Strategy 2- Variety of reading (stuggling readers)

            I think this is one of the most important strategies for struggling readers and goes hand in hand with texts that we have to choose for the Top Ten Toolkit. Teachers should be using a variety of reading. Beers states that this is that "teachers who encourage a wide range of reading, who give their students plenty of opportunity for sustained, silent reading, who read aloud to their students on a regular basis, who provide ongoing opportunity for sustained silent reading, who read aloud to their students on a daily basis, who provide ongoing opportunities for students to discuss." This strategy can be used at all times when reading or assigning a different book. This strategy would be beneficial for many reasons. I have had Spanish classes here where we only read about slavery the whole semester. Not to say that I hate talking about slavery, but its also not a topic that I would like to talk about for the whole semester. I managed to hang in there, but many students tuned out and even dropped the course. I believe being able to use a variety of readings helps students become interested and makes them feel empowered as to what they want to read. Even if the teacher picks the book, they shouldn't always pick the same genre or length because this will just expose them to the same vocabulary and style. Being able to have a variety helps by also "developing a positive attitude towards reading. I think this also goes along with choosing 10 different types of readings for this class for our future students. This is already showing us that we shouldn't have the same type of books or style for everything and they need to include certain things.  

Strategy 1- Direct and Explicit comprehension (struggling readers)

         One of the strategies described by Beers is Direct and Explicit comprehension. This would be defined by directly explaining to students strategies of comprehension. Then the teacher models and explains this . After this the teacher lets students practice this and apply it to different types of texts. This would be done by the teacher coaching students or any other more skilled reader. This should be accompanied by more examples and also and offer less help as they start understanding the strategy more.  Some say that this shouldn't be taught directly, but others believe that students could benefit from this type of instruction (Beers 37).  You can use the strategy whenever you believe it would benefit your students.  I believe my 8th grade teacher used this. I remember she told us to underline places and circle names and numbers. She would also tell us to write a note or two beside each paragraph so that we would remember what that was about. She would tell us to read the questions if there were any to keep a look out on them while we were reading. This was actually really helpful, because as a young struggling reader myself (still learning English) it was so easy for me to get lost and lose track of what I was reading. And even if I was reading I would not remember what I had read.

Text 2- House on Mango St. (gender)

A. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage, 1991. Print.

B.  The house on Mango street is a story told by Esperanza, a Mexican-American female that comes from a low socioeconomic status and is moving from place to place until she lands at the house on Mango St.This is where she starts narrating stories of neighbors and her siblings in this particular neighborhood. Esperanza puts special attention and an emphasis and women in her community. She recognizes the struggle of women having to stay home and take care of their kids. She even mentions that her mom wants her to keep on going to school because her mom never got the chance. She starts the book by saying that she doesnt really like her mane because “Esperanza” means hope in English and she doesn’t like the connotation behind hope. This is also a book in which Esperanza is transitioning from childhood to adolescence and is trying to find an identity and discover who she is. It's a really “real” book in which she is also ashamed of being poor and faces this struggle like any other would

C. This book hits many important topics that are important to me and that identify. I am a women, I am Mexican-American and I come from a lower socioeconomic status. For me her same struggles I also faced. I still faced today trying to go to college and being a women. I was told why I wanted to go if I would just end up getting married and staying home and taking care of the house. It is not my fault my culture thinks like this, but even if they do I still don’t care. They still haven’t believed that I’m almost done with school. The house on Mango St. allows for me o show my students the struggle of being a woman in the Hispanic community without having to tell my story. I believe this book is very realistic and relatable because “machismo” is something that happens in other cultures as well and not only in the hispanic community. This book also serves in expanding the knowledge and being able to allow students to identify what Latino’s value and what they consider important.

Text 1- Diarios de Motocicleta (Motorcycle diaries) (culture)

A. MLA: Motorcycle Diaries -. Dir. Walter Salles. Perf. Gael Garcia Bernal. 2004. DVD.

B. Original summary- Motorcycle diaries describes and walks us through the journey of the almost doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado. This trip was initially just for fun and to celebrate Alberto’s 30th birthday that was coming up. They would only use a almost broken down motorcycle that was called “La Poderosa” (All mighty) to travel all over South America. They never did realize that this would change their lives completely. As they traveled more and more, this helped them realize that life isn’t as perfect for everyone else out there. They saw people dying from no medical attention in Chile. They saw people that were homeless in Peru because the government decided to take the only piece of land that they owned and used for farming. In Brazil they saw how even the people that had multiple lentigines were not treated at the same level by the nuns and the doctors their. Even though they had the attention, they didn’t have the dignity they they should have. This ultimately inspired “Che” to revolutionize and demand. The movie ends by say “Yo ya no soy yo, por lo menos ya no soy el mismo yo”. (I am not myself anymore, at least I’m not the same myself anymore)
-->Translation doesn’t sound nearly as pretty as it sounds in Spanish.

C. Explannation- This movie serves in many ways for my classroom. The first time I saw this movie, it was in AP Spanish in high school and I was 17. I didn’t think it would impact me as much as it did. Since then, I  have watched it more than 10 times. This was probably one of the reasons why I studied abroad. I had been stuck in Greensboro for the last 21 years and I needed to see the world outside of this city. I think “Che” does a good job reflecting the importance of traveling and what surprises we find if we do so. Apart from being so inspiring I believe this movie is also very cultural and representative of the latino community. Even though there is not too many resources, family still remains together. This will also allow my students to start seeing the scenery of South America. This will allow students to become more conscious of their surroundings to a certain extent. Not everyone has life as easy as it may seem. I believe it is important to start planting the seed of wanting to know about other ethnic backgrounds and this movie even though it all takes place in South America, it shows diverse groups of South Americans. In one section, there is also a group of indigenous Peruvians that don’t Speak spanish and they reflect upon this with the translator and they state the struggles of not being able to speak Spanish. This will also help students understand the difficulties of not understanding English in the United States and how sometimes we shouldn’t be so quick to judge and yell “Speak English”.