When we were giving this assignment, I thought it would rather difficult to connect my readings to my field experience because I have never had to do reflections about my learnings until this experience. I thought to myself how am I going to be able to connect a specific concept in one of my twenty textbooks to a specific scenario that happens in the classroom. I was dreading this task, but knew it had to be done.
On Tuesday, when Sara’s class had about 5 minutes left, she told us our homework for the week was to read Chapter 2 out of the children’s literacy textbook and to read chapters 1-3 in Number the Stars. So I got home that night and did my readings, taking notes on information that seemed important. I was really fascinated by all the different ways children were influenced on what book they wanted to read. I jotted down all the different reasons a child might choose a book. Social and environmental influences, their prior experiences, illustrations, colors, formats, length, and type of print were all ways of influencing children’s choices. The influence that struck me the most was on page 36 of Charlotte Huck’s text book. It stated, “Children also frequently influence each other in their choice of books.” I didn’t really understand this reason because I wondered how could a classmate influence another classmate to read a book just by reading it? So I went into my 5th grade classroom the next day and my CT told me that her and I would be performing independent reading conferences today with a few students while the class silently read. We went to the carpet and sat down and called over Student A for his independent reading conference. After going through a range of questions, the final question for him was, “How long do you think it will take you to finish this book?” Student A responded by saying, “about a week.” I then asked him, “Once you finish your book, do you know what you want to read next?” Student A said he did have another book that he wanted to read next and when my CT asked him what it was, he turned around and pointed to the one student B was reading. She asked him why that book and he stated because student B said he liked it.
Once I saw student A point to student B's book and say that, a lightbulb clicked in my head. That was what my text was talking about last night. Students are influenced by each other in their choice of books. It felt really good to be able to connect my reading to my field experience and know why student A chose that book. He didn’t want to read it because he knew the plot was good, the book cover looked interesting, no he wanted to read it just because his friend, student B, was reading it and liked it. I loved learning new things that can give me a better understanding as to why my students are influenced the way they are.
On Tuesday, when Sara’s class had about 5 minutes left, she told us our homework for the week was to read Chapter 2 out of the children’s literacy textbook and to read chapters 1-3 in Number the Stars. So I got home that night and did my readings, taking notes on information that seemed important. I was really fascinated by all the different ways children were influenced on what book they wanted to read. I jotted down all the different reasons a child might choose a book. Social and environmental influences, their prior experiences, illustrations, colors, formats, length, and type of print were all ways of influencing children’s choices. The influence that struck me the most was on page 36 of Charlotte Huck’s text book. It stated, “Children also frequently influence each other in their choice of books.” I didn’t really understand this reason because I wondered how could a classmate influence another classmate to read a book just by reading it? So I went into my 5th grade classroom the next day and my CT told me that her and I would be performing independent reading conferences today with a few students while the class silently read. We went to the carpet and sat down and called over Student A for his independent reading conference. After going through a range of questions, the final question for him was, “How long do you think it will take you to finish this book?” Student A responded by saying, “about a week.” I then asked him, “Once you finish your book, do you know what you want to read next?” Student A said he did have another book that he wanted to read next and when my CT asked him what it was, he turned around and pointed to the one student B was reading. She asked him why that book and he stated because student B said he liked it.
Once I saw student A point to student B's book and say that, a lightbulb clicked in my head. That was what my text was talking about last night. Students are influenced by each other in their choice of books. It felt really good to be able to connect my reading to my field experience and know why student A chose that book. He didn’t want to read it because he knew the plot was good, the book cover looked interesting, no he wanted to read it just because his friend, student B, was reading it and liked it. I loved learning new things that can give me a better understanding as to why my students are influenced the way they are.