Reading Teacher

The article I choose to read was Excellent Reading Teacher and when I think about what that entails I think about my old reading teacher from 5th grade. Shew made reading fun for us. sh e dressed up, she modeled think alouds and even incorporated Social Studies in her reading curriculum. This is the type of reading teacher I would like to be for my students. Someone who helps students learn but also have fun through reading. I will incorporate the many strategies that I read in this article and add a twist to them so that I may tailor reading to my children.

This is REAL Life....

      Watching children engage in reading was an interesting opportunity for me. I brought back so many memories of me trying to learn how to read, decode words and sound things out. I had the chance of observing a small  reading group of a 4th grade classroom who struggled with reading comprehension, rate and fluency. They read The Navajo Nation Fair and each of them began with a paragraph to read on their own.While engaged in their reading the teacher would monitor the child's rate and fluency and after their comprehension of the passage. The teacher asked the students what they thought the Words to Know,ie.vocab, section meant and how each word tied into the reading. After she asked the students to describe what they thought the fair would be like if they were their and to tell their partners in the small group about the fair' persuading them to want to attend.

      The activity overall was great. The teacher let the students think for themselves and draw conclusions from the images and through application of what they already knew. The teacher did a great job with helping the students comprehend just by asking them things they may already know about the Navajos and about Fairs. She made them realize that when reading they can use what they know to make connections to a passage. She also helped them with their rate and fluency by letting them know to take their time and try and decipher a word before getting angry or skipping it. From this I learned that I can use a picture walk and patience with my students to help them become better readers.

      I initially thought this experience was intriguing. Seeing the children sound out the words that seem so simple to me now,deciphering the meaning behind an image or passage that I also struggled with but can now do as if it was second nature was beneficial. I could see them getting nervous when they came to a word they didn't know or become frustrated because their peers would say the word for them without giving them a chance to read it. These were the things I personally struggled with and wondered when I overcame my fear of reading a word wrong and being able to  read through passages smoothly with no struggle. Each child reminded me of myself at their age and how determined I was to get out of the small reading groups and I hope the children that I observed obtain that same passion to want to be a better reader.

Handy Helpers for Guided Reading

Some reading or children may be to hard or way too complex for them to understand. Most of the time teachers do not recognize this and as a result their students suffer because of it.The article I read Handy Helpers for guided Reading provided five questions that teachers can ask while their students are engaging in reading activities. They consisted of how did the students feel, how did the reading sound, how long was the session, what records did you take and how hard did you work. Theses questions help teachers see when their students are struggling and different signs they can pick up on when a student needs assistance. The second question allows the teachers to see if the reading performed by the student sound accurate or if their needs to be more practice in that area. Each questions gives you guidance of what to focus on when teachers feel as though students need a since of guidance during their reading. In turn teachers can give students a better opportunity to enhance and better their reading.

Follow Link to read more: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.01020/full

Vocab and Read Alouds

The emphasis on vocabulary has increased over the years. It is acknowledged that having a wide range of vocabulary knowledge considers you smart. Sadly that has become the case within our society and we need to prepare our students to be able to utilize and expand their knowledge with vocabulary use. One strategy I really enjoyed in the Vocabulary Lessons article was the development of word awareness through word play. The teacher created a word wall and allowed students to add to the wall whenever they discovered a word they did not know. If a child had a word to add to the wall they were rewarded and in turn making learning vocabulary fun. Another strategy I found interesting was engaging students activity with the vocab through reading. Children gain a plethora of information and word recognition through reading. This can be displayed independently, within class instruction, or through a read aloud. You are able to show students how words sound and verbally use them within the context of a reading or passage.

Questions to Consider:
1. What other ways can you utilize and encourage vocabulary use within your future classrooms?

Can you comprehend?

     Reading Comprehension is a very important part of reading. When students read it is important to pay attention to their fluency and other aspects of reading, but it is important to notice if they know and understand what it is that they are actually reading. One thing that stood out to me in the article were that people do not focus on reading comprehension strategies, however, these strategies are very crucial. If we create and implement different comprehension strategies while reading students understanding of the text would increase. I thought it was really creative that Mrs. Hope allowed students in her classroom to make C's, V's, or squiggly lines to signify connections, visuals or questions. By implementing these strategies within her classroom her students will be better prepared for their future endeavors in reading.

Building Word Knowledge

The use of a word is more important than I initially thought. I never considered the importance of words, the ability to recognize words, the context in which the word is used in and the understanding of the word. Word Knowledge is very important in a child's life. They have to be able to recognize a word and understand its meaning when used in a certain context. In order to help a child do this one must think of creative but yet beneficial ways for children to catch on to. In the Ten Important words plus article they have mastered just that. The use of words in this context is interesting because it allows students to read, use and make connections to new words in a reading. I love this concept because it makes learning and studying vocabulary fun and beneficial. this would be an activity that I would utilize in my future classroom because it insures a  building
and enrichment of students’ understandings of words in any subject area, which in turn will support their comprehension of the content.

Questions to Consider:
1. What other ways can foster the study and understanding of vocabulary in your classroom?

Help children become readers at an Early Age by..

There are so many things parents and adults can do to help children become better readings at an early age They can read to their child, help them learn their alphabet, help them spell their names out, utilize phonemic awareness and use word recognition while reading. Phonemic awareness is more important than many adults know. It helps in recognizing and generate rhyming words,count syllables, separate the beginning of the word from the ending and to identify the phonemes in a word. These are all vital when reading and will help children become  fluent readers. They will be able to identify "leg" from "log" or "pack" and "pick" which is important to enhance their reading abilities. When helping children recognize words parents and adults have to be conscious that the child is not an expert reader and that they have to tailor and teach to the child's needs. One should make sure they are going at a good pace and helping the student learn not forcing he or she to comprehend the information. Be patient and allow the lesson learned to be fun and able to be related to their lives.

Questions to Consider:
1. How could you help children become better readers at an early age?

One Minute Fluency Measures & Creating Fluent Readers

Many children struggle with reading. By placing restrictions on them such as a time frame and accuracy level the pressure of reading for children increases. This is how I interpret a one minute fluency assessment. My brain would probably over think everything, I would become anxious and scared because I know that my placement in certain reading classes or programs is based off of this one minute I have reading. If the designers of the assessment or the test providers informed the students of what they were being tested on before hand the anxiety for many students would decrease. They may become more relax and confident in their ability to read and pass the assessment.

    By providing helpful modeling skills, partner work with reading, plays, read aloud and many other helpful reading activities students can become fluent readers. It is hard to say that a child is struggling with reading after assessing them for one minute. There are so many factors that could have interfered with the students ability to read, sickness, cant see, test and performance anxiety, etc. If we help our students engage in reading activities and practices we can help them overcome the fear of reading and foster fluent readers.


Questions to Consider:
1.  Did you ever have a  hard time passing a reading assessment knowing it was timed? (for instance during the ACT or SAT)

Reading & Writing is as Easy as 123...

          When I think about reading as a child and reading now my views on literacy have definitely changed. I enjoyed reading as a child; constantly going to the library and participating in reading challenges. However, this has changed toward my last year of college. I dislike reading and if I had a choice reading would be the last thing on my list of things that I would want to do. I believe this is due to that fact that reading as a child was fun, it was a new experience,and adventure. Reading now seems somewhat of a chore, a responsibility,a requirement and not as entertaining as when I was a child. To fix this mind frame teachers have to instill reading as an easy task that can be enjoyable to do for the rest of a child's life. Like the teachers displayed in the article, reading is easier than children know. Children are reading without even knowing it and teachers should show them that this is a vital tool they will use throughout their lives. Literacy should be interesting and this may be shown through teachers trying out new strategies and techniques that engage the students. Every strategy may not work, every activity may not be helpful, but teachers have to make it their priority to at least experiment. Look into different books, different ways to tie reading to students everyday lives, and ensure that literacy is not a chore but a privilege that every child should take advantage of.


Questions to Consider?
1. What has changed in literacy from when you were a child to now as an adult?
2. Do you reading is a simple (1..2..3..) as counting numbers?

Culture of Literacy

Many of the readings this week expressed how the culture of ones literacy is important. Educators have to be conscious and aware of a student’s background in literacy and how they can constructively help strengthen that experience in literacy within the classroom. This is very important because one may not be aware of the amount of literacy a child may have been exposed to, if any at all. This has allowed me, as a future educator, to become more conscious of my prospective students lives and their cultural backgrounds. By this I mean whether one of my students knows how to read, if they have ever seen a book or even understands the concept of the use of words in a certain order to form a sentence. These are all critical questions and things I will think about when in preparation for presenting literacy information to my prospective students. In closing I took a quote from The Jones Family’s Culture of Literacy article to heart;  “Teachers are trusted holders of children’s futures as literate adults” and I will hold myself as such from here on out. 


QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
What would you do if a child in your class has never been exposed to reading or even what a book is?
How can you implement cultural literacy in your prospective classroom?