Looking across Chapters 10 and 11, which of the understandings and strategies in the comprehensive literacy program are you already addressing/doing with your students (or have you done, or do you plan to do)?
Throughout my first year of teaching I did guided reading groups, read-alouds, and sustained reading as mentioned in the first few pages of chapter 10. One thing that I didn't do that I want to do this year is individual reading conferences. I agree how important it is to know each students desires towards reading, and how to get them to love reading. I implemented literature circles at the very end of my school year last year. I want to establish this type of instruction at the beginning of the year. I want to model for them what is expected so that they are able to do a literature circle when I am not around. One of our tag teachers used flip cameras at his literature circle groups so that he could see what they discussed, keep the students on task, and be able to apply feedback to their groups.
I did not teach writing for the first half of the year this past year because we were partly departmentalized, so it is going to be a new thing for me this year. I hope to incorporate journal writing everyday, conferencing with students on writing pieces, and guided writing groups. I think language experience as it originally was is a great approach for my ELL students. If they can tell you what they are thinking for you to write it down for them. They are able to see their own thoughts written down rather than them having to focus so much on little details. This could be a good modeling activity for students before you set them free for sustained writing or guided writing activities. Guided writing is what I was trying to implement second semester in my class before the writing assessment but I definitely had some flaws. I will for sure use page 238 in Weaver's text as a guide for my instruction this coming year when we transition into more informational writing with common core.
In my guided reading groups I tried to change up what we did each day. Many times I would give students an amount of pages to read on their own before we would discuss. I was wanting them to read for meaning and show me what they gained from it. We would do choral reading but I found that my students would get distracted by the person next to me. I love readers theater because you are able to see the students personalities come through and we can practice expression when reading. When I have the opportunity to use readers theater I will find a play or poem that applies to something we are learning in social studies or science.
In Weaver's Chapter 11, there is talk of the 13 core understandings. I want to type this up and put them on the wall by my desk as a reminder to myself what I should be trying to accomplish with my students every day. There are so many different aspects to reading that I need to keep in mind. Through these I want to set my reading/language arts block up to be a literature-based classroom and not a skilled-based classroom. My students can read with miscues, but we need to work more on their comprehension. The goal is to achieve active engagement in my students and their confidence in their reading and writing abilities
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading the description of your class practices. Like you, I also would like to try individual reading conferences. I think that is when I would really learn most about my students individually.
I see you are a 5th grade teacher, so literature circles are very appropriate for that grade level. I taught 2nd grade, and I never incorporated that practice into my curriculum. I think I need to learn more about it before I try it. I also think using a flip camera is a neat idea.
Writing will be new for you this year. Don't be overwhelmed. I really enjoyed that part of the day. Since you work with older students, you will really get to see their perspectives and talents on a deeper level that I did with 2nd grade.
Readers theater was a struggle. I remember the Stone Soup activity in the Basal. Because I didn't integrate drama in my curriculum throughout the year, the Stone Soup activity at the end of the year was a nightmare. Plus, it was a really long text. I need to learn more about that practice, too.
I also really liked your idea of hanging something in your room to remind you of your goals. We all need a little something like that.
Like you I have done many of these activities in my classroom as well. Guided Writing is a great way to encourage students to read and write. I agree that as a teacher writing your students thoughts on the paper always them to see their own thoughts written down rather than them having to focus so much on little details.
ReplyDeletef you have access to an iPad or two you could try this with theatre reading.
I was doing a form of theatre reading with my first grader, where I had my students create a some script/story with 2 or 3 characters. Once they checked the script to make sure it made sense, I allowed them to practice it and later act it out on an App called "Puppet Pals" on iPads. They really enjoyed using the iPads and the App was an added benefit to getting them to write. I am going to try and use this activity earlier in the school year.