6.8 basal reading series
One way to organize a reading curriculum is to use a basal reading series. These series often include many leveled materials as well a variety of activities for teachers to implement daily. Using a basal reading series can help guide instruction and give consistency to a school if all teachers are using it in the same way. These series are often set up to include a lot spiraling of skills. A skill will be introduced and then revisited in later lessons. Drawbacks of using a basal are high cost, lack of student interest because premade materials often don’t match student personalities, and it makes it difficult for teachers to plan instruction based on student needs. Some schools may choose to use a basal reading series as the reading curriculum, while others may just use portions of it in their reading curriculum.
The first artifact I included has two responses I wrote for discussion board. My school currently uses a basal reading series and has for several years. These responses were written when fellow students were inquiring about basal series and wondering if they had changed much from past years. My responses are based on my own experiences using a basal reading series. The second artifact is a link to the Treasures Reading Series brochure by McMillan/McGraw-Hill. The brochure shows some of the products commonly used with this series and gives claims of teaching the love of reading and keeping students engaged. I find it hard to agree with these claims based on my experiences using this series and I have to wonder what that claim was based on. While this approach does have it’s downfalls, there are some useful things that can come from this series. Skills are taught explicitly, and when given the freedom to make changes as needed, portions of this could be used effectively in the classroom.
One way to organize a reading curriculum is to use a basal reading series. These series often include many leveled materials as well a variety of activities for teachers to implement daily. Using a basal reading series can help guide instruction and give consistency to a school if all teachers are using it in the same way. These series are often set up to include a lot spiraling of skills. A skill will be introduced and then revisited in later lessons. Drawbacks of using a basal are high cost, lack of student interest because premade materials often don’t match student personalities, and it makes it difficult for teachers to plan instruction based on student needs. Some schools may choose to use a basal reading series as the reading curriculum, while others may just use portions of it in their reading curriculum.
The first artifact I included has two responses I wrote for discussion board. My school currently uses a basal reading series and has for several years. These responses were written when fellow students were inquiring about basal series and wondering if they had changed much from past years. My responses are based on my own experiences using a basal reading series. The second artifact is a link to the Treasures Reading Series brochure by McMillan/McGraw-Hill. The brochure shows some of the products commonly used with this series and gives claims of teaching the love of reading and keeping students engaged. I find it hard to agree with these claims based on my experiences using this series and I have to wonder what that claim was based on. While this approach does have it’s downfalls, there are some useful things that can come from this series. Skills are taught explicitly, and when given the freedom to make changes as needed, portions of this could be used effectively in the classroom.