Field Update...

This week I primarily worked on our advocacy project during our class time, but I was able to sit with Mrs. Patterson during leveled reading groups. Each week the students get a book that concentrates on one letter and a few high-frequency words. Our class is on the letter "Gg". I was really surprised to see that the font they use in the books is typing text, not the way in which the students would actually write the letters. I think this has to be really confusing to the students. They are told to write lower-case 'g' a certain way, but when they read words that contain it, it looks completely different. I really enjoy working on literacy instruction with the children and using various techniques such as choral and shared reading, helping them to make predictions by looking at the pictures or reading around a word they don't know to see if the rest of the sentence will give them a clue. It makes me think that if I continue with my education after graduating, I would like to talk additional literacy courses.

The topics covered this week in the Grant book really interested me, primarily because I think we are all going to encounter students who are either homeless, experience violence or neglect, or have or are living with someone that has a chronic disease. Every situation is different, but its really helpful to discuss hypothetical scenarios in class. It reminds us that we really have to take into account what is going on in a students life or what a parent is dealing before we place blame on them. Many times people are justing trying to survive, especially in an economy like today.