Tina Nottingham, Blog #2 Sept.: The Pleasure Principle    

 

     In teaching special education, I have a curriculum that I am required to teach.  This doesn’t lend itself to allowing students to choose their own reading materials.  Because my program is structured, I find it hard to take time away from my program to incorporate other reading ideas.  This is an area that I would like to explore and see how I can make it fit.  I love the idea of having students choose their own stories.  I like the idea that a child sitting in a quiet room reading a book is a teaching method.  “It just happens to be the only way anyone ever grew up to become a reader”.  That statement is so true of me.  I love to read.  I always have.  I remember the quiet reading time I had in elementary school.  It was an exciting time where I could get lost in a book.  I didn’t understand at the time that I was actually learning to become a lifelong reader but it stuck with me.  I really like the Reader’s Bill of Rights.  Letting students know that it’s okay to not finish a book is important.  I plan to post these rights in my classroom and to discuss what they mean to my readers.  In my class, I actively try to help my students reduce their frustration.  We discuss their reading levels frequently since most of them are one to two years behind in reading.  We talk about making appropriate choices when they check out books in the library.  My older students tend to want to read books that are way above their reading level and it’s hard for them to understand why they need to be reading easier texts.  Another struggle that I face with my students is getting them to read outside of school.  Many students don’t have access to books at home or simply don’t have parents who read.  Because of this, I allow students to take home books from my library to read.  We talk about reading at home during our progress monitoring conferences.  I really want to be the teacher that they remember who helped them to get into their zone of reading.