June 28th Readings

                The readings from June 28^th each covered different aspects of reading. The article by Lori Jamison and Wilfred Burton discuss which level book to give to each student and how to determine this. It is said that a balance must be provided between challenge and support for the students to not only succeed at reading but enjoy it also. This has been referred to many times is class as the “Goldie Locks” approach, find a book that is not too hard and not too easy--- a book that is just right. Jamison and Burton go over a 10 level rubric that is often used to determine what level a book falls onto. The rubric goes into great detail of each of the 10 levels. I feel that the levels are almost too tightly interwoven. The differences are small  from one level to another, yet I can see how the rubric may be a successful tool in classrooms.

                An additional way to determine levels of readers would be Running Records. I enjoyed reading over this book , as well as practicing in class. Practicing the assessment made me more familiar with the concept, I liked the hands on approach to learning about Running Records. I can see how Running Records are a useful tool for teachers and school. They provide a clear description of how a child is reading , when compared- the first assessment of a child to the next, I feel that it would be easy to see the improvement (or lack thereof) that was made. However, correctly using a Running Record and correctly assessing a child will take practice with the system. My only concern with Running Records would be time constraints. I feel as though we have talked a lot about the time crunch in the classroom, so I worry as to when teachers find time to fit Running Records in. I suppose they could be done while other students are working individually or during centers. I find Running Records to be a great way to evaluate readers—they provide tools, symbols and scales for assessing students correctly and efficiently.