Reading #1

As a math teacher, I haven't done a very good job of staying up to date with the most current reading assessments. This class will help me to become more knowledgeable on the topic of literacy and allow me to feel more confident in engaging in conversations directed towards literacy in my school.

Reading through the first couple chapters of the two texts has been a good refresher of things that I know I learned in my college Lit classes, but being completely math-minded never really payed attention to. The past couple years I have learned that effective teaching requires knowing the whole student. This includes how to best meet their individual needs in my classroom, as well as, how they work and what their strengths & weaknesses (reading/writing/comprehension/etc.) are in other core classes (LA & SS, science). I am excited that although we are focusing on literacy, I have already been able to make several connections between the assessments mentioned in the text and what I do (or would like to do) in my math classroom. I love the piece I read that says, "When the class teacher observes how individual children are problem-solving, it makes a difference to what happens in classrooms." We as teachers need to be able to problem-solve and then make adjustments on the go...this is also a skill that I try to teach my math students all the time. I like to use weekly Common Formative Assessments to keep running tabs on whether students are building a strong understanding or whether it's time to stop moving forward to answer questions or review past material.

I am interested in learning more about best practices when using literacy assessments and how I can integrate effective assessment styles and techniques in my math class.