Making Decisions for Individual Learners

        This webcast was really interesting and helpful because it brought up a lot of great points that all teacher should look into. The three that stood out to me the most were; teach the readers not the book, encourage the students to use a balance of strategies, and to understand that the focus isn't always about accuracy, but implementing the strategies.
        Teaching the readers, not just the book is important especially in elementary classes. Teaching the readers allows the teacher to focus on the students' needs. By teaching the readers and not just the book the students will benefit the students far more than just the content from the book. If you teach the students as readers and not just the book they can take what they learn from one specific activity and apply it to other future activities. By adding it to their reading process system it will expand their knowledge and lead them to be better readers.
       Encouraging the students to use a balance of strategies that they learn and not just focusing on one will allow them to be better readers. It will let them use the different strategies that they need at different times. If the student only knows how to use one strategy and it doesnt help in a certain situation they will be stuck. That is why it is important for teachers to teach the students a variety of reading strategies and how to apply them to different activities.
         When teaching reading strategies it is important to understand that the focus doesn't always have to be on accuracy. It should be mainly focused on implementing the strategy and teaching the students how to use it. the students should feel comfortable using the strategy so the focus shouldn't be on their accuracy of the reading but how well they are using that strategy.