Lorraine Walker’s August Blog Post 1: Teach with a Sense of
Urgency; Regie Routman’s Chapter 4: Reading
Essentials
The word urgency was the first thing that caught
my attention while I browsed through the chapters in this book. Every teacher I
know teaches with a sense of urgency – our
minds are reeling with a list of things that need to be accomplished by a
specific date. But that is not what Routman’s chapter addresses.
Routman says, “We need to keep our expectations high. I am constantly amazed
at how little we require of students. Here I am not talking about assigning and
completing more activities but rather of introducing students to complex and relevant texts and
curriculum via high-level thinking, problem solving, and questioning. We
need to support students
in becoming more self-sustaining, thoughtful, independent readers and writers.”
The parts
highlighted are directly related to our school’s leadership beliefs, so
naturally I was compelled to read more. The next section in the chapter is
called Do More Teaching – yikes! I am
asking myself, how can teachers do more teaching? So she explains that we need
to incorporate our own reading lives and
model how we behave, think, and talk as readers. Her optimal learning model
explains a gradual handover of responsibility. She says there are four phases
of learning in the model: demonstration, shared demonstration, guided practice,
and independent practice. Each of these phases is explained in the chapter.
While I am
reading I am thinking about how all of this could fit into the day and I am
struck with the realization that it doesn’t fit into the day but it is the day.
It would take too long to explain the optimal learning model but I shared the
idea with the third grade teachers and related it to SC History since they are
teaching this subject during their ELA block. In my head I see the optimal
learning model played out through the Studies
Weekly newspaper we use to teach SC History. The teachers are going to
teach the children about the headings, how to identify the vocabulary, and
important parts under each heading. They are going to share their thinking as
to what they would highlight and why they would highlight it – demonstration. Next, the students
will share what they might highlight and explain why they would highlight a
particular word, phrase, or sentence – shared
demonstration. After that, there will be guided practice and then independent
practice where the children are able to identify the important parts and
explain why those parts are important and then developing an assessment. So by
following the optimal learning model, one is teaching with urgency, not teaching more activities, assigning more worksheets,
or giving more tests. My take on the whole chapter is that teaching can be more
enjoyable if we give it a chance. Step back, think about what is important, and
teach. Read the chapter and be inspired!
I agree with you Lorraine. I think her four phases of learning could best be carried out with demonstration, which starts with demonstrating what you would do as the teacher. Then shared demonstration where the students will synergize out loud telling the most important parts of the reading and then highlighting, guided practice, and then independent time to let the students figure out what was most important to them. That is a good idea to do with the SS newspapers.
ReplyDeleteLorriane, I think that Routman hit the nail right on the head when stating that we need to keep the expectations high for our students. I am going to be honest, I often catch myself thinking maybe that is too hard for my second graders or perhaps they aren’t quite ready for this activity. However, I feel strongly that if we let go of the reins and allow students to go beyond the “minimum requirement” we as educators would be amazed at what our students can actually do. I also agree with the point that you made on the four phases of learning and how this should be centered around our day and not just “a part” of it. I think that as educators we do these four phases more often than we actually think however, I know that I could definitely work on practicing these phases throughout all of the curriculum more. Thank you for sharing an example of how this can be done through the third grade newspaper. I am super excited about having the chance to read this chapter when the book arrives.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your ideas with us about integrating the newspapers into our guided reading block. It is important that we take the time to teach our students how to do the things we expect them to do. We must model our thinking and get the students to understand what is expected. By taking the time to demonstrate what is expected, we should see significant increases in higher order thinking and outcomes produced by our students. Once the students understand this process, they should be able to carry it over into other activities, whether it be school work or real life experiences!
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