Kia's entire group of reflections!!!

Megan, I'm right there with you!!!! :)

Ch. 1 -
There are so many little pieces that go together to help a child understand and get meaning out of what they are reading. I definitely agree with this new approach to reading. Sure, the traditional was teaches children how to read, but it DOES miss the meaning. I can’t wait to get my own room and class, so I can concentrate on helping my students become lifelong lovers of reading.
I also like the way the student is given the freedom to take ownership. It steers the student into self-directed learning.

Ch. 2 -
I was taken away by how many strategies there were for figuring out words and understanding text. It’s amazing how many simple things we take for granted. We do all of these strategies without even realizing it. It reminds me of when Greg had the class write “step-by-step” instructions on how to do a simple task. Something simple can contain so many steps that they are sometimes overlooked. This is one book that I will keep for reference. I have a feeling I will be using it a lot.
I also liked seeing the examples of running records. It was nice to see the difference in reading levels through the running records. I needed the visual to make the connection. It made me think of my own kids. Now I am trying to find out what kind of readers they are as well.

Ch 3. -
When I first started reading the chapter, it was talking about the classroom setup. I like that the teacher has the book bins scattered around the room. It is as if they are part of the room and not necessarily a reading center. I think this makes reading seem more like part of life, because it is all around; however, I feel uneasy about the lack of furniture in the room. I need the desks and chairs for the students as well as myself. I feel they get a sense of ownership in the room when they have to take care of their own personal space. The way the teacher set up the room in the book left no personal space.
I loved the way she sat up the reading folders. I don’t think I could ever buy them myself, but the way she made the contents seemed very organized. I wonder if there is a way to do this so that the students can take it home and share it with their family, because the way she does it seems as though the parents do not get to see the work their children are doing. I want the parents to always know where their child is in my class.

Ch 4. -
I loved this chapter, because I agree with Sharon. The most beneficial time with a student is when you get one-on-one time. You begin to build a repor with the student, and in turn they begin to open up to you. It is then that you truely find how to reach that child as an individual. It also shows the child they are important to you, allowing him/her to feel more confident in themselves. I think this is a wonderful way to teach Literature, but what happens when we are stuck in a structured laid-out program, such as the schools we work in? I think it is still possible to use the conferences, but we will have to make time for more genre than the textbooks share. Also, I wonder what happens if we do work at a place like this, where we can use reading/writing workshops ---- and we have a substitute? How do we leave lesson plans for this kind of teaching style?

Ch. 5 -
I absolutely love running records, simply because they give me a track record. I see my mentor keeping track of her readers, but she does not keep written records. I don’t know how she does it. Without written records, I would forget between conferences. They also become you evidence if a parent wants to see how their child is coming along in their reading. This also becomes a more “in depth” way of analyzing a child’s reading development and strategies. I liked seeing the other symbols that are used in running records. I know a few times when I was doing my running records, I would get stuck myself, because I did not know what code to use. Seeing all the codes helped me to make sense of my running records. This is a good way to support the students, make them feel good for their accomplishments, and make it all fit together so that each child has their own complete puzzle (with all the pieces of a good reader).

Ch. 6 -
I was curious to see what a good retelling sounded like. I was one who always thought I had to remember every detail. It wasn’t until I read this chapter that I realized I used to be a unconfident reader. The chapter said that a confident reader starts off a retelling with the main idea, then the child adds details. This was great to know, because now I think I can help my own children even better. I didn’t realize that retellings also need to be recorded. I thought they were just another check on the running record. I’m not sure how I will incorporate this part into my class, yet, but I will think of something. I believe that the recording of a child’s reading development is a combo package of running records, retellings, and reading discussions. I will find a way to use all three of them in my classroom.

Ch. 7 -
When you are doing a read aloud or a shared reading with the whole class, it is different than when you do them with small groups. I did one with the whole class, and as Greg was sharing in class, I tried a comprehension test to see how many students understood what they were reading. The only reason I chose to do my assessment this way is because I was limited to this one particular book, Can I Keep Him?. It was not a very exciting book, and to be honest, I think it was below their reading level. This made me think the students would do a good job on this assessment. For the most part, they did, but it was boring. I think it was boring for me as well as for them. I know I will never do this kind of lesson again, unless it is required. Reading to the entire class was interesting. To my surprise, when I stopped reading and asked them to read to themselves for the remainder of the book, they stopped me, not just one student, but at least a quarter of the class. They asked me to keep reading aloud. They liked the way I made the story sound. This made me feel like I did do right by getting them engaged. I think my lesson would have gone better if I had them do either story mapping or character mapping. I could have even had them compare their own experiences. I did let the ones who finished early draw a picture of something they would like to find and keep. This is what did bring a little life to the lesson; I saw the change in their interest so much that I gave them all time to draw. In the end, the lesson was not as bad as it could have been, but it definitely could have been better. I will try the new activities I learned about in this chapter next time. We live and learn.

Ch. 8 -
Seeing how the teacher made the groups was the most important part of this chapter. We are always reading about putting kids into groups, but it was nice to see how to actually do it. I will carry this with me to my future classroom. As with all guided readings, the most important thing teachers need to know in order to help the students is their books. We need to have knowledge of a lot of books in a variety of genres. I don’t think any one teacher can know every book, because there are so many books published each year. we would have no time to teach if we kept up with every one of them; therefore it is good to have a group of peers you can share with, such as our cohort. I think having a knowledge of the book I did with my students, Can I Keep Him?, prior to accepting it as my book of choice, would have ended differently. I would have asked for either another book or tried to bring in my own. Also, I like how the chapter let’s us know that mistakes are okay, in fact, they are normal, so long as we learn from them!

Ch. 9 -
This chapter seems to be more for the lower elementary. I have not experienced needing to do this kind of work with my third grade class. They really are good readers. Even their comprehension is good, too. I agree that if I was teaching in the lower el, I would use the whole to part phonics, because they need to first have a love for reading. Once the desire is there, they will want to read on their own. We just need to do as the chapter says, and steer them into working independently, do what we can at the time, and don’t panic. I love the word wall. It is something for them to look at everyday that will also remind them of their accomplishments as a team.

Ch. 10 -
One-on-one time is the most important, because if the child is trying to mask their problems, it will only create bigger problems down the road. One-on-one time I think also makes the child feel important. ‘Here, the teacher wants to see me!’ I always believe in honesty. When a child is not doing well, you don’t want to tell them they are. That is like a mentor telling you that you are all target in the first semester. We know we are not, and we are being robbed of fixing our faults. I would want to know where I need improvement. We owe it to the students so they can grow educationally. There are so many things to look at in the cueing system, but they will help you, the teacher, and the student. I like that meeting with the children also let’s us know what we need to do differently. It’s definitely a more personal based style of teaching than what I grew up with. I wonder how it would have been different for me if I had been taught this way…

Ch. 11 -
In this chapter, I see that we have to be careful in choosing a book that is just right for each individual student. If we choose a book that is too hard, we can turn them off from reading. If we choose a book that is too easy, we may stump their growth. It is a hard task, it seems. We will have to have a lot of books. I know it says we should start off slow, but I feel like I need to have a ready-to-access library from day one. I guess I am going to have to learn to pace myself and be smart about the books I choose.

Ch. 12 -
I believe in independent reading the way she is saying it should be done; however, when I see independent reading in the schools around us, it looks more like busy work time. Is this what it will look like to someone who does not understand? I think if they student are going to have independent reading time, it needs to be monitored as much as the other reading times, shared reading, guided reading, and read alouds. How can we know if the child is even reading when it is silent? I know me, I would probably just pick picture books so I could look at pictures rather than read.

Ch. 13 -
Responses have been an eye-opener for me this semester. After a boring lesson (I taught), and a little help from Greg, I learned that the best way to assess a child’s comprehension, is to have them write a retelling. They can also do this orally, if you have the time to go to each child individually. The next assessment I give on reading comprehension will be a written retelling. I will try it with my new class next semester. It will work for all the grades that can read and write. For the lower elementary, you would have to do an oral retelling, but they will be able to give them.

Don't worry Megan...you're not the only one who slacked this semester. I don't know what it was, I just felt so overwhelmed. Sorry this is so late, and still not complete.

Chapter 3 – Taberski

I love the idea of having an informal classroom. Sometimes the classroom (and school in general) can be a scary place for students. Your classroom should be like a safe haven for them to go to if they need help with anything or just need a place to go. But in order for that to happen, the students need to feel comfortable in the classroom. It should have more of a relaxing feel to it, rather than intimidating.

Another thing I would love to have is an organized classroom. That might be hard for me since I’m not a very organized person. Well, actually, it’s more that it’s hard for me to get organized. If I start out organized, I have a better chance of keeping it that way. I really like how Taberski has designated areas in her classroom for everything. She has a meeting area, a conference table, etc. I do see that in many classes, but the areas are either inconsistent, or are all in the same area. But I think one of the main problems about having different designated areas is that most classrooms in Hawaii aren’t that spacious. Looking at Taberski’s layout of her classroom, it appears to be fairly roomy. As a teacher, you have to learn to work with what you’re given. So even though I won’t have a separate area for each thing, I can still have the same things in consistent areas of the classroom.

Chapter 4 – Taberski

One of the most difficult things about being a teacher, and one thing I’m afraid I might fail at, is knowing your students. For every student, for every subject, we as teachers need to know and understand the needs of every child. What they need help with, what they already know, what’s the best strategy to use. As Taberski puts it, “I teach not a class of twenty-six, but twenty-six individuals.”

It seems there are so many different things you have to look out for. What cueing systems/strategies are they using, are they reading different genres, are they becoming more fluent. That’s why it’s a great idea to have a reading folder. It’s not only for the students, but also to help you remember things about the student. You can also easily compare the results from their last conference to the most recent.

Reading conferences are still a semi-foreign topic to me. I haven’t really done an official reading conference with a student yet. I guess the closet thing I’ve done to one are the running records. One thing that I always wondered how it’s done is being able to conference with every student. How do I set it up so I know I can meet with every student? I really like the setup that Taberski uses for her reading conferences. She has the students sitting around a table and rotate seats when it’s time for another students’ conference. That way they know when it’s their turn, and she knows she met with everyone.

Chapter 5 – Taberski

I really like running records. They’re really simple and easy to do, yet they can say a lot about a child’s reading abilities.

I noticed that in the book, there are a lot more notations to be used than the ones we learned in class. When I did my running records with my students, I just used the basic marks. Besides all the different marks, I really need to learn how to estimate the rate of accuracy for the records. That’s one thing I didn’t do for my running records. In the book, Taberski says that she doesn’t use algorithms to find the rates, she just estimates them. I guess that makes sense, but that means that for every running record I would have to go back to the book and count all the words that student read. I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I do running records, I could be making more or less check marks than what the students actually read. Sometimes they read too fast for me to keep up with them, especially if they have a lot of words they missed. I have to write the substitutions they made, the actual word, and then catch up to where they are. And since we’re only supposed to meet with them for about two minutes each, they don’t always finish the whole book. I guess the only thing I could do is keep the book they were reading, mark where they stopped, and do the ratings later.

Chapter 6 – Taberski

I did some retellings after my running records. I just wanted to try it out, see if they were actually reading or just saying words. Some of them got it, some of them didn’t. For some of them it took a while to retell the story, others did it in seconds.

It seems that Taberski does her retellings in separate conferences than when she does the running records. I did mine right afterwards. Is that wrong to do? Although, she does go more in depth than I did. I like the idea of tape-recording the students’ retellings. That way you don’t have to assess them right away. You can focus on how to help them understand and comprehend the story. Then later you can listen to the recording and see how well they actually did retelling the story.

It’s funny to read this chapter and then actually do it in real-life. You can really see all these things that Taberski is writing about. For instance, when she’s explaining what a retelling is, she says that some children might explain the entire narrative, page by page. But a retelling is more like a summary, the main points in the story, and an explanation of what happened. If they can keep it simple and straight to the point, then you know they comprehended the story well. I’ve had both ends of the spectrum.

Chapter 7 – Taberski

I know I’ve said this before, but it’s still interesting to read this book and actually see and use all of this in the classroom. Read alouds and shared readings are strategies that we all got to experience in real-life classrooms. Everything that Greg taught us in class is in Taberski’s book.

I think these two strategies are awesome. Like Greg has said many a times, kids, no matter how old, love to be read to; especially when you have a good reader to read it to you. Some people have so much enthusiasm when they read that it captivates anyone listening. And that’s how read alouds and shared readings help kids explore different genres and motivate then to want to read.

Read alouds and shared readings also help kids to write. These writings not only help them better themselves at writing, but also show their comprehension of the stories. In my class, my students do this. Sometimes they write about their favorite part, their favorite character, the author’s message, or a book recommendation. It’s an effective way to check where they are in their writing as well as to assess their understanding of book the book and the topic they have to write about.

Sei's reflections for Chapters 11, 12, 13

Sei’s Chapters 11, 12, & 13 reflections

Hey Everyone,
I’m taking this opportunity to post my last three reflections. I was doing so well until I got to chapter 11 and I apologize! These reflections will also be shorter than the other 10 that have told my life story in being that I have yet to write my 3-page summary reflection for this course and that it has been brought to my attention that my reflections are really REALLY long. Sorry!

Chapter 11
Matching Children with Books for Independent Reading

I remember when I was younger, every time my parents would buy my brother and me new shoes or clothes, they would buy them slightly bigger than what would be just right. “Children grow so fast”, they would say, “this way you can wear them for awhile.” In reference to the traditional way that parents buy clothes for their young ones, such as my own experience as a child, Taberski states that “picking out books is different from buy clothes.” Taberski goes on to state that children need books that are just right for them at the present time. I think this is important to acknowledge as a teacher because our role doesn’t end with just having a library saturated with insightful books, colorful pictures, and vast genres. Just having a library accessible to children does not produce avid readers just like having all the ingredients to make a Caesar salad doesn’t make a delicious salad magically appear out of nowhere. You have to know how much of each ingredient you need and it won’t come out perfect the first time, but only after getting practice of making it several times. Teachers need to match each individual student with a book that is just right for them-almost as if books come custom tailored to fit each child.

My teacher at Mililani Waena has an exquisite library corner. Not only does she have numbers and numbers of books, but she has it conveniently organized for not only the comfort and benefit of herself, but also the children. She has the books organized with labels of authors, subjects, reading levels, etc. As I have stated above, just having a rich library doesn’t produce great readers. I feel that the success of the readers in my mentor’s classroom is a direct result of her guided reading block, in which I had mentioned in a previous post. She has four different reading levels and each child reads with her EVERYDAY! This way, she KNOWS that each child in her class is paired with a “just right” book. I feel that she does a great way of keeping track of the progress of each individual in her class.

Chapter 12
Independent Reading: A Time for Practice

As usual, Taberski has provided us with an insightful and knowledge-filled chapter on how to provide our students with the utmost beneficial literacy education possible. She states that “[students] need lots and lots of practice to learn new strategies by reading books that are just right for them. In fact, it’s the only way they can improve” and independent reading time is the time for the children to do so. This is why it’s important to practice piano everyday in order to improve and progress. Just taking piano lessons is not enough. The piano lessons+independent practice=a pianist.

I’ve seen the students in my class choose to read instead of playing at centers. They will come up to me during free play and ask me if it’s okay for them to read in the library. Of course, I can’t help but to smile from ear-to-ear and reply that they can absolutely read. In the small corner of the room, the students share bean bags and pillows as they look through the pages of their favorite books. They whisper read in pairs while pointing at the pictures and connecting it to the story. I can see that the students are really learning. Although, to strangers, it may look like it’s just a group of students socializing in the corner, we, as educators, know that this is how children learn. A common misconception is that children only learn when they’re under the direct instruction of a teacher. Although I do believe that students need the guidance of what Taberski has previously mentioned as a “professional” of a craft, independent practice time is equally important to their growth. I loved it when Taberski stated, “When a visitor happens upon this scene, I don’t jump up out of fear he might wonder why I’m not standing in front of the classroom teaching. I know that I am teaching in the optimal way.” WORD!

Chapter 13 Reflection
A Time For Response

“By reflecting on and sharing their process with classmates, children validate their strategies and consider new ones.” I am definitely pro-reading responses. My teacher begins her literacy block by reading a story to the students; having an oral discussion about the plot and moral lesson learned; and having them write a response and draw a picture about the story. The reason that I’m such a firm believer of reading responses is because I’ve seen the benefits that it has on the literary growth of my students firsthand. During our guided reading centers, I’m in charge of the written reflection group and I see how much students would benefit from doing these types of exercises. Not only does it help them to practice their writing, but it also helps them with reading comprehension. In order to write or reflect about the story, they had to have understood what happened in the story. I think this is a great way to get the students to thinking and writing. I remember when I was growing up, I HATED writing book reports. I hated having to write about every single detail and it just made me not want to write or read at all. I never want to make my students feel this way towards reading and writing. I’d like to follow my mentor teacher’s technique when working with literacy with my students. My teacher not only makes stories so interesting by the animated way she read them, which entices my students to want to read and learn more, but she also integrates fun activities into language arts. For example, she read them a book called Rainbow Fish. She then had a group discussion on the moral of the story, which is to accept everyone for who they are and not to alienate others because they’re different. She then had them write about their favorite part and draw a picture prior to using watercolors to paint a big fish. The students loved this activity and they probably didn’t even realize that they were learning so much, not only about writing and reading, but about life. They learned a powerful message through the fish’s experience.

Megan's posting

On Solid Ground Blog Responses

Hey everyone. I’m sorry I’ve slacked so much on the reading this semester. As you all know, it’s been a little crazy for me. Here are my responses for the rest of the chapters I fell behind on. Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Megan

Chapter 4

This chapter was very informative and helpful because it further explained reading conferences and how to best carry them out. She suggests that for the first month of the school year to hold conferences everyday in order to find out where each child is and then carry them on three day a week for the rest of the year. Then she talked about the importance of organization and some suggestions, like rotations, for having more control over the conferences. I enjoyed reading about this information because now I feel that what Greg has taught us and this chapter have fully prepared me to learn more about my students and help them become better readers.

Chapter 5

I found this chapter very helpful considering we are performing reading records with our kids this semester. I have to admit that I was pretty overwhelmed when I was reading it because there are so many little details to consider. All the notations kind of intimidate me. I thought I would have trouble with carrying out these records with my fifth graders because of all the notations, but most of them had no problems reading their books. The only notations I really ever used were Tell, and Miscue, and Self Correct. I don’t know if I was missing something or if they are all just exceptional readers. I was able to tell whether they were in an easy, just right, or hard book though.

Chapter 6

I agree that retelling is an excellent assessment tool for a child’s comprehension of a text. It was a little hard for me to experience this fully this semester because for each reading record, each child only read a page. I think if they had to read a chapter for homework or a short story as a class, retelling would be very informative. I wish the book shared some more creative ways to engage kids in retelling rather than just simply conferences and writing. I wonder if there is a resource that could help with that.

Chapter 7

I remember when I was in elementary school that one of my favorite parts of the day was story time. Unfortunately, this stopped in about fourth grade. After that, reading to me just seemed like work. I don’t want my future students to feel like that about reading. That is why I think read alouds and shared readings are so important. It is important for us as teachers to be good examples to our students, whether it be reading or any other subject. Reading should be fun. When I did a reader’s theater with my fifth graders this semester, they absolutely loved it. Not only was it a fun way to explore a text, but it was also a way for them to connect with and relate to the text.
Chapter 8

Last semester, when I was in my Kindergarten classroom, I did many of these guided readings with a small group of students. They weren’t nearly as complicated as Sharon’s were though. I can’t get over how organized she is. I now see how much must go into helping students become the best readers they can be. I think that it is very important that all of the children in the group are involved in the guided reading session.

Chapter 9

While reading this chapter, I found myself wishing that I was back in my Kindergarten class. I could have helped my students so much more with the strategies explained in this text. I think breaking words up and giving them meaning are crucial to a child’s understanding. Words should be related to familiar texts so the children can make meaningful connections to certain words. I think the video we watched in class was also beneficial.

Chapter 10

I don’t remember ever having any one on one reading time with any of my teachers in elementary school. I think this would be very beneficial to my future students. Encouraging comment, honest feedback and practice are all great strategies to make children love reading. By working with a child one on one, the teacher is able to help the child develop their reading cues and comprehension strategies. At first when I saw the title of this chapter, I though that a child might feel uncomfortable having a one on one reading session with the teacher, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all of the students are involved, the others shouldn’t feel that they are being “sorted out”.

Chapter 11

I must say that through working with my fifth graders this semester and reading this chapter, I am very excited to create my own classroom library and encourage my students to explore the wide world of reading. This is a little strange for me because I don’t consider myself as a reader. However, I am looking forward to making my future classroom into a print rich environment filled with many different genres of books. I also learned that organization of these books is very important to my student’s ability to find a just right book.

Chapter 12

I don’t really remember independent reading while I was in school. It was all outside work that I had to do. That is another reason why I think I never really liked to read. It was always work for me. I think this independent reading time in school would be very beneficial to my students. They could read what they enjoy while practicing their responsive and comprehension skills at the same time. That way, they would be able to read for fun at home if they wanted without the added pressure of finishing a book for a test at school.

Chapter 13
As stated before referring to an earlier chapter, I believe that responses to text is a very important part of understanding a text. By responding to a text, both orally and in writing, a child is able to express their understanding of what they have read. It is an excellent assessment tool. It is also important for the teacher to model these responses. By keeping a record of these responses, like a journal, the teacher is able to see a child’s progress and any particular problems they are having.

Christina's Ch.10

Christina Lim
CHAPTER 10

Chapter 10 teaches the reader about successful one-on-one teaching strategies. Teaberski talks about her coveted time with her students, and how they just can’t wait to have their conferences with her. I think the students feel this way because Sharon has done such a successful job in making them feel comfortable enough in their abilities to want to share them with her. Taberski points out the importance of this one-on-one teaching approach, I do agree with her because I have also felt as if I need the “expert” to watch what I am doing, and then show me a better way. I have had those type of experiences my entire life. Taberski also points out the importance of having your students examine books with alongside of you, so they will ultimately feel more comfortable handling the books themselves. This is a good strategy to use with your students because it will get all of them to feel very comfortable with handling, exploring and ultimately reading these books that are now probably very interesting and intriguing to them by that point.
Sharon also talks about how some children may even try to mask their problems when it comes to their reading abilities. I can relate to this as well, because I have seen it this semester. I have a student, who is considered to be pre-k, and she cannot read, but she tries anyway, reading with no meaning whatsoever. I feel like she tries to do this to please my mentor and me, because she thinks that she is going to be graded on it, but I also believe that she does this so she can act like she can read in front of the students who actually can read.
Lastly, I like the part of the chapter that Taberski is very frank with her students about what they need to improve on. I agree with this completely because as she says; she wants them to succeed, and how could they succeed if she didn’t tell them the truth. Taberski stated that some other teachers couldn’t be that honest with their students because they wouldn’t want to hurt their feelings, but they are still hurting them by not giving them the truth, so they can improve in the areas they need to. This will damage them in the long run, because their area(s) of improvement will not be addressed until a teacher who is confident enough to inform them of it comes along, and that could happen many years later, or even not at all.

Christina's CH. 7, 8, 9

CHAPTER 7

In Chapter 7, I related to the “stopping to think” about what you’re reading. Last semester in my 4th grade class, my mentor teacher used to do book and chapter predictions. Predictions were very similar to “stopping to think” in the way that before the class would read a book, they would make predictions about it based on the pictures. Then, before beginning each chapter, my mentor teacher would ask the students for their predictions about that particular chapter, based on the previous chapter, as well as the picture heading for the current chapter. My mentor would follow the “3 steps”: what, why, prove it; but as for the “prove it step”, it was called the evidence portion of the prediction. The students were always excited to do predictions, and always liked to get the evidence they needed to prove what they said. This approach gets the students excited about the book they are going to read, and the predictions keep them interested/engaged and wanting to keep on reading the next chapter so they can see what’s going to happen next. This approach seems to prove successful from what I have personally experienced. I also think that by doing this, it may even help foster a positive relationship between a child and literature that was not previously established.

CHAPTER 8

Chapter 8 focuses on guided reading in small groups. This chapter is very detailed, with many steps to overcome before being able to achieve the ultimate goal of having the best groups possible for small group discussions, and reading groups. This process seems to work, and it probably does, but my concern with this process is that it doesn’t leave much time for a teacher to concentrate on other important subjects. This chapter is full of good ideas, and helpful teaching strategies, but at what cost to the other important subject areas that need the same attention and focus? The book also explains that this process is an ongoing one, in which you will inevitably make mistakes. It just says to not give up, and learn from your mistakes. It is a little discouraging to read so much into a complicated process such as this, but I take these readings as useful and helpful tools that I may later use at my discretion, and I appreciate the fact that I have these resources to call on if I may ever need them. I guess I just worry sometimes that I can’t do everything that Taberski talks about, and everything else that I learn from my other academics, roll them up, and become a super teacher.
I do like the part of the chapter that more thoroughly explains the different levels of readers. This reminds me of my Kindergarteners I have now, they are emergent readers. Many of my students are at the emergent stage of reading, where they need to be “walked through” the book. Something I didn’t know was that the teacher should look at the each page with the student to see what’s happening throughout the book. I had never thought to do this, and I had never seen my mentor do this. This is a good idea, because I have a few students who are not even at this stage of reading; they only use the visual clues given by the pictures to guess what the text is saying. I think that this could help those few students who are at a total loss of what reading is about, I may try this next time I am in field.

CHAPTER 9

This chapter focuses on analyzing words and patterns. I enjoyed reading about the part of the chapter in which Taberski says she would look through the poems hanging on the chart wall for certain spelling patterns before her students would even show up in the morning. She looks for patterns in which her students need some improvement on. It astonishes me that she has 37 spelling patterns! That is a lot, but it must be so beneficial for her students. I also like how Taberski has her students think that they are re-visiting the poem for “old times sake”, so as to not point out that they need some extra time devoted to practicing this particular spelling pattern. I also like how when Taberski goes over the specific pattern, she has her students come up with new words to add to their list.
I think that Taberski does a good job with the clapping syllables that she does with her students. I like how she refers back to her chart wall to get something that is familiar to everyone. I think this is a clever idea that helps children learn syllables by doing something different and exciting, while still learning an important tool which they will need to acquire in order for them to become proficient readers.
I think Taberski’s spelling pattern wall is a very useful tool that not only helps her to make her teaching easier and more structured. This wall is most beneficial to the students, I think that after they have been exposed enough to this wall that they feel very comfortable with it, I think that it may become a source of comfort for them; knowing that they can always turn to it if and when they need help with anything concerning literature and literacy.

Jaime's Ch.12 Reflection

Independent Kindergarten readers? I’ve never seen it this semester with my Kindergartners. Taberski says that Kindergartners “may need two twenty five minute reading sessions instead of one longer one.” I haven’t seen my students read independently for ten minutes. Maybe they only do it on certain days and I’m just not around during those times but shouldn’t this be done routinely every day? What’s sad is that I know the students are interested in books yet my mentor teacher or myself has to tell them to put it away because the class needs to hurry up for morning business. Every time that I’m there I’m constantly telling them to put away their books and read it later when they get home. Another sad thing is that many of their parents don’t read to them when they do read it at home. I think my mentor teacher should set some time to have her students read independently during class. Hopefully when I become a teacher I will remind myself that independent reading should be one of the most important times of the day. Children need to practice in order to become better readers. As children gain the confidence in their reading, they begin to realize that reading is enjoyable. These children are likely to be lifelong readers.

Leila's Ch.12 Reflection

Wow, I was surprised by the amount of time that Taberski has alotted for her students. My students are only given 10-15 minutes of indepent reading. This is usually done in the morning when my mentor teacher is trying to settle in. Once she has settled in, then she advises her students to stop reading and put away their books. It is really sad to see those who are really into their books being forced to stop reading because it is time to get on with the day. But most of the time, a lot of the students aren't using the time for pracitce. They know silent reading is only being used to keep them quiet while their teacher is checking off who did their homework last night. I think Taberski is clever for having her students keep track of what they've read in their weekly reading log and responsing to the books they read. That is what I think my mentor teacher needs to change about her silent reading time in the morning.

tara's chapter 13 reflection

this last chapter was on responses. taberski talked about oral responses and written responses. taberski wrote about waiting for responses as well as helping children interact with each other during the response time. she even wrote about improving the questioning technique which is something i think i need to work on because sometimes i would get blank responses from my students because i might have said something that was too complex for them to comprehend. taberski also wrote about the written responses to books. she touched on different ways you can get students to write in their response notebooks or worksheets. she had suggestions like telling the children to write about their favorite part, how the book may relate to their life, or maybe tell how the book relates to another book they have read. taberski even talked about asking the children to share their reading strategies at the end of her workshop session.

i got to read to my students a lot last semester and my mentor teacher always told me to question them while im reading the book to help the students with their comprehension of the book and to help them maybe get some deeper meanings. most times my mentor asked me to bring a book that had a moral to the story so i could question the kids on it and see if they understood what the moral was. i read a lot of the curious george books to the kids because they liked them. the curious george books always had some moral like dont do this or remember to do that and the kids loved it. i would ask questions after every page i read to see if the kids were paying attention to my reading as well as the pictures on the pages. i would ask questions like "what do you think is going to happen next?" or "why do you think george did this or that?" i would get some really imaginative answers and i would ask them for explanations for their responses and my students would respond really well. whenever i asked for morals to the story my kids would give me blank faces. i never could understand why but i figured it was the way i worded my question. so i started to use more simpler ways of asking questions and my kids just fired responses at me. it was great! i also started to use more open-ended questions that required more than yes and no answers. that helps a lot too. and i never had to worry about my students interacting because they always interacted with each other. a lot of times they would build their answers on their previous classmates answers which i thought was a great idea.

i never had control of the written responses because my mentor already had those typed out for the students. she had them typed out on a sheet with lines on it where the students could respond to the question. she also had more sheets of paper in the front so the kids could go up on their own and gran if they needed more paper. i wish i could have made questions for my kids to answer. i think it would be fun to see what their responses would be. my students also have journals that they could write in but most times they used paper. and they had to draw a picture of their response too. ill make sure to think of fun and exciting questions for my kids when i get my own classroom and if i get a lower grade level. i would like to see what kinds of responses they would give me.

Lehua's REAL last reflection

Lehua's Reflection on KENDRAH'S posting

Ok so I lied - THIS is my final reflection!! :)

Hey Kendrah! I laughed so hard when I read your chapter 13 post! It is so true that kids do give those answers that are like "It was funny." You know, especially since we've both experienced the kinder class at kapalama. I think that they don't realize that they are giving such brief and generic answers but that's all they can say. When I think of Kendrah li'ili'i, I can totally picture you as a quiet little girl! You're still so sweet! It's not hard to imagine. :) I hope that when I get my classroom, I don't feel like the children are just giving me an answer with any sentence but that they really did get meaning from the books but they can't necessarily put into words their reflection!

Lehua

Lehua's Final Response - chapter 13

So this last chapter that we had to read was very interesting. It was a closer to the lessons we've learned about teaching kids how to read and how to make it meaningful to the kids. We must not forget - reading has to be enjoyable because just like us, they won't remember it or want to do it at the time. Some things that I thought about when reading this chapter was if I made it meaningful for the kids. Honestly, they probably thought, "Why am I reading this? Is this a test?" The children were called up to me and I took notes (messy check marks :) ) while they struggled reading. If I were them, I'd be thinking the same thing. I am an experiment. Hopefully they weren't thinking that but that was the only way that my teacher would let me do running records.

When I think about how the children had to reflect on the "book," I think that they had to think about what they read. It was hard for them because...How are you supposed to reflect on a book about daddy shoveling, running, sleeping, etc? Doing running records with kindergarteners was a challenge for me. I'll probably have to go back and go over Taberski's book again because when I work in my future classroom, which, hopefully is upper el because I enjoy that very much, I'll have to start all over again. It will be a whole different ballgame.

Chelsea's Reflection (Appendices & Works Cited)

Well, I am very thankful that Sharon Taberski provided us with her worksheets that she used in her own classroom to help us with our future students. Depending on what grade level I will be teaching, I think that I wouldn't mind using some of the sheets she has provided in the back of her book. I especially like the "If I Can Spell" and "Words I Want to Learn to Spell" worksheets because it involves the child to think on their own of new words. The words aren't just handed to them on a piece of paper and entitle the student to write the word again on another paper. I've always liked spelling, and I think these two worksheets can be very helpful in the spelling department. She even provides a goal setting worksheet for teachers that can help us along the year with what we want our students to accomplish. Plus, a number of question in which we should ask our students along the year. Pretty neat! I think these worksheets and this book will be very useful in the future.

Chelsea's Reflection (On Solid Ground, Ch.13)

Chapter 13: A Time For Response was mainly about children being able to respond after they have read something, whether it be orally or written. It also mentions that children don't get to read as much if all a teacher does is assign them a written response every time they read. I know that when I'm reading a book, I'm not going to want to stop and write a response about what I had just read. I want to keep on reading without being bother. For children it's different because as teachers we want to make sure they understand what they are reading so we have to butt in and interrupt their reading. It would be better if we could just let them read, but how would we know their understanding? I like that Sharon has a set routine for her children and that she sometimes mixes it up to make it interesting. I especially like that she had a little routine for when her children have to give her their reflections after they read about what kinds of strategies they used and which strategies they think can use again. She also mentioned that she likes to ask the same question every time so that the students are better prepared to answer her question. She also asks them to explain further on what strategies they used so that they don't just go up in front of the class and state any strategy they can think of. She wants them to show evidence that they have used the strategy they are telling the class about. Another think I like is that she has a special rocking chair that the kids can sit on when they come in front of the class to speak. I like the homely feel Sharon provides in her classroom. If possible, I want to decorate my own classroom giving it a homely feel so that my students can feel comfortable, but not too comfortable to where they fall asleep.

Jaime's Ch.11 Reflection

I agree with Taberski that matching children with books is not that easy but it’s very effective. I’ve seen the Kindergarteners in my class gain confidence when they’ve read books that were just right for them. I’ve also seen children ‘bark at the text’ when the books were too hard. Taberski also mentioned that teachers should have about 1,500 books in their classroom. I think my Kindergarten mentor teacher had more. I had to pack boxes and boxes of books during our move to the library (due to the renovations). I told my mentor that I was going to hate books by the end of the day. She had books in the closet, in the back of her room, and in the back of her desk.

I guess teachers have different approaches when it comes to selecting books for the students during library time. The Kindergarteners at Kapalama and my daughter’s kindergarten class are opposites. At Kapalama, as Leila mentioned in her post, the teacher chooses 22 books for the children, lays it out on the table, and then when they’re done completing their library work they’re allowed to choose a book. My daughter’s teacher at Hokulani, allow the students to choose their own books. I think it works in both cases. Choosing the books for the children is good because you’re selecting books that you think are just right for them. The ‘junk’ part is that it might not be interesting to them. On the other hand, allowing children to choose their books is good because they’re choosing books that interest them. Some of the books my daughter chose were too hard for her but I read it to her and she enjoyed the story. I guess I just have to get to know my students and figure out which method would work best.

Leila's Ch 11 Reflection

I liked how Taberski compared choosing the right book for children is like shopping for clothes. It is definitely true! You have to find the right size. You don't want it too small or too big. Similiar to finding the right book for them, you don't want to give a book to a student that is too easy or too hard. Children will get turn off from reading just like that. Our goal is to engage them into reading and help them get better at it. That is why it is important to find that right level book.
Last semester I had the opportunity to look for books for my students. Every week when they have library, I would go through the self and look for books for them to read. I have to look for twenty two new books each week for the students to select from. It was a difficult task. I was considering the range of readers that I had in my kindergarten's class. There were three or so students that can read while the rest are beginning to learn how to read. What I did was that I considered the font size, spacing, and background. Also I considered the word difficulty and the length of the book. That is all I knew at the time about reading strategies for children. However, after reading this chapter I realized that there is a lot more to take into consideration. This chapter had helped me expand my knowledge on selecting the right books for children.

Coby's Chapter 13 Reflection

Our goal should be to help our students mature into experienced writers and readers. Writeres who have the ability to put their thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, etc. onto paper and readers who can thoroughly process those thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, etc. and give positive and helpful feedback to other writers. Our goal is to bring our students up to our level. However, we ourselves are not perfect writers and readers so we need to constantly work to improve ourselves and our skills so that we are better prepared to help our future students.

Coby's Chapter 12 Reflection

Once my brother and I were watching X-Men the cartoon. In it Prof. Xavior told Jubulee that she should not help them fight Magneto because she was not experienced enough. "Well how else is she supposed to get experience?" my brother asked. That memory still sticks out to me because I have to remember to let my students gain experience even if I think they may fail. One once said that failure is the mother of all success. And that is why we practice. We practice trying to do whatever we want to succeed in and we keep practicing until we meet our goal. The same goes for reading. This is why independent reading time is so important. It is a time for students to practice. It is a time for students to experiment. It is a time for students to take what they remember learning about reading and apply it to actual reading. This is the importance of independent reading and it is with this intention that we must go into it. If not, it will be seen as no more than a busy waste of time. Taberski encourages us that when our students start to read the y will enjoy it because of the intrinsic reward that it gives them.

Lehua's Chapter 12 Reflection

INDEPENDENT READING:

Well, I have to honestly say that I don't spend much time doing independent reading myself so it's hard to motivate the children to do so by setting an example. I think that this semester, compared to the last one, is absent from independent reading - other than at the end of the day when they can CHOOSE to read or play games. Fortunately, the students DO decide to go to the library and grab a book to "read." I say "read" because they really are just looking at the pictures most of the time.

Last semester with my fifth graders, I found that everyday in the morning, having "surf time" was a big success. The students had to be quiet and read silently to get into the mode of school. Although this might sound like a bad time to start reading independently, my mentor teacher made it work. In fact, maybe I saw it work so well because I didn't come on the first day. Either way, these students had a great time reading anything they wanted. (A few students mainly read comics and books about animals for their comfort)

I hope that when I get a classroom, I can do the same as Mililani Uka's fifth graders. I think that it becomes a sanctuary time for the teacher, which is awesome, and it becomes a time for the students to love books - the books that they are interested in. Of course, there are times where the teacher has to make the students read the same book for a number of purposes (Uka read Holes) but for them, they really enjoyed the book because it was a great book for fifth grade as well as for both genders. Hopefully I will be so lucky!

Kendrah's C/11,12, & 13 Reflections

Part IV: Offering Children Opportunities for Practice and Responses
C/11- Matching Children with Books for Independent Reading

This chapter goes over the importance of selecting books that support a child’s development. When I do my running records I try to choose “just right” books that is meant for my fourth graders. Since it’s hard to find class time to do running records I usually ask some of the student if I can read with them at recess and all of them usually agree to read with me. Therefore, I try to use my reading time with them well and choose one of their class textbooks that is interesting and at most of the students reading level. I would want them to choose their own books but it takes some time to have them go look and pick one out. When I do have time I’’ let them choose a book but usually I try to choose “just right” books. As I listen to most of them read the class textbook, they all sound good reading but I’ve found that some of the student who chose their own textbooks had difficulty reading.
I’ve learned that having an ample supply of books is a must. I’ve learned that when matching students with books I must take into account font size, spacing, background, how close illustrations support meaning, number of words and line per page, word difficulty, repetition of language patterns and much more. Usually during the last 10 or 15 minutes of class I get to read to the students and I’ve found that the students get excited to see the illustrations. Sometimes I like to ask the students if they want me to read any of their books because they’re more enthusiastic about listening to me read something they like. I know that I must focus on the students’ needs.

C/12- Independent Reading: A Time for Practice

In chapter 12 it discusses independent reading time. I came across the point that the goals we set for our students as readers must be realistic. Now, I haven’t really seen independent reading done for a long period of time in my field experience classrooms but I thought it was interesting to read that in a kindergarten classrooms independent reading can be done in two 25 minutes sessions. Most kindergarten children get fussy and want someone to read to them but I guess that’s the reason for teachers to choose “just right” books for his or her students. I also liked the reading log in figure 12-2. It reminds me a lot of my fourth grade teacher’s GLO log for the week. The students get to rate themselves and write why they rated themselves that way or what they need to work on. Overall, if you want a child to become a better reader then reading time must be given to him or her to improve his or her reading skills. Practice makes perfect.

C/13- A Time for Response

When I was a child I hated oral responses to books because I didn’t like to talk and most of time I wasn’t listening to the reading. So when the chapter says that it’s not unusual for students to answer with simple sentences like “It was funny” reminded me of when I was in elementary. However, I’m not saying that all children will come up with a simple answer so that the teacher will stop asking him or her questions about the book. But the chapter discusses that a simple question from the book can hold a discussion and open a wide range of topics to talks about, which will enable students to respond orally and interact. In addition to improving oral responses, written responses can be done too. I liked the response sheet in figure 13-2 because it looks simple and like something kids would enjoy. They could write about their favorite part and even draw a picture about what they wrote. I think that’s a great tool to use especially with young children. The comparison sheets in figure 13-4D reminds me of a venn-diagram but more structured so that students can practice using complete sentences that blend into one another.
In conclusion, giving a child many opportunities with reading, writing, discussing, thinking, and more will enable him or her to do well in his or her oral and written skills.

I really enjoyed reading “On Solid Ground” and I like that in the back of the book in the appendixes there’s the response sheet I saw in chapter 13 as well as other sheets throughout the book. I know that I will keep this book on hand when I become a teacher. I know that I will definitely fill out the goal setting worksheet for myself so that I can help every student in my class succeed.

tara's chapter 12 reflection

this chapter was on independent reading. i like when the kids independent read. the first highlighted section was if you were clear on your goals for the kids? again, going back to last semester since that is the grade-level where i saw the students read a lot, my mentor used this indpendent reading time so the kids can practice their reading and words. she wants them to learn new words in their books if theyve never learned them before, and she wants them to be more fluent in their reading. i think there were more goals, but those were the ones i saw. the kids also know that after the morning duties, they are to take out their independent reading folder and read to themselves for i think it was about 15 minutes to half an hour. the second concept was if the environment and materials were sufficient. the classroom is warm and there are lots of books everywhere for the kids and they know where they are so yeah i think the environment is great for reading. its a loving environment i should say. i also thought the kids were at their appropriate level for their independent reading. the kids have folders to determine what reading level they are at and my mentor tests them every so often so i would say all the kids are at their appropriate reading level. if the books get too easy, like if the student can breeze through all the books at his/her level, my mentor does a test or she gives the student a higher level to see if it challenges the student. we always catch those things. by real reading experiences, i was confused. is it a variety of genres because my mentor has a lot of genres from biographies to fiction to science related material for the students to read. i would say she has a lot of real reading experiences available for her students. and the students log down what they read in their independent reading logs too.

what i was surprised to see was how long taberski says first graders should read. she suggested 50 minutes. i doubt that my students from last semester read that long. it seems to me to be a really long time. i would think the kids would be restless and moving around in their seats by then. i think about half an hour is good enough. since my mentor only allows the kids to keep 3 books in their folder, 50 minutes would be too long. i think anyway.

the students use reading strategies when they do their guided readings. my mentor asks them to think of a reading strategy they can use when they go in to their groups. i guess during independent reading the students use it too but i dont see it as much as i do during guided reading. but i think independent reading is good practice for the kids.

tara's chapter 11 reflection

when i read this chapter which is on matching children with books for independent reading, all i could think about was seeing my first grade students read every time i was there. every morning they have a routine where when the bell rings, they get their own reading books and after all the morning duties, they start independent reading for about half an hour. the kids actually have an independent reading folder where they have about three books in their desk that they take out every morning when they do independent reading. the kids choose their own books from the level of reading they are at so my teacher doesnt choose the books for them. i thought it was bad for the teacher to choose the book for the student because it doesnt give the student the freedom to choose whatever book he/she wants? my mentor has two shelves on the side of her working desk and there are plenty of baskets with books in them labeled with different reading levels and the kids go in the morning over there and choose the books they want to take home to read with their parents and to change their independent reading books. the books the students take home comes with a reading log and the parents have to initial to say they were there with their child reading and the student has to say whether the book was hard, just right, or easy. i think thats good too, reading at home with the parents. it helps them get better at reading. my mentor teacher designed her class so the kids take ownership of themselves and learn to be independent. she doesnt have to do anything for them and i think that's great!

i liked how taberski has a section in her class with an assortment of books and a section that contains leveled books. she allows her students at the start of the year to pick two books they think they can read from the assortment of books at the table and then she sees what reading stage the students are at. i thought that was pretty interesting. i always figured to start doing running records and start determining the students' levels from the get go. i guess i could do it that way too. i dont know which way is better or if taking running records is a bad idea to start out with. the only thing is i would probably have to pick a few books and then ask the child to pick one rather than having the student pick one randomly by his/herself.

Leila's Ch. 10 Reflection

Taberski makes a very good point about one-on-one conferencing with students. In her words, "Individualized instruction is invaluable when learning a new skill." It certainly is! One-on-one time provides an opportunity for a maximum learning experience between students and teachers. Students can address as many questions and get an immediate respond back right there and then at the time of the conference. They can get help with problems they are having immediately rather than the next day or so. This all due to the one to one attention that each student gets from the teacher. Most importantly, the one-on-one strategy allows each students to read at their own pace.
As for teachers, one-on-one conference helps them to identify the strenghts and weaknesses of each students more better. Unlike whole or small group setting, teachers don't have to divided their attention to x amount of students. They can just paid attention to that one student. Then from their observations, teachers can decide what to focus on with that particular student rather than decide on one strategy that will best fit the whole class.
In this chapter, Taberski mentions various one-on-one reading strategies that teachers can work with an individual student. I really enjoyed the text features strategy. It teaches a students how texts are structure and their purpose. I didn't know that a text break (***) means a change in time, place, or situation. Other reading strategies that she discusses were book features, prompts to help children attend to cues, and achieving more fluent-sound reading. From the individual reading conferences that I have with my students, I think that the problems that I noticed does not lie so much on figuring out unknown words but the meaning of the words. There are some good vocabularly in the books that my students are reading. They have no problem saying it but understanding what it means. I can of suspected it when I often ask for a summary of what they read. They would use the word incorrectly in their response. So I guess the strategy that would best address this problem mentioned in this reading is the prompts to help children attent to semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues. Right?

Chelsea's Reflection (Ch.12, On Solid Ground)

Chapter 12-Independent Reading: A Time for Practice was an interesting chapter. The first paragraph about Jasmin made me giggle a little. It was so cute to read that he was kind of upset that he couldn't read on his own, but he had to listen to someone else read to him. He knew that Pat could read, but he couldn't so he wanted that time to read on his own or to practice reading. I think that kids really do come up with the darnest things. Jasmin looked at independent reading time as a time for him to practice reading a book, but when Pat was reading the book to the class he did not like it at all. Amazing! Well, this chapter mainly focuses on how Sharon has her independent reading sessions with her students. As a teacher, I want to give my students time for independent reading. I think it is good to let a child pick out a book to read that is of their interest for however many minutes. I like that Sharon doesn't just send all the kids to read and does whatever work needs to be done at that time because it would look like she is just giving the students something to do so she can have time to herself. I like that during the independent reading time is when Sharon is holding conferences and other things with a student or a group of students. It's amazing that she is able to control a group of younger elementary students who are consistent in reading for a whole 50 minutes or in two 25 minute sessions. From what I've seen, I only see kids reading about 15 minutes a day. What Sharon does is train her students how to engage in their reading. She makes sure that all the students have enough books to read and strategies to try out. They need to be interested in what they are doing so that their attention does not get lost. I also like how Sharon lets her students spread out into different quiet areas around the classroom on their second independent reading session. It seems like it would be harder to manage them while they are reading, but I think with a little bit of practice and time the students will know what is expected of them and not fool around while reading in their quiet areas. Another chapter well worth reading...

Chelsea's Reflection (Ch.11, On Solid Ground)

Chapter 11: Matching Children with Books for Independednt Reading was a very informational chapter. Basically, the chapter talks about how a teacher should organize their classroom library and what kinds of books should be in that library. Like I probably have mentioned before, I really enjoy reading. In this case, I am very excited and anxious to start creating my own classroom library for my students. I am collecting useful information from Sharon's chapters informing me how to keep a good library. I was very surprised to read that teachers should have at least 1,500 books in the classroom library. That sounds like way too many books that can get cluttered and beaten in a classroom, but Sharon explains that having those many books can be very beneficial to the teachers as well as the students. She makes a point that those eight-page books and sets of guided reading texts simply add up over time, so I guess that number may not be too many. I like also how Sharon divides her sections into four different stages which are simple and explanatory; emeregent, early, transitional, and fluent. I am slowly learning the differences between these four terms, and what kinds of things are needed for those types of readers. I know books can get to be a little bit too pricy, but asking the parents for help, asking for donations, and raising money with bake sales, etc... is the perfect idea to create a perfect classroom library. I'm already looking around to see what kinds of books I would want in my classroom and how those books would be useful for my students and myself. Creating my own classroom library is one thing I am ecsatic about when it comes time for me to set up my classroom. Hopefully my classroom will have an easy setting to work with. I don't want my classroom to be too cluttered. The students need room to learn more.

Lehua's Chapter 11 Reflection

The first thing that I questioned in chapter 11 was the part about teachers not having an accurate classroom libraries, therefore, causing the students not want to read for a long period of time. Last semester, at Mililani Uka, I noticed that the students were so excited to go to the library - especially the book fairs in the library. It showed me, first of all, that students really CAN look forward to reading long books. It just depends if they are interested in them. Taberski really stresses this in this chapter.

What kind of scares me is the fact that all children are different - interest in books wise. For Greg's name tests, we need to write the child's interest. It's a little hard for me to find some of their interest, no matter how much I talk to them. It's them talking back to me about their interest that really matters. But then I realize what Greg says - It's up to us to get their attention, ask the right questions, and do it at the right time. - not to mention knowing when to stop and how much to ask. Sounds pretty hard, huh? But I look forward to learning about their interests.

I am excited to get the students interested in things other than video games and sassy girls on t.v. I want to let them know about nature and what the rest of the world has to offer us - especially in upper elementary where their CHOICES really affect the ramifications. It's a little nerve wrecking, but I think that the outcome for the both of us - the students and me - will be greater than the process' struggle.

tara's chapter 10 reflection

after reading this chapter, it kind of reminded me of what i did my first two weeks in field with my esl student. my mentor asked me to read these simple books with her to teach her to see words and pronounce words etc. if she said a word right, i would congratulate her because she still had a thick filipino accent and still didnt know a lot of english words. so i started with what she was doing well. she could read two letter words pretty well like it, is, at, an etc. but anything more than that she would have trouble. i guess from what the book says, i was doing shared readings with print features with my esl student. my mentor picked the books, not me. my job was to help her sound out letters, pronounce the letters and words correctly. basically my mentor wanted me to help her say the words with the correct english accent and not her filipino accent. that was a hard task because i couldnt get her to sound out the letters correctly without using her filipino accent. after two weeks she had some minor improvements, but still i was glad that she improved!

i had many opportunities to read with students one on one last semester because at the first grade level, they still read. i noticed from reading the chapter that i used a lot of semantic cues. i didnt even know that! if one of the students i was reading with said the wrong word, i would always say "does that sound right?" or "does it make sense when you read it in the sentence?" i didnt realize that i was saying semantic cues! most times after i said those cues, the student would read the sentence again and say no. then i would ask the student to tell me the word that would fit nicely in the sentence to make it sound right. not many students in my first grade class made graphophonic mistakes. the only ones that did were my esl students because they had a hard time recognizing words to begin with.

so what i understand is that children need the practice to be able to read fluently. of course practice makes perfect. i noticed that in my first grade students over the course of the semester when i was there. when i came in late august, they were just beginning with books with few words in them, but all of the progressed over the time period i was there and by the time i left, a lot of the students were reading books with many words in them! a lot of the students jumped more than 5 levels in reading! i was really happy because i had a part in helping them to jump so many levels! i even told my mentor that most of the students made signficant progress and she agreed with me. that was awesome to see!

Coby's Chapter 11,000/1,000 Reflection

In chapter eleven of her book Taberski talks about how to match children with books that are right for them. Taberski suggests that teachers organize their class library into atleast four different difficulty stages. Next she says that teachers need to make time during the day to meet with one or two children. This meeting should be used to gauge the children and find a book(s) for them that is appropriate.

While I was reading this I thought of the way my mentor teacher gives out books to her students. Every Friday when they go to the library she picks out twenty-two (the number of students in the class) books, tells the children to choose which book they want to take home, and lets them take that book home. Everyday for the rest of the week the children will trade books with the others on their table. In total each child gets to bring home five books a week. It is a manageable way to distribute books. However, I have wondered about the issue of giving children appropriate books and it would be good to ask her how she determine that each student is getting an appropriate book.

It seems to me that I can take a little of both strategies when it is time for me to choose appropriate books for my students.

Jess Ch. 7, 8 , 9, & 10

READ ALOUD, SHARED READING, and GUIDED READING - When you read about these three activities, you really can't get the whole picture until they have been demonstrated. In my field course, I have experienced the read aloud and the shared reading. Both of these are on our list of "things to do". I have witnessed my mentor teaching doing the read aloud. She read The Bridge to Terabithia to the students while they followed along in their books. I have participated in a shared reading with some students as well. I have yet to witness a real guided reading in action. Even in the 1st grade last semseter, that was something that I did not witness. Even though I have read about the guided reading, I still would not have a clue as to what it was if it would not have been demonstrated in class. Each one of these activities is an important tool in the reading arsenal. It is one thing to read about but until you see it in action it really doesn't come to life.

In word study groups, there was one part in particular that stood out to me - spelling patterns. Last semester working with the 1st graders, their readers were big on spelling patterns. Each story had its own set of words to use. You would start with one word then tell the students to replace the first letter with another letter or replace the last letter with another letter to make a whole new word. I think exercises like this are invaluable because it helps the student (esp. the little ones) to add more words to their vocabulary (not to mention their word bank books).

After the whole class and the group work, the next step is the one on one conferencing. What better way to know your students strengths and weakness' than to work with them alone. This is where you really see what the student can or in some cases cannot do in terms of reading and writing. This is where you tell them what they are doing good in, what they need to work on, and then send them to practice so you can conference with the next student. For me this would be a good assessment time. This time also lets me see who I can pair students up with based on their abilities esp with the older students.