jaimie k's reflection to Taberski ch. 11 - 13 & appendices/works cited...

Chapter 11

I agree with Taberski that it’s important to match children with books at their reading level. How else will they improve their reading if they’re always reading books that are too easy or too hard? If they read easy books, their reading won’t progress; it’ll just stay at the same level. If they read boos that are too hard, they might struggle too much and just give up because of frustration.

I guess that’s why running records are important; especially in the beginning of the school year. That way you know at what level that child is reading; also the types of strategies they already know and use. There are a lot of benefits to having the kids read “just-right” books as Taberski mentions. Not only is it easier for them to improve their reading, but they tend to read more often, and they learn basic skills for reading.

Chapter 12

It seems that as teachers, we have a lot we have to consider. Our main concerns are, of course, our students. For each student, we have to make sure that they learn everything to the best of their abilities. But in order to do that, we need to know everything about each of our students. We have to know their reading level, skills they possess, Strategies the know how to use, etc.

Independent reading is a time for students to practice their reading. But even for a small task like this one, the teachers have to consider certain things for each of the students. For example, are the students reading books at their level? Are you providing enough experiences? Are you giving them enough time to read, or is it too long? For every assignment, for every reading the teacher wants her students to do, she has to make sure that each student is working at the perfect rate.

Chapter 13

When I was reading this chapter, it reminded me of some of the written response my students have to do in class. Right now in second grade they are working writing about personal connections to a story. Whether it be their favorite part or character from the book, the author’s message, or even a book recommendation. After the teacher or I do a shared reading or a read aloud, my students have to write a response. My teacher chooses which topic they will write about. She usually chooses a book that she knows which topic they could write about. They have to make sure they include reasons why, and also supporting details from the story.

I did do a modeled writing with my kids. I read them a story, and then I modeled how to write a book recommendation in front of them on a transparency. After that, the kids had to each write a book recommendation about the same book on their own. Each of their writings were very similar to my modeled one. But that’s okay. At least this time they included details and reasons why. It’s similar to what Taberski mentions about Modeling Writing After Text You’ve Read. The students modeled their writing after mine. Like Taberski states, it’s unlikely that the students would have wrote those responses without it being modeled first, but now they have an easier time writing them on their own.

Appendices & Works Cited

These worksheets and lists of sources that Taberski used to write this book will definitely come in handy. Everything that she metioned in her book is here in the Appendices. Now I have some examples of things I can use for my guided readings, for spelling, for response; Taberski even included a great list of books I can use for fluency. Being a future teacher, I need these kinds of things to help me get started. At least now, I have some formats of what I can use and I can look back in her book so I know how to use them.

just to let you know...

Greg, just so you know, I did post my reflections on Friday night. The time in the blog is off so it said a couple of hours ahead and that made it Saturday.

Jaimie K

jaimie k's reflection to Taberski ch. 8 - 10...

Chapter 8

Guided readings are something I haven’t had the chance to try yet. I’ve watched my teacher do them from a distance, but I never led a group myself. Whenever she had to do them, she would have me watch over the rest of the class. It seems that she does something similar or exactly like what Taberski describes. She meets with groups of students and the groups are always the same. The students in the group are all around the same reading level. I think she chooses a book that’s around that level as well. When they’re doing the guided readings, they each get a copy of the same book and I think they take turns reading from the book.

I would like to try this strategy. It seems like it would be very helpful since it’s with small groups. Also, you can focus on what strategy that particular group needs to work on. There are less distractions and it’s easier to stop and help them.

Chapter 9

This chapter talks about analyzing words and whole-to-part phonics. I remember when we discussed this in class. At first I didn’t understand the concept of onset and rime, but Greg used a great comparison. He said it was like giving a child a puzzle and not showing him the box cover; and then expecting him to be able to make the puzzle without knowing what it’s supposed to look like. That’s what it’s like giving a child a word, and not telling him what it’s supposed to sound like. That makes total sense to me. How are they supposed to learn a word if they don’t know what sounds those letters make?

I love the idea of teaching students the words using the strategy of onsets and rimes. I plan on making a word wall, similar to the “Dependable Spelling Pattern Word Wall” that Taberski mentions in the book. It will definitely help the kids remember their phonics. In a sense, it helps the students memorize the sounds of certain onsets and rimes. They just have to remember that whenever they see a word with that onset or rime, it makes whatever sound. This will definitely help them in the beginning of learning the words, but as the words become more difficult, so do the strategies. Such as, learning to analyze syllables and discovering prefixes and suffixes.

Chapter 10

These one-on-one conferences are just like regular reading conferences and sort of like individual guided readings. The teacher meets with an individual student and talks to him/her about their reading.

It may not seem like a big deal, but starting off a conference with positive feedback is crucial. If not, then all the child hears is how bad their doing, what they need to improve on, and so on. It can really dampen a child’s spirit and push them further away from wanting to know how to read. They may think that they don’t do anything right if they don’t hear it from the teacher. When you tell them the positive first, then it’s a softer blow when you tell them what they need to work on. And I agree with Taberski, you shouldn’t sugarcoat your comments. It doesn’t mean you have to be cruel and call them names; but how will they improve if you don’t tell them exactly what they need to improve on. If you don’t let them know, they might never know. The last part is the part that reminds me of the guided readings. After the teacher tells them something they need to work on, they demonstrate the strategy and then sends them off to practice. That’s another thing that’s essential. I think it’s important for the teacher to demonstrate specific strategies to the students. Or else, how will they know how to use the strategy, when to use the strategy, etc. That’s why these conferences are so effective and valuable.

Macey's Reflections

Alright...so if you guys are slackers, I am the ULTIMATE slacker!!!

Chapter 5

This chapter talks about keeping records of children's reading by using running records. Last semester I saw my teacher use this, but I never did find out exactly what she was doing. I think it's a great tool because it shows the students as they progress in their reading. I like the fact that there is a set of symbols teachers can use when they do running records. It helps so that teachers can look for a pattern of errors in their students reading. This can help teachers to determine which of the three cueing systems the student is missing. This semester I have actually got to try doing running records. I wasn't really able to use any of the information I gathered, because I learned that you need to have the students read consistently. So much time would pass between one reading to the next, and I tried running records with a number of students because the students in the fifth grade don't read very much.

Chapter 6

This chapter talks about retelling and having reading discussions with students. I like that the book has a step-by-step list of the procedures that teachers can use to ask a child to retell the text. The book says that it's important that you tell the student what you expect in a retelling. They should know that all you want are the main ideas, and not a retelling of the entire story. I think that students sometimes don't realize what you're asking of them. I thought it was interesting to read about using the running records to determine why the student may be having trouble retelling the story. The students in my class really didn't have trouble retelling me what the story was about. Only a few times, I noticed it was hard for them, but I read in the book that if the student is just beginning a new book, you should let them read a few chapters first. This is helpful to know because it really is hard to retell when you haven't really read much.

Chapter 7

Wow! This chapter was full of information. The thing I liked most about this chapter was how Taberski lists her goals and how read alouds and shared readings support them. I agree with her goals, and I think I may adapt them into my own goals. The one I liked most was the one that says she wants her children to love to read. I think this is so important because a child who loves to read will read. Someone like me who never learned to love reading will not read a lot. I need to be forced to read. I think my "dislove" for reading sort of cripples me, in the sense that I don't learn as much as I can and I don't develop my reading and vocabulary skills. So, because of my disinterst in reading, I appreciate the fact that Taberski lists some of the strategies she shares with her class during a read aloud.

Chapter 8

This chapter goes over what guided reading is and how to administer guided reading in a classroom. I think the planning sheets are an excellent idea because it lets the teacher see and compare the reading ablities of their students. This allows the teacher to break the students up into groups based on their reading level. You might have emergent, early, transitional, and fluent groups. I like how Taberski gives some tips on how to choose a book. One thing she talks about is that the book must be worth reading. I think this is so important. It is true that the book must be interesting and motivate students to read more. Reading all of this about how important it is to get students to be interested in reading makes me wonder if it would have worked for me. I wish that I could be a student now so that I could gain an interest in reading.

Chapter 9

This chapter talks about something I have never heard of before: Word study groups. It is an interesting idea, and I think it sounds like on that is worth trying. It is working informally with small groups of students on words. I actually think this idea is great because teachers don't get to spend enough time with their students on words. I expecially like that this chaper talks about some activities you can use with your students, such as clapping syllables. This helps students to undersatnd that the syllables can be broken up and they can look for spelling patterns by finding syllables. I also like the word wall that is broken up into charts based on their suffixes. In my classroom last semester, the words were all just placed on charts, and the students didn't know where to look for them.

Chapter 10

This book talks about the importance of reading one on one. I think it is extremely important that students be given time to read to their teacher one one one. Last semester, the students used to read to me the two days I was there. I think it would have helped if I had read this before going into the class, but I did do the things mentioned in the book. I did always start with something positive about the students' reading. I was always sure to find something good to say, such as, "wow, look at how many pages you read." I think it is important to give the children honest feedback. They need to know what they're not doing correctly so that they know what to practice. I did this with my students in a way. I would set them a goal. I would say, "When you read to me tomorrow, see if you can pause at the periods." Or, "Let's see if you can try use one of your strategies to figure out the words you don't know." And, every night, the students would take home a book to read and bring it back the next day to read to me. I think the children enjoyed it because they had a goal, and they were so excited when I would give them positive feedback and something to strive for.

Chapter 11

This chapter is about matching children with books for independent reading. I think this is one of the things that most worries me about teaching reading. I wish that I could have had more practice in helping choose books that were appropriate for each student. I noticed that my mentor last semester had books in baskets with numbers. The lowest level of difficulty was in the first basket, and it progressed till about 15 baskets. Sometimes, as the students read to me, I wasn't sure that the level was right for them. I would notice that one day the book was just right, and sometimes it was easy or hard. I wondered how the teacher matched books for each reading level. I learned from the chapter that a number of things are factors in finiding a just right book. For example, ididn't know that consistency of text placement was a factor. I know that there is a lot that goes into chosing a just right book, but I feel more confident now that I have read some of the things to look for.

Chapter 12

This chapter talks more about independent reading. I agree that independent reading is very important in developing chidren's reading skills. I noticed that there are some things to consider when having independent reading time. When I was in my classroom last semester, I don't think I saw any of these things, which was why I always thought their independent reading was a waste of time. The students didn't know what was expected of them except that they needed to be in their seats. The environment was kind of busy, as it was in the morning, while some students were just arriving, and the teacher was collecting homework assignments. The children read any kind of book the wanted. The reading time was only for about ten or fifteen mintues, which I think is a bit short, because it takes them half the time just to find a book. I think I will be better prepared for independent reading in my classroom now that I know a little about what I should do during their sessions.

Chapter 13

This chapter talks about responses to readings. I think it's great that teachers have their students do oral and written responses. I especially like the idea that students should have response sheets and notebooks. It also helps that Taberski gives some ideas of what students can write about in their responses. Some examples she gives are favorite parts, relating the book to your life, summarizing the book, and relating the book to another book. I think that these are all good ideas for responses. It helps the students to think about what they read and then think about how they want to convey what they read to answer the questions in their response.

Kamealoha's Reflections

Hey guys sorry I am such a slacker. Hope that all of you have a great summer!

Chapter 3 Reflection

I think that this was a great chapter to read. I thought that it gave me some great ideas on how to create a homey classroom environment. I was a very surprised to see how everything was set up. I looked at the diagram of her room set up and I thought “where are the desks?” I thought like this looked more like a library then a classroom. She made a great statement that I made perfect sense. She said that it should look like a living room since we spend most of our days there. I never thought of it that way. I am so use to the common classroom set up. I am used to seeing perfect rows of desks and chairs. After reading about her classroom and how she uses it to her benefit I now see how this classroom can be so much more of an advantage to the learners.

Chapter 4 Reflection

This chapter helped me to think about how to create a conference with a child. It also made me think of why it is so important to talk with your students and see where they are at. I think that what she said about not being able to spend an equal amount of time with each student makes sense. I can see how some students may need more time with conferencing then the others. This may not be fair, but I think that it has to be this way. I thought the part of the chapter where she was explaining how she did conferencing on a table and she had the students rotate to her was not an idea I would use myself. I think that this would be distracting for the students to do this. I think that I would use the strategy that Greg uses and go to the kids. After all it is a lot easier for one moving body then having a bunch of little bodies moving in the classroom.

Chapter 5 Reflection

After reading this chapter on running records I have learned some new information. I already knew why we should do running records and why we do them. I have been using them all semester for my students. I think that they are a great way to see where a child is at in their reading. It is a good way to see if they are reading a just right book. This semester I came across a lot of my students reading too easy books. I found that a lot of them are just picking the simple books to read. So after doing the running records with them I showed them how well they did with the book and we set a goal for them to try something a little more challenging for them.

Chapter 6 Reflection

I really enjoyed this chapter on retelling. I think that it is very important for a child to be able to read the words on a paper, but even more important is if they can tell you what they read. I myself had to work on this as a child. I did not read as much as I should have while in elementary school. I think that this caused me to not be as good of a reader as I could have been.

I started to think while reading this chapter if I was asked to retell this chapter after I was done reading it would I be able to. Truthfully, I don’t think I would be able to. I could probably be able to retell some key facts, but I think that it would be difficult for me to do so. So I think that it is hard for us to do this to children. I think we need to make sure that the book level that the child is reading is appropriate. Sometimes students may not be able to retell is because the level of text is too difficult and they are just reading words not comprehending them.

Chapter 7 Reflection

This chapter is basically about teaching children reading strategies through demonstration. Sharon tries to teach children different types of reading strategies that they can use through shared readings and read alouds. I like the strategy of stopping and thinking about what you just read. I think that this is a great way to teach children reading comprehension. I use this strategy myself sometimes when I feel like I am just reading words.

I noticed that a lot of the strategies of getting her students to become strategic readers are the same strategies that my teacher uses in her classroom. My teacher uses story maps in her class with the students. I was not there to see how she introduced story mapping, but I find that the students respond well to using these. She also uses character maps with them. These are a great way to get the students thinking about the character they are reading about.

Chapter 8 Refection

In this chapter on guided reading Sharon states "guided reading is a way to help children understand how reading works and learn techniques to figure out words and comprehend texts that are just a little too challenging for them to read without support." I agree with her in that guided reading must be used from the first month thru the last month that you have these children.

I really like her planning sheets that she created to use during guided reading. I think that it makes it easier to have the strategies to look for right there in front of you. One thing that I was thinking about while reading this chapter is how she separates the children in the different reading groups. I thought that we try to use mixed groups so that all of our kids have an equal opportunity of learning.

Chapter 9 Reflection

This chapter was geared more towards the lower elementary students. I have never worked with kids at this age so I have never gotten the opportunity to observe this being taught. I have gotten to see a word wall in a classroom. I think that this is a great idea to have. It can be useful to help them with word recognition and spelling. My teacher is always adding words to her wall. I believe that she calls them “sight words.” She is great with having the students review them and use them.

One thing she also does with them is break up the words by syllable. She does not use the clapping strategy instead she has them put their hands under their chins and count how many times their hand moves down.

Chapter 10 Reflection

This chapter focuses on teaching children reading strategies one-on-one. I keep thinking of how much work we will put into teaching children to read. There is so much that we as future teachers need to do. I think that she has a great point of why we should one-on-one time with the students. We use this one-on-one time to reacquaint them with the reading strategies. However, sometimes there is just not enough time in the day to work with each child individually. I wish we could do this every day. If we could then we would have no reason to have any kids left behind. One thing we all need to remember is that our children will only be as successful as we push them to be. We need to make sure that we are good and effective teachers who push our kids to reach for the stars.

Chapter 11 Reflection

I think that she used a great analogy for this one. Finding the right book is like finding clothes for them. I think that this is so true. When looking for a book for them we need to make sure that it is just right. It can not be too hard or too easy. Just like when we get clothes they can’t be too big or small. This chapter has got me thinking about what kinds of books I want to fill my classroom with. I have saved all of my books that I had when I was young, but I want to make sure that these books will be appropriate for the grade level that I will teach.

A good way to find a book that is appropriate for the student is to look back on the running records that you did with them. You can look at the information that you collected and see what level of book you think that this child would be perfect for. I am so excited to think about how I want my classroom to be set up. I want it to be filled with books of all sorts. I want my children to feel comfortable in choosing a book. And if they need help in doing so I will be there to help them find that right one.

Chapter 12 Reflection

I want to become a better independent reader so that I can be a good influence on my students. As of right now I am not an independent reader. It is not that I don’t like to read it is just that I don’t have the time for it. Another things that discourages me from doing this is I normally can’t find that right book. I enjoy reading books that I can choose, but when I am given a task to read something that is not of interests to me then I just have to struggle through it.

So one thing that I want to do is to start more independent reading. I think that if I do then it will be easier to convince my children that it is fun to do. My students now have silent reading time every morning. I find that most of them enjoy this time where they get to pick out a good book and just sit quietly with it. I think that it is great that schools have this time for the students. It is a good opportunity for them to read what they choose.

Chapter 13 Reflection

My students spend a lot of time responding to books. My teacher has them respond to text that they have read almost every day. She integrates this into her writing lessons for the day. I think that getting children to respond to text is a useful way to see if they comprehend what they are reading. After reading this chapter I now understand why it is so important to give children time to respond to questions given.

I remember learning this in my educational foundations class. Our professor would tell us to give the students’ time to answer because they need time to think of what they are going to say. I noticed that I may need to do this more with my class. During my health lesson if I asked a question and no one said anything then I would just move on. I think that I needed to give them more time to think about the question and think about what it was asking. I also need to make sure that I am wording my questions in a way that the children will understand. I think that this chapter helped me to see what I need to work on as a future teacher. It gave me some insight and helped me to move myself in the direction of becoming a better teacher.

Jen's RRs

Chapter 1

How Children Read

This chapter talks a lot about how children read. It says that they use their prior experiences to figure out what words are how to understand the text. Some of my students see the first letter in the word and fill in the word with a word they know. The word usually does make sense in the sentence but it is not the correct word. I think that my students read too quickly and do not even notice their mistakes. I try and get them to go back and slow down so they can catch the mistakes that they made. After doing all of my running records I realized that almost all of the students said that they book they read was just right. I guess they like to read books that are not at all challenging.

Chapter 2

Teaching Reading

I think it is really useful to see sample running records. Now I know how to do them correctly. I have done several running records with one of my students. She always reads at least ninety percent of the words correctly but when I ask her what she read about, she has no idea. I have her slowly reread a few sentences and then I ask the same question but she still can not tell me a summary of what she just read. I would not classify her as an early reader because she can say the words. I do not know what category she would fall under.

Chapter 3

Classroom Setup

I never really thought about how important a classroom setup can be. The floor plan on page twenty looks a lot bigger than any classroom I’ve been in. When I have my own class I want to have an extensive library. I want to have books of all reading levels so my students choose to have just-right books or challenging books. Ideally I would like to organize my library by reading level and keep all books neatly in baskets. I will also be sure to keep weekly reading logs for all of my students. I want to make sure they always have something to read.

Chapter 4

Reading Conferences

I have not yet done any conferences with my students. I am a little scared that I won’t do a good job and my students might not want to read for me again. I realize that I need to get over this fear. Conferences are a good way to get to know students better. You not only learn their reading ability, you also learn about who they are.

Chapter 5

Running Records

Running records are a good way to keep track of students’ progress reading. I wish I had enough time to sit down with all of my students are take thorough records. I don’t feel like I do a good job when I listen to my students read. They all read really quickly and do not notice when they read or pronounce words incorrectly. When I tell them to go back to a word they missed, they just give me a confused look. To them, their reading is perfect. My students never say that a book is too difficult or too easy for them. I think they like to read books that they know they will not struggle with and can finish quickly. When I suggested the book Homecoming to my students, they said they did not want to read it because it was too long.

Chapter 6

Retelling

I am glad this book gives step by step instruction about how to go about conducting a retelling. I have tried it in the past and was sometimes unsuccessful. One student I asked could not tell me a thing about the story she had just read. She could read just about all of the words but could not comprehend what they meant altogether. I did not know where to go from here. One idea I got from this chapter was giving her a shorter book to read so maybe she would have less to remember. She showed a little improvement but was not completely successful.

Chapter 7

Read Alouds

I have done many read alouds with my class. Almost everyday after lunch I read a chapter from our book. So far we have read Danny the Champion of the World, The Twits, and are now starting Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Before I start reading I ask them where we left off and what last happened in the story to make sure they are paying attention and remember what was read. Students are eager to raise their hands and retell what happened in the previous chapter. When I feel like they have told enough I start reading. It seems like the students are enjoying being read to.

Chapter 8

Guided Readings

Taberski’s guided reading planning sheets are very organized and easy to understand. I don’t think I am ready to do this. I don’t know how she can interact with a group of students, listen to all of them read, and keep a log of everyone’s progress. I would not be able to keep up with my students because they read so fast.

Chapter 9

Word Wall

I noticed that the word wall in my classroom now is not set up the same as in my second-grade class. In second grade, the word wall was more similar to the one in the book. All of the students’ spelling words were in the wall. Many of them had spelling patterns. Now, the fourth grade spelling words are just words from the book they are reading. There is no grouping or pattern at all. I guess this set up is more for lower elementary students.

Chapter 10

One-on-one Time

Taberski stresses that one-on-one time is essential when a child is learning a new skill. They need to be guided and reassured that they are reading correctly. I don’t remember ever having this kind of one-on-one time. I remember DEAR (drop everything and read) time. Maybe this is why I don’t enjoy reading. Maybe if I was encouraged more as a child I would like it a little.

Chapter 11 and Chapter 12

Letting Students Choose Their Own Books

For silent reading time my students are allowed to choose any book that they want as long as it is a chapter book. I don’t think this is doing enough to make sure each student is reading a just right book. Students read at all different levels so we should make sure their books are appropriate. Sometimes a go around and take a look at what they are reading. They like to tell me what their books are about. As long as they are enjoying reading I think it’s okay.

I don’t know what to do when a child sits there and stares at the pages. I know this is what I began doing in second grade. This is when I started hating reading. Independent reading time was when I would look at words and think about other things. I do not want any of my students to hate reading so I want to be sure that I keep an eye on them and always ask what the book is about.

Chapter 13

Reading Responses

This past week I had my students write book reviews. They had to find a book that they enjoyed reading and write a one page book recommendation. They were instructed to tell a little about the story, write what they liked about it, why other would enjoy it, and not give away the ending. At first many of them did not do well. They wanted to summarize the book. I read examples from papers that received ME. I then had them rewrite it and turn it back in. Even though most of them did not follow directions I am pleased to know that they were able to retell what their books were about.

Jaime's Ch. 13 Reflection

In Chapter 13, Taberski focuses on children’s oral and written responses to texts. One thing that I can relate to is improving my questioning technique. This wasn’t an easy thing to do even when I did my Clinical Studies for Math. I think one of my problems I had was that I wasn’t giving them enough time to respond after a question. After they answered my question, I quickly asked another question without elaborating on their response and I noticed that in these instances I got off subject many times. Usually it was because one student wouldn’t answer my question with the kind of response I was expecting and then, especially with Kindergarteners, they would relate it to some experience in their lives and then all the students would shout out, “Me too, me too….”

One good point that Taberski makes, which I also learned in one of my Early Childhood courses, is that we (parents, teachers) need to keep questions and instruction simple. We should just get to the point, especially with the younger children. That was a mistake I made when I taught my Health lesson with the ‘little ones.’ I was explaining their assessment sheet with just too much unnecessary instruction.

I’m glad Taberski made templates for her Response Sheets and her Guided Reading Planning Sheets. She just saved me lots of time from having to make my own templates. I will definitely have this book as one of my resources in my future classroom.

Christina L.'s 11, 12, 13

CHAPTER 11

This chapter focused on matching the right books with the child’s appropriate developmental stage. I like how Taberski compares choosing the right books to choosing the right sized pants and jackets for your child. We need to be choosing books that match our students abilities at the present time, and this will constantly change if we are doing it the correct way. Taberski states that she devotes the first three weeks to getting to know her students and appropriately matching them with “just-right” books. I think this is a great idea, because, how are we to know what literacy level our students are on if we don’t get to know them first? I also think that this is beneficial because it will get you better acquainted with your student’s interests, as well as, their abilities, so you can better match them with books that they would probably be interested in. When Taberski said that she believes that 1,500 books is the right number of books to have in a collection, I was shocked! I don’t think I have ever seen a collection that large, but I do understand, how the books can add up when you have many books that are under eight pages long.
I would also want to have an ample supply of books, but as Taberski states, I would also have to know them all well, or they could potentially cause more trouble for me than good. I like how Taberski gives the reader tips of what to look for when choosing appropriate books for our collections. She says to focus on font size, spacing, and background when choosing books for early and emergent readers. This made me think of the books my mentor has now for his class of Kindergarteners. I thought about what his books look like, and realized that they all contain many of the characteristics that Taberski says they should have. He uses many books that have repetitious language, and predictable texts, also with the text consistently in the same place on the pages of the book. I am glad that he is giving his students the right books for their level of development.
I also like how Taberski organizes her book collection. She uses color-coding, as well as, numerical ordering to show increasing text difficulty within each of her stages. This helps the teacher by keeping his or her book collection very organized, and also helps the students, so they can easily pick out a book that is in the appropriate category for their developmental stage. Another thing that Taberski does that my mentor also does is the book bag, but in my class it’s called, “I Can Read”. The only differences are that my teacher only gives his students the opportunity to take home one book at a time, unlike Taberski, who gives her students the privilege of taking multiple books. Taberski’s students also do not get to take them home, and by her reasoning, it seems logical that she wouldn’t want to risk having her students take home the books she’s worked so hard to match them with, only to have them lose it at home, or to constantly forget to bring it to school. On the other hand, my teacher lets his students take their books home to practice reading them with their parents, and he doesn’t seem to have much trouble with them bringing them back.

CHAPTER 12

I was surprised to learn that Sharon has two daily independent reading sessions in one day. After reading about the first session, I now think that this could be very beneficial to students, because during the first session the students get to read, or explore any text they want to. This is good because if they choose a book that is too hard for them, they can simply look at the pictures to try to get an idea of what the book is about. If the book is too easy for them, it would prepare them for more challenging reading, which they will do during the second session. This is a win-win process, in which the students just being exposed to different types of text will better prepare them for becoming strong readers, and feel more comfortable being around many different types of text. I understand that this process is a very difficult one, and I appreciate how Taberski gives some specific questions to ask yourself when you are thinking about trying this process out. The questions will better help to guide the teachers who want to try this one day with their students, and I believe that by answering these questions, a teacher will have a much easier time trying to master this process.
The most interesting part of this chapter is the section that addresses what the other students in the class do when the teacher is conducting conferences. I think that it would impossible for a teacher to do this if they did not have a plan for the rest of their class. This seems easy to do, but a teacher must have an effective plan ready, and one that is not boring for the rest of the class. I really like how Taberski has not only one, or a few things that the children can do, but has many things that her students can do while she is busy conducting conferences. Her students can read books, respond to books, read with a partner, read a big book, and more. I believe that this plan would keep any class filled with students busy, and still engaging in strengthening their literacy skills.

CHAPTER 13

Chapter 13 focuses on different ways of responding to text. As Taberski states, it is so easy to read a book to your students and immediately move on to the next lesson, without even taking time to question your students about the book that was just read to them. I am guilty of this, although I don’t just move on, I do ask some questions, but not ones that prompt critical thinking, or get the students to delve deeper into an answer. That is why I really enjoyed reading about how to improve your student’s oral responses. I agree that it is tempting to ask students to answer questions, but not giving them adequate time to answer them. After reading this chapter, I think that it is important for a teacher to give their students adequate time to respond to the teacher’s questions. I agree that this sets the stage for an interactive classroom where the children know they are expected to participate and enjoy the exchange. This can only be achieved after the teacher has established that he or she wants their students to actively participate in each oral discussion, not giving generic statements, but well thought out responses.
I also liked this chapter because Taberski gives her students many different ways of responding to text in written format. I think that it is such a good idea to have a variety of choices that your students can make for themselves, because wouldn’t it be so boring if all they could do was limited to one type of response? This relates to what students do when Sharon is conducting conferences. I really like the fact that she gives them the choice of what they feel like doing. I can bet that these methods keep her students much more interested and engaged in her literacy blocks than it would if she had them doing the same monotonous tasks each and every day. I like how the students are able to respond in interesting ways, such as, writing about their favorite part, which I have seen and done. What really caught my attention was how creative Taberski was in giving her students the option of relating the book to their lives, and relating the book to other books. I particularly like the option of relating the book to other books, because this gets them to analyze each book, and really look for parts of each book that relate to each other.
Finally Finished!