Reading

As I read through the first couple chapters of Fox this afternoon, I was transported back to my job as a Title I reading para.  I flashed back to my reading groups and our work on phonemic awareness - practicing phoneme segmentation and blending the word.  I thought of my first graders practicing words on their whiteboards and "boxing the blend" or "underlining the digraph."  I really enjoy working with students at this stage in their literacy development as they're starting to make connections between letters and sounds and seeing word parts repeated in words.

As I read through Chapter 3, I was struck by the line "the pictures in storybooks are an avenue to meaning that does not call for phonemic awareness, understanding the alphabetic principle, recognizing specific words, remembering the letters, or knowing letter-sound associations" (p. 70).  I immediately thought of my September experience in my main placement.  I listened to a student read the book David Goes to School! by David Shannon.  She read the entire book by looking at the pictures and making up a story that made sense with it.  For instance, on the page with David staring out the window with the written text stating, "Pay Attention!", she read, "Stop looking out the window, David!"  She understood that the book is filled with instances of the teacher correcting David's behavior in some form or another, so her story had to match this premise.  While she was not reading the text, she was reading the pictures and filling in an appropriate story.

Food for thought:  How can I best assist this student in growing her literacy skills and helping her make the jump to looking at the text, in addition to the pictures?

Rejuvenation

Today I went back to the school that I've worked at for the past two years.  It was wonderful.  I knew that I had missed it, but didn't realize just how much until I was back.  I got to see many of my wonderful former co-workers, but (more importantly) I got to see my kids!  I was mobbed on the playground with hugs from all sides.  I had kids gasping and then running at me with huge smiles on their faces.  I felt my smile back, just as big. My heart warmed at all of the "I've missed yous" I heard today, and all of the "I've missed you toos" that I gave back out.

I also had a couple of really special interactions.  One was with a student that I've known since I started there.  He is someone who requires a lot of time and effort in establishing a trust with him and often is uncomfortable with showing positive emotion.  I was excited to see him today, but figured that the most I might get was a muffled "Hello."  Instead, he came over to me and let me know that he's missed seeing me, followed by a quick (side) hug.  That act really touched me.

The second special interaction came from a student that I met this past spring when her family immigrated to the United States.  After coming over to say hi with her sisters, she looked up at me and told me in some newly acquired English, "I see you today and it make me happy." 

What an awesome day.