Module 1: PowerPoint Response

“Assessing & Correcting Reading & Writing Difficulties”

            As a teacher, it is my main goal to help my students be successful.  The PowerPoint slides titled “Nothing Succeeds like Success” really stood out to me.  Acknowledging success and praising students helps to build their confidence and motivate them to do their best.  Another good way to encourage and motivate students is by building on what they already know and relating lessons to their lives making learning more meaningful.  Making learning fun and interesting all the time can be a challenge, but I think students appreciate and admire a teacher who tries to make learning fun.  Another part that stood out to me was “Never do for a student what they can do for themselves.”  Sometimes it can be hard to allow that “struggle time” for students to think for themselves and problem solve, but those are important skills they need to acquire.  With my first graders, I often find students glancing at assignments/papers and immediately turning to me for answers without even attempting to use any strategies to figure things out on their own or read the material on their own.  I think it is very important to guide students and model while teaching but also create independent learners as well.  While teaching reading to my first grade students I feel it is important to provide instruction with decoding words, strengthen phonics skills, build fluency, and create conversation to reinforce comprehension.