signing

Okay, this isn't exactly about class, but I wanted to talk about it on here anyway. On Sunday I went to what I thought was only going to be a book signing for Marlee Matlin's new children's book. but it ended up being a reading too, with Marlee signing, and her co-writer reading from the book. It was very intersting to see how much emotion was put into her reading. I had never seen a book signed. She also mentioned something during it that really got to me. Somebody asked her why she wrote the books. She explained a few different things, one being how reading was a way for everyone to come together, it was a universal language, with no one needing to know how to sign, and it didn't matter whther she could hear or not. That was a poignant point to make to me.

how they forget

I can't believe it, well, I actually I can. We work on fluency everyday. After Ed came in and asked a couple of students who were working together why they were doing what they were doing, they did not tell him. Yikes, something we do everyday, and something we've talked about why we're doing it too. Of course I asked the rest of the class, and everyone was able to tell me why we "read our decodables and time each other." Sometimes, as many times as you drill something into them, they still do not remember.

Why didn't I think of looking at all the ways that the children are questioned like we did during our Buy Back? I've always thought about the different ways in which they ask questions during math. MAP2D is still not doing as well as it did last year for me. Most of my students are eventually getting the material, however, theie cooperative groups don't seem to be helping that muct yet. I still also have a few kids that really don't get much of it at all. For a couple of them it's mainly because they do not pay attention and try. One of the students can't do her facts at all, so it makes sense that she still is having a lot of trouble. We'll keep trying, and hope.