Letter+of+Reflection+308

Kelly Nolan ELD308 Letter of Reflection December 12th, 2011

It is important to know what you are doing and why you are doing it when teaching. Over the past two semesters I feel like I have really been given a great opportunity to define myself as a teacher and to answer these questions. I think that I have come to see exactly what I believe, why I believe it, and how it shapes my instruction.

The first thing I have come to believe in is small group instruction. Throughout the day there are many opportunities to teach to the whole group but it is very important for teachers to also present lessons to small groups of children. When we provide small group instruction we are given a unique opportunity to differentiate. If we are meticulous when grouping our students we can make sure that we group them by not only by overall ability but also by areas that need improvement. When we do guided reading we are able to group students by level, this is good because we can have all the students reading the same book and we can expect them to have the same difficulties. We can also provide small group instruction to students who need reteaching. If, when we are doing writing conferences, we notice that there are a few students who have missed the same skill, we can pull them into a small group and give them a refresher lesson. Overall, small group instruction allows us a unique opportunity to differentiate our instruction.

Another thing that I have come to believe is that students should have the opportunity to read a book and just talk about it. Every time students pick up a book they are either turned onto reading or turned off. When we ask students to read books and fill out endless worksheets and hand in book reports we are turning them off to reading. They get the idea that reading is something to be done only as work. Students need to learn that reading can be for pleasure and enjoyment. When we allow them the opportunity to read a book of their choice and just talk about it we turning them onto reading. If they are engaged literature circles where they just read and discuss quality literature they will be highly motivated to read. If my students leave my classroom with only one thing, I would want it to be a love of reading.

Something else that is important to me is explicit instruction with an opportunity to independently practice what is taught. When we provide students with direct instruction in reading or writing we are adding new things to their literacy toolbox. If we allow them to practice these skills independently and often they have a greater opportunity for success. Therefore, I believe that it is important for us to teach a minilesson in either reading or writing and immediately allow them time for independent practice. When we allow students time for independent reading and writing they are practicing everything we have taught them throughout the year.

One final thing that I believe in is explicit comprehension instruction. Although there are some students who will automatically comprehend texts without instruction there are many that will not. It is because of this that we need to directly teach the comprehension strategies that that good readers use automatically. Through this direct instruction the readers in your class who read but do not understand are given the opportunity to see what types of things they can do to help themselves. It is because of this belief that I believe in teaching comprehension minilessons. According to Fountas and Pinnel, through these minilessons we need to model how we think when we are reading in order to get students to think that way.

Overall, I feel like over these past two semesters I have learned a great deal about the teaching profession and myself. Each teacher approaches teaching differently but we all have one common goal and that is that we want students to learn. The way we approach our teaching should reflect this goal. It is my opinion that these beliefs will all come together in my classroom to create an environment that is conducive to students learning.