Chp. 1-3 (DeVries Text)

Chp. 1:
The discussion that took place regarding the Part-To-Whole versus Whole-To-Part reading models (pages 10-13) really intrigued me. I do not recall any sort of phonics being used to teach me reading when I was in elementary school, however the school where I work, Real Life Christian Academy, does. I sat in on a second grade class one day, and I was able to observe a phonics lesson. I was of course lost as to what they were doing, but the students responded exceptionally well to this method. I would say after reading more in depth about the two reading models, that what I witnessed was definitely a blend of the two components that make up the Part-To-Whole method: phonics and linguistic approach. When I was reading about the Whole-To-Part model, I just didn't see how that would be very effective, especially with the struggling readers, which after I went on to read that was exactly the issue with that reading model. I plan to use the Part-To-Whole reading model in my future classroom.

Chp. 2:
What I liked the best about this chapter was definitely the segment on Ms. Bass and how she is such an effective reading teacher. Figure 2.1 on page 19, which followed the Ms. Bass scenario was also very helpful to be able to refer to. Most importantly to note that what the principal Mr. Green found was that the following are key components to being an effective teacher; time, text, teaching, talk, and tasks. There were so many ideas that I loved about Ms. Bass's classroom, such as having books on tape, having students retell stories via puppet shows or skits, how she integrates reading with math, the storytelling she does, and I could go on and on. It just excited me to think that soon I will be able to design my own classroom to meet the needs of all my readers and learners.

Chp. 3:
This chapter I really felt was a review of what I have previously learned in RED 3012, what with all the information regarding formal and informal assessments. However, I did find this book's explanation of how to perform a Miscue Analysis more informative than how my past teacher for RED 3012 explained it. I see now how it is an effective assessment to use with your young readers. Also, on page 45 when the books talks about the differences between mistakes children make; that they are either a semantic, syntactic, or visual/graphophonic issue. To make sure that as the teacher deciding which cueing system to use that you ask yourself, ""Does it make sense?" "Does it sound right" and "Does it look right?"" (DeVries,45,2004). I found the anecdotal records approach an interesting and seemingly effective approach to logging each student's strengths and weaknesses.