Allison Catto's November Blog Post #4 - Routman, Chapter 4: "Teach With a Sense of Urgency"

          Teachers need to make every moment count.  Our instruction should be engaging and help move students ahead.  We should use daily evaluation and reflection to make wise teaching decisions.  In doing all of these things, we are teaching with a sense of urgency! 

          We need to keep our expectations high.  Many times teachers will “dumb down” their expectations when students don’t seem to be performing adequately.  I have always been known to have high expectations for my students.  This if often frustrating to parents, but ultimately helps the child in the end.  We need to introduce students to complex and relevant texts and a curriculum that has a high-level of thinking, problem solving, and questioning.  It is our job to support students in becoming self-sustaining and independent readers.

          There are five things that will ensure your students become excellent readers.  First, I need to demonstrate that I am a reader.  I can do this during conferencing or reading in class, but not during the entire independent reading time.  Secondly, I should provide an excellent classroom library.  My books are all leveled, labeled, and organized in baskets that make them easily accessible for students.  Thirdly, I need to let students choose books they want to read and give them time to read them.  My students are given this opportunity each day.  The fourth thing I need to do is teach strategies students need to know to process and understand text.  This can be done during shared reading or guided reading.  Lastly, I need to evaluate students regularly, giving them feedback and helping them set goals.  During independent reading time, I conference with my students in order to do this.  In doing these five things, teachers will begin to base instruction on what kids need rather than on the components of a literacy program.  The teacher should make sure that she provides an environment that encourages and supports the learner in trying out what is being demonstrated, taking risks, monitoring himself/herself, and setting goals while moving toward independence. 

          There are four phases of learning.  During “Demonstration,” the teacher shows how to do it by initiating, modeling, explaining, and thinking aloud.  “Shared Demonstration” involves the teacher still demonstrating and leading, but now the students are encouraged to participate and collaborate in the activity and discussion.  Students practice thinking and acting like readers during “Guided Practice.”  Once students have developed a level of competence and confidence enabling them to do the task successfully with minimal assistance, then they are ready for “Independent Practice.”  By this point, they should be able to apply what they know to new learning and to direct their own learning. When students reach this point, we know we have been successful in our instruction!