Reflection over the readings

One important thing I learned from the readings was the Building Language Together (BLT) program “that focuses on the literacy of the child while parents act as facilitator and supporter” (p. 694). The hands-on centers introduce children to real life concepts; for example, in the third unit, a table is set up with food and the child can have a blue plate that chapter 3 suggest, with “broccoli, bread, and bacon” on it. This activity teaches initial sounds.

Another important thing I learned from the readings in chapter 3 was that teachers blame parents whose children fail to learn to read successfully. I have heard from my parents that it was the teacher’s job to teach the children how to read. As an adult I realize that it takes both the teacher and the parent working together to help most struggling readers learn to read. However, most parents do not know how to teach or what level of books they should have their children read. Chapter 3 in our book talks about the “Even Start Program that is the largest federally funded family literacy intervention program in the United States. It offers parents reading, storytelling, and prereading activities to use with their children.”(p. 51) As a teacher I will find out more about programs that involve parents and children working at home to help build the skills the students need to become lifelong readers.

From chapter 17 in our book I learned about acting, where the student is playfully misbehaving and testing the teacher to see how much he/she can get away with. This is where classroom management and rules should be set up during the first part of the year. The chapter goes on to say if the teacher does not have balanced, strict, kind, and fair rules, the student will have increasingly disruptive behavior (p. 396), which means that the whole class could suffer from one child’s behavior.



How I plan to implement the knowledge that I gained from reading this material is to promote parent involvement. I will have hands-on centers in my classroom that parents and students can interact with. Students will make flyers or newsletters inviting parents to come join our class.

The changes I will make in my classroom will include different ethnic materials in each center. I will have students tell me what they think their parents would like to see in our centers from their culture. Another thing that will be added to centers is books from each culture that correlate with the centers unit. I will also ask parents if they would like to read and explain their culture to the class.
Some of the before strategies I would use in my classroom will be prediction and questioning. I will ask students’ questions before the centers are set up and build the centers around students answers. I will ask students what rules should be placed on the centers. For example, how should we act during center time? Rules would be placed in each center after the students have worked with me to create them. I feel that this will help them to remember the rules. When misbehavior happens I will have the student read the number he/she is demonstrating to encourage a change in his/her behavior.

An after strategy I will use is to have each student write a thank you letter to their parents for their participation in our class. I will also ask students what they liked about center time. We will discuss what changes they think should be made to improve our centers for the next parent involvement activity. The effects will be positive because parents, students, and teachers are all working together to create a motivational learning environment.