Instructional Social Studies Books Article September 27, 2009

I think what made this article so captivating was the way that it started out.  It brought to life some very startling statistics.  When you think of reading in upper grades, you do think of having everyone on grade level and not necessarily having to do reading groups.  Many of the same kids read the same books.  When they are asked to read outloud, there are those that struggle and those that think they are too easy.  One of the lines that struck a cord for me was “Given material that is too difficult to read, few students are able to sustain interest and motivation.”  This is all too true and I believe it is essential for a teacher for ANY grade to realize this.  Like the article says, reading at their instructional level will provide them with the material to move into reading and writing more without creating a negative attitude towards the two.  The article also says that trade books used in content areas can provide more in-deptch coverage topics than a textbook, while accomodating various reading levels.  Wouldn’t you as a teacher want this?    The only problem is finding these resources.  Finding quality children’s books at a lower reading level is hard.  It is suggested that you use thematic studies, genre studies, and author studies as three unit approaches.  This article does an amazing job of explaining WHY it is important for children to read on their instructional level and not their frustration level.  It goes further by actually giving the reasources that can be used to implement it in the classroom, and that is why I appreciate this article so much more.

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