Do or Don't: DI

I chose to look at DI for my reading program eval. I was glad that I did because I didn't really know much about DI apart from quick undergraduate observations and gripes from colleagues. I was surprised to find that there are a lot of research studies that support it. However, really looking at DI and comparing it to the guidelines, it's obvious that it can't measure up.

"Getting things done is not always what is most important. There is value in allowing others to learn, even if the task is not accomplished as quickly, efficiently, or effectively." --R.D. Clyde

I think DI focuses too much on getting to the answers that the process of trying, making mistakes, and learning is overlooked. The advocates of DI are proud of its fast pace. What students may learn is that efficiency and superficiality trumps sincere experimentation. There is a joy in being able to take time to work through and soak up knowledge that DI denies them.

I Can't Wait Till It's Over!

It's not that I don't enjoy being in this class, but the workload is starting to worry me. I am so tired of reading that my eyes are ready to fall out. I think about all the things I have yet to do and I am flummoxed by the amount of work before me. I know, I know! The end result is going to be good and finishing the course will only be to my benefit. But the doing and the getting there seem like they are so disconnected. I hope that this is just the mid term blues and that by next week I will feel differently. Another thing that is keeping me awake at night are the Praxis IIs that I have to take. What if I fail? What would that say about me as a candidate for Reading Specialist? I would feel like I didn't study hard enough or absorb the information from the instructors and all the literature enough. I hate failing at anything. Ohhhhh, not a good feeling. I have a stomach ache.

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The End of the Beginning

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Sir Winston Churchill

In laymans terms, the beginning has ended and we're heading towards the end and I feeling it! I am now feeling the stress of completing my projects and making sure I've reached target. All the thoughts and discussions I've collected, I now have to put on paper. For me, that's the hardest part.

A Beautiful Compensation

"It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Charles Dudley Warner

In our quest to teach, to improve the literacy skills of others, and answer our calling in life, it's great to reflect and realize that our efforts (that sometimes take so much out of us) to get the job done usually come back to us. We learn by teaching. We improve the community when we help our students. By answering our calling, we have the benefit of a fulfilled life. When classes and life get tough, I hope it helps to think that in helping others we help ourselves--everything we care about enough to invest our time and energy will yield something positive. :)

To assume you know someone well enough that you can and do predict their behavior and mental perspective is a gross and often tragic mistake, for it eliminates that person's freedom to create his or her own opinion and drastically affects the emerging picture of the relationship.http://groups.gaia.com/gaia_books/331943/agartha/by_meredith-l-young-sowers

I think that as educators we have to keep this in mind about our students. Often we make assumptions about them that are not always correct and sometimes it is too late to correct the error or our judgments. Instead of asking, "What is wrong with this student? The question should be "what have I done to this student?"

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"Constant repetition carries conviction." --Robert Collier

It's the whole premise behind daily mantras ("You're a worthwhile person. Everyone likes you."). By telling yourself positive things regularly, one starts to believe and is then empowered to affect positive changes in one's life. Whether or not such "rituals" actually work, they show just how powerful the idea of repetition can be.

Because we're revisiting these articles and ideas time and again, hopefully we bring different insights and perspectives each time around. It might just be that we feel the same toward the topics as before, but by also forcing oneself to reconsider and revisit the topics, it may also strengthen and reinforce our opinions--which can also be a positive thing. I've had both experiences where in the intervening time between first reading an article and discussing it and then later writing about it, I gained a more in-depth understanding and the opposite, where my feelings have remained static. I don't think that either reaction is more or less desirable than the other. At least we get the opportunity to breathe, take a look back in order to move forward.

Picture sourced from: http://www.findmefit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/meditation.jpg

Group Involvement

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"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -Benjamin Franklin

Group involvement, discussions and collaborative efforts help me understand and see things in a different light. I just want to take this time to thank my classmates for their shared insights.

Questions...

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." Dr. Seuss

Sometimes in life its easier to recieve the answers than it is to ask the questions..Often times, I find myself contimplating how I'm going to ask the questions that I need to but when I do, the answers are so simple...

Happy Mid Term...

Half way empty or half way full?

"One never notices what has been done one can only see what remains to be done." -Marie Curie

My all time favorite quote! It's the same concept with the cup half way empty or half way full. It's how you see things. If you can appreciate what you've accomplish thus far, it'll be easier to complete what remains to be done. In other words, the cup is half way full!

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Happy Midterm!

As aspiring Reading Specialists, this mid-semester milestone means we've already accomplished so much and are on our way to accomplishing more! We're all in this because we have goals and a drive to achieve them. But reflecting on what got us to where we are, what initially sparked our interest, don't be surprised to find that it might turn out to be a negative moment.

M. Scott Peck is credited with the phrase, "The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

The only way to finding what is right for us is to realize that what we had, our status quo, wasn't working for us in the first place. Sometimes we have to be forced into change, and it's only then that we see the worth and necessity thereof.

Almost There!

Well, we are at the half-way point in this semester and I can hardly believe that I have really read those chapters. While I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed the readings, the expectations of what an effective reading specialist looks like is , however, a bit intimidating. Only 9 more chapters to go!

My quote for the week is:

A college degree is not a sign that one is a finished product but an indication a person is prepared for life. by Reverend Edward A. Malloy, Monk's Reflections

I guess what this means is we're never done with learning just because we're done with our respective undergraduate and/or graduate programs. I think that the quotation would be more applicable to me if it said, "an indication that a person is preparing for life." because in real life, we don't stop preparing for life.

image taken by Faye Camacho Kaible

Chapter 6: College and University Literacy Programs

Although I appreciate that students are graduating from high school unprepared to pass college placement exams, I have reservations about the amount of learning assistance time they need so that they are able to pass the exams. Like I wrote in my reflection, maybe what we need are transition programs (between high school graduation and college entrance) for those students who want to go to college but need to improve upon the basic skills needed for passing the placements.

My quote for the week: A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. Thomas Carruthers
We have done our jobs as teachers if our students no longer need our help because they are ready move on to learn more than we are able to teach them.

Winners!

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"Your role as a leader is even more important than you might imagine. You have the power to help people become winners." --Ken Blanchard

As future Reading Specialists, we must be leaders in the fight to help struggling readers become better readers, so that in the end we are all winners!!