I see fluency and comprehension as being very closely linked. Fluency aids comprehension because the more fluent a student is as a reader the easier it will be for him/her to comprehend what is read. If students can read accurately, quickly, and with the proper sentence expression very well, they spend less mental energy trying to decode words and can use that energy to work on understanding the text as a whole. Comprehension also aids in improving fluency because as students develop comprehension strategies and practice them through reading they develop schemas about different ideas and build their vocabulary with more words they can read automatically. In turn, they continue to become more fluent, which gives them the tools to begin comprehending even more difficult text, and the cycle continues on and on. My placement is in 3rd grade and my CT always points out that 3rd grade is the year when the focus in reading falls more heavily on comprehension and less on fluency. Students are expected to be fluent enough readers by the beginning of 3rd grade that they can easily make this shift. Unfortunately, for students who are not fluent readers, if intervention and individual attention are not given these students are at risk for falling even farther behind.
Fluency is not directly taught in my class, except occasionally as a center activity (timed reading, etc.). My class does spend considerable time teaching vocabulary and text structure through spelling tests and homework, focus vocabulary in guided reading, sentence structure (noun, verb, adjective, subject, predicate, etc.), and paragraph structure (main idea, supporting details, etc.). These topics are taught in a variety of ways - mini lessons, guided reading, worksheets, spelling tests, and writer's workshop. Students are working on building familiarity of a greater number of words and are beginning to dig deeper into the components of words, sentences, and text overall. So far I have not seen any assessments on fluency specifically. We are supposed to do DRA testing this fall but we have not gotten around to it yet. Worksheets and writing samples are used as informal ways to assess some of students vocabulary and text structure knowledge. Comprehension instruction is taught mostly through guided reading of stories in a basal reader. The reading book outlines a specific comprehension strategy to focus on for that story. My CT will model the use of that strategy and will conduct full class discussions where the students get to talk about and try that strategy themselves. After finishing each story, the class usually completes a worksheet with questions about the story requiring a variety of comprehension skills (pulling information directly from the text, summarizing, predicting, inferring, etc.)
Due to the generally full-class structure of lessons in my class, it's often difficult to learn about individual students as readers, especially the quieter students. For my guided lead teaching I'm planning to create activities that make the students more individually accountable for their reading and understanding of the stories. Although reading of texts will be guided and I will help students with unfamiliar words I plan to give students the opportunity to apply certain strategies on their own using a story map or other graphic organizer before we discuss them as a class. I will be able to look at these papers later to gain some idea of what students are able to do on their own related to comprehension. I also plan to take anecdotal notes of students fluency when they read aloud in class.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Oct. 19th- Fluency & Comprehension
Fluent readers read with accuracy, automaticity and prosody. It relates to comprehension because usually as readers deep comprehension comes with fluency. However, like mentioned in the articles fast readers do not always have high comprehension, they simply can decode and recognize sight words. It is important to ask readers comprehension questions as they are reading in order to make sure they are not just fast readers. Teachers should not focus simply on how fast students can read through material. So it is important to understand that fluency and comprehension lead to one another, it is a continuum. They are both of equal importance and can vary in value from grade level to grade level.
In my 4th grade classroom at Walled Lake Elementary we use Reader’s Workshop. We also assess students by using the DRA’s (Developmental Reading Assessment) that are issued in the beginning of the school year. Also, by looking at their scores from the previous school year help to see if maybe scores reflect whether or not students read at all over the summer time. It was amazing to see the difference in reading levels between students that said they read over the summer and those that admitted they didn’t read a single book.
Based on the assessment results, students are at various reading levels. Based on these reading levels, students are put into groups. After the MEAP is over next week I will actually have a group that I will meet with everyday during reader’s workshop and I really look forward to seeing their progress throughout the school year. Other ways to assess students on their fluency and comprehension is by conferencing with them in both readers and writers. Also keeping running records and visiting model classrooms once each semester. I have never heard of a model classroom but in our school there is a classroom which happens to be a 5th grade room and teachers sit in on a literacy lesson once each semester. I really look forward to doing this next month.
In my 4th grade classroom at Walled Lake Elementary we use Reader’s Workshop. We also assess students by using the DRA’s (Developmental Reading Assessment) that are issued in the beginning of the school year. Also, by looking at their scores from the previous school year help to see if maybe scores reflect whether or not students read at all over the summer time. It was amazing to see the difference in reading levels between students that said they read over the summer and those that admitted they didn’t read a single book.
Based on the assessment results, students are at various reading levels. Based on these reading levels, students are put into groups. After the MEAP is over next week I will actually have a group that I will meet with everyday during reader’s workshop and I really look forward to seeing their progress throughout the school year. Other ways to assess students on their fluency and comprehension is by conferencing with them in both readers and writers. Also keeping running records and visiting model classrooms once each semester. I have never heard of a model classroom but in our school there is a classroom which happens to be a 5th grade room and teachers sit in on a literacy lesson once each semester. I really look forward to doing this next month.
October 18th, 2010 Blog
New book club blog posting based on this week’s assigned readings—What is the relationship between reading comprehension and reading fluency? What approaches are used to assess and teach fluency in your classroom? What else do you need to know to fully understand your students’ reading development? How could you find out?
I think that fluency specifically deals with students accuracy. It's reading smoothly, not too slow, and paying attention to punctuation and grammar- basically the skeleton of reading. Comprehension is taking the meaning out of what you have just read. For example, I am placed in a third grade room and there are a lot of people lacking comprehension AND fluency, but mostly comprehension. As another example, I just babysat for a child who is also in third grade and I was shocked at how fluently he read AND what he comprehended. It's possible for a child to comprehend what they are reading even if they lack fluency, but it would be more slowly. They would also comprehend less information since they are reading more slowly and choppily.
I think that fluency specifically deals with students accuracy. It's reading smoothly, not too slow, and paying attention to punctuation and grammar- basically the skeleton of reading. Comprehension is taking the meaning out of what you have just read. For example, I am placed in a third grade room and there are a lot of people lacking comprehension AND fluency, but mostly comprehension. As another example, I just babysat for a child who is also in third grade and I was shocked at how fluently he read AND what he comprehended. It's possible for a child to comprehend what they are reading even if they lack fluency, but it would be more slowly. They would also comprehend less information since they are reading more slowly and choppily.
In my class, we use the DRA to score the children's reading. This takes into account the time it takes for the student to read (words per minute), mistakes, self corrections, stumbles over words, and also comprehension at the end of the DRA test. All of these things are more of a label that the DRA test can place on a student for the benefit of the teacher placing the students in guided reading groups and similar groups that might need to work on comprehension or other reading qualities. We also have one on one student conferencing which really takes into account what the students are reading and if it's the right level and difficulty. These are a good idea if the teacher isn't sure what the student needs to be working on, because the teacher can hear the student read out loud and asses based on that, rather than having to be keeping a score (like on the DRA).
I think that there needs to be a way to asses the students writing and reading connected, such as with answering questions derived from the text. I think that would really show the students comprehension. Working one on one is really important as to figuring out what the student needs to work on and it also allows you to see the student not affected by other students and student's answers around them.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Helsel and Greenberg
I read the Helsel and Greenberg piece titled “Helping struggling writers succeed: A self-regulated strategy instruction program.” In this article describes how teachers can combine writing instruction with instruction on self-regulatory behavior. The authors hypothesize that the reason many students struggle with writing is because they struggle with self-regulation skills such as goal setting, choosing the best strategies for a task, self-instructing, monitoring progress, knowing when to seek help, and managing time. The article describes how self-regulation is a necessary skill to produce quality writing through being able to make a plan for writing and make thorough revisions. The article sets out a model for teaching self-regulation strategies through writing which includes building background knowledge, discussing the strategy, modeling, having the student memorize the strategy, offering support for the student in implementing it when writing, and allowing the student to demonstrate it independently. The authors also present a case study of working with a sixth-grade student on building self-regulation through writing and the success this student found through this model.
I feel that this model for teaching self-regulation strategies could be very beneficial in my 3rd grade class. This article seemed to be written to give teachers ideas for bringing older students who struggle with writing up to grade level, however I believe these methods can be modified for younger students who are just learning how to self-regulate in the writing process. There are several students in my class who struggle considerably with reading and writing. If they are not taught specific strategies for self-monitoring their work, they will fall even farther behind. At the same time, students who can write at or above grade level could also benefit from learning these strategies to improve their process even more. Teaching self-regulation strategies would probably be best taught in combination with writing strategies in mini-lessons as part of writer’s workshop. I would like to learn more about which strategies would best help students learn to be independent in monitoring their own writing process and also how to teach writing strategies with self-regulation strategies embedded. This will take considerable thought when it comes time for me to plan these kinds of lessons.
As I analyzed my students’ writing samples and remembered the work I did with them on these pieces of writing, I learned that many of my students struggle with having a main idea and supporting details focused on the main idea. For example, one of the writing samples was a personal narrative in which students described when another person cared for them or when they were caring toward someone else. Most students were able to identify the person or event they wanted to write about, but then struggled to write details that were focused on this topic or eventually led back to the idea of being caring. My unit will be focused on guided reading, but I can use this unit to discuss main idea and supporting details. Throughout my unit I plan to present my students with broad themes related to each story they read or that tie all of the stories together. I plan to work with them on identifying and explaining details and examples from the stories to support these themes.
I feel that this model for teaching self-regulation strategies could be very beneficial in my 3rd grade class. This article seemed to be written to give teachers ideas for bringing older students who struggle with writing up to grade level, however I believe these methods can be modified for younger students who are just learning how to self-regulate in the writing process. There are several students in my class who struggle considerably with reading and writing. If they are not taught specific strategies for self-monitoring their work, they will fall even farther behind. At the same time, students who can write at or above grade level could also benefit from learning these strategies to improve their process even more. Teaching self-regulation strategies would probably be best taught in combination with writing strategies in mini-lessons as part of writer’s workshop. I would like to learn more about which strategies would best help students learn to be independent in monitoring their own writing process and also how to teach writing strategies with self-regulation strategies embedded. This will take considerable thought when it comes time for me to plan these kinds of lessons.
As I analyzed my students’ writing samples and remembered the work I did with them on these pieces of writing, I learned that many of my students struggle with having a main idea and supporting details focused on the main idea. For example, one of the writing samples was a personal narrative in which students described when another person cared for them or when they were caring toward someone else. Most students were able to identify the person or event they wanted to write about, but then struggled to write details that were focused on this topic or eventually led back to the idea of being caring. My unit will be focused on guided reading, but I can use this unit to discuss main idea and supporting details. Throughout my unit I plan to present my students with broad themes related to each story they read or that tie all of the stories together. I plan to work with them on identifying and explaining details and examples from the stories to support these themes.
Salch & Marino 2001
This article "Conferring in the Writing Workshop" is all about conferencing with students about their writing. Conferencing is important to talk with the students about their writing problems as well as their good techniques as a writer. A lot of teachers think that writing can only be done in one way- assigning a task and then having the students write about it. But in the article, there were a lot of examples of students who have no motivation until they are able to talk about their ideas or share them with the class. It also helps when talking with a child to zero in on one problem and if their body language is telling you they are not into it, switch topics.
My teacher uses conferencing in the classroom, so I can see how it fits in exactly. We normally do it during the independent writing workshop. This might be during the idea notebook time or during the time where they work on their personal narratives. I think that what I need to work on as a professional is working with students on the level that they individually will understand. One student might need to have their problems pointed out to them and they will figure out how to work on it, but other students might need the problem to pointed out and dissected and explained to them what they need to do to change it.
I really like conferencing- I think it's helpful to see where the students think they stand personally. It is a way to learn something about students that they can share with you, something you might not have noticed just while looking at their work. I think that writing is something that really needs to be developed from the students own voice and the only way they are going to learn their own voice is through writing a variety of ways. Students also might not be strong spellers or use grammar the right way but have very good story lines, so conferencing might be able to more clearly illustrate that.
My teacher uses conferencing in the classroom, so I can see how it fits in exactly. We normally do it during the independent writing workshop. This might be during the idea notebook time or during the time where they work on their personal narratives. I think that what I need to work on as a professional is working with students on the level that they individually will understand. One student might need to have their problems pointed out to them and they will figure out how to work on it, but other students might need the problem to pointed out and dissected and explained to them what they need to do to change it.
I really like conferencing- I think it's helpful to see where the students think they stand personally. It is a way to learn something about students that they can share with you, something you might not have noticed just while looking at their work. I think that writing is something that really needs to be developed from the students own voice and the only way they are going to learn their own voice is through writing a variety of ways. Students also might not be strong spellers or use grammar the right way but have very good story lines, so conferencing might be able to more clearly illustrate that.
Helsel ang Greenberg
Helping Struggling Writers Succeed: A Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction Program
This article describes a Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction which combines explicit teaching of writing strategies with instruction in self-regulatory skills. While some students excel in the Writer's Workshop environment others struggle with the independence. Difficulty in self regulating the writing process can result from several factors such as struggling writers do little revision on their without teacher or peer support. According to the article, it has been propose that children's understanding of self-regulated learning can be enhanced in three ways, they are; self regulation can be learned indirectly through experience, can be taught directly through instruction, and lastly the use of self-regulatory skills can be elicited through practice. The main goals of the SRSD model are to "help students master the higher-level cognitive processes while developing autonomous, reflective, self-regulated use of effective writing strategies." There are 6 SRSD stages which include, build background knowledge, discuss it, model it, memorize it, support it, and independent performance. The author of this article believes this model is valuable in upper elementary and middle school.
I think that this model could work for upper elementary students. I am teaching in a 3rd/4th grade classroom currently so I think it could be applied. I think it would be more beneficial for the 4th graders and students older. My third graders may benefit from it later in the year however I think it may be a little early to begin it now. In order for me to implement this into my classroom I would need to work more with the students during writing before I would feel comfortable. Currently, I have not taken over writing so I would not feel confident starting this SRSD right now. I think my CT could implement this during Writer's Workshop, but like I said previous I think that it would be most applicable to the 4th graders as of now. I would like to see how it is done by her before I would feel confident in running it alone.
Today's module has made me think deeper about my unit plan especially the assessment portion. I was looking at some rubrics to assess students and after reading the different articles and watching the videos, I think I need to take more time and really think about what I am going to be assessing my students on during the course of my unit. I also need to spend more time on creating these rubrics for assessment. Most of my assessment will be informal throughout my unit so I need to establish a clear understanding of what it is I will be looking for and how exactly I will know which students have met the expectations.
This article describes a Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction which combines explicit teaching of writing strategies with instruction in self-regulatory skills. While some students excel in the Writer's Workshop environment others struggle with the independence. Difficulty in self regulating the writing process can result from several factors such as struggling writers do little revision on their without teacher or peer support. According to the article, it has been propose that children's understanding of self-regulated learning can be enhanced in three ways, they are; self regulation can be learned indirectly through experience, can be taught directly through instruction, and lastly the use of self-regulatory skills can be elicited through practice. The main goals of the SRSD model are to "help students master the higher-level cognitive processes while developing autonomous, reflective, self-regulated use of effective writing strategies." There are 6 SRSD stages which include, build background knowledge, discuss it, model it, memorize it, support it, and independent performance. The author of this article believes this model is valuable in upper elementary and middle school.
I think that this model could work for upper elementary students. I am teaching in a 3rd/4th grade classroom currently so I think it could be applied. I think it would be more beneficial for the 4th graders and students older. My third graders may benefit from it later in the year however I think it may be a little early to begin it now. In order for me to implement this into my classroom I would need to work more with the students during writing before I would feel comfortable. Currently, I have not taken over writing so I would not feel confident starting this SRSD right now. I think my CT could implement this during Writer's Workshop, but like I said previous I think that it would be most applicable to the 4th graders as of now. I would like to see how it is done by her before I would feel confident in running it alone.
Today's module has made me think deeper about my unit plan especially the assessment portion. I was looking at some rubrics to assess students and after reading the different articles and watching the videos, I think I need to take more time and really think about what I am going to be assessing my students on during the course of my unit. I also need to spend more time on creating these rubrics for assessment. Most of my assessment will be informal throughout my unit so I need to establish a clear understanding of what it is I will be looking for and how exactly I will know which students have met the expectations.
Beth Kovalcik, Janine L. Certo
"The Poetry Café is Open!"
The article focused on teaching devices of sound in poetry within a 2nd grade classroom. The project was team-taught by teachers, and it included daily read alouds, 4 minilessons, and independent writing time in journals. The ultimate goal of these activities was to hold a café-like setting in the classroom where students would be able to share a piece of poetry they wrote for parents and administrators. The classroom would be transformed using tablecloths, vases with flowers, trays with pastries, and beverages, with a stool in the middle of the classroom that was considered the stage. One point the author really pushed was that poetry was meant to be both read out loud and listened too, so students are able to understand the power of language.
The students in the article were in the 2nd grade, so being in a 4th grade classroom, I definitely think I could use it. You also have to know your students and I think that some classrooms would not be able to handle the transformation of a classroom into a café setting. Some students could definitely ruin it for the whole class. If I was to use this idea it would fit in with Writer’s/ Reader’s Workshop. I say both of them because reading different genres of poetry is important, so during readers, the teacher would read a few examples and the students could share reading with a partner, then during the minilesson the students could write their own in their writer’s notebook.
As a professional I definitely need to learn more about poetry or observe a poetry lesson. I feel like I do not even fully understand the different elements of poetry, so how can I explain it to students in the classroom. It is a huge unit in the 4th grade that is why I chose to read the article and learn more about it.
From the Module I think it is really important to not always focus on just formal assessments, but also informal. Having students create and write in journals is an assessment. After a minilesson about writing, what the students create afterwards is a form of assessment, seeing what skills students took away.
The article focused on teaching devices of sound in poetry within a 2nd grade classroom. The project was team-taught by teachers, and it included daily read alouds, 4 minilessons, and independent writing time in journals. The ultimate goal of these activities was to hold a café-like setting in the classroom where students would be able to share a piece of poetry they wrote for parents and administrators. The classroom would be transformed using tablecloths, vases with flowers, trays with pastries, and beverages, with a stool in the middle of the classroom that was considered the stage. One point the author really pushed was that poetry was meant to be both read out loud and listened too, so students are able to understand the power of language.
The students in the article were in the 2nd grade, so being in a 4th grade classroom, I definitely think I could use it. You also have to know your students and I think that some classrooms would not be able to handle the transformation of a classroom into a café setting. Some students could definitely ruin it for the whole class. If I was to use this idea it would fit in with Writer’s/ Reader’s Workshop. I say both of them because reading different genres of poetry is important, so during readers, the teacher would read a few examples and the students could share reading with a partner, then during the minilesson the students could write their own in their writer’s notebook.
As a professional I definitely need to learn more about poetry or observe a poetry lesson. I feel like I do not even fully understand the different elements of poetry, so how can I explain it to students in the classroom. It is a huge unit in the 4th grade that is why I chose to read the article and learn more about it.
From the Module I think it is really important to not always focus on just formal assessments, but also informal. Having students create and write in journals is an assessment. After a minilesson about writing, what the students create afterwards is a form of assessment, seeing what skills students took away.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Book Club 6-8
In my classroom, there are a number of different literacy lessons put in place. The very first week, she "launched" the C.A.F.E. (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and extending the text), the Daily 5 program, and a few of the small moments and idea notebook ideas. We used Making Meaning in the classroom as well with read alouds, shared reading, and individual reading.
The children have book bins that they were given by us, the teachers, at first. Slowly but surely, they have been able to "browse" the classroom library for "just right" books that they will maybe do either better at reading or think is more interesting. The books are leveled slightly but not to the extent that there are groups in the class that only read this level and the other group reads this level etc.
I would really like to attempt to do a few of the activities in the book club plus book such as the fishbowl activity because I would really like my students to be able to have a real discussion without me or my CT facilitating it every step of the way. Having partners and sharing is a good idea but I would love to have the students be in smaller groups that the whole class could then critique and learn eventually. I would also like to think outside the box of read alouds and maybe have students read aloud to the class to practice expression and fluency. A lot of students are still struggling with reading to their partners. All of these things are activities that I would have to teach to the children as well as teaching them the norms of what I expect during these activities.
The children have book bins that they were given by us, the teachers, at first. Slowly but surely, they have been able to "browse" the classroom library for "just right" books that they will maybe do either better at reading or think is more interesting. The books are leveled slightly but not to the extent that there are groups in the class that only read this level and the other group reads this level etc.
I would really like to attempt to do a few of the activities in the book club plus book such as the fishbowl activity because I would really like my students to be able to have a real discussion without me or my CT facilitating it every step of the way. Having partners and sharing is a good idea but I would love to have the students be in smaller groups that the whole class could then critique and learn eventually. I would also like to think outside the box of read alouds and maybe have students read aloud to the class to practice expression and fluency. A lot of students are still struggling with reading to their partners. All of these things are activities that I would have to teach to the children as well as teaching them the norms of what I expect during these activities.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Book Club Plus Ch. 6-8
My CT’s literacy program usually has three main parts – guided reading, centers, and writing. The class is divided into four reading groups and each day the four groups spend 20-30 minutes in each part of the literacy program. For guided reading, each group spends the time reading with the teacher, discussing the text, making connections, and working on comprehension strategies. For centers, my CT will assign individual students to work on different activities each day based on the skills they need to practice (forming sentences, word meanings, phonics, comprehension, etc.) Students are grouped at their instructional level for these reading groups (reading below grade level, mostly at grade level, above grade level, etc.), similar to the descriptions of “Literacy Block” in Book Club Plus. She is trying to encourage students in these reading groups, especially in the higher level groups, to move from having purely teacher-led discussions to discussions where students talk to each other and the teacher about the text. At this point, these discussions are still very much teacher-led because the students are still learning not to talk over and argue with one another during reading time. However, I believe that with continued practice and frequent modeling from the teacher the students’ discussion skills will improve. Due to the fact that we have been preparing for the MEAP and also working on a couple large writing activities I have not seen many of the Book Club Plus ideas used in my CT’s classroom. Based on conversations I’ve had with her, I do know that she will be implementing more of these ideas later. For example, I know that later on the different reading groups will each be reading a different novel centered around a theme. I am excited to see the conversations that students will have as their build meaning around these more complex texts.
Recently my class has all been reading the same texts from their basal reader, but they have done so in leveled groups. If I were to try grouping the students into more heterogeneous book club groups for discussions the students would need considerable preparation and modeling first in order to have productive conversations in their new groups. It might be helpful to begin by introducing the discussion format in students’ leveled groups and guiding them through sharing ideas with one another and recording those ideas in a reading log. A fishbowl discussion could then be used a few times to model the kinds of discussions they should have in their mixed groups, based on the ideas they previously generated. Some individual students would also need more specific modeling for discussion skills such as taking turns, staying focused on the discussion, and making their ideas clear.
Recently my class has all been reading the same texts from their basal reader, but they have done so in leveled groups. If I were to try grouping the students into more heterogeneous book club groups for discussions the students would need considerable preparation and modeling first in order to have productive conversations in their new groups. It might be helpful to begin by introducing the discussion format in students’ leveled groups and guiding them through sharing ideas with one another and recording those ideas in a reading log. A fishbowl discussion could then be used a few times to model the kinds of discussions they should have in their mixed groups, based on the ideas they previously generated. Some individual students would also need more specific modeling for discussion skills such as taking turns, staying focused on the discussion, and making their ideas clear.
Book Club ch. 6-8
In my classroom, in a typical day, there is a lot of literacy. We have read alouds, word study, reader’s workshop and writer’s workshop. The past few weeks I have observed and participated in formal assessments. A week ago, 4th grade had our “DRA Day” where we completed all of our DRA testing on each student and analyzed the data. We had to create SIPP plans and talk about whether additional assessment was necessary with particular students. I only administered 2 DRA’s but I learned a lot from this about student’s fluency and comprehension. This week, more specifically tomorrow we are beginning our “DWA” tests and 4th grade has their “DWA Day” November 2nd.
This has taught me a lot about assessing students both in reading and writing. However, when it comes to actually seeing them participate in guided reading groups, we have not yet started that. The MEAP preparation has put the reading groups on hold for the next couple days. We placed students into groups based on their levels of achievement. Like the examples in the book, the reading groups in my class are sort of seen as those exceeding the expectations, those meeting the expectations, and those below the expectations. They are also in groups that have a focus or a goal that is different from everyone else. Some examples of groups are fluency 1, fluency 2, comprehension, interpretation, and summary.
Each book club group has 5 to 6 members, and all of them are pretty diverse. My CT and one of the other 4th grade teachers do a lot of co-teaching so we are constantly working together. This is extremely beneficial for the students because the students are not always working with the same group and there are 4 teachers available to work with the kids, since there is another Michigan State student in her class until December (Special Education major).
Each Monday we have "block recess" in the afternoon, which is our time to work as a 4th grade team on literacy goals/objectives, MEAP preparations, ways to assess students, etc. Today we actually started talking about how to fill out these sheets when assessing students. My CT was explaining to me that I want to write notes in a positive way that what I am observing is clear and it is material I feel comfortable sharing with my CT, principal, and parents. That came to mind when doing the reading because it mentions the "I Can" statements that records progress in a way of achieving goals.
I can not wait for all the formal assessing to be complete and the MEAP to be over so that more informal, ongoing assessing can be recorded and I am assigned a group of students to work with and monitor their progress. It will give me a lot more responsibility in the classroom.
This has taught me a lot about assessing students both in reading and writing. However, when it comes to actually seeing them participate in guided reading groups, we have not yet started that. The MEAP preparation has put the reading groups on hold for the next couple days. We placed students into groups based on their levels of achievement. Like the examples in the book, the reading groups in my class are sort of seen as those exceeding the expectations, those meeting the expectations, and those below the expectations. They are also in groups that have a focus or a goal that is different from everyone else. Some examples of groups are fluency 1, fluency 2, comprehension, interpretation, and summary.
Each book club group has 5 to 6 members, and all of them are pretty diverse. My CT and one of the other 4th grade teachers do a lot of co-teaching so we are constantly working together. This is extremely beneficial for the students because the students are not always working with the same group and there are 4 teachers available to work with the kids, since there is another Michigan State student in her class until December (Special Education major).
Each Monday we have "block recess" in the afternoon, which is our time to work as a 4th grade team on literacy goals/objectives, MEAP preparations, ways to assess students, etc. Today we actually started talking about how to fill out these sheets when assessing students. My CT was explaining to me that I want to write notes in a positive way that what I am observing is clear and it is material I feel comfortable sharing with my CT, principal, and parents. That came to mind when doing the reading because it mentions the "I Can" statements that records progress in a way of achieving goals.
I can not wait for all the formal assessing to be complete and the MEAP to be over so that more informal, ongoing assessing can be recorded and I am assigned a group of students to work with and monitor their progress. It will give me a lot more responsibility in the classroom.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Book Club Plus Ch. 6-8
It was interesting to read chapter 6 about assessments in book clubs. Thus far, I have seen very little formal assessment within book clubs. The fourth graders in our class my CT had as third graders last year. She is able to walk around the room and listen to different conversations and hear them read and makes a mental note of it. Sometimes she jots down notes but she has an amazing memory and is able to recall constantly to explain how she knows certain things to me. After reading about the "I Can" statements in the chapter it made me think of something my class did last week. As a whole group, the class came up with "will do's" and all wrote them down in their journals. They are very similar to the "I Can" benchmarks. The only difference is they also incorporate appropriate behavior will do's which helps with the management of having so many different groups. The students all have a copy of them and we also made copies that are laminated and each group sits it out in the middle of their group during book club to help remind them. This week, my CT is planning on pulling each group to do a more formal assessment to see how each student is progressing. I am anxious to see how this will work.
After reading the chapter on classroom management I was surprised to see how many questions you must ask yourself before implementing book clubs in your own class. I think because my CT has used book clubs every year the whole process of setting up the clubs and establishing guidelines was all very smooth and quick. I did not realize how much more complex it is to do for your first time. We use our book clubs to supplement Making Meaning. They work together hand in hand in our room. Therefore, our theme for book club is the same as the theme for our unit in Making Meaning. For example, in Making Meaning we have been reading personal narratives. All the books the students are reading in their book clubs are personal narratives. One difference in the book clubs in our classroom and what is described in the book is the grouping. Our clubs are 4-5 people and diverse in gender, ethnicity, interests, and personalities. However, our book clubs have students reading in groups with students of similar reading abilities. Each group is made up by my CT. Each group has students reading the same book which is all at their "just right level". I am not sure if this will stay the same throughout the year or if this is just how we are running the first unit in order to assess the students. I think it would be interesting to try the fishbowl activity within my classroom during book club. It would be a really good managing tool if I found a group who was working exceptionally well together, I could demonstrate the fishbowl by having them in the center of the bowl first. This would show the rest of the class a productive book club all while introducing the concept of a "fish bowl" to them simultaneously.
After reading the chapter on classroom management I was surprised to see how many questions you must ask yourself before implementing book clubs in your own class. I think because my CT has used book clubs every year the whole process of setting up the clubs and establishing guidelines was all very smooth and quick. I did not realize how much more complex it is to do for your first time. We use our book clubs to supplement Making Meaning. They work together hand in hand in our room. Therefore, our theme for book club is the same as the theme for our unit in Making Meaning. For example, in Making Meaning we have been reading personal narratives. All the books the students are reading in their book clubs are personal narratives. One difference in the book clubs in our classroom and what is described in the book is the grouping. Our clubs are 4-5 people and diverse in gender, ethnicity, interests, and personalities. However, our book clubs have students reading in groups with students of similar reading abilities. Each group is made up by my CT. Each group has students reading the same book which is all at their "just right level". I am not sure if this will stay the same throughout the year or if this is just how we are running the first unit in order to assess the students. I think it would be interesting to try the fishbowl activity within my classroom during book club. It would be a really good managing tool if I found a group who was working exceptionally well together, I could demonstrate the fishbowl by having them in the center of the bowl first. This would show the rest of the class a productive book club all while introducing the concept of a "fish bowl" to them simultaneously.
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