Who Am I Without Him-Video Book Talk

Alan Book Chat

I thought that the book chat went overall really well. I tend to think that chat rooms are a little lame to be honest, but I thought for the prupose we used it, the chat room was great! I think it is definitely something that I would consider doing in my classroom. I think the only thing about chat rooms that can be problematic is the fact that sometimes people just want to talk to each other about other things and it gets the whole thing off track. I myself am guilty of doing that, even in the alan bookchat. I noticed that we were talking about one thing that had to do with the book, and then it would get really off topic. I thought it was really great to hear the perspective of the author and hear what he had to say about writing the graphic novel and how his sons helped to influence it. I think for students that would be a neat way to do something different as opposed to do just doing a worksheet. I thought overall the bookchat went really well, and I enjoyed it.

Ch. 15-When Kids Cant Read

Content:

• "we teach you- specific children with specific needs"
• "we always want to know what to do when kids cant read"
• "its when we want more that teaching becomes so hard"

Response:

• I think it is so true that each child has their own specific needs. I think that these needs deserve to be met and that is what teachers are for. If one kids needs flashcards to study, do a lesson on studyskills to help himstudy that vocabulary set with flashcards. I think that especially with reading every child has different needs. Specific children all have different things that they need to be done by the teacher so that they are successful.
• I always want to know what to do when my students are struggling with reading. I feel like if we are doing a comprhension passage and the students are unable to answer any of the questions that it is my fault they are unable to answer them and there must be something to do so that there comprehension is increased and they are no longer struggling with the reading.
• When we want more out of teaching, or have high expectations that dont get met, that makes teaching very difficult. It is the time when you dont have enough time with a kid that needs more help then others that its hard. It gets hard when the parents do not take an interest in their child and see how talented he or she is. It gets hard when kids have a bad attitude about reading because they simply do not know how. I think it is a teacher's job to make sure that every chid in their classroom succeeds, yeah, it may be hard sometimes or even all the time, but thats what a job is. I do not think it is supposed to be easy to get a child to want to read, I think you have to work at it.

Ch. 12 & 13-When Kids Can't Read

Content:

• "as spelling improves, word recognition improves"
• "memorization of words means the word will be gone by monday"
• "important to remind kids that everyone progresses at different rates"
• "having high expectations helps to increase lost confidence"
• "create a classroom that encourages taking risks"

Response:

• I think that spelling is a huge part of a student being able to recognize a word or not. If a student is able to spell the word, they are most likely able to sound it out, or break it up into syllables and then put it back together to make the whole word. The more words a student learns to spell, the easier recognizing those words will be. This also goes back to getting many opportunities to work with this vocabulary.
• Just memorizing words for a test is not a good way for the students to retain that word. Memorization might be good for learning the capitals of the states, but not just for learning spelling or voacbulary. Giving students a set of words and saying ok your having a test over them tomorrow does not make the student want to analyze and really look at the word. By monday, that vocabulary and spelling will be gone.
• I think it is also crucial to remind all of your students that everyone progresses at different rates just because one person knows one million words off of a list or can read a book in 15 minutes, doesnt mean you will be able to. I think this reminder that everyone is at different levels helps to keep the student's confidence up if they are not as fast as others.
• I think that every teacher should have very high expectations and I do not think that there is anything wrong with having high hopes for your classrooms. I hate when i hear people say i watered down the lesson because my kids couldnt do it. I do not understand that. Everyone should be greeted with a teacher who is ready to make a difference in their acacdemic career and that happens by setting high expectations.
• Taking risks can be a very scary thing, especially in a classroom. But kids who see that taking risks especially in reading and language is ok, might be more encouraged to do so themselves. Maybe they want to try reading a new chapter book that they saw in the library but they are scared they wont be able to get through it, encourage them to try reading it and if they need help , they can always ask. Taking risks is a great thing and can develop more positive attitudes if the risks show success.

Ch. 10 & 11-When Kids Cant Read

Content:

• "automaticity is achieved by repeated exposure to the word"
• "the more a reader reads, the more his or her reading rate will improve"
• "HFW can be reinforced with word walls"
• "to build word recognition skills, we must have a common vocabulary"
• "recognition of HFW is crucial for fluent reading"
• "need to give students plenty of opportunity to read"

Response

• I think that it is really important that kids are exposed to a wide range of vacabulary on a daily basis. With this repeated exposure comes the idea of being able to recognize the word after seeing it a few times. To achieve the sense of knowing the word automatically that means seeing it enough to not have to think about what it is.
• The more a reader reads, the more his or her rate will improve. If a student only reads maybe once a week, that idea of his or her reading improving due to constant exposure to books will never occur. It does not have to be a book, it can be reading an article, reading a caption on a picture or anything that is available in the classroom.
• Word walls are basically a file folder or a poster that you can put up on the wall that is filled with HFW or sight words or both. I think that this can be really important because it allows the students to always be able to see those words and use them in their writing if they want to or to figure out how to spell a word or figure out which word to use.
• Common voacbulary means knowing those HFW, syllables, how to sound words out, chunking, and the basics of reading. If we know how to do all of these things recognizing or figuring out words becomes a much easier task in general
• There are quite a few words that go under theHFW list. The reason it is so important that the students know HFW is because ever sentence usually has those so if you are not able to recognize those then fluency will be a very difficult thing for you. An example might be, The dog went to the big bowl with her. Half of the words in the sentence are HFW.
• GIVE the students plenty of opportunity to read. We talk abotu fluency and word recognition but we cannot have either of these without the chance to practice reading. Take your students to the library, let them have free time to read between activities. I think that reading should be put in whenever you have free time because this just reinforces that idea of giving kids the opportunity to be successful in reading.

Ch. 8 and 9-When Kids Cant Read

Book Content:

• "scales as a way of helping students shape their thoughts"
• "SWBS" provides a scaffold for writing summaries"
• "It says-I say is helpful for dependent readers because it gives them a way to organize thoughts"
• "assign word study, not word memorization"
• "important that kids use the context clues"
• "ask questions about student's word knowledge"

Responses:

• The most helpful scales are the ones that help the student to make comparisons, recognize contrasts, draw conclusions, and distinguish between fact and opinion. It is important that students are able to go through these processes after they are done reading the passages.
• SWBS is a great method for helping kids summarize. Scaffolding is a good method to get kids started if they are struggling and alot of kids really do struggle with coming up with a solid summary.
• All kids needs help when it comes to figuring out how to organize their thoughts. With charts like it says-I say you are able to do that in a structured manner and everything you have read gets put into your own words without all of the mess.
• Vocabulary instruction should be done with the idea of knowing the word not just memorizing it. You see the words you study in all kinds of contexts so it is important to know the word its definition, and when it can be used not just memorize the spelling.
• Context clues are an important part of all reading instruction. The students are able to look at the rest of the sentence to figure out what the word might mean. If you are able to recognize the rest of the context, the word does not seem so scary.
• Asking a student questions about what they know about a particular word can be helpful in figuring out what the instruction needs to be based on. If the student knows the definition but has trouble putting it into a sentnce it is important that the teacher knows that.

Ch. 6 & 7 -When Kids Can't Read

Book Content:

• "the challenge faced with dependent readers is getting them to think about the selection"
• "skilled readers constantly anticipate what the story is going to be about"
• "use anticipation guides before during and after reading"
• "tea parties and K-W-L charts access prior knowledge before reading"
• "having students say something about the text, keeps students interactive, and produces meaning"
• "think aloud strategt helps readers to make meaning"

Response to reading:

• Dependent readers are often already really reluctant to read, and usually have little interest in doign any actvities that are associated with that text. So i do think that there is a bit of a challenge to get them to think about the selection. They want to get through it not understand meaning, so it is important to make the text relevant to dependent readers.
• Skilled readers are constanly thinking about the story because they are eager to read which is usually the opposite of dependent readers. Skilled readers can be a great example for those who are reluctant to read. Pairing skilled readers with struggling readers is a great way to fill in that gap.
• Anticipation guides are a good way to predict what will happen and then talk about what actually happened after you are done reading. I think that this would be really useful to use in a literature circle activity. Everyone might have a different prediction about what might happen so it is another way to get conversation flowing about literature.
• Tea parties are a fun way to get students up and talking about a book and using their prior knowledge and schema to discuss it with their peers. I also think the K-W-L chart is a vital tool that everyone should use in their classroom. Once again it has alot to do with prior knowledge but this is all part of making contructive meaning of the text which is important for the struggling reader.
• TALKING IS CRUCIAL! The reason that I think talking is so important is because it allows everyone to hear different ideas and concepts that they might not have thought about before hand. I think that hearing everyones ideas can be good to start the thought process before they start reading.
• Not alot of kids I know really enjoy doing think aloud strategy. Sometimes I find it is better to do this with struggling readers and maybe do the thinking aloud part with them so they do not feel as intimidated.Thiking aloud gives the student an opportunity to talk about things they have questions about with the teacher or peers.