Reflections for An Interactive View of Reading and Writing

A good teacher is a master of simplification and an enemy of simplism. ~Louis A. Berman
Taken from: http://www.quotegarden.com/teachers.html

As I began to read chapter two An Interactive View of Reading and Writing, I couldn’t help but think all of this information is familiar. I have some knowledge of what was discussed throughout this chapter. This chapter focused on the elements of skilled reading and writing performance and the contextual and learner factors that influence performance. The first section of the chapter described skilled performance as the ability to use reading and writing effectively and creatively for personal, recreational, academic, and civic purposes. I constantly remind my students, especially when I am teaching writing, that writing is not an aimless activity, we always write for a purpose. The elements of skilled performance were defined as comprehension; composition; vocabulary development; word identification and spelling; rate and fluency; and grammar, usage, and the mechanics of writing. All of these ideas I go over with my students whenever addressing writing.

The part that sparked great interest was the Vocabulary Development section. When I was reading how a child’s vocabulary grows at an average of seven words per day, that was something to really ponder. Then it discussed how Hart and Risley (1995) found that children whose parents receive welfare have been exposed to fewer than half the vocabulary words of children whose parents hold professional positions. I couldn’t help but think of the students I serve, and how they come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they are First Generation, Low Income or an Individual with a Disability. I was thinking as the statistics were given, this is my population I serve, and it is true, I am in the right area, helping them by pursuing my degree to become a Reading Specialist to help them in their lack of Vocabulary Development.

The second and third sections of the chapter identified and described the contextual and learner factors that influence performance. These sections of the chapter were pretty much self explanatory, and I had no problem reading through. The contextual factors were grouped according to setting, instructional practices (standards and curriculum, methods, activities and routines), instructional resources (commercial programs, trade materials, tutoring programs, and technology), and assessment practices. The learner factors were categorized as prior content knowledge, knowledge about reading and writing (metacognition and phonological awareness), attitudes and motivation, and correlates of skilled performance (social and emotional development, language development, physical development, and cognitive development including the information processing abilities of attention, perception, and memory). The correlates of performance were defined as those social, emotional, linguistic, cognitive, and physical factors that are related to, but not necessarily cause, strengths and weaknesses in reading and writing. I especially enjoyed this section because of how it addresses the reader’s environment, having particular determining factors that influence performance.

Consideration of the conventional/standard aspects of reading and writing performance must be controlled by concerns for the ways in which learner and contextual factors interact to influence performance. Unless this complex and dynamic view of reading and writing is engaged during assessment, we run the risk of developing an unclear picture of reading and writing processes. This poses serious problems for assessment but even more serious concerns about the quality and appropriateness of instruction.

Image courtesy of: http://teacherweb.com/NJ/Riverdale/Miller/apt1.aspx