Catching readers Ch.1-3

           In class we were given an article to read and were asked to take notes in the margins about what we were reading. I read the article the first time and had no idea what I was reading about and there was nothing written in my margins. I read it a second time and still had no idea what the article was about. I started glancing around the room to see if my classmates had written in the margins or had a confused look on their faces. Finally our professor told us to stop reading and discuss the article with the people sitting around us. Man, was I relieved when they told me they had no idea what the article said either. Turns out we were purposely given an article that was way over our heads. In that moment I found out what it meant to be a struggling reader.
           Struggling readers don't always have the same experience that I had. They are constantly comparing themselves with their classmates and wondering why they can't read at the same level. They don't always get the satisfaction that I did when I found out that no one else understood the article either. I loved this exercise because I got a chance to put myself into a struggling readers shoes and know exactly how they feel on a daily basis. I did an exercise similar to this in a math class that I took, we had to learn base 7 instead of base 10. We had to relearn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide all over again in a different way. I think exercises like this are very important for teachers because we have been doing this tasks for year, they have become simple to us. We don't think twice about adding simple digits together or having to read a paragraph in our favorite book. Since these tasks are so simple to us sometimes we think they are simple for everyone and that is most definitely not the case.
          I really enjoyed reading about Vygotskiah's Zone of Proximal Development because I think it's a wonderful theory. I agree with him when he says students learn best when they are in their ZPD. Giving students assignments that are too easy for them aren't beneficial and neither are assignments that are way too challenging. Providing students with something in between is a great way for them to learn without being discouraged.