QUOTE: Teachers can often gauge students' progress as they listen to them read aloud and notice how they figure out the unfamiliar words they come across. Teachers also use the graded word lists and running records to analyze their progress according to grade-level standards.
COMMENT: We as teachers have a lot of work cut out for us to do to teach our children to read and write. It is a huge job! Along with all the testing and analyzing that we are told is required when teaching children, I just hope that I do not forget to make sure to instill a love of reading to my students. If they think it is all about tests and sounding out individual words and learning chunks then I am afraid they will never love it. They need to know the big picture--the reason why we are working so hard to be literate. We need to make sure they realize there is reading past the tests and lists and worksheets, and that they get a taste of the sweetness they can experience once the world is opened up to them as readers.
QUESTION: I know it is important to do tests and make note of my students' progress in literacy, but how do I be sure to not over emphasize these and to really help the students love to read and write, even if is it boresome and annoying like some of the literacy-gauging tests are?
Yet again, our comments are similar! It is so difficult to try to figure out how to make sure that we are going to be placing student learning first. I think the huge way to get students to love reading is to let them have a say in what is being read. During free reading time, we really have to let our students pick what they want to read. As a teacher, pay attention to what students are picking then. Try to cover themes/topics that students are interested in. I was recently working with a fifth grade girl from Japan whose ESL teacher was working on fluency. The teacher picked a book that the student was clearly uninterested in. This makes reading tedious and unpleasant for the student which means the teacher isn't getting the results they need. If we do our best to give our students choices, they are much more likely to feel a sense of control over their learning.
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