Revisiting The Reading Zone

While reading The Reading Zone, so much of Atwell's ideas made perfect sense. One area that stumped me however, was her comments against some of the strategies and literacy practices including metacognitive strategies from educators and resources I had come to trust, such as Cris Tovani, The Mosaic of Thought, Kylene Beers, and Harvey Daniels (pp. 17). (Note: Atwell did not say anything against these educators' ideas or resources specifically, her comments just reminded me of concepts they had advocated that made sense to me.)

As I continued to read the book I tried to sift through different references to the subject to determine exactly where Atwell draws the line. When referencing lessons incorporated in her reading workshop she mentioned, "Each involves kids in a discussion of good books and good things that smart readers know" (42). I thought about how this idea matched up with why the other educators advocated strategies in order to help make a successful reading process more transparent for those who were not avid readers yet.

Later, she further clarified for me by stating, "[...] to make distinctions between study skills that do help readers gain concepts in science and history, and metacognitive strategies that may interrupt children's processing of stories and distract them from the pleasures of the reading zone" (51). In the margin I wrote about how I could relate to this. Right before I came to this section for the first time I had just read Becoming Naomi León and kept notes about different places where I could model comprehension strategies that I had. I thought that if I recorded them the first time reading through it would be more authentic. However, I was distracted from the process and sometimes wanted to just read the book.

Atwell then discussed how she integrated cognitive strategies into her classroom only to regret it. "The sticky notes intruded in the zone, disrupted the flow of a great story, ate up precious hours that could have been devoted to living inside another great story, wasted their time as readers" (54). Furthermore, she explained, "[...] directing story readers to activate comprehension strategies may hurt their comprehension" (56). Another comment against the strategies was, "The problem is that when we tell kids they have to seek connections as readers, we're teaching them to stop engaging in stories and start looking for distractions. And no one can be engaged and distracted at the same time" (59).

Later in the book Atwell makes a distinction between comprehension strategies in the reading workshop and in content areas such as science and social studies where she thinks teachers are responsible for making sure the content is accessible to their students, which may include teaching strategies (61).

Atwell gave me so much to consider, especially in reference to the many resources I had connected with that seemed to go against what she was saying. I ended up making a note to myself in the margin, "I appreciate this as I am developing my sense of quality reading instruction. A lot to ponder - can see her point." My struggle was I that while I got her perspective (it was easy to get why it is not ideal to bump students out of the zone), I could still get where the other resources were coming from and the validity behind them.

My Latest Conclusions
When skimming through this last time I decided that I still agree with the multitude of resources, even though they seemingly contradict each other. As much as possible I will stay out of my students' way this year to make sure that I am not unnecessarily bumping them out of the reading zone, especially when they are already established readers. However, with students that are not established readers I will gather as much data as possible to try to understand what their roadblocks are to becoming life-long readers and I will utilize a portion of the reading workshop to meet with small groups. Each time I will try to be very intentional and aware of the two sides of the debate to make sure that I am making the best decision for my students and the long-term effects my decisions will have on their reading. With avid readers I will still pull them into small group meetings (albeit less frequently) to include them in book clubs or to engage them in reading a book that challenges them but provide support to do so.

I have also found it helpful to have students complete general responses to reading after they complete assigned reading, rather than encouraging them to stop as they find examples. This way they think about what stuck with them. They have heard about the specific strategies, but I often allow a free response rather than stating they have to use a specific strategy. However, sometimes if I am working with a group of students or a student on an individual strategy that seems like it will help them have a breakthrough to be a more successful reader, I may prompt for a response directly linked to instruction.

I wonder what I will think on the topic when I revisit The Reading Zone again in the future, which I am sure to do.