Jon’s situation, unfortunately, is not uncommon in the schools. Too many times there are children who are forced to read at their own grade level with the rest of the class when they are sometimes multiple grade levels below where they should be. This, as stated in the article, becomes painful for the students to read and reading becomes such a pain and frustration that they don’t want to even attempt it anymore. They immediate write themselves off, teachers do also, and this is crippling to their mentality of reading. Not only will their desire for reading go down, but they will never become better readers. If someone is attempting something that is way too hard for them to physically be able to do, then they will never become better at it. It is like a stepping stone or stairs, you have to take one step at a time and eventually the child will get to where they need to be. It is very crucial that the student be reading on instructional level. This is a level that the teachers should have to help the students with. It is not too easy or too hard, it is right about right with a little bit of a challenge. One way, as discussed in class, to address this is the IRI. If you are testing the children at the beginning of the school year with the IRI and the WRI then you can figure out what level they are on and help them choose books accordingly.
Many times in the classroom, unfortunately, social studies and other subjects that aren’t directly tested get overlooked. This means it is crucial for teachers to find books that go along with the social studies curriculum. If they don’t have time to teach it, then they definitely have to find books that relate to the subject. This is why it trade books are very important for classroom teachers. I really liked the characteristics of a good book section in this article. These may be self explanatory but when teachers pick out books, some teachers may just do what is best for their curriculum and easiest, rather than picking out a book that will expand children’s awareness as well as challenge them.
