Reader in MeBy: Maureen DeShields

“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This, to me,

is a miracle.” – Kurt Vonnegut

My Learning Styles

My Strengths

• Musical

• Linguistic

• Intra-personal

• Inter-personal

My Weaknesses

• Visual/Spatial

• Mathematical/Logical

• Bodily/Physically

• Naturalistic

Omnivorous Reader(“I read anything and everything—the newspaper, magazines, cereal boxes, comics, billboards,

T-shirts and maybe even the ketchup bottle label.”)Some people pick a book because it is popular, others because they were required to read it for a class, and then there are readers like me…the Omnivorous Reader!When I choose a book, it is like stepping on to a plane and not knowing where you will land. Books, for me, are an escape from everyday doldrums and stress. Each book is like a new journey that leads me to unexpected places, and helps me to experience moments of joy, sadness, love, anger, peace, and sometimes even terrible grief. Each feeling is punctuated by the closeness that I feel to each character that has been introduced to me. When I read, I tend to stumble upon an author by chance. If I am lucky, their book touches me in a way that leads me to read every book they have written and then every related book. I do no discriminate between the works of Steinbeck or Stephanie Meyer. As a reading teacher, it is my job to know the difference between the best and worst writing. The only way I can truly know…is if I read EVERYTHING!

How I Choose Books/Reading Materials

For Myself For My Students

0 Is this a topic that interests me?

0 Is the writing style interesting?

0 Is this a book that would hold my attention?

0 Are there other books in the series or written by the author?

0 I read the synopsis on the back of the book. If the book sounds original and interesting, I read it.

0 If a book has been recommended by a friend or colleague, I will consider it.

0 What is the age range of the book?

0 What is the length of the book?

0 What is the lexile? (text readability)

0 Is it a topic that my students would find interesting?

0 Is the topic appropriate?0 Can it be used for class

reading or individual reading?

How I “fix” my reading when the text is difficult.The Problem The Solution

0 There have been times when certain books have been a bit difficult to understand. On the whole, these books are generally complex manuals or textbooks for classes.

My problem:0 The text is too complex

and the vocabulary is foreign to me.

0 The information is very dry and I cannot focus on the important facts because I continue to read the same sentences repeatedly.

1. Skim through the text and write down the words that look confusing or difficult.

Use a dictionary to help me understand the challenging words.

2. Set up Cornell Notes to help me keep my focus.

Write down the main idea from each paragraph.

Leave notes about each paragraph.

My “A-Ha” moment with a studentReading and Writing go hand-in-hand, as we have learned in this class. One of my most recent “A-Ha” moments took place in the last week. My

students had been preparing for their first spelling test of the school year. I teach 8th grade, but my students are intensive and require extra skills in order to be successful readers and writers.

I was working with a small group of students last week, when we were studying the spelling words. My group was having trouble with the word “benign”.

None of my strategies were helping the students, so I decided to tap into their musical nature. The students were all in band, so I had them tap out the letters to the word. B-E-N/I-G-N. The students tapped their feet to the beat and kept spelling the word.

One student looked up and said, “Oooh!!! I get it!!”The look on his face was enough to know that he would not forget how to

spell this word!As I gave the test today, I saw them tapping their feet as I said the word.

I just finished grading the tests from their class, and all of the students in my small group, got a 100% on their test!!! Spelling may seem trivial, but when they now read their book they know how to spell, pronounce, and understand the meaning of the words!