Response to Nancie Atwell’s The Reading Zone, Chapter 5.

If teaching reading strategies and implementing those expectations (practice) “distracts them from the pleasures of the reading zone” then I may have to take that risk at first then incorporate the enjoyment of reading. I don’t believe that teaching strategies does that. Of course there are students who would rather do nothing, all day, but those are the students that in “the reading zone” most likely (from many of my own observations) just stare at the pages of their book, or the clock, and have no real recollection/comprehension of what they’ve read right after they’ve read it. YES, I want students to enjoy reading and find reading enjoyable, but, as a teacher, no, as a person who loves reading and realizes how important it is to EVERYTHING, it is important (and part of my job) to implement strategies that improve student comprehension and reading skills. Atwell quotes research from 1987 (p.52/53) but the strategies approach wasn’t in heavy practice until the 1990s, so, the research quoted seems to meet the needs of the topic for the author, not true research as applied in the classrooms in the ‘90s and since. While I am not someone who only reads novels to my students then gives them a chapter quiz and moves on, I do feel that creative teaching and usage of the strategies is so important; my students are evidence of that. True, not all of them liked having to do anything at first, but once they were used to applying the strategies, I saw an amazing growth in them AND they began making those applications ON THEIR OWN as they read “in the zone”. Allowing students to make application on their terms, set their own goals, helps to keep them “in the zone” when they do read. Additionally, it uniquely allows students to own their reading AND learning experiences by steering the direction in which they go (in learning applications).