The Right Book
Miller makes some very good points in this discussion. If I had a teacher as attentive as she is when I was in early schooling, I would have had a much better time. I was always behind in reading skills, really behind, and no teacher said anything or did anything to help me with that (to the best of my recollection). I didn’t enjoy reading, and they just thought I was being stubborn or troublesome. It wasn’t until 5th grade when my mom actually did this tactic of searching for the ‘right book’ for me, and after that I was hooked. I can say from experience that this is a useful and life changing idea that teachers should utilize when addressing students.
One Reply to “The Right Book”
Amberlie,
That’s unfortunate that none of your teachers tried the ‘right book’ tactic with you! But thankfully your mother did, because who knows what kind of reader you’d be now if she hadn’t ;) I love how you pointed out that your teachers never said anything about your reading skills. I work at an after school daycare and I see this all the time! There is one boy in particular who is in fifth grade and is at a first grade reading level. It’s so frustrating that his teachers have continued to push him through the grades without taking the extra time to improve his AR level, especially because I know his home environment doesn’t allow for much reading time or even homework time for that matter. I wish so badly that I had the opportunity to read with him for an hour or more, but unfortunately I just can’t do that with 100+ kids nagging at me. And it upsets me even more that he’ll be going into middle school next year and will most likely continue the habit of ‘fake reading/reading avoidance’. Again, I think you’re very lucky that you have a mother who wanted you to become a wild reader and tried a new strategy with you.
PHEW, thanks for letting me rant :)