Slowing Down Enough To Think

I know my second- graders think I'm a little goofy when I leave messages around the room such as METACOGNITION MEANS THINKING ABOUT YOUR THINKING! and "SCHEMA is how your EXPERIENCES affect your your reading comprehension!" or get excited when a student notices an INFERENCE about a detail in a read-aloud but I hope my sense of urgency will spread as the year goes on. One thing I have noticed as I have assessed my class with the DRA is that (fortunately) most of them have gotten pretty good at decoding. Some of them are even pretty good with their oral reading fluency, or "ORF" as DIBELS affectionately calls it. A few are pretty good at surface comprehension. A VERY FEW (notice a pattern) are good at retelling grade-level texts and only a handful are able to apply cognitive strategies to their reading. All that time spent assessing really gave me some valuable information.

Of course, my struggling readers are a different ball of wax. I'll save that for another post- Really examining their MSV patterns was very helpful for diagnosis and focused instructional planning... but back to my point... My overall classroom needs to start from square one with really learning how to think like a reader. As we have begun to spend more and more time building stamina as readers as well as choosing "just right" books, I have realized that (like a lot of older readers) most of my students have not developed a passion for books yet. They have not developed the habits of lifelong readers. What they have developed is a sense of competition to be reading the hardest chapter book in the library. They are all about decoding and being in the highest reading group. Our library is leveled for AR, with all the books color-coded. "I can read blue sticker books! The red are TOO EASY!" Pretty much every student is desperate to check out books that are way above their comprehension level. I allow one book to be a free-for-all but the other to be "just right." Kids are NOT happy with me that I am making them check out books that are "too easy." I feel like the book NAZI! You WILL read a red sticker book!

Still, we will push forward. I know that as students have little "Aha" moments, they will begin to personalize their reading experiences. If anyone has suggestions for super-engaging read-alouds (grade 2) that teach the comprehension or cognitive strategies (Mosaic of Thought, Reading For Meaning) Please pass them on! Meanwhile, I will keep choosing books that I love and hope that the passion for reading spreads like a virus. :) It is amazing how a culture of testing based on words-read-per-minute read can affect children's attitudes about reading and perception of what reading IS...