My Classroom & Reading Experiences

     In Chapter 6 - The Mask of Invisibility, Tovani describes her fascination with introverted students,  exclaiming how talking is not the only way students can display their thinking. She also presents several intriguing activities to use with students who wear the mask of invisibility, particularly thinksheets, to help provoke higher-order thinking and disciplinary literacy.      Out of all the different masks Tovani has discussed throughout this text, in my experience, the mask of invisibility is one of the more challenging masks to combat. Unlike the other masks, the mask of invisibility can often go undetected, which can be dangerous as certain students can fly under the radar and not receive the appropriate attention they need to develop literacy. The good news, however, is that there are nonverbal forms of communication and assessment that we as teachers can utilize to monitor what students know and need. Throughout this chapter, Tovani repeatedly references a specific tool kn

* For confidentiality purposes, a pseudonym will be provided for the observed student  and mentor teacher *      My final visit of the month on Thursday, October 27th from 1:30-2:30PM in a 7th-grade social studies class at Thurmont Middle School was arguably my most eventful visit of the month.      On this day, students were working on a study guide in preparation for their test on the Middle East in the next couple of days. As for me, I spent my time circulating around the class, conversing with students, and answering any questions they had. During this class, there was a particular student who was causing a bit of trouble - I will call him Leo.     Now, while this is the first time I am writing about Leo, I have been observing him closely since beginning my field experience at Thurmont Middle School, and to be quite honest, Leo is a hard person to not observe. When I first arrived in Ms. G's class in September, Leo was the first person to introduce himself to me and ask me who

* For confidentiality purposes, a pseudonym will be provided for the observed student  and mentor teacher *      The month of October was certainly an interesting experience for me in terms of what I observed and encountered in the classroom. This observation took place on Thursday, October 20th from 1:30-2:30PM in a 7th-grade social studies class at Thurmont Middle School.      On this day, my mentor teacher Ms. G, was explaining a project students would be completing on Islamic achievements. For this project, students had a choice, either to complete a PowerPoint presentation on three different Islamic achievements or write a story/comic about these achievements. After Ms. G explained the directions, she sent students off to begin working, and that is where my "story" begins.      After a few minutes of walking around and helping students get started, I noticed a girl in the back corner of the room - I will call her Ava. Ava was as quiet as a mouse, and if it were not for m