April Timms

I chose to read, The Habit of Kidwatching, by Timothy O'Keefe, I know realize how valuable this can be.  I realize that I was keeping data on my students but not specified just to literacy.  I do like this tool because it will help me get to know my students needs as a reader without having to always do inventories or formative assessments. This will allow my students to just be readers without feeling like they are being “checked on”.  Kidwatching will allow me to get to know each individual’s strengths as well as areas that need improvement.  I will be able to use this as a form of assessment in order to help meet the individual and unique needs of all of my students. 

 “Learning to see what’s there and using that information to make a better classroom.”  I am always thinking of how I can make a better classroom.  This quote helped me to see that I can use what the students already have.  We are reinventing the wheel, just approaching it differently. I can use my kidwatching observations to drive my instruction.

My goal is to record something about each child each day as suggested by O’Keefe. I too believe that just giving a number grade on a test does not give a real account of the whole child. These records will also be helpful for parent conferences and to show how much growth the student has made at the end of the year.