This experience overall has been a huge learning experience for me. While working with the students, you don't really understand everything that needs to go into instructional planning when it comes to them reading. Reading for them needs to have some sort of meaning so they are able to comprehend it better. I have learned many great strategies when implementing my lessons to help the students improve in their reading skills. Each benchmark in this project helped me understand the importance of the specific milestones in reading that need to be addressed in order for the students to become successful readers. I was able to personally witness reading improvements while using these practices. Even if a child makes a small gain, it is a huge step for them. When they reach a specific goal of theirs in reading, their face lights up! When they complete their fluency testing on Fridays and see that their words per minute average has improved, they get encouraged. It shows them that no matter how hard they thought the passage was on Monday, reading it and practicing it really does help them improve. One of the most important things that we can do as teachers is make sure we come up with reading strategies that help the students enjoy reading. When a studnet likes to read, and they are motivated to read, they will do much better. The text needs to also relate to real life experiences to them. When they can relate, it helps them comprehend. I know that I have just started learning these strategies and there is much more that I need to learn when guiding reading instruction, but I am glad that I got the opportunity to analyze what goes into it all. The students love coming to read to me for A.R. now, which is coming a long way for some of them that were always afraid to test on their books. They come to me after they have practiced to see if I think they are ready to test so they know if they will succeed with that specific book. They finally want to do better, and they are much more motivated to do so. Even if I just brought that to the class, that's huge. I hope my students gain a genuine interest and love for reading.