Monday, September 15, 2014

Allington Readings


             One of the main topics in Chapter 2 is that students who read more, tend to be higher-achieving students from having more practice with developing their reading skills and reading comprehension. After reading some of the evidence in the article and from background experiences, I believe this relationship is true. Because of that, I think it is important that teachers incorporate plenty of time for reading in the classroom. This reading time should include a lot of time dedicated to silent reading. Therefore, each student can practice on their own reading. One example a teacher could do is have his/her students read a passage and then ask questions about the passage to the students to evaluate reading comprehension. This example could be used in many different subjects during the day. I think that it is, also, important for teachers to try to engage students to read to help them develop higher thinking skills. Teachers could encourage students to read by letting students read passages or stories they are interested in, but, also, educational. If students are engaged in reading, they may read more often which would help students become more high-achieving students.  Teachers should allow plenty of time for students to read to help students become better readers and high achieving students.

                In Chapter 3, a main topic was that many people do not like read hard readings, but some schools enforce students to read hard material. I thought this fact was interesting because I never thought about it before. If teachers want students to love to read, they should start by having a lot of easy reads. As students become more comfortable with reading at a certain level and build their self-efficacy, they may be more willing to read a hard material book based off of their interest. I think this topic in the chapter gave me valuable insights I did not consider before. As a future teacher, I do not want my classroom to get discourage with reading or not like reading because of the difficulty level. I think it is important for teachers to recognize if this is happening in their classroom and make adjustments so all students can be engaged in what they are reading. I think it is important to create an atmosphere in which students want to read.

1 comment:

  1. It is interesting that students who read more, tend to be higher achieving students. I wonder if a big reason for this is because a lot of the assessment is from making connections, which is something that is being practiced while reading. Being able to think critically definitely helps with assignments, at least in my former experiences. I agree that students should be given a lot of time to read during the day, whether it be in whole groups, small groups, or individual. They should have time for all of these, but the individual time, in my opinion, should be anything that the student wants to read. I do not think that it has to fit with the teacher's opinion of what is "educational". If the student is reading and making connections, then that book should be fine. The only time it would be an exception is if it includes inappropriate material.

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