What GOOD readers do when they read

Oftentimes, my CT has me work with a specific student in order to help her develop her comprehension strategies, and fluency; however, this past Monday, my CT was at a conference and the substitute asked me to take over a literacy group in the back corner. Relatively speaking, the students I was working with were about average in their reading abilities. Since I was unsure of where the group was, in relation to reading their stories and completing assignments, I decided to go with the flow, and just talk to the students about their book, how they were doing, how they liked the story, etc.

Once the group, five students, were seated and attentive, I posed the following question…”What makes a student a ‘good reader’? First of all, fourth graders have strong opinions about their reading and the reading of their peers. They are well aware of who is struggling and who is over achieving. Second of all, their opinions are very worthwhile to hear and understand, and I felt strongly that having them voice their thoughts and opinions, in relation to this topic, could shed a lot of light on their thinking, and why they think a certain way. I also wanted to convey an implicit message; that is, “How you think, and feel, is important to me, and I want you to take ownership in your learning.”

The insights they provided me with, were VERY enlightening, and I want to share them with you. I think you’ll be surprised at how intuitive, thoughtful, and right on, their thinking is!

• “Good readers know why they are reading something and they don’t just read to read, they have reasons behind it.”

• “A lot of good readers will look through the book first, before they read the whole thing, and then they’ll read all of it…they look for pictures.”

• “Good readers talk to their teacher and to their friends about the book they are reading. Sometimes, they will guess what the book is about before they even read it.”

• “Sometimes, if a reader is really good, they stop and write notes about what they are reading…like, if they don’t know a word they will stop and look it up, or if they don’t get something they’ll ask questions.”

• “Good readers can read really fast, they can a whole book in, like, a day!”

• “Well, if you’re a good reader, then you can read like you talk.”

As you can see…my students had a lot to share! I wasn’t sure where this question would lead us, but it turns out, we were able to continue this discussion for a good fifteen minutes. If you look closely at their comments, you’ll see that they’re right! Everything they mentioned is one aspect of what it takes to be a good reader. I was very impressed and proud of the thoughtfulness and metacognitive thinking my students displayed. Hopefully, their ability to understand what it takes to be a successful reader will help them in their own journey towards higher reading levels.

One Hen

I taught my literacy lesson the week after spring break. That being said, please forgive my short memory and inability to give a full and detailed summary/description of what occurred. Rather than present a full synopsis of my lesson (which would be quite boring, long, and dull, I’m sure) I’m going to briefly explain the general lesson layout, and then I will provide you with some insightful comments on the exciting, funny, surprising, and/or disconcerting outcomes of the day.

My literacy lesson was taught to a fourth grade class, and it was comprised of a read-aloud, a large class discussion (occurring before, during, and after the reading), small group discussions, and a written activity. The story book I read was entitled One Hen and it was an exceptionally well-written TRUE story about an African boy who encountered many obstacles, worked hard, became educated, persevered, and despite his many struggles, became the most successful poultry farmer in all of West Africa (and in the process helped his family, community, and entire country). The written activity required the students to reflect on the story, and engage in high-level thinking. I had the students write a letter to the main character of the story (Kojo), and explain what they will/would do to help their community.

First and foremost, I’d like to say that I was blown-away by how enthusiastic and engaged my students were throughout my two day lesson. My lesson began on Friday afternoon and I completed the lesson on that subsequent Monday afternoon. The students could not wait! As soon as they saw me on Monday morning, I was bombarded with questions; “Are you finishing the story today Ms. Forstat?” and “I can’t wait to hear what happens to Kojo, Ms. Forstat!” etc. It was very endearing. Not only that, but during the discussions, every single student participated; before, during, and after the read-aloud. Normally, I have two or three students who sit back and let his/her classmates take the burden of the work…not this time! I didn’t even have to call on students; they were happily voicing their thoughts and opinions.

That being said, I was surprised as to how difficult it is to facilitate a classroom discussion; as opposed to a “recitation”. In my lesson reflection that I turned in to Judy, I went into more detail as to how much I struggled in terms of taking that step back and allowing the students to take the metaphorical steering wheel. Honestly, I’ve tended to judge teachers rather harshly for their, supposedly, lazy approach to class discussions. I was arrogant enough to believe that they (teachers) were just too “stuck in their ways” to develop a more student-led teaching approach. Well, I’d like to take this time to apologize to those teachers whom I have discourteously judged. A student-led discussion is a difficult strategy to promote and I no longer believe that it can come naturally; this will definitely be something that takes some focus, and sincere thought.

Finally, I’d like to end this post with a comment relating to my students’ innate ability to empathize with human beings who may appear (on the surface) to be different from them. Before I began my lesson, I was worried that the class wouldn’t grasp the underlying themes of my lesson. I was anxious to see how my fourth graders would handle such issues as: global citizenship, poverty and poverty alleviation, perseverance, community, and helping those less fortunate. I NEVER should have doubted their ability. The thoughts and feelings my students shared were insightful, sincere, and extremely empathetic. The fact that these fourth graders are able to understand the importance of kindness, empathy, and global citizenship, when so many adults lack these insightful characteristics, is, truly, inspiring.

By the way, in case you are interested...this website...has wonderful activities, lessons, games, and information about the book One Hen, and about the country of Ghana. Make sure your speakers are on because beautiful African music plays in the background!

Recognizing Diversity

The ability to look at your students and see everyone for who they are…the color of their skin, the language they speak, their families, their likes, dislikes, their hopes, fears…that is what separates an average teacher from an extraordinary teacher.

When we discussed the readings in class this past Tuesday, we spent time referencing two specific articles from our course pack. Those articles were entitled “Culturally Relevant Teaching” and “Seeing Color, Seeing Culture”. These two texts highlighted the importance of recognizing the huge range of knowledge and backgrounds and understandings that children bring to their classroom. In order to create meaningful and relevant lessons for your students it’s important that you see these differences. In the article “Seeing Color, Seeing Culture”, there is an excerpt that states, “I don’t really see color, I just see children” (p. 31). This idea does children a disservice. You can’t ignore a child’s background when the walk into the classroom. They bring their experiences with them everywhere they go, and by ignoring them, we are basically telling them that they don’t matter, when to them…it’s all that does.

As teachers, I believe that part of our job is to empower our students. In order to do that, we have to acknowledge who they are, and get them to know who they are.

There are multiple ways to do this, as our reading displayed. One teacher made a point to take her students on a class camping trip when the school year began, thus allowing her students to let their guards down, and be themselves, allowing her to get to know them. I would like to create projects and assignments that break down my students boundaries. I would love to have my students create digital stories about themselves that they could then present to the class. This would show me visually and orally how they view themselves. I would love to have art projects where the students could be free to creatively present a look into their lives. They could create posters, drawings, bring in a CD they made with their favorite music. They could cook something that they love to eat or that represents their culture, such as Mexican food, Italian food, absolutely anything.

There is an activity I did when I was in middle school. My teacher called it the “Name Game”. Basically, we were responsible for writing a page on our name. Who named us? Why that name? Where did our name come from? Do we like our name? Why, or why not? What are your nicknames? Etc. This was a really cool activity. I remember discussing my name and my Jewish heritage was brought up, as well as my relationship with my grandmother. You can learn a lot about a child from their name. I would love to put this activity to work in my classroom. I would add another aspect that would allow the class to present something of their own. Like a show and tell activity. They could bring in people, things, anything they wanted.

There are so many activities that would be awesome to implement in a classroom when the school year begins that would allow the students to open up with one another and begin to establish a safe, comfortable learning environment.

When I was thinking about this topic, I wanted to incorporate some sort of video or image to help support my ideas. I searched "Diversity" on YouTube, and this was the video that came up. I LOVED it. Please, listen and enjoy! lol