I am still trying to put my finger on exactly what worked for me this year because I would really love to have an equal amount, if not more success this year. I’d like to know exactly what it was that made my student’s test scores shoot up so much.
While I’m not exactly sure what all of the contributing factors were to my students’ success this year, I’m pretty sure that one of them was all of the reading that we did. I love reading. I am a voracious reader. So, since I love reading so much, I want to instill that same love in my students. That’s why, from the very first day of school, I read to the children least four times a week. The first book that I read to them was “Thank You, Mr. Falker” by Patricia Polacco. My students hung on to my every word. So, began their love of literacy.
We’d take turns, my students and I, picking the books. Whenever I was introducing a new topic, I would have a book to read to them. They loved it. Some of them would ask me what I was going to read next. They almost always liked my choices. When they didn’t, or when the book seemed to be taking too long to get to the point, I would ask them if they wanted to continue reading it. We would take a vote. If they didn’t want to continue, we didn’t. If they did want to continue reading it, we finished.
I definitely plan on continuing the tradition of daily reading. I guess it did make a difference after all. Well, I’m finished bragging until next time!
Special 2 Me 