Early Reading Instruction

In the second chapter of Reading to Live, by Lorraine Wilson, there are many suggestions for future and current teachers on how to engage and successfully aid early readers in literacy.  This chapter, titled “Early Reading Instruction” brought up many unique concepts that focus around integrating the four reading practices mentioned in my last blog.

She begins by discussing work that took place in a K-2 class in which students followed the teacher as she read a picture book.  Following the reading, the students were to participate in sessions in which a variety of activities were incorporated to allow the students to step into the shoes of the author.  They were to predict decisions as well as retell the story by making their own decisions and study how that would affect the overall nature of the story.  The teacher finished the lesson by a word study activities that focused on similar spelling and grouping of words.  Wilson explained how these conditions, led by her instruction, allowed the students to take part in the ownership of their learning process which overall promoted their literacy and led to reading and writing creativity on a higher level.  This was valuable to me as a future educator because it gave me ideas to use in the future as I will be teaching physical education and health as my primary discipline. I have realized how valuable it is in my career of study to allow students to take part in their own education whether it is reading about a lifelong sport or health related concept which will benefit them and allow them to understand the information from the author’s perspective. 

The chapter continues with innovative ways to teach strategies for early readers and one point that Wilson makes that caught my attention was how powerful it is for teachers to read aloud to students.  This simple form of modeling will almost always create silence and gain the entire audiences’ attention.  I began to think deeper into why this phenomenon actually occurs, especially when Wilson writes that “reading is always about something and always for some purpose.”  The book mentions how even the most misbehaved student will suddenly focus and listen to the teacher’s words as he or she reads aloud and engages the student body.  So it seems that this total involvement is due to the fact that children are these little human sponges who are still making meaning of the world and this process takes them to “magical places” and allows a form of “shared literary experience” among every member.   These early readers who are struggling with this new discourse can witness a condition in which their goals are already attained and are being displayed before their very eyes and ears. They become text participants without having to face the struggles of independent reading attempts.  This proves that they all have a desire to read which is really something special at this early age compared to other grade levels.  It is also a way for students to value their teacher and make meaning about the process of becoming literate readers which leads to success for both parties involved.  I think this proves that reading aloud has more depth than most people think.  It is not only a means of communication to learn but it is a type of shared experience with a variety of meanings and understandings existing as a whole.