Bringing television back to the bedroom: Transactions between a seventh grade struggling reader and her mathematics teacher

“I'm Not Stupid”: How Assessment Drives (In)Appropriate Reading Instruction

“…The student spends part of the day practicing phonemic awareness and decoding strategies while spending the majority of the day with difficult subject-area texts he or she is expected to comprehend independently. At no point during the day is the student exposed to "just right" text (Allington, 2007;Hall, 2007). Allington (2007) considered placement of adolescents in supplemental reading courses that focus on early reading skills an "unintended effect" of federal education policy and explained that "most struggling readers find themselves spending much of the school day in learning environments where no theory or empirical evidence would predict any substantial learning" (p. 7).…”

“…Allington (2007) considered placement of adolescents in supplemental reading courses that focus on early reading skills an "unintended effect" of federal education policy and explained that "most struggling readers find themselves spending much of the school day in learning environments where no theory or empirical evidence would predict any substantial learning" (p. 7). Hall (2007) noted the discrepancy between the literacy expectations of struggling readers and the behaviors they demonstrate and suggested that struggling adolescents attempt to comprehend content area texts that are much too difficult. To appear successful with the task, struggling readers are forced to focus on specific facts within the text (Franzak, 2006;Hall, 2007), but this surface-level approach to reading does not teach students how to engage or interact with text.…”

“…Hall (2007) noted the discrepancy between the literacy expectations of struggling readers and the behaviors they demonstrate and suggested that struggling adolescents attempt to comprehend content area texts that are much too difficult. To appear successful with the task, struggling readers are forced to focus on specific facts within the text (Franzak, 2006;Hall, 2007), but this surface-level approach to reading does not teach students how to engage or interact with text.…”

“…Include students in setting literacy goals, and ask them to offer ideas for monitoring their growth (Hall, 2007). Then, involve them in self-evaluations of meaningful literacy tasks.…”

“…Then, involve them in self-evaluations of meaningful literacy tasks. Struggling adolescent readers participate in a variety of reading behaviors both in and out of school (Franzak, 2006;Hall, 2007). To provide reading instruction that focuses on students' strengths rather than their weaknesses, Hall (2006) recognized that "it becomes critical to reconsider how we conceptualize the ways teachers might think about reading instruction, struggling readers, and the multitude of inf luences that can affect student learning and growth" (pp.…”