Chapter 4 in WK

The part in chapter 4 of When Kids Can't Read that I found interesting was the Minilessons. It said: "Minilessons are short, focused lessons that can be delivered to the entire class or a portion of the class. The purpose of the minilesson is to clarify something or to provide information about something that students need to be applying in that days work."

The reason I found this a good part of the chapter is because every teacher uses minilessons in some way or another. Some students need more help with literacy terms and for example explaining a simile. First a teacher should always explicitly teach what a simile is and then if a student still does not understand then teach a minilesson over the subject. An easy way of doing this is just giving the student an example of a simile and maybe having them point out one in a story they are reading. It would only take about 5 minutes and hopefully the student would understand it afterwards. The minilesson is a very useful tool in the classroom. It helps teachers teach students either in a whole group or independently. Also, it is a quick way to get an easier lesson across to the students. 

Chapter 3 in WK

The sentence I found interesting in chapter 3 is,"Reading is a social process, an interactive activity, one in which readers create meaning through transactions-interactions-with the text, their prior knowledge, the context, and other readers."

I found this interesting because this is how we need to teach our students how to read. Enabling students to interact with one another after reading helps them understand what happens in the book better. Using literature circles is a good way of doing this. It also gives the students opinions about the book whether they like it or not. Also, the students need to have some prior knowledge to understand what they are reading. For example, they need to know about the holocaust and what happened to understand Number the Stars. This helps the students actually have interactions with the text and keeps them interested in the book. Finally, I completely agree with how reading is a social process. Students ultimately learn from each other and with the teacher being a guide in this process, they will become better readers. 

Chapter 2 in WK

"In fact, what I want to do is teach them how to struggle with a text, how to develop the patience and stamina to stick with a text, how to figure out on their own what is separating them from success with the text, and what they should do to fix it."

I completely agree with this sentence in chapter 2. Many teachers are trying all the wrong things when they try to "teach" their students how to read. However, we need to be teaching them that struggling with a text is okay and everyone, no matter how good of a reader you are, struggles with different texts. Teachers need to let their students read to give them the stamina to read longer and better texts. Finally, this will eventually lead the students to having that stamina and giving them the opportunity to enjoy different texts, without having to struggle through them. 

Literature Circles

When we did the literature circle over Oddly Normal, I really enjoyed actually talking about the book. However, I did not really like reading the book. I have always enjoyed literature circles but this time it was not as fun for me because I did not like the book. In our circle, most of the students did not like the book so we talked mostly about what we did not like in the book. The literature circle experience itself, I feel, is a good idea. It opens up students minds to what they read in the books and lets them give their opinions about the books. Also, it lets each student hear the different opinions about the books. This is a very good idea when the students are reading books that are hard to understand. Literature circles are very good experiences for adolescents in school.

Chapter 2 and 3 in BK

Chapter 2
"By middle school, students are on the threshold of a cognitive explosion, building capicity for more complex thinking that will continue to develop through young adulthood."

This was important to me because having good teachers is the only way this can truly happen. They help the students build this capacity to their fullest and keep the students interested in doing this. Also, this helps them in the future as well. It does this by expanding their thinking and helps them be the most successful that they can be.

Chapter 3
"Heath's study of three groups within an Appalachian town found that the differences in language patterns and expectations affected school success."

This was important to me because many school do not believe in being culturally different. They do not believe this will help them be more successful however, this study proves that it does. Even at Texas Tech, there was a study done with the seniors. They concluded that it did not matter to them if the school was culturally different or not. Also, many thought that it could be a bad thing if it was. The only way to connect to every students needs is to acknowledge every students cultural. If this is done, then each student will feel important and will hopefully want to go to school and learn.