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Thanks for sharing, Tia! Kay Stahl was a professor of mine as an undergrad and as a grad student.  She knows her stuff! And yes, more comprehension strategies...because the whole purpose of reading is understanding!
-Danielle

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One of my biggest takeaways from this week would be from our Improving Reading textbook. On page 344 of the IR text, I found that there are actually different groups that one would categorize a struggling reader. 344 mentions, “There are three groups of struggling readers: those with poor decoding skills, poor comprehension skills, and those who experience difficulty in both areas.” It also discusses how reading programs tend to focus on decoding skills more so than comprehension instruction. While reading this, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to make both skills equally as important especially for young readers?” Right after that thought popped in my head, Stahl (2016) suggested, “teachers (should) spend More time providing comprehension instruction before students’ needs are so complex that they cannot be remedied.” Thinking back to my years as a student in middle school and even highshool, I had a somewhat difficult time with comprehension. It would be so hard for me to connect what the text was saying to what the author possibly meant. If more comprehension strategies were taught to me at an earlier age, I may not have experienced the same difficulties and for so long.

Something to share!

Here is an example strategy I found helpful when researching how to incorporate reading comprehension in earlier grades!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJL6aVmEuZw

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Thank you for sharing and for your continued thoughtful and reflective response! Yes, it is so important to teach students to engage with different types of texts and text structures so that they understand the way we comprehend changes based on those structures.
-Danielle
PS-I don't see a response for Padlet 5...

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One takeaway from this week would be from Chapter 7 in our Reading Turn-Around book. Something that was really, should I say an “Aha Moment”, for me was on page 83. The Reading Turn-Around book states, “Many teachers speak of helping students read informational non-narrative texts as reading to learn versus learning to read. Underlying that notion is the assumption that if students know how to read in one genre, they already know how to read in others.” I found these lines to be eye-opening as I never thought of young readers reading non-fiction texts in that way. I never thought of having different strategies to teach reading fiction versus non-fiction.  As I read on, I was able to learn about text-users. A text user is a student that is able to set a purpose for reading a certain text as well as understanding that different types of reading require different types of reading. Therefore, if we make an effort to make our students into text users, they will be able to read and respond to all different types of genres in a variety of ways.

Something to share!

While looking for strategies to create text users in my future classroom, I came across this video that teaches text structures, or ways that pieces of writings are organized,  for non-fiction texts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSGX34Zf82c

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Such detailed and thoughtful entries! Thanks for sharing your takeaways! Thank you so much for sharing the outside articles you found! Love that you dig a little deeper. And yes, if you only take one thing away from this class...please tell every teacher you know to stop saying "sound it out!" ;P
-Danielle

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My biggest takeaway from this week would be the running record activity. It was fascinating to see how taking running records with your students every day or every other day is one of the best tools a teacher can use. You can almost immediately see progress by taking these records as you are able to pin pint areas of strength and areas of struggle for your students. Although it is a tool that can be very beneficial, itis only a valuable one if used correctly. I have learned to not just give my student a word because they do not know it or are struggling. A bit of struggle is okay as it allows them to problem solve on their own. This process is much more beneficial as they will need to figure out new words on their own when reading by themselves.

Something to share!

While looking for a visual to better show you what I took from this week, I came across this article that gives 7 tips on how to make the most out of your running records.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/make-running-records-manageable-useful-bridget-stegman

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One of my biggest takeaways from this week was to avoid telling my future students to “sound it out!” Although this is a saying that has been said many times to me when I was being introduced to the world of reading, it only creates confusion for beginning readers. The English language is a very tricky language for a few reasons. There are many rules when it comes to reading and spelling, but these rules do not necessarily follow through when it comes to certain rules. Instead of using this phrase that is deleterious to a young reader’s process, there are other ways to go about figuring out what words sound like and mean. In The Reading Turn-Around, it discusses code-breaking, or decoding, and defines it as “the breaking of code of something that is already represented in symbols.” The book so kindly provides readers with a three-step process on how to break the code of a familiar word instead of “sounding it out.” It goes as follows:

1. What does this word look like?

2. What word would make sense here?

3. What word would sound right here?

These questions should be prioritized rather than the outdated and counterintuitive terms used in classrooms before.

Something to share!

Here is an article I found after class on Wednesday. I decided to share this because it gives even further insight on my takeaway from this week: To not sound it out!

https://www.adventuresinliteracyland.com/2015/09/why-i-dont-teach-kids-to-sound-it-out.html

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Wow! Tia, I read that article you posted.  So good!!!  Man, she is spot on.  Kids are dying to engage and learn! As teachers, we just need to try to tap into their interests and needs and make the learning more meaningful and relatable! Thanks for sharing that!
-Danielle

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Afrika Mills Blog Post:

One of my biggest takeaways from this blog post is that it is essential to not be passive when it comes to teaching your students about important matters that surround everybody, but especially students of color. She emphasizes how we need to consider how students that actually make up the vast majority are mislabeled “minorities” and tend to be treated as they are less than especially when it comes to opportunities. She asks her readers to realize that “proximity does not equal awareness.” By this she means that just because we want to constantly ensure that equity is presented, this does not mean that we completely understand how “race shapes lives in a racist system.” So, it is important to be aware and to show your awareness of racial injustices in the most appropriate way in your classrooms.

RT Chapters 1-2:

Chapter 1 and 2 discusses how changing the narrative in how you go about helping student that find themselves disinterested in the topics presented in reading and writing. Many times it is very apparent to the teacher others in the classroom. A common, yet outdated, tactic is to reprimand the student and somehow guilt them into participating. This almost never works as you cannot force a student to be intrigued by content. This forceful approach leaves both the teacher and the student frustrated. Instead, the book offered an alternative approach that includes turning pedagogies around. They also talk about recognizing strengths that are looked at as weaknesses to other teachers. The book gave an example where a student would draw during class and his teacher saw that as a complete deficit rather than something that could’ve been turned into a learning opportunity for the teacher.

Connection:

There were some major connections between the blog post and the two chapters of the book. Afrika Mills writes about how we need to look beyond what is on the surface. They all touch in the fact that maybe there is more than one approach. When a student is not doing the work that is expected, discipline and disappointment is not the answer.

Attachment:
Here is another blog post by Afrika A. Mills that I also found interesting!

https://educationpost.org/every-student-wants-to-learn-we-just-need-to-teach-them/

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Thanks for the thoughtful responses, Tia! Rita sure is motivational...I just love listening to her!
I can relate...I, too, had my fair share of discouraging or apathetic teachers that made school and learning feel hard and isolating; but, I take those experiences and flip the narrative in order to make myself a better educator.  I am positive you will do the same!
-Danielle

P.S. Don't forget that every entry needs to have a visual connected to it (a photo, link to article or video, etc.) and related to the content in which you are responding. See syllabus. Can you please add that response? See the last slide in the Week 1 Day 2 .ppt.  Email me when you have completed this, please and thanks!

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Part 1:
Something that really stood out to me this week in class was absorbing information from the TEDtalk featuring Rita Pierson. Many of the points that she made throughout her speech hit home for me not just as a future educator, but as a student. Throughout her time on the stage, Rita expressed the importance of helping your students se the glass half full as a opposed to it half empty. She spoke about her experiences in the classroom and how her positive, growth-mindset attitude was contagious and allowed students to not be discouraged by their mistakes made and to recognize their strengths and use those to conquer academic barriers they find on their journey. Growing up, I have had my fair share of discouraging teachers as well as my phenomenal teachers. As I grew older, I realized that it was not always me, it was the attitudes of my educators that either stalled or launched my learning. My teachers that did not compare my learning styles to other students and allowed me to see how I was smart in my own way is where I saw the best grades and the ones I look up to this day.

Something to share!

Here is a short clip of Rita Pierson years prior to the TedTalk we watched in class. Here, she describes a time she had a conversation with a student's mother about the importance of having discipline and time management within their child's life in the most clever way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lju4BweO7zQ
After watching this clip, you can relate it to the her previous TEDtalk as you need to have faith in your students which includes holding them accountable for their own actions
Part 2:
Something that I would loo forward to learning about this semester in TCH 209 is how to get students into reading. I now enjoy reading from time to time, but even still struggle to this day having a steady reading schedule.