Are You Looking for a Great Start in the World of Early Literacy?

      I have recently been a student in the Early Literacy course and I have to admit that I just fell in love with the books we are assigned to be reading. With a humble experience in the little world; its creatures, curriculum, and classes, I feel that I am more confident to be doing the right job, especially after reading each and every assigned chapter. Grab a pencil and a paper. Here is your recipe for a juicy introduction and overall knowledge of what goes inside the walls of the kindergarten educational world, the first ingredient is the Language Development in Early Childhood by Beverly Otto (2010), which presents a fruitful and rich environment of theories, perspectives and strategies, this should be accompanied with the Creating Literacy book by Gunning (2005) that adds with its intriguing practical activities some salt to your teaching and guarantees an unforgettable taste to your students’ learning. You might be asking why I chose to talk about the books and why would I advertise you to purchase them. Well, it is true that I am not the owner of their publishing company, nor am I the relative of one of its writers, but I am a reader that after learning and benefiting much in a little time became fanatic. I really advice you to take the step and try to read at least one chapter of each book! Don’t lose the chance to experience the advantage of reading these two books; I am sure you won’t regret it. A final request, please notify me with your opinion as soon as you start reading throughout the chapters.

A Grade One Oral Reading Rubric Template Of My Own

Oral Reading Rubric (Grade 1)

Section: _______________                                   Date: ________________

Objectives	Read & Self Correct	Decode Words Automatically	Recognize Sight Words	Pronounce Words Correctly	Read with Appropriate Intonation	Read with Appropriate Speed	Pause for Commas Respond for End Marks	Total /10
Grades Name	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	/10
	Reads and self corrects _____	Decodes the _________ new words automatically _________	Recognizes  the ____ sight words _______	Pronounces the _____ VCV words correctly _______	Reads with:  -poor -average -good -excellent  intonation ________	Reads with: slowly average appropriately quickly speed ________	Responds for: commas periods questions exclamations ________	___
	Reads and self corrects ____	Decodes the _________ new words automatically _________	Recognizes  the ____ sight words _______	Pronounces the _____ VCV words correctly _______	Reads with:  -poor -average -good -excellent  intonation ________	Reads with: slowly average appropriately quickly speed ________	Responds for: commas periods questions exclamations ________	___
	Reads and self corrects _____	Decodes the _________ new words automatically _________	Recognizes  the ____ sight words _______	Pronounces the _____ VCV words correctly _______	Reads with:  -poor -average -good -excellent  intonation ________	Reads with: slowly average appropriately quickly speed ________	Responds for: commas periods questions exclamations ________	___
	Reads and self corrects _____	Decodes the _________ new words automatically _________	Recognizes  the ____ sight words _______	Pronounces the _____ VCV words correctly _______	Reads with:  -poor -average -good -excellent  intonation ________	Reads with: slowly average appropriately quickly speed ________	Responds for: commas periods questions exclamations ________	___
	Reads and self corrects _____	Decodes the _________ new words automatically _________	Recognizes  the ____ sight words _______	Pronounces the _____ VCV words correctly _______	Reads with:  -poor -average -good -excellent  intonation ________	Reads with: slowly average appropriately quickly speed ________	Responds for: commas periods questions exclamations ________	___

 Don't hesitate to feel free to use it.  Please provide me with your comments and opinions.

Managing Student Behavior: A Means towards a New Perspective

After attending the Managing Student Behavior course I discovered a new land where my teaching and coordination ship should embark to settle. It is thanks to the course and its objectives that I have gained a new philosophy and approach towards managing disruptive student behavior. The course gave me a new perspective on student behavior; it taught me effective tools for facilitating positive student change. It provided me with a developmental framework through which I seek to understand what the students are trying to tell throughout their behaviors. It helped me improve and change the way I look at problem behaviors. It also assisted me to develop my classroom management skills and reduce stress and anxiety, starting with myself, to reflect and assimilate it to the students, in the classroom. Feelings of ineffectiveness or hopelessness were reduced while dealing with disruptive behavior, thanks to the course. Not only did ‘Managing Student Behavior’ change my philosophy of managing behavior in the classroom, but also it transferred a change in my behavior as a means for causing (influencing) student behavior. I now believe that I can never control anyone when hardly can I control myself, however, all what I can do is influence students to act and behave. The perspective of influencing others gave me a source of power and proved it to me that I am effective, I can always make a change, but all what I need is practice. Furthermore, throughout this meaningful course, I learned intervention strategies and creative solutions that re-mediate disruptive behaviors and behavioral problems, reduce power struggles while increasing classroom control, and reduce work load. Last but not least, Managing Student Behavior enabled me to be effective in dealing with students with special needs, students who have serious behavioral problems, like the chronically disruptive and challenging students, even more, the ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ students, the ADHDs.