Carol, You have asked such an important question! However, it seems that the more important the question, the less clear the answer. (And how often, in a attempt to answer, we actually raise more questions!) At the moment, my thinking is that ALL readers should be engaging in text that is challenging, from babyhood through adulthood. The key is that I thinking text can be deemed challenging on many layers: reading "level" (whatever that means), vocabulary, lack of prior knowledge, text structure, genre, "meaning", purpose, interest, content, etc. From what I've read and observed, students must be challeged on at least one layer in order for them to become authentically absorbed in the text. When they are challenged on too many layers, that is when text becomes frustrating and the meaning-making process often breaks down in a big way. The problem I see is that teachers typically seem to only think about "reading level" when answering this question. I think we owe it to kids to make the conversation about so much more than that! I've found that instructional decisions are the most sound when we make them based on RIGOR (which can be achieved in multiple ways), RELEVANCE (kids "get" the point and engage authentically), and RESPECT (building a respectful relationship between student and teacher, but also helping students to build a respectful relationship between themselves and learning.)
Right now I'm thinking that I have just chosen words for concepts that I have so much more thinking and questions about. In an effort to be concise, did I choose the right words to get my ideas across? For example: the phrase "When they are challenged on too many layers..." - what does "too many" mean? I think it probably differs for each reader in each circumstance. I suppose I think that these are conversations and questions that should be shared with kids in think-alouds and conferences. We need to be asking them about what kind of "challenges" truly challenge them. When do they realize that they've taken on "too much"? Do they even realize it when they have? What does 'just the right amount' of challenge feel like? What feelings do they have when the challenge is 'too great'? What do they do when they have that feeling? What motivates them to tackle text that is challenging for them on multiple levels? Oh my! I could go on and on...I'm hoping we'll have some meaningful responses to this question that we can really dig into! Amy Swan 3rd Grade Teacher Cedar Creek Elementary (913)780-7360 CHECK OUT OUR CLASS WEBPAGE!! http://teachers.olathe.k12.ks.us/~aswancc/ >>> Carol Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/17/08 8:41 AM >>> Hi, all, I have questions regarding the text students choose to read during independent reading. I had always been told that students should read at their independent reading (99%) during independent reading. When I heard Ellin last year at a conference, she talked about students needing to read challenging material during independent reading. It really started me thinking about how we can move students in our district forward. (You need to know that on our state test over 85% of our students meet and exceed standards in all grades 3-8.) We are being challenged by our board regarding the rigor of the curriculum, and I do agree that we do need to up the rigor, but am not sure what that means to a classroom teacher. I know that teachers tend to teach the same skills or strategies over grade levels. For example, our framework states that in grade 5 students will begin to identify double plot novels, yet I know some teachers are not introducing that strategy by that grade. With our population, that is not an unreasonable expectation. I realize that students need to read easier books when they are learning content in social studies and science in order to learn new content. But as we look at how to re structure our independent reading, I'd like to know what you all do. Do you encourage students to choose independent or more challenging reading/text. We are contemplating using the Schoolwide Enrichment Model - REading that is from the University of Connecticut, and they recommend students read 1 year above their grade level, I think. The SEM R model is recommended for grades 3-8. At what level should students begin to read challenging text? I understand that primary students need to develop their fluency and easy reading is excellent for that. But then, how do they learn to comprehend? In reading the posts both with this list and the MRA notes, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Carol District 102 Language Arts Content Specialist On Mar 16, 2008, at 8:44 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I have struggled with this for years. Maybe, we need to consider > what the > purpose is for our lesson(s). If we are working on fluency, > decoding skills we > need easy books. But couldn't we be modeling the struggle through > read alouds > when teaching comprehension??? > Then...there are books which are very simply written which require > inferential thinking---a struggle---to comprehend. An example might > be "the Giving > Tree" or "Grandfather Twilight." Many poems would also seem to work > for this > purpose...decodable words but deeper meanings when read and reread... > Perhaps it is all about balance...giving kids LOTS of easy reading to > develop proficiency AND opportunities to stretch their minds. > Jennifer > > In a message dated 3/16/2008 2:56:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > just heard Dick Allington at Michigan Reading Association on > Saturday, > March 15. It was very interesting. He spoke of the > misunderstanding that > kids have to struggle with text to understand, but adults won't. The > example he gave was this. If we have a typical adult text with > 300 words > per page. Thinking it is an independent level of 99 percent, the > reader > would not know 3 words a page. Most adults would not read the > book. Adults > expect to know 99.99999999999999999 percent of the words. So why > do we as > teachers think it is ok to give kids books at an instructional > level of 97 > percent let alone 99 percent? We need to be very careful with our > teaching > decisions. He had a ton more for us to think about > > > > > > > **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL > Money & > Finance. 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