Abstract
I came to graduate school to become a better teacher of reading. When I enrolled, I had five years of experience teaching in the upper elementary school classroom. I felt confident in the math instruction I was able to provide for my students, but unsure of the quality of my reading instruction. I feel that reading is the single most important skill we can offer our children, I know it has been essential in forming me into the person I am, and yet the complexities of teaching reading have always seemed a little beyond my grasp. I hoped that coming to graduate school would allow me to work through some of the difficulties of reading instruction and offer me some new insights into how to reach even the lowest achieving of my students. The question that has guided me through all of my courses is “How can I help all of my elementary students achieve success in reading?”
From my first class I have been considering what key components are necessary for me to create a classroom that supports reading success. Early in my courses the idea of the Matthew effect was presented. This is the idea that those who are good at reading, will continue to read and get better at it; those who struggle with reading will read less and fall further behind. In my view, it is easy to teach reading to higher level students, they make growth with out much input from the teacher. I wanted to know how to reach my students who were struggling with reading and how to inspire in them a love for reading that would lead to future success.
I have realized that there are still a lot of unknowns in the world of reading instruction. Because we can not see what is going on inside a students head, it is not always easy to remedy problems. I have also realized that, just like all students need different things to achieve reading success, each teacher has to approach reading instruction in a way that works for him or her. My experience across my graduate school classes has taught me that four key things are necessary for me to be able to guide my students to reading success. Those important components are knowledge of my field, strong assessment practices, instructional techniques, and motivation.
From my first class I have been considering what key components are necessary for me to create a classroom that supports reading success. Early in my courses the idea of the Matthew effect was presented. This is the idea that those who are good at reading, will continue to read and get better at it; those who struggle with reading will read less and fall further behind. In my view, it is easy to teach reading to higher level students, they make growth with out much input from the teacher. I wanted to know how to reach my students who were struggling with reading and how to inspire in them a love for reading that would lead to future success.
I have realized that there are still a lot of unknowns in the world of reading instruction. Because we can not see what is going on inside a students head, it is not always easy to remedy problems. I have also realized that, just like all students need different things to achieve reading success, each teacher has to approach reading instruction in a way that works for him or her. My experience across my graduate school classes has taught me that four key things are necessary for me to be able to guide my students to reading success. Those important components are knowledge of my field, strong assessment practices, instructional techniques, and motivation.
