Teaching experiences, strategies, and activities in working with a fifth-grade student.
[This was an in-class clinical component of a Diagnostic/Remedial Reading course at Waldorf College]

Party Time! - Today was bittersweet. A party with root beer floats, goldfish crackers, and over-sized goodbye cards, but also a sad time, as we all realized that our twice a week sessions would be over.

Assessment Day! - Today was assessment day *cue the groans*

Animal Frenzy! - Today’s session was designed by one of my co-teachers and focused on animals, set up specifically with stations. To start off the day, we had our student re-cap the past few chapters in his instructional-level chapter book, The Million Dollar Shot. This was to get him on track with this week and give him a […]

We’re Going on a Safari! - Today’s lesson with our ten-year-old boy went really well. One of my co-teachers designed it around the theme of animals. When our student first got to the session, he gave us each a Laffy Taffy—this helped to be an intro activity just because we read each of the jokes together and had a short break […]

Speed Read Relay! - This week’s meeting with our ten-year-old boy was a little different due to the Easter holiday and having Monday off. For today’s lesson, my plan was to start with a review of what the student had previously learned, and also engage him in a way that would keep him active and not bored [since there […]

April Fools! And Poetry - Our clinical session is about to begin, and I can hear our ten-year-old running up the library stairs two at a time. He’s holding a silver pan with a sheet of foil covering the top.

It’s Springtime! - The focus of today’s lesson was on Spring, but before moving into our Spring theme, our group wanted to finish up the activities from last sessio

Stop, Go, Slow - I took over planning for today’s lesson. I wanted the focus to be on sports/movement, so I set up five stations with both cones and little number circles.

Pop Into a Good Book! - I took over planning for today’s session with the ten-year-old boy.

Emotions/States of Being - The focus of today’s session was on emotions/feelings/states of being. My group and I gathered about 6-8 books at a fourth grade reading level that incorporated these: ‘Being Responsible,’ ‘Being Brave,’ ‘The Way I Feel' and ‘Big Words for Little People’ among others.

First Day With A Ten-Year-Old Boy! - This spring I’m enrolled in a Diagnostic/Remedial Reading course at Waldorf College. This class is focused on reading strategies and comprehension, ways of teaching both reading and writing, and learning skills to analyze and strengthen students’ literacy skills.