As a lurker in this conversation--and as a teacher who knows the power of eavesdropping;-), I have to say that the primary discomfort I have with relying exclusively on levels in matching books to readers is that we seem to neglect the passion. It has been my task, as of late, to review children who have 'flat-lined' as readers--children stuck in basic and below basic categories over the course of two or more years. What I am noticing is that many, many of these children achieve a reading level of 20-24, as determined by DRA2 assessments, and then they level out, stuck in a holding pattern or one of only minimal acceleration (they may gain some levels across grades but only enough to hold the status quo). I find this trend alarming, because a child who attains that level of reading has already had so many doors opened to them--how is it, then, that they stop reaching for those open doors? Looking closely at the children, and having the opportunities to know their classrooms and their teachers, I honestly feel the difference is an utter lack of passion and interest. As a former classroom teacher, I certainly encountered some children over the years for whom that 'one book' or that 'one topic' was elusive, and for just a couple, never found. However, the case is more likely to be this, in my opinion based on informal investigation: a failure of the classroom environment to foster passion (lack of books organized by topics, a focus on silence or moritorium (sp?) on book chatter, and often a teacher who has not been taught to look beyond the level of the book to see other types of supports--passion and prior knowledge, familiarity with an author or a series, sheer dogged determination. I truly believe that the use of leveled readers provides teachers an important tool but that we have emptied the classroom tool boxes in some cases, and that when this is the only tool in the box, there will be many children left behind.
Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach and Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 5755 ----- Original message ----- From: Janice Friesen <jani...@jfriesen.net> To: Special Chat List for \To Understand: New Horizons in ReadingComprehension\ <understand@literacyworkshop.org> Date: Monday, February 02, 2009 6:33 AM Subject: Re: [Understand] Chapter six? > I am really curious about this question. Now that SO much reading is > done online it is harder to "level" the reading and find just the > right sites with the right reading level for the kids. A friend of > mine with lots of classroom experience said that when she started > using the Internet kids read what they were really interested in and > that they stretched to read passages that she would have thought too > high for them. What do you experience with your classes? > > Janice > > > On page 149 Ellin argues for a more "moderate approach to book > > selection." > > She says she understands how students who consistently read things > > that are too > > easy or too hard can lose interest in reading but also believes that > > readability formulas are very limited in utility and do not > > account for student > > schema and interest. What are your views on book selection and how > > do you handle > > this in your classroom? What is your belief system and how do you > > use what > > you believe to make decisions about what reading materials you use? > > Janice Friesen > jani...@jfriesen.net > > "An adult can't expect to teach a 6 year old how to > swim without getting wet." > > We can't expect to effectively prepare students for their future > education, > career, civic and personal activities without fully embracing Web 2.0 in > schools. > > Quote from Nancy Willard in email > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Understand mailing list > Understand@literacyworkshop.org > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org > _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list Understand@literacyworkshop.org http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
