First Day Back! 1-7-08

The first day back from a long vacation is always an exciting one. The students want to talk about what they did, where they went, and after a holiday, the presents they received. Well Mrs. Tazelaar's were no exception to this. They were full of stories and lists of their new presents. Mrs. Tazelaar gave them a few extra minutes during morning group time to share with the rest of the class, but then it was time to get back to business. The morning was spent mostly doing workshop. During workshop the students rotate through four centers that are mostly based around literacy. The workshop centers can also change from day to day. They include reading on the rug, partner reading, writing word wall words, puzzles, and the one that remains constant is reading with the teacher. Mrs. Tazelaar has the class divided into four groups that reflect students who are mostly on the same level for reading. This is the group the students travel with through the centers. Since this was the first day I was observing for literacy, I took the time to walk around and work with different students in each of the different centers. I really enjoyed sitting in on the center where the students read with Mrs. Tazelaar. Depending on the reading level the students interact with Mrs. Tazelaar in different ways. In the advanced group, the students start by sitting at the table and reading their chapter book to themselves. Then, Mrs. Tazelaar sits with one student at a time and has that student read a passage out loud to her. She then asks comprehension and decoding questions and works through the text with the student. When the student is done, she takes notes on what methods the student was using, what methods she used, what the student did well, and what they need to work on. I really enjoyed observing this because I was able to get inside Mrs. Tazelaar's head and find out her teaching method/thinking/rationale behind the activity. I saw this activity very useful in a few different ways. First, the record she keeps on each student is very handy in tracking progress and necessary to look back on when reassessing the students, filling out report cards, and talking to parents in conferences. Second, I saw this activity useful because it was a way for Mrs. Tazelaar to meet with each individual student during literacy time in a one-on-one setting. I am excited to see what is to come in the rest of the semester :)