"I Read It, But I Don't Get It" Blog #9

I actually thought this book had really good information. As an avid reader, who has ALWAYS read a lot for fun, I sometimes forget that there are some people who either don't like to read for whatever reason, or like to read, but are a little behind in reading and have to go very slow. My daughter is a constant reminder that kids learn to read differently, and there are many different tactics to take with kiddos to help them along.

I thought the section on word callers and resistive readers was good. I think that a lot of ids (and adults too) rely as a resistive reader. They are relying on others to either give them the answer, or will just hang back until they pick up on the information needed. And the word callers just aren't retaining anything they read. I'm not sure which is a more difficult kiddo to teach - one that can read but doesn't retain, and one that doesn't read, but picks up on lectures and class discussions. I feel that maybe the elementary level teachers should have picked up on these types of learning behaviors and the kiddos should have had extra assistance with this. Either way, the students aren't getting enough out of class time and the materials by not being able to fully do the work.

While reading the Inference page, I kind of laughed because I totally did this in school. Not for a lack of reading/understanding, but simply because I was distracted with talking and didn't hear the question clearly or was so put on the spot that I totally spaced the answer. I think this is a coping mechanism where kids think everything that a teacher teachers is word for word out of the book. I thin that sometimes, some students can't really do abstract thinking. Sometimes it doesn't have a lot to do with lack of reading efforts, but are very "by the book" and don't really think outside the box. Hopefully most teachers understand this about certain students and know when to call on them and when not.

Overall, I liked this book. It had lots of good tips and a good way of explaining situations and kind of how to work around it, or how to explain it better. This is one that I will probably keep for my future classroom as a reference.