Customer Reviews

Reading Recovery: A Guidebook for Teachers in Training

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I bought this book to familiarize myself with the Reading Recovery program. It opened my eyes to several things I have been doing when helping my child read which actually hinder a child's ability to decode words by themselves. Too much focus on the mechanics of reading and the letters in a word can contribute to problems when the child moves beyond the most basic reading skills.

Marie's book offers many excellent suggestions for working with a child. Her suggestions help a child grow in their reading without getting in their way. The lists of activities and skills to be acquired are helpful. We have seen tremendous progress in our child's ability to read independently since implementing the reading recovery program.

I think every parent who has a child struggling with reading could learn something from this book. I also think it would make excellent reading for any educator interested in helping their students read better.

The work of Marie Clay, as described in this book, and then the implementation of the concepts and methodology with those young students who are confused and befuddled as they begin the literacy process, has changed the lives of many of today's students and their families. One only has to look into the eyes of a Reading Recovery student who is on her way to becoming an independent reader to understand the power behind the program. Wonders of wonders as a young child holds a book in her hands and confidently reads! All of education needs more researchers like Marie Clay who look at what children can do and then design programs to help those children become highly proficient readers and writers.

I also must compliment those educators, both internationally and nationally who have taken Marie Clay's work forward in the Reading Recovery Institutes around the world and then right into our classrooms.

If you have doubts about this program contact a school district near you where Reading Recovery has been implemented. Ask to speak to students, teachers and parents.

Bravo!

I spent 14 years in education. I witnessed whole language (a strange program which was terribly implemented). The current educational fad is pure phonics (yes, a fad). Research shows that 80% of children will learn to read in spite of the method they are taught. Reading Recovery was designed as a one-on-one program for the remaining 20%. Reading Recovery depends on very strict implementation and very strict adherence to the methods presented in this book. "Reader" from NY states this is "whole language by another name". Far from it. Reading Recovery uses many proven methodologies (some phonics included); but its main emphasis is on teaching students to derive meaning from text and to build a reading system that is "self-extending"--they learn to check for meaning, word structure, etc. My wife is a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader--I watch the growth of her students and see the amazement on their teachers' faces. The book alone is a fantastic resource; however, to be truly effective a teacher should receive Reading Recovery training. As I said earlier, effective implementation of the program depends on strict adherence to Reading Recovery methodologies. Proper teacher training is critical to the success of this program.

Any teacher of young children could benefit from the reading of this book. Every chapter focuses on different aspects of early reading and writing. Marie offers practical suggestions for teaching problem solving while reading(a must for at-risk readers!), teaching writing, vocabulary, and even phonemic awareness. I have been trained in Marie's strategies and find that the book is easier understood if you are studying it with the help of a teacher leader, but I used it before my training and found it very useful then also.

Anyone one who has any doubts about the effectiveness of this method need only look at its' birthplace, New Zealand, to see how truly effective it is. Reading Recovery is a god-send for those children who need another "shot" at beginning literacy skills.

I am a former Title I teacher and reading specialist. I am currently teaching third grade in an excellent school district. I am always reading the current literature and keeping up to date with data driven best practices. I purchased this book after the great reviews from others. Wow, am I disappointed in the content of this book. Granted, it was written in 1993 and is outdated. Thank goodness that those of us who graduated from school within the past 7-8 years are not using these methods that are so outdated. For all those parents looking for information on how to teach your child to read, this is not the book for you. My suggestion would be to focus on decoding and work attack skills. Please keep in the back of your mind that statistically speaking, approximately 10%-15% of children will struggle with reading. Some studies cite even a higher percentage.

A frightening look into the way children who can't teach themselves to read by being exposed to print, in the whole-language classroom, are remediated.With this method it is claimed you don't even have to know letters or their associated sounds to be able to read.Whole-Language was a horrible failure in California and its continuing implementation is likely to condem thousands of our children to marginal reading skills, if not total illiteracy.