REFLECTIONS

=Reflections:=

 -What are your goals for the Masters of Arts in Teaching program?
 * Course 1 Reflections**

My goals for the Masters of Arts in Teaching program is to further my career as an educator and as a facilitator of knowledge. It has always been a dream of mine to obtain my Masters of Arts in Teaching. That being said, it is my goal that through this program, I will learn how daily routines help further reading and literacy instruction. I plan on using daily routines and work stations to encourage independent exploration in various content areas and I look forward to further exploring how these routines further reading comprehension. The knowledge acquired through this line of inquiry will further my understandings on how to best go about teaching reading comprehension and literacy. As a result of exploring the topic of small groups and daily routines for my action research, I will have a better understanding of what methods and strategies work best within a classroom.

-What are your current strengths as a teacher, as well as your areas of challenge?

During my student teaching at both placements, I have found that one of my challenges as a teacher is finding various strategies to help my students to become proficient readers. One of the most productive strategies was playing into the students’ interests both in and outside of school and incorporating these interests within lessons and especially in finding independent reading materials for the students.

Through my student teaching, I was able to observe and note various teaching methods in which enabled my students to reflect the behaviors seen in proficient readers. Such methods included morning and afternoon reading groups, literature circles, and reading workshop ideas adapted from the findings by Debbie Miller, Donalyn Miller, and Jeff Anderson. I taught and continued to observe how these various reading and writing routines conducted in both independent and small groups, expanded my students’ growth. O I began wonder about what makes up an effective reading unit that would build upon my students’ fluency, vocabulary, phonics, phonemic awareness, and comprehension. I have found that implementing daily reading lessons in which address these five components- fluency, vocabulary, phonics, phonemic awareness, and comprehension, to be quite challenging.

- Do any of your current guiding questions address your areas of challenge? Which one(s)?

Two of my guiding questions address this area of challenge of finding a unit of practice and or a routine that utilizes different methods of practice focusing on building students’ reading comprehension and literacy skills evidenced through their daily writing and reading. The questions that address this challenge are: How can a program like “The Daily Café” be used to further students’ success rate of comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding their vocabulary? As well as- how can a daily routine like the Daily 5 help aid children in becoming proficient readers by having students rotate between five stations daily that address the areas of fluency, phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, and vocabulary. Through my findings based off this inquiry, it is my hope to be able to find ways to implement such routines and work stations to even further student growth in other content areas as well.

- What is pedagogical content knowledge?

Pedagogical Content Knowledge is best defined as research-based strategies on how to effectively teach a specific content. Furthermore, it is the knowledge teachers have that aids their instruction to best meet the needs of their students specifically regarding the strategies needed for the particular content. It also is the knowledge teachers’ gain which helps them to change or adapt their teaching to best fit the subject matter within a content area to meet the needs of their students. Within pedagogical content knowledge, one must have knowledge of the available and or required materials regarding the content area they are teaching. These materials usually come in the form of textbooks and such provided by the school or District in which one is teaching for.

- Do any of your current guiding questions address growth in your pedagogical content knowledge? Which one(s)?

Both of the questions stated above address growth in my pedagogical content knowledge in the area of literacy and reading comprehension. These questions will challenge me to further dissect these areas of pedagogical content knowledge by implementing and challenging different methods and activities in order to best help students be successful in furthering their content knowledge in the areas of literacy and reading comprehension.

- Describe any ideas, rough or not, that you are considering for your Capstone Project.

I was contemplating the idea of going through a trial period of teaching the Daily Café for a couple of months and then switching to the Daily 5 (where students rotate between five stations daily, addressing various areas of literacy) to see which routine and or program proved most beneficial to my students’ reading comprehension and literacy growth.

Another possible idea for a project is to create a unit that heavily implements stations and small groups for writing instruction.

Another idea for a project that I have had through my various article readings, is the idea of creating a set of creative writing lessons to help encourage students’ writing abilities through making their writing experiences fun and interactive.

I have also debated focusing on just one or the other program for a quarter then switching and seeing what results are produced knowing that the students have previously received a quarter of practice within the content area.