DONE!!!!

We finally did it. Its been a long semester and as we sit and reflect it was well worth. A big thank you goes out to Yolie and Faye for being the best classmates a guy could ask for. Without either of them, I wouldn't have been able to have got to this course let alone pass it. I have no doubt that the both of you will be amazing reading specialists. The reason is that you are both amazing people and you'll be amazing at whatever you choose to do. Thank you again.

I'm going to change things up. For my quote I'm using to use one of mine. It being not only the last class for ED 644 but my last class period, I felt it appropriate to use the quote.

"Hooray, no more blogs!" (of course this is a good natured jest!)

I wish everyone the best of luck in their upcoming endeavors.

Family Celebration

I am so proud that we are all able to complete the class. It was wonderful working with Faye and Alan. We are such a dynamic group! Next, on our plate is LIVE TEXT...Be ready to present people!

We did it! Yeah ED 644 Literacy Assessment and Tutorial Program. Good job, Yolie and Alan. I couldn't have had better partners for this class than you. You are both so supportive and encouraging. Thank you for being there whenever I needed a boost of energy and encouragement. Thank you, Dr. Rivera for being accessible and keeping me grounded during all my emergencies and panic days. I'm going to miss being in class with all of you and working on projects, and just cutting up. Alan, it's almost time for your final walk down the grad school lane. One more class....but it's a piece of cake. See you next Thursday.

Snapshots of our Family Literacy Celebration - Colors of Reading, May 6, 2010, SOE Faculty Lounge

Hemrick, Josh, and Imara

The Colors of Reading Theme!

Hemrick, Josh, and Imara - TAKE 2!

Our Favorite Colors Theme!

Faye and Imara

Yolie and Josh

Alan and Hemrick

Faye and Imara - TAKE 2!

Yolie and Josh - TAKE 2!

Alan and Hemrick - TAKE 2!

Celebration Time!

Celebration Time - TAKE 2!

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
- Will Durant

It's almost over but I still have so much to learn, especially for the ESL PRAXIS.

Finish up your addendums and your Professional Development Plan, don't forget to do your last blog and post to your livetext.

See you on Thursday, next week for the Celebration!

At Last!

I cannot believe that the end is just around the corner! I have submitted my draft of the addendum and I am so relieved. All that is worrying me now is my PRAXIS II and I just have to score better than Alan :) As I shared with Dr. R and Alan, I was really stoked to write up the addendum after I saw the difference between the results from October 2009 to the results in April 2010. I was blown away by the difference. Wow! I am so over the top!.....I'm so over the top, I can't even speak with Masters' level English. I think you all can understand what I'm feeling. I am so pleased that the Tutoring Program worked for my student. Now that the major part of ED 644 is done, I can relax a little bit. So, for the Celebration, I will bring pizza and McDonalds burgers. I will also have the decorations for the walls and the brochure for the parents. How many copies should I make of the brochures. The first to respond gets a prize!!!

Its blog time!!!! So the semester is winding down and its crunch time. This class session was dedicated to reviewing the important dates as we come to the end of this semester. I was able to leave early to finish a session with my student. The session went very well. Things were different with the presence of the family. The family was curious about what Hemrick is engaged in.

"Be more like Faye!"

the quote speaks for itself.

When you have a problem, you think, think, think...

Hey everyone,

Sorry I was unable to attend class today, I wasn't feeling to well. I am still in the process of making revisions to my case report. Hopefully, I will be able to complete it and submit it by this weekend. How is everyone else doing?

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday." Winne the Pooh..

We shall get there everyone, one day, we will reach target and complete our case reports..

Keeping Up with ED 644

Let the writing of the Case Report begin. Sessions are all over and done with, I may need to conduct further assessments if I need to with J.T., if I find that I am lacking some information for my case report. I practically completed the slide show, I am just pending approval from Dr. Rivera. Maybe on Thursday we can all sit down and finalize our Celebration. See you all soon.

"Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself." Chinese Proverb

This quote speaks for me in so many ways. I think I need to be committed in entering the door to ED 644 and completing all of my pending assignments.

One More TIme!

Although my student was not able to come, I managed to work on some of my assignments. Small blessings go a long way. I made up last week's session with my student and the outcome was very positive. I was also able to get some feedback on the paraprofessional lesson plan. I was told that the paraprofessional I am working with tried out my lesson plan and even the classroom teacher was pleased with what he was doing in class. I can't wait till I get to observe him on Monday or Tuesday next week. It is gratifying to know that my lessons are doing what was meant to happen.

I am scheduled to take the PRAXIS II on April 24. I could sure use all the prayers I can get from my classmates. By the way, CONGRATULATIONS, ALAN! You did it! You passed your PRAXIS II and are now qualified to be a CERTIFIED reading specialist. Go get that certificate, frame it, and show it off because you worked hard to earn it.

Yolie, we need to get together with Alan to finalize the plans for the family event in ED 644. Hope all is well with your daughter. Let us know.

Nine down, one to go!

Wow, can you believe we only have one more session to go and then we have to write our "case report". Oh man, I am hoping that I have gathered enough information for the case report otherwise I will be conducting make up sessions..

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing" Walt Disney..

This exactly what I will be doing..

This week's session went very well. We missed Yollie but managed to survive none-the-less. The session consisted of building on the skills the we've worked on since the beginning of the semester. Hemrick's independant reading of The Block Mess Monster continues to improve. He seems to add more tone and feeling everytime. The introduction of journal writing was a new addition this week. Hemrick doesn't seem to mind writing so this will be an excellent opportunity to focus on the conventions of writing.

My quote was an Indian proverb. The gist is that if one speaks, one is unable to listen.

Three more to go!

My student was not feeling well tonight so we missed a session. I had some new strategies to try out but we'll just have to do it next week. I used up the time to research some resources for the professional development assignment and found some good ideas to use. Sorry to have missed you and Josh, tonight, Yolie. But I have to say, Alan did a good job with his student. I could hear them through two closed doors having a great session. Tonight's quote is "every path has its puddle" - an English proverb. The puddle in my path was my absent student. Oh well! I'll just step over the puddle and keep going. I'll make it up at the next session. See you all next week.

Mid Term March 11, 2010

Well, here we are at the midpoint of the course. Where has the time gone? I am actually having fun with this class and I am getting such a kick out of working with my student. I have enjoyed watching you, Yolie and Alan, working with your students and I think that it's great that our student ranges are so different. It gives me some exposure to the different age groups and the strategies that you are using with them. Thanks for the treats, tonight Yolie. Yuuuummmm! My student learned how to read that expression in one of our poems tonight. Sorry about interrupting your recorded session. There has to be a way to crop me out of the recording. I think that we are coming along with our final presentation and I do believe we will do very well. It helps that we are a small group. My quote tonight was from Abigail Adams and it has to do with working hard to get smart. Don't expect that being knowledgeable just happens or that it will somehow fall from the sky into your lap. You have to make it happen and keep making it happen. Image by Faye Kaible

Here we are! We worked really hard tonight and I.C. did great with reading her sight word sentences. We worked on "st" words as I practiced one of the roles of a reading specialist, being a support to the classroom teacher and complimenting her instruction during resource time. It actually makes my work easier because it reduces the amount of time spent to trying to decide what to teach at the next session. With the teacher making the recommendations for the content of instruction all I have to do is determine the appropriate strategies which will reinforce the classroom instruction and help the student improve or increase their skills. I think I am going to like being a reading specialist (not a literacy coach).

In this photo (compliments of Dr. Rivera) we are showing a visual we created about the book Frog's Lunch to help I.C. with recalling important information from the story. It works!

Moving Foward

" Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." Dr. Seuss

Today's session was really engaging for my student and I. I ended up creating a new game called "Hello and Goodbye". The game is used to help him read and identify some of the vocabulary words that he is learning in the books that we are reading and as well as the dolch list. He thought the game was kind of silly but ended up being a trooper in the end. We were able to accomplish many things today such as reading, writing, matching words, answer questions from the books that we read and coloring. By the end of class, he said that he was tired. Sessions are getting easier and better. I can see a great improvement in my student.

Session 5 Literacy Lab

Tonight's session went very well. We continue to read The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark and Frog's Lunch. We did a few worksheet activities that tied in with the reading and we even did a craft activity to keep my student focused on the reading. Because her attention span is pretty short after the first 35 minutes, I need to come up with things to do that keep her focused. But she is doing so well and I am very pleased with her improvements. I just hope that when I do the end of semester assessments, all this work will be reflected in the results.
I went to see my student's classroom teacher today and it was a very productive meeting. We have agreed that I will work around what she is doing in the classroom to support and compliment her instruction. This will give me a better grip on what I need to do with our student so that our efforts are moving in the same direction and not hapzardly being implemented.

We need to meet and come up with theme for our parent presentation at the end of the semester. I know that Yolie has been taking pictures but now we have to decide what strategies we're each going to be presenting and how we are going to put it all together. So, we can do this electronically or we can do a face to face.

My quote tonight is: A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to. ~Robert Brault
This should remind us that as teachers, we can't always just be talking but that we also have to hear what the student is saying - and not just with their mouths but by their actions and body language.

Image by google.

Well it's been about two sessions that J.T. has not been able to attend class, he has been sick with the flu. I will be making up my sessions with him hopefully today if he is up to working. I am hoping he will be cooperative with me. I apologize for not keeping up with my blogging.

Quote:" The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth". Dan Rather

I like this quote because as teachers, we push and tug our students in the direction we want them to go and that's success!

Today's session was a little unorthodox but, all in all, effective. The beginning was spent at the university picking up materials and going over some strategies. It took a little longer then expected but it was necessary. After getting the materials, it was off to Hemrick's house. It took a few minutes to get him settled but we did. We did some sight words and a little shared reading. He seemed to respond well while working in an environment familiar to him.

I chose this book to read with my student tonight. She did very well with it. It is a predictable book with great pictures for context clues. We did paired reading and she was able to read most of the words by herself. I feel like we are making great progress. Dr. Rivera even recorded our reading session tonight so that we could observe some reading strategies I used.

One thing that I have noticed is that my student has a hard time focusing and staying still after 35 minutes of work. So tonight I decided to do the reading activities before the letter and word recognition activities. Unfortunately, the recording was made later in the session so you will notice that she is squirming and can't stay seated. We had fun reading this book, though, and it was easy enough to give her much success in reading.

Tonight's quote is a Sioux proverb: A people without history is like the wind blowing over buffalo grass. As I said in class, my schema for buffalo grass is limited to sword grass and maybe rice and wheat before the chaff. I think that this quote means that people without history have nothing to identify with or to anchor themselves to so like the wind, they don't stay still long enough to do so, they just touch the surface and move on.

A Good Night!

I felt very good about tonight's session. My student did very well and she actually read a book (I Went Walking) all by herself with only one miscue that she self-corrected. It makes all the planning and the preparations so worthwhile. I already see a lot of improvement with her in her reading fluency and in her comprehension. There is still a lot to do but tonight was very encouraging.

My quote for tonight was about nature not disappointing the heart who loves her. My interpretation is that even though nature may sometimes cause havoc in our lives, there is always something positive we can glean from the chaos. In the east coast families can use the stay-at-home days to catch up with each other, or to just rest and relax. After a forest fire, we can look around and really appreciate how important the trees are to our existence. Nature is not always perfect but she always brings hope.

No Go

Quite an interesting session today. The whole court ordered house arrest really altered the plans. However, we all know that things like that happen and life goes on. It was really nice seeing Yollie and Faye getting right to work today. It was very encouraging. Keep it up.

Session 3

Well we were suppose to be back in the literacy lab tonight but the rooms were not decent enough to conduct a session in, so class was once again held in room 119. Maybe next week we will be back in the lab.

Tonights session consisted of more about "Clifford the Big Red Dog"! More reading, identifying basic sight words and writing. Faye shared with me some activities that she has for her student. I am eager to try them with J.T. I think he will enjoy them.

Quote: If a seed of lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly. Frank OutLaw

Just like what the quote says, we don't blame the students for our faults in not enriching our students lives. If we nourish them with great teaching, we will see the fruits of our labor in the end.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I attended class for the first time this semester. I missed the first two class sessions due to a bacterial infection that was mistaken for the flu. I felt that it wasn't worth taking Hemrick to class today. I felt I needed to talk with the professor first to get my feet wet. Instead of doing my own session, Faye was nice enough to allow me to sit in on her session. Faye did a wonderful job. Hopefully, I'll be able to be as effective as Faye. Great job Faye!

Two Down

I had a good time with my student tonight. I did a strategy that was suggested to me by a well-known educator for working with letter recognition and letter inversion. I used magnetic alphabet letters and had my student place the letter on a picture beginning with that letter and having the student say both the picture name and the letter name. She had fun doing that. To help her correct inversion of letters, I let her play with a tray of rice to draw letters in the correct way. It was also a good way to orally assess her letter recognition. She liked that activity also. I think that I am getting the hang of this. Next comes the paraprofessional lesson plans.....just when I was feeling less stressed about the lab lessons.

My quote for tonight was a scripture from Psalms. "Be still and know that I am God." I use this scripture to stay grounded and to not be too impetuous, which I am prone to be. I liked Alan's scripture, too but I can't remember it. So Alan, make sure you post your quote tonight.
Missed you in class, Yolie. I hope all is well with your daughter.

Publish Post

One Down......

For tonight's session I addressed four areas found to be my student's weak areas needing instructional intervention: Letter Recognition, Word Recognition, Reading Fluency, and Wriiting. Although I had spent a lot of time in preparing for tonight's session, not everything went as I had hoped. There were things that came up that are red flags to make some adjustments to the instructional plan. But all the effort was worth it to see my student's enthusiam while completing the activities. I am looking forward to seeing my student's assessment results improve by the end ofthe semester. My quote for tonight is:

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn. ~John Lubbock

Being taught doesn't mean that one learns what was taught. The wish to learn is what drives the being to want to do something with what is taught. If I can give my student the wish to learn, then I will have succeeded because the learning will go on even when I am gone.

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Today was my first assessment session with my student. Our session focused on "Clifford the Big Red Dog", which happens to be what interests my student. We covered reading, writing, spelling and retelling. Time went by fast..Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive coming to class tonight because I wasn't to sure what and how I was going to begin my session but i went back to my case report, skimmed through my recommendations and took off from there. For next class, I am totally going to continue where I left off.

Quote: A child's life is like a piece of paper on which everyone leaves a mark. Chinese Proverb

I chose this quote because I am trying to leave my mark in my students life as I help him through these sessions.

Welcome Back

Welcome Back..

It was nice seeing everyone's face, sadly Alan was not able to join us. It's quite overwhelming to know that already next week thursday our assessments begin. I think that if we are all on top of what we need to accomplish for the semester, we shouldn't have any worries. This semester is going to be a challenging one for me because I have a full load, three classes..I hope I know what I am getting myself into.

So we decided were the angels. I'm lovin it..I get to be Cameron Diaz..

Study while others are sleeping, work while others are loafing, prepare while others are playing, and dream while others are wishing. William Arthur Ward..

This is going to be me this entire semester..

Start of a Whole New Adventure in ED644

Well, tonight we have been given our assignments for the semester. Seems daunting? It is - at first. But with our eyes on the TARGET we will overcome our anxieties and before you know it, May 13 will be just around the corner. Let's be supportive of each other and stay focused so we can stay on TARGET. The following quote is going to be my mantra for the semester.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William A. Ward

(Target image from google)

Welcome back!

Welcome back to the second half of your reading clinical experience! You worked hard in assessing your student last semester, and now this semester will give you the opportunity to apply the recommendations you listed in your diagnostic case report. I wish you the very best, and here's to a successful semester for all of you, as you empower your student to increase his/her literacy skills, and so much more! Good luck!

Best regards,
Dr. Rivera