As quoted on top of page 77, literacy develops “in a variety of rich contexts”, regardless of whether the learner is an English language learner or a native English speaker. Being able to read does not stop after a student finishes reading a particular text. There are many factors that affect reading skills for the English Language Learners and even those who are not. Providing students with the opportunity to explore with reading, aside from just literally reading a text, is giving students a chance to experience literacy in a rich context.
The readers’ role does not stop as a code breaker, where students simply have knowledge on letters and how they sound. As Gibbons mentions in this chapter, readers are “text participant”, “text user”, and also “text analyst” (81-82). These four roles showed the importance of teachers and their role as leading and guiding students into reading. The four roles of a reader and the three steps for planning for reading are what struck me. Especially the last part of the chapter where Gibbons mentions about three steps for planning for reading, it made me think about my school years in elementary and middle school. Reading was one of the subjects in elementary and in middle school, and I was thinking that I would have enjoyed reading if my teachers had planned out before-reading activities, during-reading activities, and after-reading activities. Reading was not my favorite subject, and it was difficult for me to understand texts if enough reading time was not given to me. Also, almost all the reading we did in class, especially in middle school, was timed, and then we had to take a comprehension quiz after reading. So, reading was not a fun subject for me. When we were taking the comprehension quizzes, I was frustrated about reading and even taking the quiz, because some stories were difficult to understand, trying to understand a text under limited time was terrifying, and trying to take the quiz without understanding the text was discouraging. It is extremely important for teachers to find ways to engage students into reading, so that reading will not become simply reading a text or even a frustrating subject.
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Nice post, Jae! I enjoyed reading about the personal connections you made with the reading to your own school expereinces with reading. I think your understanding of the reading and your past experiences will help you to plan appropriate and effective before, during and after reading activities that will help your students. Also, since you had negative experiences with always having to complete a comrehension quiz after reading, it sounds like you'll be able to use more meaningful after reading activites like those listed in the chapter that will benefit readers at all levels, both native speakers and ELL's.
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