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.