First of all, I must say I would LOVE to have a chart like 3.1 and 3.2 for all the challenges in life! Something that these charts really made me see was that there is no set solution for any one problem. We start with saying that a kid "can't read" but then move into they "can't answer questions about the text" and we have to figure out why they can't answer these questions. So we have to help them with a multitude of solutions to see which one works. What overwhelms me is that we're not going to just have one child that needs help. We may have an entire class of thirty students that need help with reading, and with different aspects of reading.
The story of Mike warmed my heart. When he said "You know I can't read this stuff" showed to me that no one had ever really worked with him to give him confidence. This also shows why some students could be embarassed to read out loud in front of their classmates, and if they already have a hard time reading, being snickered at by their classmates will probably increase their reading anxiety, causing them to give up all together on learning how to read.
Through these different case studies presented in this chapter, Beers shows us that solving a reader's problem is never a simple step. We have to test out all different solutions and sometimes mix them together to get a result.
I don't believe simplicity is ever a description of our job as teachers. Everything has layers and we must peel those layers to reach the true problem or even the true student. Confidence is often key and it is truly sad that no one seems to bother with the real problems. More and more I hear about teachers who only see the job as a job. It is more than that and requires more than that. There are too many stories like Mikes. Finally, as teachers we must try to make the classroom safe for every child in every way again this seems to be a part of teaching that is slipping out of control. No child should be scared to read aloud in a classroom.
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