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.