Learning to Read

Learning to read is all about one’s senses working together. Your eyes have to see the letters, which connect into words that string into sentences, you have to hear the sounds and match them to the letters and words, and all while your brain is processing and translating the information. It is the activation of new connections and the stimulation of higher-level processes in the brain that create deeper levels of thinking (Dorn, et. al., 1998). As for cognitive apprenticeship, the apprentice learning to read uses known information, prior knowledge, as a bridge to acquire new knowledge and understanding that the expert reader utilizes. Each student is unique and has specific strengths and weaknesses. This is vital for a teacher to tap into; because by knowing this information about a student, the teacher can begin to design problem-solving based learning experiences.

Since apprenticeship is the necessary step before mastery, the end goal for teachers is to get each student one step closer to mastery by being proficient at grade level. The role of the teacher then is to teach children different strategies and techniques to becoming independent readers and writers. Modeling for students that adults have a large repertoire of strategies to pull from for any circumstance is a great place to begin this process. I think modeling is the most basic teaching strategy, and yet the one I hope to learn to use effectively in my classroom. This chapter says that, “instructional interactions are based on the theory that children become proficient readers as they engage in strategic activity for integrating the semantic, syntactic, and graphophonetic sources of information in the text.”

Learning to read and reading to learn have two different objectives. However, I think that no matter where one is in their apprenticeship of literacy, reading should always be message driven. In order for students to comprehend harder texts as they grow up, teachers need to start providing the necessary skills for children to find the meaning in the stories, even when they are learning to read. Again, modeling can help a teacher demonstrate that successful readers integrate cues as they are reading.

Apprenticeship in Literacy states, “A low-progress reader has developed a processing system that is either ineffective or inefficient.” It is imperative that a teacher recognizes when this is taking place, because there are certain strategies the teacher needs to utilize to help students move towards proficiency. When teachers are planning and creating literacy programs for their classrooms, teachers must first observe their students in order to gain the maximum use out of their program. By doing this, teachers are able to witness which strategies their students are instigating and which ones the teacher needs to develop.

Along with teaching strategies is the assurance that as teachers we are providing a balanced education. This includes a balanced reading program for all ages of students in all grades. According to this chapter, “a balanced reading program includes a range of literacy activities, carefully selected material, and structured interactions that move children to higher levels of understanding.” A few ways to insure a balanced reading program is to include: reading to children, having them reread familiar books, shared reading, and guided reading. The strategy I never really thought about is rereading familiar books. This allows children to use their familiarity of the text as a support system to better enable them to practice integrating cues and problem-solving. This notion focuses on students’ capabilities and independent learning.

At what point in the student’s education does an emphasis on accuracy occur? Accuracy versus problem-solving based teaching mentalities are two ways of looking at and teaching literacy. This book emphasizes problem-solving teaching strategies as well as students’ learning. But is it not necessary to emphasize accuracy to some degree? Or at some point? Don’t we, teachers and anyone else attempting to understand the child, need to comprehend what the child is saying, reading, and writing in order to claim proficient or move them on to the next grade? Elementary prepares children for middle school, which prepares for high school, which is designed to prepare students for college. So does this not suggest they must learn accuracy as well as problem-solving? Or do I just not understand, in that problem-solving is a perspective and accuracy just occurs with it? I guess all of that to say, I do not know of a tangible example and therefore am finding this concept more difficult.