Based on my own experience
throughout my undergraduate work at Kennesaw State University and my time spent
student teaching, I have had a variety of experiences that led to my personal
theory of reading. I spent my TOSS (semester prior to Student Teaching) in a
Kindergarten reduced class size model containing students who are qualified for
the Early Intervention Program. This classroom had a range of abilities from
students being able to read beginning level text fluently, to students learning
the letters of the alphabet. It was a wonderful experience seeing the growth of
reading throughout the semester.
In August, and most of the
semester, the students spent a great bit of time learning their letters and the
sounds each letter makes. From there, students slowly began reading and
memorizing sight words. As the semester went on, more sight words were learned
and the words became more difficult. This then began the students reading
beginning level text with assistance from a teacher. The students were read to
daily as well, reading stories and using the interactive board to allow
students to follow along and read books as well.
By the end of the semester, in
December, most students were beginning to read beginning level books that
contained familiar sight words with repetitive text and strong picture support.
I noticed the importance of pictures when young readers are trying to figure
out what a word is that they are stuck on. It is amazing to see the progress
from August to December, which many of them have completely surpassed
expectations.
On the
other hand, I spent my time student teaching in a third grade reduced class
size model with EIP and Special Education students. During this time, guided
reading was a huge part of our day. Since the classroom contained a wide range
of abilities, from Special Education to Gifted students, I had the opportunity
to plan for different guided reading groups, which were drastically different
in some ways. I planned very minimal basic guided reading groups to allow the
students in that group to understand the material they are reading, but also to
challenge them in different ways that I might challenge my gifted students. I
challenge all of my students, but “challenging” has a different definition to
each student. I believe in catering to individual needs in order to allow each
student to be successful and excel in school. This also allows students to
build and progress from where they are, and hopefully benefit from the
individual attention and become more fluent readers as the year goes on. I
believe practicing reading silently, aloud, to peers, etc. is extremely crucial
for students once they become independent readers. Practicing will build
fluency and understanding, which then creates a confident reader, who hopefully
enjoys reading.
Reading is
a process, and I believe it is very important for students to have the basics
and foundation of letters, letter sounds, and sight words to continue to be a
fluent reader. Guided reading throughout students school career is very
important as well, as it allows for more individual attention, and for students
to build to become fluent readers in leveled text. Building fluency allows
students to understand what they are reading, and will most likely have the
positive effect of allowing students enjoy reading.
