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Mesmer vs. Hudson

This weeks reading were very interesting because we haven't talked to much about the process a teacher goes through when dealing with a kid who may or may not have a learning disability. Mesmer and Mesmer's article was very intriguing to me because I really liked the way that the RTI was set up and even though we call it something different at the school I am at, it's really quite similar.
The main differences between the Mesmer article and the Hudson article was that Hudson was focused much more on what dyslexia is, how you can see dyslexia through brain imaging and was less focused on how to help kids with dyslexia. Mesmer's article however, was much more focused on the RTI process and explains how the "RTI is a process that incorporates both
assessment and intervention so that immediate benefits come to the student".
I found the Hudson article to be very informative because I think it is very important when dealing with a disorder, to understand it first. For instance, Hudson, etc. explains that dyslexia can not be cured but that there are things you can do to make living with dyslexia much more manageable. This is a vital piece of information for a teacher to have because it could prevent that teacher from becoming frustrated with the student's progress or lack there of, and could prepare them for what they are dealing with.
The Mesmer and Hudson articles focus on two very different aspects of learning disorders but I think they are equally as important. Learning what a learning disorder is can be just as beneficial as learning a process in which you can go through to discover a learning disorder. I strongly believe that a teacher should be well educated and prepared to deal with students with learning disabilities before they enter their own classroom.

The importance of a classroom library

I actually really enjoyed reading Routman Chapter 5 because a classroom library is something that has been a big issue in my classroom the last couple of weeks. When I first got to my placement I was overly impressed with the organization and creativity of the whole classroom... except for the class library. Over the last few weeks we have gotten really into independent reading where the students are allowed to pick their own books. We observed that the excitement level has not been the highest with these kids and so we began to brainstorm what some of these reasons could be.
One of the things we came up with was that picking out the books was not exciting to the students because the library was so disorganized and it took the kids way too long to find a book that intersted them. We sat down for a long time and tried to think of ways we could re-arrange the library to keep it organized as well as make it a little more fun for the students.
This was a really fun project for me because I got to have a big say in this organization process. The first thing we did was organize the books into levels, then into categories. After that we decided to make colorful labels to let the kids know what the different sections were. Then I came up with the idea to let each kid pick out a book every week and put it on a "reccomendation display case". We made the library more colorful, more organized and more personal, then we sat back and watched for any changes to happen.
The excitement level of reading for these kids shot up immensely. I couldn't believe that simply changing the layout of the library would make such a difference but it absolutely did. The kids were eager to go the classroom library and sometimes I think they read solely so they could go back and pick out another book. They loved the reccomendation part and really found ownership of their reading through this. Going through this experience was so exciting for me as an aspiring teacher because it showed me how simply changing one aspect of your classroom can enhance the learning level in your classroom tremendously.

It's much more complex...

When I first got to Hay elementary, my teacher and I sat down and started to discuss what I felt comfortable doing, what I had done in the past and of course, what my program expectations were. Once we were done with the background check my teacher informed me that the task she wanted me to start taking over from the very beginning was the read aloud. She continued to explain that in her opinion this was one of the hardest things to do correctly and effectively as a teacher and yet, probably the most important.

Throughout the months I have been at Hay I have done almost every single read aloud we have had in our classroom. Through trial and error and a whole lot of feedback I have realized that reading aloud is much more then just reading a story out loud to your students. Reading aloud is a teachers opportunity to show the kids how to be able to comprehend a story and this takes a lot of conscious thinking and work as a teacher.

Routman gives a list of strategies that he believes has a major influence on reading comprehension. These strategies are almost identical to the strategies my teacher has given me in my own attempts at reading out loud to the class. The first strategy I use is making connections.I am constantly making connections throughout the reading, for instance, last week we were reading about an inventor and the week before we had read about a different inventor. Therefore,I stopped and asked the kids what they saw that was similar and different between the two inventors. Another strategy I use is asking the kids what they thought was the most important part of the story. I think this is extremely important because it helps the kids pick out central themes as well as gives them an introduction to summarizing since they have to sum up what they just heard.

Another strategy I have used that I see similar to Routman is visualizing. Sometimes after a page is read I have the kids close their eyes and try to visually imagine what the setting or character might look like. The students love this activity and I think it helps them create a better connection to the story. Finally, one of the main strategies I use is prediction. Getting the students to predict is a great way for the kids to really think critically about what is going on in the story. They turn it into a competition sometimes and absolutely love it when they are right. Making predictions is one of the best ways to get the kids to really think about what is going on in the plot and it helps them feel a personal connection to what they are reading.

Reading out loud to my students has been one of the most rewarding learning experiences for me so far. I have seen myself grow so much as a teacher and have really seen the impact on student learning when I help the students make connections. Reading both Routman and Cooper made me even more sure that reading out loud to your students takes a lot of skill and practice.

Demonstrating that I am a reader

Living in a house with two other teachers has probably been one of the most helpful aspects in my own journey to becoming a teacher. It is amazing how many ideas I have gotten from hearing them talk about their own teaching experiences and learning both from the good and the bad things that they have tried. One of my roommates teaches middle school and she explained to me that one of the most helpful tools she uses to help her students become excellent readers is posting her own book list on the front of her desk. This book list serves many purposes. For one, it helps keep her accountable by making her read a middle school level book every couple weeks. This allows her to know what the children are talking about and helps keep her connected to her students. Secondly, this allows her students to see that she is a reader herself and that she doesn't just want them to read but she finds reading important for herself as well. Third, this gives her the opportunity to recommend good books to her students and she is able to give detailed summaries about different books.
The reason I found this advice so helpful is because these kids look up to and respect their teachers and I think that as a teacher, showing students that you are a reader and are excited about reading can really impact their own views on reading. I can see myself using this in my own classroom even if I am teaching at a younger level. Showing my students that I am a consistent reader is very important in helping them see the importance of reading. I could see myself maybe even creating two lists. A list of 'adult' books that I enjoy as well as a list of books that I recommend for them. Helping kids find the excitement is reading is in my opinion one of the most important things you can do as a teacher.

Spelling in the 1st grade

There are many aspects of spelling instruction that I have read in this article that are similar to what I am seeing in my classroom. However, the aspect that I see most prevalent in my classroom in teaching kids how to spell is teaching them through board games and card games. The master teacher in my classroom is a huge believer in using games to help her first graders learn. She has been teaching for many years and has realized that that no matter how hard she tries, she can not excite a child with a spelling test the way she can excite them with a competitive game.
She uses games that reflect spelling patterns, for instance, she has a game that has a stack of word endings, (ed,es,ing) and then it has a stack of beginning words (shar,be,try). The kids have one minute to make as many words as they can and the kid who creates the most legitimate words at the end of one minute wins.
Another similarity I found in the article and my classroom is spelling journals. The students in my classroom all have a spelling journal in their desk and are encouraged to write down a word or word pattern anytime they see aomething that they don't know or that excites them. I have seen students write down words in the middle of a science lesson that they had found helpful or interesting. My teachers goal is that at the end of the year the students will have a journal of words that they have written down and she hopes that they will feel passionately about these words since they are words that they have created on their own.
I have realized that spelling is a tricky thing in the first grade because a lot of the writing lessons that are required in my school want the kids to focus on content and not spelling. This is why my teacher tries to teach spelling in separate lessons and in a more creative way such as board games or spelling journals. So far I have found that my teacher's creative techniques have been more affective then the traditional spelling tests and I plan on trying to find creative ways to teach my own students how to spell when I become a teacher.