Literacy Week 3

Last week in my dyad placement I was able to listen in on a student who was willing to read aloud to me during free reading time. I was excited because my September experience primarily consisted of reading to the students so this was a great opportunity for role reversal.

When I first met these students I learned that many of them were already reading advanced chapter books. I was actually suprised by the amount of requests for free reading time. This let me know that these kids were readers! What I was most interested in was how well they could read and what types of things they enjoyed reading. I saw a few students caught up in comic books, others were reading thick and highly advanced chapter books, and some were reading picture books. Students at all different levels loving to read, it was a beautiful sight!

I had asked a few other students the previous day if I could read with them but unfortunately, one student told me that they would rather read alone, and another student and I were about to begin and realized we didn't have enough time to really get through a reasonable amount of reading. Finally, I was going to be able to see how hours of literacy practice would pay off. She began reading to me from the middle of a chapter book so I was unable to fully understand the story which now reminds me that I should have asked her what she had read so far in order to catch me up with the story and to see if she was comprehending the story. As she was reading I realized that there were at least 5 words on each page that she had a difficult time saying but her efforts were wonderful. She sounded out the letters and gave it her best shot. Even if she misprounounced a word I was careful to not correct every mistake because I was learning the importance of fluency. I wanted her to feel comfortable enough to keep reading with me and if she asked me to help her with a word then I would. I learned this lesson when we were working on our writing skills. Because I am still new to this classroom I am unsure on their use of phonics strategies. For this student in particular I was able to see the use of breif scimming and letter recognition.

I am still at the point where I am trying to learn how to assess students without doing formal assessments.