Strategies that foster motivation in reluctant readers is the point of Why Can’t I Just See The Movie? In this 2006 article by Ann Powell-Brown, reading difficulties experienced by boys and girls provide an elusive challenge for many teachers. Powell-Brown points out tiers of disinterest that begin with students who have little confidence in their reading ability and crest with special education students and students with limited language proficiency. She offers the salvo that all children love stories. Like a desert oasis, the statement is comforting but limited. Powell-Brown however, does go on to say that as educators we must encourage students to understand that reading is necessary for classroom success and that recreational reading is truly a pleasure that will benefit them personally. Toward that end she offers concrete techniques to engage students in reading, such as Literature Circles, Say Something, Paired Summary, Patterned Partner Reading, Read Alouds, and Readers’ Theater. In addition, Powell-Brown addresses the specific issues associated with decoding text and comprehension. She explains that sometimes students can decode but they cannot comprehend the text, and sometimes the lack of comprehension is directly related to decoding problems. She states that, “One cannot read if one cannot comprehend.” (p.85). She goes on to say that the more students understand the context of what they are reading, the more success they will have decoding. This idea is in line with the research done by Smith and Wilhelm and their work with helping boys with something called frontloading. “Because particular kinds of texts present a variety of challenges to readers, we must activate our students’ background knowledge and help them build procedural knowledge of how to recognize and meet the expectations the particular text type requires.” (Smith and Wilhelm, 2002, p.198).
No comments:
Post a Comment