Week 25: April 3rd-7th

     

    Monday, April 3rd

➽Activity of the day: Journeys

    By now, I'm sure you're well acquainted with Journeys. It's the typical book my three main children use. Today, I was working with a child who made a lot of progress in the school year's second quarter but her fluency has slumped the past month. I'm struggling to get her over the hump. She reads quickly so I asked her to slow down- but she still missed words. Further, she isn't making connections at the rate I want her to be able to. I researched what I can do to be most beneficial to her and Scholastic told me not only is consistency key, but demonstrating my own fluency will help her to pick it up. I will take that advice and keep working away with her, partner reading with her every once in a while.





    Wednesday, April 5th

➽Activity of the day: Journeys

    Today was not great. I was with a different student than Monday. This one simply does not want to put in the effort. She believes that because I am not an adult, she can take advantage of me. It can be like pulling teeth trying to get her to work.

    So, I had to be stern. I eventually used the most "adult" voice I could muster and said, "[name], read. Now". The problem with me having to be forceful is that she's then not going to put her whole energy into reading. Therefore, I had a talk with her. I told her that I was here for her and it was my responsibility to get her to the next level. I told her it hurt my feelings when she acts up. When I was a kid (and now), the worst thing an adult could tell me was that they were disappointed in or hurt by my actions. That said, I'm not sure how much I got through to her. I can't tell if she's not reading as well as she could because she's scared or if she truly believes this time is for her to goof off.



    Friday, April 7th

➽Activity of the day: Cutting a child off

    This entry is about the same child from Wednesday. We were reading a simple book today. She was still abusing this time, sighing like she didn't want to read or moving so I couldn't see the pages. After ten minutes of this, I told her to go. I articulated to her that there are other kids who could benefit from this time if she wasn't going to use it. If she didn't want to practice reading, I wasn't going to force her- or punish other kids because of it. I told her to go get the girl from Monday.

    The girl from Monday put her whole energy into reading with me. Though she may have been stumbling, she was excited to read and worked hard to correct herself. I took Scholastic's advice and read every third page. I'm proud of her.

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