Monday, January 16, 2012
Future Teacher
I know that my past literacy experience will help me to be a better teacher because I want my students to love reading. My experiences was obviously so dull and boring that they did not make an impact on my memory. To be honest to this day, I hate reading. The articles we read in this class were interesting and something that I wanted to learn about, so they held my attention. Past assignments that required reading textbooks was excruciating to me. I do not want this for my future students. I would like them eager to read, to the point that I have to tell them to put down a book and pay attention. That is the love I want them to have for books. I want them to want to absorb all the information from books that they can. The only way to do this is to keep reading fun for them and engage them in exciting reading projects. I hope to learn a lot more from this class that will help me with this goal.
Literacy View
"I wanted to be sure that my children understood that reading is about making sense, not about calling words or sounding out." (Bell, D. 2002)
To me that statement sums up how I feel about teaching children to read and making them understand that reading is not about getting the words out, but making them understand that there is a purpose behind what they read. These teachers in the journal article "Letting go of the Letter of the Week," made me realize that students can learn to read in many different ways. I love the alphabet chart using the student's pictures and pictures of items they already know. It was an awesome idea to have the children write for purpose, not just for a writing prompt. It teaches them that writing has real meaning in life. I will take these ideas into my classroom in the future.
"Teacher's were consistent in their management techniques, so the children knew what was expected of them and consequently carried out work that needed to be done." (Morrow, L.M., Tracey, D.H., Woo, D.G., & Pressley, M. 1999)
When a teacher teaches her students a routine and models that behavior she expects from them, they are eager to please and will follow through with good results. The teachers studied in the journal article, "Characteristics of exemplary first-grade literacy instruction" have some wonderful ideas for their classrooms. In this article they combined all the teachers and came up with the exemplary classroom. I want to be that teacher that makes a list like this one. I like hearing and reading ideas that others use in their classroom. It will be a great start to my classroom and to see what works for me and what doesn't.
To me that statement sums up how I feel about teaching children to read and making them understand that reading is not about getting the words out, but making them understand that there is a purpose behind what they read. These teachers in the journal article "Letting go of the Letter of the Week," made me realize that students can learn to read in many different ways. I love the alphabet chart using the student's pictures and pictures of items they already know. It was an awesome idea to have the children write for purpose, not just for a writing prompt. It teaches them that writing has real meaning in life. I will take these ideas into my classroom in the future.
"Teacher's were consistent in their management techniques, so the children knew what was expected of them and consequently carried out work that needed to be done." (Morrow, L.M., Tracey, D.H., Woo, D.G., & Pressley, M. 1999)
When a teacher teaches her students a routine and models that behavior she expects from them, they are eager to please and will follow through with good results. The teachers studied in the journal article, "Characteristics of exemplary first-grade literacy instruction" have some wonderful ideas for their classrooms. In this article they combined all the teachers and came up with the exemplary classroom. I want to be that teacher that makes a list like this one. I like hearing and reading ideas that others use in their classroom. It will be a great start to my classroom and to see what works for me and what doesn't.
Biliography
Bell, D. & Jarvis, D. (2002). Letting go of “Letter of the Week”. Primary Voices K-6, 11(2), p. 10-24.
Morrow, L.M., Tracey, D.H., Woo, D.G.,
& Pressley, M. (1999).
Characteristics of exemplary first-grade literacy instruction. The
Reading Teacher, 52(5), p. 462-476.
Literacy Experiences
I do not remember a lot about my past literacy experiences. I do know that it always seemed to come natural for me. I do remember taking reading tests that compared the grade level you were in to the grade level that you could read and comprehend. I scored on a 8th grade reading level when I was in 2nd grade. I remember that because my mom made such a big deal about it and posted the results on the refrigerator for a long time.
In Kindergarten I learned using the letter of the week strategy. We would have a study on each letter and bring in show and tell objects that begin with that letter. I would imagine this was my strategy for learning how to read. Learning all the sounds of the words and sounding out all the words in the book.
My parents did not read to me. I always felt as though they thought I was smart enough to read to myself, so why bother reading to me. I remember in first grade getting the book "My Favorite Book" and reading it to my sister over and over again. I used it so much that the book was brown from fingerprints and whatever else a 6 year old could get into. I kept that book all the way through high school but don't know what happened to it after I moved out of my parents' house.
I guess I remember quite a bit about my literacy experiences once I start thinking back. I also use to love writing in a diary and that is where I got all of my feelings out. That is a useful strategy as long as you don't have a nosey family that likes to go through your things.
In Kindergarten I learned using the letter of the week strategy. We would have a study on each letter and bring in show and tell objects that begin with that letter. I would imagine this was my strategy for learning how to read. Learning all the sounds of the words and sounding out all the words in the book.
My parents did not read to me. I always felt as though they thought I was smart enough to read to myself, so why bother reading to me. I remember in first grade getting the book "My Favorite Book" and reading it to my sister over and over again. I used it so much that the book was brown from fingerprints and whatever else a 6 year old could get into. I kept that book all the way through high school but don't know what happened to it after I moved out of my parents' house.
I guess I remember quite a bit about my literacy experiences once I start thinking back. I also use to love writing in a diary and that is where I got all of my feelings out. That is a useful strategy as long as you don't have a nosey family that likes to go through your things.
Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Tonya Ward and I am pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. I am married with three kids, all boys. I work in a 2nd grade classroom at Overhills Elementary School in Harnett County, N.C. I love the thought of having my own classroom one day, which keeps me motivated to do my best!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)