This year I am
taking a child and family studies course that requires me to intern at a nearby
elementary school. I will be there for at least nine hours a week until the end
of the semester. I was assigned to a third grade classroom. I have been able to
observe reading lessons almost every day that I have been there. This reflection
will be over a reading lesson observed two weeks ago. I am focusing on time
spent reading in the classroom.
At 9:05 Mrs. W
turns on the Smart Board and pulls up the FlipChart reading lesson. The
objective for the day is read aloud by the class. The next slide contains a
link to the story the class will be focusing on that week (The Metal Detective).
Mrs. W hands out one book to every group of three children. She does this
because there are 15 students in the class but only 5 physical copies of the
book. Mrs. W goes back to the
FlipChart and has the computer read the story to the class. She tells the class they can read along
or just listen to the story. Once
the story is read, Mrs. W teaches about finding conclusions. She teaches a mini-lesson
on onomatopoeia. Mrs. W divides the class into groups and gives each student a
card with the name of an emotion such as sad, angry, or scared. The students
have to act out that emotion and fellow classmates guess the emotion. The class has about 10 minutes before
they have to transition into the language arts lesson.
Observing this
lesson was a bit frustrating to me.
I do not understand why the story was read aloud by the computer and not
the teacher. The teacher was fully
capable of reading but instead she just sat back and read along. It was
upsetting to see students looking so bored while reading. I believe they would
have found the story more interesting if their teacher was reading aloud to
them. According to Classrooms that Work, teacher read aloud
should be an everyday event because it motivates students to read. If teachers are unwilling to read then
students will most likely adopt that same attitude.
It is upsetting that
the class was given 5 copies of a book. Most of the students at this school
come from low-income households. Luckily
this school is able to provide great resources. For example, they give students additional snacks to take
home to assure they have something extra to eat. Each classroom has one Smart
Board and at least 5 Mac computers. I find it hard to believe that the school
cannot provide 10 additional copies of a 15-page book. Having to share a book
with two other people is difficult.
I can see how not having your own copy and being read to by a computer
can discourage you from reading.
I also did not
like the story because it did not revolve around an experience that students
could relate to. The story was
about a boy using his metal detector to find a missing ring from his neighbor’s
garden. I cannot see a third
grader being able to relate to a time when they lost an important piece of
jewelry. I have learned that it is
important to provide as much real experience as possible. If students can
relate to the material, they are more likely to like it and understand it.
Overall I was
surprised to see so little reading during a reading lesson. During a 60-minute
lesson, students read about 10-15 minutes. For some students it might be less
because they had the option to listen to the story. With such a busy schedule,
students do not even have time for independent reading. Reading is only done if students finish
assignments early. This usually
gives them about 3-5 minutes to read.
According to Classrooms that Work (2011),
“The goal of every elementary teacher should be to have all children read for
at least 20 minutes each day from materials they have chosen to read” (p. 18). Later
on I learned that students read independently for at least 20 minutes but only
for homework. I think this is
great, but students should be doing that reading in the classroom as well. Students need a lot of practice to
become excellent readers. Reading
in the classroom assures the teacher that students are actually reading. Through
independent reading, teachers can see what materials students find
interesting. They can use these observations
to modify lessons around student’s interests and needs.
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