The mind and thoughts of TG

For as long as I can remember books have played a large part in my life. I have never gone into a bookstore or library that I haven't fallen in love with, so when I enter a classroom that is rich in literature I am ecstatic. I was in a 5th grade reading class and I was amazed at the selection of books. There were genres, I didn't even know existed, and various levels. One of the things I particularly liked, that was mentioned in class was the fact that students should be given choices. With freedom to be able to choose anything they want to read and independent reading time students can nurture their reading, their fluency, and their comprehension. It's easy too feel overwhelmed when you enter a library or bookstore because there is so much to choose from but, in a classroom, which is a more closed environment, a student can feel comfortable in the fact that they can choose, and choose and choose until they find something that suits them. In a school library they may be li...

The presentations that were presented were all very informative and I could feel the wheels spinning in my head. Because I want my focus to be more reading and writing, the strategy I immediately connected with was story mapping. As students are making the transition to reading more difficult and challenging texts, story mapping could be a viable way of them keeping up with important information regarding the literature. It can also be a way of giving the students tools to use when summarizing a text. A lot of the pertinent information needed in story mapping, is also the information that can be used to provide a summary. In the classroom if the students have a guide that tells them what to look for, as they read over time it will train them to know what to look out for when reading. Graphic organizers, such as story mapping, can be adjusted to have the students look for certain information as well.