Key Point #1: If student learning does not occur, they (the literacy coach & teacher) recycle and start the process again.
Reflection: I think this goes along with the comment our guest speaker made, "If they're not learning, it's your fault." I think there are some teachers (I have worked with some of them myself) out there who do not hold themselves accountable when students are not learning or making progress. They seem to find others to blame (students, other teachers, parents) rather than starting over and brainstorming new ideas. I think the literacy coach can help change that way of thinking in those teachers and refocus these teachers on student learning.
Key Point #2: The literacy coach, as a member of the school community, can provide sustained, ongoing, and intensive support through frequent encounters with teachers.
Reflection: I think I may have mentioned this in class when we were discussing the new roles of reading specialists and literacy coaches. My concern is that literacy coaches seem to have so many responsibilities to keep up with and they will not be as available as frequently as teachers need them. I just wonder how frequently the author thinks these encounters are supposed to occur. In many schools and even districts, there is only one literacy coach to take care of all teachers and classrooms. How effective can that one person be and how often do they really get to interact with each teacher? I think the suggested roles of literacy coaches and relationships with teachers are great ideas, but they may need additional support and resources because there is a lot to do and numerous teachers to address.
Key Point #3: This respect for individual perspectives and unique personalities is the cornerstone of collaboration.
Reflection: I think it's important for everyone in the learning community to put their pride and egos aside in order to build an effective collaborative group. People never like to admit that others know better than they do or know more than they do. In the learning community, however, I think everyone needs to accept the fact that they do not know everything; and that other teachers and literacy coaches can be very helpful. Working together generates more ideas, perspectives, and experiences to build on to help improve student learning. Like the author says, if all teachers and literacy coaches focus on student learning rather than on themselves.
Key Point #4: As they had done in their book club, they encouraged their students to tell personal stories as they discussed their understanding.
Reflection: I think this is a great way to spark interest and strike up conversation in the classroom. Students have so much to offer to the discussion about a story or text. The other students can relate to what their classmates are saying. These shared experiences and stories offer a real understanding of what is being talked about in the text and improve reading comprehension. I do not think it is in the students' best interest to read and not discuss their interactions with and reactions to the text. That's what makes reading enjoyable, being able to relate to the text and bring the story to life with your own ideas.
Key Point #5: Literacy coaches, teachers, and administrators who want to create this support for teacher development need parameters for developing this yearlong experience.
Reflection: I think it is very common, especially in education, to mandate or role out some new program or experience without proper information, training, and follow-up. Literacy coaches and working collaboratively with them as classroom teachers is something relatively new for many teachers. I think teachers (and some literacy coaches) need an organized set of parameters to know where to begin. I know it's not likely that there will be parameters for how to build relationships with one another, but I think there should be some guidelines for building and properly implementing the intended goals of the learning community.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Chapter 9
Key Point 1: Teachers, however, often persist in using inappropriate materials because they lack the knowledge of how to make suitable selections.
Reflection: I agree with this completely. I would consider myself one of those teachers that lacks the knowledge, but I am learning how to make more suitable selections. While student teaching, I was given the reading materials to use and those were textbooks. I hate using textbooks because many of them are not suitable for the majority of the class. I think textbook reading is much more difficult and many students struggle while trying to read through a textbook. In my current classroom, I use picture books and newspapers to engage my students in reading. I think these are suitable for the population of students that I work with.
Key Point 2: Chapter books tell stories similar to everyday life events, but the author captivates the imagination by making these events larger than life.
Reflection: This is why I like using and reading chapter books. I like using chapter books that most of my students can relate to in some way. These books are much easier and more enjoyable for most students. I also think these types of stories create better classroom discussions and conversations because the students can and do relate to the events in the story. Students are excited to share their ideas with others after reading about a similar idea or situation in a book. Students can also gain different perspectives and ways of dealing with such events that they may not have been aware of prior to reading. I think most students would much rather read a chapter book that reinforces or shows some application of the content material they are learning instead of reading the content material directly from a textbook.
Key Point 3: Media are often essential for struggling readers to get a sense of the whole topic or story.
Reflection: I think this is true for many readers, not just struggling readers. Media sources such as books on tape and videos offer great help to those readers that have difficulty reading a given piece of text. Students can see and hear how they should be reading the text before, during, or after they actually perform the reading task. Such media options offer students a model they can learn from and use to compare their own reading style and technique to. During my student teaching, I tried to incorporate video clips, sound clips, games, and technology into almost every lesson to reiterate and reinforce the topic of the lesson. The students loved it because it broke up the monotony of a typical math lesson and also showed them different ways of learning and doing math. They looked forward to that part of class each day.
Key Point 4: Interest is crucial in selecting books.
Reflection: I have probably said something similar to this on more than one occasion in my blog entries. I have seen students struggle through a reading task simply because they are so bored or turned off by the topic or story presented in the reading. I have found that students typically have an easier time reading when they are interested and engaged in the reading. This is especially true in many of the content areas (math, science, ELA, and social studies). For this reason, it is so important that the teacher finds a way to spark interest in the students prior to assigning them a reading task. Once students have that spark, they will be more ready and willing to read the text. I think too many teachers assign reading tasks without using any introduction or activity to capture the students' attention and interest. Students are bound to be less successful with such reading tasks.
Key Point 5: The length of the text does influence readers' perceptions of their ability to read the text and, in turn, their attention and motivation while reading.
Reflection: I think it is pretty common to hear students complain that a reading assignment is too long. If students have that negative attitude and perception of the reading task, they will either not read the passage at all, or try to get through it as quickly as possible just to get it over with. The author suggests breaking reading tasks up into smaller chunks (i.e. 2 chapter books rather than a textbook) for struggling readers. I think that is a great way to maintain positive attitudes toward reading and keep students motivated. Students feel they have a better chance of succeeding if the task appears to be manageable. Shorter tasks are much more appealing to students and more students are willing to attempt short reading passages.
Reflection: I agree with this completely. I would consider myself one of those teachers that lacks the knowledge, but I am learning how to make more suitable selections. While student teaching, I was given the reading materials to use and those were textbooks. I hate using textbooks because many of them are not suitable for the majority of the class. I think textbook reading is much more difficult and many students struggle while trying to read through a textbook. In my current classroom, I use picture books and newspapers to engage my students in reading. I think these are suitable for the population of students that I work with.
Key Point 2: Chapter books tell stories similar to everyday life events, but the author captivates the imagination by making these events larger than life.
Reflection: This is why I like using and reading chapter books. I like using chapter books that most of my students can relate to in some way. These books are much easier and more enjoyable for most students. I also think these types of stories create better classroom discussions and conversations because the students can and do relate to the events in the story. Students are excited to share their ideas with others after reading about a similar idea or situation in a book. Students can also gain different perspectives and ways of dealing with such events that they may not have been aware of prior to reading. I think most students would much rather read a chapter book that reinforces or shows some application of the content material they are learning instead of reading the content material directly from a textbook.
Key Point 3: Media are often essential for struggling readers to get a sense of the whole topic or story.
Reflection: I think this is true for many readers, not just struggling readers. Media sources such as books on tape and videos offer great help to those readers that have difficulty reading a given piece of text. Students can see and hear how they should be reading the text before, during, or after they actually perform the reading task. Such media options offer students a model they can learn from and use to compare their own reading style and technique to. During my student teaching, I tried to incorporate video clips, sound clips, games, and technology into almost every lesson to reiterate and reinforce the topic of the lesson. The students loved it because it broke up the monotony of a typical math lesson and also showed them different ways of learning and doing math. They looked forward to that part of class each day.
Key Point 4: Interest is crucial in selecting books.
Reflection: I have probably said something similar to this on more than one occasion in my blog entries. I have seen students struggle through a reading task simply because they are so bored or turned off by the topic or story presented in the reading. I have found that students typically have an easier time reading when they are interested and engaged in the reading. This is especially true in many of the content areas (math, science, ELA, and social studies). For this reason, it is so important that the teacher finds a way to spark interest in the students prior to assigning them a reading task. Once students have that spark, they will be more ready and willing to read the text. I think too many teachers assign reading tasks without using any introduction or activity to capture the students' attention and interest. Students are bound to be less successful with such reading tasks.
Key Point 5: The length of the text does influence readers' perceptions of their ability to read the text and, in turn, their attention and motivation while reading.
Reflection: I think it is pretty common to hear students complain that a reading assignment is too long. If students have that negative attitude and perception of the reading task, they will either not read the passage at all, or try to get through it as quickly as possible just to get it over with. The author suggests breaking reading tasks up into smaller chunks (i.e. 2 chapter books rather than a textbook) for struggling readers. I think that is a great way to maintain positive attitudes toward reading and keep students motivated. Students feel they have a better chance of succeeding if the task appears to be manageable. Shorter tasks are much more appealing to students and more students are willing to attempt short reading passages.
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