Showing you are a reader

Routman lists five things she does to ensure students become excellent readers (p. 43). Choose one of these five. Support it with examples from Routman chapters 1-4, the optimal learning model, Cambourne's conditions of learning, and/or examples from your placement (or non-examples if applicable). In other words, make a case for this point's importance.

Five things to ensure students become excellent readers (Routman):
Demonstrate that I am a reader.

Provide an excellent classroom library.

Let students choose books they want to read and give them time to read them.

Teach strategies students need to know to process and understand text.

Evaluate students regularly, giving them feedback and helping them set goals.

I believe the most important thing a teacher can do is demonstrate that they are a reader. Children are observant and influenced by what the adults in their lives do, or don’t do. As such if we want children to become excellent readers, we need to model the behavior. More support and justification for demonstrating that you are a reader can be found throughout Routman.

For instance, demonstrating reading and modeling the behavior ties closely to step one of the optimal learning model. The teacher is holding responsibility and showing the students what is expected. This is the beginning point for the teacher to gradually handover the practice to the student.

Additional justification lies within Cambourne’s conditions of learning. I have already discussed the demonstration, but leading also correlates to immersion and expectation. It leads to conclude a teacher that shows they are a reader should expect the children to become readers and will have the opportunity to immerse the children in reading.

Further support is found within Routman’s chapter 2, bond with your students, and chapter 3, share your reading life. In chapter 2 Routman essentially outlines the importance of building a caring community and connecting with the interests of your students. As you show your students your interest, they will come to explore yours. As I pointed out previously, children are influenced by the adults in their lives, and as such, to develop excellent readers, the children should come to find their teacher is a reader. This can be accomplished as Routman demonstrates in chapter 3. The teacher can show what they are reading, who they like reading, and what they will read in the future.

I’ve outlined four reasons it is important for teachers to demonstrate, for their students, that they are readers. As teachers share their readings, students will see reading plays a role in life.

Invented Spelling in the classroom

Fox Chapter 3:
Based on your experience and your reading of this chapter, do you think "invented spelling" (in which children spell words the way they sound) helps or hinders young readers?

Depending on its use, invented spelling can help or hinder. If used solely and in isolation, invented spelling will not guide children to the ‘correct’ answers. It will likely lead children to their own justifications of ‘correct.’ Alternatively, the absence of invented spelling in the classroom will also hurt the children. This rational is conceived with the assumption no invented spelling is commonly used outside the classroom. Children need a chance to write. Be it misspelled or invented words, this does not matter. Once given a chance to write, guidance twoards correct spelling and mechanics needs to be gentle and appropriate. Additionally, invented spelling allows the educator to assess the child’s thinking. Over the course of the school year, the invented spelling would likely progress, and be reflective of, the child’s reading level. Specifically, the beginning sounds of words are expected to be identified by the child first, followed by ending sounds, then minimal combination sounds, eventually middle sounds, and maybe vowel sounds. Taking away invented spelling in the classroom would catastrophically eliminate the educator’s ability to continually assess.