Michaela Welker - Blog Posts

Michaela Welker

January Blog Post #5

(Routman) Chapter 4: Teach with a Sense of Urgency

“We need to get down to the essence of what we believe and what we do to ensure our students become excellent readers who choose to read. If we don’t know how to teach reading and move students forward, we must take responsibility for learning how. We must jumpstart our own professional development.”  - Routman

The above quote really hit home for me. I’ve been struggling with pace, purpose, and direction since I started teaching. I feel like when it comes to reading instruction, I feel like I’m floundering, not able to quite grasp what it is that I’m supposed to be teaching. I’m not sure what’s expected of me as a teacher to teach the students. The standards seem so vague to me and more than half of my students are below reading level. Knowing that teaching reading is something I struggle with, I’m constantly reading and researching on my own time to try and figure out the best way to teach my students. One of my professional strengths, is trying to strengthen my areas of weakness. I take personal pride in my job and try my very best to get my students to reach higher.

One area that I find I struggle with is writing Reading plans.  This chapter was helpful because it helps me to really look closely at how I organize my lessons to ensure that I’m teaching effectively.

Michaela Welker

February Blog Post #6

(Routman) Chapter 10: Examine Guided Reading

I found this chapter to be really helpful. Out of my reading instruction, guided reading is the hardest for me to grasp. During my Student Teaching, I was in a fifth grade classroom and we didn’t do any guided reading at all. Therefore, when I came to third grade, I was at a loss as to how to conduct my centers. This chapter offered several suggestions that I find will be extremely helpful to integrate into our reading instruction.

The first aspect of guided reading that I need to work on is the organization of my instruction. The point of guided reading is to practice what the teacher has demonstrated through reading aloud, explicit instruction, guided participation, or though shared reading or writing. Sometimes I’m guilty of not demonstrating or being clear in my instructions to students.

I liked how Routman suggested broaden the guided reading groups and then limiting the time spent with each group. With the class I have this year, I’ve found that the more students I have in my group, the less effective instruction is due to competition of attention. I feel that if I try this suggestion in my classroom, it might make my time with students more effective.        

Michaela Welker

March Blog Post #7

(Routman) Chapter 12: You Only Have So Much Time

I really enjoyed this chapter and am really glad I saved it for last! Sometimes, I get really wrapped up in trying to do everything perfectly that I find that I’m burying myself in work, seeking for perfection. I appreciated reading the part that said that as teachers, we need to take some time for ourselves. I feel like this year has been a whirlwind of to-do lists, demands, and changes. Because of all the stress this year has brought, I feel like I’m starting to burn out. It’s partially due to the fact that I don’t take time for myself. If I’m not focused on my classroom, I’m focused on my child or my husband, rarely finding time to just relax. I would feel guilty because I was getting overwhelmed that I couldn’t do it all, that I was falling short, and yet so many other women can get everything done. I realize, however, after reading the chapter that I’m not alone in feeling this way. I need to take time to relax. In doing this, I can be a more effective teacher, parent, and wife.

I also liked how Routman brought up certain strategies that will help save teachers time, something that we teachers don’t have a lot of. I find that in my two hour reading block, I get interrupted around 10 times within my reading block. Not only does this make me lose my train of thought, but certainly my readers train of thought. I need to find a better way to help alleviate these disruptions. Additionally, I feel that we waste a lot of time in class, between using the restroom, asking me what to do next now that they’re done, and me just being ill-prepared. I liked the suggestions of using any down time to teach. During centers, I also find that my students are constantly having to ask questions of me during Guided Reading. Routman suggested keeping work simple so that students can do the work independently to practice.

My favorite part of the chapter was when Routman suggested allowing students to read, write, and talk when they first come in the room, much like we do as adults. I think this is interesting because Routman is right when Routman says that even us adults don’t come into work and get straight to tackling difficult tasks. I think this will be an interesting aspect to add to our morning routines and will also require some practice and teaching prior to instilling.

All in all, this chapter was full of great suggestions and I found it to be very helpful.