How Elluminating!

This class session was exciting, letting us revisit some of the activities we've tried out before and see some technology in action. I'm glad that we're getting closer to trying them out! I sincerely meant it that "We'll have a Terrific year--Together."

Soon we'll be able to share our passion for Reading with others and see how our efforts can transform their lives and help them succeed. I truly believe that we'll be able to witness, as Victor Hugo said, that "To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."

All our previous classes and experiences have helped us to be ready and willing to tackle this challenge! Our only obstacle now is to find a Student! Best of luck to us all. <3

Image taken from http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbmT1kS9zAAQaFbsi2muZRPHhOQ_XOj_yWwLeNvFzChH94Jy0&t=1&usg=__-AbdhSLqaYyXY-vKPgwxPfLEbRQ=

Great Attitude

"Attitude determines Altitude." -Anonymous

www.heartsandmind.com

Team MAGEC did well today, discussion was motivating and the attitude was positive!

This was a great session! Geri made the group complete. I enjoyed the review we had on reading strategies and interventions. It brought back the past classes and the work we did. Our short elluminate session was another great review, I'm already looking forward to the next one!

"Aim for the highest." -Andrew Carnegie

The session today has given me ideas on strategies that I can apply when conducting the assessment with my chosen individual. I am so glad that we were given completed case reports as samples so that it gives us a general idea on how to do the report. With the session today, we went through different assessment activities which I found useful to incorporate with my current reading group. These activities included shared reading, paired reading, using letter words, worksheet on seeing the big picture, reflections from reading by drawing or writing, three sentence summary, and the list goes on... I am most grateful that we were able to practice how to elluminate today because I don't want to encounter any problems when the session occurs. I'll do my best to make sure there are no kids screaming in the background, text-messaging beeping, and you won't get a glimpse of my "real bahaki clothes." On another note, I need to write me reminders to maybe bring in more snacks for us for our next session. Reading that "Curious George" book today on pancakes and someone else talking about Outback Steakhouse, sure made me hungry! Overall, glad to have you guys in the class..."Go MAGEC!"

Image courtesy of http://www.danzfamily.com/

Assessment and Activities

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of Success" (Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog)

This quote pretty much sums up what I will be aiming to achieve with my selected student as I begin the process of assessing and eventually conducting activities to improve his literacy skills. I especially like using the Graffiti Board and the Picture Reflection activities as I've used them before in my classroom , and they seem to produce successful results because the students put their own personal touches to them. Anything that the students can relate to has a positive effect on them.

As for my personal goal, I hope to be able to come out of taking this course with a much better understanding and tolerance for students with learning difficulties. This is one area of my teaching that I certainly can improve on.

I really enjoyed the Elluminate session with the class and look forward to it on Sept. 9th.

Thursday, August 26th: Refreshment!

“Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.

Today was a refreshing day in class. On the whole I felt more relaxed because over the past week I've created plans in my head for our assignments. Though I'll be jealous of my friends when they head out for fun on Friday night while I'm preparing for my presentation, I know when Wednesday night comes around I'll be happy I'm not behind. I've also identified all the students in my classes who are two grade levels behind in reading, and will begin contacting parents next week to see if they are interested in reading help for their child.

Today's class was also refreshing because I remembered many of the assessment activities that Dr. Rivera brought up. I also was excited because we use similar types of assessment at Sylvan Learning Center in our reading program. I also use the "draw and write" assessment in my class after we watch films, so I was happy to see I'm already using similar assessments for other activities. I'd also like to thank Mar for being an awesome student during the paired reading practice, and am looking forward to working with my student in October. Last, I was excited that I have a computer that can perform all of the functions necessary for the Elluminate sessions! This is the first new computer I have ever had, and I am grateful that I have it. It really does help relieve stress (if only it massaged my feet too)!

Quote Citation

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/rest_when_you-re_weary-refresh_and_renew_yourself/223886.html

Image Citation

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ctle.blog.utah.edu/files/2009/07/refreshing.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ctle.blog.utah.edu/&usg=__h_2AkBx31rR7CygKsg29MarGB68=&h=400&w=500&sz=228&hl=en&start=82&sig2=i5hjFCo-8ZUUEllxf1CSlQ&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=pSXfR0I2gzm6bM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRefreshing%26start%3D80%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26ndsp%3D20%26biw%3D1207%26bih%3D687%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=HR92TKbVNYv0swOSmPygDQ

I recall the look on my student's faces on their first day of school, the look of nervousness and anxiety of not knowing what to expect. That is slightly how I felt today. The path ahead may be a long road, but I know that somehow I will overcome the trials and be able to reflect upon them. I tutored students in the area of reading, but knowing how to assess their needs is the first important component. By using a variety of assessment practices and tools, I will be able to make a difference in a child's ability to read and others who are in need of assistance. Like Christine mentioned, we are in this "together." Let us see ourselves as future reading specialists.

"Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are." -Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

Image courtesy of http://picturrs.com/files/funzug/imgs/walls/big/motiv_inspi_wal_02.jpg

Team MAGEC

Image: Courtesy of Bing.com

"Challenges are what make life interesting;overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."- Joshua J. Marine

Inspirational quote: Courtesy of www.heartsandmind.org/advesity.htm

Let's hear it for Team "MAGEC"!!(Mar,Annette,Geri,Erik,Christine)

Together--toward sucess

Hearing about this course from other Language and Literacy students and from going over the syllabus, I can already see that it's going to be a long and involved semester. But Gandhi expresses gracefully what the psychologists tell us about self-fulfilling prophecies: "Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

We'll gain nothing by dwelling on the negative, so let's just focus on what we can do--if not alone, then together. Take a little bit at a time, and we'll work through it. This is probably not the hardest thing that we've come across, but if it is, well, we'll be that much more able to get through the other tough things in life.

Image courtesy of http://prevential.com/success-factors-self-fulfilling-prophecy/

Day 1 - August 19th

Reflection on Today's Class

Boy, man, gee, wow. The first bit of class rather frightened me, but as the time went along, my thought process changed from fear to confidence. I remember that no one gets off easy in life, and that I actually love challenges. I feel that sometimes, other classes I've had in the past have not challenged me, and I'm excited to see that this class will challenge me to focus on one student and analyze his/her reading ability on a deeper basis. I work part time at Sylvan Learning Center and have tutored multiple ability levels in reading on a weekly basis, but have never done intense analysis on their specific learning needs. I also look forward to helping parents learn the appropriate strategies to help their child improve his/her reading ability at home. I know that if I was a parent, I would be grateful for the opportunity to learn more about how to help my child. I'm also already looking forward the potluck. I love food. :)

Quotation and Reflection of said quotation. :)

Col_3:12 (English Standar Version of the Holy Bible)

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience

I believe that God has put us here to be awesome workers (2 Tim: 2:15), and I know that for me to be an awesome worker I will need to be extraordinarily patient with the processes it will take to find a student to come for the reading sessions. The paperwork and arrangements needed to find a student appropriate for tutoring is the part of the class that is most worrisome to me. When I reflect on the quote above I realize that if I take humble and compassionate steps to reach out to a student and parent, with patience, I will find one who will be accepting and hopeful for the opportunity to improve their child's reading ability.

Image Credit:

http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/03-ps36-4patience-posters.jpg

Day 1

"If you don't succeed at first, try and try again."

This quote will probably be one that will prevail throughout this course for me, simply because it will definitely be a challenge to work with one specific student with learning difficulties and have to be able to diagnose his/her problems and try to implement remedial strategies to help him. What if I fail this student? How would it affect him or her, his parents and me? I would absolutely hate to ever feel like I didn't do my best as a teacher in helping this child improve.

Obviously, this course is going to present some overwhelming challenges that I will need to overcome inorder to pass this course. But, more importantly, I want to be able to assist that one child that I choose, by utilizing the necessary strategies and tools that will be appropriate in tackling his/her problem.

So, whatever happens, if what I use doesn't work, I will try other alternatives and hopefully come up with successful ones by the trial-and-error method.