Smell of Old Lady Perfume

Book talk with Ruth, Macey and The Smell of Old Lady Perfume

Chapter 15 "When Kids Can't Read"

This chapter is the author writing a letter to a former student. In this chapter the author outlines that in every classroom across the world there will be students just like the one she had in her classroom.

In a classroom every teacher strives to achieve safety and a good learning environment. Every teacher should want to be the teacher that understands each specific student and each specific need that the student needs. Every teacher wants their students to succeed, by having a safe classroom and differentiated teaching methods this can be achieved.

Chapter 13 "When Kids Can't Read"

The author states in chapter 13 that there are various ways to get students involved in participation. There are various ways that teachers can help students feel confident in joining in with conversation about a text. It is helpful to work with students one on one and help them gain the knowledge and confidence they need. A teacher's job is to help provide scaffolding for the students to help build their success.

The author also points out that it would be helpful for teachers to remember the feeling of being in a class and not wanting to answer a question for fear of giving the wrong answer. The point of participation in class is not just giving the right answer but the point is for them to be involved. Give students options to participate besides old school answer and discuss in class. On page 264 the author gives 3 different ideas for participation besides in class discussion time. The classroom should also be a safe zone for all students, by ensuring students understand and feel safe in the classroom the participation and respect level will go up.

Chapter 12 "When Kids Can't Read"

The author gives a lot of great ideas on how to teach spelling along with reading. She also mentions that without knowledge of spelling it is difficult for students to read well. On page 246 the author states "you'll probably see that students who struggle with word recognition also struggle with spelling."

The best way for teachers to help students with spelling is to work with students to help them learn and use strategies. Every spelling rule doesn't have to be learned but sight words are especially helpful when dealing with reading. Reading and spelling go together and it is crucial for students to learn strategies that will help them with word recognition and spelling.

By: Ruth and Macey Minn and Jake's Almost Terrible Summer

Chapter 11 "When Kids Can't Read"

The author states on page 230 "If we don't use phonics and context together, we can make mistakes that keep us from understanding what we read." She also states on page 242 "But none of that will matter if we fail to give them plenty of opportunity to read at their instrucional and independent levels."

Many times it is easy to make lessons that have small bits and pieces of information but then never put all of that information together. Reading and spelling go hand in hand and should be something that is taught together. Phonics and context should also be taught together, because without both of these things together there is no reading, at least not reading well. When a stuggling reader has questions or problems on a particular part merely saying sound it out is not alwasy good enough strategy.The author outlines 10 suggestions to help struggling readers take control and gain confedence. If at least some of these things were taught in each lesson this could really help students understand what they are missing. These principals could help out teachers when "sound it out" is just not enough.

Chapter 10 "When Kids Can't Read"

In chapter 10 the author states "It's important to remember that students don't develop automaticity via decoding but rather through repeated exposure to a word they can decode." Automaticity is defined as the ability to do something without a lot of conscious thought about the task. In this chapter the author outlines some important strategies in aiding students in reading more fluently, but more importantly helping the students "spend their cognitive energy constructing meaning."

A few ideas the author outlines in this chapter to help students read more fluently is, to measure a students fluency. If we as teachers do not understand where a student is in their reading ability as far as fluency it is hard to understand why a student becomes easily upset when something takes them too long to read. One idea the author outlines to help students in their fluency is to have a word wall that is in the classroom that the students help construct. Another idea is for students to keep notecards with words they are having difficulty decoding in their texts. By instructing students to go over words again and again it will help students with their skills in word recognition and as an end result, fluency.

ALAN book chat

Upon first entering the site I was convinced that things would run smoothly and we would be able to talk to the author in an organized manner. Of course this would turn out not to be true, as things got hectic immediately. Dwight McPherson was wonderful to talk to, and even though things were indeed crazy and unorganized (despite our attempts and Professor Saldana's attempts as well) Mr. McPherson was very insightful. It was cool to get to sit and chat with an author and receive honest answers to questions we have all been pondering and talking about in class. This is something I would use in my classroom, after somehow constructing an easier way to get our questions in more organized. This could possibly be done by just using one computer in the classroom and instructing the students to ask questions one at a time. Despite the craziness of the questions asked, the author did a wonderful job of answering nearly all of them (although I am not sure how still) and it was an enjoyable experience overall.

Chapter 9"When Kids Can't Read"

The author outlines how important it is for students to understand vocaublary. In this chapter the author also states that many vocabulary units are filled with words that most students will never need in everyday life. It is important for teachers to pick words that students can use in their conversations as well as in their writting. The author also states that we cannot simply tell students to use context clues to find the meaning of a word but we must teach them how to use clues in the text.



Students need to learn vocabulary that can be used in everyday situations and not just vocabulary for a test. If uses the words just in conversation before introducing them in the lessons this allows time for the students to become familiar with the words before hand. It is also curcial that the teacher uses them in the classroom in normal situations after the lesson has been taught and before the test. There are many great strategies outlined in this chapter such as using a word hunt before a test. Using different strategies allows the students time to become familiar with the words before the test.

Chapter 8 "When Kids Can't Read"

The author states that there are many different strategies that we can teach students to use to comprehend and understand the meaning in text. One of these strategies is "Scales encourage students not only to think about but also to engage in discussions for what they've read"(143). Another strategy that the author outlines is called SWBS, or Somebody Wanted But So.



The SWBS is more engaging than to summarize the story, it gets students active and involved but at the same time essentially allows them to summarize what they have read. It also allows the students to make comments, voice concerns and interact with each other. These are both great ideas outlined by the author and could be very beneficial to all types of students in the classroom.

Chapter 7 "When Kids Can't Read"

The author states that for many students rereading is something that automatically do. These are the good independent readers, for the dependent readers this is not something they will do. The author states on page 113 "Rereading is probably the number one strategy independent readers use when something stumps them in a text. It's probably the last strategy dependent readers use."


As teachers we can help dependent readers begin to use this strategy as well. We cannot however, send them on their way to use this strategy without some instruction first. With proper guidance and instruction dependent readers can begin to see that this is a strategy that can work for them.