ARTIFACT: The artifact chosen to represent this class is a slavery text set. A text set is a group of books put together to support a theme and can provide choice for students so they enjoy reading while they achieve the expectations of the teacher. This text set was put together to support teachers and students in my school as they address themes in their classrooms involving: human rights, social justice, diversity, history, geography, and / or culture. This text set covers a variety of genres as well as reading and interests levels for my K-8 school.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: Before this class, I used reading logs, assigned much of the students reading, and focused more on teaching the basics of reading to move children from one level to the next. I had not considered the idea of developing “lifelong reading habits”.
During this class, I learned to see reading from a different perspective. So much of the time we assign books and expect students to enjoy them as much as we do. The texts used in this class, “The Book Whisper”, “Igniting a Passion for Reading”, and “Readicide”, shed a little light on this. I believe these books helped me to see things from the students perspective and realize there are other options. They all encouraged creating life long readers by providing choice with accountability. I especially liked Donalyn Miller's suggestion of using Status of the Class. In the first month of school, she has the students report out daily what they are reading and the page number they are on. She expects them to read 40 books a year, although not all her students achieve that goal they do increase the number of books they read in a year. I believe these books also helped me to create my text set included as an artifact. I tried to build in a variety of genres, interest levels and reading levels so students could have choice about what they read in order to understand a given topic.
After this class, I am trying to increase the love of reading in the students at my school. I encourage them to carry their books around looking for opportunities to read. I am trying to increase the discussion of books in groups instead of paper and pencil assignments. I am also trying to encourage teachers to provide choice of books instead assigning whole class novels all the time.
STANDARDS:
Standard #1 Teachers know the subjects they are teaching.
This class met standard #1, because knowing the subject area you are teaching will allow the teacher to choose texts in a variety of genre in order to achieve the goal of what the students should understand. It helped to create a greater familiarity with the subject of reading and the genres.
Standard #3 Teachers understand that children learn differently.
By knowing the subject, you can also plan for the differences in the way students learn by allowing them to have choices, such as graphic novels, audio books, or an e-book with audio and dictionary availability. By allowing choices, it often increases the students interest in reading thus increases the number of books they read and their abilities of reading. Respecting the student’s choice of books and mode of reading shows a teacher understands that children learn differently.
Standard #4 Teachers know how to teach.
I believe this class met this standard by sharing a variety of ways to teach while still meeting the needs of the students. Some examples include creating text sets grouped around essential questions, providing choice to meet the needs of both students and topic being covered and providing expectations and accountability that accommodates and challenges all students.
IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING: This class has made an impact on the students I am working with since I have a better understanding of creating life long readers. The Status of the Class and stealing minutes of reading strategies as stated in from "The Book Whisperer" are just two of the strategies my students are being impacted by. They actually walk into my room asking to tell me how many pages they have read. When I am not in my room I will come back to notes from students saying they have borrowed a book from my shelves. One of the biggest battles is motivating students who are not naturally motivated to read or those who are struggling. This class has helped me to identify the roadblocks and figure out how to remove them. One student kept telling me nothing sounds interesting, he told the principal "I don't like to read." After talking to him and finding out he is interested in the Star Wars Series, we talked about other genres, such as biographies and autobiographies. We finally discovered the book, “Who is George Lucas?” Reading is a struggle for him, so we were able to set him up with Bookshare. Bookshare is a program through the federal government that provides books with audio and highlighting for students with specific learning disabilities. The other day he announced that he was so excited to start reading the George Lucas book and couldn't wait to get home to continue reading. That is the kind of impact I like to see! Even when I am not asking them, they are telling me about books with excitement in their voices.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: Before this class, I used reading logs, assigned much of the students reading, and focused more on teaching the basics of reading to move children from one level to the next. I had not considered the idea of developing “lifelong reading habits”.
During this class, I learned to see reading from a different perspective. So much of the time we assign books and expect students to enjoy them as much as we do. The texts used in this class, “The Book Whisper”, “Igniting a Passion for Reading”, and “Readicide”, shed a little light on this. I believe these books helped me to see things from the students perspective and realize there are other options. They all encouraged creating life long readers by providing choice with accountability. I especially liked Donalyn Miller's suggestion of using Status of the Class. In the first month of school, she has the students report out daily what they are reading and the page number they are on. She expects them to read 40 books a year, although not all her students achieve that goal they do increase the number of books they read in a year. I believe these books also helped me to create my text set included as an artifact. I tried to build in a variety of genres, interest levels and reading levels so students could have choice about what they read in order to understand a given topic.
After this class, I am trying to increase the love of reading in the students at my school. I encourage them to carry their books around looking for opportunities to read. I am trying to increase the discussion of books in groups instead of paper and pencil assignments. I am also trying to encourage teachers to provide choice of books instead assigning whole class novels all the time.
STANDARDS:
Standard #1 Teachers know the subjects they are teaching.
This class met standard #1, because knowing the subject area you are teaching will allow the teacher to choose texts in a variety of genre in order to achieve the goal of what the students should understand. It helped to create a greater familiarity with the subject of reading and the genres.
Standard #3 Teachers understand that children learn differently.
By knowing the subject, you can also plan for the differences in the way students learn by allowing them to have choices, such as graphic novels, audio books, or an e-book with audio and dictionary availability. By allowing choices, it often increases the students interest in reading thus increases the number of books they read and their abilities of reading. Respecting the student’s choice of books and mode of reading shows a teacher understands that children learn differently.
Standard #4 Teachers know how to teach.
I believe this class met this standard by sharing a variety of ways to teach while still meeting the needs of the students. Some examples include creating text sets grouped around essential questions, providing choice to meet the needs of both students and topic being covered and providing expectations and accountability that accommodates and challenges all students.
IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING: This class has made an impact on the students I am working with since I have a better understanding of creating life long readers. The Status of the Class and stealing minutes of reading strategies as stated in from "The Book Whisperer" are just two of the strategies my students are being impacted by. They actually walk into my room asking to tell me how many pages they have read. When I am not in my room I will come back to notes from students saying they have borrowed a book from my shelves. One of the biggest battles is motivating students who are not naturally motivated to read or those who are struggling. This class has helped me to identify the roadblocks and figure out how to remove them. One student kept telling me nothing sounds interesting, he told the principal "I don't like to read." After talking to him and finding out he is interested in the Star Wars Series, we talked about other genres, such as biographies and autobiographies. We finally discovered the book, “Who is George Lucas?” Reading is a struggle for him, so we were able to set him up with Bookshare. Bookshare is a program through the federal government that provides books with audio and highlighting for students with specific learning disabilities. The other day he announced that he was so excited to start reading the George Lucas book and couldn't wait to get home to continue reading. That is the kind of impact I like to see! Even when I am not asking them, they are telling me about books with excitement in their voices.