I am by no means as knowledgeable as Lucy Caulkins, nor do I have published books that school districts across the country are buying to implement; however, there are some terms that I have picked up through the process of becoming a reading specialist.
I feel strongly about never telling a student something is too hard for them. I believe we should use terms that empower students. Please consider using the terms "new words" or "future book" (instead of "hard" as Caulkins refers to them) when talking to your students about reading. Read my reasoning and descriptions of these two terms below.
NEW WORDS - words aren't "hard, they're "new"
We as teachers are told to stay positive, so why would we be anything less than positive in our discussions with students about reading? Readers don't "come to a hard word". They come to a word that they have never seen or heard before. Its a new word to them. New words are words that, as readers, students may have never encountered before; therefore, they may have to work at sounding it out or understanding what the new word means. I don't teach my students strategies for "figuring out hard words so they can continue to follow the story". I teach strategies students can use to read and understand new words, so they can enjoy and comprehend a text.
FUTURE BOOKS - books aren't "hard", they're just not something we're ready for yet
There's no such thing as a "hard book". I feel its important that we never tell students a book is too hard for them to read. The book only seems hard because the student is not ready for it yet. I use 3 terms when referring to book levels:
I feel strongly about never telling a student something is too hard for them. I believe we should use terms that empower students. Please consider using the terms "new words" or "future book" (instead of "hard" as Caulkins refers to them) when talking to your students about reading. Read my reasoning and descriptions of these two terms below.
NEW WORDS - words aren't "hard, they're "new"
We as teachers are told to stay positive, so why would we be anything less than positive in our discussions with students about reading? Readers don't "come to a hard word". They come to a word that they have never seen or heard before. Its a new word to them. New words are words that, as readers, students may have never encountered before; therefore, they may have to work at sounding it out or understanding what the new word means. I don't teach my students strategies for "figuring out hard words so they can continue to follow the story". I teach strategies students can use to read and understand new words, so they can enjoy and comprehend a text.
FUTURE BOOKS - books aren't "hard", they're just not something we're ready for yet
There's no such thing as a "hard book". I feel its important that we never tell students a book is too hard for them to read. The book only seems hard because the student is not ready for it yet. I use 3 terms when referring to book levels:
- Vacation books: books that you can whip through and are for pure enjoyment - does not have any new words, or concepts for you to ponder or to challenge your thinking - something you would read for fun while on vacation
- Just Right books - might have some new words, concepts/topics, but you are able to work through them and still understand the text.
- future books - have many "new words" in them so the book fails the Five Finger Test - the topic/story line/concept is something about which you have very little prior knowledge - a book that would be better for you in a few months
