Last year I was in a first grade classroom and I was there during their literacy blocks. First-graders work a lot with reading strategies, especially comprehension and literary aspects. I was able to actually implement whole group lessons relating to comprehension. One that I particularly remember was about inferring. At first I was really confused what it meant to infer, but after going through the lesson and seeing what their ideas about inferring were, I was more clear about it. The Book Club Plus book also cleared up what exactly inferring is for me. Because of these experiences I think I would feel comfortable planning and teaching about inferring and questioning text, which is a big part of comprehension. I was also able to use modeling a lot, which is talked about in this book often. I will be teaching a literacy lesson on Monday in my classroom about how to read the pictures first and then the words to gain a larger understanding of what the book is about. An area I don't feel very comfortable teaching or planning is writing. I have not been exposed to much writing instruction in my experience in classrooms. I feel like I would need to watch more writing instruction to gain a better understanding of how it works and what it looks like.
The readings talked a lot about modeling and scaffolding as two of the main ways to go about literacy instruction. My CT has already begun using both of these strategies in the small amount of literacy instruction I have seen so far. I think I will get a lot of opportunities to watch and to teach using these strategies this year. I am interested to see the students' progression in literacy with the teacher's use of these types of instruction.
In the Strategies That Work book, the authors give many ways to find out what students are thinking. In previous TE classes we have had projects where we have to find out what students are thinking. I was never aware of many of the strategies listed. For the projects we had to interview the students and give assessments, which are only two simple ways to find out student thinking. This year I think I will be able to use the other strategies they listed such as: listen in to their conversations with each other, observe behavior and instruction, chart their responses in large group settings, keep anecdotal records of conferences and conversations, script what they say (comments and questions), and confer with kids. I think given this variety of ways to find out student thinking, it will be easier to figure out what they are each thinking and where you need to take your instruction in the following lesson.
What CAN I do? I CAN use the strategies I have learned from the readings and implement them this year in my classroom to see how well they work.
This year I am at Elliott Elementary which is classfied as a low-income school. According to my mentor teacher there are many students that are reading at a first and second grade level, which is unacceptable. The third grade reading comprehension data reported that more than 21% of the third grade students need a reading comprehension intervention immediately. This weeks focus for all third grade teachers is, "What are the most effective reading comprehension interventions and how can you include this in daily instruction?"
ReplyDeleteAccording to Book Club Plus, is it important for teachers to use literacy block, writers workshop, teacher read aloud, shared reading, and independent reading. I noticed that my mentor uses all five strategies listed above. Students have 90 minutes of literacy instruction. During this time, I noticed it is imperative to always clarify confusions and make the reading text appropriate to all grade levels and reading levels (both are also mentioned in Book Club Plus).
Questions: How do you include reading interventions in your lesson plans, while continuing to include all other subjects in daily planning? For example, there is only 90 mintues for literacy. Is that enough time for writing, reading, and interventions? What are the most effective reading comprehension interventions? How often should literacy interventions occur in a classroom?
Zoe – I see that you mentioned “modeling and scaffolding” as being two important parts that our reading stresses, and I think that this really applies to our classroom experience. So far, I have been seeing a great deal of literacy instruction in my classroom, and we really focus on these two aspects to make sure our students are successful in their work. For the past week or two, we have been working on “Daily 5” instruction, which teaches children to work independently on their reading and writing while the teacher/students are doing other work. The Daily 5 instruction takes a lot of modeling and scaffolding to make sure that the students can work successfully. I originally thought that saying, “Go find a book to read quietly” or “Get out your notebook and read” was enough instruction for my students, and this is not true. We have been modeling good reading and writing habits – what it looks like, sounds like, etc. and this has helped our students so much. I think that modeling is something that is so vital for effective teaching, and it is often rushed through, so I am glad that our readings stressed the importance of these. I am excited to see my students practice their independent reading/writing/spelling in the classroom, and I expect it to go very smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the section of “Strategies that Work” that mentioned anchor charts (chapter 4, p. 50). My teacher has been using these throughout our daily reading, and I think that it’s really helping the students recall and sort out information about each book/story we read. In our Reading Street curriculum, we are focusing on characters, setting and theme and making these charts with the students is really helping them remember what we are working on. Strategies that work mention that, “anchor charts make both the teacher’s and the students’ thinking visible and concrete.” They also serve as reminders of, “…what has come before so that kids can better understand what comes next.” I am really enjoying watching the students work on these charts, and I look forward to using them in the future on my own.
Things to think about: How can I help a student who is “just not getting it” when it comes to working independently on reading and writing? Do I need more modeling/scaffolding, or should I go about it in a different way?
What can I do? – As my teacher is teaching, I usually walk around the room and monitor the students’ behavior and progress on their work. This might be a good time for me to check on how the students are doing and if they need help or extra modeling/instruction in their reading and writing.
After reading the two chapters in the Book Club Plus book and the one chapter in the Strategies That Work book, I was not only exposed to new ways of teaching reading, but also reminded of ways that have worked for me in the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree withe Zoe about the idea of teaching a student to infer when reading a text. I would not have felt comfortable teaching this strategy before reading these sections. I know, However, feel as though I could teach a lesson and have the students infer information from the text in order to help them gain a deeper understanding. This could help the students relate to the story and the characters, it could help them understand the plot better, as well as any themes, and lessons that could be learned.
I could also relate to Zoe's point about planning lessons for our previous TE classes and having to predict how the students will react and what they will say to certain parts of the lesson. In Strategies That Work I feel as though the way that the strategies are laid out allows for the reader to be able to make an accurate prediction of what the student might say or do. For example, in chapter four there is a section that explains "lifting Text" it is detailed and shows when you would expect student responses. In this section it explains that the students should have the text right in front of them and it should also be projected on the overhead/ELMO. Then you can ask the students strategies that can be used while reading to better understand. Since they have the text in front of them they can be clued into several strategies that can be used. As a class you work through the text together to find familiar words and point out its features.