MissDBridges

Elementary Ed major, Future Teacher, Learner, Observer.

[missdbridges]

AUTHENTIC QUESTION

If students are able to read, but dont like to read or enjoy reading, how can we fix this?  

This is so important because teachers are likely to encounter students like this every year.  It's important to start off the year with your students with the correct way to read and find books.  Students need to know that reading is thinking.  I would start off the year with an anchor chart asking students what they believe reading is.  This is staying in one place, tracking thoughts while reading, not distracting others, and especially picking out just right books.  I believe if a student has a just right book, and with the right topic just for that student, then they should learn to love to read.  Even with Rosenblatt's idea of reader and text transactions.  Every reader brings different experiences to a text and different ideas from a text will resonate with different readers.  Picking a just right book will help to ensure this as they read.  It is also extremely important to get to know your students so we can learn about their strengths as readers.  THis can help us to help the students choose books with topics they will enjoy, and on the right reading level just for them.   

[missdbridges]

to create this kind of community - where there is a commitment to independence, an expectation of academic rigor, and a high level of productivity - there are predictable routines and structures that can be taught.

Conferring with Readers by Jennifer Seravallo

Chapter 3  Getting Ready:  Management and Structures

To me, this quote really reigned in the importance of classroom community when it comes to creating that learning environment that stimulates students.  Managing the classroom in a way that students know what to expect and why is essential.  In reading workshop the most important thing to do is to get into a routine.  Students need to know what they are supposed to be doing.  By teaching a mini lesson to a whole group, it gives them something to focus on right before they read.  Without this mini lesson, the students will just read without focusing on what to be doing.  You can remind them to use post it notes, or remind them of strategies to be using, or even introduce the whole class to a new strategy to focus on while reading.  This way students know what to focus on and why.  While students are independently reading this is the time to walk around and hear students reading, see what they're writing about, and see strategies they are using, this is also a time to conference one on one or even small group.  Ending reading workshop is also just as essential as beginning it.  You need to end it on a great note by either gathering back together to talk about what they've been doing, or getting up and posting their post it notes they used while they were reading and discuss with the rest of the class what was written.  THis gets students involved in their classmates work as well as create a community to discuss what strategies others are using.  

- Quote on pg. 16 - 

[missdbridges]

We cannot use the grades on a report card to bludgeon our students into compliance or motivate them to do better

Classroom Reading Assessments by Frank Serafini

Chapter 5  Reporting and Representing Students Literate Abilities

Report cards are soemthing that our society believes in and will stick with us for the rest of our lives.  As teachers we need to not only have report cards used in our classrooms, but also other ways of learning communicated back to the parents.  I loved how this chapter really focused on alternatives to the traditional report card.  Although most of the options discussed will take a lot of time and dedication, they will also help parents and the students take pride in what they are learning and doing in the classroom.  One of the options I really believe I could use and love to use are the Monthly Newsletters.  These could be incorporated into writing workshop and have a designated day a week to work on the newsletter as a class.  These newsletters invite the students to create their own column of the paper and can include a variety of things like a calendar of events, student written poetry or writing samples, announcements of the class, and even awards.  I love how this can be turned into a student driven project.  Students can be assigned different types of columns a month.  It could be like their own little newspaper of the class.  This can help students showcase what they are learning in each subject area, and even help them to learn how to type onto a computer.  I also really enjoyed how he mentioned that parents could come in and help format and organize the newspaper as well.  The only thing im not quite sure about is how to create it into an actual newspaper, or you could even just send it in an email or on the classroom website.  This is just one of the many alternatives to use instead of having a number on a report card.  The newspaper can showcase the students individual learning all on one piece of paper.  

- Quote on pg. 115 -

[missdbridges]

Teaching, like parenting, is for much of the day, automatic. I like to think that in teaching, the proportion of conscious effort is a little higher, particularly in the planning department, but thinking through what we are going to say next as we interact with children would mean we were not giving them our full attention and not being genuine.

Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston

Chapter 8  Who Do You Think You're Talking To?

- Quote on pg. 77 -

[missdbridges]

We can't assess everything, so we make decisions about what we feel is important for students to know and be able to do, and these judgement calls reflect our values, histories, and cultures.

Classroom Reading Assessments by Frank Serafini

Chapter 4  Evaluating Students' Work, Literate Behaviors, and Experiences

- Quote on pg. 87 -

[munozsaedrd431]

Love this visual!!

We cannot over-depend on any one cueing system. The goal is always meaning making, and to properly make meaning, we need to employ all three systems evenly. 

[missdbridges]

Children grow into the intellectual life around them and that that intellectual life is fundamentally social. The social relationships within which they learn are a part of their learning. Children, just like adults, learn better in a supportive environment in which they can risk trying out new strategies and concepts and stretching themselves intellectually.

Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston

Chapter 7  An Evolutionary, Democratic Learning Community

When I read this I really thought back to last semester reading Bomer and the democratic classroom where everyone is a part of it equally.  Children really do need to feel like they are a part of their classroom community in order to become safe and comfortable with learning in that environment.  Creating this community can happen in a million different ways.  There is one that I thought about recently.  When a class has a discussion instead of people arguing or saying the right or wrong answer all the class should do is say agree or disagree with the person who spoke the answer.  This creates community so that all of the students can feel like they are right and in a safe environment to say why they believe their answer is right or not.  Also asking questions to each other instead of the teacher all the time is also essential in creating that community where students look at each other for guidance and help.  I really do enjoy this.  This relates to my math methods course.  We learned that by having math games and a variety of math games you could create stations with them and have one person who really knows the math game well teach it to others during the station rotation.  So that the teaching student will get to really showcase their talents and confidence while other students can look on and see their classmates in a different light and learn from them. 

- Quote on pg. 65 -

[missdbridges]

Questions exert even more control by not only insisting on a response, but also by specifying the topic of the conversation, and often the form of the response.

Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston

Chapter 6  Knowing

Questions are such a great way to get students thinking.  Asking the right questions are also the most important part of asking questions in general.  When students hear a question, the most important thing you can do as a teacher is to give them wait time.  This allows the students to really think and reflect on what is important and what they can say.  Asking questions and allowing students to have a think pair share and talk with a partner also gets them talking! Students love to talk and when they talk about important things will get them excited and more enthusiastic about what they are learning than if they didn't talk.  When you ask a question, and your students decide to ask questions is also great!  They can start to build off of each other's responses and really cause a discussion about the topic at hand.  When they have the authority to help each other, it gets them to help themselves as well.  "Learning these skills requires a community in which they are routinely practiced" (Johnston pg. 60).  For students to be able to ask questions and think intuitively, they need the classroom community to do so.  So as a teacher, give them the time to think before answering a question, and give them the opportunity to ask their own questions to other students!

- Quote on pg. 54 - 

[missdbridges]

Readers that come together in a small-group conference need not be reading the same book or even the same level, although they may come together to practice a strategy on a shared text.

Conferring with Readers

Chapter 11  Working Efficiently:  Group Conferring

When you get a small group together, you need to pull them based on what they all need and not based on what they are all reading or what level they are on.  Although you can pull students into groups based on what level they are on, it doesn't mean that you can't.  When you pull students you need to have a reason to do so.  This should be based on running records that are taken during class time or even trends you notice with your students.  You also need to teach a strategy that you notice they might be struggling with.  The strategies you teach also need to be aligned with the goals you have set for your first few weeks, or even for the year.  Strategies need to be focused on the main goal for the students.  Doing all of this is essential in a child's reading and learning as a whole, making sure that this is a routine in their reading workshop will help them to know that every student will have a chance to learn new strategies and have time to try them out. 

- Quote on pg. 155 - 

[missdbridges]

I love this idea of how to organize leveled texts!  This is perfect because we have all of the leveled retelling forms already from other people in the class available to us to use! 

[missdbridges]

The more we help children build a sense of themselves as inquirers and problem-solvers, and the less they see boundaries between domains of inquiry, the more they are likely to transfer their learning into the world beyond school.

Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston

Chapter 5  Flexibility and Transfer (or Generalizing)

As a teacher, I believe the hardest thing you can do is to be able to relate the information that the students are learning in a way that they will be able to use it in the future.  Being able to relate the information to their world outside of school is critical to their learning.  Without building those connections within a childs mind, they will not be able to understand how to use it at home.  The goal as teachers should be to constantly relate all subjects, all skills, and all information to their world outside of school in some way.  Help the students create experiences, help them activate their prior knowledge, and most of all, help them learn.  

- Quote on pg. 52 - 

[missdbridges]

Talking about books not only gives the readers a nudge into deepening and clarifying their thinking about the text, but it also gives me insights into the ways they construct meaning from the texts.

Conferring with Readers by Jennifer Serravallo

Chapter 9  Improving Student Conversations About Books

I love book clubs.  Ever since last semester I have been so excited to see book clubs in my internships for the next year.  Although I have yet to see them, I will be excited when I do.  I loved that in this chapter there were many ways to actually teach during book clubs to help enhance the conversations.  I feel like this chapter would have really helped me last semester during book clubs and the different methods of teaching that could have been used.  The ghost partner method of teaching was something I have not thought about yet.  Its not the same as just observing, and not quite a guide on the side.  Its more like a ghost.  I loved how she said she would whisper things to help prompt conversations to just one individual student.  The students get to continue with owning the conversation but the ghost partner teaching is there just incase a student might need a little nudge.  

- Quote on pg. 118 -

[missdbridges]

I am sending the message to students that once they are taught a new skill and strategy the expectation is that they incorporate it into their reading lives from now on

Conferring with Readers by Jennifer Serravallo

Chapter 8  Holding Students Accountable for Previous Teaching

This chapter really made me think about when we had writing conferences with our small teachers last semester.  We always had to have a skill ready each week to work on or teach.  I thought that the chapter was a great resource to really see why and what we do with the skills that we teach in conferences.  It also really cleared up how often you teach a new skill.  Seravallo stated that "it is helpful to stick with one skill for awhile before moving on to a new skill in order to keep the student engaged in the learning process and to help her perform some skills well" (Serravallo pg. 102).  I thought this was great to know because I did not know that staying with one strategy for longer than one conference was a good idea.  According to this chapter, keeping one strategy the main focus over several conferences will help the student to really learn the strategy well and be able to incorporate it into their reading lives forever.  It gives the students many opportunities to really practice and own that strategy that they learn.  When they completely understand it, is when a new strategy, or even a new skill, should be put into place. 

- Quote on pg.102 - 

[missdbridges]

fewer miscues has traditionally been taken to indicate a better reader, it could also indicate a reader who goes so slowly to avoid miscues that efficiency is sacrificed

Miscue Analysis Made Easy by Sandra Wilde

Chapter 9  A Portrait of the reader

This really made me think about when I was working one on one with my small teacher.  The student was reading slowly and never making a miscue.  I never thought about why that was until now.  If a student is going to slowly to try to get everything correct, then something will be missed.  This was so helpful to learn about but even if you have a student that you think can read very well, they might not be because they are loosing the efficiency that they could have.  If a teacher does not have any miscues to code after a reading then that will deteriorate the ways that we can get to understand the "strengths, strategies, and possible future growth" of the student (Wilde pg. 80). 

- Quote on pg. 84 -

[missdbridges]

The spark of agency is simply the perception that the environment is responsive to our actions, and many researchers argue that agency is a fundamental human desire

Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston

Chapter 4  Agency and Becoming Strategic

Giving students that spark of agency leads students on to be a harder and stronger worker.  "Children with a strong belief in their own agency work herder, focus their attention better, are more interested in their studies, and are less likely to give up when they encounter difficulties" and this is all with the help of the teacher (Johnston pg. 40).  Teachers give students this agency with their words.  My favorite of the entire chapter was "How did you figure that out?" (Johnston pg. 31).  I mean, I probably say this to my students multiple times a day but I had never really thought about it.  I never thought about what it meant, what the students might think it meant, or what it really did to the students.  I found out that after reading this part was that it gives the students "control of the problem solving process" (Johnston pg. 31).  It gives them control, and gives them their own accountability for what they are doing and accomplishing.  It really makes the students think about things and most of all, gives them agency.  

- Quote on pg. 29 -

[missdbridges]

I often find it helpful to have a one - page menu of everything i've planned. Usually this menu has a list of characteristics of a leveled text, questions to ask to assess the student's understanding of that level, and possible teaching points that would stem from the assessment

Conferring With Readers by Jennifer Serravallo

Chapter 10  Planning for What to Teach and How to Teach It

This idea of a menu is so helpful!  This would also be so much easier as a "lesson plan" in our internship as well for reading/writing workshops.  It would not only be easier, but also more helpful and laid out since it is all on one page with everything you might need.  There are questions to ask, characteristics of text, teaching points from assessments, there are just so many things you can use.  This whole menu idea helped me visualize all of the ways to plan teaching that was in this chapter.  Mining your own reading to help students, analyzing book logs, use of conferences, studying text levels, and analyzing running records all just were in my head as a one sheet piece of paper that was a menu to what could be taught around that.  The one thing I really related back to my internship was the Analyzing of the book logs.  My teacher does this similarly to the book.  None of the students fill out a book log on their own.  The teacher just asks students during independent reading what book they are on, and what page number they are on.  My coaching teacher told me that this was for her to see how many pages they have read, if they are on the same book or skip books, and if they are reading at home or not.  I have always thought of book logs as student accountability for themselves that they have to fill out.  I'm unsure which idea I prefer or which idea would be more useful to the teacher and the student.  Overall, I really love the idea of basing a teaching point off of the reading logs of the students.  

- Quote on pg. 138 - 

[missdbridges]

As we generate information about our students, we also generate information about our teaching and ourselves

Classroom Reading Assessments by Frank Serafini

Chapter 2  Assessments to Use Before and During Reading

I loved that this chapter was full of useful assessments to use.  It was great reading about assessments we already know and use, but it was also great to learn about new ideas.  The one idea I had not heard about was Think Alouds.  This is where you get students to stop at each page and talk about what they were thinking.  Doing this is such a great and fast way to see what students are comprehending and thinking about.  The upside to this assessment is that you can use any text, no need to write anything down, and it generates immediate results and reactions.  Another idea I have not heard about or practiced was the Observational Checklists.  To me this is similar to observational records/running records but the checklist is just how it sounds.  Its just a checklist.  No writing, fast, and you only have to check off things you notice.  You get to learn what you noticed, you can add standards to the checklist, you can add stages of development as well.  I thought this was very thoughtful.  You could use this walking around whole class and mark of students who are showing certain attributes and who are not.  But the downfall is that there is not enough detail or information.  Sure you could write in the lines but then you still have to be checking things off.  As you get the information from your students you need to be able to actually understand why you have that information and what you will be doing with it.  To me, a checklist is not something I would really understand to do.  

- Quote on pg. 22 -