The Reading Buddy Training

The 3-week Reading Buddy Training was an event. Many of the topics I have had interests were revisited and connected. MBTI, Multiple Intelligence, Counseling, TeachingEnglish as an Additional Language, Teaching Reading, TeachersCollege, Harlem and NY Public Schools were all my great interests. I felt almost amazed at how they were all being re-connected during these training sessions. I even had a chance to get a physical examination, a chance to re-connect to my body. Very new topics were the research ethics in humanparticipant and child abuse regulations. I felt tremendously lucky to meet some great scholarsfrom different fields (counseling, neuroscience, Reading specialist, Reading and Writing Program, TESOL, Child AbuseWorkshop) and to go to different parts of TC (library, computer lab, TheresaBuilding, Reading and Writing Center). I learned more about TC itself.
One regret was that I was being shy and closed to the peers I met in this program. I would get to know them over the rest of the semester, but I feel I could have been a little more open. It was actually another experiment on getting to know people. I wanted to take time in getting to know people since I felt I have always rushed in to it. However, I learned that I want to be open and welcoming to new people and new experiences.
It is now the night before the teaching begins. (although I am posting it on Monday night right now) I do not know the teacher I will be meeting tomorrow. I am a little nervous. I don't attempt to make a big change. I want to have a warm and fun time with the child. All my training and studies will do their work while I focus on my task of teaching the sound-letter matching. I prepared two notepads where I can record the list of the book me and the children will read together. I will also put records of my reflection on this blog. It will be a wonderful experience. I trust you, Eun-Yong! :)

Last Day of Training in Canada

Connection <3>

I missed the workshop on making pop-up books, and also the visit to PS 125. I left to Toronto for the GSCOPE, Graduate Student Conference on Philosophy of Education. I feel like I have had an intensive mental training during this three night trip, not only during the conference but also in the informal discussions I had with my peers inside our rented car and in the bars. I made a personal trip to find my old home, school and church in Toronto, where I lived for three years in my middle school years. It was an emotional re-connection with my past.

Day 12

Bilinguals
Barbara's TESOL Presentation

What I like about the term Bilingual is that it empowers the speakers of other languages than English. I have the feeling that some of my students might be Spanish speakers or speakers of some other languages. I want to let them remember that their own languages are also worth learning. I want to learn some of their languages as well. That way, not only will I deepen my own understanding of English language and the practice of reading, I will also learn a new language myself.

Day 11

What I learned from Joe Yukish

1. Balancing Meaning, Structure and Visual graphohponic knowledge of the students
For the students I am expecting to meet, my task is to help them make one to one match with spoken words and printed words. But I want to see the student create new meaning through the book.

2. Book introduction
1) Make connections with the book.
2) Give purpose.
3) Let them hear and say the concept words and language patterns.

3. Assessment
I will have to see which level the student belongs to.

Website:
homepage.mac.com/yukishj/FileSharing8.html
www.comcast.net search engine: leveled books - Beaverton School District "submit"

Day 10

A Living Example
Reading and Writing Center

Dr. Joe Yukish seemed to see a different world. He took joy in teaching and serving kids. His theories came from his living experiences. Every word in his written work seemed alive because I knew he meant every word of it. His video is something I want to use if I every getto educate teachers in the future. Videos are very effective!

I was so glad to learn more about how to level books. Dr. Arno often has said that many children's books are actually written for adults. But today, I finally saw books that were written for children. My concern was whether if I can get enough of those real children's books. Well, these worriesare pretty useless. I am sure good books will come up.

Columbus Day

I did a little research into the American holiday that gave me a day off from RB Training today. yeah~

Columbus Day commemorates the day when Columbus "discovered" America in 1492. (So, already 504 years since the discovery.) There are criticisms about this holiday, questioning the value or validity of what Columbus did. However, it is a day of big celebration for Italian Americans. (There was a big parade in NYC!)

Now, a whole different topic ....
Not coincidentally, these days I am myself learning to read and about reading.

In a Bilingualism conference a few weeks ago, Stephen Krashen (a BIG language education researcher, he was the main motivation to go to the conference) spoke about the importance of pleasure reading. Reading for pleasure, according to Krashen, was the main source of our world knowledge and language ability. There was an important point in what he was saying.

My goal is to make READING FUN for the kids as well as for myself.
And I believe this will happen. :)

Day 9
Connection <2>

Connection is a word that can be applied in so many levels. Today, I was reminded again that there are connections being made in our brains when we learn. To me, connecting is acknowledging all that exists. Existence itself is meaningful and valuable to be connected.

Dr. Lisa Blackwell assured me today that it's ok to focus on learning rather than focus on how I will be judged. How much freedom it gave me! It changed me today. I changed how I see the world. And I will free my students as well. I will not compare them to a single absolute criterion. Doing that is missing out so many other various criteria out there. She gave me today another powerful tool as a Reading Buddy; I can tell my buddies why they are with me, "because I know you have a lot of room to grow."

I believe that if I don't worry about my performance, that wil bring out the best performance from me. I have that trust on myself.

Things I want to check out someday: Carol Dweick, "Mind Set"
www.brainconnection.com
Definition of "Intelligence"

Day 8
Our schools are decided!

I am assigned to PS 154. I had thought the number meant the street number; it made me feel good because I wanted to go over that hill around 130th street along Amsterdam Avenue that divides Teachers College and the north part of Harlem. When I realized the school is located at 127th street, well, it’s good also. It is the optimal walking distance for me. The school on 150th street may be too far to get by 8:30 AM. I like the people assigned to our school as well.

When I heard the story about the teacher who took her 6 kids to the library, I decided to give up my own inventive ideas and first really observe and understand the “context” of the school. I could see why Dr. Arno emphasizes the C word. I am wondering about the teacher who I will meet.

The words that Lauren said during the discussion, “the lack of individual attention” is lingering in my mind now. I enjoyed doing the pair work with Justin. I learned literally my first Spanish from him. I want to get to know more of my peers.

Comparing the meaning of lid, top, cap, and cover was very interesting. It shows how ignorant we are of the most ordinary thing around us. I looked up the yahoo dictionary, but they don’t really tell what are the things around us that are called “lid” and not otherwise.

1. A removable or hinged cover for a hollow receptacle or box. (Jin’s definition was quite precise)
2. An eyelid. (Right!)
3. Biology A flaplike covering, such as an operculum. (donno what this means)
4. A curb, restraint, or limit: approved a new lid on corporate spending.
5. Informal An act of concealment; a cover: told us to keep a lid on the report until the campaign was over.
6. Slang A hat.
7. Slang An ounce of marijuana.

This was in a Starbucks in Korea last May,
with my favorite book then, Polanyi's Meaning,
the photo taken by my fiance in Korea.

Day 7
Connections

1) Book “Freedom Summer”
My assessment of the Readability of the book:
Vocabulary level - high intermediate
Sentence Structure level - low intermediate

2) Book Preparation
I hope I can read the book at least twice before hand. I should bring a world map. I thought of maybe making a very brief reading log where the child writes in his or her feelings with the smilies. :) or :(
I hope is that I can make those connections between the child's life experience and the new world the kid will see through me and through the book.

3) 26 Letters in English Alphabet
How many vowel sounds are there in English?How many consonant sounds are there in English?I went back to the textbooks of Phonetics class I took lo~~ng time ago.

There are 5 vowels in alphabets but 14 vowel sounds in English.
/i:/ pea, feet
/i/ pin, fit
/ei/ paint, fate
/e/ pen, fed
/ae/ pan, fad
/a/ pa, fob
/o/ Paul, fought
/ow/ pole, foe
/u/ put, foot
/uw/ pool, fool
/^/ pun, fun
/ai/ pine, fight
/aw/ pound, foul
/oy/ poise, foil

As for the consonants, there are 25 sounds.

/b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, /k/, /v/, /f/,
/z/, /s/,/h/,/j/, /m/, /n/, /ng/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /y/
(these pretty much correspond to the alphabet letter)
/sh/,/ch/, /voiced th/ as in "the", /voicelss th/ as in "thin",
/the last sound in beige/ (I can't find the symbol on word).

Day 6

Sensitiveness to Human
Research on Human Subjects

This on-line tutorial is another eye-opener.
US legal system and government system is very complicated!
However, I could see the strengh of USA.
The rights of people are being carefully considered,
although I don't knowwhether those rights are actually protected.
At least, detailed guidelines are outlined.