9/15/05
LISTServ Report
The information I read on ListServ was very interesting and informative, even though the format is not very user friendly. This resource, however, is going to be so valuable to me because I am teaching in such a small, somewhat isolated environment. There are only two of us teaching Kindergarten and we are literally in a building by ourselves. Being a part of a small, private school has its advantages, but one of the disadvantages is that we do not have much teacher support, such as workshops or conferences. LISTSERV is going to be invaluable.
One area of interest to me is guided reading groups. As a Kindergarten teacher, we progress into reading groups, usually after Christmas. Of course, not every child is actually ready to read so it is easier to work a few at a time where they are at in the reading journey. The original post I responded to was relating to a 1st grade classroom. I asked if anyone had any similar ideas that could be used in a Kindergarten class. I received a wonderful response from another Kindergarten teacher on activities that would keep the other children engaged in learning while working with a small group of students. She posted that she used various literacy centers during that time. While I utilize centers, we do not do it during our reading time, but rather at a separate �center time.� What a wonderful idea to implement! She also gave me some great specific suggestions of literacy centers I could use in my classroom. The conversation also covered teaching handwriting. From the information she provided, I not only found a program I have ordered on �Handwriting without Tears,� but have also found a support organization for Kindergarten teachers here in Texas. I would love to attend their annual conference, but will be unable to do so this year. The workshops look so informative. Since I will now be on their mailing list, I hope to attend next year.
Another area that I responded to included the support of the Hurricane Katrina victims. One teacher had posted information about her state of Connecticut offering housing and jobs to the evacuees. Since my church is providing shelter to several families right now I forwarded the information to our mission outreach coordinator. It was also so encouraging to see the outpouring of concern and compassion from our colleagues. Our profession truly is made up of some incredible people who give so much time and energy of themselves to others, not only in the classroom, but in situations such as this one. The ideas that were shared about how to respond to victims and the book suggestions were fabulous.
I felt I had made a contribution to another teacher by providing a website about Reader�s Theatre. A colleague had inquired about what it was and where she could find information about it. It was wonderful to be able to help out another teacher.
The most interesting posts I read about were not ones I responded to personally, but followed throughout the conversations. The posts dealt with spelling. I really did not feel that I had something personally to contribute because my little guys are just barely figuring out what their letters are, much less how to spell. I did appreciate Hugo�s perspective on spelling though. He asserts that too much emphasis is placed on spelling, rather than on literacy. He had some very funny poems written about spelling and noted that Shakespeare was not a �good� spelling. It helped me to remember that we do not want to put too much emphasis on any one area of literacy. It truly must be balanced. When spelling causes so much angst as to put up a major roadblock in a blooming writer�s confidence, then it has gone too far. The same applies to phonics and sounding out words. You must be able to sound out words, but then students must be taught sight words, as well as other strategies and clues to decipher text.
I even gained some appreciate that we are not in this alone when I read the posts saying how �dazed and confused� another teacher felt. It�s nice to know even with all of the knowledge we do have from our own experience and that of the courses we have participated in, at times, we all feel a little �dazed and confused.�
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