My reflections on Ch. 1:
1-2. My very first classroom would be considered unheard of now. I had a
straight grade six with only 16 students. I had very few resources in my
classroom, and even less experience. I knew I needed to share my love of
reading, but didn't quite know how to do it yet. We did engage in daily
read-alouds from some of my favourites - this was probably the most successful
part of my language program then. The students also had daily indepedent
reading, which they grew to love, but I had no idea how to tie it into the
reading strategies (I wasn't even that familiar with the reading strategies
then, myself). The bulk of my language program unfortunately, consisted of
reading the stories and completing the activities in the basal readers I had in
my class. I tried to supplement this program with engaging discussions and fun
activities I would find, but I knew this wasn't enough. I also lovingly
planned whole class novel studies. I chose books wisely, and I tried to
innovative and dynamic teaching the lessons, but I always lost a few a students
(and a few students out of only 16 students was too many for me). I knew there
had to be a better way. I also started reading and consulting as many
professional resources I could find, and begged my principals to let me attend
any available PD sessions. I think the first professional resource I read in
my first year was Nancie Atwell's In the Middle (which Donalyn mentions in her
book). But the one thing I haven't changed over the years is that we keep
reading. My students still read independently every day and I continue my
daily read-alouds. My class library has grown exponentially (and my previous
students keep coming back to borrow books), and my read-aloud choices may
change, but we keep reading.
3. These experiences have taught me that it's so important that I continue to
learn in order to help my students continue to learn. I know I don't have 'the
perfect program' yet, and I'm sure I'll never think my program is perfect, but
this is what drives me to keep on learning. I try to read 4 -5 professional
reading resources each year, and take a few great ideas from each book. I
continue to beg to go to PD opportunities and workshops. Right now my main
focus is integrating more technology into my language program. Through a
proposal I submitted late last year, I was fortunate to get a SMARTboard for my
classroom. I also have my own ELMO for the classroom, too. I have been quite
successful creating engaging and entertaining lessons for my students, but most
of these are whole-group activities. I don't feel I'm doing a good enough job
differentiating these lessons for all my learners.
4. Donalyn speaks of the belief by some that it's important for students to
complete activities and assignments as validation they have learned something
from the book. As my school will delve more deeply into student portfolios and
demonstrations for parents next year, I worry that this will be my battle. I
hope that I will learn how to show that my students ARE learning something
while they are learning to love reading - something I may not be able to show
on a worksheet.
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