A teacher's dream

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth." -Dan Rather

All teachers should believe that their students will be successful in life. Teachers are there to mold and shape them even if the students like it or not!

What I got out of Chapter 9 was Taberski discussing her "dependable" spelling pattern word wall. When I was a second grade teacher for seven years, I had a word wall of my own in my classroom. These words were used as spelling words and my students would define and use these words in their daily journal entries. My student won the Second Annual Second Grade Spelling Bee. Her winning word was "anxiously". It was also a word in my word wall!

Keeping Up with ED 647

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand." Chinese Proverb

Involving students in any kind of lesson is always a valuable way to teach them!

Its been awhile sine I last blogged. I apologize. Life and all of its obstacles have gotten in my way. I am going to try and be dedicated in consistently blogging to you all for the remainder of the semester. I have been good in keeping up with my assignments but I haven't been good at visiting this blogg site. I enjoy reading our chapters and writing a reflection about the different startegies and skills that Taberski discusses. I am preparing for our upcoming Lesson Plans and Position paper that is due for our class. How about you all? See you all soon!

Teaching should be meaningful

"A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Brooks Adams

To put it simply, a teacher gives direction to all their students. It is the student's choice to take that inspiration and become the great person that he/she is intended to be.

I enjoyed reading Chapter 8 because Taberski wrote about her experiences about guided reading. During my student teaching, my master teacher used this strategy in her reading. She was in charge of two reading groups while I was in charge of one. It was great to learn how to find the different kinds of books to fit each child's need in the group that I was in charge of. Eventually, I was in charge of the whole class which was a challenge that I embraced.

Read Alouds, Shared Reading and Story Mapping

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another." -Marva Collins

My 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Zak was an awesome teacher. I remember that we had spelling contests in her class. The class would line up in front of her and each of us would get a turn in spelling a word. The first student to get to the front of the line three times would win the contest. I won many spelling contests. Mrs. Zak always encouraged me to read more to find new words to spell. At the end of the year, I received an award for being an excellent student in her class. She made me feel so special!

In Chapter 7, it mentions read alouds, shared reading and story mapping. These are great strategies to use in the classroom to improve student achievement. I remember having a student that had trouble recalling what he read after just finishing a story. I used story mapping to help the student with this problem. We labeled the paper with the characters, setting, problem, main events and the resolution of the story. At the end, when the student realized that he accomplished this task of remembering what he read, it was great to see him smile for the first time.

Retellings

"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank...but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child." -Forest Witchcraft




This quote summarizes why I became a teacher. I know that the teaching profession has many demands and is not the best paying job. I became an educator to inspire my students to become the very best that they can be. Hopefully, I make them realize that they have the potential to see that sky's the limit and everything is within their grasp with hard work and determination.


In Chapter 6, it mentions retellings. The activity of retelling involves reading a book to your students. After the read aloud, students are to draw a picture from their favorite part of the story. Then they try their best to recall the story through their writing. I have used this strategy in teaching. It allows me to see if my students understand what is being read to them. It displays their writing potential or abilities and how I can help them improve their writing.

Reading Success

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yeats

Even after ten years of teaching, the greatest feeling in the world is when I see the "spark" in my students' eyes signifying that they understand what is being taught.

In Chapter 5, it mentions running records. A running record is a method of observing and recording a child's oral reading using any text he/she happens to be reading. I have used this strategy in the classroom. My students read a portion of a book that interests them. I record my observations. Then I show my students their miscues and have them practice reading the book. The next day, I have the students read the book to me again. It is great to see their progress and over time their reading fluency improve.

A Teacher's Role

"The greatest sign of a success for a teacher...is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist." -Maria Montessori

Every year, my goal as a teacher is to be able to have each student work independently. It is the greatest satisfaction that I can have when my students are able to do a task without my assistance.

Chapter 4 mentions that the author at the beginning of the year gathers "just-right" books for her students and schedules reading conferences for each of them. The author also uses writing conferences and guided writing to see their ability. In my very first year of teaching, I used these strategies when grouping my students. At the end of the year, I did individual conferences again to see if each student improved in their reading and writing. It was a great feeling when I did see progress in my students.