Essential Questions

In regards to the first article "The Greatest Art for the Littlest Readers," I took for granted the role illustrations play in helping students with literacy. There are many facets of reading and literacy that must all come together to help a student develop a love for reading. One of the primary ways in which young children learn how to read is by imagination, drawings, and paintings. The next stage is learning written words and their meanings. I think that art and illustrations are undermined in the so called balanced literacy approach.

On another note, the way that students are learning to read is not encouraging or fun. In the second article, "Rethinking Schools," the author paints a picture of how students are learning to read...that is a reality for many teachers employed in Abbott/inner city school districts. Although I knew this was happening....it looked worst on paper. Throughout my first year of teaching in a school similar to Downer, I raised the same issues the Jaeger raised regarding the scripted reading approach. I was very frustrated and decided that I was going to do what was best for my students behind closed doors...that is to individualize their instruction, to work in cooperative groups, and to differentiate instruction. In the beginning, I found that I was spending more time testing my students rather than teaching my student the fundamentals of readings (the skills and knowledge). My decision all paid off in the end because I used my students' strengths to help all of students in my class to become better readers. When tested, my students all achieved higher percentages than the year prior.

All of the articles left me thinking about....what is my approach to reading going to be? How can I differentiate and individualize this reading approach to meet the needs of all my students year after year?