Chapter 15 "When Kids Can't Read"

"We must, at all times, remember that we don't teach a subject, we teach you-specific children with specifc needs."

I think this quote is a great reminder for teachers that kids learn at different stages and in different ways, therefore need to be taught at different levels in different ways. After working with many disabled students, I have found that teaching at different levels and modes depending on the childs learnign strategies is critical for them to master a content.

Chapter 12,13 "When Kids Can't Read"

Research shows us that spelling is a developmental process. Children advance through stages as their understanding of letter-sound relationships broadens."

I found this quote to be very interesting but so true! While working with Sarah, and the other children in her classroom, I am able to see a huge diversity in the different levels all the 1st graders were at with their reading! I would work with one child who had excellent fluency and voice when she read her basal reading, while another student wouldn't even be familiar with their sight words. It is quite a challenge to change your different styles of teaching mode when you are working with such a diverse group. I believe it is crucial to encourage students who are excelling at a faster rate to KEEP excelling! Do not hold them back so the rest of the group can catch up. And than on the other hand, keep group readings at a level where everyone can show their progression and strengths in reading. Spelling, reading and writing, I think, go hand-in-hand and if you have a student that is excelling in reading, challenge their spelling as well.



"Helping students develop social and emotional confidence require patience on our part"

If you are an engaged, aware teacher, you will know the students in the class who are comfortable with others, students who aren't and students that may be TOO comfortable. I think boosting self image and esteem is vital especially for a preteen group. I struggled with self-confidence and I do not blame it on my teachers or school, but it definately would have made a difference with a little more encouragement on their part. Reading in front of the class is either an enjoyable task for teens or its their worst nightmare! Being aware of whose comfortable and who is not is important so that you do not place someone on the spot to possibly ruin their day or feelings toward reading, but than not to give someone too much spotlight than they already deserve. Reading needs to be a fun, creative activity that doesn't just involve sitting at a desk taking turns reading. Creating the book into a script or play can be a great way for students to engage with one another and show a different light than just being contained to desk.

Chapter 10,11 "When Kids Can't Read"

" Typically, when looking at beginning readers, researchers have measured fluency by oral reading rates. Reading rates usually increase faster during the elementary school years than during the middle and high school years. Furthermore, teh mroe a reader reads, th emore her reading rate will improve."

After we finished our Author Book chat wi th author Dwight MacPherson who wrote "Kid Houdini" our class discussed how graphic novels can benefit children who struggle in reading. One of the first benefits we came up with was FLUENCY! Struggling readers will enjoy graphic novels because of their lively, colorful illustration and the voice that is noticed throughout the story. Students will start to read the story not realizing that the are putting emphasis in the voice and consequently starto to increase their fluency. The text comes in short phrases, and so the students won't fee overwhelmed with little text and will also be able to visualize the story rather than having to read, comprehend and visualize all together. This can be great practice before a student has to test their fluency with basal readings for their teacher.


When I am working with middle school and high school students who have trouble with word recognition, I look for four things...

1. I want to see hwo many high-frequency and sight words they can quickly identify
2. I want to see if they can read single-syllable words but not multisyllabic words
3.I want to see if, when they are reading mulitsyllabic words, they are guessing at the word based on the first few letters or if they are reading through the entire word, just very slowly.
4. I want to see what they know about letters and sounds.


These are the same procedures and steps that I took when I was working with my struggling reader, Sarah! We focused on a new sight word list every week and would constantly go over the pronounciation, spelling and sounding out of the words so she could better master brief reading. Even though Sarah was able to know her letters and sounds well, middle school and high school students may have forgotten the simple dynamics and conventions that are involved with writing and reading. Phonics is now the number one thing teachers have to teach their students when they begin to read and write and needs to be repetitive throughout their highschool even college years.

Chapter 8,9 "When Kids Can't Read"

"Teach Students How To Use the Context as a Clue"

I mention this strategy to a lot of the students I work with who struggle with reading and comprehending based off uknown vocabulary terms. The best way that I usually present Context Clues to students is by doing practice worksheets weekly, that way they can learn what to look for in a sentence. Beers uses the word jaundiced as an example. "The best clue comes in the second sentence, where a synonym for jaundiced is offered-pessimistic." By replacing unfamiliar words with words that students may think will work is a great way to experiment and work independently to discover an unknown vocabulary.

Chapter 8,9 "When Kids Can't Read"

"It Says-I Say"

Question It Says I Say And So
1. Read the 2. Find information 3. Think about 4. Combine what
Question from the text that what you know the text says with
will help you answer about that what you know
the question information to come up with
the answer

The "It Says-I Say" strategy is a great way for teachers to present a way for Struggling Readers to make inferences. It allows them to get a perspective of the what the stoory is trying to get across and forces them to search in the story for an expository answer, then try to relate to what they know (making inferences). The "It Says-I Say" process is helpful and beneficial for struggling readers to think and talk through their opinions and thoughts about makign inferences with stories.

Chapter 6,7 "When Kids Can't Read"

"Activating Prior knowledge- Crucial part of reading-thinking process."

Activating schema! Another wonderful way to initiate comprehension and inferences. Beers quotes "I'm not sure it's the best way to help students become actively engaged with a text....and thinking about the selection and how they will read the selection before they begin the text." I had mentioned before that asking questions about a story is important in order to activate comprehension and schema. If they are able to search through the story and do practices by looking at "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid," they will be able to practice looking for important ideas and main details. By getting a descriptive story such as "The diary of a Wimpy Kid" and graphic novels such as "Emily Edison" or "Kid Houdini" struggling readers can start to maek a connection between illustration, selected text and the comprehension questions given after the story is read. a K-W-L chart would be a great tool to use when teaching students to activate schema in reading a story. (What I Know, What I Want to Know and What I Found Out).



"The Think-Aloud strategy helps readers think about how they make meaning. As students read, they pause occasionally to think aloud about connectionsthey are making, images they are creating, problems with understanding that they are encountering , and ways they see fo fixing those problems."


By thinking aloud teachers can understand what students are thinking and getting from the text they are reading. This way the teacher can direct her or his students in the right direction of what they should be getting from the text and story and to even get a different outlook and perspective on a selection. This also helps students to get corrective feedback on their responses and conclusions from the story. This will help progress their inferences and comprehension of the story, therefore allowing them to progress in their reading.