Spiller Gregory's December Post

 Miller's Section 2 " Why Not? What Works?"

The argument for Independent Reading (IR) seems to center around limited instructional time and management of IR with different reading levels in the same classroom.  However, the author states that studies prove the theory that time spent reading independently in school translates to positive academic performance.  Miller then shows us  that the Common Core State Standards explicitly call for students to "read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently". Whereas the standards do not state that IR must occur during the school day, it does make Ir a requirement at all grad levels.  So, that leads us into best practices for effective IR.  Students need to be able to choose material of their own interests, have classroom time to read, have access to a variety of texts, to be able to talk about what they are reading, to have an environment in which they are able to spend much time daily reading, and to have teacher monitoring, support, instruction about the reading process, and assessment.  I found this article to be very beneficial  as it focused on IR activities, such as small-group instruction.  This was found to be particularly beneficial for striving readers as they do need more support than above average and average readers.  I also think that having students to respond/reflect in the small groups about what they are reading really positively affects student comprehension.  

Kristin Humphries December Blog Post 5: You Only Have So Much Time

          I have to say that this is the first saying that many people express when they are thinking of all the things that they have to do, “You only have so much time.” As a mom, wife, and a teacher I can truly say that my time is spent on things that are the most important. It’s hard sometimes to step back, evaluate, and then choose which things that are the most important. For me, everything seems important. Especially when you feel that everything in your life deserves all of your attention. When I read this chapter by Routman, I read some very productive ways to use the time that I have with my students.

Routman advocates many helpful ways to use our time with students. She explains that we should make every moment count. For students to become better readers they need the opportunity to “spend most of reading time reading connected texts (Routman, p.205).” She also explains that students work well when they are actively engaged, like collaborating during a group project. She recommends that teachers need to look at our schedules to see if we can add more time for teaching and learning. Routman suggests that students should have time to reflect each day. When teachers reflect and then grow as educators, we pass on our love of learning to our students.

Kim Plexico: December Blog 5: Routman- Chapter 4- Teach with a Sense of Urgency

In the chapter, Teach with a Sense of Urgency, Regie Routman states the importance of making every moment in the classroom count.  It’s a simple statement and one that I like as a mission statement for life in general!  As teachers we are always mindful of where our students need to go during the school year and how little time we have to get them there.  With this in mind, we are constantly analyzing what we do in the classroom in order to make the needed changes to help our students to achieve their highest potential.  The key ingredient is student engagement!  We support students “in becoming more self-sustaining, thoughtful, independent readers and writers by spending time with shared and independent reading.”  The instruction consists of what kids need and not on the components of a literacy program.   Over time, I have gotten away from making class books with my students.  We write and make books, but mostly as individuals.  The author talked about making books as a shared writing activity and then using the class book to create a book to use during guided reading and word work activities.  I plan on using this in January with my students during our study of the Arctic.  I have been creating books to read and I like the idea of the students helping to create the book for the unit.  By using this model for book making, I will use the plan as denoted on page 44 in the book where you use Demonstration, Shared Demonstration, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice.  As kindergartners, it is so true that they “need strategies, confidence, and knowledge to continue learning on their own.”  Within the Literacy Block, the students have opportunities to develop their language which is also a key ingredient to becoming a reader. The author states “language play, hearing lots of stories, and reading and writing stories and poems are essentials to children becoming readers.” By reading with young children and promoting productive talk about the stories, the children have better language development than those children without these opportunities.  I use “turn and talk” in the classroom a lot in order to give the children a chance to develop oral language, vocabulary, and comprehension.  As a rule, the author says that the students should engage in reading 80% of the time and writing 20% of the time.  She also cautions us as teachers not to “overdo it”!  In conclusion, she reminds us that “only by teaching all of our students with a sense of urgency and joy can we hope to challenge them in appropriate and meaningful ways.” That is my goal for the new year~ to engage students in meaningful ways and bring the joy back to their learning.

Dawn Mitchell's December Blog Post 5: Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

Dawn Mitchell's Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

During the month of December our application we are working on learning about theories that have shaped literacy and reflecting on how they have changed our practices as well as applying inquiry based learning in our planning for a unit of study we will teach in the coming spring semester.  

In December’s blendspace you will find a variety of resources including the four theories that we are sharing with you such as Cambourne’s Conditons of Learning, Halliday’s Functions of Language, L1 to L2 Transfer, and Marie Clay’s Reading/Writing Reciprocity  to read and reflect upon.  We have worked to embed two new tech tools, QR codes and Google Forms into your reading/writing workshop that can also be used in your classroom.  Lastly, you will find the new 2015-2016 SC ELA Inquiry standards that can help you enhance your existing units of study through the use of student-driven, inquiry-based learning.

This month for my blog post, I have chosen to read chapter 8 from Routman’s Reading Essentials for many reasons.  First of all, I believe that reading is meaning and without understanding what they are gleaning from texts, students aren’t really reading even if they are the best word callers/decoders on the planet. Without meaning, they are just words.  Second, with current reform initiatives in place in our state and across the country that focus on third grade comprehension it is vital that we realize that comprehension and comprehension instruction starts way before that.  We can’t wait until third grade to determine if our students are ready as readers. We have to keep comprehension in mind from the very start.

Routman says, “In my continuing work in schools, its’ rarely a lack of word work that prevents students from understanding.  It’s almost always not having the background, prior experiences, or knowledge of the way texts and authors work that stumps them – not knowing that good readers are aware of their understanding or lack of it and always do whatever is necessary to make sense of what they are reading.  You can’t start teaching comprehension in grade 3.  You start teaching it the day kids enter preschool or kindergarten.” (Routman, pg. 118)

One of the major points Routman made in this chapter that really convicted me and helped to improve my practice is her point that reading strategies are not synonymous with comprehension and are not meant to be taught in isolation.  I have been a reading/writing workshop girl since back in the day and consider myself to promote and implement the teaching of reading and writing in the authentic context of their own reading and writing.  When I read Routman’s explanation of a typical classroom’s reading instruction I realized that I have too often taught a proficient reading strategy that way.  I have introduced a reading strategy in a minilesson, employed metacognition and modeling, and then had students work to apply that strategy using sticky notes or reading responses to help strengthen their reading.  I realized that many times that took out the authenticity of their independent reading and either simplified a complex, cognitive process into one strategy and weakened their overall comprehension of the text by focusing all of their efforts on one strategy.  Routman says that actually makes reading harder. 

She writes, “Students become so focused on identifying words they don’t know, questions to ask, or connections to make that they forget to read for overall meaning.  While its fine to introduce and practice strategies one at a time, remember that when we read we use all these strategies at the same time and that our comprehension process is largely unconscious.”

I love her question at the end of page 119, “Continue to ask yourself, “How is this procedure helping my students become more proficient and independent as readers?” This is a question that I will use to guide my instruction and I want to be more conscious of my reading application time to ensure that it is not either oversimplified or made harder because of inauthentic instruction. 

Other take aways for me from this chapter include:

*the 20 percent to 80 percent rule where the majority of the time in reading instruction is spent on student application

*the questions given on page 120 to help us focus on strategic reading rather than individual strategies

*megacognitive strategies on page 121 such as rereading, highlighting, writing down, survey, connect, and monitor

*teaching self-monitoring (I love the checklist of strategies on page 125)

On page 129 Routman says, “There is a huge difference between strategy instruction and strategic instruction.  Just teaching strategies is not enough.  Strategies must be “invoked” by the learner if they are to be used to increase understanding.”  I agree and appreciate the clear call to create opportunities for our students to apply what they are learning about reading in authentic ways in their own independent reading with support, with modeling, and with an undeniable purpose to understand what they are reading.

Sincerely,

Dawn

Kaylee Foster- February Blog: Routman (2003) Chapter 5: Organize an Understanding Classroom Library

A well-organized classroom library is essential in having an effective reading program within the classroom. The question is where does a teacher begin in establishing a “well-organized” library that fits the needs of the students’ and the teacher? The first step if to understand our students as readers and what their interests are. If we expect our students to go beyond just reading to having a passion to read, then we need to provide books that will have them highly engaged. This goes back to the importance of getting to know our students as readers from day 1!

Routman pointed out that teachers need to take the stress off of what type of book the student is reading and put more emphasis on “Light Reading”. At the end of the day is it more important that our students are reading a certain genre or is it more important that our students are becoming competent readers who ENJOY to read? Don’t get me wrong, I understand that there is a time and a place for everything, that exposing students to different genres is important. However, providing students with the time to read what they choose, is equally important as well.

When evaluating your classroom library Routman has provided us with a well written checklist to ask ourselves. Questions that go from; is your classroom library/reading area inviting or invisible, does your classroom library have updated books that portray other cultures or is it outdated and homogeneous, and has your students been involved in the selection and organization or have you made all of the decisions on how books are grouped? These questions really make you sit back and think about all of the things that you could have and should have done differently when establishing the classroom library. I am going to be honest my first thought was time. How am I going to organize all of these books…? I guess in all of my “free time” because we have so much of that right? What if there’s another solution to this? What if there was a way to take more work off of the teacher and let the students take ownership and have a say in the classroom library which will in the end be a more meaningful classroom library to the students? What I am realizing is that the students can contribute to organizing the classroom library and this would a significant amount of time for the teachers. It’s a win-win!  It goes back to letting go of the reins and not having all of the control. Will the books be color coded and perfectly organized- most likely not BUT will the books be organized based on the students’ needs and understanding YES…and you have to ask yourself, which one is more important? I also want to note that this wouldn’t just be a project where the teacher just lets go of all of the reigns and allows the students to do whatever…he or she would need to facilitate the students and talk about ways to organize the books. This could be a great mini lesson before allowing small groups dig into the books. I feel confident that this would also open up the doors to several other many lessons too.

Routman makes it a point to tell us that an adequate classroom library will have at least two hundred books but a phenomenal one will have well over a thousand. I’m not sure the exact number of my classroom library but I know that I have somewhere over two hundred. However, I don’t have anywhere near a thousand books. A lot of money has been invested into our classroom library.  I know that this is a work in progress and isn’t something that is just going to magically appear overnight. My theory is- you have to start somewhere and I think organizing what you already have to work with is a great start. Over time books will build on themselves. Something that I just thought of is maybe I could make a goal to get twenty three new books (the number of students I have in my class) each school year based on that class’s interest and needs. Over time this would develop a rich literacy environment based on student choices.

Another important key aspect to having a well-organized classroom library is attaining it. Students need to be taught how to take care of the books. How they shouldn’t be on the floor or under the desk when they aren’t reading them. They need to know that putting the books back where they came from is important and not just throwing them in a random basket. I honestly believe if the teacher makes having a well-organized and attained classroom library a priority the students will too.

Rhonda Cranford September Blog # 2 The Pleasure Principle

The article “The Pleasure Principle” sums up why readers read.  When you read and you are completely absorbed in your book then you are in the zone.  Reading lets you escape from the real world of do this, do that, go here, go there, what’s for dinner, where are my shoes, to a place of…..well that depends on what you are reading but for a few minutes the reading zone is not where you are physically at that moment.  I learned as a college student the pleasure of reading.  Now as an adult I often have to force myself to put down the book, to leave the zone, and to return to the real world because of responsibilities and life.  I want my students to love reading, to see that through books there are many adventures waiting on them.  I want my students to experience all that books have to offer.  

I agree with Atwell, “A child sitting in a quiet room with a good book isn’t flashy, or a marketable, teaching method.”  But it is the start of a lifelong love.  Children who have the opportunity to read what they want to read will become better readers.  It was not until later in life I really realized that I had the freedom to read any book of my choice, to read the last page first if I wanted, to only read the first few pages then to opt for another book.  I really like The Reader’s Bill of Rights.  A reader has the right to skip pages, to reread, to browse, to read anything, to escapism, to read anywhere (this includes the bathroom), to read out loud, to not defend your tastes.  I would add to this list of rights the right to not finish a book.  Children need to know that yes sometimes we are expected to read certain things for a certain purpose such as this article for my class.  I had a choice about which article but I was required to read and blog on it.   But they also need to know that the best part of reading is to read for pleasure.  I want the majority of the reading in my classroom to be pleasurable.  I want my students to look forward to reading.  I have one child who really stands out this year and think he has discovered the reading zone.  I often have to tell him now it is time to do something other than read.  This is not want he wants to hear but it is a fact that we all must face.  There is a time for all things including reading.   

Spiller Gregory's November Blog Post - Miller, Section 1; Not This: Is There Enough Time?  And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?

       Do we ever have enough time in education?  I don't think that there is a teacher anywhere who would answer that question in the positive!!  After reading this section in Miller's book, it really became evident that we in education have to make the time to allow children to read independently for extended lengths of time.  W can find the minutes that will add up to hours monthly by cutting out things that really don't benefit the student in the long run.  Daily announcements, birthdays, club announcements are all things that can possibly be handled in another manner that will not take away so much classroom time.
I agree with Miller that a short focus lesson and conferencing are integral parts of independent reading, and I hope to really improve this factor in my own reading instruction.

Margaret Quinn - November blog -Miller Section 2 Why Not? What Works? Why Independent Reading Matters the Best Practices to Support It

This chapter stresses the importance of giving children as many opportunities to read as possible. Reading alone will help increase their reading fluency, increase reading rate, improve reading expression, comprehension, self confidence, and social interaction with peers. The more students read inside the classroom, the more they will probably read outside the classroom as well. Unfortunately, teachers feel very limited already with their time and feel pressured to complete all necessary instructional time.
I do feel it is important to model what we teach. A lot of students are visual learners and will learn how to choose a just right book by us modeling how to do so and think out loud. By showing them how to choose an appropriate book, this will cut down on wasted time reading a book that they aren't able to read just yet. It's no shock to me that "the best readers read the most and that poor readers read the least." The more you practice a skill, the better you are at it.
The more texts that students have access to, the more genres they might find they like. Students talk to peers, parents, and teachers about what is on their minds. If students are reading lots of different kinds of books, this will ultimately prompt them to ask more questions and share new things they just learned. Talking with peers will also encourage poor readers to read more, so they too can learn new things. When students have choice on what they can and are allowed to read, they will read more often and be engaged the whole time instead of glossing over words, reading as fast as they can, and not learn one thing. It is important for teachers to teach students hos to read on a deeper level, so they can grow as readers. Students don't always know when a book is too difficult for them verses a just right book that will push them a little harder. That is why we need to monitor and conference with each student. Hold each student accountable for the time allotted for them to read. This will teach students to use every minute that is given to them wisely.

India Rowe's December Blog Post: Routman (2003) Chapter 3: Share Your Reading Life

In this chapter, Routman emphasizes the importance of sharing your personal reading habits with your students.  I think this is a wonderful way to allow students to see real-life connections with reading.  By modeling for the students how I choose the books that I am reading and how I read various texts across different genres, a classroom reading culture is established where students can then share their methods for choosing books and gain further insight into their own reading habits.  I thought it was interesting that the author found that the most common answers for why teachers place a high importance on reading involved learning and school-related responses.  Reading for pleasure is usually not mentioned.  My goal for my students is that they not only read for information, but also that they develop a love of reading that extends long after they leave my classroom.  Routman states, “…that if they (students) don’t read for pleasure they are not likely to make reading a lifelong habit or goal” (Routman, 2003, p. 24). 

            I like the idea of maintaining my own reading record of the books that I am reading each month.  Not only is it a great model for my students, it will also give me the opportunity to know myself better as a reader.  In fourth grade, students keep track of the various genres they are reading on a reading quilt.  It motivates them to try to read different genres that they may have been hesitant to read before.  It would be interesting to share my reading record with my students in order to build a classroom community where we could encourage each other to read texts across genres.