As teachers, we are constantly making observations of our
students and their behaviors. In this article about kidwatching, Okeefe says
that our observations should be intentional, direct, and systematic. He has developed his own organizational
system that allows him to be intentional about the anecdotal notes he takes
throughout the day. I like that he keeps all of his notes in one place, yet he
has separate documents for separate areas of ELA (published writing, reading
habits, literature studies, writer’s workshop, etc.). I think keeping anecdotal
notes for each student in each ELA discipline would be a good way to see how
students are able to transfer their skills from one area to another. While I
have been conducting reading conferences since I started teaching, I have only
recently started taking anecdotal notes while students are reading
independently. I would like to try recording notes about their writing as well.
O’Keefe also incorporates miscue analysis into his
kidwatching. As he conducts his
analysis, he records whether or not students’ miscues are leading to meaning
change. Then, he takes time to talk to students about strategies they are using
as they read, and he suggests possible strategies they could try. One new
conferencing technique that he suggests is recording the students as they
read. He then lets them listen to or
watch the recording and make their own observations about their reading. This is such a neat idea, and it helps
students observe their own reading patterns and set goals for themselves. I
would like to try this in my classroom.
I also liked the idea of letting kids listen to themselves reading a text. I feel like they would be very receptive to getting the chance to take a close look at how they behave as readers. This would be great conferencing material. You could have them point out what they notice and compare their thoughts to your notes. It opens up conferencing to become more of a two sided conversation, and not a teacher asking a student questions.
ReplyDeleteHi Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI love how you are considering using O'Keefe's suggestion for keeping anecdotal notes for your students in ELA, specifically looking at if and how they transfer the skills and strategies taught within mini-lessons into their independent reading. I also liked his idea of having students listen to themselves read and to find out their thinking and self-assessments. What a powerful way to engage students. I know watching myself teaching from a video on National Board was eye opening and very beneficial. Thank you for your willingness to try out new instructional strategies with your students. Sincerely, Dawn
Brittany, I think I may start recording my students as they read and share it with them as well. They so often just read without really thinking about what they are reading. After recording, I would love to have them do a quick analysis of what they just did. "Does this make sense when you hear it?" "Does that word fit well there?" "Is that a real word?" I can't wait to see their reactions to their own reading.
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