Micheala Jeter’s October Blog Post #3: Routman Ch. 4 Teach with a Sense of Urgency

 Routman begins the chapter by stating that “When [he] suggests that we need to ‘teach with a sense of urgency’ [he’s] not talking about teaching prompted by anxiety but rather about making every moment in the classroom count, about ensuring that our instruction engages students and moves them ahead, about using daily evaluation and reflection to make wise teaching decisions” (Routman, 41). I like that. Routman makes points that we as teachers need to ensure that we are making each day.

Routman goes on to talk about how to make students excellent readers. He goes through some lists that other people have mentioned. But then he gives his top five things for ensuring that students become excellent readers. Those five things include “demonstrating that [he] is a reader, providing an excellent classroom library, letting students choose books they want to read and giving them time to read them, teaching strategies that students need to know to process and understand text and also evaluating students regularly, giving them feedback and helping them set goals” (Routman, 43). Routman’s top five would surely promote progression towards becoming an excellent reader. These are the types of things that students need to progress from a beginning reader to an excellent reader. These top five things, also, fit into the optimal learning model that Routman suggests. The model includes ‘Demonstration’ (teacher modeling being a reader), ‘Shared Demonstration’ (teaching strategies about processing and understanding), ‘Guided Practice’ (allowing students to choose what they want to read and giving them time to read it) and finally, ‘Independent Practice’ (students have the tools to read independently and are able to set their own reading goals). This learning model is seamlessly integrated and works well when presented to students properly.

I really enjoyed reading this chapter. The title, Teach with a Sense of Urgency, comes together, in a sense, as Routman puts all of the pieces together about how teachers should be working to help their students become better readers; excellent readers.