Peggy Daniel This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Caldwell Elementary Staff

   caldwell.usd259.org/staff.htm - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/9/2007   Last Visited: 11/9/2007

   Peggy Daniel, Interpreter pdaniel@usd259.net

2. 2. The Macon Telegraph | 07/01/2003 | Educators hope Bibb program will help students pass CRCT

   www.macon.com/mld/macon/620748 - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/1/2003   Last Visited: 7/1/2003

   On a recent Wednesday morning, teacher Peggy Daniel made her way around the classroom listening to students read from their books. When one girl stumbled over a word, Daniel softly asked her to stop and read it again.
   
   "Let's break it into syllables," she said while gliding her index finger across the desk they shared to the word 'optometrist.' "It's a big word, but I know you can do it."
   
   For several seconds, 7-year-old Linniece Starks, who wore a pink shirt and capris, just stared at the huge word, biting her bottom lip before hiding her face behind her hands.
   
   Daniel did not become discouraged.
   
   "Sound it out," she said. "C'mon."
   
   "Op-tom," Linniece read hesitantly. "Op-tom-e."
   
   Patiently, Daniel told her student, "Keep going."
   ...
   When Kai got a word right, Daniel told him in a gentle and warm voice: "Perfect.
   ...
   Their favorite exercise, and the noisiest, was the game Around the World, when Daniel would flash two students index cards with vocabulary words. The student who blurts out the word first would move on to the next desk, and the other would sit down.
   
   The first student to make it all around the room won a handful of M&Ms.
   
   Daniel tells her kids that to become better readers, they have to practice.
   
   In third-grade, reading takes on a more crucial role in determining how children learn, transitioning from the basics to using their critical-thinking skills. It's where many students begin falling behind their peers academically and oftentimes never catch up.
   
   "A lot of these kids know how to read but they're not getting the meaning," said Daniel.
   ...
   Near the end of class Wednesday, after students put up their books and returned to their desks, Daniel stood in front of the board and softly reinforced the reading rules.
   
   "I like how you're listening," she said, words that drew giggles from her students.
   
   Then she asked them to stand up and shake their neighbor's hands.