Karen S. Johnson-March Blog (Ch. 9-Emphasize Shared Reading)

Karen S. Johnson-March Blog

Ch. 9 (“Emphasize Shared Reading”) from Reading Essentials:  The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well

      The chapter focuses on the best ways to implement shared reading into our curriculum.  I think this is an important aspect of any reading curriculum.  It is also essential for our kids to learn to communicate and share ideas and thoughts with each other as we move towards working together on group based projects.  I’ve never really thought about shared reading being broken down into so many procedures as Routman lists in the chapter.    I also think it’s good to give the partners specific things to discuss as part of shared reading.  Sometimes I feel as if I just say “Turn and talk”, but I’m not giving enough direction as to what those conversations should be about after they’ve read.  It’s interesting that the teacher takes a major part of the reading of the texts.  I have typically let my students read on their own, but I definitely see the value of teachers reading during that process to model to the students.  This chapter had some great information about shared reading.  I especially found it useful learning about the procedures Routman uses for shared reading.  It helps me realize that shared reading needs to be more purposeful and more guided.

Stevie Fields-Blog Post #6-Routman Ch. 7

In chapter 7, Routman discusses how to meaningfully assess reading. She says that the best type of assessment is simply sitting with your students, observing them reading, and discussing what they’ve read with them in reading conferences. Routman provides a wonderful framework for informal reading conferences with helpful questions that I can ask my students.  

One thing I’ve struggled with in reading conferences is how to assess independent reading. When the entire class is reading the same book or we are doing book clubs with a few different books, I feel I can make sure I am more familiar with the book my students are reading. When students are reading different books independently I find it harder to assess their comprehension. Routman directly addresses this concern and says that you can tell when a student understands what they reading by how they retell the information.  She also says that, when in doubt, you can probe with questions. She provides a list of questions to ask students for fiction and nonfiction texts that I plan to use with my students in our reading conferences.

                Another strategy I would like to implement in my classroom is the ‘Child Friendly’ Reading Goals.  Routman has created a great list of goals that students can work towards. I really like the idea providing this list to my students and allowing them to decide what kind of things they need to work on as readers and pick a goal for themselves. Then they can respond in journal entries explaining how they are using these strategies and working towards these goals.