Theoretical Discussion #2

Heather Reese (Tina,Tracy)

Theoretical Discussion #2

What I’ve Learned About Effective Reading Instruction By: Richard Allington

This is my favorite article so far!  Allington begins by saying that good teachers and effective teachers, matter much more than a proven program.  It’s shocking to me that it took a study to prove this.  I particularly agree with his statement that he makes about planning effective professional development.  I believe that many teachers do the best they can with the training and materials that are provided for them.  Tracy, Tina and myself agree that effective teachers produce better achievement regardless of which curriculum is used.  We also found it interesting that Allington pointed out effective long-term planning among administrators.  We discussed the six T’s of effective instruction.

            Time-  “Reading and writing versus stuff” was a powerful statement in this section.  We discussed the importance of quality reading instruction.  “Stuff” should not dominate instructional time.  During our discussion, I pointed out the statement Allington made about the critical aspect of instructional planning.  Teachers who plan effectively, plan more independent reading, guided reading, science and social studies.

            Texts- Tracy, Tina and myself felt very proud of our school in this aspect.  As we have started implementing programs such as Guided Reading, Interactive Read Aloud, The Daily 5 and Writer’s Workshop, we have equipped our teachers with a variety of text on all levels.  Our school isn’t teaching “against the organizational grain.”  We are supported in our efforts to become better reading and writing teachers.  We understand at our school that “one-size-fits-all” contradicts what we are trying to achieve.  We understand that lower achieving students do not need to spend their days reading books they can’t comprehend.

            Teaching-We all agreed that active instruction includes explicit explanations and includes teaching students reading strategies.  We all three pled guilty on “assign-and-assess.”  We now know better and will do better.  Assign and assess includes very little teaching.  An ‘eye-opener’ for us was on p.744 where Allington discusses bad teaching that I’m guilty of.  Allington says, “when assigning a worksheet that requires a child to fill in the missing vowel, only children who already know the correct response can successfully do the task.  And they don’t need practice.  Children who do not know which vowel to put in the plank space cannot acquire that knowledge from the worksheet.  Wow!  Why haven’t I thought- ‘those kids need an actual teacher- teaching them!’  This was a very powerful section of the article for me.  Tracy, Tina and myself agreed that our school is moving in the right direction.  We are beginning to move toward more explicit instruction, thinking aloud and modeling useful strategies for reading, writing and thinking.

            Talk-We agreed that we are encouraging our students to become problem-solvers.  We foster more students talk through interactive read alouds.

            Tasks-We all agreed that we are more actively engaging students by giving them choices.  We recently implemented ‘The Daily 5’ which provides what the article calls ‘managed choice.’  Choice has been shown to lead to greater student ownership.

            Testing-We all loved the part that discussed evaluating student work and awarding grades based on effort and improvement rather than simply on achievement.

I am proud that in my school I do not have to work against the grain.  I am fully supported by my principal.  Our school has been equipped with all the resources we need to carry out the most effective instruction.

Discussion #2- Behind test scores: What struggling readers really need

We all agree that it is common to find teachers spending large amounts of time preparing students for assessments.  We question- is this real learning?  We discussed the changes that our school is making to teach children to read for understanding and the importance of reading strategies.  We are now grouping students based on need.  We agree that one size instruction does not fit all children.  Students are now receiving appropriate instruction to meet their needs.