Articles-Katie Brigman

 

From Efficient Decoders to Strategic Readers

 

Reading is a way of learning and many older students aren’t receiving support to move from fluent decoders into strategic readers.  A strategic reader knows how to think with text.  Much of the focus on teaching students how to use reading and writing strategies to learn with texts is gone once a student reaches middle and high school.  With a recent study showing that half of the students entering high school read at a 6^th grade level or below shows that there isn’t enough being done. 

 

I like the idea of reading and writing being taught by all teachers, not just the traditional English/language arts teachers and reading specialists.  Literacy development is a shared responsibility by all teachers, especially in middle grades and high school. 

 

 

You Can’t Learn Much from Books You Can’t Read

 

Textbooks are essentially useless if a student can’t read to understand the information in the book.  Students in grades 5-12 are struggling to read and unfortunately the problem only gets worse.  The “one-size-fits-all” approach, where schools buy multiple copies of the same textbook, doesn’t lend itself to academic achievement for all students.  Textbooks also don’t fit in with student learning because the reading level is usually two or more years above the average grade level of the student using the book.  A textbook can only hinder learning unless students have access to a textbook they can read accurately, fluently, and with high levels of understanding. 

 

One idea that I liked was the idea to use a textbook as part of the overall curriculum in the classroom.  Textbooks aren’t necessarily bad and can be used in conjunction with other learning sources.  Textbooks are just one component in creating a multi-sourced and multi-leveled curriculum. 

 

The idea of “managed choice” for students is a concept that I see has having endless possibilities in the classroom.  Students desire and need choice. 

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