More Risk Taking…From a Six Year-Old
On Friday morning, K asked me if she could read her book to the class. Of course, I said, “Yes!” right away. I was thrilled that she would want to take the risk to read in front of her peers. K has worked so hard this year in reading and writing. I had noticed that she was reading this book a lot during our literacy block, but I never guessed that she was practicing to read to us (maybe she didn’t realize it either!). She’s even asked me to get another copy for her reading buddy. So, when I told the class that we had a guest reader, everyone wondered who it would be. Imagine their surprise that it was one of their own classmates. K sat proudly in the author’s chair and read her book. I was so proud of her. One of the kids interrupted her saying, “Mrs. Johnson, K has really good fluency like you.” K beamed!! I’ve never seen her be so excited about reading!
I am so proud of her. Reading in front of the class was a real risk for her, but she decided that it was something she wanted to do and she took the initiative to ask me if she could. Can you guess how many guest readers we have for next week? If you guessed that everyone wants to be a guest reader, you’d be correct! So we’ve started a “Guest Reader” list. It’ll take us about 4 weeks to cycle through the class. The best part is that they now have an authentic reason to reread favorite books and practice fluency. K taught us all a lesson on Friday. When we take risks, we grow and can lead others to grow too! Thanks K!!
February 10th, 2010 saat: 5:25 pm
Dear Ms. Johnson,
Kudos to you for encouraging your young leaders!!
My name is Jill Randolph and I work with CityTownInfo.com, a website providing over 50,000 reference pages of real-world information on careers, communities, and colleges to our 10 million annual visitors.
I was reviewing your blog and wanted to let you know that we have just released a free 64-page e-book we think you and your visitors may find interesting. Our e-book provides a candid, real-world perspective on the elementary teaching profession via interviews with 25 teachers from grades 1 through 5, across a variety of disciplines including reading specialists, PE, and music teachers, to name a few. The book offers advice, tips, best and worst parts of the job, as well as words of wisdom, inspiration and caution from working teachers. One quote from the book:
“Many people think that because the school day ends at 3 PM teachers just leave, but, the truth is, we stay late and often put in more than an eight-hour day. Almost always we take work home with us. Yes, we do have summers off, but we are constantly thinking about the school year to come and working on our skills.”
Yours is one of the very first blogs we are reaching out to, so that you may share this relevant information with your visitors. We hope you’ll take a bit of time to review the book – it’s a fairly quick read – and then consider passing along your thoughts to your readers. We can provide you with cover art images in various sizes if you would like and we recommend linking to the page containing the eBook (http://www.citytowninfo.com/employment/elementary-school-teachers).
Thank you for your time and consideration. If I can answer any questions you may have, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Jill Randolph
jrandolph@citytowninfo.com
CityTownInfo.com
February 10th, 2010 saat: 8:24 pm
Just wonderful! I is those kinds of classroom events that make teaching so joyful!
February 13th, 2010 saat: 8:52 pm
Love how your sudents pick up the Reading Cafe lingo! Neat story. Risk taking demands a caring and safe environment, which I know you have in your room every year!