“Why Can’t She Remember That?” by Terry Meier Ruby Lazo
1. "Choose books that relate to children’s lives”.
As a teacher it is important that you choose books that students can relate to and make connections with. When students were able to relate to a book that book soon became a favorite.
2. “Teach book reading behaviors explicitly”
Take the time to explain to students certain book behaviors - some students may not be aware or accustomed to such behaviors, however it will help them to better succeed in a classroom setting. Even though some students were unfamiliar and did not understand the reasoning to classroom “reading behaviors” they were able to participate once the behavior was clearly explained to them and made more interesting.
3. “Make books come alive”
Find different ways to make reading books more intellectually stimulating for students. Things such as puppets or books series can be very helpful when it comes to sparking an interest in students. When puppets or a book series was introduced to students during reading time children were more easily able to identify story elements and form connections with the story.
Meier raises an excellent point when it comes to making personal connections with the activity at hand. While student teaching last week, I noticed a few students that seemed uninterested during an activity I was facilitating. While some kids were reading “C” books, I was trying to go over letters and sounds with other students. I thought, they must have gone over this 50 times already – why aren’t they getting it. I began having a really hard time trying to get their attention so I thought maybe if I can have these letters relate more to them, they might find it much more interesting. So I asked the students in my group, “whose name starts with the letter A” and they named Angie. This became really effective as I went through the student's first letter in their names. Soon they became so excited and started naming other children in their classroom and what letter their name began with. Then they started naming animals and the first letter that their name began with. Clearly the students got it. Making a personal connection with them and the letters helped make the activity more exciting, which lead them to participate more and get more from the activity. I am really interested in learning others ways to make real-world connections with students when teaching other subjects that are not so easy to relate to, such as history and science.
I definitely agree with each of your explanations for each quote. I actually chose 2 of the same ones :) But anyways i agree with making books come alive because its making reading fun and the students are engaged in the puppets and the puppets mouths moving and hands flapping. These features capture childrens attention.
ReplyDeleteRuby, when you said in your first quote that teachers should get their students books that will interest them because they could make a connection to it, I do agree with you. To add on to that I feel that, teachers should also get their students books of interest because then the student will be excited to read and will learn how to read at a faster paste . Also, this may give the child a interest in reading just for fun instead of reading because they were told to.
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