I really liked reading about struggling readers and writers this week. Since I’ve been working on the case study and Kidwatching project it was great to really focus on what struggling students need since we are focusing on them for these projects. I definitely empathized with the information at the beginning of the chapter since I was a struggling reader and writer in school. I remember how terrified and shameful it was when everyone else could do things you can’t. I really hope that I can prevent students from entering this cycle and not getting the support they need.
My case study student is a lot like DeAnna from the anecdote in the “identifying struggling readers and writers” section. I often observe him distracted during independent reading time and do not know what to do. I liked how she gave the suggestion of shared reading to model practices and focus on certain skills. I feel like this would be helpful also for my case study student.
The instructional practices section was interesting because of the variety of ideas. With my case study student we have tapped into his interests and background, but it hasn’t yet translated this year. I think all of the components working together is the best idea for struggling students. The list of books for reluctant readers was great because it reminded me that there isn’t one way to get a student interested. My case study student loves sports so he reads all these sports books, but I think it would be great to translate that into other books like sports stories and boy stories and similar genres. I also like the suggestion of directly modeling and thinking aloud for these students to follow. The idea of an older buddy was really cool because I think students would be completely motivated and excited, but would also learn a lot.
I agree with you Caroline. I could totally see my case study student with this reading. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be a struggling reader in the classroom. They are challenged academically and also have to overcome social anxiety when, as you said, everyone else can do something and they cannot. I thought this section of the reading did a nice job in giving us ideas of how to help our struggling readers. Like you, I thought the buddy system was great. My case study student is so friendly and loves to help other people that I know this would be great for him. Great Post.