Module 4: Reading Reflection

Looking across Chapters 10 and 11, which of the understandings and strategies in the comprehensive literacy program are you already addressing/doing with your students (or have you done, or do you plan to do)?

Reading chapter 10 and 11 from Weaver's textbook  was very enjoyable  for me because it offered so many different strategies for many types of readers. I will be referring back to these chapters for instructional resources to help my struggling readers.  I loved reading about all the major components of a comprehensive literacy program  to get a deeper understanding of them. I am familiar with all the components of the literacy programs. However, I have not had the opportunity to implement all of the components in the comprehensive literacy program. I'm not a classroom teacher. Therefore I'm not able to incorporate all of the components in my own teaching. 

I do not have my own classroom. For that reason,  I do the push-in model  where I go into each classroom  during literacy center block for approximately 45 minutes daily  to work with students primarily in small guided reading  groups. During the literacy block, the classroom teacher and I would each meet with a guided reading group. I would meet with 2-3  groups when I'm in the classroom. Typically my groups consist of 5-6 students on the same reading level. The groups are also determined on the basis of students' individual needs at the time. At the beginning of the school year, I focus on early reading strategies with pattern books: left to right directionality with return sweep, one to one correspondence, locating known words in text, locating unknown words in text,  decoding strategies or fix-up strategies, and phonics. The classroom teacher would  conduct DRA2 (Developmental Reading Assessment 2nd Edition) to determine if the students are able to move to another reading level. Then, I would focus on reading comprehension such as building background knowledge, predicting, making connection, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determine importance, retelling, summarizing/ synthesizing, clarifying and self-monitor.  In addition, I focus on accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary. 

I have not had much opportunity to confer individually with students. I plan to do more individual reading conferences with my students. According to Weaver's text, these are some of the things I plan to do with my students. I plan to observe my students' reading habits, interview them about their book preferences and reading goals. Discuss with students on what he or she is currently reading. Have the students read  the book, and listen for the reading strategies being used or not used well. I plan to record the students reading independently on the IPad  After that I plan to have the watch & listen to themselves read and reflect or look for miscues. Also, I plan to take this one- on-one time to teach reading strategies that will help with difficult words, monitoring comprehension, reading to draw inferences and develop understanding. Most importantly teach the students to construct meaning from the text by retelling aloud.