Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality
As far back as I can remember books have been a part of my life. I have always been able to lose myself in a book. When I was very young I often lost myself in my collection of books on record. I remember being entranced by the story of The Gingerbread Man when my grandfather read it to me. I was able to picture the gingerbread man as he ran through the countryside. In this way reading becomes, to me, a form of virtual reality. The ability to fall into a story and to be able to visualize or experience another place, time or event.
As I grew
up I experienced places like Narnia and Wonderland through this virtual
reality. In elementary school, I met Ramona Quimby and Henry Reed. In junior
high school I spent all of my free time with Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield.
After the Sweet Valley High books, I enjoyed many terrifying hours with Stephen
King’s books. Even today, I travel back to prehistoric times with Ayla and I
visit the future to watch Eve Dallas solve murder cases every chance I get. It
was these experiences with books that led me to become a teacher. I wanted to
introduce children to the miracle of virtual reality through books and
literature.
In undergraduate, I took several
classes on teaching reading. I heard a lot about the wonders of whole language
but I never really learned how to teach reading using whole language. In one
class we had to demonstrate how to organize and manage reading groups in a
classroom but there was no instruction on putting students into these groups or
why they were in different groups in the first place. During my internship
semester I had to write a paper on the differences between whole-language and
phonics reading programs. I wrote what I thought was a good paper on combining
the two ways of teaching reading. My instructor, however, had different
opinions. I was told, “whole-language is the only way to teach” and “throw away
the basal if you want to be a good teacher”.
After I
graduated in 1997, I accepted a position as a third grade teacher in a low
income, minority school in a small town outside of
The sad part is,
I really had no idea what to do about this situation. Nothing in my reading
classes had prepared me for students who couldn’t read the text I had been
given to teach from. Eventually I was able to find an old basal and I used
those books to teach reading. I basically followed the lesson plans in the
book. That first year I realized that I
needed help in teaching reading.
From the
beginning of my teaching career one of the few ways I was able to share the
miracle of virtual reality was through read aloud books. I have always included
read aloud and self-selected reading in my classroom. After I moved to
Since
entering the graduate program I have learned and perfected many strategies to
use in my classroom. I now have three reading groups in my classroom for guided
reading and word study. My students are able to experience virtual reality
while reading on their own reading level. I also feel more capable of helping
my low readers. I am able to help them with decoding skills, fluency, and
comprehension when they are reading all kinds of books and I am not limited to
the basal reader in my classroom. I feel much more confident in my abilities to
introduce my students to the wonderful virtual reality of reading.