Season 2, episode 7 – How to Grow Readers and Writers

At the beginning of Jennifer’s podcast, she talked about how students in the classroom used to read the
same book together, at the same pace. This was exactly my experience when I was in elementary school.
I was already a struggling reader in my home language to begin with, but compounding my struggles
was that fact that I had just recently moved to Canada and English was still very foreign to me.

Although my teachers were very nice and accepting of me, I recalled receiving very little adaptations, if
any. I remember my name being called and receiving a book with a girl on a beach (Island of the Blue
Dolphins). I was expected to follow along as my peers took turns reading one page at a time aloud to the
class. I didn’t understand much of what was being said, let being able to read to the class. I would count
the number of students ahead of me, figure out what page I would be forced to read, and instead of
following along with the read-alouds, I would frantically practice “my page” even though I didn’t have a
clue what I was reading. Not surprisingly, I developed an anxiety and distaste for reading.

Reading strategies or goals were never clearly set up, so I struggled and stuttered my way through the
entire novel (and much of that year) without much improvement in my fluency or comprehension. The
only “goal” I was aware of was to make sure I completed the reading comprehension questions as best I
could to avoid having to stay in at recess. My parents, as hard as they tried, could help me with very
little as they themselves didn’t speak or read English. They also had a hard time understanding the
purpose of the reading assignments other than getting it done for the sake of completion.

I think it would have really helped if some of Jennifer’s Serravallo’s strategies were implemented in my
classroom. Strategies like allowing kids to read different books than their peers and at their own pace
would have really helpful to me. I could have chosen books that were not only interesting to me, but
also at my reading level, thus allowing me to better develop my grammar, reading comprehension, and
vocabulary skills.

I also agree with how adding a bookmark with the goal/skills explicating written on it would have kept
me on track, and remind me of why I was reading. My parents would also have had a better idea of what
the purpose of that book/theme of the week was (ex: This week, we are learning about words that start
with “ch-“). Having parent letters that informs families of what the goal is and ways to help their
children at home would encourage families to take an more active role in fostering their child’s reading
skills (ex: This week, we are practicing reading with fluency to sound like a storyteller. Have your child
read this story to you and act it out.)

Michelle