Amanda Justice March/April Blog Post

Chapter 10  Examine Guided Reading

I chose to read chapter 10 “Examine Guided Reading” from Routman’s Reading Essentials for my final blog post.  As I began reading I found myself reflecting on my own practices as a teacher.  The chapter begins with stating that “Kindergarten teachers question whether or not they need to have it.”  In addition to teachers questioning what to do, they also question if they are doing guided reading the “right way.” 

As a 4K teacher I question myself often about whether what I am doing is in the best interest of my students or not?  I struggle with the fact that they are only 4 years old, yet I am expected to teach them so much.  While I know that interest areas provide great learning experiences and are developmentally appropriate, I sometimes feel like I don’t have time to adequately get everything in and have time for interest areas too.  In a perfect world, I would be able to go into interest areas with my students every day and help them further develop the skills we are learning in class, but making this happen in reality is much more difficult.  Somehow we always make everything work, but at the end of the day I still question if I am doing the right thing for my students or not. 

Some things that really stood out for me in this chapter were:

You don’t need to meet with every group every day

I struggle with this idea often.  For me the question is whether it is more important to meet with every group every day for a shorter period of time, or to meet with a few groups a day for a longer period of instruction.  With only so much time in a day, it is difficult to fit everything in.  It is reassuring to hear that you don’t necessarily have to meet with every group every day.   

·         Typically most of our teaching time focuses on accuracy, not comprehension.  Both are important.

This point hits me hard.  As a teacher I am guilty of focusing much more on accuracy than comprehension.  I think some of this stems from my own experiences in school.  I was a struggling reader as a child so for me it was always more important to accurately read the words than to comprehend them.  In a class full of students it was much more embarrassing to not be able to call the words than it was to not know the answer to a question about the story.  I am thankful as an educator to have opportunities for continuous growth and learning so that I may be the best possible teacher for my students.  I hope to work more on my comprehension focus as I grow as a professional.   

·         Most of the activities that teachers devise are  “time fillers”

I am guilty of this too at times.  During small groups I sometimes give students activities that are time fillers so that they will stay quiet while I am working with my group.  I love that the book says the primary activity for students not in a group should be reading.  When I assign reading activities I worry if this is the right thing to do or not.  I worry whether students are just talking or trying to learn by interacting with the text and illustrations.  Teaching 4K has opened my eyes to the importance of just getting books in students hands though.  Allowing them to hold books, look at the pictures, practice turning the pages, and dialogue with friends about the text and illustrations. 

·         Make reading the primary activity for students not in a group

·         Model what students do if a problem arises

o   Finger to mouth

o   Gently tap a student

o   Quiet reminder to whisper

o   Help students find a book to read

·         Publishers have mass-produced thousands of leveled “little books,” to meet market demands

I thought this was such a great point.  Just because we have a book, does not mean it is quality literature or interesting to our students.  I find it very difficult to teach students using a book that I myself do not find interesting.  When the pictures are bad, and the words are not interesting, teaching reading becomes boring to me.