Michelle S.- Reading Endorsement 2022

Michelle Suggs March 28, 2022 Module 6 This week’s reading discusses making our students independent readers.  In chapter 2 of Classrooms That Work, it is noted that we do not just want students who can read; we want students who do read. “The more you read, the better you read.” One great way to foster independent reading is to actually read aloud to children- whether your own personal children or your students at school. You have to demonstrate how to read before you can expect them just to start reading on their own.  This chapter suggests that you read aloud to your students at least once a day, and hopefully, the students are being read to at home as well. Reading aloud to students, according to the same book, is a simple and research-proven way to motivate children of all ages to become readers. While reading aloud to students, we should be sure to include a large genre of literature. We should consider all the backgrounds and ethnicities in our classroom as best as we c...

Michelle Suggs Module 5 March 15, 2022 The following is the “I can” statement that I would like to add this week: I can teach all students, and all students can learn. I do not currently have any ELL students, and the only ELL students I have taught in the past had a good handle on the English language. I did not encounter some of the difficulties that many ELL teachers do on a daily basis. However, this is my 7 th year in self-contained special education. Although several of my students are working on early literacy skills, such as naming letters, Pre-Primer Dolch sight words, and matching pictures with their initial letter, etc. I often have people outside of education question why these students are coming to school. People will sometimes refer to my classroom as a daycare. In some ways, that is true. We have fun, and we incorporate learning into the fun stuff we do, as opposed to the general education classes where they try to add some fun to academics. My middle school, students ...

Michelle Suggs Module 4 March 2, 2022 I do not know an English teacher who does not struggle with getting students to read independently, whether inside the classroom or outside the classroom. Most students do not read for pleasure, but they generally will not even read for a class assignment. Going way back to my high school and college days, I often bought the Cliff Notes with the book! Possibly because I was not 100% sure I would finish reading the book, but also because some of the books were difficult to understand. My daughter’s teacher requires her students to do some sort of a book report or project on the book they check out from the school library every two weeks, and I know my daughter will often asked to hold my phone to Google a summary of the book she was SUPPOSED to read! A good portion of the students in her two classes do the same thing. And these are the gifted and accelerated students! Adults are given Sunday school books to take home and prepare for the class th...