Book Review for When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do

While many beginning teachers may think about writing letters to their first class of students apologizing for everything that they did not know or do, Kylene Beers has taken this compulsion one step further and has written a book.  Beers crafts When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do as an extended apology to George, a former student of hers, who struggled with reading at the junior high level. Unfortunately for George, he landed in Beers' classroom at a time when she did not know how best to teach him. Beers' book is goes beyond confessional text, however. In it, she reflects on the inadequate approaches of her early teaching experiences, returns to analyze George's confusions, and shares with readers what she has since learned.  

Beers operates from the premise that, like her early experiences, there are probably middle school teachers working today who have not been properly prepared to teach young adolescents how to read, which is markedly different than straight up teaching literature. Guiding middle and secondary teachers towards better reading instruction, Beers provides a gentle mix of grounded literacy theory and relevant practices for use in the classroom. Beginning with the well-established idea that reading is a meaning based actvitiy, Beers draws from a balanced approach to literacy instruction in which the end goal is to allow students to become independent readers. These are students who know how to read, choose to read, and read with purpose while using many in-the-head strategies as they move through a text.

The book has a straightforward structure with the 15 chapters loosley organized into three overarching themes: comprehension-level issues, word-level issues, and response-level issues. Following the chapters are 14 appendices that provide supplemental information and examples of Beers’ points. One especially helpful feature is Beers’ If-Then chart that teachers can use to pinpoint a child’s confusions. Located on page 28 and on the back, inside, cover page, teachers read and select the statements from the chart that best describe a student's learning needs,  For example, a teacher might recognize a student when reading, “If a student can call all the words, but consistently has difficulty answering questions." Knowing this, teachers can read down the chart to discover, "then…See Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,” the chapters on comprehension (p. 28). Turning to these chapters, teachers would search for appropriate instructional techniques and ideas that specifically support individual, group, or whole-class reading issues.