Learning Log: Article (Allington)

I found this article very interesting and full of great information, much of it I was not aware of.  I was not aware that inventive writing was not being used much in kindergarten and 1st grades.  I've always used it with the preschoolers and kindergarteners that I have taught.  To me, it seems like a logical way to motivate them to start writing, and I see it carry over into their reading as well.

Reading Recovery is the only program with strong evidence to improve reading achievement (Allington, 2013).  The only time I have heard of a school using Reading Recovery was when I was student teaching.  That's not to say that schools I have worked at have not used it, but if they do, I am not aware of this being implemented.

Allington (2013) stated that research has shown that the critical factor in the quality of reading lessons offered is correlated with the expertise of the teachers.  In every school I have worked at, paraprofessionals work with our struggling readers.  Sometimes reading coaches (or similar) work with our struggling students. In order to move our struggling readers to successful readers, we must have expert teachers working with them consistently and intensely.  Allington (2013) discussed evidence that supported sufficient, expert tutoring moving struggling readers  to readers reading on level.  One-on-one tutoring, twice a week was what was suggested.  I have never seen this done in any school that I have worked in.  I have tutored students in the past, and the one-on-one lessons have shown to be helpful in my experience.

Allington (2013) stressed the importance of allowing readers many opportunities to read at a high level of word recognition accuracy (98%-100%).  As adults, we nearly always read at that level when given the chance.  Yet we too often expect students to read a a rate lower than 98%, which no doubt proves frustrating.  I could see this leading to students not enjoying what they are reading and not being motivated to read.




References

Allington, R. L. (2013). What really matters when working with struggling readers. The Reading 
                 Teacher, 66(7), 520-530.