Improving Readers NOT "Low" Readers
Improving Readers NOT “Low” Readers By: Cameron Carter I genuinely hope I am not the only educator whose blood begins to boil when I hear teachers refer to their students as “my LOW readers” (NOTE: Yes, I purposely put “LOW” in uppercase letters because we all know that teacher who emphasizes the “LOW” part). I was inspired to write this short post after hearing Dr. Alfred Tatum speak at our annual Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA) conference. Dr. Tatum stated, “there is no research that shows giving children easy texts will improve their reading skills and abilities.” The quote rang in my ears because I instantly connected to what he was saying. For years in my guided reading book clubs, I’ve always asked higher order critical thinking questions to all my groups. I don’t care what “level” they are reading, all children can make an inference and make a prediction about the text. Children are fantastic at letting their imagination and curiosit