In our theoretical discussion group, we spent a lot of time discussing Dr. Allington's article. As Heather and Tracy both put it, it was an eye opening reading. We all agreed that expertise matters. Teachers who are not experts rely on products to get their students ready for tests trying to make up for what was not effective in their teaching through the year. We also got in to the discussion about how it takes 35 to 50 years of research for things to change in education. Allington states that effective teachers give their students longer assignments involving choice. The students are working on similar, but different tasks. I know several students that this has worked on, but I didn't allow it for all students. I only did this with students who stubbed up on assignments. Most of the time their attitude changed when I offered them something else to do that was basically the same assignment! The section on testing said that effective teachers gave grades based on effort and improvement. This is wonderful, because the students who don't have to try hard don't and the ones who try so hard often get frustrated when they don't receive high grade.
The article by Valencia-Buly, was talking about how students who struggle in reading are not all the same. Some students need decoding instruction, while others need exposure to vocabulary, some students need to read books on their level to enhance their fluency. This article gave examples of children from the six groups that the fourth graders were categorized.
These articles were eye opening reads this week. Dr. Allington's article is one that every teacher should read. We are in the business of education children and are life long learners ourselves.
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