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Ordered the book IMMEDIATELY! I'm in search of scripted responses to disruptive situations. I'm currently in love with Engelmann's Direct Instruction. I'm teaching the 4 year old to read with his 100 lessons! [ISBN-10: 0671631985 ISBN-13: 978-0671631987]
It's great! There have been a few tough days...learning to rhyme and learning to sound out the word silently and then just saying the word were tough. But after the struggle (literally) the next day was like epiphany for her! She is reading better everyday!
If you know of any great books like Techniqes for managing...
Send your recommendations NOW!
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I'm a teacher also. I'm not using the book for my own kid. I just wanted to point out that I enjoy the scripts and I need some scripts to handle the disruptive students.
Also, I'm a high school teacher. It's my first year. I taught younger kids before this.
Thanks for any input.
This is a big topic for me, because whenever I think about maybe teaching middle school some day I instantly wonder whether I would be able to keep order in a classroom. I know I couldn't do it given what I (don't) know now - would there be anyone who could teach me?
So I'm interested in books on this subject.
The one book I have, which looks terrific though I've read only a couple of chapters, is: Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management from a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Classroom Teacher by Gary Rubinstein.
Here's one of my favorite passages:
As part of the training process, future teachers are often sent to observe dynamic teachers. They scribble notes furiously, as these phenomenons silence chatter by merely asking, "Are you respecting y our classmates right now?"
After observing one teacher with excellent classrom control, I asked, "What do you do if they throw paper airplanes?" She answered, immediately, "I don't put up with that kind of nonsense!" In my notebook I jotted, "Don't put up with that kind of nonsense!"
That would be me, I fear.
Here's another terrific passage:
In-service topics range from the utterly useless to the totally useless. One year my colleagues and I spent three hours learning the subtleties of new grade sheets, with advice like, "When you bubble, use a number two pencil, and be sure to erase any stray marks." At my friend's school, teachers recently received "risk management" training. This program could have been called "How to avoid hurting yourself on campus so we don't have to pay your disability income," with advic like, "You can prevent slipping on rainy days by thoroughly drying off your shoes when going indoors."If a television is posted near the podium, teachers can be sure they are about to endure the least effective in-service imaginable — the video. I resent this medium because it just encourages those teachers who too often elect to "make it a Blockbuster lesson." The video usually depicts a round-table informational meeting with a group of teachers asking the moderator about the in-service topic. The video, with its bad acting and unnatural dialogue, takes the tone of a late-night infomercial.
Sometimes teachers are given an information packet to supplement the video. Once, while watching a video describing the latest standardized tes, I flipped through the booklet and discovered a section titled "Commonly Asked Questions." The questions and answers seemed very familiar. I soon discovered that they had given us the very script from which the teachers on the video were reading. I quickly pointed this out to some of the more obnoxious members of our staff, and they began reading the answers, loudly, along with the video.
ISBN-10: 1877673366
ISBN-13: 978-1877673368
4 comments:
In 1997, 1999, and 2001, I taught each of my then four-year-olds to read using the book you mentioned "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." It was wonderful. They each ended up at a second grade reading level (both decoding and comprehension) by the age of 4 years and 3 months. One was even earlier.
Those 3 kids are now 14, 12, and 9, and I can tell you that one reason it's so easy to afterschool them (nowadays I'm teaching them math at home) is because I taught them to read. They think it's normal for mommy to be teacher.
And because the book uses the DISTAR approach, they learn good phonetic sounding out along with literature appreciation right from the get-go.
It's not for the faint of heart, though. Because it uses a temporary altered orthography, you can't putter, and you can't pick and choose from the lessons. You have to use the entire program for the entire 3 months. It requires a commitment once you get started.
It's fun if you like that sort of thing. They've loved reading ever since, and have always been fabulous readers.
I've just begun "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" with my soon to be kindergartener. We're only on lesson 7 but she looks forward to her lesson so far.
We had been working with Hooked on Phonics previously and she has a good grasp of letter sounds already that has helped tremendously with her articulation issues (we also go to ST) but I can see her development already taking a different turn with the DISTAR method.
I like that it immediately reinforces the lesson with writing the letters to connect them to the sounds. I believe the payoff now will be huge later.
I'm sure excited to see where it takes her...
Just for kicks, I decided to scan through the reviews for Engelmann's book. As is often the case with Amazon, the negative reviews are often more illuminating than the positive ones. As testament to the book's quality, I had to count 3/5 stars as a 'negative' reveiw, and even these were few and far between - even so, they generally consisted of constructive comments about the fine-tuning necessary for individual children.
I had to go through about a hundred reviews before I found a genuinely negative review:
I am a kindergarten teacher in a school that uses Reading Mastery (SRA Direct Instruction Reading program). I hold a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education and am a certified Reading Specialist. I cringed when I looked at the preview ("look inside") of this book. I have been forced to use this program with my kindergarten class for the past two years - I jokingly tell my non-DI teacher friends that I am stuck in DI H - - - ! As a teacher I would NEVER recommend this appoach to the parents of my students. Furthermore, please be aware that much of the research that found this program to be successful was conducted by the people who developed the program. Much of the other research has found that the program is either marginally effective or not effective at all in the long run, some studies even found long-term negative results.
Don't settle for this short-cut. If you only have 20 minutes a day to help your child become a reader don't waste that precious time with this program. Instead provide you child with a literature enriched environment, read often to and with your child, take them to the library (get them their own library card), use good children's literature and talk about what your are reading together. [emphasis added - iGeorge] Don't settle for a 12 step program (or in this case a 100 lesson program) when it comes to something this important!!!!
How utterly predictible.
When we first started reading the "stories" my daughter NEEDED to see the pictures. I had to tape cards over the pictures and she INSISTED! This went on for about 15-20 lessons. For the past week or so, she doesn't even ask to see the picture. She can comprehend everything she reads! It is amazing how quickly the adjustment came. She takes apart words when we are talking and runs to her drawing table and comes back with the word. I was worried that I would make her hate reading when we were struggling. But now she asks to read!
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