Throughout my rounds I had the opportunity to see literacy in action. I saw mentor sentencing in writing and had a chance to partake in reading running records
Mentor sentencing begins at the start of the week with a dictation sentence. Each student hears the sentence and writes it in their book. Once this is completed the teacher models the sentence on the whiteboard, highlighting the word classes, punctuation or spelling. On day 2 the students practice writing the sentence again and highlight important features of the sentence structure. On day 3 the students practice their editing and attempt to make the sentence better. On day 4 the students try to write like the author, in this stage the students have to change the meaning of the sentence whilst maintaining the structure. On day five the students then turn over their page and write the original sentence without dictation, at this stage they can also edit or rewrite if time permits.
I also had the chance to undertake some running records on placement. This provide insight into assessing students in real time. For me a highlight was assessing the students and working with them to pick their reading goal that not I only I, but the student also felt was suitable.
