Dear elsparto — thank you so much for your comments and response to this post. Your comment raises some really important questions for teachers. I wonder, for instance, to what extent the “rushing to level Z” is a response to the discourse of levelling in the first place? Would children rush to level Z if there were no levels for them to “conquer” or “achieve”? I don’t know the answer…but I think your points about the complexities of reading, and encouraging children to engage deeply with texts that they want to read is where our focus ought to be. My daughter is now in grade 3. She continues to talk about the colour of her ‘dot’ and the color of dot that other kids in the class are able to read. I’m less concerned about my daughter coming to define herself as a “blue dot reader” now because she seems to have actually internalized her mother’s insistence on a broader definition of herself as a reader. And yet, I do worry about the kids who, as she notes, “are still orange dot readers…” and do not receive– whether at home or at school — support that would enable them to build broader definitions of themselves as readers. I agree that finding books that children can read, and that enable them to feel confident and accomplished, is absolutely critical. I guess my only hope is that children grow up in classrooms that honour what they DO know and frame reading development as a continuum of growth through which everyone moves as their own pace.

Stephanie,
Thanks so much for your comment.
Your observation about your son’s “reading levels” is so consistent with what research shows about all readers — we can read much more sophisticated texts when we’re (a) interested in the material and (b) already know a lot about the content. I’d guess that your son is really excited about animal books — which is probably also connected to a high level of knowledge. Plus, he may have come to understand the structures of non-fiction texts — which also helps readers to understand them. So, as you’ve observed, it’s most likely that Level J readers can read at many different levels, depending on interest and

For us, the key at home was to emphasize that the idea of “level” is sort of a made up idea — and that all readers, moms and dads included, read at many different levels based on many different factors. We talked about what good readers do — that they explore the images and try to understand the story using those images, they make guesses about what will happen based on what they have understood so far, but also based on their understanding of story/informational text structures and the conventions of the genre, they ask questions as they read to make sure they have understood what they read. We also emphasized that reading fast does not necessarily mean reading well. If readers understand what they’re reading, they should vary their pacing accordingly.

Here in Michigan, the summer reading season is now upon us 🙂 My daughter has just finished the second grade and she is reading much more confidently — but she hasn’t yet made the leap to reading short chapter books independently at home. We’ll be looking for texts of any type — informational, narrative, graphic etc. — that she’s excited to read. Because, just as you’ve observed, excitement really is the key to persistence when the text is a little bit challenging 🙂