Carly Painter Blog Post #4 Teach With A Sense of Urgency

  In this chapter, Routman states, "We need to  support students in becoming more self-sustaining, thoughtful, independent readers and writers."  How true this is, but hard at the same time, especially with first graders!  It is often hard for me to "let go" and allow my students to try a task on their own.  I know that this is best for them, and most of the time, when I do "let go," they excel.  I have to remember that I've provided the tools for them to use and now they get to try it!  The optimal learning model Routman suggests seems to be a great tool for student success.  I also like what she says about interactive reading.  Often, time is too short, comments are too many, and I just don't stop during a read aloud for discussion.  But this is when you see all of those connections (text-self, text-world, text-text) that students make.  This is the time to point those out and help my young learners see the connections when they don't realize that this is what they are doing.  Although titled, Teach With a Sense of Urgency, this chapter taught me that I need to slow down and take time to listen to my students and let go and let them try on their own more.