Mrs W's Best Practice for 3C

Hi my name is Melissa and I am a first time blogger 😕please excuse my newness.

As Erin mentioned we have chose to write about struggling readers. At first I knew exactly what I wanted to write and upon some conversations and reflections this week I have added to it.

As a lower elementary teacher and working with the younger kids the past few years I still go back to the R+ program. By no means is it the greatest program, but I am sure it has had many adaptations over the years. When I look at where my students are in their reading I can see the lack of phonemic awareness (which touches on Erins topic as well). It seems that most times I analyze problem areas I am almost always lead back to this same problem. I have been able to work with students individually or as a group with R+ to teach these skills.

Through some reflections this year being in a new grade I have thought about why the kids are where they are at. We are all amazing teachers, we all have our strengths; sometimes strengths we didn't realize. Sometimes these are easier for other to see, especially in our setting. It is interesting to look at my class this year and see which kids came from the previous teachers. I have been thinking about how if I was to go back to Grade 1 or Grade 2 and do it over I would be able to improve what I was doing based on what I see from the kids a year further. We often sit with our grade level partners and discuss what going on and where to go from this point and something I think we can start to practice is talking to other grade levels (not in September) and having them point out the class strengths they notice and areas of weakness. Something that would not take very long as I am sure we thinking about it anyway, and can be very different to each person you speak with. It may not even be academic but something else that changes the daily routine. I am sure there are grade 2 and 3 teachers that can look at my classes in the past and say wow, she really needs to up her game on _____ topic or she did a great job teaching this unit. I am sure this concept has been discussed but not always implemented. It is something I will be doing from now on to better myself and my class!
I hope I did not bore you to death and ramble on.