My Teaching Experiences

I felt like I got more of a feel for what was going on in the classroom this week. I have the kids' names down and I'm learning their interactions with each other and with Ms. Gratton. I also feel more comfortable with Ms. Gratton and have started asking her more questions. I really like working with her. She's great with the kids - it almost seems like she's known them for years - and she's encouraging and helpful toward me.

Monday and Wednesday I worked with the kids on the Read Naturally program. I'm still working out my opinions of that program. A kid on Monday was reading a passage that contained the phrase "The pygmies, natives of the land, gathered berries." Or something to that effect. The word pygmies was defined in the sentence. It was one of the words he stumbled over in his reading. It was obvious that he'd never seen the word before. Afterward, I brought that mistake to his attention and asked him if he knew what pygmies are. He said he didn't know. I told him the definition was in that sentence. He reread the sentence twice outloud and still had no idea, so I used the opportunity to teach him about using context to decipher meaning. That instance has been on my mind since. Did he just not know how to read for context clues? Is that a fault of the program, since it primarily teaches kids to read more fluently rather than teaching them to read for efficacy or comprehension? Is it because he got ahead of himself and was waiting for the class to end and was annoyed that I was asking about pygmies? I'm unsure.

Friday we were in the classroom rather than the computer lab. I felt like I finally got to work with a student in a one-on-one capacity, which showed me a lot about their reading. During sixth period I read with a female student who seemed to be a pretty good reader. I could tell she wasn't up to grade level, but she was reading wonderfully with the book she had selected. Seventh period was a different story. The girl I read with that hour had just finished reading a Beverly Cleary book and took a quiz on it. She only received a 30% on the quiz, but she said it was because she was reading another book at the same time and so she had gotten them confused. Ms. Gratton told her that when I took her to the library that period, she was to select a thinner book. Thinking that that was our only stipulation for reading material, I recommended Sarah, Plain and Tall to her. I had read Sarah, Plain and Tall in fourth grade and can remember thinking even then that that was such an easy book. I thought I had done a good job and was proud to take this student back to the classroom with a good book that she was interested in. Ms. Gratton was skeptical, however. And she was right. When I sat down with my student, she couldn't get through reading the first page of the book without making fewer than five errors, which is the magical cutoff number to determine a difficult book. I had thought for sure that that book would be a good match for her, but evidently she needed something simpler. Then I looked at the book she had borrowed from Ms. Gratton. It had fewer than 30 words to a page and was mostly pictures. She reads on a second grade level. I found out Friday that there's a boy in the class who didn't even recognize all the letters in the alphabet when he started the school year.

So all this has gotten me thinking...How are these kids in seventh grade? Why have teachers passed them on if they couldn't read? How did teachers not know their students couldn't recognize all the letters of the alphabet? How do these students pass science or history when they can't read the text book that was written on a seventh grade level? What is done for these students in classes outside their remedial reading course? Ms. Gratton has so much faith in the Read Naturally program, but I question the good it's doing. Sure, it helps them with fluency. But how does fluency help them when they're studying their science text book the night before an exam and they need to understand the words and concepts in the text?

My Teaching Experiences
I'm a graduate student at Boise State University just starting to work with the school districts. This no-frills blog is my account of my experiences in the school setting. Archives: January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007	Monday, February 06, 2006 I felt like I got more of a feel for what was going on in the classroom this week. I have the kids' names down and I'm learning their interactions with each other and with Ms. Gratton. I also feel more comfortable with Ms. Gratton and have started asking her more questions. I really like working with her. She's great with the kids - it almost seems like she's known them for years - and she's encouraging and helpful toward me. Monday and Wednesday I worked with the kids on the Read Naturally program. I'm still working out my opinions of that program. A kid on Monday was reading a passage that contained the phrase "The pygmies, natives of the land, gathered berries." Or something to that effect. The word pygmies was defined in the sentence. It was one of the words he stumbled over in his reading. It was obvious that he'd never seen the word before. Afterward, I brought that mistake to his attention and asked him if he knew what pygmies are. He said he didn't know. I told him the definition was in that sentence. He reread the sentence twice outloud and still had no idea, so I used the opportunity to teach him about using context to decipher meaning. That instance has been on my mind since. Did he just not know how to read for context clues? Is that a fault of the program, since it primarily teaches kids to read more fluently rather than teaching them to read for efficacy or comprehension? Is it because he got ahead of himself and was waiting for the class to end and was annoyed that I was asking about pygmies? I'm unsure. Friday we were in the classroom rather than the computer lab. I felt like I finally got to work with a student in a one-on-one capacity, which showed me a lot about their reading. During sixth period I read with a female student who seemed to be a pretty good reader. I could tell she wasn't up to grade level, but she was reading wonderfully with the book she had selected. Seventh period was a different story. The girl I read with that hour had just finished reading a Beverly Cleary book and took a quiz on it. She only received a 30% on the quiz, but she said it was because she was reading another book at the same time and so she had gotten them confused. Ms. Gratton told her that when I took her to the library that period, she was to select a thinner book. Thinking that that was our only stipulation for reading material, I recommended Sarah, Plain and Tall to her. I had read Sarah, Plain and Tall in fourth grade and can remember thinking even then that that was such an easy book. I thought I had done a good job and was proud to take this student back to the classroom with a good book that she was interested in. Ms. Gratton was skeptical, however. And she was right. When I sat down with my student, she couldn't get through reading the first page of the book without making fewer than five errors, which is the magical cutoff number to determine a difficult book. I had thought for sure that that book would be a good match for her, but evidently she needed something simpler. Then I looked at the book she had borrowed from Ms. Gratton. It had fewer than 30 words to a page and was mostly pictures. She reads on a second grade level. I found out Friday that there's a boy in the class who didn't even recognize all the letters in the alphabet when he started the school year. So all this has gotten me thinking...How are these kids in seventh grade? Why have teachers passed them on if they couldn't read? How did teachers not know their students couldn't recognize all the letters of the alphabet? How do these students pass science or history when they can't read the text book that was written on a seventh grade level? What is done for these students in classes outside their remedial reading course? Ms. Gratton has so much faith in the Read Naturally program, but I question the good it's doing. Sure, it helps them with fluency. But how does fluency help them when they're studying their science text book the night before an exam and they need to understand the words and concepts in the text?