Michaella CO#2

Wednesday, March 2, 2016, at 11am


         Today I observed a Reading Foundations class taught by Marilyn Sohan. I initially noticed that the class was much smaller, and there was little interaction between the students. Marilyn began the class by asking a series of questions that required the students to name the day of the week, the month, and today's date. Although some of the students struggled to give the correct answer, Marilyn worked with each student until he/she was able to figure it out. I found this one-on-one focus to be helpful when working with students at a beginners level.

        Marilyn wrote the class agenda on the board, which consisted of taking attendance, completing the students' library card applications, and reviewing over the vowel sounds. The library card application took up most of the class period. The students were each given an application and were expected to fill out their name, date of birth, address, email, etc. As a class, Marilyn helped the students fill out their application by writing their date of birth and address information on the board. She explained how street names are often abbreviated. For example, lane would be "LN." Marilyn spoke very direct and clearly when talking to the students, especially when demonstrating the difference between the P and B sounds. The students' participation level seemed to increase as they became more comfortable with what information is expected from an application.

       The last ten minutes of class were focused on the i vowel sound. (in the previous class the students learned the a and e vowel sounds) Marilyn compared the i sound to the word "itch." She then proceeded to have the students come up with similar words that displayed the same sound. I really enjoyed how Marilyn gave her students a high five when they answered or remembered something correctly. She had great energy towards the students and towards teaching in general. I learned that having the students look at your mouth when sounding out a word is beneficial in helping them grasp the correct pronunciation.