Christopher P.

Caada
Dr. Ruth Ann Robbins
Reading 3013.01
8 September 2014
Reading Response 2
The second chapter of Fostering Comprehension in English Classes by Raymond
Philippot and Michael F. Graves is about developing and understanding a scaffolding reading
experience. The two main ideas behind a SRE are the zone of proximal development and
scaffolding.
The zone of proximal development was something I found very interesting. At some
point during my reading, the book suggested that if I fail to ensure my students are being
individual adapted to, one student may find themselves making no progress because they are too
far behind, and another student too may be halting progression but because they have little
chance to be challenged. When presented with the realization that multiple students have
different ranges of ability, I know I must be vigilant ensuring that each student is challenged, and
given chances to excel. In respect to scaffolding, the book suggested that it would help with more
developed readers, giving them a chance to be challenged.
The book goes on to discuss an SRE framework. Essentially, an SRE has two parts, the
planning and the implementation phases. By understand my students, what they are reading, and
why they are reading it, I can better prepare pre-, post-, and during-reading activities that provide
my students with their best opportunities to succeed.
Pre-reading activities are used to get students prepared for what they are about to read.
The book suggests that these techniques can get students to set expectations and get them excited

for what they are about to read. I am excited to get hands on experience trying some of the
techniques the book provides because this phase is a great chance to get students excited about
reading and makes them more engaged in the text.
During-reading activities are just as they sound, techniques used while reading. For the
most part, silent reading is the most prevalent of these limited activities. The fact is, beyond
elementary school, a majority of academic reading is done silently. I must agree with this
sentiment. Crazy as it may seem, if you only possess the ability to comprehend what you read
aloud, reading comprehension could prove to be a challenge in a secondary or college
environment. The book also talks about reading to students. Honestly, I cannot wait to motivate
students to read by modeling to them, as the book suggests. The book said that if you read the
beginning of a chapter to a student, they are more likely to become intrigued and read on by
themselves. I think that is a really good idea and cant wait to implement it into my classroom.
The primary idea behind post-reading activities is to help students achieve a higher level
of comprehension. This is where I will have an opportunity to provide my students with an
opportunity to create unique ideas from what they have read and an opportunity to synthesize the
text. These may be the most important activities for students to do for success in reading.
Without truly comprehending what they read, students really arent learning from what they
read.
This chapter was full of excellent information. A majority of my education is in English,,
but it is very rare we talk about how we read what we read. Although I have taken plenty of
classes that reading is essential, this is some of the best material I have read for ideas concerning
reading comprehension. After reading this chapter I am better equipped to read and provide my
students with the best activities for reading comprehension.