help a lot of my students when we held discussions on the characters in The Great Gatsby, but just to see how much some of them got into it was really rewarding. In my current after school program, which is all boys, I chose a really high-interest thriller to read, and it got some kids who absolutely hate reading begin to enjoy it and also discuss it with their classmates.


2. As literacy coaches visit the teacher’s classroom, they establish themselves as part of the classroom milieu.
a. This is absolutely the best type of professional development. Often teachers need to sit through some meetings or seminars in which only a fraction of the information is useful. But to have a helping hand right in the room would be so great; the coach can directly help you individually with what you need to work on and how to improve instruction.


3. In other study groups, the literacy coach organizes book clubs to help teachers use in-depth thinking, discussion, and strategic processing in their classrooms.
a. My principal often does this. A few times so far this year she has introduced books to the faculty to read together so that we have and share a sort of “common knowledge.” They aren’t really on literacy, but the same idea holds true. For example, one of the books was on bullying, which is a very important theme for a middle school faculty.


4. When developing lessons for your student, it is important to determine what kind of teacher support he needs.
a. The student I am working with for my project seems to need a lot of teacher direction. I had him in my class for 13 weeks, and now that I have completed the QRI with him, I realize that he may have a lot of bad habits that he needs to break. By modeling good reading behavior, this will hopefully help him strengthen his ability to do better with more difficult passages.


5. Writing makes learners reconstruct their understanding and thus prompts a more thoughtful response.
a. At the end of my first lessons with my student I plan on having him write a response that is directly connected with the chapters read. In the story the character faces a very difficult situation, and my student is going to write about a time that he felt the same way. I do this a lot with my students because most of my curriculum is based on writing skills. I have become very happy with the way a lot of my students are taking information from articles, shorts stories, etc. and are putting it into a well-organized response.