Lehua's Chapter 8 Reflection

The first thing that I thought about guided reading in Taberski's chapter 8, is "How do you gather a group of 3-6 children at the same reading level where the book that is being read together is one that the children can almost, but not quite, read on their own?" I understand why this is important but it seems to me that it is quite a difficult task - that is - if you can get a group of children on the exact same reading level and comprehension for pictures, words, etc. (Not to be pessimistic at all)

The more I see how Taberski makes sure that her students are continuously reading and that she is constantly taking notes and helping each student individually, it is hard for me to grasp the big picture. As a teacher candidate - not quite a teacher yet, I am feeling the overwhelmming sensation about trying to "cram" all of the subjects into a daily or weekly routine. It seems so hard for me to see how someone can spend so much time on one subject - such as reading - when there's so many more subjects to "hit."

I understand that I shouldn't be thinking about it as "hitting" the subjects because, according to Neil - "Don't think of which benchmark you have to hit and then make the lesson, make the lesson and THEN see which one it hits." AND, I understand that reading and writing is so universal and something that will always be used throughout their lives. As you can see, seeing the examples of the running records and the guided reading planning sheets that Taberski shows is can be overwhelming. I am still learning a lot...obviously.