First, additional observations about the reading interventions I tried:

Partner reading, while very successful in engaging students, went too far when some students cared more about who their partners were than the books that they were reading. Like all fads, when its popularity crested, its meaning faded. I have to retool it so that it's more selective and focused on individuals and their needs.

Alex and other students in class love sharing their "Do it Yourself" sections of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I think that's another reason why writing pairs so well about reading- students get to express their creativity about what they read and involve each other.

Deavion bought a second Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. When I asked him why he liked them so much, he said: "You can write in it." Sunshine and Kayla also now have their Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and Alex has a Dude Diary.


Guided reading observations with California group (Deavion, Donte, Jaymon, Kayla):
When we begin and I pass out Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, Deavion expresses disappointment. He thinks this level J book is too easy and asks why we always read baby books.

They start reading to themselves and I tap Deavion to read to me. Indeed, he has progressed as a reader. His fluency is much better. He reads in 3-4 word chunks. He still makes basic decoding errors: took --> told, frosty--> frost, cherries --> caramel. His comprehension and inferential thinking has really improved. When I asked him why the dog Zeke started being good, Deavion said: "The man told him he be a good dog he get a prize, so the man is persuading him so he is a good dog. The only reason he is a good dog is he knows he's going to get a treat.

When I asked Jaymon what the theme of the story was, he said: "Always be a good person." When I asked why, he said: "Because when Zeke wasn't being nice Mr. Potter said he'd give him a treat every time he be a dream dog."

When I asked them to tell me some of the questions that the story made them think of, they had trouble coming up with questions and instead tended to give me thoughts like:
Deavion: "Some dogs think like people because some people let themselves be bribed, so dogs are smart." Me: "How did you know the word 'bribed'?" Deavion: "My cousin tried to bribe me once. The Americans tried to bribe the Cherokee because they were going to protect the Cherokee but they didn't."
Jaymon: "I think Zeke was very smart because he understands what a deal was."
Deavion: "I think the dog is smarter than the man." Me: "Why?" Deavion: "The dog made him do the stuff he wanted to do."
As frustrating as it was that they didn't ask questions, the quality of Deavion's thoughts was awesome. The inferences he was making, about such a seemingly simple plot no less, was great.

Equally interesting was how Deavion reacted to Donte's questions (which were of similar depth to the ones noted in previous entries). Examples:
"I wonder why was dog sticking his tongue out at the elephant?"
"Why does Mrs. Teaberry like bandannas so much because... (points out all the pictures where she's wearing bandannas)?"
After that second question, Deavion seemed frustrated with Donte. He said: "Could you tell me more about that?" Donte showed him the pictures again. Deavion: "You're not supposed to pay attention to the pictures." Jaymon: "Sometimes the pictures give you context clues." Kayla: "I disagree with Deavion because sometimes the pictures help you out with the words." Jaymon gives an example where the pictures helped him decode the word "wrapping".
My interpretation of Deavion's response: that Deavion wanted Donte to push deeper than his usual somewhat superficial musings about characters and the realism of scenes as depicted in pictures. It's interesting that Deavion is developing this intellectual rigor in his intellectual life and identity.
My interpretation of Donte's penchant for pictures: he constructs knowledge heavily through what he sees. He can be very spacey in class, staring off in the distance a lot. He responds to visuals greatly, for example he bought several posters at the bookfair today. Also, this propensity for the visual explains his connection with graphic novels.