Coby's Reflection of Chapter Three

In chapter three of her book, On Solid Ground, Sharon Taberski says that if we want children to respond to books in deep and meaningful ways we need to provide tools, opportunities, and demonstrations of what we expect. This is a very good point that Taberski brings up. Children need tools and opportunities but what people forget is that children are not born with the ability to be reflective readers, they have to learn how to be. There is a very big difference between telling someone what is expected of them and showing someone what is expected of them. I remember when I was in elementary school and my teachers would tell me to do something, show me an example of what they wanted, and leave me with a lot of confusion. I would end up turning in something they did not want and getting repremanded.

I like the way Greg speaks when he write so that his students can understand what he is thinking and the same thing should work with reading. We need to let children hear what we are thinking when we read so that when they read they can keep their eyes and ears open for the kinds of things that we keep our eyes and ears open for. When given many opportunities in class (because most inexperienced readers do not read at home for fun) children can practice looking and thinking over and over again until they get good at it and understand what their teacher was talking about.