Content area
Full Text
Dorothy Watson, Guest Editor and author of this month's Talking About Books column, challenges the concept of decodable texts with a review of contemporary children's books that support readers predictable features. The following people have contributed to this column: Ann Alof; Carol Gilles, Jenine Loesing, Cheryl Schofield, Beverly Vick, Virginia Walker, and their students, Patricial Jenkins, Sheryl McGruder, and Peter Hasselriis provided insigns, references and encouragement.
In September, Alvin was asked to choose a book to read from a pile of five books. He flipped through them, stopping along the way to look at the engaging illustrations that were in three of the books. Alvin made two piles and then surprisingly said, pointing to the stories with illustrations, "These look great but, pointing to the other pile, I can say some of the words in these. I guess I'd better do these." I was dismayed to find that he had rejected three beautifully written and illustrated books to settle on two that resembled controlled-vocabulary basals. Alvin sounded out some of the words of his first selection. He also yawned, rubbed his eyes, and jabbed at the print with his finger. Wanting to take us both out of our torment, I asked, "Is this as boring for you as it is for me?" Alvin replied, "I don't know what it's about." The truth: The "book" wasn't about anything, but it was, in part, "decodable" text.
Throughout the year Alvin and I began each session with the same selection procedure. Mid-year, after many experiences in his classroom with a teacher who was knowledgeable about literature and the reading process, and after experiences in our sessions with a variety of texts that could never be described as "sequentially ordered," "controlled vocabulary," "leveled," or "decodable," Alvin began to make quick work of the selection procedure. The decodable texts were discarded with " boring," "too easy," "naw," and the all time put-down, "yuckola." Alvin made it clear why he rejected books, but I wanted him to think through and articulate why he chose certain books. When I asked him to help me understand his selection process, I fully expected him to talk about the beauty of the pictures and about stories that interested him. His explanation came thoughtfully, "I...