Chapter 10 does an excellent job of outlining various strategies of a comprehensive literacy program. There are many major components that make up a comprehensive literacy program that teachers should strive to include in their teaching. I just finished my undergraduate degree and thus my teaching experience is limited to my student teaching and internship. I have no had the opportunity to have my own classroom yet, and thus have not had experience will all of the strategies listed in the text. I am familiar with all of them and have thankfully incorporated quite a few of them into my own teaching. However, there are many that I do not have experience with and would like to try when the opportunity presents itself.
I am a huge believer in the importance of Read-Alouds. This strategy allows teachers to demonstrate reading with expression. Like the book suggests, read-alouds give me the opportunity to read books to my students that they would not be able to read themselves. I tried to include a read-aloud in almost every subject area. I found them to be most beneficial when teaching social studies. Historical read-alouds tend to have much larger and more complex words that young children aren't quite reader for. These books however are full of important information that will help my students in understanding the topic at hand. My students were engaged in the story, asked high level comprehension questions, and became interested in learning more about social studies. I also liked the end the day reading a chapter book to my students when we had extra time left during pick up.
Journals are also a component of a comprehensive literacy program. My students each had a writing journal in which they were able to write during the language arts/reading block. As a center, students could get out their journals and write about anything that came to mind. At the beginning of the year, we did an activity together to list possible writing topics. This cut down on their inability to think of something to write about and refreshed their memory on topics they might enjoy journaling about. Students were required to included mostly writing in their journal but were allowed to add a drawing to accompany their story or thoughts. Their journals also provided a great way to show parents how much their student had progressed over the course of the year by comparing the beginning to the end of the year writings.
One are of improvement that I would like to see is in reading conferences. I had writing conferences with students to look over their journals, but did not take the time to discuss what students were reading. Children love to share about their favorite story or the really cool character in their book. This also promotes a love for reading and encourages students to read more since they love to share about it. I love Weaver's idea about having students read some of their book to the teacher. This allows the teacher to assess reading strategies being used as well as whether or not the student is reading a text that suits their reading abilities. With my next group of students, I will definitely try to incorporate reading conferences.
Reading conferences is something I want to implement in my classroom too. Like you, I had writing conferences with my students, but I think it will be beneficial for them to talk about their reading as well. I also like that students read their own book to their teacher. What a great way for students to practice reading fluently in an individual environment with a book they actually enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteReading conferences is a great addition to any classroom. I had always had writing conferences in my classroom, and I could see the benefit it had on my students' writing. After reading numerous Blogs about reading, I came across information about reading conferences. Last year, I decided to try it and see how it would work in my own classroom. I have to say it's still a work in progress as I'm trying to get a handle on it. But, I can say I did see improvements in my students' reading from the discussions we had. It allowed me to focus more on their individual reading needs and provide strategies that would help with their reading. Next year, I plan to work out my issues I had with reading conferences. It mostly it had to do with the time it took to have conferences with my students. I always felt rushed during reading when meeting with students. Like I said, it’s a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteHi Madison,
ReplyDeleteLike you my teaching experience in the classroom is very limited to my internship and student teaching.My favorite things to do with the students are read-alouds and shared reading when I have to substitute in the classroom.I enjoyed selecting books from different genres to read to the students and also allowing them to pick out the book that they want me to read to them. I like that you mentioned you read books almost in every subject area. I think that exposing the students to social studies and science books are crucial. I know that most often the students will read books for the purpose of entertainment rather than selecting books for information. Offering the students the opportunity to learn more about historical figure or historical event will help get their attention toward learning more about them. Finally, I love how you said that you read a chapter from the chapter book at the end of the day to the students. I bet the students look forward and is eager to find out what happens next right?