No matter how old I get, I have no problem telling somebody that I hate reading. I bet if you put some numbers in my face I can crunch them faster than somebody crunching on their favorite cereal on a Saturday morning. As a future math or science teacher I am very much aware that there will be students placed in my class that can't or have a strong dislike for reading. In order to understand a student a teach must first be able to relate to the student in some fashion. For example, I can't tell a student who just lost their mother or father, "I know how you feel," when, by the grace of god both my mother and father are still living. It may seem small, but it goes a long way when developing a strong relationship with your students or you will just be blowing smoke to your students. As teachers no matter the subject, the goal is to get students to understand and learn the assigned tasks. Different students learn at different paces so we must be prepared to work students different reading process'. In chapter 11 the key strategy for helping struggling readers that stood out the most to me was building engagement with the text. It stood out to me because when I struggled with reading this helped me get through it. If I can get a student that's struggling with reading to compare their real-life experiences with the text for a better understanding, then I know my job has been made easier.-WC:260
Antjuan, I completely agree! I think engagement is useful in both a teacher student relation and a student reading relation. As a teacher, connecting to your students is crucial because it shows the students that you care about them on a deeper level outside of the classroom. I think the same is with reading. Students need to see why reading matters to them outside of the classroom. Sometimes making these kind of connections is hard for them to see but it is crucial for them to realize that reading does matter!
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I would have to agree with your post. I think engagement is the best way to help an uninterested reader become more interested. If they can relate what they are reading to their live they will make connections and retain the information longer. I also have a similar fear that my students will all be at drastically different reading levels when they enter my classroom, and how I will handle that gap.
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