Chapter 2

This chapter is filled with so much information that I feel every Language Arts teacher should know. For example, Beers tells of how she expected perfect readers who were ready to dig deeply into the meaning of literature. The students she had were exactly the opposite and unfortunately this discouraged her greatly. Her greatest challenge that year, a young man by the name of George, proves to be her greatest example of what she believes students shouldn't do. However, in this chapter Beers explains that this is a wrong assumption because every child may act like George if/when given certain texts. Beers also explains that there are two types of readers in this chapter and explains how to deal with both types: dependent and independent readers. I found this part especially helpful. If a few of my teachers would have had this information, or had used it in their classrooms, I am sure I would have been a better independent reader sooner than my college career. Finally Beers makes a comment at the end of the chapter that I felt truly capture what it takes to be a teacher. She says, "Teaching reading to adolescents is both rewarding and frustrating; it's a science and an art. It's making mistakes and growing from them. It's the most important thing I do as a teacher" (Beers, When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do, 2003, p.22). Making mistakes is a part of everyone's growth and as teachers we should not expect perfect from ourselves or our students, especially through our first experiences. Instead we should strive for a better way to overcome the mistakes and create a better learning environment for our students. Mistakes are part of perfecting that environment.