Blog #8

I really am enjoying my time I spend with my second graders. Me and Erika got a chance to do a small read aloud to the students and I believe it went well. I am really happy my teacher is giving us a chance to be more involved in the classroom.
One thing I find interesting about my case study student is that he only likes to talk about Minecraft: which is a video game. When he starts to talk about Minecraft, he won't stop. He will not focus on anything I ask him too. I talk to my instructor for Wednesday's class and ask her what I should do when it is all he talks about. She said to tell him he only gets three minutes of Minecraft talk during the time period we are together. She also said that I could have him read about Minecraft too me since it is something he is interested in. Having him write a letter to the creator or writing out tips is another idea she gave. I am going to try these ideas with him this Thursday and see if it works.

Blog #7

My experience with my case study student has been going better! I actually got him to read and write more for me. He was hesitant at first when I asked him to write but I eventually got him to. He kept saying the usual that he doesn't like to write. He wrote about Minecraft again but he wrote more this time. I told him he had to read for me and he tried to get out of it by saying lets read next week. I wanted him to read for me so I could see how well he could read. I told him he only had to read a few pages and he agreed to it. He is one of the lower level students in reading but he read fairly well. I am just glad I finally got him to read for me.

Blog #6

Lately I have been working with my field experience case study and I do not think it is going as well I was hoping. My student is really nice and seems eager to talk about anything but reading and writing. He is one of the students who is on the lower reading level scale. He seems really smart but just isn't interested in reading and writing. 

When reading to him, he seems to get distracted easily. When I try to utilize some of the strategies we have learned in class, he seems to not want to listen. I will ask a question and he will half way answer it and start talking about other things. I even picked out books centered around subjects he likes. I had the same experience when I told him he was writing for me during out meeting. He responded with, "I hate writing," and then started to talk about other things. I eventually got him to write but he would not read back to me. I have no idea how to go from here but I hope I eventually figure it out so we both can have a positive experience. 

Blog #5

            For this webcast, Pat Johnson gave a lot of advice on how to teach students to become better readers. Pat Johnson discussed that when teaching in small groups, we as teachers need to make instructional decisions.  When working with small groups, it is important that teachers teach students more than just how to read, but how to understand the material that is read. Teachers need to teach them strategies that help build their reading process system. When teaching children, the end goal is to have students self-iniate strategies and behaviors while they are reading. 
              During this webcast Pat discussed three main ideas about how students read using the methods of meaning, syntactic, and visual. The meaning method is when students use pictures to help understand what they are reading.  Syntactic is when students will just know the words in the book just from speaking them.  When students use the visual method they are using their phonics skills. When reading, students should grasp onto these methods and use whatever method that helps them become better readers. 
          Not all students will be great readers when they first start out, so that is why we as teachers will have to be motivated to help them develop the reading strategies they need. I like the idea of students working in small groups in the same reading level. When they are in the same reading level, it seems as if it easier to teach and connect with the students.