Catching Readers Before They Fall Chapter 4

I really enjoyed Chapter 4 because it helped me transition from an "old fashioned" teaching strategy of sounding a word out which research and personal experience has shown that it is not always successful. It was interesting seeing the concept of Meaning (M), Structure (S), and Visual (V) being introduced. I found it a bit ironic that each of these three descriptions is not what I had originally expected. When I first read about the visual strategy compared to the rest, I was imagining the concept of using visual pictures and clues to understand the concept. Now I see that that strategy is actually Meaning, while Visual is using what looks right within the word to understand it. I also really enjoyed the examples the booked layed out of example prompts of students who use the strategies differently (i.e. too much V and not enough M, not monitoring, etc.) As I read through these, I was able to relate the prompt of the student who was relying too much on background and not enough monitoring/matching. When I introduced him to his first read aloud book, he actually said it was already one he had read and that it was one within a series of about 5 or 6 books (the Fly Guy series). Since he already knew so much about the story, while he was reading he would sometimes just summarize what he knew happened on that page without paying too much attention to the actual text in front of him. I am not sure if this is going to be an ongoing problem in his reading, so I am definitely excited to see his reaction to other books I bring in that he is not so familiar with.