CH. 1 in BK

BOOK
"... literacy is key to success in school and beyond for effective participation in the workforce, the community, and the body politic." (2)

"...it is poor and minority children who fail to succeed as readers, and their numbers are growing in our schools." (3)

"The diversity of students in public schools today does not support a "one size fits all" program of reading instruction..." (7)

"Taking the learner's perspective turns out to be good advice for researchers as well as for teachers." (17)

RESPONSE
Literacy is not just important in the classroom and in the school; it has a domino effect in a student's life. If a student does very well in reading it helps them in many areas such as vocabulary, critical thinking, etc. Literacy will help a student later on in his/her life.

Why is that?

Every student is different and learns in many different ways. This is so important for people, especially teachers, to understand. One method for teaching reading may work for one student but may not work for all the other students. Teachers should be able to provide appropriate instruction for ALL of his/her students.

In another class one of my professors shared with the class about what another teacher's experience while teaching. The teacher said when she would tell her class to write in their journals about their favorite food or dream vacation, etc... her students' writing was very poor. However, when she allowed them to write about what they wanted to write about, ex: dinosaurs, dragons, etc, their writing was much better. Sometimes teachers need to put themselves in their students shoes and see how they think about things and see what they would prefer if they were that age.