Observation of Reading Recovery

Observation of Reading Recovery 

On my release day this week I spent time observing reading recovery (Irene Wheeler). This was a great learning experience for myself as I was able to observe valuable teaching strategies that I can apply during my guided reading sessions.

Before the children read the book with Irene (Reading recovery teacher) she made sure she went through each page and talked about what was happening on each page. I think this could be good for my priority students as they need the chance to engage with the pictures as they don't have a lot of reading strategies to help with their decoding. It gives teachers the chance to let the child know of any tricky words that they may come across in the text.

Irene was doing the running records to check where the kids are at. I noticed after the running record Irene went back through the text and picked up on a few of the words that the children had muddled up and supported them to use strategies to successfully decode them.

When the child got stuck on a word Irene didn't just tell him the word. She instead helped him to use strategies - such as comparing the word to another word they already know and breaking the words into chunks.

Irene also told me that during the session the child also have a chance to complete a piece of writing. The teacher can really focuses on correct letter formation with the children and reinforces this whilst they are writing. There are many bad habits they have to break when they are allowed to form the letter incorrectly every time they write. This is something I would like to focus on more during my writing sessions.

Irene advise me that the kids only take books home which they have read in the class to ensure they understand the story.

Observing Irene was very helpful because at my level children are learning many of these strategies and it was great to gain some different ideas to use whilst I am teaching.