Reading Essentials

I have chosen to read the book “Reading Essentials: The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well” by Regie Routman. Being a kindergarten teacher I am very excited to start reading this book. I would like to learn the essentials of reading so I can develop new ways to teach reading to my students.

When I began reading the book I was instantly engaged. The first chapter really spoke to me. The title of the chapter was Simplify Your Teaching Life. The author goes out to schools and into classrooms to help teachers. She stated that if we want our students to be excited about literacy, they need to have teachers who love coming to work, who are literacy learners themselves, who find ways to make curriculum relevant to children’s lives and who can put high stakes testing in perspective. With that being said I could not agree more! As well, she states that many times this is not possible because we are constantly exhausted from an overstuffed curriculum and have no time to collaborate, reflect, and renew ourselves.

Having only been a teacher for a mere three years I like to believe that I could do all the things I needed to do in order to get my students excited about literacy. Sadly, I feel completely overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do on a weekly basis and find myself struggling to find time to reflect on my lessons or collaborate effectively with my team.

Something I always need to remember is that there is no one “right” way or best way to teach. The answer depends on your students. As teachers we often complicate our teaching lives. We are so focused on the programs instead of the students. We have elaborate time consuming management systems rather than simple and effectives ones. The list goes on and on. We need to view teaching ad an art supported by science.

How can we get back to the basics of what really matters in teaching and learning?

• ·         Inspiring ongoing curiosity and a love of learning.
• ·         Acquiring the skills and tools to learn and go on learning.
• ·         Guaranteeing immediate and continued success.
• ·         Ensuring that learners become thinking, probing users of language.
• ·         Implementing challenging and relevant curriculum.
• ·         Establishing and sustaining collaborative and caring communities.

I am excited to continue reading and blogging about this book!