The
reading for this week has probably been my favorite to date. I loved reading about all of the different
strategies and components in a comprehensive literacy program. I finished my undergrad in December, and the
following semester I spent subbing, including two long-term positions in the
county I will be working. Although I
haven’t had my own classroom, my literacy education in undergrad was excellent,
and required the implementation and study of many of the components in chapter 10. I was also given a lot of freedom through my
subbing experiences to implement new strategies.
Guided
reading was a daily activity in student teaching. The entire county in which I student taught
highly valued guided reading. Through
classes, I learned the basics, and at my school, I received trainings that the
other teachers did. This was so
influential to my learning! I thought that all schools and counties stressed
guided reading equally, but through my experience subbing, I never once
encountered a classroom that did true guided reading. This was really surprising to me.
Sustained
reading was a huge deal in every school I’ve been in. For student teaching, we called it “stamina
reading,” and really focused on building up the time that students could focus
completely on reading, not on scanning the room, flipping through the book, or
staring off into space. In the county I
will be teaching, it is referred to as DEAR, or drop everything and read.
Before
the end of my student teaching, the school hired a literacy specialist to talk
about different reading and writing strategies with the teachers. In my opinion, the most exciting area she
talked about was literature circles. I
truly love the idea and purpose, and I think giving students responsibilities
and expectations within a reading group is amazing, especially to their
motivation. Unfortunately, I was no longer at the school when literature circles were actually implemented.
Intermittently,
I will do a write-aloud or shared writing with my classes. This was typically to demonstrate their
assignment in some way. I would show how
I would complete the writing assignment in the write-aloud, and for shared
writing I would call on different students to dictate different areas of a
class story. I also believe in sustained
writing and writing conferences. The
sustained writing would be in the form of writer’s workshop, and writing
conferences were times that the students would sign up on the board to meet
with the teacher before writing their final draft.
Although
I do not have much experience in terms of years, I do feel that I have been very
blessed by being able to see and implement many important strategies. All of these strategies are ones that I feel
are integral to a classroom and students’ literacy instruction.
Guided reading is also a hot topic at my school. It is implemented in most classrooms. I like the ideas from Weaver when she discussed how students she not "round-robin" read. I know that I have done this in the past, but after reading, I think that I will have the students read silently or read aloud if necessary to themselves.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I think writing conferences are very important, especially with the little ones. Often times, all I have to do is have them read what they wrote or I will read it, and they notice their own mistakes. We discuss how to fix the mistakes or how to make their writing more organized. These conferences seem to really help the students have great final products.
Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteThis was also my favorite few chapters to read as well. I completely understand how you feel as I just finished my first year of teaching. I learned so much in my student teaching with literacy but once you are in your own class everything will be different. You get to take risks, enjoy the students more and the pressure is off. Where I work we used reader's and writer's workshop so I implement many of these strategies into my everyday classroom. I think that using reading and write alouds are a great way for students to think aloud and stretch their thinking!
I really enjoyed these chapters as well. I think the chapters did a great job of outlining all the components to a comprehensive literacy program and provide a nice guide on how to implement it in our own classrooms. I like that you have experience with sustained reading or "stamina reading". I think this component is often overlooked based on how much time it takes. However, it is such an important skill that students need as they get older and are expected to read lengthier and more complex texts. This is something I definitely want to incorporate when I have my own classroom.
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