I chose the book, Catching Readers Before They Fall by Pat Johnson and Katie Keier. I will be focusing on chapters 4 and 5 for this blog post. The first thing that stood out to me in chapter 4 is figure 4.1 on page 54. It provides an example for the things that readers check for when word solving. It is an equal balance between meaningful information and deciding if something makes sense, using structural knowledge to decide if something sounds right, and using visual knowledge to decide if something looks right. All 3 of those are very important clues to check for when reading. I will be more cautious to stop and ask my students these things during guided reading if they become unsure of a word.
The chapter also states, "Many teachers who work with beginning struggling readers find themselves at a loss for what to say when a child reading with them gets stuck on a word. It happens to all of us." (Johnson and Keier) I find myself in this situation at times because I want to help my students but I become fearful that I will only confuse them more. The chapter goes on to give ideas for ways that we can encourage students by giving them promptings such as, run your finger under the word to see if it looks right, let the first part of the word help you, keep your eyes on the message. (Johnson and Keier)
I also enjoyed reading chapter five because it discusses the components of a comprehensive framework. Figure 5.1 on page 73 suggests ways to incorporate reading and writing into your classroom. It suggests, read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading. It also suggests morning message, community writing, and independent writing. (Johnson and Keier) These are all things that we do in 4K that are a part of our daily schedule. Guided reading is something that becomes mandatory in kindergarten but I have started this process with several of my 4K students who are ready.
I really like the writing tips that this chapter suggests. We do journals twice a week in 4K at my school and I am always searching for ways to help my students strengthen their writing. Some of the tips include, check and confirm, predict what letter or word will come next, generate and recognize high frequency words, and recognizing that text is read and written left to right, top to bottom, and that there are spaces between words. (Johnson and Keier)
I highly recommend this book to all Early Childhood Educators. I am already finding ways to strengthen my teaching skills to promote learning in my classroom!
-Kristen Cochran
Hi Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your summary and reflections of chapters 4 and 5 of Catching Readers Before They Fall and like you appreciated the ways the authors explain the three cueing systems in their work with readers. This chapter aligns really well with module 3 in our course that focuses on miscue analysis and how to look at what cueing systems the readers are primarily using as readers. The authors of this book help caution as against providing the word for students when they get stuck and instead guide us to use questions that help students use proficient reading systems instead. I also liked chapter 5 for the suggestions the authors provide to utilize structures like independent reading and shared reading as well as interactive and journal writing to help our students use and enjoy reading and writing in reciprocal processes.
Sincerely,
Dawn and Melissa