Reflections

I realize that, if the purpose of this blog is too help me reflect, I need to blog more often. So here goes...

Yesterday I had two great conferences with two of my struggling readers. T was writing during the Daily 5 and was trying to write the word play (I am not going to think about the fact that we have written that word about 100 times in class so far). I asked him what he thought he should use to help him. (Hoping he would say, "I could use the word day from our word wall.") Of course, he had a better idea. He said, "I could use those sound boxes my reading teacher uses." Why didn't I think of that! I asked him if he could tell me how many boxes he needed and he said three. He drew the boxes and filled them in. I helped him add the y (referring to day on the word wall...I have trouble letting things go). What a powerful conference. He knew a strategy I hadn't even thought of using. He took ownership, drew the boxes, and filled them in. Thank you MaryAnn (his reading teacher) I couldn't do it without you!

My next conference was equally awesome! I sat down next to J. He was reading a book about bugs. He said he thought it was a "just right" book. He read a little and I agreed with him. Then he came to a page with a praying mantis on it. He told me it was harder for him to read about bugs he had never seen before. We discussed that when we don't have much schema it is harder to read. (I love it when my students use words like schema) I asked if he had any strategies he could use to figure out that word. He found the "ay" like in day and the "ing" like in going. He soon figured out praying then reread and got his mouth ready and out popped mantis. He told me, "sometimes when you reread the right word just pops out of your mouth." He did all of the above on his own; I was just sitting and listening. If we had read that book in a group he would have probably heard someone else say the word first and would have just repeated it or I would have introduced the word in my book talk. I would have never seen the evidence of his Great Thinking!
I love that these awesome thinkers in my class let me come along for the ride!