My Teaching Experiences

This was an even shorter week as I was only at West on Monday.

I read with a young man Monday who appears to be a very dependent reader. He had read a book the week before on Pompeii and said that he remembered most of the book, but he only scored a 20% on the quiz. So on Monday, Ms. Gratton asked me to sit with him and reread the book with him for at least 15 minutes with the expectation that he would retake the quiz. I made sure to have a conversation with him about every page he read aloud so that I could help him through the thinking process - hoping that that conversation would help him pass the quiz the second time around. Our conversations went something like this:

(He just read a page that described the town at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The page says that scientists refer to the mountain at that time as a "sleeping giant" because of its outwardly peaceful look and the fact that there was an accumulation of gases preparing to blow the top off this huge volcano. The picture depicts fairly flat lands leading up to the large mountain, with Mount Vesuvius being the only mountain in the picture. Below Vesuvius is the town of Pompeii.)

ME: Why do you suppose scientists refer to Mount Vesuvius as a sleeping giant?
HIM: I dunno.
ME: Let's look at this page again. Where do you see the term sleeping giant?
HIM: I dunno. (He has already turned to the next page.)
ME: Well, go ahead and turn back to that page. Let's find the sentence that talks about Mount Vesuvius being a sleeping giant.
HIM: K. (Turns back.)
ME: Do you see that sentence?
HIM: Yeah.
ME: Where is it? (He points to the sentence. I tell him "good job" and read the sentence out loud.) Does rereading the passage help us figure out what it means that the mountain was a sleeping giant?
HIM: No.
ME: OK, well maybe we can figure it out another way. What do you think about when you hear the phrase "sleeping giant"?
HIM: Nothing.
ME: What does it mean if something or someone is sleeping?
HIM: I dunno.
ME: How acitve are you when you're sleeping?
HIM: I'm not.
ME: Good. So if you're not active when you're sleeping, what does it mean that this mountain was sleeping?
HIM: It wasn't doing anything.
ME: Right. But there's something you know about this mountain that the people in Pompeii didn't know, isn't there?
HIM: No.
ME: Is this just a normal mountain?
HIM: No.
ME: What is it?
HIM: A volcano.
ME: Right. And what is going on inside this volcano that everyone in Pompeii thinks is a mountain?
HIM: I dunno.
ME: You said you already read the book. What happens at the end?
HIM: The volcano blows up.
ME: So what is happening before the volcano blows up?
HIM: I don't know. It's getting ready to blow up?!?
ME: Great! But on the outside of the volcano people can't see that it's getting ready to blow up, so it just looks like it's...
HIM: Sleeping?
ME: Exactly. Now what about this "giant" part?
HIM: I dunno.
ME: What is a giant?
HIM: I dunno. Something big.
ME: Yeah, something big. Maybe the picture can give us a clue about why this mountain was called a giant.
HIM: No.
ME: How big are the things in the picture - the things that aren't Mount Vesuvius?
HIM: They're not.
ME: So in comparison to everything else around it, Mount Vesuvius is the largest thing near Pompeii.
HIM: Yeah.
ME: Good. Now let's read the next page.

I tried to praise him throughout our conversation after everything he said and tried to ignore his yawning and constant gazing at the clock. I've read about dependent readers, so I felt pretty confident in seeing the signs of dependency in him when we started, but I still wasn't sure if our conversation was helpful or hindering. I wanted him to start thinking on his own and really working toward comprehension without me giving him all the answers. I really wanted to discuss the text with him. He only wanted to get through that book, though. He was reading without punctuation and without expression, just turning the pages as fast as he could. I knew that nothing was going into his head and that without pausing for a moment and contemplating the passages, he would fail the second test. I just don't know if I did a good job.

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, March 03, 2006 This was an even shorter week as I was only at West on Monday. I read with a young man Monday who appears to be a very dependent reader. He had read a book the week before on Pompeii and said that he remembered most of the book, but he only scored a 20% on the quiz. So on Monday, Ms. Gratton asked me to sit with him and reread the book with him for at least 15 minutes with the expectation that he would retake the quiz. I made sure to have a conversation with him about every page he read aloud so that I could help him through the thinking process - hoping that that conversation would help him pass the quiz the second time around. Our conversations went something like this: (He just read a page that described the town at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The page says that scientists refer to the mountain at that time as a "sleeping giant" because of its outwardly peaceful look and the fact that there was an accumulation of gases preparing to blow the top off this huge volcano. The picture depicts fairly flat lands leading up to the large mountain, with Mount Vesuvius being the only mountain in the picture. Below Vesuvius is the town of Pompeii.) ME: Why do you suppose scientists refer to Mount Vesuvius as a sleeping giant? HIM: I dunno. ME: Let's look at this page again. Where do you see the term sleeping giant? HIM: I dunno. (He has already turned to the next page.) ME: Well, go ahead and turn back to that page. Let's find the sentence that talks about Mount Vesuvius being a sleeping giant. HIM: K. (Turns back.) ME: Do you see that sentence? HIM: Yeah. ME: Where is it? (He points to the sentence. I tell him "good job" and read the sentence out loud.) Does rereading the passage help us figure out what it means that the mountain was a sleeping giant? HIM: No. ME: OK, well maybe we can figure it out another way. What do you think about when you hear the phrase "sleeping giant"? HIM: Nothing. ME: What does it mean if something or someone is sleeping? HIM: I dunno. ME: How acitve are you when you're sleeping? HIM: I'm not. ME: Good. So if you're not active when you're sleeping, what does it mean that this mountain was sleeping? HIM: It wasn't doing anything. ME: Right. But there's something you know about this mountain that the people in Pompeii didn't know, isn't there? HIM: No. ME: Is this just a normal mountain? HIM: No. ME: What is it? HIM: A volcano. ME: Right. And what is going on inside this volcano that everyone in Pompeii thinks is a mountain? HIM: I dunno. ME: You said you already read the book. What happens at the end? HIM: The volcano blows up. ME: So what is happening before the volcano blows up? HIM: I don't know. It's getting ready to blow up?!? ME: Great! But on the outside of the volcano people can't see that it's getting ready to blow up, so it just looks like it's... HIM: Sleeping? ME: Exactly. Now what about this "giant" part? HIM: I dunno. ME: What is a giant? HIM: I dunno. Something big. ME: Yeah, something big. Maybe the picture can give us a clue about why this mountain was called a giant. HIM: No. ME: How big are the things in the picture - the things that aren't Mount Vesuvius? HIM: They're not. ME: So in comparison to everything else around it, Mount Vesuvius is the largest thing near Pompeii. HIM: Yeah. ME: Good. Now let's read the next page. I tried to praise him throughout our conversation after everything he said and tried to ignore his yawning and constant gazing at the clock. I've read about dependent readers, so I felt pretty confident in seeing the signs of dependency in him when we started, but I still wasn't sure if our conversation was helpful or hindering. I wanted him to start thinking on his own and really working toward comprehension without me giving him all the answers. I really wanted to discuss the text with him. He only wanted to get through that book, though. He was reading without punctuation and without expression, just turning the pages as fast as he could. I knew that nothing was going into his head and that without pausing for a moment and contemplating the passages, he would fail the second test. I just don't know if I did a good job.