Marie Duncan Another Blog Post for December #7

This blog addresses the article by Cambourne about Conditions for Literary Learning and also Inquiry Based Learning as it applies in my classroom. Cambourne asks why some students do not learn.  The third reason Brian Cambourne discusses hits home with me the most.  Even with an assortment of teaching strategies and methods, a small handful of students seem to just repel reading progress Trying to keep these students engaged is a struggle.  Cambourne discusses the connection with self-esteem as being usually tied in with this resistance.  Trying to get my two students to keep their heads in a book while the rest of the class is loving to read remains frustrating.  These students go from book to book, make excuses to avoid reading by going to the bathroom, and/or saying they need another book. I have several books lined up for them,but they "say" they have already read them in ten minutes. I spend more time reading in groups or one-on-one with them and have been bringing in extra books from the public library that they have requested.  These students just will not stay focused.  Their progress on Star and reading inventories are minimal.  When I taught first grade many years ago, I had a wonderful grandmother who came and read individually with each student in my class.  This was one of the most positive strategies I have been able to utilize.  However, I have been unable to find someone with the personality, time, and willingness to take a personal interest in the class.  One set of parents agreed to engage a tutor, even if it was a high school student, but have not followed through.  The other parents do not respond to request for conferences.  

My reflection is to work on these students' self-esteem.  Two other students have excelled after doing well on our multiplication master project.  These two boys' reading scores improved as their multiplication "self-esteem" rose.  This has not happened with my two others students mentioned above which are both black African American girls.  Because these other students struggle in all subject areas,  it is difficult to find something positive to brag on them about; they have become impulsive shouters behavior in the classroom with the wrong answers.  Their behavior is increasingly becoming disruptive reinforcing the fact that each child seeks attention; even if it is negative attention.  Using these students as helpers is also disruptive and not working.

I will keep on reading and trying to work with them one-on-one as much as possible.  Maybe these are students who would benefit from the reading coach observing and assessing their behavior.  This blogging is good; I am able to talk my way through better teaching.

Now, to address inquiry based learning.  I have a neat set of letters from Mr. Gobbles which I have put on the Promethean Board each day during November.  We edit these letters together since Mr. Gobbles makes several mistakes in his letters to our class.  As an extension of this activity, I let the students access five websites about turkeys.  We wrote what we learned about turkeys on a padlet each day during the week.  The students discovered interesting facts about turkeys without me being the usual lead instructor.  It was great to see the students working independently.  Students were able to discuss with their small groups and the class about interesting turkey facts.  Yeah, for inquiry based learning.  I can see using this activity each year since it took a while to set up.