ABC Book

My

Reflection
Book

By: Michaela Bledsoe
RDG 380

Assumptive
Teaching

When does the blame stop?
Graduate schools 

Undergraduate schools 
High schools 

Middle schools 
Elementary schools 

Pre-schools 
Parents 
Spouse 
Kid 
…… ?

It is up to us to own responsibility for
our students in our classrooms.
Modeling to switch from dependence
to independence will jumpstart their
learning journey. Providing strategies
will help transition them to
independent learners.

Bingo is a familiar game with
easy directions yet requires a lot
of cognitive skill. Teachers can
also up the game by using
synonyms as clues, having
students write their own clues,
or having students make their
own game up entirely! Instead
of using words, teachers can
have pictures as representations
drawing on anther part of the
student’s brain.

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What makes a coach? * Involve
students in the process of the game *
Model how to do what the game
requires *Present strategies for
successful play under a variety of
situations. Therefore, we should set
purposes to involve in the process,
think aloud to model, and guide to
develop a repertoire of good
strategies

Coaching is good teaching and
teaching is good coaching.

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Mem Fox assigned a ‘Dream
Piece’ as a end-of-the-year
project. It asked the students to
creatively demonstrate the major

theories and practices.
“Transferring newly learned ideas
into a concreate symbol demands

a high level of intellectual
reflection and.. A deeper
engagement.. than traditional
end-of-term papers.” I really
enjoy this idea and will
incorporate it in my future

classes!

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When we as teachers are faced with
students who struggle with a subject
– we should worry less as to why they

aren’t grasping the content. But
rather, teach them how to learn to
grasp it. Teach the basics of learning –
elementary basics – reading and
writing. The rest will fall into place.

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Activities for fluency reading:

Choral reading: a group takes turns
reading parts of a section. The students

practice like signing a song until the
passage is rhythmical and fluent

Taped reading: students listen to a tape
on repeat until they can read the same

text fluently
Timed reading: students practice reading
while the teachers times them. Record

how many words read per 100 words.
Also include comprehension questions

Buddy reading: students practice
together until they can read it perfectly
Modeled reading: the teachers reads
several times and students grade the

teacher
I will use this to practice for the LDE
competitions like Farm Radio, Creed

Speaking, ect. !

"If I have seen further, it is by
standing on the shoulders of giants.“

– Isaac Newton.
Teachers are the giants, we influence
a great deal in our student’s life. We
can greatly impact the individuals and
the community if we take the time to

present ourselves as readers and
lifelong learners.

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“The heart – the affective aspect of
education – is often ignored.”

Teachers get the mind working, the
body moving, but leave the heart
out of it. Emotions play a key role in
the development of literacy, and in

turn learning. If teachers can
remember to incorporate emotion

in the lesson, kids will become
invested, and will promote the
environment for passion and
interest to take the lead in learning.
Reading it is stories which provokes
the heart. In agriculture, I must find

that “hook.”

Students take responsibility for
independent reading. They will read
what they chose to read and have a
chance to practice the repertoire of
skills taught to them. Always allow
the students to discuss the readings

with you, offer to record them
reading for a video, or demonstrate

good reading skills when they
confront you with them.

“From this I learned… let no
improvement go unnoticed, and to
be noisy in my praise and lavish in

my joy.”

Children who feel valued and
appreciated in their
accomplishments will always strive
to do more to elicit that praise
response again. “Tight” teachers
lead to less improvements and stifles
learning. I hope to remember to be
abundantly selfless in my
compliments.

Things we Know, things we think we
Know but are not sure, and things we

don’t Know

This is a before strategy. Have the
students fold a paper into 3 vertical
columns. Use the headings from
above. Students individual fill in
their charts with their own level of
knowledge. It is encouraged to have
students take risks in putting
information that may not be right.
After writing the answers, a class
discussion begins and the teacher
can discern where the emphasis
needs to be for the particular topic.
Students can also gauge their own
learning by seeing what was once
on ‘Don’t’ know’ is now on ‘Know’.

Literacy is the ability to read and
write to a competent level. It is also
the use of language to convey
meaning and understanding
between a reader and a writer, the
knowledge, skills, strategies and
dispositions needed to use and
adapt to information and
communication.

In fact, there is a 21st Century
"new literacies" include things like
being able to use, locate and
evaluate information from a
webpage, participate in an online
discussion, listen to a podcast, and
develop a video production.

Incorporating things like music,
kinesthetic, and art will help activate

all regions of the student’s brain.
Coming up with songs, adding
movement to the lyrics, and

creating/representing aspects with
drawings will create all-around
engaged learners.

“Her more creative right brain gave
voice to her more logical left brain
knowledge. Or was it the other way

around?”

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Lesson Nine:

Forget the Singing Nun

“It is easier to read a story than it is to
read a paragraph, easier to read a
paragraph than a sentence, easier to
read a sentence than a word, and
easier to read a word than recognize a
letter.”
Therefore, teach students within
context. I will remember to provide
whole sections for my students to
learn from than from bits.

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Ownership is important for
children’s learning. Mem Fox
likens it to children reading a
book to taters because it is in
their home on their bookshelf. I
also think this concept can
transcend to involve ownership in
projects and work. If you can get
students to take ownership on
projects or with an assignment,

pride will drive work.

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What’s in a Purpose?
That which we write for by any other

assignment, would get completed all the same.
- Not William Shakespeare

Mem Fox stresses the
importance of writing with a
purpose. “Their power won’t
come about without practice, and
the practice can’t come without
purpose.” As a student reflecting,
I never preformed my best if I
didn’t have a drive behind my
assignments. I will be conscious is
creating and stressing the
importance behind their work.

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Q A D

1. What is 2. 3. Use as a
QAD? ‘During’
Question  strategy
Answer 
Detail

This strategy is for students to use
while reading. The teacher
provides a relevant question,
while they read students write
down a short answer, and provide
any details in the last column. You
can also turn it into QAP and have
students illustrate the concepts in
the ‘Picture’ section.

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READ
ALOUD

Mem Fox stressed how vital reading
aloud is for literacy development.
Hearing cadences, vocabularies,
and flows of real great works is a
vitally important, but unfortunately
overlooked, component in
education. Monkey see, Monkey do.
I will work to incorporate ‘read
aloud’ sessions in my classroom so I
can incorporate the “necessity of
focusing on the ear.”

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Lesson Two:

Aim for the Stars, Not the Mud

Sometimes, out expectations for our
students is mud level – not among
the stars. We must be better about
not limiting them with our own pre-

conceived notions about their
development. We should always
encourage them to be the best, but
not discourage them with pressure

to obtain.

Why do children prefer to watch TV
than read? Mem Fox lists a few: There
is no such things as a TV-readiness
program, children prefer tv shows
designated for adults (so are not
interested in baby basal readers), TV
watching isn’t competitive, TV shows
are engaging colorful and informative
(basal readers are not), TV can be
watched in a comfortable manor
(reading at the table is not as inviting),
there’s no such things as a bad TV
watcher. “Television and books have
one thing in common: it’s what the
child gets out of them that matters.”
We must make reading as
appealing as the TV by creating
an environment for such.

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Humans have an urge to write, ever
since the beginning of time with just
pictures instead of words. Toddlers take
up ‘writing’ as they scribble illegible
letters on a piece of construction
paper. Adults write in many forms:
grocery lists, sympathy cards, lets in
birthday cards, absence letters, reviews
for a product – the evidence of writing
is everywhere.
We must
encourage
children to
pursue their
urge with
enjoyment
instead of
dread.

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Visualizing
Directions

The teaching strategy ‘Visualize
Directions’ is an important one for
teachers who teach a lab or shop class.
Getting the students to take time to
reflect and produce a visual
representation of the directions makes
sure they not only read the directions
– but also internalize them. Needless
to say, I will be incorporating this
before I teach Intro to Shop.

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Wordle is an example of a 2.0 tool.
Since children are already

technology-natives incorporating
technology in the classroom will
further engage the learners. Wordle
is special because it requires first to
have words. Then it transforms the
word into a visual representation for
the text. Being aesthetically pleasing

and having a variety of
configurations will keep the

children’s attentions.

Mem FoX is the author of the book
Radical Reflections. Being a children’s
book writer and professor at college,
her experience and take on education
and reading is certainly captivating and
intriguing. Her wisdom on subjects
leaves the reader re-newed with
energy and excited about the
implementations of the newly
presented knowledge. The author
keeps you thoroughly engaged with its
impeccable timing for humor, its
wonderful colorful inserts of diction,
and most importantly its message
throughout.

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The Yes-and-No Game is a learning
strategy. The game requires yesses
(examples) and noes (non-examples).
The game starts with a blank T-chart.
The teacher than writes a affirmative
clue in the yes column followed by
an opposite non-clue in the no
column. This continues until a
student thinks they know the answer
(the topic). However, instead of
giving away the answer they come
up with the yes and no clues. As
more students join in giving correct
clues, end the game by asking a
student to revel the topic.

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Zoho is a Web 2.0 tool that I see will
be helpful manage my FFA chapter.
The dashboard has applications for

Time Tracking (logging students
hours spent with their animals),
Expenses (helping the Treasurer keep
track of receipts and disbursements),
Volunteer Portal (keeping track of
student’s volunteer hours and certain
events), and many more! Having a
All-in-One location will certainly keep
me and my students organized and

ready.