Sei's Chapter 10 Reflection
Teaching Reading Strategies One-on-One
Chapter 10 Reflection
In this chapter, Taberski guides her readers on teaching reading strategies to students one-on-one. She states the importance of individual time; the “rules of thumb for optimum one-on-one instruction”; and what to teach and why.
I agree with the common belief that the more one-on-one time that students have with their teacher, the more they’ll learn to the best of their potential. I think that students learn better in a smaller classroom in which they are enabled to get more individual attention. Taberski believes that individual time is crucial because “individualized instruction is invaluable when learning a new skill” and I agree. When learning a new skill, like reading, students “need the ‘expert’ to watch what [they’re] doing, and then show [them] a better way.”
When I read the part that Taberski wrote that often, children don’t quite understand that “what they read should make sense, sound right, and match the letters”, I thought of a reading session I had with my Kindergarteners at Mililani Waena. I’ve noticed that a lot of the time, the students look at the pictures of their books and will substitute words that they don’t know for words that are being portrayed by the picture even though the letters don’t match. For example, one student came across a sentence that read “Pat is napping” and the picture on that page showed a dog that was napping. This student went about reading this sentence as “Pat is sleeping” and when I asked her to read it again, she again said “Pat is sleeping.” I then pointed to the word “napping” and asked her if the letters matched “sleeping”. She then sounded the word out and learned that it didn’t say “sleeping”. Another example is when a student kept on reading the “bug” as “bee” because the picture showed a girl dressed up as a bee. These are instances in which I’ve found the “you said _____. Does that match the letters?” technique very helpful.
What I found interesting under the section of the “rules of thumb for optimum one-on-one instruction” is the part when Taberski says it’s essential to give children honest feedback. This is to say that there’s no sugar-coating and no beating-around-the bush. You just say it like it is and if you’ve created a learning environment in which that is appropriate and embraced, the child will be able to accept the constructive criticism and as a result, it will be helpful to the child’s learning process. Although Taberski’s logic makes perfectly good sense, I’ve personally found it hard to be frank with children. I guess I just feel like I’m going to make them cry or feel like failures. I know that I’d have to say it in a way that’s not totally criticizing, yet still honest. I guess this is just something that’ll come with time and will only work if I’ve set up an emotionally safe learning environment with a mutual understanding between my students and myself. I found it motivating and touching when I read that Taberski does it because “if [she] can’t show them directly what they need to do better, as well as what they already do well, who can?” and “it’s because [she] want[s] them to succeed that she tell[s] them what [she] see[s].”
Chapter 10 Reflection
In this chapter, Taberski guides her readers on teaching reading strategies to students one-on-one. She states the importance of individual time; the “rules of thumb for optimum one-on-one instruction”; and what to teach and why.
I agree with the common belief that the more one-on-one time that students have with their teacher, the more they’ll learn to the best of their potential. I think that students learn better in a smaller classroom in which they are enabled to get more individual attention. Taberski believes that individual time is crucial because “individualized instruction is invaluable when learning a new skill” and I agree. When learning a new skill, like reading, students “need the ‘expert’ to watch what [they’re] doing, and then show [them] a better way.”
When I read the part that Taberski wrote that often, children don’t quite understand that “what they read should make sense, sound right, and match the letters”, I thought of a reading session I had with my Kindergarteners at Mililani Waena. I’ve noticed that a lot of the time, the students look at the pictures of their books and will substitute words that they don’t know for words that are being portrayed by the picture even though the letters don’t match. For example, one student came across a sentence that read “Pat is napping” and the picture on that page showed a dog that was napping. This student went about reading this sentence as “Pat is sleeping” and when I asked her to read it again, she again said “Pat is sleeping.” I then pointed to the word “napping” and asked her if the letters matched “sleeping”. She then sounded the word out and learned that it didn’t say “sleeping”. Another example is when a student kept on reading the “bug” as “bee” because the picture showed a girl dressed up as a bee. These are instances in which I’ve found the “you said _____. Does that match the letters?” technique very helpful.
What I found interesting under the section of the “rules of thumb for optimum one-on-one instruction” is the part when Taberski says it’s essential to give children honest feedback. This is to say that there’s no sugar-coating and no beating-around-the bush. You just say it like it is and if you’ve created a learning environment in which that is appropriate and embraced, the child will be able to accept the constructive criticism and as a result, it will be helpful to the child’s learning process. Although Taberski’s logic makes perfectly good sense, I’ve personally found it hard to be frank with children. I guess I just feel like I’m going to make them cry or feel like failures. I know that I’d have to say it in a way that’s not totally criticizing, yet still honest. I guess this is just something that’ll come with time and will only work if I’ve set up an emotionally safe learning environment with a mutual understanding between my students and myself. I found it motivating and touching when I read that Taberski does it because “if [she] can’t show them directly what they need to do better, as well as what they already do well, who can?” and “it’s because [she] want[s] them to succeed that she tell[s] them what [she] see[s].”
posted by Sei | 5:38 PM
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