Reflection

By the end of my practicum experience, I had discovered that “Johnny” was motivated to read when the material was about cars, and he was also a much more focused reader when he read out loud in a small group. “Sally” was motivated to read when she was given the chance to choose her own book, and “Arnold” liked to read selections from the integrated studies book about teeth to his entire class. When Johnny read about cars we could work on his phonemic awareness, when Sally read books that she liked she worked on her reading fluency, and when Arnold read aloud from the book about teeth he was practicing lots and lots of sight words.
The small child who informed me early on that I “couldn’t make him learn”, enjoyed learning about farm animals and farming equipment. In the library we found books about farming for him to read aloud to me, and since I am a Midwest farm girl, I was able to supply him stories from the farm. Because he was interested and wanted to read more about farms, he hardly noticed that we were working on his basic decoding skills while we read about tractors.
I was correct when I said that sometimes its just “tough cookies” and you have to learn about things that are not interesting to you, but as I have stated in my previous posts, making connections to subjects is what motivates kids to learn. As a teacher it is my job to make those connections for my students. When they make connections and they are motivated, they will become successful readers.