Fluency

I've never really heard the term "fluency" to refer to reading before. I thought "fluency" was only associated with foreign languages. However, after reading the two articles and the chapter from Allington's book (Chapter 5), I have a better grasp on fluency. I have heard of the DIBLES test before, but never knew what it assessed.

I love the idea of fostering fluency through repetition and by books on tape. When I first heard of the suggestion for repetition, I though "but of course! In order to read something through completely fluently, you need to practice reading that material." However, I think the overall point of "fluency" is that yes, they do practice in the classroom, but they can use their fluency skills outside the classroom too. In order to be a fluent reader, the student must also have confidence. I think it's really important to create a classroom environment where students feel free to make mistakes.
I love the idea of the book on tape to give the kids a model of how the text is supposed to be read. I also like the idea the book pointed out of recording yourself and your class reading aloud. That way, you can kill two birds with one stone--teach the lesson to the students in front of you, plus have an "audio activity" for the future. 

On a more personal note, my mom and sister and I would take our 120 lbs yellow lab into the schools for the kids to read to Murray. The kids greatly benefited from having a "therapy pet" in their classroom because they felt comfortable reading books to Murray that were "baby books". We told these struggling readers that Murray wasn't very smart (...which he's not) and so he love to listen to all kinds of books. It definitely boosted the kids' confidence to be left in a corner with a fuzzy yellow dog and have one-on-one reading time with Murray. I would love to implement this idea of having a therapy pet into my classroom.

Print is Everywhere

One of the biggest "take aways" from this weeks readings is that fact that print is everywhere. In our daily environments, we see different forms of print in advertising, on license plates, on grocery store receipts, and...well...everywhere! After reading "Letting Go of the 'Letter of the Week'" article, I better understand how to promote literacy and print recognition to young children. The position paper by the IRA/NAEYC also helped me understand that children need to see print as it is related to them. It makes sense that kindergartners would shout out the names of their favourite restaurants when presented with the company's name (...or logo, rather).

I have never thought about the need to make print relevant to children before. I guess this is why so many kindergarten teachers spend so much time on introducing classmates names and the different letters involved in those names; children learn best if the concepts they are presented are connected in some sort of personal way to themselves.

Isn't that how we all learn best, though? Wouldn't you learn better about a plant fungus that was rare if you knew it grew in your hometown? Wouldn't you approach chemistry with more gusto if 80% of the people in your hometown worked at the state's chemical factory? Why is it that once we reach middle school, our education becomes less relevant to us? I am now on a goal to make education not only meaningful and hands-on, but now also relevant to my students.

Reading, Moving, and Learning

After reading "The Jones Family's Culture of Literacy" and Allington's Chapter 3, I certainly appreciate the early influences of literacy in my own life. My parents always read to me, and they themselves were "model readers". I was also homeschooled, so we did tons of reading at our house for academic purposes. 

There are many good tips for promoting literacy and teaching kids how to read in Allington's Chapter 3. I did not like, however, the idea of the a child being "King for the Day". I think that it puts too much attention on already-too-egocentric 4-and 5-year-olds. Instead, I think you could use a different animal, or colour, or just about any concrete object that is familiar to the child and use that as an example of literacy. 

When my younger sister was in Pre-K (homeschooled, though), my mom would have "Buddy Day". On Buddy Day, my mom and Em would go around and engage in activities that connected to that day's letter. For example, one Buddy Day was "P Day" and they studied all different things that had the letter P. To this day, Em still talks about the stuffed puppy, purple pom- pom hat, and trip to the playground. If you do fun, hands-on activities kids will be way more likely to remember them, and also to associate the new concepts to familiar objects/activities. I really liked the idea that was suggested in Allington's Chapter 3 about having the kids hold laminated cards that had the letters on them, line up in front of the class, and sign the "Alphabet Song". 

What are some good ideas you have to get kids moving and that are connected to/with teaching literacy? Are there any specific memories you have from early elementary school where you learned a specific letter of the alphabet?

The Universe

If you have ever read the book The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, you will instantly recognize that the name of this blog is taken from his quote "Do I dare disturb the universe?" In the story, this quote is on a poster that hangs inside one of the main character, Jerry's, school locker. I hate to say "this book is about" because I didn't write it, so I can't tell you what you were supposed to take away from it, but I feel that this book challenges students to think about their actions; to analyze peer pressure.

This blog is for my reading education class and other posts will be mostly about different ways to teach children to read. I wanted to start the first post, however, with a challenge to my readers: think about what you read. Think about the books you place in your future students' hands. Give them something to read that will cause their minds to kick into overdrive.