I don’t know about you, but I love to read children’s books. I don’t only love to read them, but I also love to listen to someone read them out loud to a group of children. Listening to a person read a book out loud, with intonation, in a child friendly voice, taking their time to show the pictures, relaxes me. Reading a picture book, and looking at the pictures, gives me enjoyment and makes me aware of how a child would listen to the story.
It is imperative for the children to read ‘just right’ books. Children do this by reading a certain book, then deciding if it is too easy, meaning they can just fly through the book, without having to stop to question anything. A ‘too hard’ book makes them stop too often to question either a word, or a sentence. ‘Too hard’ books are not enjoyable to read for them and they do not learn from them. The goal is to find a book that is ‘just right’. This means that the student can read the book, but still have questions to work out. Figuring out these questions are strategies that a good reader needs to have to make them independent readers. The students will build on these strategies to strengthen them as readers. Every level of book will teach a reader new skills, yet they use the skills they learned in previous levels.
Leveled reading encourages children to take charge of their own reading, because they have to decide which books are too easy, too hard, or just right for them. This puts them in the driver’s seat of their level of instruction, and makes them self evaluate where they are in the reading process. I find this very empowering! Yes, we all like to read easy books once in a while. It is like eating dessert; once in a while it is ok, but a whole menu of desserts would make a person sluggish and bored.
Niece argumentative piece. You lay out a strong case for leveling books. Though some outside sources would strengthen your already strong argument.
ReplyDeleteCritics of level books raise a couple points when discussing leveled books. They bring the lack of transfer when teaching comprehension strategy. They argue against leveling books as reinforcing low expectations for minority students. Instead they want grade level texts, but more importantly a coherent curriculum focused more on knowledge growth than strategy instruction.
Awesome post! I think you did a great job with describing how leveling books work and the benefits of this type of process. I really liked the idea of letting students decide which books are the best fit for them, rather than telling them which color or number represents their reading level. This type of process is more appealing to me when it comes to leveling books than my initial understanding of the concept. As Dr. Mcverry said, an additional source or two would make your argument even stronger. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more on your first paragraph! I love children's books, they are so much fun to read and I love to read them with all the excitement that comes while reading. I wrote the same that my students would be able to choose what books are right for them instead of me or you as a teacher picking out the books for them. I feel that the children learn more by picking and reading books that they think are fine for them. We do not want to force these children to read books that they cannot understand.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph really gave me a laugh! I loved how you related reading easy books to eating dessert. It is so true!