Final Personal Model of Reading Theory

Over the course of the semester, my personal model of reading theory has evolved based on Constance Weaver’s perspective in Reading Process & Practice. I have used many of the approaches Weaver discusses, however I learned a great deal more about incorporating them all together. I have some experience with teaching with a balanced approach, but now have a greater understanding of how children learn to read. I believe this will be very beneficial to my teaching and my students.

            My biggest take away is the importance of a whole-to-part literacy instruction. This essentially emphasizes the importance of not isolating instruction of rules or strategies. Phonics rules and reading strategies should be taught through reading and writing rather than individually. Much of my teaching experience and observations isolated teaching of rules and strategies. However, I now see the reasons why this is an ineffective teaching strategy. Rules and strategies should be taught as a part of a comprehensive literacy program.

            A comprehensive literacy program is a teaching technique that I want to further incorporate into my lessons. This program is a balanced approach to reading and writing instruction that allows students to get more reinforcement on the skills being taught. A comprehensive literacy program has many pieces that make up the whole. I love Weaver’s quote when she says, “teachers and students attend to skill-related knowledge like phonics by drawing examples from texts being read and relating the skills back to their reading (Weaver, 2002, p.3).  It is important that skills are constantly being tied back to reading and writing. Text is the foundation of building fluent readers in he early years.

 Pieces of a comprehension literacy program include read/write alouds, share reading/writing, guide reading/writing, sustained reading/writing, reading/writing conferences, literature discussion, journals, opportunities for response, and reading/writing to learn. Each of these components eliminates the skill being taught in isolation. I see my students benefiting immensely through a comprehensive literacy approach. I believe it is important to take the focus off phonics and decoding instruction and put more focus on a balanced approach.

            I also believe in the importance of providing multiple opportunities for children to read and write. Reading and writing should be incorporated across the curriculum and students should have multiple chances each day to practice. The more students engage in reading experiences, the stronger their writing will become and they faster they will develop into fluent readers. I believe this starts by modeling. As I teach, I think it is necessary that I model reading and writing strategies to my students. Students need to be shown how to decode words as well as comprehension strategies like “think-aloud” or predicting the text. Read alouds are a great opportunity for such modeling. Read alouds show the students how to read with expression, teach about concepts of print, and teach comprehension strategies. This should also be done in writing. Students need instruction in writing from the beginning stages of planning to the final publication of their product.

            Overall I feel this class has transitioned my thinking from taking a skills approach to an approach focused on comprehension. The purpose of reading is to comprehend. Teaching skills are important, however phonics instruction should not be the main focus. Weaver discusses readers’ abilities to derive meaning from a text even when the text is not read with 100% accuracy. Instruction should be aimed at teaching comprehension strategies with phonics instruction integrated through reading. By putting the focus on comprehension, a comprehensive literacy program can be easily implemented. I believe my new knowledge in this course is going to provide my students with new learning opportunities that emphasize reading and writing instruction in a variety of methods. I am looking forward to using these new strategies and my knowledge in my lessons with my upcoming classes.

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.