My Teaching Experiences

Monday I read with the girl from last Friday who couldn't make it through the first page of Sarah, Plain and Tall. I tested her in Read Naturally. She read the passage almost perfectly. It made me recognize the obvious benefits of the program. She had practiced that passage enough times that she could read every word just fine without stumbling. It makes me think that she could possibly do the same with her seventh-grade level reading, except that I doubt that she reads her history book over and over until she's able to understand it or read it without messing up.

Wednesday I spoke with another student from Boise State who shares the class with me seventh period. He said that being in our class has made him realize that he wants to work with slightly older kids. That got me thinking about my feelings about working with this age of kids. I really enjoy the kids. They're fun and have lots of ideas and think of interesting things to contribute to the conversation. At this point I don't know what age I would like to work with, but I do know that I like the younger kids. I almost want to do my future school work with another age group entirely so that I can experience more ages. I wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea to plan to work with the younger kids when I start teaching, though, because I'm so young myself. I don't know how much my age - or what the kids perceive to be my age - makes a difference. It isn't a big deal in my college classes where I sometimes teach people older than my parents, but then again, that's college. Sixteen-year-olds are a whole different story.

Today I read with a couple kids one-on-one again. In sixth period I read with a male student who seemed to be having a really off day. I asked him about it, but he said he was just tired. His home language is Spanish, but he does a really good job reading in English. He finished his book today while we read together. Afterward I asked him some questions about the book and found a similarity between him and one of the main characters. He said he had never done that before and looked like he liked the new concept of relating to the characters in his book. Then I read with a female student who seems very social and energetic. She did a good job reading, but in the course of reading I discovered that her vocabulary was lacking. She read words like "jaded" and "mortified" just fine, but had no idea what they meant. That gave me some good opportunities to talk vocab with her - something that she seemed to be interested in. I hoped all through that encounter that she would identify with me on some level - that she would see me as a confident, cool, young woman who was smart - something that she could be too. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. Seventh period I read with a young man whose home language is Spanish. He reads on about a first-grade level. We went to the library and read a children's book about dinosaurs at bedtime. He did all right with the words, but again, didn't know a lot of vocabulary words such as "mope," "sulk," or "pout." After reading the book once we went through it twice more, just looking at the pictures and getting meaning - both sentence level and story level - from each page. This was a skill he definitely lacked. It felt odd to do this with a seventh grader; this is something I'm more accustomed to doing with my first-grade sister.

By the end of this week I've noticed that the kids are feeling more comfortable with me. Many of them are glad to see me and request for me to work with them. They are used to me reading with them or asking them questions about their work or jumping in the middle of their group conversations. It gets more fun to join the class each day.

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	Friday, February 10, 2006 Monday I read with the girl from last Friday who couldn't make it through the first page of Sarah, Plain and Tall. I tested her in Read Naturally. She read the passage almost perfectly. It made me recognize the obvious benefits of the program. She had practiced that passage enough times that she could read every word just fine without stumbling. It makes me think that she could possibly do the same with her seventh-grade level reading, except that I doubt that she reads her history book over and over until she's able to understand it or read it without messing up. Wednesday I spoke with another student from Boise State who shares the class with me seventh period. He said that being in our class has made him realize that he wants to work with slightly older kids. That got me thinking about my feelings about working with this age of kids. I really enjoy the kids. They're fun and have lots of ideas and think of interesting things to contribute to the conversation. At this point I don't know what age I would like to work with, but I do know that I like the younger kids. I almost want to do my future school work with another age group entirely so that I can experience more ages. I wonder if it wouldn't be a better idea to plan to work with the younger kids when I start teaching, though, because I'm so young myself. I don't know how much my age - or what the kids perceive to be my age - makes a difference. It isn't a big deal in my college classes where I sometimes teach people older than my parents, but then again, that's college. Sixteen-year-olds are a whole different story. Today I read with a couple kids one-on-one again. In sixth period I read with a male student who seemed to be having a really off day. I asked him about it, but he said he was just tired. His home language is Spanish, but he does a really good job reading in English. He finished his book today while we read together. Afterward I asked him some questions about the book and found a similarity between him and one of the main characters. He said he had never done that before and looked like he liked the new concept of relating to the characters in his book. Then I read with a female student who seems very social and energetic. She did a good job reading, but in the course of reading I discovered that her vocabulary was lacking. She read words like "jaded" and "mortified" just fine, but had no idea what they meant. That gave me some good opportunities to talk vocab with her - something that she seemed to be interested in. I hoped all through that encounter that she would identify with me on some level - that she would see me as a confident, cool, young woman who was smart - something that she could be too. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. Seventh period I read with a young man whose home language is Spanish. He reads on about a first-grade level. We went to the library and read a children's book about dinosaurs at bedtime. He did all right with the words, but again, didn't know a lot of vocabulary words such as "mope," "sulk," or "pout." After reading the book once we went through it twice more, just looking at the pictures and getting meaning - both sentence level and story level - from each page. This was a skill he definitely lacked. It felt odd to do this with a seventh grader; this is something I'm more accustomed to doing with my first-grade sister. By the end of this week I've noticed that the kids are feeling more comfortable with me. Many of them are glad to see me and request for me to work with them. They are used to me reading with them or asking them questions about their work or jumping in the middle of their group conversations. It gets more fun to join the class each day.