Brittany Daly - Blog Post 6: Routman (2003), Ch. 12: You Only Have So Much Time

Time. Is there ever enough of it? As teachers, our job is never done. As long as I have been teaching, there has never been a time when my to-do list has been fully cleared; there is always something else to do – another copy to make, another test to create, another resource to find. I can relate so well to the teacher at the beginning of the chapter. How many times have I had to turn down plans so I can get school related work done on the weekends? With so much pressure being placed on teachers and students, we go out of our way to make sure that we are finding and using the best strategies and resources for our students, and this takes a lot of time and effort.

In this chapter, Routman acknowledges that time is a precious commodity for teachers, and she provides teachers with tips to make the most of their time. One of the lines that stands out most to me is, “Every moment spent with a child is an opportunity to teach” (p. 205). This line hits me hard because I know there are so many times when I am taking care of menial tasks in my classroom instead of assessing, evaluating, teaching, or conferencing with students. I can make better use of my time with my students by saving as much of the tedious work as possible for my planning period or the end of the day. Making every minute count is important because there is so much for students to learn each year. Routman suggests that independent work should be made simpler, lessons should be taught at a lively pace (so student interest isn’t lost), and evaluation should be ongoing. Directions should be clear and concise, and subjects can be integrated to optimize teaching time. 

I think my biggest take-away from this chapter is that I need to spend more time evaluating my students’ progress. I need be strategic about how I use the time my students spend in my classroom, especially in the morning. I began the year with grand intentions of using the early morning time before specials to conduct reading conferences with students. However, this chunk of time always seems to fly by as I get lunch choices, take attendance, read parent notes, and redirect students who are off task. My goal for the remainder of the school year is to make better use of this time. 

Chloe Turner Blog 6: Routman Chapter 8: Teach Comprehension

Regie Routman starts her eighth chapter in her book, Reading Essentials: The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well, with the concept that comprehension must be taught from the very beginning of student learning. She believe students shouldn't start being taught comprehension in third grade, but rather start teaching students the day they enter preschool or kindergarten. "If we want kids to wind up with comprehension, we have to begin with comprehension," (117). Routman writes that teachers spend an excessive amount of time focusing on words rather than meaning and this sends out the wrong meaning to students. She also states that teachers assess comprehension, but not enough teaching to further develop student understanding of comprehension on a deeper level, which is evident in my classroom. My students can regurgitate information that they have just read, but they are not as successful analyzing the text and providing meaning of text. Routman calls these students "superficial readers." The students look and sound competent, but they are unable to go further in meaning and summarizing.

Routman says comprehension instruction starts with the texts students are reading. "If we want readers to be critical thinkers, inquirers, and problem solvers, we need to introduce them to challenging, interesting texts," (118). After the text has been provided then we must show the students how to process the text, reason strategically as they analyze the text, and eventually appreciate the text. I think Routman steps are great and could be highly beneficial, but I think the steps will be as successful if the students don't begin the an appreciation for reading, which is what I try to encourage in my classroom on a daily bases. "Love what you read, love reading."

Routman continues her chapter with some strategies teachers should use to develop understanding while reading. I encourage my students to make connections while reading. They are successful at making text-to- text and text- to- world connections, but not a whole lot of self connections, which I think appreciation and love of reading comes from. Other strategies that she list: monitor reading for meaning, determine what's most important, visualize, ask questions, make inferences, and synthesize. I think these are great tools, but they won't be as successful if the student doesn't like the book or the book is on the wrong reading level for the student, which tells me each text has to be individualized. Routman's next paragraph stresses that comprehension based tools should be integrated throughout the year and not focusing on one strategy per week. I usually introduce a new strategy a week, but we never just use that one strategy and forget about the others. My students should know to continually use all the strategies we have discussed while reading, which goes into Routman's next point: Teach and Apply Your Own Comprehension Processes.  

"Just because we teach our students strategies doesn't mean they apply them," (120). Routman provides an example of a fifth-grade teacher saying her students know and can describe the comprehension strategies good readers use, but they don't apply the strategies in their own learning. I feel like I am in the same situation. Routman say this can be fixed by teaching students my own personal experience as a reader. I need to make my reading and thinking process visible. I like this idea of modeling my reading process to my students and then us developing a chart of my process. The most important thing Routman says I need to illustrate to my students and add in my modeling, the power of rereading.

Routman continues her chapter with comprehension strategies and tools we have seen before. Teach students to make connections, teach them to self- monitor, allow students to interact with peers to increase comprehension and enjoyment, be aware of fluency, and teach students how to ask significant questions. All these things need to be in a well developed integrated system. Routman emphasizes the importance of not just focusing on one strategy. "There is a huge difference between strategy instruction and strategic instruction," (129). The strategies I teach must be "invoked" by each individual students. I think most of my students will be successful at attempting these strategies if they enjoy their book, but I still have those few students who do not appreciate reading that I am going to have to buckle down and develop individual reading processes with.

Erin McAbee: March/April Blog :Chapter 4- Teach with a Sense of Urgency (Routman)

When I read the title, I initially thought this chapter is probably going to give me anxiety. Why? Because many times, I feel like I'm never doing quite enough and there's always something more or better I can be doing to help my kids. As it turns out, I enjoyed this chapter very much and found it very helpful.

I reflected upon my own ways of ensuring that my students will become excellent readers. I shared many of the same ideas written in the book. Some of things I need to work on  demonstrating that I'm a reader too and helping set goals. I was inspired to come up with a creative and fun way to help my students reach their goals. I want to become better organized in setting this up and having incentives for my students when they reach their reading goals. I was also challenged to set up an excellent classroom library. My classroom library is good and organized, but I want it to be something exciting and memorable for my students because it made reading fun.

I found the whole-class reading approaches helpful. I've tried this year to better show and share my own thinking with my students. I've found it a good time to model for the whole class what I'm thinking and asking myself as I read. I try to have it interactive with many partner sharing. I've also used it as a time to evaluate my students by how they are responding to their partner. It helps me to see if my students understand my question or the reading strategies we're working on in class. This section was affirming to how some read aloud and discussion time takes place in my classroom.

One of the last teaching tips shared that it is helpful to ask a struggling older reader to write texts for younger students because it helps the older readers be aware of their audience and take care to match their illustrations with text, choose their words and layout carefully and it's enjoyable for them to give their book to the younger reader. We have 4th grade reading buddies. Early in the school year, we tried to a shared writing activity. My students learned a ton from the older students about the writing process. It was amazing how they would take in the information shared by the 4th grade student and it seemed to stick better for some of my students than when I would talk with them about the writing process. This teaching tip is definitely something I want to share with my 4th grade reading buddy teacher and come up with a reading and writing activity for them to do together. I'm excited!

Molly Peake Blog Post 6-January/February Routman Chapter 10: Examine Guided Reading

Blog Post 6-January/February

Routman Chapter 10: Examine Guided Reading

Molly Peake

Whether I am teaching reading, math, science or social studies, I want to provide my students with lessons and then learning opportunities that are the most effective.  I have seen over the past couple of years that my teaching styles and techniques have had to change to go along with how children need to be learning to prepare them for the 21^st century.  I have seen that teaching whole group is becoming something of the past.  However, whole group instruction is beneficial and sometimes has to be done.  

I have started using small group instruction in reading more and more.  I have known that guiding reading groups is one of those teaching strategies that will accomplish many goals.  In reading, I try to have guided reading groups at least 3 times per week.  After reading Routman’s chapter on guided reading I have learned more strategies that I want to try with what I am already practicing with my students. 

“Meeting with a small group of students and guiding and supporting them through manageable text” is a definition from Routman about guided reading.  I am doing already what this chapter states about grouping students based on similar reading levels.  Both of these characteristics of guiding reading centers are how I determine students for which center to be a part of.  However, Routman stated there are many other qualifications to consider when choosing books for guided reading other than just the reading level. 

Routman also has me thinking about whether or not my reading centers are worth the time they are taking.  Guided reading needs to have a purpose and students should be “contributing to reading” and there should be “enjoyment”.  Centers should be challenging to students but easy enough for students to work independently.  This is a strategy that I am going to have to work on a little more to perfect. 

       

Lyuda Bentsiy, Jan/Feb blog post, Routman Ch. 8

A phrase that stood out for me was “The current emphasis on word calling, automaticity, and fluency in the early grades is often at the expense of understanding.” I agree with this and it reminds me to put more emphasis on students’ comprehension and not just reading fluency. The strategies on page 118 that “have been identified as being key for achieving full understanding when we read” is another reminder for me to model these strategies so students would use them. On page 119, the author writes that “In many cases, what gets left out is enough time for the independent reading that enables students to use and practice these strategies.” This is so true! I was once reminded on page 122, that teachers “need to take care not just to model individual strategies in isolation and hope for a transfer of learning.” Page 129 summarizes this chapter very well “We must take care that teaching a particular strategy does not take precedence over reading and understanding text.”

Christina Duvall, Jan/Feb blog post, Routman Ch. 8

One of the quotes that jumped out to me about this chapter, Teach Comprehension, was, "just because we teach our students strategies doesn't mean they apply them." I find this to be true with certain readers in the classroom and the reminder to look into what we as teachers do to comprehend was very helpful in making a list for comprehension strategies to teach our own students.

Routman suggests teaching re-reading as one of the most useful strategies in comprehension. This is something I need to emphasize and teach more, because often students are happy to skip over words they don't know, or aren't listening to words they read incorrectly (not making sense), therefore much meaning of the text can be lost. I like the idea of doing a model lesson for students and then rating yourself on comprehension of the text. This would help them become more self-aware of their own understanding of a reading passage.

Recently I led my students in a think-aloud of a fiction text we had been reading one week. I began by reading a few pages at a time and with the easel next to the Promethean board (where the text was displayed) began an anchor chart on various thoughts and connections I was making to the text. After doing this for several pages on my own, I had the students volunteer their connections for subsequent pages. I would record each student's name and their comment. They loved this activity. While most of the students made text-to-text connections and text-to-self connections, other skills were at play here including evaluating character's actions/motivations. And by recording each connection I was able to implement writing as a comprehension strategy as well. Routman warns us against spending too long on one particular strategy because when we read we implement several strategies at one time. This is very true--even as a reader myself I re-read, or make a connection, or survey texts myself all at once.

As we are working toward more student-led instruction, I have began having students talk in pairs about texts they have read, or allow them to share a comment or connection they are dying to share during class instruction. But, I need to be doing alot more of this, and actually listen to what they are saying to see if comprehension is mastered or not. I plan to add these to some of the independent center time during guided reading groups as well.

Olivia McNorrill - Post #6, Routman, Chapter 10

I have made many changes this year in how I teach and manage reading in my classroom. At first, I was reluctant - it's hard to change habits! Now, I love how my guiding reading time is managed making our reading time fun, meaningful, and flexible.  As I read Chapter 10, Examine Guided Reading, the steps I am taking to improve reading fluency and comprehension were affirmed.

Until this year, my assistant and I saw all students in a guided reading group for 20 minutes each day. Students not in a guided reading group were required to complete an assignment/project then spend the remainder of their time reading independently. Guiding reading was done by grouping students based on reading ability and working through letter work, phonics, blending exercises, and shared reading of a teacher selected text. While this system worked, it was exhausting to manage daily with management of the students working independently difficult at times in keeping on task. But, we plowed ahead daily and saw results from our efforts.

After beginning the Read to Succeed coursework this past fall, I began to reevaluate how my guided reading time was structured. I began to allow students to select their own books (leveled readers) for guided reading time. These books are kept in their personal reading baskets along with a variety of genre books from our classroom library. Knowing I needed to increase the time astudents spent in independent reading, I shortened my teaching time to 10 minutes which gave students 30 minutes to practice what had been taught on their own. During the independent reading time, I conference with students, perform a running record, and the student and I set a new goal.  My assistant monitors the room and has students practice  a few pages with her.  To keep things from getting to routine and stale, two times a week students partner read. These pairings are random selections. It was important to me to not have students on the same level reading together so they could teach and challenge one another. Also, these partners hold a book swap where they share what the book is about, as well as what they liked or did not like about the book before making a swap.  This has been a huge hit! Students are eagerly sharing some of their favorites and then anxious to begin reading their swapped books.

One thing I was reminded of was I don't have to see every group everyday. 2-3 times per week is plenty for students reading on level, but more group work  is needed for students performing below level. Not meeting with all groups daily frees up time for me to focus on what is needed for each student. It allows me to be flexible in how I manage the guided reading session, adjusting the schedule based on student progress and needs. I feel like I can catch my breath and enjoy the time with the students instead of rushing to get everything into the lesson so I can see the next group(s).

Somethings that I read about that I'd like to add to our guided reading time is posting group assignments/goals and evaluating guided reading time at the conclusion. The teacher wrote on a white board assignments then displayed them in the room. The assignments were used by the group to help them stay focused during independent reading and also were a starting point when the group met again.  Evaluating guided reading time teaches students that I expect them to manage their own behavior. Routman lists some great guidelines to set for students to hold them accountable. Also, assigning a reading facilitator so students are helping one another if a problem arises. My focus in on teaching and I want my students to know that all of my attention and energy is on teaching reading to the group that I am with. Spending more time than I currently am evaluating student performance with the students (after guided reading concludes) is a great tool to help students problem solve how to improve their behavior.

Chapter 9 from Routman - Kyra Woodyard

When I turned to Chapter in Routman's book, I was actually excited to read about emphasizing shared reading because I love shared reading. I would pick shared reading over guided reading every single day! Seriously, I would.

Not only did Routman discuss how shared reading is so important, she walks you through how to do shared reading in different settings and with different types of readings. Routman also walks you through multiple lessons and how to ask questions, which I really enjoyed reading.

I think bringing shared reading into my classroom more often will definitely benefit my children, greatly. Do not get me wrong, I think guided reading is good.. sometimes. My kids do not seem to do very well with guided reading because they are sometimes expected to read something above their level, they immediately lose their focus and are over in unicorn land, riding candy canes. Shared reading would give me the opportunity to see what my kids are struggling with. It would build their reading confidence, which allows them to move up on grade levels.

I believe my kids would feel more comfortable with me reading a text for them and allowing the students to join in, when they feel comfortable. It allows for a more comfortable classroom setting. It allows me to make mistakes as I read aloud and show them it is okay to make a mistake, but you must continue to move forward. It allows me to show my students my way to thinking as I read, I can show them how I begin asking questions, and piecing particular parts of the story together.

I have used shared reading in my classroom with two separate novels. Both times we tested on these novels and I allowed my students to take an AR test on the books, they made much higher scores, than if I had allowed them to read independently.

Ashley Blackwelder Feb. Blog Post: Emphasize Shared Reading (Routman Ch. 9)

I loved what Routman had to say about shared reading, especially as a valuable tool for middle and upper grades.  Several years ago, I taught an inclusion class with our resource teacher.  What was interesting about that group was that it was almost evenly split into thirds: 1/3 of the students were in special ed, 1/3 were academically gifted, and 1/3 fell somewhere in the middle.  It was probably the most exhausting, but most successful, year of teaching that I have had so far.  As a teacher who has always been more comfortable working with struggling students than the high achievers, I was incredibly intimidated by the split in my class that year.  How could I possibly keep the gifted students challenged and engaged...and have any hope of closing the gap for those students with the highest needs?  While I felt confident in my ability to help the ones who struggled, my biggest fear was that my gifted students would be bored--and even lose ground during their year in my class.

The resource teacher and I knew that we had a challenge ahead of us.  Not only did we have a large group of students who REALLY needed our help, but we had a large group of students who REALLY needed a push above and beyond the regular curriculum (and a large group of parents who had some pretty high expectations as well).  We weren't sure if we could pull it off, but we pretty much just jumped right in, knowing that the hour we spent together in my classroom each day was going to be a pretty intense one for all of us.  Every day was different, and sometimes plans changed on the spot, but we ended up having a great time reading every day--and every student in that class made some great gains throughout the year.

Shared reading was a HUGE part of that success.  While the format varied from one lesson to the next (whole-group/small group/one-on-one), the ultimate goal was always the same: teach and model a much-needed skill, using a text that we would actually enjoy reading together. We knew our resource students desperately needed this modeling, but we didn't expect the gains that we also saw in some of our highest-achieving students.  As we say over and over again, good teaching is good teaching.  The gifted students needed this explicit instruction, and enjoyed the opportunities to stop and talk about their reading, as much as our students who truly struggled to get through a text on their own.

Routman mentions several times that shared reading can be a safe way to help struggling readers with a text--that they are able to participate and practice those skills without "fear of failure."  What's great about this approach is that it's so easy to tailor the instruction to all of our students' needs.  As Routman says, it is "a purposeful teaching, discussing activity" that enables students of all levels to interact with and help each other to practice important strategies.  A text of any level can be made readable for struggling students or challenging for the high-achievers, based on the discussion and analysis that the teacher expects. And in my class, they really did enjoy it!  The opportunity to come together with a text that we could all read, and discuss it with our friends, made a huge difference for every student in that class.  As we progressed through the year, the distinction between the "low" and "high" students--which is so evident to children, no matter how we try to level the playing field--truly started to fade.  The gifted students knew that the resource teacher was there to be their teacher, too--and that anything she asked them to do was going to be a challenge.  The struggling students, as well as the ones in the middle, began to see themselves growing by leaps and bounds.  Groups became more fluid, and students became less surprised to be grouped with their "smartest" peers.  Routman states that shared reading is "not just a shared reading of words," and that is so true.  When it's done as it's intended, shared reading forces students of all ages and ability levels to really think about their reading, while giving them the opportunity to enjoy and discuss an engaging text with their peers.

Dawn Mitchell's March/April Blog Post "Examine Guided Reading" Routman Chapter 10

Dawn Mitchell's Examine Guided Reading Chapter 10

During the month of February we are learning about Literacy Development.   In both our choice and our required readings this month educational researchers explain the different ways our students grow and develop as readers and writers and their articles provide us with insight and suggestions in how we can best support and foster the literacy growth of our students. 

In March’s blendspace you will find a variety of resources we’ve included for you including the Notes/Thinking chart from Jennifer Serravallo’s Reading Strategies professional development text to use as you navigate through making connections with the four readings from this month.  Also included is the ATLAS Looking at Data protocol that we introduced to you to help analyze authentic student assessment data that can help you determine where students are as readers and writers and what support they need to grow next.   You will also find in our blendspace this month’s tech tool to take called storybird (www.storybird.com) which is a great web 2.0 resource for student publishing of their own books as well as poems. 

This month for my blog post, I have chosen to read chapter 10 “Examine Guided Reading” from Routman’s Reading Essentials for many reasons.  First, this is a classroom structure that many teachers I have the honor of working with utilize in various grade levels in multiple ways and for multiple purposes so I wanted to find out some basic criteria for effective guided reading that could provide a foundational basis for us as a whole for guided reading. 

Second, this is a classroom structure that I have had experience with as a fourth grade teacher and appreciated the structure it provided to work with a small group of students around a shared text to provide support that scaffolded students towards independence, and I wanted to expand my knowledge base.  Second

To fulfill my first purpose for reading I discovered that Atwell’s holistic definition of guided reading is, “…most often defined as meeting with a small group of students and guiding and supporting them through a manageable text.  Students are grouped with others at a similar reading level and supported to use effective reading strategies.  Often, there are “before, during, and after” activities and discussion in which students talk about, think about, and read through the text.” (page 150) Routman goes on to explain that her view of guided reading is broader and can be any context in which the teacher guides one or more students through some aspect of the reading process. 

To fulfill my first purpose for reading to grow myself as an educator I decided to use Seravallo’s Notes/Thinking Chart to hold what I learned from Routman and what it compelled me to think about.

Notes – What Routman Says	Thinking – My Thoughts
“Be Cautious About How You Group Children.”  Routman says “Once students are already reading, grouping students so narrowly is unnecessary…Personally, I am no longer comfortable ability grouping beyond second grade.  I worry about the message such grouping sends to students – a message that they are somehow less capable.  If you group by   ability, make sure you keep it short (ten to fifteen minutes) and provide daily opportunities for more varied groups – whole-class shared reading, heterogeneous small groups, partner reading, independent reading.	I agree with this thought 100%.  I have ethical issues with ability grouping students in the same homogenous group all year long.  I have seen how this unintentionally labels students and in doing so, limits what instruction we provide and what they can do. I do appreciate the suggestions Routman provides in her section on opportunities for flexible grouping and have tried several of her suggestions. (page 153) *literature circles *Re-reading and discussing a story with a group *Reading with a partner *Reading a small chunk or passage from a *book with a group during whole class interactive reading. *Engaging in reciprocal teaching *Rereading part of a familiar text as Readers Theatre.
“Be sure the texts you use are of the highest quality.  Your guided reading lesson will only be as good as the text you use.” (page 154) “Because the quality of books varies widely, be sure you carefully examine the ones you use for guided reading…For older students, put more emphasis on interest than on levels.  Once a student is a competent reader, you don’t have to worry so much about exact levels.”	YAASSSS!  Preach it Routman!  Too many times we provide students with mass produced “leveled readers” that are boring, have poorly done illustrations, and are not interesting enough to provoke discussions and extended thinking.  I loved the checklist Routman provides on page 155 to identify qualities of an excellent test for guided reading.
“…you don’t need to meet with every group every day…Once students are independent readers at their grade level, you will not need to see them every day in guided reading group:  two or three days a week is sufficient, especially if you have a strong shared reading program and a well-monitored independent reading program.	This is reassuring to here because I have found that many times I need to adjust my structures depending on my students’ needs and what the data tells me they need.  For example, there have been times students’ needed an extended independent reading block because they were “into” their books and we’d extended stamina and I was conferencing with students.  There’ve also been times when we were in a really in the zone with writing workshop and I needed to spend longer one or two days a week to maximize student motivation for the task and to make progress with their student driven products.  Knowing that consistency that you meet with students takes priority over consistency when you meet with students matches what works for me in my practice.
“Make Time for Independent Reading Your First Priority…Be consistent about reading aloud, maintain a daily (monitored) independent reading program, and implement shared reading and guided reading flexibly as contexts for demonstrations, strategies, and practice.” (page 158)	Yes!  I definitely appreciate this clarifier in this chapter.  Everything I’ve read points to independent reading of choice texts is the number one factor in promoting reading growth.  I know firsthand when implementing a new structure it can take over and dominate your literacy block crowding out any time for other equally or even more meaningful structures.  Independent reading and writing are the priority.  Guided reading supplements this.
“Keeping your focus on learner-centered reading instead of on group-centered reading enables you to make the best teaching decisions for your students.  Once again, you teach students, not programs.  Decide first what it is you want and need to teach and then what the best contexts are for teaching to ensure students are learning and enjoying learning to read.” (Page 160)	This needs to be a bill board…A giant poster…A commercial… A required public service announcement that plays repeatedly on all airwaves…Seriously I love me some Regie Routman! #makethebestteachingdecisionsforyourstudents
“Modeling exactly what we expect students to do must start the first day they enter our classroom.  When we have established a classroom where we have bonded with our students and treat them respectfully, they return that respect… Expect students to manage their own behavior. My single best piece of advice is to ignore distracting behavior. Do not intervene unless it’s an emergency.  You are letting students know that the teaching you are about to do is critically important and that they are now in charge.”	Can anyone say Harry Wong?  I had major flashbacks to The First Days of School Text but Routman and Wong and Marsha Tate along with a host of other experts in promoting independent behaviors in students suggest that we must teach students what we expect and showing, not just telling is effective in helping to create consistency in our classroom procedures and routines.  Excellent anchor chart ideas that also reminded me of the suggestions for I-Charts from the authors of The Daily Five on page 164 and 165.
“If the first question we ask students after reading is, “What words did you have difficulty with?” we are giving them the message that reading is about getting the words right.  I always ask first – even with nonreaders – “Tell me about what you just read” so students always know we read for understanding.” (page 167)	Yes! Reading = Meaning We must not reduce our reading instruction to isolated word de-coding, skill and drill, or fact/recall questions.  We read to learn, to know, to grow.
“Don’t jump right in when a child makes an error.  Students need opportunities to problem-solve in order to learn to monitor and correct themselves.” (page 174)	I believe in this whole-heartedly but find that at times I struggle controlling my first impulse to jump in and help students.  I am not helping them when I am doing the work for them.  I am actually sending the message to them that I don’t think they can do it themselves.  I want to build capacity not limit it.
“Underlying all purposes for reading is the question, “How is what I am doing today going to help students become more independent readers?” (page 168)	Yep!  That is the ultimate driving essential question for us as reading teachers.  How are we growing readers into leaders?
*Excerpts From Guided Reading Groups from page 175-182	Must Keep for Future Reference – These transcripts of actual guided reading lessons are a great resource for any teacher, myself included when planning to implement guided reading with their grade level.

Thanks Regie Routman for the wonderful suggestions and advice.  Thanks to Jenniffer Serravallo or the great structure that helped me hold my thinking.

Sincerely,

Dawn

Melanie Holland - December Blog Post: Routman's Chapter 11 "Build on Best Practice, . . ."

     This chapter focused on the importance of doing what is best for your students and not just following a scripted, "research-based" program.  If you just follow a program, are you truly meeting the needs of all of your students?  What research proved the effectiveness of this program?  Was it endorsed by classroom teachers or scientists?  Does it take up too much time to complete all of the components?  Will the program help your students short-term or provide them with long-term learning?
     When I first began teaching, I totally panicked when I saw what was included with our basal reading program.  There was no way to complete it all, and being a brand-new teacher, I was worried that I would be viewed harshly for not doing all that I needed to do.  A veteran teacher took me aside and reassured me that I didn't need to do it all.  I just needed to do what was necessary to teach the skills that my students needed.  I took her advice, but I still didn't see the growth that I wanted to see in all of my students.
     In the seventeen years that I have been a classroom teacher, I have seen programs come and go, and I have seen many changes in state standards.  No two years have been the same.  There's always been some new and improved way of doing things, new standards, or new mandates from the State Department of Education.  I always did my best to follow the guidelines that were set for my coworkers and me, but I was still disappointed in the gains that my students were, or in some cases were not, making.  However, I began to see true improvements when I implemented an integrated curriculum and even more improvements when I began using a balanced literacy approach.
     During the first several years that I taught, subjects were taught in isolation.  Sometimes, we would make connections, but those were often few and far-between.  I am embarrassed to admit that now, but it's true.  When I came to Fairforest, Lindi Metcalf introduced me to integration, and I was pleased with the results.  Students were able to make connections, and I saw more "light bulb" moments than ever before.
     At the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, I began the Balanced Literacy course with Dawn Mitchell.  I'm not going to lie.  The thought of releasing some of the control and having the students rotate throughout ELA scared me.  It took me way out of my comfort zone, but that was what I needed to do.  I have seen so much growth during the last year and a half.  I am amazed at what my students have been able to accomplish.  I am able to meet them where they are, and I have gotten to know my students better than ever.  These improved relationships have led to more growth because I know exactly what they need.  Small groups have pushed the students that wanted to hide during class discussions and let the top performers answer all of the questions.  They now see that they can figure things out on their own when they can't rely on other students, and confidence levels have increased.  This increase in confidence has led to even more growth.
     If the me from ten years ago were to walk into my classroom today, she would totally freak.  It's never quiet, but the students are engaged and learning.  We have discussions about what we're reading.  Students are doing peer editing and helping each other.  In those rare moments where it gets quiet, I think something is wrong.  That is a complete 180 from how things used to be.  I never want to go back!

Ashleigh Dozier- Blog post 6 Jan/February Blog-- Ch. 7

I really enjoyed reading this chapter.   This chapter talked about the importance of making assessment a daily routine for myself as well as my students.  This is something that I am learning to do as I implement literature circles in my classroom.  When I began thinking about doing literature circles, I was unsure how to go about managing my classroom during this time.  After talking with Mrs. Register we talked about having the students completing a reading journal.  This allows the students to be held accountable for their time during reading.  I feel that this journal could also be used as an assessment tool.  For example when we learned about inference, my students were to make inferences from their texts in their reading journals.  I was able to go back and read through their journals to check and make sure that they understood what inferring was all about.  I was also able to talk to the students about their thoughts they had written in their journals.  This reminded me of conferencing.  So I began bringing groups of students up to my desk to read.  While doing this, I was able to jot down things that i noticed about each student as they read aloud.  I was also able to talk with the students about what they read to see if they were comprehending their reading.  

The chapter talked about the importance of assessing (or gathering data) and evaluating that data (or analyzing the data).  The importance of doing this is so that a teacher can adjust the lessons begin taught to be sure that the students are learning.  This is something that I am really working toward.  I am learning how to use my assessments to better my students.  I have always been one to look at the test grades and reteach content if the class didn't get it, but I'm learning how to do this in reading to benefit my students. 

I loved how the chapter had examples questions to probe the students for understanding in conferences.  I am a visual learner.  I like to have ideas or examples to go by.  This part of the chapter really helped me to better understand how a reading conference should go!   I also liked the framework for an informal reading conference.  This lets me know what i'm missing in my conferences and what I'm doing correctly! 

Karmen Wade – Blog Post: 6: January/February Chapter 7: Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner

Karmen Wade – Blog Post: 6: January/February

Chapter 7: Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner

I chose to read chapter 7 because of a particular word that really stood out to me. The word that stands out immediately to me is assessment. As a teacher, I feel that this has become the school year of assessments! Every week there is some type of assessment the children must do, whether it be writing, reading, or math on the computer. It is almost nonstop testing for our children in schools today! The second sentence of this chapter pretty much confirmed my thoughts and feelings regarding assessments. The following sentence stood out to me by stating that “Students are taking so many tests there’s scant time left for teaching!” I know that assessment is more than testing; it is an integral and ongoing part of teaching and learning. I also understand that students learn to read and write by doing lots of reading and writing and applying skills and strategies in reading and writing, not by doing exercises on isolated literacy skills.  I also know how to assess children. I am familiar with lots of different types of assessments, and I realize that assessments are sometimes required from district administrators. However after I administer “a required assessment” what do I do when the student has completed it? The real question is what do I and other teachers do with the information from the student assessment? I know that the majority of assessments are designed to identify students’ strengths and weakness. However, the next step of assessment lies on the teacher. As a teacher it is my responsibility to use the assessment as a useful tool to guide student instruction. I could not agree more with the following statement from the text; “Assessments should bring about benefits for children, or data should not be collected at all.” (Lorrie A. Shepard.) After reading that sentence I wanted to say Amen as loud as I could!  As a teacher I am guilty of administering assessments and then not always knowing what to do with all of the data that I acquire from the assessment. Basically, I need to make sure the assessment works for me and for my student. According to chapter 7, in order to be an effective teacher I need to ask myself some important questions before administering an assessment. Starting with: “Is this a valid and useful assessment?” If it does not help the student, identify with an area of my teaching, or include any standards, than why should I take time away from teaching to administer it? The correct answer is simple, I shouldn’t!  I feel that the truth lies in the following sentence from the text, “we have no time for cumbersome assessments that yield little useful information!” The overall goal and purpose of assessing a student is to monitor the students learning, identify strengths and weaknesses and then using that data to help that individual move ahead. Assessments are not just for documentation or for assigning grades, with that being said, I know that is also part of my responsibility as a teacher to administer assessments that regularly evaluate how students are doing.
I really enjoyed reading this chapter. I love how this chapter provided guidelines and ideas for how a teacher could make assessments and evaluations more incorporated into their daily routine! I found the guidelines and teacher friendly questions to be very beneficial! I also found the information on informal reading conferences to be a wonderful eye opener. I try to have individual reading conferences with my students each week. This portion of the chapter really helped me gain ideas on how I can combine assessments with my regular reading conferences each day! I am using “A framework for an informal reading conference as a guideline while I conduct my daily/weekly reading conferences with my students.” This chapter definitely helped me focus on the bigger picture of assessments and realize the true importance of documentation and accountability for students’ success.

Helen Reed - Blog Post 7 (March/April): Routman Ch. 10 - Examine Guided Reading

When it comes to implementing reading in my classroom, guided reading is something which I am still working at. Routman’s chapter provided me with some useful thoughts and suggestions, which makes me feel more comfortable, and confident, about continuing to have guided reading groups in my classroom. Guided reading provides that extra opportunity for students who need that little extra practice before they do it independently. I have some students who cannot stay focused during a whole-group lesson.  Their guided reading time is when they relearn a strategy or skill. For other students, they feel more comfortable in a small group setting so they are more likely to open up in a discussion and share their thoughts.

Something which I have not been doing is providing a follow-up, independent activity to a guided reading group. We will finish with a discussion or a sticky note response, and then I’ll send the students on their way to independent read and get the next group. I think I do this though because I do not have a diverse selection of guided reading texts. I tend to use the same text with most of my groups. I have used some leveled non-fiction articles, but otherwise, we will use the same text. For my lower readers, I provide them more support, and for my higher readers, less support.

 

Another thing I struggle with guided reading groups is the length. Most of the texts I have take much longer than 15 minutes to get through. Once we preview the text, start reading, discuss, and then respond, it could go on and on. Along with acquiring a diverse selection, I need to find some shorter texts. I know I could make copies of just a chapter or selection from a text, but that requires a lot of preparation and knowledge of a book/passage that would fit the specific topic I’m teaching.

I think if I had a larger selection, I would be able to provide that follow-up activity to students to complete and then that would help hold me accountable to meet more regularly with the groups. If they had something to do, they would want to come back and share that, which would make me meet with my guided reading groups more regularly. But using what materials I have, I’m going to first work on shortening the time spent in groups, and second, creating a follow-up activity for students to complete. 

Cheri Parker Ch. 6 & 7 March/April

    In “Plan for and Monitor Independent Reading” ch. 6 I find it difficult for me as a teacher who likes to have my plans ready to go each week to let go. Allowing choice means I can’t know where the learning will go.  After 28 years of teaching, I continue to get mixed messages about what I am to plan for, allow for, and move on with.  Routman states, “..even when time allotted to independent reading, increasingly a computerized reading-incentive program is in charge; not the classroom teacher.”  I completely agree with this as I was new to AR tests when I arrived to SC 17 years ago.  I described Reading Renaissance as Accelerated Reading on steroids.  There was too much time spent on reading leveled books, taking tests, gaining points, and watching the same children earn the prize for reading the most books.  Ironically, this year, my students are all out about taking AR quizzes.  I have not done very much to encourage it, but I think they want to throw that pie in my face.  I do agree with Routman when she claims, “struggling readers lose their independent reading time because they often leave the classroom.” I see that in my classroom.  I try to pull those students who are pulled out for small group lessons, but in the end, their independent time reading is limited due to catching up.  It is a belief that we should set the learner up with just enough challenge in order to work out problems for himself and to become more self-monitoring, self-regulated, and independents.  I am always amazed, yet never surprised how this time of year the majority of the students in my classroom are able to solve most of their own questions and problems because that is what is expected daily.

    In ch. 7 I find that assessing individuals as they read is agreeably more productive than formal tests.  Often I find it helpful to assess fluency for smooth reading and include comprehension at the same time. Many of my students strive for “word calling” and believe that is what makes them great readers.  Each week when we read a class selection, I give them a grade on fluency and comprehension.  I am listening for their voice and understanding of the selection.  I do not listen for whether they can sound out the word alone.  With that said however; it is difficult to prove at an SAT that a student is in need of assistance without a formal assessment.    Using challenging material while making connections across the curriculum is ultimately important for all students yet mostly our challenging readers and writers.  They have to make these connections and not always feel like they are on the defense because of an evaluation.  I like that it is mentioned to conference with them both directly and indirectly.  The most eventful time of day I find is when the children want to conference with me to discuss their concerns about what they are learning or ways we could improve their thinking.