In the spring of 2015, Katie Dickerson, an 11th grade English teacher, published an article to Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, titled “Reimagining Reading: Creating a Classroom Culture that Embraces Independent Choice Reading”. The article discusses the strategies she used to better engage her students in reading more on their own and in class. Throughout a two-year mark, she collected data during the schoolyear and at the end, gave students a questionnaire of how they felt towards these Today’s schools are seeing more children lacking an interest in reading, which is crucial to their intellectual development. In this article, Katie Dickerson noted that “reading… (leads to) the establishment of future goals…, open-mindedness…, the ability to empathize with others, strong communication skills, and the ability to focus”. Furthermore, she stated that “People…are, by nature, lovers of stories.
“The kidsREAD classes are kept to small groups of less than 30 children, with volunteers managing and facilitating the session” (Law, Chia, 2015). The classes are held on the weekends once a week. The leaders will read a few stories to the whole group, then it breaks apart into smaller groups to do literacy activities. This program would be need based and students who really needed the instruction would get it. This program provides a way to get students to read outside of school and makes it more enjoyable.
I do know that I would love to continue reading children’s books no matter what because of how playful the words flow. I knew that I would enjoy this experience because of my background in reading to children. Not only did I have little sisters that I read to but I was also involved in San Joaquin A+ in elementary school. This non-profit organization supports literacy programs to help improve students’ reading skills.
From the time I was in middle school all the way to now I have always prided myself with the fact that I have always been a part of the community around me. It has always been a priority to me to give back to a community, I have been so fortunate to be a part of for a portion of my life. In my hometown starting with middle school I joined a couple school organizations like Teen Against Tobacco Use, or TATU, and Youth Entertaining Teen Interests, or YETI, these were two organizations I could join to donate my time back to my community. In YETI, I was able to have a big role in my community, we were an organization that did lots of volunteer work around the area, like cleaning up the area, donating money so we could build a ramp for people with
Throughout history many parents have consistently read to their children as demonstrated in movies and literature, and they do it with good reason. They don’t just read to their children to get their imagination flowing. Reading fictional literature can teach readers, and listeners, many
“the positive outcomes of reading included enjoyment, knowledge of the self and other people, social interaction, social and cultural capital, imagination, focus and flow, relaxation and mood regulation, as well as improvements in communication abilities and longer-term education outcomes.” (“The power of reading: how books help develop children’s empathy and boost their emotional development”). This statement talked about how the books that are prohibited are really enabling children to advance in school. This statement additionally discloses how kids associate with the books. " fiction causes us see how other individuals feel and think.
I know I have grown to enjoy reading and writing by sharing my thoughts and feelings about my work and others. Listening to an adult model fluent reading increases the students’ fluency, and comprehension while expanding their vocab, background knowledge, genre/ text structure, and comprehension of the text being read (p. 3, Allington &
Even before children know how to read, there are benefit from being expose to reading. While you read to your child you are creating a strong bond between you two. You can snuggle up with a book and lets the two of you slow down and recaptures that sweet, cuddly time you enjoyed when he was a baby. When you read to your pre-school you are exposing him or her to new vocabulary, new sounds, new situations
One way to learn how to effectively educate students is to ask them what they enjoy and what would like to see in the classroom. By doing this, an educator can gain insight as to how to better educate students by incorporating student’s interests into the classroom and curriculum. Mrs. Helgeson does an excellent job practicing this concept by giving her 3rd grade students a reading survey. This survey asks students if they like reading, what their reading interests are, what genres they enjoy, and what Mrs. Helgeson can do to help students become better readers. The results from the reading survey given to 15 of her 3rd graders gave abundant insight into how Mrs. Helgeson can effectively educate her students.
I have had the unforgettable opportunity to personally raise $1,400 for kids to go to summer camp, whose families could not afford it otherwise. I have worked at food drives, homeless shelters, and kid’s programs in my town, in hopes to make someone’s day a little bit better and ultimately make my community stronger. These experiences shaped who I am today. While I cherish the experience I had making a difference in my own town, I am ready to grow and leave a positive impact somewhere else in the country.
Chapter one of our text, “Children’s Literature Briefly” highlighted the importance of nurturing young readers. The above quote in particular brought to my attention how much adults can unwittingly deter young readers from seeing reading as enjoyable rather than a means to an end, encouraging efferent reading more than aesthetic reading. The balance between these two types of reading is something I personally struggled with as a voracious reader in elementary school. My father meant well, but he used to stress me out by randomly giving pop quizzes on the books I was reading for pleasure if they were books he had already read, which were a lot of them since they were in our home library. With these random quizzes in mind I would often find myself looking over my shoulder, trying to get through the chapters as quickly as possible so my dad wouldn’t have time to come ask questions.
It is a tremendous honor to volunteer and give back to the community. Volunteering holds a special place in my heart. Throughout the years, I have gained a wealth of knowledge through my volunteer work. Specifically, while making a difference is a crucial element, volunteering is not only about making a difference, but also providing disadvantaged individuals with a sense of community and support. As an aspiring social worker, I am extremely enthusiastic about assisting others and positively changing lives.
So whenever I have a student that says they do not like to read (I have quite a few), I feel I am able to make a genuine connection and able to sympathize with them, because
The top priority for most child hood settings is teaching a child to read. (Shipley, 2014). Teachers when they use a developmentally appropriate practice while incorporating a foundation of concepts into lessons can help a teacher differentiate instruction and can engage children in the learning process and help children to achieve. (Bredekamp, 2009). Children are treated as a unique individual and the practices are to be appropriate for the child’s age and their developmental stage and it builds on the concept they were taught recently.
Being able to read on their own is a very useful tool for children. After all, not only I a child not weighted down by the schedule of someone else, but they are free
