When I use to dream about being a
teacher, I had no idea of what went into actually being a teacher. There is so
much extra time that needs to be put in that I would never have imagined. As I
got farther in my teaching education and even into this year, one of the
biggest things that scared me was writing lessons and not just writing them but
making lessons that actually made sense and went with what the students needed
to learn. When I had thought about my
literacy lesson, I had quite a bit of stress about it. Literacy is not my
strong area so I got nervous because now I was to teach Kindergartners about
literacy. After I got over my stress of writing a lesson for literacy, I
started to worry about how I was going to write a fun and information lesson
while using Reading Street. This program was going to be all new to me. I had
heard of it but never used it and that was a scary thing because not only was I
being a main teacher for the first time, I was also going to be using a program
I had never used before.
When school finally started and I
was able to get up in front of the class to start teaching and using Reading
Street, I realized that everything I had to do was not as scary as I thought.
Planning a lesson might be tough at times and still stressful, it is not scary
at all. The one thing I did discover was I had a strong dislike for the Reading
Street program. The more I got to use it, the more I thought; this is a boring
way to learn and does not work well for all different type of learners. One of
the biggest areas that I say this was when I taught my comprehension lesson. In
the Reading Street program, it has you tell the students about a strategy or
part of comprehension. Then throughout the week you will talk about this
strategy but do not apply it to anything the students are working with. After a
certain strategy of comprehension is introduced we then will read our big book.
Each time we read the book there are different type of questions that are asked
to the students. As I have done this lesson not only for my literacy lesson but
from the beginning of the year, I have discovered that this set up does not really
show students what comprehension truly is and how it truly helps us when reading.
Plus the kids know what we are going to do so no matter what the book is, when
I pull out the big book the kids all moan because they don’t want to do it.
After I had taught my lesson and
the more I work with Reading Street, I think how I can change how comprehension
is taught in the most effective way but that is also fun. I believe a great way
to do this is by doing centers. This would also help the students be better
focused at what they are doing. I know when we are in a whole group, it tends
to be quite a chunk of time and I can tell the students are losing interest and
that then affects how they listen and the students around them listen. Then
centers would also allow me to work with all the students in smaller groups up I
could also set it up so that the students have plenty of time to practice what
I have taught them. I would still be able to use our big book because there are
smaller versions of it that would allow me to work with the smaller group. Then
after our groups are done for the day, we can re-group as a whole class to
quickly talk about we learned. Then we can move on to the next Reading Street
activity.
In our book Strategies that Work, it takes about the gradual release of
responsibility as a way to teach comprehension. I think this way of teaching
would go great with the center idea. The students could get the teacher modeling
and guided practice when they are at the center that works with the teacher but
then they get collaborative practice when working with their classmates in the
centers and the same goes for independent practice. This would also be helpful when I am working
with students that are on different levels of learning. I can divide the groups
up the best way I believe for my class. Then at the center work I can differentiate
by the level of books that are being used or the amount of work that the groups
have to do. This would also allow me to assess my students better because I am
not trying to listen to whole twenty-four kids but I can really listen and
questions four to five kids. This would let me see what they truly know and not
what the rest of the class has told them.
When I started out the year I was
nervous that I would not be able create the best lesson I can or use the
Reading Street program to the best of my ability but through my unit lesson I
have found out that both of those things are something I can do. Even though I
don’t agree with how Reading Street teaches literacy, I have realized that I
can work on tweaking the program to fit my teaching and my classes. I also know
that in my teaching career I am going to encounter some programs that I don’t like
or teach in a different way, I have confidence in myself that I can use it the
best way possible.
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