Section 12 Chapter 26

I will be blogging about this specific chapter because I think it was the most interesting to me.  I guess I have never really paid much attention to any of the dilemmas that were listed, or even considered them.  So this chapter really opened my eyes and got me thinking.
The first dilemma is how can reading instruction match with all the different proficiency levels from our students?  This got me wondering and trying to think of ways that my reading instruction methods could reach out to every student, no matter what their level is.  In an ideal world, we would have enough time, resources, and energy to be able to work one on one with every single student to help them reach their full potential.  Unfortunately, this is not possible in L1 instruction, especially in L2.  There is so much more to teach in an L2 classroom, as Dilemma 4 points out.  I never even thought that vocabulary would be such an issue.But the more that I reflected on it, our students are expected to learn just as much as the L1 students, only in a smaller amount of time and they have to learn more information.  Students nowadays are competitive enough as it is, and this just adds more competition to the school environmnent.
In Dilemma 6, this was the most meaningful dilemma to me personally.  It is my personal view that children won't learn, or want to learn, if they are not motivated and don't have some say to an extent on what they are doing in the classroom.  I am teaching reading right now to a first grader, and after every session, I ask her what kind of book she would like to read for next time.  This way, I can find a book that not only matches the goals that I have for her, but it is something that she WANTS to read, so she is excited about it.  I agree with what the text says, in the thought that reading for pleasure is not given priority.  I feel that this is a big issue, but that individual teachers have the power to change it in their own teaching methods.  This can be something as simple as allowing the students to have 15 minutes of free reading a day, where they can choose their own materials to read.  I feel that this could lead into helping with Dilemma 7.
If the students are excited about what they are reading and developing deeper thought processes, then maybe naturally they will turn into more strategic readers.
Obviously, I don't have all the answers to these issues. But I can use them to help influence my teachings and enviornment so that I can provide the best teachings possible for my future students.