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.