Excerpts from student entries that were e-mailed

Angel writes:  Many of my peers seem to share my philosophy of giving the students the opportunity to engage in discussion with their peers.  It seems that we all believe that this oral engagement in group discussion with their peers is important to help increase their literacy confidence and ability.  I really liked getting into groups and discussing some of the aspects of the reading.  I have read this information (Chapter 5) a few days ago, and so it was interesting to see how some of my group members remembered different things, and could remind me about other great ideas.  I had forgotten the part about the scavenger hunt, yet I had enjoyed reading it, and am looking forward to incorporating it into a unit planJ

Cathy:  During our class we looked through magazines and came up with a lesson (with a partner), which was extremely helpful.  I never realized that there could be so many strategies used with one simple activity.  I think the most challenging part was to decide on exactly what strategy we were going to teach.  Pairing up with another person is great because it gives both of us the opportunity to brainstorm together what possible strategies can be used.  The key points that I’ve learned to keep in mind when I’m thinking about a lesson are: Where am I with my students?  By this I mean what have I taught my students and what prior knowledge they have.  I want to know what focus I am going to take.  In other words what are the key point(s) I am trying to get across.  Lastly what are the different ways I can teach this one topic addressing the multiple intelligences?   I want to use as many strategies as I can to reach as many students as possible.

Tammie:         

         The classrooms in which we help children become literate will increasingly

                contain larger numbers of children whose cultural and linguistic heritage

                is quite different from the heritage of the teacher.  p16.

We have to use this awareness and grow from the knowledge that culturally diverse needs are part of today’s classroom and we have to have in place culturally relevant materials to enhance the reading and writing process, at as young an age as is possible, so they have that connection and that as teachers, we are trying to promote further meaning and connections with selected reading materials relevant to the students in our classroom.

              Children become fluent readers by reading and rereading lots of easy

                 books, (should be part of their school day). p 57.

    As I was involved in the Reading Recovery program as a parent volunteer for several years, I used many of these same strategies that Ch.3 talks about on working one to one with my students. However, I was never fully informed on why these strategies were used…until now. Now I see where I made a significant mistake in working with students, and with my own sons when they were learning to read. I never reinforced rereading… as it bored me! A major mistake on my part. Now I understand, but as it was never explained to me, I never pushed it. I liked variety, and thought it promoted a passion for reading.

Laura:  For me the idea and examples of multilevel activities was key because I have three grades to deal with.  Of course I do try and organize my teaching time with multilevel activities but this chapter explained how and why to do this in a way I found very helpful.  There were so many examples, especially in the section on big books and shared reading, I found this very inspiring and exciting.  One thing I will use at the beginning of the year is clapping syllables.   We will write everyone’s name on sentence strips, read it, and put it in the pocket chart.  We will clap out the syllables.  The ones are reading and remembering names and identifying how each word has a beat or beats.  The twos can sort out the names by number of beats and the threes will notice the configuration of each beat (this will serve as a first introduction to syllables and how each syllable must contain a vowel) All this in the context of a ‘game’ that will help us learn our new comers’ names.

Alyson:  I believe phonics is a very important part of reading, but will not suffice in isolation.  I think it is important to read children stories and have them connect what they are learning in phonics with the stories they hear in class and at home.  Learning to read is all about making these connections.  I remember teaching only phonics in Taiwan (this was the reading program at this school) and the students struggling with the phonics readers.  When I introduced a variety of literature into the class and began a stringent read aloud program, the students began to connect phonemic awareness with the words they heard and read themselves: (sheep has ‘sh’…I know that!).

Sorraya:  I really like the idea of literature Discussion Groups a.k.a. lit circles. It allows students to work together as a group, it also allow for different learning styles. Kids get to share what they have read with each other. It is an activity that can be done as a class or depending on different levels of reading can be done in small groups with different books. One comment stated in the chapter was ‘modeling’. I believe this to be important in order for lit circles to be successful. I have had only one experience with lit circles and it was during my 401-402. I was in a five; six, seven split and the groups were split up based on reading levels. The activity was not very successful, even the teacher recognized this; I believe it was because it was not well organized and explained. Some kids were not even reading because they did not want to be left behind so they would just pretend to read without actually understanding the story. It was not until halfway through the book that the teacher realized this. In lit circles, the group is supposed to move together through the story. Each student is supposed to have a job, so it would be apparent from the beginning who was reading and understanding and who was not.

Keli:    D u r i n g   t h i s   c l a s s    w e   w o r k e d   i n    g r o u p s   t o   s o r t    o u t   w h i c h   k i n d s    o f   a c t i v i t i e s   f o c u s e d   o n    s k i l l s   l i k e  s p e l l i n g,    p h o n e m i c   a w a r e n e s s ,   d e c o d i n g ,   v o c a b u l a r y   a n d    f l u e n c y .   I t   w a s    i n t e r e s t i n g   t o   s e e    h o w   s o m e   a c t i v i t i e s  s a t i s f i e d     m o r e   t h a n   o n e    s k i l l .   F o r   e x a m p l e    m a k i n g   r i d d l e s   o u t   o f    p r e f i x e s   a n d   s u f f i x e s   w o u l d    r e q u i r e   d e c o d i n g ,   f l u e n c y    a n d    s p e l l i n g .   W o r d   w a l l s   h e l p    w i t h   s p e l l i n g   a n d   f l u e n c y    a n d   d e c o d i n g .   B l e n d i n g   a n d    s o u n d   s e g m e n t a t i o n   u s e          p h o n i c s   a n d   s p e l l i n g .   O v e r a l l    I   l e a r n e d   i t    i s   i m p o r t a n t    t o   m a n i p u l a t e   t h e s e    r e a d i n g   l e s s o n s   s o   t h a t    t h e y   s e e m      l i k e   g a m e s    r a t h e r   t h a n   w o r k .    T h e   s t u d e n t s’  a t t e n t i o n         w i l l   b e    o n   t h e   r e a d i n g    l e s s o n   l o n g e r   a n d   t h e y    w i l l   b e      m o r e   e n g a g e d .

Tessa:  I did enjoy learning about how feeling really energizes our reading and writing; I strongly agree with this.  I am all about feelings and meaningful connections, so this really touched home for me.  Feeling determines weather we will continue to read/write; this is a very important concept that we need to always be aware of.  When I was in elementary school, I did not enjoy reading, and now I know that it was because there was so choice and no self-efficacy, knowing that is how I can advocate reading and writing for my students so hopefully they won’t have the same feelings I did. 

Nella:  As I was reading this chapter, I thought back to yesterday, when I was playing with my eight year-old cousin Francesco.  At one point I used the word “preliminary”.  I hesitated before using the word, predicting that he would not understand it.  As I suspected, when I said the word he replied, “what does that mean?”  I was glad that he asked, and I happily explained the meaning to him.  I used other words that he already knew and linked the new word to his pre-existing knowledge and vocabulary.  He seemed to understand and we went about our previous business.  I wonder now, after having just read this chapter, if he will retain the new word, or if it will fly out of his brain.  I think that there is a good chance that he will maintain at least a vague recollection of the new word since it was used in a meaningful setting, and I did activate prior knowledge.   However, we didn’t discuss the word, or brainstorm, or do any other things that would have helped him to make the new word more permanent in his mind.  I suppose that whether or not he remembers my definition, I am happy that he is asking questions and expressing interest in the meanings of words. 

Katherine:  In my classroom during my practicum, I used various types of visuals. I found that children found the visuals both appealing and helpful. My ESL students found it even more helpful because they could make a direct connection between the visual and the information. During my practicum I always made sure that I had a balanced language arts program because I feel that students should be exposed to the different skills each area develops.  After the lecture, my belief in a balanced literacy program strengthened because of the fact that this makes students better readers. I can see why this would be the case. All of these skills are interrelated.  For example, before children can learn to read, parents read to them and listening skills are part of the program.  The more exposure the students have to these skills the easier learning to read and write will be.  

Heather:  Chapter 2 made me think of __________who only reads factual information such as newspapers. I always wondered why s/he didn’t like reading other kinds of literature – like science fiction or fantasy or even different kinds of media like cartoons. It makes me wonder if her/his childhood experience of reading contributed to this. S/He cannot conceptualize any kind of “alternate” world – it has to be “here and now”.

Jacquie:  I am always amazed at the variety of ideas a group of teachers can come up with. So often in teacher education we are made brainstorm ideas and often teachers end up with amazing lessons and/or unit plans, unfortunately this does not happen enough in the real world. Teachers in schools need to be given more time to share and collaborate their ideas. Some teachers already team teach and it is those teachers who have the most amazing classes.

  Stacey:  Whether you use leveled readers or not in your classroom, I think it is vital to have many opportunities for students to choose their own books and be able to challenge themselves to books that are at a higher reading level.  Although I know there is a risk that they will get frustrated, I think it is very important that they choose their own books because it supports their love for reading.  Students who are interested in books that are above their reading level can still read them and have another student, perhaps at a higher reading level, read it with them.  

In particular, I am thinking about these two boys in my class that were at different reading levels.  Knowing they were both interested in space, I bought two identical level 3 books on spaceships for them to share.  By reading together, the boys’ could help each other sound out difficult words.  It amazed me how far each boy came in his reading, especially the less fluent reader.  He was focused and visibly loved to read.  I think it was this interaction of students reading, at different levels but with similar interests, that accomplished this success.  In this way, the more fluent reader could provide ongoing support and encouragement for the less fluent reader and allows him to experience success, even on more difficult passages. 

Vicki:  Wow, I just learned something that I did not realize.  The buddy reading system serves many purposes.  But the true purpose of this type of reading, I just learned.  The older struggling readers read “easy books” to very young students so their reading skills improve.  It is not just for the little ones.  This method makes it valid to read easy books to younger students.  They model appropriate reading skills to kindergarten students, for example, while at the same time improving their fluency.  What a concept.  I cannot believe that I did not realize that!  The Learning Disabled students I work with do many activities with their little junior kindergarten buddies at Seymour school. Not only do they read to them, they practice social skills, and healthy habits. The younger students and the older students learn together.  It is quite amazing.

Gina:  During my practicum, I read out a chapter a day to the students and would ask them to predict what would happen or we would even relate the story to what was happening in the world. Children seemed to be really interested in the story and I even had a student ask to borrow the book. I really liked the idea of the Book Talk as I think it would appeal more to students rather than a novel study in which there is a lot of written work (which I think takes away the joy of reading). In the school where I did my practicum, the students were working on a project called “awesome authors” in which they chose three books by the same author and did a presentation on them. They even got to create a huge book cover out of cardboard and there was a good mix between written work and illustrations. I also thought that giving prompts for younger students journal writing is a good idea as even as an adult I sometimes feel lost as to what to write. I have noticed the importance of scheduling reading time in for all students because as a TOC, I noticed that it was always the same students finishing early and going to read books. As a new teacher, I do worry about having a good collection of books but I thought that it may be possible to exchange half way through the year with a different teacher. I definitely think it is important to give students choice whenever possible on how they would like to respond to literature. As well, there should be a balance in the classroom in terms of individual and group work as well as responding to literature and simply being engaged in the reading itself.

Danielle:  I believe that activating prior knowledge is a useful teaching strategy to motivate children to talk about, read about, and write about topics that they are familiar with. I always use this strategy in my « introduction » part of a lesson/unit. Activating prior knowledge helps children make sense in their reading and writing. 

Lisa:  It’s important to model fluent reading so students know what good reading sounds like. I would read a short story in monotone and then ask them if that was a good story. What was bad about it? Talk about the ways I could vary my voice, etc, and then reread the story with expression.  Students need to practice reading in order to become fluent. They can practice on their own or with buddies. I liked the idea of older students taping stories for their younger buddies. 

Rajani:  Another question that came to mind after reading chapter one page twelve is that in today’s reality children have little time to read.  Reasons:

(a) Students are latch-key kids, as both parents work and children do not go home after school finishes.  They either go over to friend’s house or to the mall.

(b) Many children are enrolled in several after school activities and run from one to the other and they get home, eat, watch television and go to bed.

(c) Both parents work, or children live in single parent homes where parent is struggling to put food on the table and older children have to look after siblings.

 (d) Students are engrossed in distracting television shows or game boy.