I believe that since I work in a Title I school a lot of my children do not attend preschool and therefore may have not been exposed to story telling like what is at the beginning of Chapter 3. I think that I have had to take a lot of the narrative features and use them in my classroom this year. I have to make up for the fact that some of my students did not go to preschool and expose them to things that they will not be exposed to at home. Most of my students do not have children’s books at home to read. Therefore if I do not show them good literature in school they will not be exposed to it. I also do see more retell in kindergarten than I do recalling of events. I know that this is not a bad thing because this is one of the steps for them to take before they can make up their own stories. I think that by me reading to them everyday with different types of text and different types of stories they get a wide range of what they know a story can be and then they can incorporate the things they hear when they are trying to write.
I do love how my students writing has gotten more exciting over the year. At the beginning they just copied ideas that I had put on the board, but now a lot of my students are really starting to come up with their own ideas and sound them out. Teaching kindergarten and first, and student teaching in 2nd has really allowed me to see the progression of writing. It is very interesting to see how they start to add more and more detail and use words that they have picked up here and there. I really loved how this chapter gives you ideas on how to scaffold writing and different methods to use. It really seems to me like the lessons or blocks that they use really get the students excited about writing and really help them to create better pieces.
