I interviewed another one of my focal students today, Xavier. I have never seen a kid who just does not like reading, and really just has no skill to get over challenges as much as this kid. When I talked to him about reading, he said the only series he like was Diary of a Wimpy kid. Then with the Bone from a Dry sea book, one thing I noticed was that he said, "I can't understand this, I don't like it." While I think it can be hard to understand a text that's boring, it really seems like he'll just turn his brain off and say, I don't get it. He does it with math too, and really wants to be moved down to the lower math level. He just kind of refuses to try. I feel like his favorite line must be "I don't know."
His mom claims that he reads every night. That's interesting, right?
When I asked him what he does when he comes to words and ideas he doesn't know, he said he skips it. Skips it! Didn't even give me the pat answer of 'I read it again until I get it'
Otoh, Joshua, who isn't currently a focal student, but maybe should be, said he either re-reads it, or asks a parent or a teacher or a kid. That seems pretty different to me than just skipping it.
It seems to me, that Xavier feels he has little use for school. One thing he did say was that he asks friends for book suggestions. I wonder if I should go back to the peer support in reading comprehension as my focus for this study.
His mom claims that he reads every night. That's interesting, right?
When I asked him what he does when he comes to words and ideas he doesn't know, he said he skips it. Skips it! Didn't even give me the pat answer of 'I read it again until I get it'
Otoh, Joshua, who isn't currently a focal student, but maybe should be, said he either re-reads it, or asks a parent or a teacher or a kid. That seems pretty different to me than just skipping it.
It seems to me, that Xavier feels he has little use for school. One thing he did say was that he asks friends for book suggestions. I wonder if I should go back to the peer support in reading comprehension as my focus for this study.
Hi Dina,
ReplyDeleteI was just reading what you wrote about Xavier. What an interesting, puzzling kid! I couldn't help trying to figure out explanations for his "turning his brain off" - is he trying to protect himself from failure by making it very, very clear that he is not trying? Or is he trying to establish his identity as being someone who is anti-school? (That is, is he trying to be cool in this way?) But then, he does admit to liking Diary of a Wimpy Kid. What information does that fact give about him? I wonder what he likes about that book, those books? Does he feel like a capable reader when he is reading it, that is, is the reading level right for him? Does the story speak to him about his own experience of middle school? (I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it does seem to be a pretty good middle school story, with lots of harrowing middle school disasters in it!) He also says he asks his friends for book suggestions. That does not sound exactly like someone who is an incorrigible non-reader. Also the comment from his mother - if it's true, then he is showing a different side of himself at home from the one you see at school.
Then after all that wondering, and wanting to know what the source of his attitude is, I thought: what if it isn't possible to find out? Is it possible to address Xavier's reading issues without knowing what causes them? And if that were the case, what would that look like?
I guess it might look a little like what you did in your inquiry last year, that is, with Deandra, showing her that you really care about your students, and about her, by ordering a book for her. And, in that same vein, trying to find books to put in your students' hands that they will respond to, for example "Always Running" - books by people who have struggled with difficult situations, hard lives, and turned their lives around. It seems as if what you are doing with these interventions, and in other interventions, like structuring peer support for reading, you are getting a glimpse of what might help a student, you are trying it, and then you are implementing it as a strategy you that you then use regularly in your practice.
In other words, by using evidence and changing your practice based on what you learn from the evidence, you may not learn the root cause of the problem the student is having with reading, but you are still addressing the problem in your practice.
These bullet points you have identified strike me as getting to the heart of reading comprehension:
Determining importance in text-huge
moving from literal to deeper understanding
knowing what you know-what strategy you are using
I am wondering whether you have thought about focusing on one of them? Or whether you are thinking of remaining open to all of them as you continue to look at your students' reading comprehension? It is possible that it is still too early to take a narrow focus by choosing one of them. (These questions make it sound like I have an opinion about which one to do, but I totally don't! They just occurred to me as questions as I was reading your reflection.)
I am very interested to hear more about Beatriz, Juan, Joshua, and especially Xavier!
Claire