The more you read, the better you read!

Week 1 Readings 
Main Points: 
1. Teachers need to be exemplary because ordinary teachers won't do the trick (Ch. 1 and Phi Delta Kappan Article)
2. The more you read the better you can read (Ch. 2)    
 In the readings this week discussion of "exemplary" teachers comes up. In the first chapter from Classrooms that Work, the first grade classes who had the exemplary teachers usually showed that the classes were more hands on and had higher levels of engagement. My favorite examples from extraordinary classrooms that stood out from ordinary classrooms were

• books were everywhere and used in a variety of different ways--read aloud by teacher and read and listened to on tape by the children.

and

• classrooms were caring, positive, cooperative environments, in which discipline issues were handled quickly and quietly. 

"Readers are not just children who can read, but children who do read"
     From the second chapter of Classrooms that Work, it is important to create independent readers, children who want to read and that don't just read when assigned to read. Something interesting I found in this chapter was the "Male Reading Models", it says that most elementary school teachers are women and that most of the children who struggle with reading are boys. I love the idea of schools having "real men" come and read books to their class and think it is an excellent strategy to make boys interested in reading. Some more good examples of ways to make reading interesting to your students are: to take time and read aloud to students everyday, include different types of readings to the read aloud (ex. mystery, science fiction, fantasy, animal info, multicultural, chapter books, magazines), schedule time every day for independent reading, accumulate the widest possible variety of reading materials, schedule conferences to talk about students reading materials, and make time for sharing and responding. This last summer I worked in a first grade class and I know what a difference it made when I read aloud to kids opposed to letting them "free read". They enjoyed listening so much and behaved better. 

6 T's
     In the article called, What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction, we review the importance of exemplary teacher and the 6 T's. Which are:
Time
Texts
Teaching
Talk
Tasks
Testing
The six T's overlap and its unlikely that you could develop a teaching style that reflects a single t. 
"Important to give kids books they can read and choices regarding which books they will read." 
I believe that it is important for kids to find something they are interested in and reading assigned books isn't the best way for them to find that. I would encourage my students to explore different kinds of readings so they can become interested in something new. Reading extensively is necessary for the development of proficiency in reading, students need to have more reading added to their everyday classroom activities in order to keep expanding their reading capacities.
Discussion Question: How would you encourage students to explore different types of reading materials?