Recent Thoughts About Fluency

I had my first week of testing fluency for all students in their reading workbook.  Those who I'd consider my advanced or top readers read between 120 and 180 words per minute!  I was impressed with the inflection and pauses at commas and periods.  Even though they were booking it, I felt the selection was well read by them.  I encouraged the fastest readers to relax and slow down!  I let them know that reading at 140-150 words per minute is solid reading for fourth and fifth graders.  All of these readers had one or two nights to practice. 

My at-grade level readers had at least three nights to practice.  I felt that they did fine, but lacked the inflection and smoothness that I would like them to have.  They read about what a beginning fourth grade reader should have.  I thought with more practice, that their words per minute would be greater.  I was disappointed, because I felt they didn't practice as they should have.

I had two below grade level readers who were awesome on this reading.  They were being speedy, and cruised through a lot of words, but lacked inflection and reading with meaning that the first group exhibited.  On the other hand, I commend their willingness to practice.  That's the difference between these two readers and other at and below grade level readers.  Students are to practice independently, and some did not choose to.  Question:  How do I motivate them to practice their weekly fluency?

Reading Groups, Fluency

11/28/10  -   I have just decided to make a student graph for the week so students can write which activities they participate in during the independent time during reading (when I am meeting in small groups).  There will be a place for them to reflect each day at the bottom.  I hope it will make their practice more self-directed, and beneficial.  I will collect each week and decide how things are going.  It has taken me awhile, but I think this is how reflection is supposed to impact/improve student achievement.

11/28/10  -  I have not been able to meet with my small reading groups as often as I have wanted. So, I set up a schedule.  I am ready to post it in the room.  It will list the many different learning activities that students can be involved in while I am meeting in groups.  My hope with posting these will be to give my students a visible reminder of all of their options, and help to keep them on task during the 40 minutes of independent or small group work.   I hope having the schedule will be effective to keeping me on time with whole group teaching, and give me the time I need in small groups to effectively teach there.  The program is set up for 4-5 days a week.  I will try for 3 days a week beginning this week.   As far as the Read Naturally Program goes, I got overwhelmed with that last year.  So, I set up a schedule to meet with 2-3 students on Tuesday through Thursday during our small group time.  I won’t try to meet with all of them on the same day.  I will also stay away from Monday and Friday.  I hope having the schedule will help the students remember to practice their fluency each day and to be ready for their read through with me.  If I only do 2-3 students a day, I will not get overwhelmed with the amount of time this one skill takes out of our school day.  I am excited about this new, workable plan!

The Real Life of Reading

11/22/10  I am out of work this week due to eye surgery.  I will have to wait until after Thanksgiving to check in with my Read Naturally kids and in talking to my advanced reading group about their motivation and desire to stay in this group.  I am thinking about a parent volunteer to help in the room.  I am also thinking about doing some of the Read Naturally checks during their Spanish time.  The teacher is 100% supportive for me to send a few students five minutes late to class.  Other than recess time, that ‘s my best chance to see them for this.  Again, I see that I need to become proficient at setting a workable schedule and sticking to it.  Spending time fine-tuning my schedule may be the most significant thing I do right now.

11/18/10  I had 2 advanced readers who did not do their assigned reading last night, and that held up their group today.  I will need to talk to them about their responsibilities.  The advanced group students have to be self motivated and self disciplined.  If they are not, they may get moved back down.

11/18/10  One coworker questioned me at grade level meeting as to if I really had that many advanced readers.  I know it’s because our district didn’t order enough books, and so 2 teachers are short student books.  I gave my reasons and feel good about my judgment.  If the students don’t do well on the advanced unit test, I will move them back to grade level text after this unit.  If students get moved back down even with fluency of reading and good comprehension, maybe it’s the independent piece that they are not ready for. 

Reading Decisions

11/10-11/10  Parent Teacher Conferences.  I have tested the fluency of all of my students.  I have parents who support their child being moved up on reading level groups, and others who support the implementation of the Read Naturally Program.  I will have about 8-9 students reading a passage for a week, with a pretest and posttest to graph improvement of their fluent reading.  Last year I began this in the spring of the year, and then it was hit or miss as to when I would get back to hear them reread.  I want to do a better job on implementing this program.  I realize the need to look at my schedule and set up a schedule for students to meet with me.  Students I have in this program are reading at a 2.5 – 4.0 grade level.    The students at a 4.0 grade level are reading below grade level for comprehension.  I know that fluency isn’t the only factor involved when looking at comprehension, but it’s a place I can begin.
11/8/10  I’ve had a few parents question me on why their child is not in the advanced reading group.  Most of my students improved on the second unit test from the first unit test (all but 2) so I feel great about that.  I decided to check fluency.  I decided that if a student improved to 85  percent or more on their grade level test, I would consider moving them up to advanced, as long as their scores showed them as fluent readers.  Well, my advanced group grew from 4 to 11. 

Reading Time

11/1/10  Benchmark testing for our reading program.  I still am not getting to all of the pieces of this program.  I am reading with my small groups two times a week.  That doesn’t include my advanced groups.  For them, I am setting up discussion questions and small worksheets for them to answer.  I’m really missing the mark if I can’t discuss with them.   My lowest group I feel I should be meeting with 3-4 times each week.  How to make this happen, I’m not sure.  We have developed Promethean lessons for each of the days, and I feel it’s not fair to teach generalization or visualization without going over the worksheets a bit.  My lower kids don’t know what to do on the worksheets.  It’s a new program, and I think the kids will become more independent as time goes on.  It just takes so much time right now.  I’m realizing that I need to be better at scheduling my day.

Peaceful Bus Chaos

10/22/10  Another Peaceful School Bus presentation during my math time.  Pardon me if I’m not excited.  Every time we have a presentation, I follow up with the kids.  Behaviors are not really getting any better on the bus.  The primary concern is the shuttle bus from our building every day to the elementary school.  The bus driver is off the bus, the kids are jumping over seats, using bad language, tripping kids as they get on, and being disrespectful to each other.  When I stepped on the bus to give some direction, I could feel that I had their attention for about as long as I stood on the bus.  I don’t have a plan of action.  When I talk to the other teachers whose students ride that bus, I feel like they think I’m pointing fingers.  I’m just trying to raise awareness to get some positive action going.  Other than talking to my students about their behavior, I’m not sure what to do.

Reading Thoughts

10/11/10  Only three days of school this week, and we are supposed to get through an entire week of reading curriculum.  Something has to give!  So, we are giving up our history and science time to teach reading.  I understand that the need for reading skills is most important, and from there students can learn anything.  It’s just overwhelming.  Besides this, we have meetings for the new reading program every week.  Our grade level meeting has changed to Thursdays, and it’s difficult to make decisions when not all of us (six teachers) can be there.

A Changing Constructivist View

On page 102, Brooks and Brooks assert that, “…becoming a constructivist teacher is not as overwhelming as many teachers think.”

I am beginning to believe this statement to be true, and I am surprised by my change in thinking!  Some of my initial reactions or concerns about becoming a constructivist teacher are still present.  Is there time during my day for the discovery needed?  Am I wiling to give up control of the classroom?  How will I keep curriculum that is scheduled for the year on pace?  Will it create behavior concerns?  What about those students who do seem to “learn” well under the model of teacher handing out the information, student completing a worksheet, taking a test, and showing learning?  How do I assess a grade on an ongoing investigative project?  Am I smart enough to know the questions to ask to further student understanding?  Becoming a constructivist teacher and having a constructivist classroom has been an idea that I have had difficulty wrapping my mind around since the beginning of this class.  I have not been able to even think of ideas to implement.  But as I corrected papers last night, and students didn’t show understanding of the language concept taught, I asked myself “In what other ways could this material be presented?”  I am excited to try out an activity that I believe is at least a little bit constructive.

In thinking that I could never be a constructivist teacher, I have to ask myself, what about the students in my classroom who are not showing mastery in the skills they are “learning” in a more traditional style?  What about the students who are not engaged in discussions, either in voice, posture, or excitement?  I have disengaged students in my classroom. My concern for them, as well as for the other students, is that they learn something they will be able to retain for more than the upcoming test.  It is for all of my students that I am willing to try to become a constructivist teacher.

When does learning something new become usable knowledge?

I gave the first unit math test awhile ago.  This year we are adding on a six point test to each unit.  It is alligned with the state standards and we hope for improvement on the WKCE.  I felt that the students would know the vocabulary pretty well from our unit, so didn't really "teach" to the test.  Out of 24 students, only 5 students passed (more than 1 wrong isn't passing).  So, I thought, what does a reflective teacher do?  I put students into groups to investigate one of the terms (multiple, prime, composite, array, etc.) and had them present and teach the class.  We posted them in the hallway.  I made up another 6 point test to give right away, but forgot to do it.  So, I reviewed with students this week.  This time 10 students passed.  But, 15 improved their score by at least 1 or 2 points.  And, I had to wonder, how many times does a student need to use a term/new vocabulary word before it becomes usable and meaningful to them?  And, why am I so quick to assume that because I presented the word, or students worked with the word, or knew the meaning once, that s/he will have retained it over a longer time, or put this into usable or retrievable storage?  This reminded me to never assume that I could possibly overpresent vocabulary in any subject area.  The good from all of this is that, even though the unit has passed, I will continue to find ways to bring back those terms (and others) throughout our math year.

Wonderings, puzzlements and queries...

Wonderings, Puzzlements, Queries…   page 37, The Power of Questions, Falk & Blumenreich.

I find it interesting that as I review my weeks, I find a lot more things that bother me about my classroom this year.  Things I want fixed or changed; things that aren’t running smoothly.  It could be kid needs.  It could be the new curriculum.  It could be me and the medication I have had to take.    It could be the testing pressure.  It could be the pacing guides that keep us moving forward, but feeling like there’s a lack of balance in time for students to learn but a need to stay on the pace.  I keep going back to the idea of “taking back my classroom”, like someone has taken it from me.  Behaviors, testing, meetings, pacing guides, they all rob me of my individuality as a teacher, and have been usurping what I know works for me in my classroom with confusion and chaos and less familiarity and less community.

So, here’s my journal of the happenings in my classroom and life. 

*What excites me, bothers me, and/or interests me.

1.  How L can look so intently 1:1 and nod his head that he cares to do his very best  and wants to be my “go to” person, but then in whole group instruction or small group work,  does not attend physically or participate much!  (Get a signal to let him know to get back on track.)

2.  How C can’t focus.  (Have him restate what he should be doing.)

3.  How come I haven’t done a lot of group work in Math yet?

4.  Reading inquiry project.  Can I at least get the WRAP UP step in and have students share from their small groups?

5.  How do I help students take control of their learning/behavior, so I can be facilitator? 

6.  How can I encourage the students who love to learn and love school to continue?!!!!!

7.  How do I get W to ask questions, interact, share, invest himself in class, be honest about his abilities, read more?

8.  How do I get P to realize all the smarts she has and use them, stay focused, make school a priority?

9.  Where’s my repertoire of BRAIN BREAK activities for our long afternoon?  Thinking on the fly…  Creativity..

10.  K – how do I help her become a more valued member of our classroom community?

11.  C – how do I help to show him all the positives about himself?  He so struggles with learning and seeing past black and white.

12.  L – How do I get her to see beyond herself to recognize importance of others/our group?

13.  A – How do I get him to share!

14.  E, A, S, K, J, G, G, S, C, E, K, K, C, E, S – reward all of their awesome effort, help them to identify places to focus their learning.

15.  S – How to get him to have fun!

SUBJECT AREA QUESTIONS:

1.      Where is our best writing?  Why aren’t we doing more?  How do I meet with these kids to move their writing forward?  How does this writing program work?  I miss the writer’s workshop where students wrote and wrote and got good at stamina last year.  I still wasn’t good at finished projects.  Maybe that’s where I should focus.  Conferencing,…process writing…finished projects (or not) that don’t have to be perfect!

2.       Reading Inquiry Project – Can I get them to meet in groups to share from their differentiated reader?  Can we start the WRAP UP?  What does it look like?  How can it evolve so soon it can be an Inquiry Project.

3.      How to make all learning more student centered (it’s about the learning) and less teacher centered (about the teaching)?

4.       How to get a flow to our day where everything fits in and moves from one subject to another without that disjointed feeling?  Why has it taken so long to feel like a classroom community.  We are still saying things and doing things that don’t support each other. 

5.      Where does “Rachel’s Challenge” fit in our classroom.  Acts of Kindness, a kindness  chain.  Books I should be sharing about kindness that will help us realize our goal of kindness in the classroom and in our lives.  Books the kids could read to support this.  A project we could do.

6.      Hooking my kids into reading.  Some already love to read.  Others are not showing stamina in reading.  My read aloud is key.  Series books are key.  Book swaps are key.  Get them going!  Differentiated readers going home with students! – YES!  Do this!  Number  the books, make each student accountable for a book.  Take their interest and allow them to go with it by sharing at home.

7.       Math – more time talking about math with each other. Where’s the investigative element when I am teaching and departing knowledge to them?????   More good math fact practice time to support Rocket Math.  More strategies taught.  Worksheets to support fact practice.

8.       Social Studies – project based, investigative, reading the text like we teach in reading class,…  Less worksheet,   This class is important, but I have less time, so how can I structure so BIG IDEAS will be learned?  CESA History Kit has been good.  Begin my year with it next year!  It’s hands on and investigative; encourages group communication and presentation; and supports inquiry.

9.      Gender Differences – Reading Why Gender Matters? And all it’s implications in the classroom.  Grouping students by gender:  subject area work, reading work, seating chart,…what are the implications?

10.  Learning Styles – to make sure I am allowing all styles to learn equally or to share in a project that best uses the s. learning style.  (visual, verbal, auditory, sensorimotor, music, movement, ….)

11.  Internal drive, motivation, persistence, student interest….how can this all show itself in the classroom? 

GRADING – ASSESSMENT – for conferences or grade book.  I like to have about 10 grades per quarter to base my grade off of.  I have struggled to put grades in the grade book this year.  What

What do I want to examine in more depth?

I am interested in being more project-based and meeting the learning styles of my students.  I am interested in continuing to work on classroom community/Rachel’s Challenge of kindness/Peaceful Bus Program, which happen to be three big initiatives our district laid out this year.  Unfortunately, it has seemed too much to undertake along with the new curriculum.  Yet, they are all related and can unfold simultaneously with some planning.  There are many books to share that cover these themes.  Give opportunities to come back to the classroom and share what they are doing to better their world.

Select one I really care about.

I am interested in focusing on the learning community, responsive classroom, with carryover into being a responsible and respectful citizen in all areas of the students’ lives.  (Tie in with Rachel’s Challenge and Peaceful Bus Program)

Six Thinking Hats

I read about the white and red hats from Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono.  The white hat is neutral, like a computer, giving facts and figures, in an objective manner.  Using the white hat is a practice that encourages the thinker to separate clearly in his mind what fact is.  There are believed facts and checked facts.  Your opinion is never allowed with a white hat.  Math is very white to me.  I can see facts and figures; I can see right and wrong.

The red hat is described as warmth, feelings, emotions, intuition, and hunches.  In using the red hat one does not need to justify his emotions.  The red hat gives official permission for the expression of feelings.  There is no attempt to explore or change emotions. 

In doing the exercise to think of a situation at work where I felt I needed to resolve something, I chose a coworker relationship.  I realized that I have a lot of emotion tied up into this relationship from the past 5 years or so, and those emotions were clouding or overriding my judgment.  I was viewing everything that was going on between my coworker and I through an emotional lens.  I see that I was allowing more stress to enter my life than I needed to, and it’s possible the stress I was allowing was the accumulation of years of baggage that I was unwilling to dismiss.  If taking each day on its own, such as today, I would find little to warrant my negative feelings toward my coworker.  Yes, there are bothersome things I see, but no worse than what I might see in others (or what they might see in me).  I think I let myself be ruled by my emotions.  These chapters remind me to wear different hats and see things from different perspectives.  All hats are wanted, at their respective time, to look at a situation or resolve an issue.  I am ready to work on resolving new issues as they arise, because I will be able to do it in a kind manner which will benefit our work relationship and team.

Reflection is at the Heart of Practice

I have taught 4th grade for 18 years.

How will reflection help me to become a master teacher? Reflection will help me analyze my interactions with my students, my teaching, and my planning. Reflection will allow me to take another look at an interaction and decide how to proceed, fix-up, or behave differently in the future. Reflection will help me become a master teacher, because without it, my responses are as varied as the breeze. Students need consistent expectations, rules and follow through. I commented at our first class that I wish to be more “cut and dried”, more decisive. If I am more reflective, I will have a plan for how my students and I will function and what I will expect from my students and myself.

What gets in my way of reflecting? My first response is lack of time. There are many hours to the day, but never enough! My personal life has many commitments. Right now the new reading, language, and writing curriculum means learning and planning new material for half of my teach day. I have a promethean board, so there are interactive lessons to prepare and share with my team. My teacher webpage is new this year, and I want to update it to make it the best it can be. There is new technology to learn, and that can be very time consuming. This master’s program has added a new layer of time commitment, and assignments can get in the way of being reflective if I feel stressed by a deadline.

My second response is lack of know-how. Do I possess an efficient, correct way of reflecting? I can reflect on my day, but do I know how to do that effectively, efficiently and thoroughly to the benefit of my students and myself? The article I just read proves that I need to learn how to reflect.

What will I do to clear the barriers or get around them? I have asked my family to do more at home. I need to let them know what I need each day or week, step back and allow them to do it. I need to let them support me. I need to work through the stress with exercise. I have been walking lately, and find it is essential to new perspective and energy. I need to take care of myself with a healthy diet. I need sleep. This may impact how many lessons I will be creating with the promethean software. I need to be OK with that. I feel pressure within my team to do more, because they are always doing more. Figuring out how to professionally and successfully choose what is most essential and necessary will be key. The time commitment of the new curriculum can’t be changed. I do glean much from shared conversation and meetings at our building about our new curriculum, so I will continue to be involved in those interactions. I will try to complete each master’s assignment one week ahead of schedule.