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8 8 { { 8 h 8 h Jennie Lyon
Early Field Service Learning Project
Tuesday, December 3, 2002
Self-Reflection and Self-Evaluation
Watching Edward and Luis improve in their literacy development has been a very gradual and subtle, yet rewarding process. I have had a wonderful time working with these students at Dos Rios Elementary School and have found this experience to be very beneficial in preparing for student teaching. Many valuable tools have been obtained through this experience that will benefit me as a future teacher.
Over the last couple of months, I have come to realize what a tremendous influence motivation can have on literacy development concerning reading and writing. Edward and Luis were both very enthusiastic about reading. They each demonstrated an extraordinary amount of determination in moving up to the next reading level. Unfortunately, they did not share the same passion for writing as they did for reading. I could not figure out how to get them to enjoy writing. I tried using sentence starters, providing them with several topics to write about and asking them open-ended questions in order to spark an interest, but nothing seemed to work. Finally Edward asked if he could do the reading counts program with me. This is a wonderful program designed to help motivate children to read. The student reads a book, then logs on to the computer and takes a quiz over the book. If the student passes the test they can earn points for their classroom. I told Edward he could take the reading counts test after he wrote three sentences. This was very successful, so I told Luis the same thing. This motivated both of them to write more sentences. Not only did the reading counts program bring motivation to the students, but it also provided another way for me to assess their reading comprehension. Luis and Edward both did very well on the comprehension quizzes. The lowest score was an 8 out of 10 for both of them. This shows that Edward and Luis comprehend at least 80 percent of the books they are reading.
I also found the running records to be a very helpful tool in assessing where they are in their reading development. I noticed that when Edward came across a word he didnt know, he would look at me and just guess what the word might be. I kept encouraging him to look at the letters one at a time and sound them out slowly. It was somewhat frustrating because he never even tried to do this. However, observing him over the last few weeks, I noticed that when he comes across a word he doesnt know, he tries to sound it out. It has been very encouraging and rewarding to see him become more independent as a reader and writer. Luis has improved tremendously as well. It took him a while to open up and feel comfortable around me, but once he did, we had a lot of fun together. He has become a lot more confident in his reading and writing abilities. His teacher even noticed that his writing had really improved since the beginning of the year. He started out at a reading level of 12 and has a reading level of 35. Edward also jumped from a reading level of 8 to a reading level of 37. Edward really pushed himself to reach his fullest potential in his reading abilities.
Looking back on my performance as a tutor to these children, I have come to realize that there are many aspects of the tutoring that I was successful in and yet many areas I need improvement on. I know that I need to improve on enabling students to write for a purpose. Even though Edward and Luis have drastically improved with their writing, they still dont see a purpose or a point to writing. It concerns me that they still dont enjoy writing, because writing is so important. Writing is an essential skill that they need to enjoy. If they dont see writing as a valuable tool, then their writing skills may not develop into their fullest potential. I gave them an incentive to write, but I dont feel like I gave them a reason to write. I hope that they will continue to improve in their writing abilities because I know both of them have the capability to do so. I believe I was successful at demonstrating appropriate professional behavior. I communicated respect and caring toward students and colleagues. I created an acceptable learning environment for tutoring and I promoted student independent reading as much as possible.
Overall I am very grateful for the opportunity to have this experience. I have learned a lot about myself as a future teacher through this experience as well. As I continue to achieve my teaching degree I will never forget Edward, Luis, Dos Rios Elementary School, and this experience.
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