Lindsay Donahoo

Try it outs!
Chapter 1 Highly Effective Teacher
Reflection: Identify the characteristics of a highly effective teacher in your clinical
setting: Take pictures of posters, talk to your teacher, or make copies of ideas/lessons, etc
that describe any of these traits. Which of the traits do you feel the most apprehensive
about?
A highly effective teacher is one that the students respect, obey and listen to.
They are in control of their classroom, but they also make it a fun place to be. Yes, they
might have to lay down the law when the students disobey and get loud and antsy, but
his/her students know their teacher is only looking out for their best interest. I dont feel
like the things that make a teacher great can necessarily be captured in a picture.
Although being organized and the way they arrange desks and stations can contribute to
being an effective teacher, I dont think that those things make a teacher highly effective,
they merely help. The main things that make a teacher highly effective are patience,
warm/strict, consistency, understanding and observant. Im a very observant person, but I
think that I would probably struggle most with warm/strict, drawing the line when to be
both loving and still put my foot down when students are disobeying.
Try it out! (1)
Examine your teachers classroom library.
Mrs. Burtons kindergarten classroom has an extensive classroom library. The
majority of her books are against the left wall when you walk into her classroom. This
selection of books are arranged by themes such as: Favorites, ABCs, Math, Science,
Back to School, Our Back Yard, People, Holidays, Food, The Human Body, Fantasy,
Kindergarten and several others. Children can use any books that they would like. There
is also a bookshelf in the middle of the room with books that are on the reading level of
the students that they can read on their on. Students have a large zip-lock baggy that they
can fill with however many books they can fit inside of it (an average of about 5 books).
Students used these books when they are in their literacy block in the morning and they
rotate stations.

Chapter 4 Fluency
Reflection: Discuss the most effective ways to teach and assess fluency. Discuss what
research says about fluency.
Research says that reading fluency is an important goal when becoming a
proficient and strategic reader. It also says that the most effective way that students learn
to read with fluency is when they read silently. Fluency should be taught and assessed
using appropriate level text for each student. Research also says that students practice
fluency best when they practice: reading orally, repeated readings of text and when
students receive guidance and/or feedback. But when assessing fluency a teacher should
consider these four components: accurate and effortless decoding of text, mature
chunking of text, using prosodic markers and reading rate or speed. Overall I think that
reading silently would be the least effective way for students to become more fluent
readers. I think that repetitive reading would be on of the best ways for students to learn
and when they get feedback of their reading then they can see exactly what they need to
work on.
Try it out! (4)
1. Practice Fry words with students
I went over these Fry words with two of the students in my Action Research
Group and they did a great job, I was very impressed. Mrs. Burton gave me these words
to basically review them with the a few of the students, because a majority of the first
Fry words are words they have learned over the semester and are on their word wall.
Although there are several words that are mixed in the list that are difficult and they
struggled with, but over all I was very impressed with the words they were able to read to
me. Also I went over about ten words that were on the second Fry words page. They
definitely struggled more with the second Fry words page but they tried their best to
sound out each letter to say the word. Younger students like kindergarteners arent
necessarily going to be able to read quite yet, so learning how to read simple words like is
one thing that will help increase their fluency skills when they do start to put words
together into sentences in books.

2. Make a collection of Readers Theater scripts from online sources.

These scripts that I found online are not necessarily all for kindergarten. Im in a
kindergarten class during clinicals right now, but I dont want to only collect resources
for one specific grade because I have no idea what grade that I will actually be teaching
in the near future. Therefore I want to have as many resources as possible so that Im
prepared and have a variety of things to choose from. The students in my class at Trace
absolutely love Readers Theater! They love being involved and showing that they can
read. When we do readers theater we usually do it several days in a row so that every
student gets a chance to participate.
Chicken Little
http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/chickenlittle.pdf
Click Clack Moo
http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/cowsthattype.pdf
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/goldilocks.pdf
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/the_grinch_who_stole_christmas.
pdf
Three Little Pigs
http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/threelittlepigs.pdf

3. Use a Readers Theater with your class. Include the Readers Theater and/or anything
else you may have used during the process.
I read the book Mrs. Wishy Washy to the class and then used puppets that Mrs.
Burton already had got the students to use during their Readers Theater. I would read
and whoever is playing Mrs. Wishy Washy would say wishy washy, wishy washy, and
whoever was playing the animals would act out that part using the puppets. There were
four parts in the Readers Theater so there would be four students at a time that could
participate. We did two Readers Theaters a day for three days so that every student
could participate. They loved this and everyone wanted to be Mrs. Wishy Washy, even
the boys. These puppets that they used for their readers theater were put in one of their
reading centers so that they would read it more with the puppets if they wanted. I will
definitely use Readers Theater in my future classroom because I see how much students
love it and they are learning while they are having fun.
Resources:
-Puppets (Mrs. Burton already had these)
-The big book of Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley

4. Teach a lesson on a word family to help with fluency.

Design for Learning

Instructor: L. Donahoo
Grade
Level/Cooperating Teacher: K-Lesson Title: Reading words with the
letters
Mrs Burton
Y & U words fluently
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts
Date: 10/27/15
Estimated Time: 15
minutes
Standards Connection: Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial
vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonantvowel-consonant, or CVC) words. (This does not include CVCs ending
with /l/, /r/, or /x/.) (Words, syllables, or phonemes written in /slashes/
refer to their pronunciation or phonology. Thus, /CVC/ is a word with
three phonemes regardless of the number of letters in the spelling of
the word.) [RF.K.2d]
Learning Objective(s):
Students will recognize the difference between the short u sound and
the y sound with no errors.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today students, we will do our best work and show that we know the
difference between the short u sound and the y sound.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Students will be given a worksheet that is divided down the center and
one side will be labeled u and the other will be labeled y. Under
each of these sections students will cut and paste pictures that are
provided in the correct column. The pictures provided will either have
a u or y beginning sound and the students will paste these in the
correct column with 100% accuracy.
Engagement:
The teacher will show the students pictures of objects that have the
beginning sound of u or y. She will ask them what the pictures are
of and the first sound they hear in each. Also the teacher will read a
book called The Mutt and the Bug, by Cheryl Ryan. I need students A,
B, C and D to come with me to the classroom next-door for a fun new
lesson today. Okay friends, I need everyone to sit on their bottom with

your eyes and ears forward. I dont want anyone to miss anything.
Also I may have a sticker for those who behave and try their absolute
best for me today! Can you do that me friends? I know that you can!
Alright, I know that we have had some trouble with the sound of the
letter u confusing it with the y sound, which I can see how they
can be confused. But we arent going to let it confuse us anymore are
we? The teacher will have little pictures of objects with either the
beginning sound u and y. Im going to hold up a picture and I want
you to tell me what the picture is of and what is the first sound that
you hear. The teacher will hold up four different pictures, two of the
pictures will have the beginning sound u and two of them will have
the beginning sound y. The first picture the teacher holds up is of
the color yellow. Here is the first picture, what color is this? Yes,
yellow! What is the first sound that you hear? Yes yuh! What letter
sounds like yuh? The next picture will be of an umbrella. Here is our
next picture, who can tell me what this is? Yes thats right, its an
umbrella. What is the first sound that you hear in that word? Yes,
uh. What letter sounds like uh? Yes, u sounds like that doesnt
it? Two more picture guys! The next picture will be a picture of a yoyo. Okay, what is this is a picture of? Yes, a yo-yo! What is the first
sound that you hear in the word yo-yo? Yes, yuh! You guys are
doing such a good job, one more and we are going to get started! The
last picture will be a n arrow pointing up, that stands for the word up.
Last picture friends, where is the arrow in the picture pointing? Yes,
up! What is the first sound in the word up? Yes uh. You guys did
such a good job! Now that we have reviewed the sounds I want to
read you a story called The Mutt and the Bug by Cheryl Ryan. What do
you think this story is about? Yes, a mutt and a bug. Can anyone tell
me what a mutt is? Yes, its a dog isnt it? Thats right! (Transition to
teaching)
Learning Design:
I. Teaching: The teacher will read the book The Mutt and the Bug by
Cheryl Ryan. Before she starts reading the story she will ask the
students to listen and pay attention. I want you all to make the uh
sound that the letter u makes. What does your mouth do when you
make that sound? Before I read the book The Mutt and the Bug I want
each of you to sit on your bottom and put on your listening ears! Can
you do that for me? What sound do you make when you see a ugly
bug and want to smash it? What about the sound uh!? Well that is
the sound that I think of. And every time you hear an ugly /u/ sound I
want you to act like you are squishing a bug like this and say uh.
The teacher will show the students how to act like they are squishing a
bug by using one finger and pushing down on the table and making the
sound uh. Friends I want you to listen very closely for the uh

sound in the words that Im going to read. Like I said before, if you
hear that sound in a word I want you to squish your imaginary bug and
say uh? The words that the students should do this for will be mutt,
hut, rug, bug, jug, cup, jumped, just, hug and cub. Each time the
teacher says one of those words, whether they squish their imaginary
bug or not. The Mutt and the Bug. I already see some of you
squishing your bugs! Can you sound out each letter in the word mutt
together for me friends? M-u-tt. Thats right! Now sound out each
letter in the word bug. B-u-g. Great job! Im going to keep reading
and I want you to keep listening for the uh sound okay? The
teacher will continue reading to the students and each time she comes
across a word that has the uh sound she will stop and discuss that
word and the sounds with the students.
II. Opportunity for Practice:
Students will be given sentence strips that contain words that are
mentioned in the book The Mutt and the Bug, by Cheryl Ryan. Okay
friends, Im going to give you each a sentence that relates to the book
that we just read. Each sentence strip will contain six words that are
all the same for each student, except for the second word, which is
different for every student. The students will each receive a baggie of
two different versions of their sentence. Does everyone have their
sentences? One of their sentences will be whole and completed and
the other will be cut into three pieces and they have to arrange them
in the correct order. I want to make your sentences match okay?
Make the sentence that is cut into three pieces one whole sentence
strip. Everyones sentence is the same except for one word. I want
each of you to read aloud your sentence starting with A. The students
A-D will then take turns reading aloud their sentences. The teacher will
assist each student if they struggle reading the words and will ask
them to sound out each letter and put those sounds together, but will
not give them the answer. After a number of attempts if the student
cant read the word, ask another student in the group what the word is.
Then ask the original student what the word is and to re-read their
sentence. Repeat this with each student in the group and go around
one more time allowing the students to read their sentences one last
time. They will read their sentence strips two times in all (unless they
struggled with it the first time then it will be their third time to read it).
Great job guys!
III. Assessment
Friends Im going to walk you back to your classroom for you to finish a
worksheet on the sounds that we have talked about today. What
sounds have we talked about? Yes, y and u. This worksheet will
have pictures at the bottom for the students to cut out. The rest of the
worksheet will be divided in half with y on one side and u on the

other and these will represent the beginning letter sounds. There will
be three boxes under each letter sound and the teacher will explain to
students what they need to do in these boxes. The bottom of this
worksheet has six pictures that you will need to cut out. See how at
the top one side is labeled u and the other is labeled y? Okay,
what I want you to do is paste the pictures that have the beginning
sound y on the y side and the pictures that have the beginning
sound u on the u side. Do you think you can do that? I know that
you can! The teacher will walk students back to their classroom and
give them a worksheet to work on independently at their desk.
IV. Closure: What have you learned today? If you can tell me one thing
from what we have talked about today give me a thumbs up. Yes, we
discussed the sounds of the letters y and u didnt we? We now know
the difference between the two sounds dont we? We arent going to
let u confuse us anymore, right? The teacher will hold up a flash card
of the letters u and y and will ask the students one last time the sound
of each letter. What is this letter? Yes, u. What sound does this letter
make? Yes, uh. What about this letter? Yes, this is y, what does this
letter sound like? Yes, yuh. Such a great job! I think that you are
ready to work on this on your own! Im so proud of each of you.
Materials and Resources:
http://alex.state.al.us
https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=21
Mutt and the Bug
Sentence strips
Worksheet
Scissors
Glue
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual
learners):
This is a small group of students that are in my action research group
that are overall on the same level.
Data Analysis:
Overall I was very pleased with how my Action Research Group did with
this lesson and on their assessment. I didnt have to assist them at all
and they all finished their assessment with 100% accuracy.
Reflection:
Overall I thought that this was the best lesson I have taught and I think
the students responded really well to it. Although I know that I spent
way to much time on the sentence strips with them. Dr. Rogers and I

discussed it after the lesson and I definitely agree. The cooperating

teacher that I am currently with doesnt like us to give the students
answers, but rather figure the answers out on their own. That is why I
had a hard time finding middle ground in this lesson when one of the
students was really struggling reading their sentence strips. I realize
now after teaching the lesson that I should have asked the students to
all read each of the sentence strips together before I asked them to
read them on their own. Most of the students in this small group had
no trouble reading their sentence, but even the sentences that I used
were straight from the book I just read, I should have known that they
would have been too difficult to read 100% on their own. I stopped
and helped the student that was struggling and asked him to sound out
the each word with me. Finally at the end I decided to ask all of the
group to read the sentence together with him. And then he finally
could read at least half of the sentence. But during this time when I
was helping this one student figure out how to read their sentence
without reading it for them, I completely lost the other three students.
Dr. Rogers played back the video of the group as I was assisting the
student that couldnt read their sentence and I saw first hand that how
crucial that time is that I lost and took away from the other students
learning experience. But now I know that without a doubt I would read
these sentences with the students before I asked them to read them.
Some of these students are still having trouble with several letters
therefore I cant expect them to read a sentence 100% on their own.

Sentence Strips:

The bug sat

in the hut.

The mutt sat

in the hut.
The cup sat
in the hut.
The cub sat
in the hut.

Cards for starting to lesson:

Assessment:

Chapter 5 Vocabulary

What does research say about effective vocabulary instruction? What are some best
practices for teaching vocabulary?
Research says that effective vocabulary instruction is given when children are
taught them indirectly, explicitly and when they develop a word consciousness. Children
learn vocabulary through their experiences as they do being taught a direct lesson. They
learn vocabulary indirectly through conversation, being read to and reading to
themselves. They also learn through explicit instruction. When they are taught words in
class those are usually words that they probably dont hear or use in everyday
conversation. They also learn by participating in activities that stimulate word
consciousness and students who are word conscious love words! They love using words,
learning new words and doing activities using words. Vocabulary learning can be applied
to anything and any subject. Its something that can be overlooked, but its so important
because it will improve so many aspects of their learning success.

Try it out! (4)

1. Vocabulary lesson

Design for Learning

Instructor: Lindsay Donahoo & CaDric Moulton Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher:
K/Mrs. Burton
Lesson Title: New Vocabulary
Date: October 19, 2015
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Standards Connection:
40.) c.) Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at
school that are colorful). [L.K.5c]
Learning Objective(s):
After listening tot the teacher read I was so Mad, students will demonstrate an
understanding of the vocabulary words and actively respond questions asked by the
teacher with 100% accuracy.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
By the end of this lesson you will understand the meaning of the new vocabulary words
from the book I was so Mad.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
After listening to the book I was so Mad students will comprehend and be able to apply
new vocabulary words. Students will be asked a variety of questions about the words that
correlate to their lives. They will be able to recognize more complex words and
pronounce them fluently. Students will be gathered to the carpet to be taught the lesson.
To make sure that the students are fully engaged and focused on the teachers instruction
the teacher will say Good morning class, today we will be reading I Was So Mad by
Mercer Mayer. This is a great book that I think you all will really enjoy. Lets look at the
cover of the book, based on the cover what do you think I Was So Mad will be about?
Great! After letting a few students answer the question the teacher will then introduce the
vocabulary words to the students, the definition of the word will be explained as well.
Following, the teacher will read I Was So Mad. While reading students will be asked a
variety of questions; Have you ever been told you couldnt do something? (students
will share with their partner) Where do you think he is going? Why do you think his
dad wouldnt let him play with his sisters dollhouse? Why do you think his family
doesnt allow him to do some of these things? Do you think he was still frustrated at
the end of the story? Asking the students these questions while reading the story will
improve their reading comprehension skills and will give them the opportunity to hear the
vocabulary words mentioned in the text, which will increase their knowledge of the
words. Once the reading is complete the teacher will review the words with the students
for the third time. By the end of the reading students will have knowledge of the words
and will be able to explain the meaning of the word. The vocabulary words will be
continued to be used throughout the week to ensure the students knowledge of the

vocabulary words will continue to grow. Following the reading students will be given an
activity to complete while working in at one of the Centers.
Engagement:
The teacher will read I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer. She will start by introducing new
vocabulary words before reading to the class and ask them questions about the words that
apply to their lives. Class, are you all ready to start a fun new lesson? When I call your
table, please come take a seat on the carpet quietly. She will call each table individually
to the carpet. Alright, before we get started I need all eyes on me, I need everyone to look
up here and pay attention because I dont want anyone to miss anything. Today we are
going to learn some new vocabulary words! When you go home this afternoon, you will
be able to tell your family 4 new words that you will learn today. Let me ask you class,
have you ever heard of the word allow? After a few students give their answers the
teacher will tell them the definition. Yes, allow means to let someone have or do
something. Are there things that you are allowed or not allowed to do, either here at
school or at home? Yes, there are certain things we are allowed to do and things that we
shouldnt do or shouldnt have. When youre not allowed to do something, do you get
frustrated? Does anyone know what the word frustrated means? After a few students
answer, the teacher will share the definition with students. Yes, it means to be mad or
upset because you cant do something you want to do. What about the word practice,
what does it mean to practice? Yes! It means to do it over and over so that you will be
better at it. We do a lot of practice here at school dont we class? The last word I want
to introduce to you before we start the lesson is decide. What do I mean when I say that
he decided to go play outside instead of playing inside? Yes class, decide means to make
up your mind about something. Alright, lets not waste anymore time and dive into the
book! Today I am going to read I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer. Has anyone read a
book with Critter, this main character on the cover? Mercer Mayer has written several
books about Critter. Hearing the title of the book and looking at the picture on the cover,
what do you think the story is about? The teacher will go through the pictures in the
book with the class before she starts to read it. After looking at the pictures, what do you
think happens in this story? I want each of you to turn and talk to your neighbor about
what you think happens in the book. The teacher will allow students about 1 minute to
discuss their answers among their partners and then call on at least 2 sets of students
asking them what their partners answers were. Okay great answers, both of you! Why
might they think that will be what happens in this book? Is it the expressions on Critters
face? So many great responses guys! The teacher will record 2-3 of the responses the
students made. Now that we have made predictions of what we think happens, lets see if
we were right! The teacher will then read the book, while modeling expression. Now
lets take a look at our predictions. I think everyone was right! (Transition to teaching...)
Learning Design:
I.
Teaching: The teacher will once again explain the objective the class. She
will introduce and define the new vocabulary words: allow, decide, frustrated
and practice. The teacher will use I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer. Then she
will re-read the book to the class. Class, I am going to read the story a
second time, do you think that you can pick out our new vocabulary words

when you hear them or when you see a character doing these things? Well I
think that you can! When you hear one of the words or see the word being
described in the pictures or what Im reading, I want you to give me a hand
signal, thumbs up on your chest, okay? One more thing before we get started,
if you can handle it. Every time I say I was so What word do you think
will come next? Yes, you are all correct! The sentence is I was so mad. Do
you think we can all say the word mad together when I get to that sentence?
Friends do you think you are up to the task? I think you can do it, but i want
to hear you all say, We can do it! Every time we get to a vocabulary word
used in the book and I see someone giving me the thumbs up, we will stop and
discuss the word and how it is being used in the book. Okay, here we go!
When the teacher gets to a vocabulary word or the word is implied, she will
stop and discuss the word with the class. The first word in the book that is
frustrated, so the teacher will stop on that work and talk about how it is used.
Okay class, I see some thumbs up! In the book it says I was so mad. He is
mad because he isnt allowed to do something that he wants to do, so this
means he is frustrated, right? Everyone sound out and clap the word
frustrated with me, FRUST-RAT-ED. How many times did we clap? Yes
class, we clapped 3 times! Lets continue reading until we come across
another vocabulary word. Remember the words are: allow, decide, practice
and the word we just went over frustrated. The teacher will continue reading
until she gets to the next word. Okay, I see some more thumbs up, great job
class! Yes, we heard the word decide. Everyone sound out and clap the word
decide with me, DE-CIDE. How many times did we clap class? Yes, 2 times!
Alright friends, lets put our listening ears on and try to find two more words!
Everyone sound out and clap the word allow together with me, A-LLOW.
Great job class! One more word, DE-CIDE. Clap out that word with me,
DE-CIDE! Great job!
II. Opportunity for Practice: Okay class, I have some cards that I want you all to help me
match.
III. Assessment: The students will be given cards to match the words with the picture in a
matching game. These are the same cards as used in the practice. Such a great job today
class! The cards that we went over will be in at the read to a partner station in your
centers. You will pay a matching game with them just like you do with your word family
matching games. I will be over there to help you if you need help sounding out a word
because I know how hard these words are. But I know that you can do it! I also want to
see how well you know the words so do your best!
IV. Closure: Im so proud of each of you and how well you all did in with this difficult
words today! Im going to hold up a picture and I want you to tell me what word that the
picture describes. The teacher will hold up pictures for the four vocabulary words and
also include not allow, to show the difference in the two. Yes, you all did a wonderful
job! You guys got every single one right!

Materials and Resources:

I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
Paper
Printer
Laminator
Pictures from the Internet
Sissors
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
There are about five students in this class that would definitely have a hard with this on
their own. For them I printed off the picture cards twice and under the picture was the
word. This way those students played the matching game with just the pictures, but they
still were able to see the word also.
Data Analysis:
I didnt use a rubric for the assessment, but as I was watching them in the reading center I
definitely noticed that a few of the students struggled. There were ten students in all that
were able to do this game and over all they had a 75% success rate. I was very proud of
them and the only word that they really have trouble with was practice.

Reflection:
I think that it was much more difficult to teach a partner lesson than I thought. We
worked great together no doubt! Although I really think that it was difficult for the
students to follow both of us and follow the directions each of us chose to go with out
teaching. Mrs. Burton told us the same thing. She thought that we did a great job, but
that maybe we should have split up the teaching more for example one of us do the
engagement, teaching and assessment and the other would read the book and explain it
and then do the practice with the class and the closure. But overall I feel really good
about how the students responded and how well that they did with the words that I
thought would be too difficult for them. I was very surprised of how well they knew and
learned these words overall. I wish that we could have put together a better assessment,
but with the words that we were given I couldnt think of anything that would work more
appropriately than the matching game that we chose.

allow

decide

not
allowed

frustrated

practice
Samford University
Design for Learning

2. Play a vocabulary game with the students

We played a simple matching game with the students that CaDric and I made to
go along with the vocabulary lesson that we taught. We read the book I Was So Mad by
Mercer Mayer and taught vocabulary words from the text. Then we showed them a
matching game to go along with the text. The students would match the word up with the
picture that described the word. We played this with the students while we had them on
the carpet all together while I was teaching. Then we told the students that these
matching cards would be in one of their reading centers for them to play if they would
like. This was a simple game that would help students learn this tough vocabulary words
by matching them with the pictures on the cards that we made.

allow

decide

not
allowed

frustrated

practice
3. Select vocabulary words from a text and teach them to the students. Write a reflection
why these words were chosen.

Mrs. Burton gave Cadric and I words that she wanted us to teach along with the
book I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer. The words that she gave us were: frustrated,
allow, decide and practice. I asked her why she wanted us to use these specific words
and she said that they may seem like long, difficult words for these students but they are
words that they have heard before and will be easy to explain to the students. I was very
surprised that she chose the words that she did because I thought that they were
extremely difficult for the students, but they werent at all. Several of the students knew
the definition of the words even before I told them what they were. The book helped
show and describe the words with the illustrations and wording of the book. I also asked
her why she chose two words that were not actually in the book. She told me that she
wanted her students to be able to see the words with out them actually being written out.

4. Help maintain a word wall

Mrs. Burtons word wall consisted of sight words that they learned each week.
We add about two words a week, but some weeks she doesnt teach new sight words.
Sometimes she will merely review the words that they learned the week before. These
sight words are words that they should know how to spell and read because they go over
them so often. But because they are such common words, she keeps them on the wall for
them to refer to while they are doing their writing. I think that the students enjoy learning
new sight words because after we learn them they will say the word and spell it for me.
They are definitely prideful when they lean something new.

Childrens Literature

Read for the Record

Read for the Record
23 October 2015
This was a great experience and Im glad that Im a part of the Reading and Math
Team! We met several times to organize everything and make props, but as we have
learned time and time again, not everything goes exactly how you hope it would. This is
why teachers must be flexible and be able to think on their feet, and we did just that!
Originally we put together an awesome backdrop for the stage that had the title of the
book Not Norman: A Goldfish Story and a huge fishbowl with Norman inside of it. Then
we discovered that it would be extremely difficult to find a way to hang what we had
made on the curtains in the lunchroom. We decided we would use what we had created
as an advertisement to get the students excited about Read for the Record and it worked,
they loved it! Even the kindergarten students in my class commented on our artwork and
it made we proud of all of the hard work that we thought was wasted. Instead of the
original backdrop we decided to use pictures from the Internet and project the
background of the scene in the story on the screen. Then we would act out all of the
characters in the story including Norman. I was only an extra, but Im glad I was able to
participate in this readers theater. I have learned that its extremely important to be
patient, not only with the students in the classroom, but also my peers. I know that I can
slack at times, but I always try to give everything I do my best, especially when it comes
to group work. We are all a team and I feel as if everyone should pull their weight and
participate, not just do the bare minimum. But I have learned that worrying about other
people isnt going to change anything or help me in the long-run. I need to focus on
myself, and the things that I want to accomplish and the way I want to accomplish them.
Im so thankful to have a second chance and being able to go back to school, giving it my
all!

Try it out! (2)

1. Read a book to your class. Describe how your students responded.
This is one of the most memorable experiences that I have had so far in clinicals!
The very first day in the classroom, my teacher was actually not there, was very sick and
it was her birthday. Very hard to forget! Also they couldnt find a substitute to come in,
so I was terrified and thought for sure that they were going to ask me to teach. But thank
goodness they didnt and this is something that they have had to deal with before. They
split the students up and they put five students in each of the kindergarten classes. The
teacher that I was with that day asked me if I wanted to take Mrs. Burtons students that
were in her class that day, in her classroom to read a book. Of course I wanted to! I tried
to choose a book that they havent read yet so I asked them as I was going through books
and I finally came across one that they hadnt read yet. I read the book Never Ride Your
Elephant to School by Doug Johnson and they loved it. The only problem that I had was
that I know that they could have behaved better. Two of the students were moving
around constantly standing up, whispering, fidgeting and distracting the other students.
Every time I asked them to stop they would listen for a minute then continue to be
disruptive. I finally had to use my strong voice and tell them that I know they think that
since their teacher isnt here today that they could do whatever they wanted but that I am
a teacher too and they still have to be respectful. They loved the book, but I never
thought that they would all start really listening, I asked them if they would act like that if
Mrs. Burton was there and they quickly answered no. Then I asked them why they acted
like that with me, because Im a teacher too. They finally understood that there was no
difference in me reading or their teacher reading. I asked them questions while I was
reading and at the end of the book and they seemed to really think hard about what it
would be like bringing an elephant to school.

2. Ask your teacher how she motivates her students to read.

I asked Mrs. Burton how she motivates her students to read and she gave me
several answers. She told me that she lets the students get five books of their choosing to
put in their cubby each week. There are different levels of books and she does tell the
students that she would like them to read a certain level book so that students are reading
on the right level. This way, students are choosing books that are too difficult or too easy
for them to read. They read these books before they start their centers and are having
their silent read to self time. After this the students go to centers and there are five
reading centers. Theyre able to experience reading in almost everyway possible and this
way it helps every type of learner and every level of learner.