Reading Strategies

As I have mentioned before, English was never my favorite subject, and once again I remember a reason why that is so. I absolutely hated when I was forced to use reading strategies whenever I was reading a book. I didn't always have something I could make a connection to, and there wasn't always something to predict. I was a good reader and most of the time I could comprehend what I was reading, but these strategies just got in the way of enjoying reading. I think one of my biggest challenges as a teacher will be coming up with other ways to check for understanding in reading that do not involve forcing reading strategies on kids just because that is how reading education has been done in the past. I love the idea of creative book reports that allow kids the freedom to demonstrate their comprehension of a book in a way that makes sense to them and is fun for them. Katie and I had such a good time making our diorama for the book we read, and I remember as a kid that was the most fun book report I ever had to do. I think it is important that we don't get stuck in doing the same kinds of assessment strategies for each book we have the kids read, because every kid has different strengths and weaknesses, and there is more than one way to show understanding of a text.