Reflection of Semester

This semester has been my favorite one yet. This class was really what I needed for my teaching career. The book we used was excellent and I will definitely be keeping it on hand for when I am an actual teacher because I need it to remind me that I am only human. The discussions and projects we had during this semester were also really important to me. I learned about all these books that I had never heard of before, that I could potentially use in my own classroom and for this I am grateful. I think that this is the first class that really made me feel like a teacher and not just a student. I had to start thinking like a teacher, and putting my students first. I never struggled very much in high school, but when I got to college studying became a huge part of my life because I couldn't pass without it. I still struggle daily, but I think it is a blessing, because now I know how some of my students will feel and struggle.

I think I have learned a lot. I have opened up to being a teacher and am no longer in fear of it. I'm still nervous about being a quote "good" teacher, but I feel more confident about it now after this class. This class really opened my eyes to different genres of books, and different types of books like realistic fiction. Our literature circle book really struck a cord with me and I want to use it in my classroom. This class also helped me with strategies to use. Going into this class I had no idea how to help students who are struggling with reading, but this book we used really helped with that, and using the strategies in class was really helpful as well. Overall, I would say that this semester has helped me grow as a student and future teacher.

Chapter 14: Finding the Right book

I love books. So when I read the title of this chapter I was really excited to read it. I think finding the right books for my students to read is the most important thing I will do as a teacher. When I was a high school student most of the books that I read were at a higher level than my peers, but that is just because I loved to read from a small age. It was important to my teachers to give us choices because they knew all of us had a different taste and level of reading. I think the books they chose for us to read were not the best, but also not the worst. Everyone has to read things they don't like, but I want my students to read books that are relevant to their lives. Teaching the classics isn't always the best idea. I think you need variety in the classroom to keep things fresh and fun.

In this chapter, my favorite section was Fiction. I liked this section because it gave all different examples of types of books for students to read. Like Thin books, and books with illustrations, and Mysteries. This gave me a really good insight into how to pick books for my students to read.

Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond

This chapter was a lot about confidence in reading and in life. This surprised me, because I didn't think that confidence ever played a role in reading. Now that I think about it though, some of my friends who weren't strong readers wouldn't want to read out loud in class, because they do not want to be embarrassed if they didn't know a word. What I found really helpful was the section on When students lack confidence. As a teacher it is my job to help the students become comfortable with reading and themselves. This section in the chapter will help me not only help them read better, but to connect with them. If I can find them a book they like, they will keep reading books that are similar to that book, and their reading level will go up along with their confidence.

Another part of the chapter that I particularly liked was the Keep your Expectations High section. I think that today teacher's lower their expectations and standards to accomodate students too much. Without high expectations and standards students will never grow and learn more. Some students physically or psychologically can't do the work, and that is something we need to take in to consideration. But, some students are just lazy and don't want to do the work. It is refreshing to read something that tells me to keep my expectations high, because all I hear from the government is to conform to the students only give them work they can handle. I know that school is stressful and hard, but doing busy work or easy lessons doesn't help students learn. This chapter gave me confidence in being a teacher and knowing that I need to follow my instincts.

Chapter 10: Fluency and Automaticity

This chapter was really interesting to me, because I had never heard of automaticity. I liked how in the first pages of the chapter she really explained what fluency and automaticity are, and how they are different from each other. Automaticity is the ability to do something quickly without a lot of conscious thought about the task. That is just the general meaning, but the literature meaning in a reader's ability to recognize words without conscious decoding. Fluency is the ability to read smoothly and easily at a good page with good phrasing and expression. I think that it is important to have this distinction, because I thought they were the same thing. She did a really good job making the distinction in this chapter.

Another thing that I enjoyed about this chapter, as I liked in every chapter is examples of how to teach fluency and automaticity. I would think that it would be difficult to really teach these things. I initially thought that either you were good at reading or you struggled, but this chapter really helped me. My favorite section of this chapter is the measuring fluency part. I didn't know that there was a certain amount of words a student should be able to read at certain levels. My experience in school is that no teacher really ever gauged fluency. I think it is important to do that because students need to be able to read fluently. The steps that are mentioned in this chapter were such a great support for teaching fluency. I liked the steps for determining a student's fluency. I think that I will use these steps in my own classroom so that I can help students feel more comfortable when reading.