The final letter is addressed to Beers' student named George. Georgre has been a recurring example throughout the entire novel as an example of how she failed him as areading teacher.
I think the final chapter is good in that it teaches about reflection on our teaching styles, not just what we teach. If we can learn from our mistakes and become more independent teachers we can become better teachers. All in all I really liked this book. It gave personal anecdotes and provided multiple methods for reaching each goal. if one way didn't work try another. i think this is good, because each student is different and the same methods won't always work twice.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ch. 13 Creating the confidence to respond
This chapter discussed ways to maek your classroom an enviorment where kids feel they can respond to questions. This follows along the safe-and-fun learning enviormant ideal taught to me in my classroom mangement class. If the kids feel safe in your class they will be more likely to answer.
I particualrly liked the section on the ways to engage the students. I liked the large discussion groups idea. I have been a big fan of socratic seminars since High School. Socratic Seminars are basically large literature circles that the whole class participates in. Students ask the questions they want to ask and respond the way they want to respond, without teacher involvement. I plan to use these in my future classroom.
I particualrly liked the section on the ways to engage the students. I liked the large discussion groups idea. I have been a big fan of socratic seminars since High School. Socratic Seminars are basically large literature circles that the whole class participates in. Students ask the questions they want to ask and respond the way they want to respond, without teacher involvement. I plan to use these in my future classroom.
ch.12 Spelling
The section I found most interesting was the section detailing the stages of spelling development. I didn't even know there were stages in the development of spelling. The stages are as follows: emergent, letter name, within-word pattern, syllable juncture, and derivational constancy.
It would be important to know what stages your kids are in because it will help you vary your instruction. For example I know that if I can see how the student is trying to spell a word then I can figure out ewhat they need to work at. If they are trying to spell the word based on syllables, then I can focus on prefixes and suffixes to explain why the word is spelled that way.
It would be important to know what stages your kids are in because it will help you vary your instruction. For example I know that if I can see how the student is trying to spell a word then I can figure out ewhat they need to work at. If they are trying to spell the word based on syllables, then I can focus on prefixes and suffixes to explain why the word is spelled that way.
Ch. 11 What's after sound it out
The section I found most beneficial was the building a common vocabulary list on pg. 223-227. Beers listed several difeerent strategies and then fleshed them out later in the chapter.
This beneficial to me, becuase I did not know much on how to teach pronunciation and word sounds. I had forgotten being taught how to sound out words so it is agood refreher. I am going to have to study up a lot more on this chapter later, becuase I don't know if my memory is good enough to teach it at the moment.
This beneficial to me, becuase I did not know much on how to teach pronunciation and word sounds. I had forgotten being taught how to sound out words so it is agood refreher. I am going to have to study up a lot more on this chapter later, becuase I don't know if my memory is good enough to teach it at the moment.
ch.10 Fluency and Automaticity
I found the section on teaching phrasing and intonation directly. I had an issue with this just the other day when one of my students was confused by aphrase. The phrase was "Dang it, I was asleep." She was reading it fairly flat nd was confused about why he realized he was asleep once he wasasleep. I read it aloud with her to demonstrate that he woke up and realized that was sleeping, not that he had fallen asleep. I demonstrated how the inflection changed the meaning of the phrase, and you best your inflection on the text.
Ch.9 Vocabulary figuring out what words mean
Assign Word Study, not Word Memorization.
I liked this idea of word studies. In the past I have just memorized definitions, becuase people told me to, but that never really helped. It would be in my head for the test and out afterwards. The words that have stuck with me are the ones from My sat prep course from High School. Our teacher would make us use words in sentences, find synonms, and create analogiew; rather than just give the definition. It really helped me to retain the information later.
I liked this idea of word studies. In the past I have just memorized definitions, becuase people told me to, but that never really helped. It would be in my head for the test and out afterwards. The words that have stuck with me are the ones from My sat prep course from High School. Our teacher would make us use words in sentences, find synonms, and create analogiew; rather than just give the definition. It really helped me to retain the information later.
ch.8 Extended meaning After reading strategies
This section detailed what students should do after reading their texts. some strategies listed inlude make connections, summarize, identify main characters, draw conclusions, and question. This section was beneficial for me, b/c I had never thought about after reading strategies. I usually just summed up what had happened, or asked the kids to do so. By listing them out the ch. gave me alot of ideas.
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