Literacy in Practice

Well after doing my Guided Reading lesson, I have learned a great deal about my students and myself. I learned what I did well and what I can improve on. For my Guided Reading lesson, I read "The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body" by Joanna Cole. I did not have to provide background knowledge because they had just finished a unit on the Human Body. But I could have given them a quick review. I feel that I read the book to the students well. They responded to it in a positive way. They were very engaged and inquisitive. I walked back and forth so they could all see me and the book. I feel that I enunciated well and show excitement with the different characters' voices. I also feel that my lesson was a great idea. I read the book and then they wrote a few sentences about what it would feel like if they were the main character. Then I had them draw a picture based on what they wrote. I think that I could have explained the activity better in the beginning because they seemed confused and I had to explain it several times. I think that I could have focused more on the writing and less on the drawing. I did not give them enough time to write. But overall, I feel that it went well.

And after doing the lesson, I came up with a great idea for a class gift. I am going to put their pictures together in a Class Book and give it to them on the last day that I am there.

Observation thoughts

As I have observed my students more and more, I have learned so much about their reading and writing styles and needs. I have noticed that all of my students are good readers. Some are better than others, but I have not seen any one student really struggling. I have also noticed that some of them seem to be struggling with writing. One student in particular. She is a great speller. She is on a 6th grade spelling list. But she does not seem to grasp how to write on a paper. She writes all over the paper and sometimes ineligibly. Other than that, she is a great student. She is very smart in Spelling and Reading, but seems to struggle in Math (reminds me of myself at that age! I was terrible in Math, but excelled in Spelling and Reading).