1) What do you know now about the reading process?
On class on Wednesday we explored the reading process for Early Elementary students. We delved in the areas of the reading instruction, including word identification, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. I think the biggest take away I have from this discussion is how all five of these areas are intertwined. Each affects the other and some students may seem experts in some of these areas while struggling with others. Just because a student has strong word identification, doesn't mean they have strong comprehension. Similarly, a lack in fluency does not always indicate a lack in comprehension. Rather than teaching reading just through vocabulary, instruction needs to happen in all these areas to build strong and successful readers.
I was also surprised by the variety of methods that children use when learnign how to read. I know that there is a variety of strategies we can use with students to help them through the first years of reading, but I always though breaking down the work was the easiest way for children to recognize them. The notion of "sight words" always seemed like a good way of having children memorize common words. However, some children learn to read by recognizing whole words, and not the sounds in the word. Suddenly the emphasis on sight words makes sense now!
2) What is Reading Canada about?
So far I've enjoyed Reading Canada. It is designed as a resource for applying Canadian content in the classroom. Each chapter focuses on a particular genre or Canadian theme, and connects Canadian content directly to the curriculum. The two chapters I look forward to reading the most are "Chapter 4: Speculative Fiction: Imagining the World Otherwise" and "Chapter 5: Visual Literacy, Duel Texts and the Expanded Eye." These are two subjects I am particularly interested in. I love reading speculative fiction and part of the reason I wanted to become a teacher is because I felt that it was an underrepresented genre in the classroom. When I was in school it seemed to me that teachers seemed to discredit the literary value of fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative fiction, which were my favorite books to read. Likewise, I am beginning to see the extreme value in visual texts. In the digital age, visual texts are what most students most often engage with, so why wouldn't we bring them into the classroom? Both topics seem extremely relevant to what I hope to teach in the future.
On class on Wednesday we explored the reading process for Early Elementary students. We delved in the areas of the reading instruction, including word identification, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. I think the biggest take away I have from this discussion is how all five of these areas are intertwined. Each affects the other and some students may seem experts in some of these areas while struggling with others. Just because a student has strong word identification, doesn't mean they have strong comprehension. Similarly, a lack in fluency does not always indicate a lack in comprehension. Rather than teaching reading just through vocabulary, instruction needs to happen in all these areas to build strong and successful readers.
I was also surprised by the variety of methods that children use when learnign how to read. I know that there is a variety of strategies we can use with students to help them through the first years of reading, but I always though breaking down the work was the easiest way for children to recognize them. The notion of "sight words" always seemed like a good way of having children memorize common words. However, some children learn to read by recognizing whole words, and not the sounds in the word. Suddenly the emphasis on sight words makes sense now!
2) What is Reading Canada about?
So far I've enjoyed Reading Canada. It is designed as a resource for applying Canadian content in the classroom. Each chapter focuses on a particular genre or Canadian theme, and connects Canadian content directly to the curriculum. The two chapters I look forward to reading the most are "Chapter 4: Speculative Fiction: Imagining the World Otherwise" and "Chapter 5: Visual Literacy, Duel Texts and the Expanded Eye." These are two subjects I am particularly interested in. I love reading speculative fiction and part of the reason I wanted to become a teacher is because I felt that it was an underrepresented genre in the classroom. When I was in school it seemed to me that teachers seemed to discredit the literary value of fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative fiction, which were my favorite books to read. Likewise, I am beginning to see the extreme value in visual texts. In the digital age, visual texts are what most students most often engage with, so why wouldn't we bring them into the classroom? Both topics seem extremely relevant to what I hope to teach in the future.