Loving Literacy! By: Darlene Pellechia ght-cursive-writing---it-dying-art hort-sale-better-foreclosure wlsr/May2012NeapolitanFam/resour ces/12.htm news/2011/apr/26/collier- schools-look-hire-500- teachers-wednesday nds.com/press43.htm 1/1/ /index.htm

~Learning Styles~ My top two: Linguistic and Inter-Personal; followed by Intra-personal and Bodily Physical Linguistic This learning style involves both the written and spoken word. This means that I find it easy to express myself, both in writing and verbally. I love reading and writing. I also like playing on the meaning or sound of words, such as in tongue twisters and rhymes. Inter-Personal A person with this learning style is said to have an excellent ability to establish rapport with others quickly and easily, making them feel at ease. I am often told I make others feel comfortable and I am easy to talk to. A person with a social learning style may often say these phrases: Let's get together on that. We can work it out. What do you think about that? We do better when we pull together. There is no "I" in "team." Intra-Personal The skills typically characteristic of individuals with Intrapersonal Intelligence are: Personal Efficacy - A strong awareness of ones own strengths, weaknesses and needs in order to plan effectively to achieve personal goals. Interpersonal Skills - The ability to get on well with other people as well as enjoying ones own company. When people have the ability to self reflect they can recognize and change their own behaviors and build upon their strengths and improve weaknesses, resulting in very rapid development and goal orientated achievements. I agree with this because I feel I have always been a goal oriented person. Bodily Physical People who are this type of learning style generally prefer the use of a physical variety… they use touch, action, movement and hands-on work in their learning activities. I enjoy hands-on activities, especially with my students.

I Took a Walk in the Park By: Darlene Pellechia (Published in Poetic Voices of America, Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum, Inc. 1999) I took a walk in the park, I felt the sun shine of my face, And I thought ‘What a glorious place’. I trampled through leaves on the ground, the crackling and crunching made a delightful sound. I saw birds flying in the air, I could hear them chirping and singing up there. I could see children playing and laughing aloud with their parents watching so happy and proud. I took a nap on a bench in the park, but when I awoke it had grown dark. No children around, no one making a sound. I started to walk in the night, but something caught my sight. There were people in rags. They appeared to be quite sad, What unfortunate lives they must have had. What could have brought them to this fate? Living a life anyone would hate. I walked through the park that night. But what I saw gave me a fright. It seemed so strange to see, How differently one place can be. Criteria for Reading Choices: (I ask myself these questions) Will it entertain? Does it have a happy ending? Does it teach a lesson? Is background knowledge needed to understand the text? Will I learn something from it? If I share it, what will others learn? How will the reading material be used in other subject areas? The way in which my reading reflects who I am could probably best be described by the books I like to read and what I find interesting. To begin with, I have always been fascinated by history and enjoy learning about it. For this reason I enjoy going to museums. Therefore, books about history or historical characters interest me, including romance stories set in medieval times. Fix It Strategies: If comprehension has broken down, I ask myself what strategies will fix it…realize if you’ve gone off course, reengaging in the text is necessary. Good readers need to interact with the text they are reading. They need to make predictions, create questions about the characters, the main idea or the plot of the story. It is also very important to monitor your own understanding of the text and clarify the confusing parts. Helping readers to make connections to the events in the story to their own prior knowledge and experiences helps with understanding of the text. When teachers help students with comprehension skills so they can understand text, it helps them to become effective independent readers.

Reading Strengths and Weaknesses I am a strong reader and I enjoy reading. I believe having a love for reading is a huge plus. However, there are times when I lose focus, particularly if I am reading something that doesn’t especially interest me. When this happens I know I am not comprehending the text I am reading. I can sometimes lose my train of thought; its almost as if I am “multi-tasking” in my mind. This is not conducive to good reading. Reengaging and focus is needed to get back into the text in order to comprehend. Its very easy to lose focus and when this happens the comprehension is lost. I would consider myself to be an “omnivorous reader.” I enjoy reading and usually will read anything I can get my hands on.

Aha Moment! I had an “aha” moment just two weeks ago with one of my kindergarteners. She was being very hard on herself because she did not know her alphabet letters. She knew how to write and recognize her name but couldn’t tell you the letters in her name. She wanted to label her drawing and amazingly even knew some of the sounds in the words she wanted to write, but didn’t know the letter that made that sound. For my students who can recognize their letters I’ve provided them with resources in a special folder that they can use to help them with their writing. I know my students can problem solve; but often I spoon feed them some things assuming I am helping them. This time before offering the answer, I asked my student what she thought she could do to help her. She stared at her alphabet chart for a few minutes and suddenly shouted “ I got it Mrs. Pellechia!” She decided the same way she used the number line to count with to figure out the correct number she could use her alphabet chart to recite the ABC’s until she got to the letter she wanted. She drew an orange butterfly and when she was done she had written: “org bdfi” For a kindergartner in the third week of school, I knew this was very good. She was so proud of her herself and I was extremely proud of her. I realized that providing my students with an abundance of resources was important, but so was giving them the chance to figure out things on their own.

My Personality…who I am Enthusiastic! Excitable! Worrisome! Friendly! Outgoing! Kind! Thoughtful! Dreamer! Lover of sweet treats! In love with my family! What I love most: my husband, my three beautiful children, my family, and my students.