This has been an adventurous journey! Jesse and Nathan are two very unique boys who reacts to texts differently. I am very surprised of how well they did after the implementation of strategy lessons and readers checklist. Both of them have shown some improvement in their motivation and stamina level in reading. Generically speaking, biologically, boys are slower in developing speech and fine motor skills; psychologically, boys believe that girls are better in language; and socially, boys are born into existing ideologies of cultures that greatly affect their way of thinking toward literacy (Pollack, 1998). The urgency for educators to remedy the generalized fact that boys are not as enthused and/or competent in reading as girls has become a critical education agenda. After reflecting daily on my work and their work, I realize that teacher-researchers have great power in making differences. Jo-Anne Kerr (2007), a teacher-researcher has describes her journey of bringing her resistant learners up the steps by collecting data from their portfolios and reading logs. Her research has enlightened and motivated me to continue my inquisitiveness to explore more strategies to increase the boys' motivation and stamina.
I have re-written Nathan's reading log on cue cards (see exhibit 16) due to his illegible handwriting. From this piece of information, I am seeing that he is still not reading consistently at home. However, his buddy reading skill has proven to me that he does have the strength and determination to sit and read to his younger sister.
Exhibit 14
Unfortunately, Jesse appears to be slightly behind in this process. He is reluctant in using his reading log. He says to me, "but I really do read! I just don't like writing in it [reading log]. It's a pain!". At this point, I think the goal should be set toward building stamina and getting him interested in reading. However, I should still continue to explore ways to get him to track his reading daily. This is going to be remedied, hopefully, in cycle # 2.
Please take a look at my cycle # 1 presentation (slide show) posted on the top of this blog. The data that I have collected, synthesized and analyzed data in cycle # 1 definitely pushes me to take the next step in this endeavor.
2 comments:
You do an excellent job weaving readings and research into your reflection. If Jesse says he doesn't like writing up what he reads, then perhaps there are other ways for him to keep track of his reading stamina and independent progress.
Revised Entry
In this cycle, I have done limited actions because I was still in the process of learning about the boys. Through my day-to-day observations and implications, I have developed a strong sense of what the boys enjoy reading, and dislike reading. Even though the actions that I took seem immature, I believe that observing is a crucial step to research at this point of time. Based on what I have observed, in my cycle 2, I am going to implement more actions that suit the reading abilities and needs of Jesse and Nathan.
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