Monday October 20th / Wednesday October 22nd

Monday at field was one of the most fulfilling experiences that I have had so far.
My co-op and I discussed the beginning of guided reading in our classroom. For guided
reading the students will be separated into four groups based on current reading levels.
One group will be doing a guided reading activity while the other groups read
independently. The classroom aide, Sara, and I will rotate working with a group and
supervising the students that will be reading independently. Sara assigned me to my own
group of two male students. She and I spent some time looking over the book that the
students will be using for the guided reading activities. Sara went over the format of the
reading and questions and gave me instructions about how to ask them. The questions are
set up in a worksheet format. The teacher previews the chapter to be read with the
students through a picture walk. Then the students read the chapter independently. After
the independent reading the students come back to their guided reading groups to read the
text together. The students can select to chorus read or popcorn read. After the text has
been re-read the teacher asks the students the questions from the worksheet. The students
and teacher work together to develop an answer, and then the teacher writes the answer
on a whiteboard. Then the students copy the answer onto their individual worksheets.
This process is repeated for each chapter that the students read. Sara told me that today
she would model how the guided reading will be conducted for me as an example. I am
so excited to be given the opportunity to independently lead the guided reading activity
for my two students. I think it will be great practice working with the students and
meeting objectives. During our morning discussion Sara also gave me a binder of sight
words and asked me to test four students on specific lists. I really appreciate that Sara has
been gradually releasing responsibility to me since the beginning of field. I realize this is
all connected to Vygotskys Scaffolding theory. After having spend the first half of field
watching Sara teach (modeling) and getting little opportunities to teach with Sara
observing (guided practice), she is beginning to allow me to work independently with the
students.
When the students came into class, their first activity was to cut out spelling
words and put their desk number on the back of each word. I pulled my four students one
at a time and had them read the list of sight words that Sara had specified. I kept a
running record as students were reading the words. If the students read the word correctly
I checked it off, if they did not read the word correctly I circled it for them to practice
later at home. I like keeping record as the students read sight words because I think it is
good practice of listening and assessing at the same time and helps me to improve my
response speed. I think keeping track of these sight words will improve my ability to keep
running records during Dibels or other assessments in the future.
After I finished assessing the sight words with the four students, I circled the
room and helped students who were moving slowly to cut out their words. After all the
students had cut out their words, and numbered them, we moved into the rug where I
conducted the interactive read aloud.
During my read aloud I read a book about a square pumpkin named Spooky. I
previewed the books title and asked the students to predict what the book may be about.
The students gave guesses and some informed me that they had seen a movie version of
the book. I asked the students who had seen the movie to try to look for differences
between the book and movie version of the story. We discussed the differences the

students noted after the story, and had a short discussion about the book-to-movie story
changes that often occur.
During the interactive read aloud the students all responded to my prediction
prompts, questions about rhyming words, and raised their hands with comments. Through
having done a few read alouds I have noticed the importance of using prosody while
reading. The students seem to talk during the reading much less often if I read the story
with exaggerated tones and use proper intonation. I have developed a theory that students
want to be entertained while hearing a read aloud. They want to be engaged and want to
feel like the story is worth their attention. I try to remember these things while I am
reading so that the students get the most out of the read aloud, and the behavior issues are
kept to a minimum.
After the interactive read aloud most students read independently while Sara
pulled my reading group to model the guided reading format for me. She modeled exactly
the format that she had explained to me during our morning meeting. She then asked if I
felt comfortable conducting the guided reading group on my own on Wednesday (to
which I eagerly replied yes). I stayed with my two students to finish filling in their
worksheets while Sara left to conference with some other students.
The students finished up reading independently and joined Sara on the rug to go
over words with en endings. The students were then given worksheets with pictures on
them and told to circle words with en in them, and write the words on the back of the
sheet. I walked around the room and helped students to locate objects in the picture that
had the en sound in them. I also helped students check their spelling of some of the
more difficult words, such as garden and bench. The students went back to the rug whole
group to check their written answers (words). Sara had the students come to herself, the
classroom aide, or myself to have their papers checked before they were permitted to line
up for recess. Every time that Sara gives this instruction, it seems like more and more
students come to me to have their paper checked. I love that the students are starting to
come to me to check their papers and offer help when they need it. I am really starting to
feel a bond building and strengthening between the students and myself.
Wednesday was slightly a slightly different experience than Monday. When I
arrived in the morning, Sara asked me to help cut out drawings of people for a
multicultural unit. While we were cutting out people, I took the opportunity to as some
questions I had been wondering about. I asked how Sara ensures that every student
understands the lessons that are being taught. She explained that through the method of
conferencing, every student is seen and his/her understanding is assessed. I also asked
Sara about the differences between teaching in a Catholic school and teaching at Sugar
Town. Surprisingly, Sara said that the teaching environments were not that different. She
said that the curriculum, teaching methods, and transitioning from teaching fourth grade
to teaching first were the biggest differences. I have never had experience with a Catholic
school so it was something that I had been wondering about.
After that conversation, Sara and I took some time to reflect on some of the
behaviors that we have been seeing in the classroom. She and I discussed some services
and evaluations that some of our students are beginning to have and receive. This has
been a good experience for me in terms of classroom management and collaboration. My
field class has a very interesting mix of active personalities. Watching Sara take steps to
control the behaviors and seek advice from her colleagues has showed me how to react if

I am ever in a similar situation. I have always wondered how teachers begin setting up
the classroom environment in terms of behavioral expectations and this is a perfect
opportunity to observe the answer to that question.
After the students came in and went about their normal routine, they were
released to read independently. While this independent reading was occurring, Sara was
meeting with guided reading groups. Because it was the first week of guided reading,
Sara only met with each group once (meaning that I only met with my group once as
well). Sara gave me a binder of sight words to assess the students on. I went around the
room one by one and had students read lists of sight words to establish which words they
knew and which they needed to practice for homework. As I previously mentioned, I
appreciate the opportunity to mark sight words. It gives me practice listening for student
accuracy in reading and helps me improve my marking speed for running records.
The last activity the students did before recess was practicing the at sound with
cat cut outs. The students were instructed to slide the different onsets and practice saying
different words ending in at as a class. I sat on the rug with students and made sure that
they were on the correct onset and were saying the words. I sat with a student with
ADHD and helped him to find the correct onset and encouraged him to participate and
stay on task. This particular student performs at his best when he is being prompted.
Next, Sara and I took students to use the bathroom before inside recess. Sara
asked me to supervise a group of students as they used and exited from the bathroom.
While this was occurring, the school was holding a Cultural fair. All of the excitement of
the cultural fair, and the combination of students I was supervising did not mix well. I
had a very hard time keeping my students in line and keeping them quiet. I left field that
day thinking heavily about my classroom management. I feel that classroom management
is definitely an area in which I need to improve. Once there is a large group of children,
and they begin to disregard my instructions, I get flustered. I am hoping that through
interactive experiences I will be able to practice managing groups of students.
Monday 10/27
I spent my collaborative time with Sara setting up for reading workshop and
discussing upcoming events. We re-arranged the guided reading table away from the
library area where students are often shopping for books. Sara and I also had a discussion
about her decision to rearrange the desks from clusters to rows. It was interesting for me
to see a teacher actively manipulating the variable of seating to control talking and off
task behaviors. This directly connected to my desire from last week to watch Saras
classroom management skills in hopes of improving my own.
Sara gave me some student writing samples and asked me to conference with
students during their unpacking time. I worked with an ELL student for a few minutes on
the capitalization and spelling utilized in her writing piece.
After Sara performed an interactive read aloud and a minilesson, we broke into
our interactive reading groups. I met with my reading group alone for the first time. We
took a picture walk to preview the text, read the text independently, and then shared read
the text just as Sara had instructed. I asked the students questions from the guided reading
packet, and we practiced putting the posed question in our answer. The students came to
a consensus on the answers, and I wrote them on a whiteboard for the students to copy.

When conducting my guided reading group, my students were overall very

cooperative. The boys tended to get a little silly at times and seem to feed off of one
anothers energy. I was able to keep the boys on task by suggesting that we could begin
to read the next chapter if we finished our current work. Over the next few weeks I am
hoping to learn methods to better keep the guys on task.
After my group was done with the guided reading, we rotated groups. It was my
responsibility to monitor students who were reading independently after they had already
met in their guided reading groups. I sat with a student who has ADHD and read books
with him to keep him on task. As soon as a teacher walks away, the student tends to
distract other students. This poses a problem, as I need to monitor other students around
the room during this time as well. I am still trying to think of ideas to keep the student on
task independently so that I have more freedom to circulate the room and monitor all
students. I am thinking that I may want to collaborate with Sara about this problem and
see if she has any input, suggestions, or opinions to offer.
Wednesday 10/29
Today Sara gave me the opportunity to hold the Morning Meeting that the
students have once or twice a month. The meetings usually have a theme and the theme
of the meeting that I was leading was about reporting bullying to adults. Sara had given
me the outline of the meeting and allowed me to follow the basic format and select which
pieces of the meeting I wanted to utilize. The outline of the meeting suggested that the
teacher would read The Cat in the Hat to students and ask questions centered around
reporting bullying, or read short bullying scenarios included in the outline packet. I felt
that The Cat in the Hat was a lengthy book choice. Based on the group of students in our
room, I felt that the books length would be too long to hold the students attention. I
collaborated with Sara and shared my plan to utilize the short scenarios instead of the text
because of the texts length. Sara agreed with my decision. I also asked her about doing a
Shoe Greeting for the opening meeting activity. In this activity students sit in a circle
and each take off one shoe. Each student puts his/her shoe in the center of the circle. The
students then take turns selecting one shoe at a time and returning it to its owner. Once
the shoe is returned, the returner, and the shoe receiver say good morning to one
another. This process is repeated until every student has his or her shoe back on. I was
worried that our students may get too silly during this greeting, but Sara re-assured me
that she thought they could handle it.
The students came in, and after their usual warm-up activity, Sara read them a
book for their interactive Read Aloud. It was then time for Morning Meeting. Sara got the
students settled and handed them over to me to begin the meeting. I started by doing the
shoe greeting. I told students that we could only do the activity if they were all on their
best behavior, were good listeners, and did not get too silly. We did the greeting and the
students were very well behaved.
I then moved into the reporting bullying to adults content of the lesson. I
explained what it meant to report bullying and asked students to share some situations
they may need to report to adults. The students were awesome about volunteering
answers and all raised hands and waited to be called on. We then read the example
bullying/ conflict scenarios as a class. After each scenario I asked the students to use
Total Physical Response (thumbs up or thumbs down) if the student in the example

situation should have told an adult about the issue. I then asked random students to
explain why they chose to put their thumb up or down. One student put her thumb down
(meaning the student should not have told an adult about the situation) in regard to an
example scenario that clearly demonstrated bullying. I used scaffolding to ask the student
if she thought what was happening in the scenario was bullying. Through the use of
prompts and questions (did you think the students who were teasing younger kids were
being nice or mean? Were they joking around or purposefully being hurtful?) The
student changed her answer and understood why it was important for the child in the
scenario to have informed an adult of the bullying. After the activity we wrapped up the
meeting by talking about how important is it for students to tell adults if they see bullying
happening.
We then broke into our guided reading group. I have been working with my two
student reading group for a few classes now. Working with two students so closely has
pros and cons. Some positive aspects are that I have the opportunity to discussing things
deeply with the students, and can very clearly observe/assess the students
comprehension of the story we are reading. The negatives are that the boys sometimes get
silly, distract each other, and do not take the guided reading questions/tasks seriously.
Beginning today I have decided to use the classs good job tickets as incentives for my
group to work hard and stay on task. Whenever the students began to talk about off-task
topics, read ahead, or be too silly, I would remind them that they were working towards
Good-job tickets. This strategy did not work one hundred percent but definitely cut down
on some of the off task behaviors.
The student with ADHD that I have been sitting next to during his independent
reading time has been sustaining reading for a longer period of time. I am now able to
circulate around the room and check on other students in three, or four, minute intervals
while he remains reading independently. Once I have finished checking on the other
students, the student with ADHD is generally just beginning to engage in off task
behaviors. I can then use prompts, or ask him questions about the book he is currently
reading, to get him back on task. This is a huge relief, as I feel like I now have much
more ability to monitor the classs behavior during independent reading time.
Monday 11/3
Today I spent my conference time with Sara discussing that our usual classroom
assistant would be absent for the day. The classroom assistant generally leads a Guided
Reading group in the cycle after mine (meaning that while her group is working, I am
monitoring students who are reading independently). Sara told me that we would have a
substitute assistant for the day. Sara expressed concern about not knowing if the
substitute assistant would have experience with guided reading, and the substitute not
knowing our students. As a result, Sara asked me to take over the assistants guided
reading group for the day. It made me feel good that Sara trusted my abilities to adapt and
lead a different reading group.
When it was time to do guided Reading Groups I begin with my normal group (of
two students). We previewed a new chapter by taking a picture walk, and the boys were
getting a little silly with their predictions for what the chapter may be about. After I
reminded the boys that they needed to stay on task to get Good Job tickets, they settled
down. I often wonder what solutions or adjustments could be made to keep the boys on

task. One option I brainstormed, with Sara, that was not plausible was separating the
boys. This would not work because the students are grouped by reading level. Separating
the boys based on how they interact with one another would disrupt the entire readinglevel group separation that Sara has in place.
After my guided reading groups work time was over, I began working with the
group usually led by the classroom assistant. The group was slightly bigger than mine
(four students instead of two) and the students were a reading level higher than my
typical group. It was nice to get to see how another group worked during the guided
reading time. The group worked very well and was much more excited to offer
predictions during the picture walk than my group typically is. The students were excited
about the text and participated in answering all of the prompted questions that I posed.
The group took instructions well. Overall, I had a very nice time working with the group
and was happy to have guided reading experience with another group of students. This
experience made me wonder if students with higher reading levels are often more
engaged in the text than students who read on lower levels, of if it was just differences
among the student groups I have experience working with.
Wednesday 11/5
Today Sara had her evaluation by the principal. Sara expressed how nervous she was and
it reminded me of how nervous I was before my first evaluation. We talked about her
hopes that the class would behave and she expressed how happy she was to have me
there. We had a long conversation about how big of a transition it has been for Sara from
teaching fourth grade in catholic school to teaching first grade in a public school.
During our collaboration time Sara explained that she would be rotating the guided
reading groups so that she will eventually have worked with all students before the next
round of conferences. This way she would be able to speak from personal experience
about each of the students strengths and needs.
This group switch meant that beginning today, I would be switching my typical
guided reading group with the group that I had worked with on Monday.
I was slightly excited to hear this news because I had really enjoyed getting to work
with a different reading group during the class on Monday. I especially enjoyed the group
that I would now be working with, but even more so appreciated the opportunity to see
how different students work through the guided reading activities.
I met with my new guided reading group to continue working on the book that we had
been reading on Monday. The students were very attentive and participated in the picture
walk and in shared reading. Little arguments occasionally broke out (like over who would
get to begin the popcorn during shared reading) but overall it was a very easy group to
manage. As a previously stated, this group seems to be much more engaged with the text
than my previous group. I am wondering if this is a reflection of the different texts, the
different reading levels among the students, or a combination of these and other factors.

Monday 11/10
Today Sara and I spent our collaboration time mainly speaking about my
upcoming minilesson and observation. I showed Sara the minilesson that I had written

about the topic she gave me (readers imagining themselves in the settings of stories). Sara
read it over and gave me a few things to add (adding when a story is happening to the
definition of setting, and using the metaphor of readers making movies in their minds
of what the setting would be like). Sara then informed me that she would be absent next
Monday. She asked if I would do the interactive read aloud and if I felt comfortable
doing the minilesson. I told her I would love to do both. We talked about the minilesson
she has in mind, about readers adjusting his/her schema as they read.
We also took some time, like we often do, to reflect on the behaviors our students
demonstrate in class. We commented on how some of our more extreme students have
slowly begun to improve their behaviors. I talked to Sara about how much I appreciated
getting to watch her put her classroom management in place so that I could take pointers
from her. I identify with Sara in that we are both soft-spoken and very type-a individuals.
Watching the way that she manages student behaviors allows me to see what may work
for me with my own future classroom.
Once the students came in and got settled, I read an interactive read aloud book
called Leaves. The book was about a bear that watched leaves change color, and fall, for
the first time. The book was short, but it was not particularly engaging. I could notice the
difference in students engagement and their time on task. When we purposefully select
books that we enjoy, and believe will really entertain the students, the response is always
so much better. Taking this into my own classroom, I will make a strong effort to choose
books I believe the students will enjoy whenever I have the opportunity to do so.
After the interactive read aloud, we broke into our guided reading groups. This
meant that I was meeting with my new group for the second time. First, the group and I
filled out their reading logs for the new chapter, and then took a picture walk to preview
the text (the same steps I had been following with my previous group). I noticed,
however, that the students were much more engaged in the picture walk. They took the
time to examine each picture and make a solid prediction about what may have been
happening in it. Guided reading time got a little chaotic, however, when students began
getting called to the nurses office for hearing screenings. As a result, Sara decided to
have my group finish up the chapter we were working on, and then go read
independently.
After the students went out for recess, Sara informed me that they would be
having a fire drill a few minutes before 11:00. Sara asked if I would stay to help our
students get out of the building safely and manage the back half of the line. The fire
alarm sounded and all of the students quickly and quietly got in line. Our students were
quiet and respectful throughout the entire drill. Sara was very pleased with the students
and I was excited for them as well.
Wednesday 11/12/14
Today was my second time having a lesson observed by Dr. Selvaggi. Sara had
given me a minilesson topic of readers using the setting to make pictures in their
minds. I researched books that other teachers suggested for teaching about settings and
came across when I was young in the mountains by Cynthia Rylant. As I mentioned, Sara
and I had read over my minilesson on Monday, I had all of my resources, and I felt ready
to teach the lesson. The students came in and joined me on the rug for the read aloud. I
read a book that I had chosen called Twas the night before Thanksgiving. I used the

book to have students connect to their schema and make predictions. We also made a
quick reference to text-to-text connections. Reading the book was very fun, and the
students seemed engaged. By their willingness to answer questions and their remaining
quiet, I believe that the students thoroughly enjoyed the text. After the read aloud, the
students got their book boxes and joined me back on the rub for the minilesson.
I began the minilesson by asking students if any student could explain what a
setting was. The students immediately had trouble understanding what the setting of a
book is. After later reflection with Dr. Selvaggi, I realize that teaching about setting, and
teaching about readers using the setting to make movies in his or her head, should have
been two separate lessons. The students did not have a strong grasp of what setting was,
and that should have been addressed before I moved on to more complex skills involving
utilizing the setting. In retrospect I should have surveyed the classs knowledge about
setting, and then took a few more minutes to talk about what the setting of a story is.
Despite the difficulties the students had with understanding the concept of setting,
they were fairly successful in using the storys setting to make and describe pictures in
their minds. After I modeled reading a few pages and looking at a few pictures, the
students were able to utilize the text, their schema, and the books pictures, to create their
own mind movies. I could tell students were meeting the objective by their ability to
share what the movie they were making of the setting in their mind looked like. When
called on, multiple students gave sold descriptions of the movies they were making using
the settings. The students also demonstrated mastery of understanding why using the
setting to make movies in ones head makes one a better reader. The students were able
to make the connection that making a movie in ones head helps one to bring the text to
life and better understand what is happening in the story.
Although the students were successful in reaching the objectives I had set out,
certain elements of the lessons absolutely could have gone better. About half way through
the interactive read aloud, the students began to lose interest. Some students were
exhibiting off task behaviors, and others just were not engaged. If I could teach the lesson
again I would definitely chose a shorter text, or maybe teach the minilesson using a
different medium. This may help keep students attention for a longer period of time. I
am teaching a minilesson on Monday about how we change/adjust our schema when we
read/learn new things. I am thinking that I will try to incorporate technology (maybe
through a video) into this lesson. Sara suggested I use learning about what makes leaves
change color as the model for changing our schemas. I am thinking that I will do a fallthemed read aloud book, and then use YouTube videos to teach about what causes leaves
to change colors. I will have the students write why they believe that leaves change color
in the fall on one side of a dye-cut leaf (this will be students schemas of what they
already know about leaves). We will then watch the YouTube videos and students will
write what they learned about why leaves change color in the fall (this will represent
students adjusted schemas). Sara does not usually use technology in her lessons so I am
curious how the students will react to the technology.
Another aspect of my lesson that I reflected on was the lack of connection
between the read aloud book and the interactive read aloud book. The interactive read
aloud book was fun and got the students excited thinking about upcoming holidays. I
think this made the transition to the more solemn content-based book more difficult for
the students. Sitting through both read alouds in the same block of time for the students

seems difficult. I think I should have given them time to regroup, by playing a quick
game or stretching quickly, between the two readings. This may have kept the students
with me and reduced some of the off task behaviors that I saw.
Overall the lesson did not go as smoothly as I had hoped, but was a good learning
opportunity and opportunity to reflect.
After I had a conference with Dr. Selvaggi, I came back and met with my guided reading
group for a few minutes. We were able to re-read a chapter as a group, and answer a few
questions about the story. A few of the students get a little silly from time to time, but
they can generally be redirected with positive speech and prompting. The group in
general is very sweet and I enjoy working with them. Beginning Monday we will be
switching groups again, and I will be working with a new guided reading group of two
male students. The one student has proven to be a little challenging to the classroom aide
(who lead his group last cycle), so I am curious how working with him will go.
11/17/14
Today Sara was absent. There was a sub scheduled to be in the room. Sara and I
had discussed that I would be performing the interactive read aloud and teaching a
minilesson on schema. Sara e-mailed me a skeleton outline ahead of time. When I arrived
at the school, the guest teacher was not yet in the room. I took the time to get my things
together for the mini-lesson. When the guest teacher came in, we introduced ourselves
and I spent some time asking her about substitute teaching. I asked her if she enjoyed
substitute teaching and what some of the challenges associated with it are. We discussed
her classroom management philosophies and how she adjusts them to each new group of
students.
Once the students came in, the guest teacher introduced herself to the students,
and they went about their normal morning routine. After the students were all unpacked
we met together on the rug to read the read-aloud book. The book was about a family
gathering for thanksgiving. Before we read I asked the students to make predictions for
what the book would be about based on the title and books cover. The students were well
behaved and raised their hands to make comments. We read the story, and I stopped at
three different points to ask students to make predictions or comment about the text. The
students were on task and seemed relatively engaged in the book. I tried to read with
exaggerated tones to help keep their interests. After the book I asked the students to raise
their hands with their favorite part of the story or with a text-to-self connection they made
while we were reading. Many students offered suggestions, but some seemed to get
bored. Reflecting later on, I realize this would have been a perfect opportunity to include
a Turn-and-Talk, which has been one of my goals. After students finished sharing, I gave
students time to get their book boxes and get drinks before beginning the minilesson. The
students were talking a substantial amount of time to get their book boxes, so I used a
countdown from ten to make sure all students moved to the rug quickly. Once students
were on the rug, they became a little chatty. I stopped what I was doing and told the
students that we would not continue on with the minilesson until they were ready to learn.
I looked around and commented about how much I liked how certain students were
sitting on the rug and ready to learn. After a few moments all of the students got quiet
and waited for the minilesson to begin. The students and I started by talking about
Schema, a topic that they have been learning for a few weeks now. We looked back at

some of the listed schema the students had produced in regard to a few books they had
already read (located on file folders that Sara left for us to look at). We then talked about
how good readers change their schema to match new information they learn while
reading and use this information to change any misconceptions they may have. We
discussed what a misconception is as a class and I gave the students a personal example
of a misconception I once had. We then listed our current schema on why we believe that
leaves change color in the fall. After that we read the book why do leaves change color?
I asked the students throughout the book to use total physical response to show if their
before reading prediction about why leaves change colors was correct. We then discussed
what we had just learned about why leaves change colors and made a list of reasons on
the easel. I then reminded students that we had just changed our schema about why leaves
change colors in the fall based on new information we learned while reading. I reminded
students to change their schemas to accommodate new information they may come across
during their independent readings.
I dismissed the students to meet with their guided reading group, or read
independently, dependent upon which time block they usually meet with their group
during. During guided reading, I met with a new group of students (my third group so
far). This group contains two male students. These students are the lowest leveled readers
in the class aside from the four students who get pulled out for instruction. One of the
students is known to have oppositional behaviors. The classroom assistant who worked
with the group last week informed me she observed the student making rude comments
and engaging on off task behaviors.
With all of this in mind, I was antsy to begin working with this new group.
However, the student with the oppositional behaviors was absent. I worked with the other
student on reading a chapter, making predictions, and then answering a comprehension
question. I noticed that the guided reading questions for these students were much
simpler than the questions provided for the other groups. There was also an activity we
completed that was based around phonological awareness. The activity required students
to read a list of words, and then write each word on a white board while reading the word
again. This was different than any activity I had completed with any of the other higherlevel guided reading groups. It was interesting for me to see how the guided reading
books, questions, and activities differ from group to group based on reading level.
Overall, today was a great experience. Having Sara absent really forced me to
take control over the lessons I was teaching and over the classroom management. It
allowed me to step up and showed me that I can utilize classroom management methods
(counting down, using positive reinforcement, taking time out to wait for students to get
quiet, sending disruptive students to his/her seat) to maintain control over the classroom.
Getting to work with the students without having Sara there as a scaffold to control
behaviors really showed me that I am capable of classroom management. This has always
been an area in which I believe I could improve, so I loved having the opportunity to
assess myself on how I performed with the students.
Monday 11/19/2014
Today at field was my first time with my new reading group as a whole. I worked
with the group on Monday but my case study student had been absent, making it just the
other student in the group and I. I was excited to get to work first hand with my case
study student. I had heard negative things about working with the student from the

classroom aide who worked with his group last cycle. I wanted to experience working
with him in a guided reading environment first hand. I felt this would benefit my case
study and my general knowledge of him as a student. Sara had warned me that if he acted
up during guided reading, I was immediately to send him to his seat. Sara told me that
she believed that he would test me and push to see where the limits lie when we are
working together.
When guided reading groups began, the student seemed excited for his group to
be working with me. His excitement immediately began to fade when he realized that we
were going to be completing work. The student was hesitant to get started on work, and
did not want to fill out his reading log for the day. The other student in the group is fairly
compliant but occasionally feeds off of my case study students off-task behaviors.
Once the students had filled out their reading logs, we began by previewing the
chapter via a picture walk. The other student was engaged and providing predictions for
what was occurring in the pictures. My case study student was not engaged and was
suggesting silly/unrealistic predictions for what was going on in the pictures.
The next step was for the students to read the story independently. The other
student in the group read the book to himself using his library voice. My case study
student looked at each page for a few seconds and then claimed to have read the story. He
then taunted the other student in the group by stating that he had finished reading first.
When I prompted him to try to read the words, he claimed that he did not know the
words. When I told him that he did because he is smart, he responded that he is not. It
made me so upset to hear him say this. I am not sure if he was being serious, but I can
only hope that I first grader has never been told, or made to feel, that he is stupid. This
makes me think about what this students life may be like at home with siblings or
parents. I wonder if his behaviors have underlying causes and what they may be. This
also makes me wonder if the student does not attempt to read difficult words because he
is afraid of looking or feeling dumb. When I prompted the student to read once again, he
read some words by reading the initial sound of the word and then guessing a word with a
similar beginning sound.
When it was time to partner read, my case study student was hesitant to read once
again. I finally convinced him to mouth words as me and the other student in the group
took turns partner reading. My case study student then made a comment that he did not
want to work with the other student in his guided reading group.
After our guided reading time was over, I pulled the student to work on a guided
reading lesson that he had missed while absent. He was slightly more willing to work
with me one-on-one. We took a picture walk, which he participated in and then preceded
to read the chapter. He attempted to sound out words that he knew. He would read the
beginning sound of the word and then guesses a known word with the same beginning
sound. When he came across unknown words he would stop reading and wait for me to
provide the word for him. With occasional prompting he was able to answer the guided
reading questions. He did not want to write down the answers, but I was able to persuade
him by reminding him that he would be finished the guided reading activity after he
answered the questions. Working with my case study student one-on-one and getting to
observe him in a small group setting was very beneficial.
Monday December 1st

Today Sara and I spent our conference time discussing the wrap up of our field
experience together. Sara told me how much she appreciated everything I had done in the
classroom and with the students. It was so nice to hear that I had been such a help to her.
We reflected on how far all of the students have come, and how some of the more
challenging students have progressed in their behaviors since the beginning of the year.
Sara commented on how having such challenging students pushed her to branch out and
speak with other professionals in the building. Sara told me that she had been worried
about how I would perceive the challenging class after my first week of field. I let her
know that I viewed the challenge as an opportunity to improve my classroom
management skills. I conveyed to her how much I enjoyed this field experience as whole
and how appreciative I am of everything that she has done for me.
Next Sara told me that she would be introducing a time-out or break chair for
when students need to remove themselves, or be removed from a situation. Sara told me
that the school guidance counselor would be coming to help introduce the new chair to
the students. I thought this was a very good example of collaboration with other
professionals in the building. I would never have thought to look to the counselor for help
with classroom management. Sara is so resourceful and it is nice to be able to observe
how she interacts with other staff members and how she utilizes their strengths to help
improve our classroom.
After the students unpacked and did their regular morning routine, the guidance
counselor came in to help introduce the concept of the time-out chair. First Sara
explained to the students that some times we make not so good choices and need to
take a break, or that sometimes we are in a bad mood and need to remove ourselves from
a situation. Next the counselor expanded on the concept of the chair. The way that he
spoke and interacted with the students was very interesting. The counselor spoke in a soft
tone and used a mixture of prompting and complementing students exhibiting positive
behavior to manage the class while he spoke. At one point he gave the students time to
get up and stretch. He emphasized with them that it could be hard to sit still for long
periods of time without moving. He then suggested that Sara could integrate this
stretching into her lessons.
Whenever the students got loud or talked over him, the counselor would remind
students that it is not polite to speak over others while they are speaking. He at one point
told a student that it was uncool that he did not raise his hand to speak before yelling
out.
The guidance counselor had students brainstorm possible names for the chair,
which I recognized from discussions in other classes, as a way to have the students take
ownership of it. The guidance counselor told the students that the chairs name would
ultimately be up to Sara, and left the room.
Getting to see how the counselor interacted with the students was a good
experience. It is always interesting for me to see how other school professionals go about
their classroom management. I like to observe what methods they use and how the
children react to them.
After the guidance counselor had left, we split up into our guided reading groups.
Sara had given me the second group that I worked with (the second highest level group
in our class) to finished out my field experience. The students re-read a book about a
huge potato, and we worked together to answer comprehension questions.

I have been using an app on my Ipad for about three weeks as a white board
during guided reading sessions. I use the white board app to write out our complied
answers to the guided reading questions for the students to copy. I have noticed that the
students are very fascinated with the Ipad and all want to touch on it and draw it. This can
become a bit distracting while we are attempting to work through questions. This is
especially true if students are trying to scribble on the white board app while other
students are still copying the answers to questions. I have been thinking about how I can
allow the students to write on the Ipad during the guided reading exercises so that it is not
such a distraction, or such a pull to scribble on it while other students are working. I was
thinking of letting a different student write the answer to each question on the Ipad, but
the legibility of their letters becomes an issue. If the other students cannot read what is
written, the point of collaborating on the guided reading questions is lost. I was then
thinking about letting students take a turn to write their answer on the Ipad but that would
take an extremely long time (because each student must also write his or her answer in
the guided reading packet). I am going to continue thinking about how I can make the
Ipad more accessible for the students, and ask Sara if she has any ideas she may want to
suggest.
Wednesday 12/3/14
Today Sara and I were discussing how fast my field experience was coming to a
close. We are in disbelief that we only have one more day together. Sara again reiterated
to me about how much she appreciates all of my help.
After the students came in and got settled, I lead the read aloud. We read the book
The Hat. Before I began to read the book, Sara spoke with the students about how there
were multiple pictures going on each page. Before we read, I had students make
predictions about what the book may be about. Some students made text-to-text
connections about reading the book The Mitten. As we read the book, I asked students
questions about the various stories occurring in the pictures throughout the pages. One of
our more challenging students noticed that as the story went on the clothes on the
clothesline at the top of every page disappeared on by one. This was something that
neither Sara, nor I had noticed about the book. It really reminded me not to underestimate
what a student is capable of based on behaviors that he or she may exhibit. After we
finished the story, the students were able to find patterns to each story located in
specifically placed pictures. The students were able to deduce that the smaller pictures on
the left hand side of the pages showed the little girl whos stocking Hedgie was wearing
and what she was doing. The bigger picture in the middle of each page showed Hedgie
and what was happening while he wore the stocking as a hat. The picture on the left hand
side was a preview of what animal Hedgie was going to run into next. The clothesline at
the top of each page diminished as each animal from the page before took an article of
clothing from the line. It was amazing to me that the students were able to figure out
these stories being covered through pictures.
I was also taken aback by how respectful almost all the students were when I was
reading. We have come such a long way since the beginning of the year when yelling
over the students to read was a common occurrence. Watching the students raise their
hands to make comments, and how much more meaningful and relevant the comments
they make are to the text made me so proud.

After Sara taught a minilesson, we broke into our guided reading groups. I got to
continue working with the second highest reading group. We finished the book we had
been reading about the giant potato and answered the last few guided reading questions. I
then told the students that we were going to begin reading a new book about a boy named
Robert and a Rocket. The students were so excited, and it made me so happy to see their
enthusiasm for reading. We looked at the cover to make predictions about the story. The
students made very interesting and detailed predictions. I love listening to the things they
come up and getting to ask them why and how they imagined these ideas. After all the
students shared I dismissed them to read the text to the first stopping point independently.
Our guided reading time ended shortly after.
Monday 12/8/14
Today was my last day at field, and it was totally bitter sweet. Sara and I spent
our collaboration time reflecting on the semester. We both expressed thankfulness for
each others help and reflected on how student behaviors have changed over time as we
usually do. We then talked about Saras district observation that was occurring today.
She expressed how nervous she was and how she hoped that the positive behavior
supports we had put in place would help to keep the students on track during her
observation.
Once the observation began, the students sat on the rug for a guided read aloud.
Some of our more challenging students were engaging in off task behaviors such as
calling out or talking with a neighbor. After a few prompts from Sara to listen to the
story, the students continued to engaged in these behaviors. The observer then suggested
that I go and sit in between some of the more difficult students who were located in close
proximity to one another to help redirect them. I took this advice and sat in between two
of these students. When the students were talking I redirected them to listen to the story
or tapped them and showed the silent signal. This did not stop the behaviors entirely but
definitely decreased them noticeably. This event really showed me the importance of
proximity as well as the importance of collaborating with other individuals. If I had not
taken advice from a more veteran educator (the observer) I would have never discovered
that cutting down on our classes behaviors could be as simple as sitting in the right
location.
I sat with the students redirecting them until the guided reading and the
minilesson had been completed.
After the minilesson was over Sara held conferences with students, and the other
students read independently, while I read with one of our more difficult students to keep
him on task. I noticed that the student was eager to read books with words that he
recognized in them, but quickly became discouraged and disinterested as soon as he came
across words he perceived as hard. I tried to discuss this issue with the student by
prompting him to sound out tough words and by telling him that it is okay to read tough
words incorrectly as long as he tries to read them. Between the prompting and a shared
reading approach, I kept the student on track for the entire independent reading block.
After independent reading, I lead the students in learning about words that begin
with the ch sound, end with the ch sound and words that end in the tch sound. The
students gave suggestions of words and we practiced writing them on our white boards.

We then played a game of Sparkle by spelling out some of the new words that we had
read.
The students went out to recess, and we ended our last day together with a read
aloud of Click Clack Moo. After the story I explained to the students that today was my
last day and asked if any students had anything that they wanted to say. I got a lot of
good luck at your new school and a lot of we will miss you. Some students asked me
not to leave, and I got told that I was liked, loved, and awesome. It was a teary
experience, saying bye, but I ended the day by telling the students how much I appreciate
our time together. I told them how much fun I had teaching them, watching them grow as
readers, and how much they helped me to become a better teacher. This was the best and
most involved field experience that I have ever had and I am so thankful that I was able
to be apart of Saras classroom.
This field taught me a lot about classroom management, how important it is to
collaborate with other professionals, and how I want to teach literacy within my own
classroom.