Barbara CO#2 Reading Group 1

My second observation was in Ms. Victoria Davis’ Reading Group 1 class and it was very different from my first observation.  Since I have no idea how to teach reading at all, it was another great learning experience.  And because of an unequal number of students present that day, I was able to participate with one student, Nafe, from West Africa in reading and discussion.  After the students introduced themselves for my benefit, Ms. Davis read a selection called “American bullfrogs” found in the students’ textbooks.  When Ms. Davis read a paragraph, she pointed out the title and its meaning and then clarified vocabulary terms as she went through the story.   For example, she defined insects and then asked the students for examples which netted terms like bugs, flies, etc. She then discussed and compared the definition of certain verbs – leap and lunge (going after, in a direction, towards something.) There was also a vocabulary discussion about the words “predator and prey” to show how similar they are.  And the terms “prey” and “pray” also came up as a result of the conversation.  

When Ms. Davis asked the students to work with their partners on the reading, I was able to team with Nafe whose partner was not in class.  She read the story to me and we discussed the meaning of the terms.  She read well and said that she understood the story when reading it but that she needed to improve her pronunciation and speaking.  Working with Nafe was very informative for me because I learned what her goal was and how it could be accomplished through reading.  Once again, I learned the value of engaging students immediately in a reading project so that they could improve both vocabulary and speaking.  

Ms. Davis also provided a website that had various levels for each reading area.  She wanted the students to learn by reading real news.  Apparently, they keep a weekly reading log which was mentioned briefly.  This class also had a lot of energy because the students were engaged with each other and with the instructor.  The inductive approach was used in this class initially and it got the students thinking immediately.  Later, the deductive approach clarified and defined specific terms and parts of the reading.  I left the class thinking that I would really enjoy teaching reading.