Day 10

Mrs. Mac and I not only have individuals that we read with daily, but we also  have guided reading groups that we work with every day during centers. We each have the most advanced readers in the classroom in our groups. This has been such a great learning experience. Sometime we think that the students who may not be as skilled in subjects are the ones who have a hard time paying attention, but the advanced ones do as well. If they are not fully engaged, they lose interest. They learn at a much faster pace, so while they understand very quickly what everyone takes a longer time to grasp, they are bored. I saw this even when the advanced learners were all together. One boy in particular (We’ll call him Luke), is so smart, but almost has a sense of laziness to him. For the past couple of weeks I have tried various activities to keep him involved in his reading, but was seeing no success. Then I simply one day just asked him to read to me instead of to himself. As he read to me, he was staying engaged in his own learning. I am realizing that teaching is a constant experiment. Each child is different and will need different things. Our job as teachers is to be willing to take the time to know what each child needs to succeed.