Sunday, January 25, 2009
Not answers so much as thinking.....
Wow! There are so many questions lingering out there! This is good news. It means we are all in a place where we are trying to figure out what works best for ourselves and our students. This week I am going to ask you to go through the wonderings (from last week's post) of your classmates and choose one of their questions to do a quick write in thinking about the quesiton that you choose!! Be sure to post the question you will be writing to and who that question came from!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
I am responding to no more basls and the comment about how the students are affected by me the teacher because of the jumping around and restarting. I think many of us have had the same question about the basal. Do we get rid of it? Is readers workshop the new model in Salem? I think these questions are going through our heads (or I should say mine) because no one has come out and said this is what we are doing. YEs we have been offered this course to better ourselves in teaching reading but still no one has said this is the direction we are going and our goal is by next year we will all be doing this and this is our plan for spelling, phonics, grammar, etc..BUT this has not been said to anyone as far as I know. This I feel is why I feel crazy sometimes trying to organize and get my workshop stufff together. This is also why I made the comment in my last blog that I have gone back to the beginning and started over with my kids because I felt I had jumped around a lot trying out new things as we read the book. I did this because I felt the kids only got a sample and needed more to have a deeper meaning. Yes I do agree with the idea that I think because of the going back and forth I do think that this class this year will not have the same experience as my students next year. It is like any program we start for the first time that first year is a trial for you because it is your first time teaching that way. Do I feel guilty that this years students don't benefit from RW running as smoothly as it should -Yes I do but I can't beat myself up over it. I know that I am doing the best and I am trying to make things run smoothly. Okay I just reread what I wrote and I really jumped around - Sorry.
Sara
Hi everybody,
I would like to discuss the question of assessment, as raised by several people including Nancy, Kerrie, and Sara. As I have mentioned, I am continuing to use McG-Hill as well as beginning Reader's Workshop.....I still feel comfortable giving the Unit Tests for an overall assessment, as well as the IRI info. from Title One teachers. This quarter, while doing report cards, it was helpful to have the notes from my conferring times with my students...Yet, I am looking for more in this area.....something that will yield authentic info. about each child. Recently, our Grade 2 students took NWEA for the first time....I wonder about the merit/validity/purpose of this? Is it to prepare somewhat for NECAP? Are those results more objective than our own assessments? (We see how far some of our children come---but do we look at them with rose colored glasses? These are true questions, not soap box comments....so yes, please more info. on assesments....and what about that report card? I would say the primary one is actually more Readers Workshop-ish than the upper grade...dya think?
fj
Hi all,
I am responding to the "direction of the district" with readers workshop. I believe that this is the direction Salem is moving towards. It lends nicely to differentiated instruction. I recently had a meeting with resource teachers in the district regarding the 5th grade students entry into the middle school. As it stands now, most of my students will be participating in a regular education reading program with support. Some of the teachers were worried about students being put into those classes. I, however, am very optomistic as my current fifth graders are involved in the classroom with Reader's Workshop. They are getting the benefit of a transition to the classroom for a full year as they moved out of resource reading and the workshop model is used as well. My students are very excited to be reading now. (Never did I think I would have to gently curb it during math class!) The Soule staff has always embraced new ideas no matter how challenging it can be. I feel that despite our unease at times, our school is leading the way using the Reader's Workshop model! I also agree that sssessment is a concern. I like my "status book" but a simple yet effective conferencing tool that gets to the heart of the matter would be very helpful. What are some assessments that can be used which will give us information and easy for parents to understand their progress? We teachers may feel that we are "jumping around" with this model. Yet our students are still benefitting evan as our reading programs develop and our confidence grows.
I'd also like to respond to this question about RW vs Basals. (initially Faith's question about growing at our own pace, but others too)Does it really have to be one or the other? RW seems to be a method that takes time to get a handle on before throwing out what we are currently using. We talked at length about baby steps.To me, becoming comfortable with it ourselves, finding a way to organize, schedule (Kellie's question - and mine too)and implement it should be big considerations. It reminds me of years ago when we were recommending that everyone teach developmentally. People needed to be ready and invested in the process for it to happen successfully. Many of us were ready and thankful for the support, but unfortunately for others it didn't always have positive results. I'm willing to bet that Debbie Miller didn't transform her classroom in a semester or even one year!
While the basal as written is not my favorite method, it does provide me with some structure and sequence. Using this structure along with comprehension strategies in a workshop model is my goal, but that's going to take time to sort out mentally and physically.
I'm now wondering if what we'll need in the future are support groups to help each other work through the process of implementation?
As for the question of report cards, I rather like this format, except for the items that are directly tied to M-Hill. Those could probably be tweeked.
I've been sitting here way to long...
Hi All To answer the question about if the basal is still able to be part of our reading progams, I did recently discuss this with Anna and Jenny and I was told that it is acceptable to do a blending of the workshop and McGraw Hill. I do think there is room for both. I think the fact that so many of us are open to new methods is terrific, but I also hate to see people doubting themselves about being able to use methods they have also used in the past. The question remains, how many of the elementary schools are involved in the workshop? Assesment question also remain to be a topic of interest. See you on Thursday, enjoy your snow day!
Hi All,
I am going to add my wonderings to my response of a question. My question, like so many, is how do I combine an accurate assessment with RW and the report card? I struggle with this daily and with the recent report card quality time I've been spending, I'm not sure that what I have for "grades" and/or assessment really fits with RW and the report card. Did that make sense? How to put them together? My friend Karen and I had a conversation today about knowing the kids, which I think I do, but what if I am asked to qualify a grade with the information I have? Are the grades I have enough? How do I translate the fact that my student needs to try different genres and add more details from the text to support their thinking to a letter grade? I have rubrics that I use to try to quantify this info, but I don't think that an A truly expresses my students knowledge and implementation of the reading strategies. My goal is to continue to try to provide quality and useful feedback to my students and parents.
Happy SNOWDAY girls!
I am going to respond to Karen’s question with getting to more students during RW. I hear you…I struggle with this day to day. I want to see everyone and in my mind, I know I need to see everyone, but is it a reality - NO. I know it boils down to trusting my students and myself…something that Karen had taught me. I like being able to butterfly conference in order to talk to everyone, however, the quality and structure of the conversations are not as deep as a full one on one. I also want to know how to conference with each child and run guided reading groups in only 45 minutes a day (making sure to meet with each child’s needs). On top of this, I am completing Running Records and still using the IRI from McG-Hill (not sure if that is good or bad), as well as, other assessment pieces I need to guide my teaching and evaluate my student’s learning. This is not to say we don’t know our students inside and out, but that we have something tangible for parents and report cards. In an ideal classroom, I would love to talk with each of my students, and have a guided group to build skills EVERYDAY. What is the “approved” number of times we should be meeting with each student per week?
I am responding to Karen V.'s comment/question about only getting to 3 students a day and how to have quality conferencing. I guess when I look at RW as each day of the week, I'm also not able to get to all of my children and I have only a class of 15. Because my children are not independent and I have to do an invite group or guided reading group, I have even less time to confer with them. Touching base possibly one time a week doesn't seem sufficient. First graders that are not yet confident enough to be on their own for an extended length of time present more difficulties in this process. When I get to them, is my support sufficient to hold them until I meet with them again? I'm worried about this. Will I be seeing a shift as we approach spring and the children become more independent?
I just have to comment here..I am wondering about how much time you spent one on one with your students when using McGraw Hill? What was an accepted amount of time to be spent with them then? Was most of your instruction whole class? Small groups? One on one? What is the difference in terms of individual instruction?
HI there,
Let it snow! I am responding to Tomasen's question...about how much time spent each way with McG...With McG, (speaking for myself), I must say most was whole, followed by small, and least of all individual...(leveled readers). In addition, though, small groups were being used with trade books; peer reading with McG, literature, and science/socialnon-fiction and fiction....I think most of us that use/used McG did not ever make that our total reading. RW strategies are helping to focus it all for me...and hopefully, in the end for each student.
I am also wondering if anyone had fun outside in the snow today?
fj
I'm responding to Faith's question, Did anyone have fun in the snow today? My boys and I tracked up our yard and the neighborhood with the snowmobile. We each built our own snowmen and made many snow angels. We went to Kerri's and cruised down her steep snow covered hill. After that we wrote in our journals while drinking hot cocoa in front of the blazing fire.
Oh, RW vs. McG: I think we are getting a clear picture of our students with RW. When did we talk to them about the understadning of the McH story? The thought provoking questions that you ask the class and call on the one student you know can answer it??? Now they are reading the books they choose to read! Now you can ask a question and they can't rely on another student to answer it.
I'm wondering how to get students to make better book choices. I'm having a hard time guiding the struggling readers to read books that they are ready for. As well as the higher readers getting books that are not too easy for them.
It is hard rolling it all out. I'm happy to keep some of McH too! It is making me feel on track with spelling and skill. It is tough trying to get organized with RW. Keeping track of conferencing w/students, the guided groups, tracking how many books each student has read, their comprehension, who has JR books, and grades??. I'm hoping it will all come together soon.
I'd like to address the question concerning the district's direction and readers workshop. Most of the time when I think about teaching reading I think of it terms of my role as a teacher. It makes sense although I understand all of your struggles with basal, time management and assessment. As a librarian, I have my own issues to deal with: how do I support teachers with the materials they need? how can I help students find "just the right book? is it ethical for me to code books in the library according to reading levels? how valuable are the libraries when students are only reading books form their classroom libraries?
I am so excited by readers workshop and see the potential for so many students becoming life long readers. I need to know how the library can be more, for everyone.
I am integrating McGraw Hill into the RW format. Like Faith stated, I like the structure and flow of the phonics/spelling/grammar that McGraw Hill provides, as well as the freedom and individuality that RW promotes. I have to say, compared with last years students, it seems that this year the kids are more excited about reading. I really notice this during DEAR time, which isn't part of my morning RW time. The kids are much more excited about reading and more involved in their books. I'd like to think the new approach I'm taking has made a difference and helped to bring about this change.
I am responding to the moving all around and back tracking. I to feel as though I jumped right into Reader's Workshop without a plan. When I found that form that kind of gave a scope and sequence I ended up having to back track. Does this effect the students? How does this learning year for me impact the students I have this year?
As I get a better grasp on the whole workshop model I still believe I will back track. Hopefully just based on the needs I see while conferencing. I do this now but I feel as though it has been haphazard. I feel as though I am playing catch up and not always sure what my next focus lesson needs to be. This has to impact the students. Hopefully next year will be a little more in a sequence and I will know where most first graders need more time and guidance.
Post a Comment