What Really Matters For Struggling Readers

While reading chapters two and three from the book What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard Allington, I came across a lot of points that I fully agreed with. For example, Allington explained the idea that a higher volume of reading can directly result in higher reading achievement. Studies have backed this claim and shown that classrooms where more of their school day is allocated to reading tend to have higher literacy levels and reading development, especially in lower-achieving students. Allington also states that students should be spending the majority of the time in class allotted to reading instruction actually doing the act of reading. This means that if the time set aside for reading is ninety minutes long, only five to ten of those minutes would be used for instruction, while the other time is spent actually having the students read aloud or silently. I think that this is very important because, often, students spend their reading time listening to their teacher’s instructions and doing other assignments instead of actually spending that time reading.  Students, especially those that are falling behind, need that time to practice and accelerate their literacy development. Although these points within the reading are valid, there is one argument that I did not fully agree with. Within the book, Allington explained the idea of a Whole-Day Plan (WDP), which involves scheduling just on subject a day. This means that the teacher would spend one whole day teaching only one subject, and then the next day teaching an entirely different subject. This could go on for a week or even more. I personally do not think this is a good idea because I feel like students would get very uninterested and disengaged with learning when only focusing on one subject a day. In class we discussed how people can usually only stay focused the number of minutes equal to their age. For example, a seven year old would most likely only be able to sit still and learn about a topic for seven minutes without getting distracted. Children, especially those in elementary school, need variety in their day and I just do not think that the Whole-Day Plan would work for them. Overall, I enjoyed the reading and will definitely use most of its ideas in my own future classroom.