Student Teaching Experience
Student Teaching Experience
Practicum Experiences
Meet My Focal Students
Meet Nicholas
Nicholas is a kindergartner who is always excited to learn something new! He is passionate about Fly Guy books and loves to bring in new ideas to share with his teachers and friends. Nicholas brings laughter and curiosity to the class every day!
Strengths as a Reader
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Beginning to use images/illustrations to support his reading.
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Can read running print.
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Uses different voices for different characters when reading.
Reading Goals
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Build on strategies for meaning-making in order to talk about books.
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Develop skills to help him create a balanced reading book bag.
Meet Mateo
Mateo is a 2nd Grader who loves comic books. Captain Underpants is his go-to book. Mateo brings joy and inquiry to each of our sessions.
Strengths as a Reader
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Uses images/illustrations to support his reading.
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Rereads words/phrases to make sense of them if they don't make sense the first time.
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He creates his own comics drawing from the inspiration of the authors he loves.
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Reading Goals
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Build strategies for meaning-making by learning to think aloud while reading books.
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Prompt himself with questions and connections to build on comprehension strategies.
Evidence & Analysis of Student Growth
Nicholas:
The photo below is of the books Nicholas chose for his book bag on February 12th. The QR code takes you to an audio clip from March 2nd of Nicholas talking about the new books in his bag.
One of Nicholas's goals that I created for him was to develop a balanced book bag. In the photo, Nicholas chose books where he could not read the print.
In Katie Wood Ray's work, I learned that illustration studies are just as important as reading running print. The books in the photo are perfect for that study. In the audio clip, Nicholas and I have a discussion on how illustrations can sometimes be too overwhelming for a reader. He grew by learning which books are better for illustration studies and which are better to read the running print. He also uses reading strategies that we practiced early on March 2nd to read the book he chose! This was a major accomplishment since, when we first met, Nicholas didn't even see himself as a reader!
"What we want to do is activate within children the desire and will and great pleasure that comes from being the authors of their own learning."
-Loris Malaguzzi
February 12th, 2020
March 2nd, 2020
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Mateo:
In the very first Zoom session that I had with Mateo, I asked him what it means to be a reader. He told me that the purpose of reading is to learn new words. One of my goals for Mateo was to push him to see reading as more than just learning new words and to truly connect with books.
The second QR code is a video clip from our last Zoom session of Mateo explaining that he learned to "talk to books" so that reading makes sense to him. He grew to understand the value of asking questions, making connections, and diving deep into the meaning of a text. In just six one-hour sessions, Mateo was able to expand his understanding of why people read books and truly grew to like reading! Kathy Collins in Growing Readers pages 162-170 describes the importance of reading thinking out loud while reading in order to build on comprehension strategies. Using her wisdom, Mateo was able to grow in reading.
April 6th, 2020
April 22nd, 2020
My Beliefs as a Teacher & Learner
My Strengths and Celebrations
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Flexibility: Switching from in-person teaching to online teaching with
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Relationship Building: Taking the time to get to know all of my students for who they are as learners and as people
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Task Management: Creating fun, educational lessons plus managing my own tasks during this pandemic season
Evidence
Please scan to view a letter I wrote to Mateo before Zooming with him. (PS: Mateo is also my cousin which is why I noted some personalized messages!)
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My Growth
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Ability to identify needs of learners: During the semester, I was able to identify reading goals for two students which are listed on this page.
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Use of teacher language: The language I used with students shifted to uplift students and their strengths
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My goals: I learned to put my beliefs into action
Evidence
Please scan to view Literacy Actions #1 and #3 where I set goals for Nicholas and Mateo and how I reflected on my own growth.
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Strategic Teaching Decisions: Responsiveness in Decision Making
This QR code will take you to a PDF of a PowerPoint presentation I created to show how I am living through my beliefs in the classroom. The decisions I have made with my students and the responsive choices I made are listed in the presentation. To teach mini-lessons, I was inspired by the work of Kathy Collins from her book Growing Readers. I also value Peter Johnston and his work in Choice Words that helped shape my teacher language throughout the semester.
