Blog post for clinical experience #1
Tuesday, October 18th, 2016
Upon arrival to the middle school, I was excited. From getting into my car after my class, to the drive over, all the way up to walking into the classroom, I was excited. Right when I walked in, I knew that I was going to enjoy these next four weeks. I definitely was feeling some sort of apprehension / anxiety, but that disappeared really fast.
I was lucky enough to be partnered up with two of the brightest kids I have ever met. After some basic introductions, I asked the both of them if they knew what I / my class was doing here, with which they both responded with "it's a surprise". I could tell that they were both anxious to find out what I was doing there, and after telling them that I was a student at Illinois State University and that I am enrolled in a course entitled TCH 235 which is all about reading in middle schools, I could tell they were thrilled. During out meeting, they sometimes would get sidetracked because a friend would be walking by in the hallway. One instance, in particular, someone asked them what they were doing and he responded with "hanging out with a college boy".
After telling the boys about myself and what I was doing at their school, I talked to them and explained that I was going to be filling out this sheet that had questions on it about reading. I made sure to stress that I was not going to ask a question and then have them answer and then I would write down their answer and then we would just move on. They really liked the idea of me asking the question and they could sort of answer in anyway they wanted to. I wanted this exercise to be more like a discussion, rather than me interviewing them.
Right off the bat, I knew that both of my students were excellent readers. I would read one of the questions off of the sheet, and they would immediately give an answer. At times, I found it hard to record everything that they were saying, so I decided that I would be easier for me to just listen and then write a sentence or two for each answer. Towards the end, I could really tell that they were excited because they both were raising their hands when they wanted to speak! It was the coolest thing and I really felt like a teacher in that instance.
During these next couple of weeks at the middle school, I want to build this bond with my students in that they get excited when they see me. In the past, I have had that kind of bond with teachers when I was in middle / high school, and it's a special kind of feeling. I cannot wait to really see what kind of readers they are, because I know they are both very intelligent.
Blog post for clinical experiment #2
Tuesday October 25th, 2016
After being acquainted with my student the first week or so, I felt more comfortable working with him. That first week was definitely scary, but I knew what kind of learner my student was and I knew what we were going to talk about.
I remember telling my student that I was going to have him read a passage out loud for me last Thursday (the second time that we met) and he seemed nervous about it. I made sure that this test wasn't going to be difficult for him since he is an avid reader. I wanted the student to feel as if he had nothing to worry about and that all he was going to be doing was to read to me.
On Tuesday, right off the bat he told me that he had the test today and that made me laugh. I had never thought of the MRR / miscue analysis as a test, but I was able to calm his nerves. After skimming over the text and making sure he knows what is going to happen, I pull out my phone and record my student reading the passage and then we discussed the text for the re-tell.
After this was completed, I could tell that there definitely was a sigh of relief in my student, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. My student could not really understand that I did not have the results of the MRR right there afterwards, but I made sure that I was going to tell him how he did the next time that we met.
On Thursday, both of my students sort of controlled the lesson. Right when I saw them, they were already working on a worksheet and they knew that they had to do. They told me that their teacher told them that their ISU buddy should read the story out loud with them (which I did) and that they were to complete the worksheet that was handed out in class. I did not really have any issues with either of my students during this time. One student knew exactly what he had to do while we were reading / discussing the text. The other student, however, understood the text but had some issues staying focused. They both comprehended the text, which I think is most important.
Tuesday October 25th, 2016
After being acquainted with my student the first week or so, I felt more comfortable working with him. That first week was definitely scary, but I knew what kind of learner my student was and I knew what we were going to talk about.
I remember telling my student that I was going to have him read a passage out loud for me last Thursday (the second time that we met) and he seemed nervous about it. I made sure that this test wasn't going to be difficult for him since he is an avid reader. I wanted the student to feel as if he had nothing to worry about and that all he was going to be doing was to read to me.
On Tuesday, right off the bat he told me that he had the test today and that made me laugh. I had never thought of the MRR / miscue analysis as a test, but I was able to calm his nerves. After skimming over the text and making sure he knows what is going to happen, I pull out my phone and record my student reading the passage and then we discussed the text for the re-tell.
After this was completed, I could tell that there definitely was a sigh of relief in my student, as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. My student could not really understand that I did not have the results of the MRR right there afterwards, but I made sure that I was going to tell him how he did the next time that we met.
On Thursday, both of my students sort of controlled the lesson. Right when I saw them, they were already working on a worksheet and they knew that they had to do. They told me that their teacher told them that their ISU buddy should read the story out loud with them (which I did) and that they were to complete the worksheet that was handed out in class. I did not really have any issues with either of my students during this time. One student knew exactly what he had to do while we were reading / discussing the text. The other student, however, understood the text but had some issues staying focused. They both comprehended the text, which I think is most important.
Blog post for clinical experience #3
Tuesday November 1st, 2016
After talking about all of the Halloween activities that my student did over the weekend / on Monday, I wanted to make sure that my student knew how well he did on the MRR. That was the first order of business. When I told my student that I was going to be talking about the MRR from the previous week, he got sort of anxious / nervous. I could tell that he was convinced that he struggled with some things during the reading. I showed him the reading that I marked up with his errors and then I talked about what I did as I went back and listened to the recording. Overall, I got a positive response from my student. He seemed to understand the mistakes that he made / did not have any questions about anything that I told him. For the scoring of the re - tell that my student gave, I scored him at 2.75 out of 4 and he seemed distraught by that. My student comprehend the text, but his re - telling skills were lacking a little bit, and that is why I gave him the score that I think he deserves. All in all, I am very happy as to how the MRR / re - tell went with my student. After discussing this, I worked with my student on a worksheet about identifying the point of view in a series of short sentences. My student understood the difference between first / second / third person, but I did my best to explain to my student how there was third person limited / third person omniscient / etc. I feel as if my student understood how there were these differences, but failed to apply them to the exercise that we were doing. Overall, I felt as if my student really comprehended the worksheet that we were working on together, which is most important.
On Thursday, I was assigned to two students, which made me happy. While writing my lesson plan / figuring out what I was going to do with my students, it clicked for me and I knew exactly what I was going to do. When I found the worksheet on Wednesday (worksheet about plot / plot diagram), I found it difficult to get a text that the students could comprehend / be able to talk about / etc. The story that I ultimately decided on was "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. In my opinion, I had read the story numerous times beforehand and was very familiar with it. I remember reading it as early as 6th / 7th grade, so I had to gamble and hope that my students had not read it before hand. I knew that this text had an easily identifiable beginning / middle / end and rising action / climax as well. I knew that my students were talking about plot and context in stories in their class, and I figured that reading this text and then completing this worksheet would be perfect. I decided that, because I only printed out one copy of the story, that I could just read the story out loud to my students and they could listen. As I suggested this, one of my students said that he wanted to stop and talk about what we had just read. So we did that. Once I finished reading the text / stopping to discuss what I had just read, their reactions were priceless. This story takes a lot of twists and turns, and by the end, the reader is often in shock and that was obvious in my students. They both seemed to enjoy the text, and that made me feel good because, when I was in middle / high school, I did not like it when I was forced to read a text that I did not enjoy. "The Tell-Tale Heart" was one story that I have always enjoyed, and I am happy that both of my students enjoyed it as well.
Tuesday November 1st, 2016
After talking about all of the Halloween activities that my student did over the weekend / on Monday, I wanted to make sure that my student knew how well he did on the MRR. That was the first order of business. When I told my student that I was going to be talking about the MRR from the previous week, he got sort of anxious / nervous. I could tell that he was convinced that he struggled with some things during the reading. I showed him the reading that I marked up with his errors and then I talked about what I did as I went back and listened to the recording. Overall, I got a positive response from my student. He seemed to understand the mistakes that he made / did not have any questions about anything that I told him. For the scoring of the re - tell that my student gave, I scored him at 2.75 out of 4 and he seemed distraught by that. My student comprehend the text, but his re - telling skills were lacking a little bit, and that is why I gave him the score that I think he deserves. All in all, I am very happy as to how the MRR / re - tell went with my student. After discussing this, I worked with my student on a worksheet about identifying the point of view in a series of short sentences. My student understood the difference between first / second / third person, but I did my best to explain to my student how there was third person limited / third person omniscient / etc. I feel as if my student understood how there were these differences, but failed to apply them to the exercise that we were doing. Overall, I felt as if my student really comprehended the worksheet that we were working on together, which is most important.
On Thursday, I was assigned to two students, which made me happy. While writing my lesson plan / figuring out what I was going to do with my students, it clicked for me and I knew exactly what I was going to do. When I found the worksheet on Wednesday (worksheet about plot / plot diagram), I found it difficult to get a text that the students could comprehend / be able to talk about / etc. The story that I ultimately decided on was "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. In my opinion, I had read the story numerous times beforehand and was very familiar with it. I remember reading it as early as 6th / 7th grade, so I had to gamble and hope that my students had not read it before hand. I knew that this text had an easily identifiable beginning / middle / end and rising action / climax as well. I knew that my students were talking about plot and context in stories in their class, and I figured that reading this text and then completing this worksheet would be perfect. I decided that, because I only printed out one copy of the story, that I could just read the story out loud to my students and they could listen. As I suggested this, one of my students said that he wanted to stop and talk about what we had just read. So we did that. Once I finished reading the text / stopping to discuss what I had just read, their reactions were priceless. This story takes a lot of twists and turns, and by the end, the reader is often in shock and that was obvious in my students. They both seemed to enjoy the text, and that made me feel good because, when I was in middle / high school, I did not like it when I was forced to read a text that I did not enjoy. "The Tell-Tale Heart" was one story that I have always enjoyed, and I am happy that both of my students enjoyed it as well.
Blog post for clinical experience #4
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016
It's the last week. That didn't really hit me until I was driving to the school on Tuesday, but I tried to savor every minute I had with my students this week. On Tuesday, I worked with one of my students on a reading that I had found on the internet. Going into this last week, I found it extremely diffcult to find activities to do with my student. I felt as if we had covered everything that could have been covered. He is one of the brightest students and I am glad that I had the opportunity to work with him 1 on 1.
On Thursday, I worked with only one student (the student that I worked with every single time before this day was absent). I spoke with Mrs. Burroughs and she said that the students in her class were book chunking. I talked with my student about the book that he was planning on reading for the next couple of weeks and we worked together on filling out the calender. I looked at the novel and suggested that he read a chapter a day in order for him to be able to finish the novel and complete the book project by the due date. This only took about 5-10 minutes to do, so for the remainder of the time, I figured we could talk about the novel that he was reading. It was a book from a series where the character is placed in a situation of crisis (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc.). After discussing this, we made some predictions for what we think is going to happen in the story and we discussed that as well. While we were knee deep in conversation, it was time to go.
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016
It's the last week. That didn't really hit me until I was driving to the school on Tuesday, but I tried to savor every minute I had with my students this week. On Tuesday, I worked with one of my students on a reading that I had found on the internet. Going into this last week, I found it extremely diffcult to find activities to do with my student. I felt as if we had covered everything that could have been covered. He is one of the brightest students and I am glad that I had the opportunity to work with him 1 on 1.
On Thursday, I worked with only one student (the student that I worked with every single time before this day was absent). I spoke with Mrs. Burroughs and she said that the students in her class were book chunking. I talked with my student about the book that he was planning on reading for the next couple of weeks and we worked together on filling out the calender. I looked at the novel and suggested that he read a chapter a day in order for him to be able to finish the novel and complete the book project by the due date. This only took about 5-10 minutes to do, so for the remainder of the time, I figured we could talk about the novel that he was reading. It was a book from a series where the character is placed in a situation of crisis (9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc.). After discussing this, we made some predictions for what we think is going to happen in the story and we discussed that as well. While we were knee deep in conversation, it was time to go.