2. Please read Chapter 1 in your text “Reading and Learning to Read.”
3. View the 0135169941_CH01_PPT.pdf Download 0135169941_CH01_PPT.pdf
4. Read Chapter 2 Reading Instruction.
5 View PowerPoint for this chapter.
6. Based on the data in Figures 1.1 and 1.2, what are your thoughts about how well we are serving our nation’s students?
7. Look at the NC NAEP results for fourth grade. What are your reactions to these results? NC Results (Links to an external site.)
8. How does the proficiency of US students compare to students in other industrialized countries?
(See Figure 1.3)
9. Reading is an active process. The cognitive-constructivist view of reading emphasizes that reading is a process in which the reader actively searches for meaning in what she reads. When readers make inferences, determine importance, create graphic images, and monitor their comprehension, they are engaging in higher-order thinking. (a) What is close reading and how does it align with the Constructivists view of reading? (b) Also, how does the Reader-Response theory align with the constructivist view?
10. Figure 1.12 displays the components of the present-day curriculum. Notice the encircled words, “building connections”. Why do you believe this is important as an overarching goal?
11. Read the article: The Science of Reading Download The Science of Reading. What are the two approaches in the reading wars? Which approach is supported by cognitive science research?
12. Go to the Discussion Board and describe how you remember learning to read. Do you recall a specific approach? Were your memories positive or negative?
13. Understanding the history of reading instruction gives clues about what to embrace and avoid when new instructional ideas come forth. After reading the brief history of reading instruction in your text and the history of phonics instruction on pages 20-24 in Blevins text, (a) how have our expectations for reading changed since the colonial period? (b) What are the increasing demands that teachers of reading now face?
14. Reading research over the years has compared various approaches to one another and other research has examined effective teachers. What are the characteristics of highly effective teachers of reading?
15. Reflect on a highly effective teacher you might have had in the past and post your descriptions on the Discussion Board.
16. After reading “In the Classroom 2.1” on page 42, how did Mrs. Mowry meet the needs of all students? There were three.
17. Describe the key principles in the Constructive Perspective on Teaching? Which have you used in your teaching? How do you incorporate these into your lesson planning? If you are not now teaching, how would you incorporate these into lessons?
18. What is meant by Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky) and what should the teacher’s goal be in working children?
19. Compare the basal reading, guided reading, and reader’s workshop approaches to teaching reading. If you want, you can make a chart! What approaches are used in your setting? If you are not yet teaching, please tell what you have observed being used in a classroom?