Thinking back to my
early elementary days, I do not remember reading in First grade. I remember who my teacher was and rotating
between stations. The stations were both hands on and workbooks. I also
remember writing my first book, and how we got to design our own cover, but I truly
do not remember doing any independent reading or small group reading until second
or third grade. My memories of reading in these grades are not happy ones; I
remember reading out of basal readers. I remember always feeling very nervous
to be called up to my reading group because I knew we were going to have to
read out loud. I was afraid I would
make a mistake and my friends would tease me. I remember that I would be
sitting at a table with a few friends and my teacher would pick a student to
start reading out loud. I would wait
nervously as he would tell the student when to stop and then randomly pick
another student to start reading where they left off. I still remember the awful feeling I had in my
stomach waiting for my turn. I believe this is why I prefer to listen and
conference with children one on one. When I do my reading groups I try to be sensitive
to students comfort level and make sure that I am doing reading and some type
of work that each child can feel successful at first, so that when we start to tackle
the more challenging parts they will be more comfortable.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who can't remember what first grade reading was like. I remember being nervous in elementary school during popcorn reading too. I hated that especially since I was usually so bored that I would always get caught not paying attention.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in my post I remember reading from basal readers but I relate to you about the stress that it would be your turn to read and what if I couldn't read it. I also remember knowing that I wasn't in the top color group!
ReplyDeleteReading circles definitely run different now!
After reading this I tried to remember any memory of learning to read. I truly can not think of one! I do not remember any type of reading group from 1st or 2nd grade, let alone anything earlier. The only take away I have from not being able to remember is that I didn't have any traumatizing experiences. I guess that's a good thing!
ReplyDeleteRound robin reading was torture and I agree the knot in my stomach would grow wondering what I was going to have to read and when. Being put on the spot like that was awful. If I knew the teacher was going page by page I would figure out what page would be mine and be rehearsing and totally miss the other pages read. Not a good practice!
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