Blog Post #7 Chapter 4: Teach with a Sense of Urgency - Samantha Guest

Teaching with a sense of urgency doesn't mean teaching fast, it simply means teaching to make every minute count. It means that you are aware of where your students are and where they need to be. It also means that you are mindful of the little amount of time that you have to get them there. The teacher must be mindful of the time, opportunities, and materials that they have to use with their class. It all makes a difference. I love how the chapter stated how important it is to challenge the students by introducing complex texts and skills. We can teach reading with a sense of a urgency by having books of all levels and genres that the students enjoy reading. We can also share our love of literature, model the reading process, make reading fun, having a set time for reading, and giving the students a choice of books to read. I really thought that these points were important to remember to ensure students become excellent readers. I was relieved to know that I am already doing most of these in my classroom but I can always make improvements. I really want to start making reading intentional in all areas. I think it's a great idea to model reading from our own lives and talk as readers because that helps the students to understand that everyone reads and it is possible to read and enjoy reading. I think it's important to promote joy in learning and reading. I loved that the chapter made that point because it's great to help students assume the role of confident readers and learners. With careful modeling, supported demonstration, and guided practice, the students can learn and value what they learn. By teaching with a sense of urgency we can joyfully challenge our students in meaningful, successful ways.

Blogpost Laurie Smith January/February: Reading Essentials by Reggie Routman / Emphasize Shared Reading Chp. 9

I found this chapter on Emphasizing Shared Reading interesting.  Even though my students aren’t reading yet, I can see how this would be helpful with students who are.  It would have been helpful to use back when I taught 5^th grade resource ELA.  Routman says “ Shared reading  is ideal for showing how any text works—nonfiction, picture books, short stories newspapers, plays, poetry, chants, novels, textbooks, periodicals.”  Students are guided through every part of reading to help with fluency, figuring out words, thinking, questioning, predicting, and rereading.  She uses it in every grade level for most of her reading demonstrations.  I particularly liked that shared reading encourages all student voices to be heard, moves quickly helping keep students engaged, and builds confidence and competence in struggling readers.  I had so many students who were embarrassed to read aloud and truly struggled to understand what they were reading.  As a new teacher back then, I struggled to find the best ways to motivate and help them to want to keep working on their reading skills.  I love the way she helped guide her students through the book Keepers by Jeri Hanel Watts and Felicia Marshall; allowing them to read along with their eyes or out loud with her as long as they are all looking at the screen with projected transparency.  Incorporating talking with a partner about what certain things mean in the book and reading small sections of a story together to continue the discussion could really help the struggling readers to understand what they are reading more clearly.  The shared reading process also gives the teacher many ways to evaluate students.  For example, have the students discuss why the author wrote the piece, share a favorite part of the story with a partner, draw or dramatize an important part of favorite scene in the story, read the last page independently or with a partner and have them discuss as a class how the story ends, or practice reading alone or with a partner one page for fluency.  If I ever have an older group of students again I will definitely give this process a try.