Sunday, January 13, 2013

Goals & Supporting Reading


Some goals for the course:
§  Find strategies for how to address lessons to wide varieties of learners
§  I am curious what the best way to divide reading groups is (by reading level or not?)
§  Discover new and unique ways to interest reluctant learners



I hope to be able to teach in a school like the one I attended for fifth grade – one with a strong sense of community. I would love to be in a school where teachers collaborate and work together, where the principal is interested and involved with what various teachers/classrooms are doing, and most of all where the students feel comfortable and like they belong to a community. I guess you could call this my ideal school environment, and even if the school I teach at is not like this, I would try to work toward making it more like this, starting in my own classroom and working from there.

The Hettinger article discussed ways in which teachers can support “underachieving” readers.  This article reinforced my goal to be very supportive of my students and to help them in any way I can.  One point made in the article is that just because a student is struggling with reading, it does not mean that they are incapable, or a trouble-maker, or not trying.  Sometimes students just need a little extra nudge to get them going.  Students need to feel supported, and know that they have what it takes to be a good reader.  Students also need to see the greater purpose behind reading, and that they will need it in their everyday lives.  It also helps if students to find books that challenge them at an appropriate level, and ones that they are actually interested in reading.

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