Sunday 31 May 2015

Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading

Let me in.


Teaching Reading
Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading
Instructors want to produce students who, even if they do not have complete control
of the grammar or an extensive lexicon, can fend for themselves in communication situations.
In the case of reading, this means producing students who can use reading strategies to maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non-relevant information,
and tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension.

Focus: The Reading Process
To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of reading rather than on its product.
They develop students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies
by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language.
They allow students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using
authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn
(and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.
When working with reading tasks in class, they show students the strategies that will work best 
for the reading purpose and the type of text.

They explain how and why students should use the strategies.
They have students practice reading strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of class
in their reading assignments. They encourage students to be conscious of what they're doing while they complete reading assignments.
They encourage students to evaluate their comprehension and self-report their use of strategies. They build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class reading assignments,
and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.
They encourage the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies
by using the target language to convey instructions and course-related information
in written form: office hours, homework assignments, test content.
They do not assume that students will transfer strategy use from one task to another.
They explicitly mention how a particular strategy can be used in a different type of reading task
or with another skill.
By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement,
and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, instructors help their students develop
both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations
they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation
for communicative competence in the new language.

Integrating Reading Strategies
Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of
reading activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.

Before reading: Plan for the reading task
Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for
Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed
Determine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning)
or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases)
During and after reading: Monitor comprehension
Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses
Decide what is and is not important to understand
Reread to check comprehension
Ask for help
After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use
Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area
Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks
Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task
Modify strategies if necessary
Using Authentic Materials and Approaches
For students to develop communicative competence in reading, classroom and homework reading activities must resemble (or be) real-life reading tasks that involve meaningful communication. They must therefore be authentic in three ways.

1. The reading material must be authentic: It must be the kind of material that students will need and want to be able to read when traveling, studying abroad,
or using the language in other contexts outside the classroom.
When selecting texts for student assignments, remember that the difficulty of a reading text
is less a function of the language, and more a function of the conceptual difficulty
and the task(s) that students are expected to complete.
Simplifying a text by changing the language often removes natural redundancy
and makes the organization somewhat difficult for students to predict.
This actually makes a text more difficult to read than if the original were used.
Rather than simplifying a text by changing its language, make it more approachable by eliciting students' existing knowledge in pre-reading discussion, reviewing new vocabulary before reading, and asking students to perform tasks that are within their competence, such as skimming
to get the main idea or scanning for specific information, before they begin intensive reading.

2. The reading purpose must be authentic:
Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them.
"Because the teacher assigned it" is not an authentic reason for reading a text.
To identify relevant reading purposes, ask students how they plan to use the language
they are learning and what topics they are interested in reading and learning about.
Give them opportunities to choose their reading assignments, and encourage them to use
the library, the Internet, and foreign language newsstands and bookstores
to find other things they would like to read.

3. The reading approach must be authentic: Students should read the text in a way that
matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people normally read.
This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations where it would take place
outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure.
The majority of students' reading should be done silently.
Reading Aloud in the Classroom
Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends
the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking
and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Students whose language skills are limited
are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling:
simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually
and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it,
and it is boring for other students to listen to.
There are two ways to use reading aloud productively in the language classroom.
Read aloud to your students as they follow along silently.
You have the ability to use inflection and tone to help them hear what the text is saying.
Following along as you read will help students move from word-by-word reading
to reading in phrases and thought units, as they do in their first language.
Use the "read and look up" technique.
With this technique, a student reads a phrase or sentence silently as many times as necessary, then looks up (away from the text) and tells you what the phrase or sentence says.
This encourages students to read for ideas, rather than for word recognition.
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/goalsread.htm


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Saturday 30 May 2015

How to remember what you read

Now just what is this an imprint of?


Do you sometimes find as soon as you've finished reading an article you can't remember the details? 
Dr. Cynthia Green, author of Total Memory Workout has advice to help you remember what you read.


When Turbo Charged Reading long term memory 
starts to be built up in layers from first picking up the book.
Gosh, what she says appears to be such hard work to me.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”


Friday 29 May 2015

The College Of Not-Actually-Teaching

This reel is not serving its original purpose.

The College Of Not-Actually-Teaching

An article in the Independent yesterday reported that:
Mr Laws [the schools minister] said funding for a Royal College of Teaching
would be announced before the election, to put teaching on an equal footing with professions 
such as law and medicine. “This has the potential to finally give the teaching profession
the recognition, respect and high status it deserves,” he said.
It has always been a likely prospect that clueless, but publicity-hungry, politicians would be making announcements about this in the run up to the election, although there is some irony
that that plans to subsidise the education establishment were announced in an article
claiming that Michael Gove still had lots of influence over education policy.
I’ve argued repeatedly against the latest plans for a College of Teaching, largely on the basis that they are plans for a body that non-teachers can join which would, nevertheless, seek to speak
for or even regulate, the profession. The latest plans seem to have been built around the idea
that any group currently involved in CPD, including trade unions and at least one private company, should be involved in the initial structure, and that any recognition of current practising teachers should be put off for at least 4 years and only apply to some subsection of teachers
approved by those setting the organisation up.
There are several reasons such an organisation cannot be trusted to spend money intended
for the professional development of teachers.

1) The College of Teaching needs to be free to argue for, and organise, changes
in how professional development for teachers is provided even if that does not fit the agenda
of those already involved in the CPD industry. That cannot happen if the organisation
is full of appointees of current vested interests. The involvement of SSAT, a private company providing CPD, is particularly suspect. Imagine if a pharmaceutical company had set up
the Royal Society of Medicine. This is not an independent body.

2) The College of Teaching needs to be able to speak for those actually teaching in schools
and colleges. It is that lack of power and a voice from the frontline that has deprofessionalised us. If the membership is dominated by educationalists, consultants and non-teaching headteachers
it will do the exact opposite of what it is meant to do. It will reinforce our powerlessness.

3) The model of professional development being put forward is one that, I believe, many teachers will object to. It is currently being suggested that teachers be assessed and classified as associates, chartered members, or fellows. This is the old model, where teachers were considered experts depending on where their game playing had got them, i.e their position as managers, ASTs, or even as “outstanding/good/requires improvement/inadequate” teachers
based on their latest appraisal. This is not what teacher expertise looks like.
We should be recognised for our different types of expertise in different areas, not ranked.
The only teachers who would join an organisation dedicated to saying that one teacher
is a better teacher than another, are those who think they are better than their peers,
or who are chasing promotions or other opportunities to teach less.
It will have no appeal to those who actually just want to get better at teaching.
And this problem would have been utterly obvious if the movement to set up
a College Of Teaching had been teacher-led, not led by vested interests.
Of course, without public subsidy or a means to coerce teachers to join, this organisation
will get nowhere in its present form. But if politicians are looking for the appearance of supporting teachers without any of the substance, they are going to throw money at this.
So let’s be ready to say loudly and publicly that money paid to the proposed College Of Teaching is money spent undermining, not supporting, the teaching profession.
Let politicians know they will face difficult questions if they throw public money
at this proposed quango and then claim they are doing something for teachers.

 https://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/the-college-of-not-actually-teaching/


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Thursday 28 May 2015

Study Less Study Smart

Study and enjoy.




If you spend hours and hours of studying, without improving your grades, or information retention,
then learn how to study smart by Marty Lobdell. Lobdell taught Psychology at Pierce College in Washington State for 40 years. During Lobdell's career, he has taught tens of thousands of students and he wants students to succeed. After watching students cram for eight hours or more for a test
without any improvement, Lobdell has developed a studying technique that helps the brain retain
the information that you are studying in this video "Study Less, Study Smart"

How long can a typical college freshman read a book 
and effectively be learning what they are reading?
Most learning takes place in the first 25 minutes for reading and lectures.
Then take a 5 minute fun break and your efficiency rebounds to almost 100%.
After your last study period, give yourself a big treat.

Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading

Silverweed is tenaciously successful.

Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading

Instructors want to produce students who, even if they do not have complete control
of the grammar or an extensive lexicon, can fend for themselves in communication situations.
In the case of reading, this means producing students who can use reading strategies
to maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non-relevant information,
and tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension.

Focus: The Reading Process
To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of reading rather than on its product.
They develop students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies
by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language.
They allow students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies
by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn
(and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.
When working with reading tasks in class, they show students the strategies
that will work best for the reading purpose and the type of text.
They explain how and why students should use the strategies.
They have students practice reading strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of class
in their reading assignments. They encourage students to be conscious of
what they're doing while they complete reading assignments.
They encourage students to evaluate their comprehension and self-report their use of strategies. They build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class reading assignments,
and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.
They encourage the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies
by using the target language to convey instructions and course-related information
in written form: office hours, homework assignments, test content.
They do not assume that students will transfer strategy use from one task to another.
They explicitly mention how a particular strategy can be used in a different type of reading task
or with another skill.
By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement,
and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, instructors help their students develop
both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations
they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation
for communicative competence in the new language.

Integrating Reading Strategies
Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of
reading activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become
effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.
Before reading: Plan for the reading task
Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for
Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed
Determine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning)
or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases)
During and after reading: Monitor comprehension
Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses
Decide what is and is not important to understand
Reread to check comprehension
Ask for help
After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use
Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area
Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks
Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task
Modify strategies if necessary
Using Authentic Materials and Approaches
For students to develop communicative competence in reading, classroom
and homework reading activities must resemble (or be) real-life reading tasks
that involve meaningful communication. They must therefore be authentic in three ways.

1. The reading material must be authentic: It must be the kind of material that students
will need and want to be able to read when travelling, studying abroad,
or using the language in other contexts outside the classroom.
When selecting texts for student assignments, remember that the difficulty of a reading text
is less a function of the language, and more a function of the conceptual difficulty
and the task(s) that students are expected to complete.
Simplifying a text by changing the language often removes natural redundancy
and makes the organization somewhat difficult for students to predict.
This actually makes a text more difficult to read than if the original were used.
Rather than simplifying a text by changing its language, make it more approachable by eliciting students' existing knowledge in pre-reading discussion, reviewing new vocabulary before reading, and asking students to perform tasks that are within their competence, such as skimming
to get the main idea or scanning for specific information, before they begin intensive reading.

2. The reading purpose must be authentic:
Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them.
"Because the teacher assigned it" is not an authentic reason for reading a text.
To identify relevant reading purposes, ask students how they plan to use the language
they are learning and what topics they are interested in reading and learning about.
Give them opportunities to choose their reading assignments, and encourage them
to use the library, the Internet, and foreign language newsstands and bookstores
to find other things they would like to read.

3. The reading approach must be authentic: Students should read the text in a way
that matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people normally read.
This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations
where it would take place outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure.
The majority of students' reading should be done silently.

Reading Aloud in the Classroom
Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends
the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking
and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Students whose language skills are limited
are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling:
simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually
and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it,
and it is boring for other students to listen to.
There are two ways to use reading aloud productively in the language classroom.
Read aloud to your students as they follow along silently. You have the ability to use inflection and tone to help them hear what the text is saying.
Following along as you read will help students move from word-by-word reading
to reading in phrases and thought units, as they do in their first language.
Use the "read and look up" technique. With this technique, a student reads a phrase or sentence silently as many times as necessary, then looks up (away from the text)
and tells you what the phrase or sentence says.
This encourages students to read for ideas, rather than for word recognition.

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/goalsread.htm


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Tuesday 26 May 2015

The trauma of research

Worn out but still serving its purpose.

The trauma of research
Plasticdollheads 

I don’t blog about my research because sadly things have been taken from my blog
and used without permission or citation. This is gutting because I believe in open access
and sharing knowledge outside of the academy. However given the nature of my data,
and the fact it is for my P.hD, I will only be publishing officially.
But today has made me muse on research itself.

Research can be traumatic. It can reach inside of us and expose our own fears, insecurities, experiences and weaknesses. It can bruise and scratch and leak down to our deepest layers.
It can expose what we are frightened of, the real life monster under the bed,
and it can expose ourselves. We face an authentic self in the mirror when it stares back
following a particularly harrowing visit. The self in research is not narcissistic.
It is not a fad or a trendy pastime for the qualitative researcher. It is necessity.

We bleed in words. It is where we are most vulnerable. My participants write, and I write.
I have found a way of processing the prison fieldwork experience has been to write poetry
and prose myself. It’s a way of scraping everything out, of revealing vulnerability and anger
that is part of the human condition. The objective researcher is a myth.
Transparency and self-reflection are essential for credible research,
but often we don’t know ourselves until we take up pen and write.

I am still digesting my research experiences thus far. Each time I listen to my recordings
to transcribe, I re-live my emotions. I might re-inhabit trauma.
This is important to admit and account for. Research is messy and chaotic.
Too much criminology has pretended to be stony faced and clinical.
But why would we celebrate sanitized research? Why would we pretend that the researcher
and participant don’t leak out and affect the other?
Research can be euphoric, revitalising, inspiring, uncomfortable, upsetting, angry, disheartening, disappointing, traumatic. We need to talk more about emotion in research
and let researchers know what to expect. Fieldwork has been the best part of my Ph.D,
but it has affected me in profound and confusing ways.
 And that’s ok. I’m not separate from my research. I’m glad it has struck me the way it has.
It should do. The issues I’m researching should bruise us all.
One way of coping and staying healthy has been to enforce a strict work/life balance.
I love my research, but it is a job. I have a full life outside of it and this is important to me.
When our research matters it is very hard to switch off and walk away.
But self preservation is important. Our fragmented identities are important.
The shards of glass remain, but removing ourselves away from our research role
outside of working hours, helps to preserve us. We cannot be useful witnesses to these narratives
 if we are not strong and looking after ourselves.

Research takes it’s toll. It can be heavy, like a millstone round the neck as we wrestle the words,
the feelings, the sights, the sounds that make up a picture we cannot and mustn’t forget.
This doesn’t mean we are bad researchers, but rather we heard the stories.
We leak into our research as it leaks into us.
We need to open an accessible dialogue about trauma in research.

https://plasticdollheads.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/the-trauma-of-research/


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”



Monday 25 May 2015

10 Tips to Improve Your Reading Comprehension

Clitheroe castle,centuries to understand.


1. "Never read a book without a pen in your hand." ~ Benjamin Franklin –
That's great advice whether you write in your books or take notes in a notebook.
Personally, I write, scribble, highlight, argue and draw symbols in all my books.

2. Read a whole paragraph / section BEFORE you stop to highlight or take a note.
Don't stop right when you see something interesting; keep reading to get the "big picture"
or context of what stood out to you. Then "reread" when you make your notes.

3. Read important sections out loud. A person reads much slower when you read out loud
than when you read silently, but studies show that if you read out loud,
you tend to retain things better because you're engaging multiple senses (hearing and seeing).

4. Read silently with quick "check-marks." There are times when you should read silently
and simply use a pencil to "check" sections in the margins you want to go back and reread later. This will help you get through a book quicker without being distracted by stopping to highlight or write.

5. Explain what you read. When you finish a chapter / section of a book, take a break and "think" about what you've read and, in your mind, "explain it" to someone. See if you can structure your thoughts so as to be able to repeat back to someone what you've read. This is a great exercise.
I do this A LOT when I read - and actually "talk through it" out loud to myself walking
around my office or in the car.

6. Learn to "X-ray" a book by reviewing the Table of Contents and only reading the sections / chapters that will be benefit you. And don't feel like you have to read an entire book.

7. Pay attention to summary words - "therefore" or "as a result" or "in conclusion."
When you see a summary / conclusion word, make sure you understand the author's points
and argument that has led to his conclusion.

8. Circle / Underline key words in a sentence.

9. Mark words you don't know - and look them up! If you have a Kindle this is much easier.
Looking up words you don't know increases your understanding of the author's intent,
but it also increases your vocabulary!

10. You should read How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren.
This is a "must read" book! You can get a great price on it at Amazon or WTSBooks.com.


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Sunday 24 May 2015

How to prepare for an exam - Study tips

There is a saying; 'a new broom sweeps clean,' 
These flowers are called broom.



If you think the best way to study for an exam is to cram, think again. Here's the right way to do it, according to psychologist Dr. Cynthia Green, author of Total Memory Workout.


Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Friday 22 May 2015

Informational Text and Young Children

Pansies are large and violets are small.

Informational Text and Young Children
So the woman who runs my local children’s book store told me that more and more parents
of young children are asking for “non-fiction beginning readers”
because “that’s what Common Core wants.” Really? In kindergarten and first grade?
Aren’t beginning readers supposed to develop their decoding and word recognition
by reading simple stories (the ones populated by talking pigs). 

I’ve seen “easy” nonfiction books that are full of difficult multisyllable words and proper names.  
The publishers have made the books (supposedly) appropriate for beginning readers 
by reducing the number of words in the sentences (until the point they are almost incomprehensible), putting fewer words on a page and enlarging the font.  
The result is a dumbing-down of the content.

I agree that teachers should be reading more nonfiction to young children but is the interpretation that Common Core wants young readers to be reading more nonfiction on their own correct?

The short answer is that Common Core says nothing about kids’ personal choices
and how they spend their out-of-school time. The standards do set educational goals—that is,
they establish what it is that schools need to ensure students know and can do.
These standards require that kids have the skills to read informational text effectively
(which are somewhat different than the skills needed to read literary text).

I assume the anecdote reveals a parent who wants to help her child do well at school.
What a great parent. She might not understand, very clearly, what the standards require—
the standards also require that students learn how to read literature effectively, too—
but she recognizes that schools need help and isn’t going to leave her kid’s success to chance. 
Good for her.

I have no doubt that the practice will help. But, let’s remember there are more reasons for reading than just to do better in school. I’m pleased about this parent, but I might be even more excited
if she had said, “I want some non-fiction texts for my child because he’s interested in spiders.”

Your letter expresses concern that Common Core is transforming home reading practices.
There are other observers who fear that it is imposing reading experiences
that are not “developmentally appropriate” for young children
(your letter might have been prompted by that, too).

Those claims are Loony-tunes (with apologies to Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck).
It's great that the standards are encouraging young readers to take on informational texts.
Nell Duke reported that first graders had the opportunity to read such texts at school
only about 3.6 minutes per day (and she even included the bulletin boards)
—that’s less than 11 hours per year!

This gap is even more important given the large percentage of youngsters (Correls, 2011),
who are dying to read about snakes, horses, dinosaurs, rocket ships, skeletons, submarines, pirates, etc. (I get to see that these days with my grandkids and nephews,
and I used to see it with the first-graders that I taught in my own classrooms).

What you say about beginning level texts is often true, sad to say.
Too often the content is dumbed down… but that is no less true for stories.
Let’s be honest, beginning reading texts have rarely merited praise for their literary quality
(Dr. Seuss being one of the rare exceptions that proves the rule). The limits on children’s decoding skills definitely limits what can be put into the texts for young readers, but this is true for all texts, 
not just informational ones. Teachers rarely read non-fiction texts to kids,
and they rarely make such texts available to children to read on their own.

However, these practices seem to be changing. Even the National Association of Educators
of Young Children—a group focused heavily on the learning of preschool children (ages/grades
not covered by CCSS) are encouraging the promotion of informational text even with younger kids. 
http://www.naeyc.org/books/so_much_more_than_the_abcs/excerpt

Kids definitely can learn from talking pigs, but they can learn from pigs (and dinosaurs)
that don't talk. In fact, many of them prefer it that way.
Shanahan on Literacy http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/



 Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com         gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com               which takes advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”