Class Reading--July 12

      When reading the two articles for class today I started to not find them very helpful to me personally because I want to teach older elementary grades, like 4th and 5th. I got to thinking that the majority of the kids that enter those grades may be behind but know the basic concepts of reading and writing. Then, when reading "Letting go of the Letter of the Week" by Bell and Jarvis, I came across the part about Pedro. Because Pedro could recognize few letters, his teacher discovered a round-about way of helping him learn. I I think it's important for me to remember such cases although I don't plan on actually teaching my class to read, I may have students who have fallen behind or are ELL students. I don't want those students to just fall further behind in my classroom. I would like to take whatever measures possible to help them learn and progress at their own level. I think sometimes I get caught up in what skills I will expect for my students to have when they come into my classroom instead of being prepared for all sorts of situations. 

       It's important to remember that students who are older not only feel left out because their peers are reading, but they have little confidence. After reading the rest of the article about instilling confidence in kindergarten students, we should always remember to do the same by focusing on our students strengths. If there is an ELL student in 5th grade, I think that the same concept of viewing them as readers and writers, who just didn't know it would also apply. I'm glad I read these articles because it really made me think about the way I look at the difference between younger kids and older kids and their literary competence.