Module Six Reflection

Rachel Butler
READ 5572

     I was really surprised by the information this chapter contained regarding reading and learning disabilities.  One concept that really blew me away was the fact that in many districts, children who were low readers were being identified as having a Leanring Disability and were placed in Special Education Services.
     The next concept that really shocked me was that para professionals seem to be replacing the use of specialized teachers, no doubt, to cut cost.  Per the text, research has proven that this is NOT working and these students need specialized instruction, not a teacher's assistant.
     Another concept that amazed me was the statistics from a New York City district where 1/3 of their assessed students were below level readers.  If the students truly have reading disabilities they need reinforced reading instruction, but if they are just not given access to cirriculum, that's a totally different problem with teacher accountability.
     As a current Special Education teacher, I valued the information on the importance of using small group instruction for reinforced reading instruction.  I utilize this in my classroom everyday.  Another very, very important fact that was reinforced to me in this module, was the fact that reading and writing activities must go hand in hand.  Even my non readers and non writers, do to blindness and cerebal palsy, after EVERY shared reading or read aloud activity, they are given an opportunity to gather their thoughts and I scribe them and reread them to the students and we make comments on them.
     For this module, I have used a tactile concept map for a weekly reader activity in my classroom and then we reviewed the information recapping the most important information in the text.  I personally use the SQ3R, but I haven't been able to modify it for my classroom at present.  I have modified the think aloud strategy including the intended audience and author's intent for writing the material, whether it tells us how to do something, such as our plant unit in Science, or tells a story to help us learn a moral, a shared reading activity about bullying.
     For me, I think the most important thing to do as far as instruction is to assess where the student is and what strengths they have that I can capitalize on to support their weaknesses.  In another class, we are doing several types of assessments including, phonemic awareness, phonices,vocabulary, etc., that I have been utilizing and gleaning some very important information that assists me while lesson planning.