Final Personal Model of Reading Theory

            Reading is a crucial and vital skill for every child and adult.  Reading is used to interpret meaning from novels, newspapers, and even recipes.  The way in which a teacher views and instructs reading within a classroom can mold the way students view the act of reading and how they view themselves as readers.  It is essential for every teacher to study and implement a comprehensive literacy program within his or her classroom.  The skills taught within this program are foundational and can be used long term.  I believe, as a teacher, it is my duty and responsibility to create life-long learners and teach students how to construct meaning through reading.  At the beginning of this literacy course, I knew what pieces of literacy and reading workshop I used within my classroom.  My personal reading theory has evolved throughout this course and I now feel more confident about how I teach reading in my classroom. 

            As a student reads a passage or text it is fundamental that the student is doing more than just identifying the words.  The student must be creating meaning from what is being read.  Once meaning is created, then true comprehension has taken place.  Students must be able to have a connection and background knowledge to what is in the passage in order to create meaning. 

            Reading comprehension must be taught through many strategies.  A comprehensive literacy program enables me to use many strategies and create lessons that are centered around student needs and abilities.  Through the use of reading workshop, I am able to meet with students and work on skills through whole group, small group, and one-on-one conferencing.

            Reading workshop uses one to two hour blocks of time to create a classroom environment that is comfortable for students to explore reading and test their ability as readers.  This comfortable environment gives students the opportunity to freely share their reading responses and learn from each other.  I believe that I must give students a lot of choice in what they read.  This is important because many students do not have access to a variety of books at home and students want to read what interests them.  They will be more likely to read if they have choices and they may be more willing to share what they have read if they are interested in it.  The routines put in place during this long block of time helps students to anticipate what happens next and what is expected of them, both behaviorally and academically.  This huge block of time allows students to learn reading skills, practice the skills that are taught, and indicates the importance of reading. 

            As students move through the different stations of reading workshop, I can create opportunities to scaffold students in learning new skills.  This scaffolding paves the way for the student to begin practicing the reading skills on their own and eventually use that skill frequently as he or she reads.  Reading workshop provides opportunities for students to work together and collaborate, practice skills independently, and work with me to learn new skills, either in a small group or a one-on-one conference.  Mini lessons and read alouds provide students with a goal to work on and gives them a chance to hear fluent reading. 

Through the reading workshop model, it is vital that skills are not taught in isolation.  All reading skills must have purpose and be taught within the context of reading.  Word study is also important for expanding students’ vocabulary and decoding skills.  Phonics should not be taught in isolation, and but should be integrated through reading workshop in context.  Students need to see phonics modeled within context and need to be able to apply it within their reading in order to show they understand the “rules” of our language.

Assessment is also important in a comprehensive literacy program.  Reading for meaning and reading comprehension must be determined through discussion of the text.  Using fluency as the only factor in reading comprehension does a huge disservice to the student.  Proficient readers make miscues that do not interfere with meaning, and if a student reads fluently and does not make any miscues, they are not interpreting the text in order to create meaning.  Students must understand that making miscues is okay and it is even better if they make miscues that do not affect the meaning because that lets the teacher know they are predicting what is coming next or translating into their own dialect and ultimately creating meaning.

I believe that using reading workshop in my classroom will give students the opportunity to grow as readers and allow many of them to grow to love reading.  I must scaffold students in their learning and give them opportunities to practice the skills I teach them.  Students must feel comfortable to share and respond as well as work with their peers in collaborative groups.  Reading is an important lifelong skill, and I owe it to my students to create meaningful lessons that teach them that reading for meaning is true comprehension.  Teaching reading for meaning and other reading skills can be achieved through a comprehensive literacy program and reading workshop.