What have you learned about the importance of teaching reading?
In my lab classroom this semester, there were several students that struggled greatly with reading. These students have IEPs and leave the classroom for one on one instruction several times throughout the day. While these students were not in the room during small group reading instruction most days, I was able to observe and work with these students on a few occasions during whole group reading and reading centers. These students had a variety of reading delays, including dyslexia. When I worked with these students, they would quickly become frustrated when reading. From simple text to more complex chapter books, they would try and give great effort but were often not able to
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During my lab, I included the components of reading in my lesson and use them together in a purposeful way. For instance, I used the information I learned to create a lesson about fluency and comprehension. ARI training gave me a deeper understanding of what these components mean and how important they are in classroom. Helping students to be smooth effective readers aids in their comprehension as they are not stumbling over words and reading like a conversation makes it more likely that they will understand the meaning of what is being …show more content…
I thoroughly enjoy teaching reading to students. It is wonderful to see students learn something new by reading, anticipating what may happen next and finishing a great story and excitedly sharing what happened. I think it is so important to instill a love of reading in children early. Showing them that reading is exciting and fun will make them want to learn. Children need to know that reading isn’t just something they have to do but something they can learn that they will enjoy and will benefit them forever.
Identify and explain your goals for teaching reading and language arts to your future students.
My goal for my future classroom is to instill a love a learning in my students for every subject. I feel like reading is the foundation that students need to be successful in all subjects though so teaching reading deserves special attention and time in the classroom. It would be more overall goal to model a positive attitude and atmosphere towards reading. I would spend time teaching students how everything we do involves reading in some way. From reading instructions on tests, to solving math problems, driving, cooking to using a computer, I would show students the importance that words and reading have on our world. I will incorporate effective reading strategies and arm students with all the tools they need to be great readers. I would work to show students that reading starts with learning letters and sounds but involves
In the essay titled “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” written by John Holt and published in Reading for writers in 2013, Mr. Holt discusses why most children aren’t interested in reading. Mr. Holt spent fourteen years as an elementary school teacher. He believed classroom activities destroy a student’s learning ability. Mr. Holt never let his students say what they thought about a book. He wanted his students to look up every word they didn’t know. People can learn difficult words without looking them up in the dictionary.
On October 10th, 2017 at Springhurst Elementary School, I conducted a “Reading Interest Survey” and the “Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.” These surveys were conducted on a 1st grade student, Jax, to determine what his feelings are towards reading in different settings, what genres he prefers to read, and interests. It was found that Jax doesn’t mind reading, but prefers a few different topics. This was evident through his raw score of 30 on recreational reading, and a raw score of 31 on academic reading.
The teaching strategy focuses on the student’s engagement to create reading with meaning. This reading strategy allows students to have more freedom to make their own decisions in what they read and how they read, without the teacher forcing materials upon them. As well, more time is allotted during the school day for students to engage in reading activities, instead of using traditional methods of writing paper and answering questions on a worksheet after reading a book. The Daily Five teaching strategy also strongly develops oral communication skills within students and their peers. By doing so, it creates a sense of community in the classroom that traditional teaching methods did not have. This teaching strategy allows the student to question the material they are reading, which includes their interests, ability to comprehend, and understanding vocabulary. Through the Daily Five teaching strategy, students are also able to find books that interests them, without the teacher giving them group of “leveled” books students may not personally
My role as an instructor was to make my students engage with reading as a constant practice not just in the language they were learning, but also in Spanish. Despite the constraints of a given curriculum, I managed to offer my students an environment where they were exposed to multiple reading strategies and practices. I promoted open discussions about the topics my students were interested to read about. However, through this experience, I was not able to identify struggling readers. I thought that if the reader is struggling, the best way to overcome this difficulty is by reading more.
Living in the Southern United States during eighteenth century was a difficult time for African-Americans. Majority of them were slaves who received manipulation, sexual abuse and brutally whips to the spin. They were treated this way in order to stop them from gaining hope, knowledge and understanding of the world. Some African Americans managed to obtain these qualities from books and use them to escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who wrote an autobiography, from which the excerpt "Learning to Read and Write" explains how he developed literacy. In the excerpt, an African American slave banned from learning to read and write, breaks the law in an attempt to free his mind from the restricted beliefs of his master. One significant idea portrayed from Douglass's ordeal is that reading and writing is a vital skill that benefits humanity.
“Phenomenologically, Donny and Timmy were not growing up in a literate environment. Although they lived in a home situation in a city situated in a country that contained many forms and functions for print, they did not experience it. They did not notice it around them; they did not understand its uses. Their world functioned without written language” (Purcell-Gates, 1997, p. 58).
Reading goals must be realistic. Students will not engage if the reading is not authentic. I want to encourage my students in reading and give them the tools they need to succeed while allowing them to choose what they read. I also want to implement different reading assessments that are creative rather than just textbook responses. Genuine reading experiences will help my students find their own passion for reading. These experiences may come from allowing students to pick their own books, having parent involvement, giving specific feedback, or alternative ways of assessment. I believe the more options I give my readers the more realistic my chances of connecting with them are.
This years group of students have by far been the “neediest” that our school has had. The reason I say neediest is because there are a large number of students who are reading significantly below reading level and some who are barley learning to read. Since I am in a secondary school, the primary educational resources and knowledge on how to teach kids to read is missing. Being a second year teacher with barely any experience in teaching how to read, I am one of the teachers that does not know how to teach these students how to read. By furthering my education, I am making it a goal to learn how to teach reading in a secondary setting.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
Being literate defines who I am, and forms an integral part of my life. From the practical to the creative, it aids, and enables me to perform in the tasks that modern society dictates. I shall explore the many aspects of my life that are affected by literacy. Through this, understanding in greater depth what it means for me, to be literate.
Literacy is an on-going skill that teachers and students alike should commonly study and practice in all grades. Problems faced by teachers, especially teachers in higher grades, are not having the skills to be effective teachers of literacy. To effectively teach literacy across content areas, a teacher would need skills such as knowledge of the reading process and the ability to cultivate the knowledge gained in order to make informed decisions within their classrooms (Clary, Oglan, Styslinger,
Reading aloud helps a child’s memory, curiosity, and it builds their motivation (“Importance of Reading Aloud”). “Reading aloud introduces the language of books which differs from language heard in daily conversation, on television, and in movies. Book language is more descriptive and uses more formal grammatical structures”. Children learn many things while being read to. The more books that are read to children, the more their vocabulary expands. Reading to children can introduce them to different literature they might not find on their own (Koralek). Another essential skill that children need is the ability to listen, which they learn while being read to (“Importance of Reading Aloud”). Not only does reading give children the ability to listen, it gives them the ability to understand how stories work. “The more a child knows about and experience the joys of reading before kindergarten, the easier it will be to learn to read,” (“Why Reading to Children Is Important”). Reading is fun and the more it is done, the more children will enjoy it
Reading has been a part of my life from the second I was born. All throughout my childhood, my parents read to me, and I loved it. I grew up going to the library and being read to constantly. Especially in the years before Kindergarten, reading was my favorite thing to do. I grew up loving fairy tales and thriving on the knowledge that I could have any book I wanted, to be read to me that night. Having no siblings, my only examples were my parents, and they read constantly. Without a family that supported my love of reading throughout my childhood, I wouldn’t appreciate it nearly as much as I have and do now.
One positive element of reading is that it gives children the opportunity to develop their thoughts on books, which strengthens their cognitive development and encourages deeper thoughts.
As a future educator, I have many goals. My first goal would be to never overpower my students. Being a teacher should not be a job, it should be a passion. I will focus my classroom around the student’s needs, rather than my own. The classroom will revolve around the students. I will be their guiding hand through education. Another goal of mine is to have the students interact in a positive way. Social interaction is very important. As students combine with peers they share knowledge and learn how to solve problems. In the real-world, this what will happen. Whenever I can, I li...