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After reading this chapter, a few things stuck with me.
-I found the story of Vanessa to be a common find in our classrooms- students are able to pass one reading level assessment but score poorly on grade level assessments.  The text notes responsive instruction as a practice to help build reading confidence and strategy work.  It is important to stop and think about the why and what we can do to help.
-Another point from the chapter was a focus on text characteristics to form instruction instead of the actual text. I find this to be a challenge (a big challenge!) but something we are trying more of in conferencing. If I am not familiar with a book(especially a fiction story), I find it challenging to discuss the book with student in a reading conference.  I prefer to use something familiar in which I can ask/answer questions about the content.
-I think the ideas in this chapter will impact instruction. There is a focus on student engagement, small group work and guided reading.
-The hierarchy is also an interesting - we must meet students where they are and design instruction to meet their needs.
-I found the comparison charts at the bottom to be interesting also- especially since we have a wide range of readers in each classroom.
-I think the topics discussed in this chapter are "real" and aligned to our focus this year.  In fifth grade, we have been using her other books & really like using them as a guide for mini-lessons.  The charts in the book are also very child-friendly and engaging.

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One take away from reading this text was that I found it interesting to learn that students can read a short running record with accuracy and fluency whereas a students reading books two levels lower than their reading level demonstrated stronger comprehension rather than a short-passage running record. A running record evaluates a different reading tasks rather than a chapter book. This research is meaningful and helpful to see why students are not displaying the same outcome on assessments and running records.

This proves that one assessment does not capture an entire picture of a student. There can be many factors that affect the student’s performance on an assessment, which is why we should gather numerous data over time to best support our students.

My last takeaway from this text is the hierarchy on Engagement. Specifically, it is important for students to choose books that are interesting and engaging to them. This will allow students to be motivated learners that enjoy reading. When students are engaged in a book, they are truly comprehending what they are reading and can also visualize what they are reading.

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Reading this article made me think about the workshop model for reading. Children need to read each day and have goals for reading. They need to become self aware as readers. They need to use strategies and work on reading skills. Teachers can model these strategies during lessons. Through this process, children learn that reading is gaining meaning from the text and they grow as a readers as well.  Hopefully they will gain a love of reading too.

I think this book can impact instruction. The article really got me thinking more about matching kids to texts. Running records are not the only way to collect data. I liked how the author found ways to  help the reader  track comprehension in longer texts. I think the hierarchy of reading goals made a lot of sense.

I think the book can be useful. I also like her other books. I looked at the table of contents and noticed that there is a section on "conducting goal setting conferences" and "using a variety of reading strategies for teaching comprehension" which I would like to explore.

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After reading, there was two points that really stuck with me. The first was that a single reading assessment, such as a running record, does not give a full picture of a child’s abilities. As a school, we use these assessments in our classroom multiple times throughout the school year. As we can learn a lot about a child’s abilities through these assessments, this should not be used as their only measure of comprehension. We are only looking at a child’s ability with one type of shorter text. Their abilities may change as the texts become longer.

The second idea that really stuck with me was how students showed stronger comprehension with longer texts that were an average of two levels below their independent reading level they were assessed at. We have to keep in mind that when students are reading longer texts they need to involve more memory skills to track plot and characters over several pages or chapters read sometimes in the span of multiple days. These skills may still need to be developed, even if a child passes a reading level assessment on a higher independent reading level.

The hierarchy of reading and comprehension goals seem like they would be a useful tool as a teacher. Using your reading assessments, along with what you know of your student as a reader, the hierarchy gives you an idea of skills and strategies that need to be addressed to make your student a better reader.

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My biggest take away from this reading was something that solidified my own personal beliefs as an educator regarding assessing reading levels. Running records are not the only indicator of a child's comprehension.  Whole text comprehension can be 1 or even 2 levels lower.   An independent reading level is a tool not a label or a "box" to put children in.   Children need to be given books on a level that they can successfully apply the strategies being taught.
Balanced literacy and having a strong reading workshop is vital to developing strong, successful lifelong readers.
The Hierarchy of Reading Goals will be helpful in understanding where to start with setting goals for children.
I would to see what the author's "look for" checklists and see how they can be utilized in the classroom and assessing comprehension.

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One thing that really stuck with me is the importance that a reading level is not the only measurement to show that they can read. I think reading levels are very important because they do allow you to get a better understanding of a student, but it does not tell you everything about a child. Students do need to be able to read books as a whole to help them to understand skills such as characters, setting, theme, main topic, text features, ect. One of my favorite things about reading is having time uninterrupted where I can read and play the movie in my head. Reading whole texts allows students to practice those skills of remembering characters, plot, and make the connections to events in a text.

I also really liked how they gave examples and broke apart the different strategies to help find the main topic. That section resonated with me, because we are focusing on the main topic right now in 2nd grade. I also think it made sense how they compared different reading levels. It made sense they way they showed how to teach the same strategy on different leveled texts.

Additionally, I also think that the Hierarchy of Reading Goals and Hierarchy of Comprehension Goals is also a useful too to use. They are good tools to help get you started.

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While reading the article I found it very interesting (and relatable) that there is a discrepancy between running records and whole text comprehension. I have noticed in my own class that students may be passing their F&P but struggling with 3rd grade passages. I personally had a hard time as well understanding why they would  be passing one text, but struggling through the next. This article helped me understand that as a teacher, I have to set more goals and  identify their individual skills and strategies.

As the article states, I will try to give them books that are 2 levels below their level in order to be successful. As a class, we are working on stopping and jotting and truly reflecting on what they are reading. The readers in my class range from emergent to fluent. I have been having my lower leveled children with relying on pictures and predictions for my emergent readers. In order to keep all students accountable I will push the conversations (turn and talk) and then our goal as a class will be to write about their reading.

Lastly, the Hierarchy of Reading goals for both fiction and nonfiction will lead the pathway for successful readers in the classroom. It is helpful to see the goal outlined with 2 specific skills that the students are working towards mastering.

Implementing these skills in the classroom can boost their confidence, stamina and abilities!

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-One thing that that stuck with me after reading the article was that the findings from the research suggested that students typically demonstrated strong comprehension using text two levels lower than a short running record passage.  It made me wonder about using lower level text with my students to deepen their comprehension.
-The hierarchy of reading goals is so important for reading.  When I read the engaging part this reminded me of previous lessons that I have given based on the Reading Strategies book. In order for the students to enter into the state of "flow" the students made "movies in their mind" to identify the actions of the character to interpret character traits.  In another lesson the students "walked in the character's shoes" to understand character's feelings.
-Another interesting topic that was discussed in the article is that students should be given various strategies for one reading goal and need to work on those strategies for several weeks. Also the strategies should vary according to the level of the text. This makes me think of how I can best meet the needs of my students by keeping in mind the level of the text and choosing and crafting strategies to help them meet these needs.

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Some points that resonated with me were:
-Since longer texts involve more memory, sequencing, and synthesizing, it follows that there may be a disparity between comprehension of a text portion, and an entire text.
Running records may assess different skills than whole text assessments.
-An independent reading level is a tool, not a label. When teaching certain skills and strategies, there are times that a lower level can be used.
I know that it is out of my comfort zone to use a text that is at a lower level than a student's most recent running record assessment. It feels like going backwards. However, there are benefits to this, such as building confidence, building fluency, and practicing a new skill without the added difficulty of decoding impeding progress.
-I found this particularly important: Writing should be a very small part of reading time, and can instead take place during Writing Workshop. Instead, ample time is needed for conversations. In my experience, many, many first grade students shut down during writing due to the challenges presented with spelling accurately, the physicality of writing, needing support. However, these same students often contribute a great deal during class discussions during reading.
-The Hierarchy of Reading Goals and Hierarchy of Comprehension Goals will be very useful.
-Finally, the development of knowledge of language, syntax, and the structure of sentences is vital to comprehension. Developing the skill of "what word would make sense here" is paramount to not only decoding and fluency but comprehension as well.

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My inner nerd really felt a lot of hope reading this book 🤓(I also had to take notes because I'm aware that my ADHD brain won't retain any information this late if I don't stop and jot). I really felt my best lessons always came from the minilessons from her other books and a lot about her approach to a constructivist reading process resonates with my teaching style. Balanced literacy is so important when using more of a workshop model to instruction. My concern however, is that we don't have a word study program in 4th.

Although we only read a small snippet, I feel hopeful because all the challenges she mentioned are real problems I know I have faced and felt like they were "nebulous" and overwhelming, along with other members of my grade. It's important to remember that reading levels are a tool, not a label. Like Vanessa's teacher, I have seen and felt unsure how to help students when there is the excerpt vs. longer text comprehension discrepancy. I think it is a good opportunity to model tracking characters and plot events through longer chapter books and stop to show students our thinking and metacognition as we read aloud with them.

I think the hierarchy of reading goals is helpful in knowing where to start to provide students with targeted reading goals in our guided reading groups. We can't be 100% sure what goes on in the mind of a reader, but if we give them clear examples, chances for practice with us and independently, I feel confident we will see our students flourish as readers.