Throughout this course I have learned, as well as strengthened my knowledge about teaching and working with struggling readers and writers. I have learned throughout this course just how important it is to understand what the actual problem is that a child is having and what is causing their struggles. It is not enough as a teacher to just say that a child has a reading or writing problem, yet it is so important to helping the child that the problem is understood and recognized. I have learned about the many assessment tools that can be used to find out a students capabilities as well as to pinpoint their struggles.
During class periods and through reading other student’s reflections over the course of the semester I have found that there are so many different techniques that can and must be used with different students. It is highly important that not all students are given the same label, or that they are all taught with the same formula in mind. Not all students are the same and therefore they do not learn the same, nor do they struggle in the same way. Teachers must take the time to figure out what will work for each of their students and not give up when they have a child who is struggling.
While working on my blog in this class I found that I have a very big passion for understanding and working with ELL students. It is not just that they have a problem with understanding the language that we are speaking to them, it is that they simply do not have the same background as one who grew up speaking English. When I think back to creating my Annotated Bibliography near the beginning of the semester I did it on ELL students just because I was mildly interested in them. I found though, that when working with an ELL student the information that I had read about for my blog worked wonderfully with my student.
At first I was hesitant to create a blog for others to look at, I was nervous to have others in the class read my thoughts on the readings and what I was doing for field work until a few weeks into it. That was when I really began to enjoy posting my thoughts and commenting on what other students were thinking. I feel as though a blog is a great way to get students to share their thoughts and work with others in a way that is more beneficial and less nerve wracking than everyday classroom presentations. I will say that it was exciting when people commented on my blog or I saw that someone had read it because I found that knowing that people were interested in what I had to say made it well worth the time and effort it took to put it together.
I feel as though all this applies to working with a struggling reader or writer. One of the most important thing for all children to know is that what they think; their thoughts and words are so important to who they are. If a student is struggling and they feel as though they have no voice and are never given a chance to find it,who is to say they ever will. When working with these children in my future classrooms I now know that I must take the time to reach out and help each one of them to realize their worth and importance through their thoughts and words.
EDU 344 Blog 