Blog Post #4 - Routman (2003), Ch. 3: Share Your Reading Life - Kayla Manning

I have never enjoyed reading and still do not read for pleasure very often but after reading this chapter I am starting to evaluate my reading life. I have never thought about the benefits of sharing your personal reading life with your students to help encourage them to read. I do not speak negatively about reading but I do not talk about it at all. I want to try to read for pleasure and then share it with my students. I know my students are too young to do a book report or anything like that but we do share our books out loud to each other. I want to do more of this in my classroom. I really like what Routman says about sharing your reading life.

Blog Post #4 'Teach with a Sense of Urgency' Routman

Routman expresses exactly how she intentionally 'teaches with a sense of urgency'.  She begins with making the point that she doesn't teach from a place of anxiety but rather making each moment count.  As she outlines the Optimal Learning Model she also list first and foremost that the students must bond with their teacher and that the teacher models the value of literacy with his or her students by demonstrating, supporting, encouraging and affirming their students. 

She goes on to explain how the four phases of learning-demonstration, shared demonstration, guided practice and independent practice when integrated together help the student to move closer to independent learning.  Independent learners enjoy what they learn...so how do I "promote joy in learning?"  Do encourage relationships in my classroom, not just between me and my students but with each other that promote joy in learning?  Do they enjoy sharing what they have learned and accomplished with each other? 

I liked the idea suggested that instead of only a few 'key players' as I call them sometimes always fighting to answer questions about a reading, divide them into groups and let them discuss the answers with each other.  Yes, four year olds would be a challenge to keep on track but sometimes I learn so much more about them just from listening to them interact with each other than when they are put on the spot to answer a question.  Also, I think it will help them connect as learners instead of being in competition with each other.  I loved the 'turn and talk' idea and hope to implement it with my class.

Blog Post #4 - Routman (2003), Ch. 3: Share Your Reading Life - Laurie Smith

I enjoyed reading this chapter of Routman's book.  I have always struggled with reading for pleasure and reading mandatory literature for school.  As a child, I always enjoyed when someone else would read to me, but struggled really getting into a new book and sticking with it.  I enjoy reading more now as an adult, but have little time to sit and enjoy it, unless it is summer time and I am off work.  In this Chapter, Routman talks about sharing your reading life with your students; talk about what you are reading, what you want to read next, why you read, what you like about reading, and why it is so important to read for pleasure.  Even though my student's (3&4 year olds with disabilities) aren't reading yet, I can see how I can use Routman's ideas on reading logs, book talks, favorite author studies, and a "show and tell" with favorite student books in my class room to help them move towards being students who will read for pleasure in the future.  I would love to have my students bring in a favorite book to share with the class and tell why they like it so much, as well as begin keeping a class reading log of all the books that we read together in class.  They may not understand genre, author, and illustrator yet, but they know when and why they like something, and that is a start.

Blog Post # 4 Foley- Routman (2003) ,Ch. 3: Share Your Reading Life

As long as I can remember, I have always been a struggling reader. I spent most of my 12 years in school needing the assistance of reading tutors, after-school reading programs, summer reading camps, etc. Although reading was such a struggle for me, my mother supported me 110%.  She found books that would interest me, help me read them or read to me. I never disliked reading, even though I struggled. I especially loved children books. My mother is an author, and she would share many of her stories. Often they somehow involved me.

 I also grew up with a well-known author, Judith St. George, who knew I struggled with reading; thanks to my mother.  As a result, she would share her love of reading and writing with me.  So many of her books pertained to the area where I lived or were based on historical places we often visited.  She would tell me how she came up with her book ideas, and, as a result, I remember eagerly waiting for her to finish her next book!  Later, as a teacher, I enjoy reading her books to my students.  When I taught in the older grades, I would share the story of Mrs. St. George, her love of being an author, and unknown facts about her and her books that fascinated me growing up.  Not only did she write children and teen books, but Mrs. St. George also wrote the screen plays for several James Bond movies. I thought that was so cool!!  Each time, I read one of her books to my class, I am reminded of the joy of reading I felt when I was a young girl.

While I was growing up, my mother would give me a book every Christmas or for special event in my life. It was either from a local author, friend or a book that had a special meaning at the time. I still have all of these books, and I tell my students about how or why I got these books when I share them with my class.  I also let my students know that I have my own personal library, and I encourage my students to make one of their own that they may one day share with their own children. 

Blog Post #4 Routman Chapter 4 Teach With a Sense of Urgency

        We must make every moment count and utilize every second in a way that is productive to our student’s learning.  We have to maintain high expectations for all of our students and provide activities where student’s are engaged in higher level thinking and problem solving.  It is our job to help support our students to become more independent.  The author in this chapter outlines the optimal learning model.  There are four phases of learning; demonstration, shared demonstration, guided practice, and independent practice.  When this model is used the students are equipped with the knowledge of how to learn on their own and are responsible for their learning.  This is hard as a 4k teacher to make this shift from teacher to student.  We tend to be hesitant to give our students the freedom to work towards independence.  We must teach our students skills and strategies to help to guide them to work independently.  We need to provide our students with experiences that make learning enjoyable and meaningful.  It is important to focus more on the process rather than the product.  I agree that we need to not teach skills in isolation.  This may limit our students

learning possibilities.  In the past we have focused on a letter of the week.  We have moved away from this practice and are trying to integrate phonemic awareness throughout our day.  We are trying to make these experiences more meaningful to the children by for example focusing on initial letters of classmate’s names and working on having literacy rich classroom environments. 

           The author stresses how we need to do more interactive reading where we are allowing children to talk about the text during the reading.  I believe that we are doing a good job with this by allowing our students to do “turn and talks” during read alouds.  This increases student engagement when they are given the time to share and talk with their peers about the text.  This practice will help to aid in student’s comprehension about the text. 

Blog Post #1 Routman Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life

                 After reading this chapter the old saying practice what you preach came to mind.  It is so important for our students to see our enthusiasm and passion for reading.  We as teachers need to show by our actions our love for books.  The part of this chapter that really stood out to me is when the author asks her students “Why do you think you are expected to spend so much time reading?”  The students responses were just as I would have thought; it makes you smarter, learn new words, to learn more and so on.  Finally a student answers “because you liked it.”  So many children do not understand the concept of reading for pleasure and develop a love for reading.   Many of my students walk through my classroom doors without the experiences of being read to and having books in their home.   I feel that it is my job to help lay the foundation for my students to love books and reading.   I have to focus on creating a classroom environment that is full of print and literature and provide experiences to teach my students how to select books on their own and “read independently.”  So many times I have heard my students say I can’t read this.  I try my best to teach my students that although they may not be able to read the words, they are readers too.  We talk about how the pictures tell us a story and show them how to conduct their own picture walk.  It is amazing as time goes on to see the progression of how good students get at reading on their own.   I always love to observe my students in the library center reading with their peers. 

                This chapter gives some great examples of how to share our own personal passion for reading with our students.  It is so important for our students to see how important literature is to us.  We must constantly share with our students about our personal book libraries, how we select books to read, and how we read.  We must model for our students how we personally select books to read.  I love the suggestions the author gives about ideas to spark student interest in books such as having children share a favorite book with a partner, creating a class book highlighting favorite books, creating a “top-ten” classroom book list.  Just as our enthusiasm will shine though to our students, so will their peers.  Instead of bringing in a toy to share with the class the children can bring in a favorite book to share with their friends. 

               Lastly the author talks about reading records.  It is so important for us to model how to keep a reading record.  My own children’s teachers have required them to keep reading records.  While I do understand this helps to hold my child and I accountable for reading each day, it takes some of the pleasure out of reading with my child.  I feel that their teachers need to put more emphasis on teaching them how to take on this responsibility themselves or trust that we are taking the time to read with our children.  As a parent it is frustrating to be laying in bed with my child reading with them and having to stop and locate the reading record and a pen to write and sign off on what we are reading.  If we make this shift from making reading a “chore” or requirement, we can show our children the importance of reading because we “want” to for our enjoyment. 

Trina Lancaster Blog Post #4 Routman:Teach with a Sense of Urgency

     Reading the shared demonstration section where it talks about social interaction between the students and the teacher being integral to the learning process, brought to mind how important it is to be social with your students. Although you are teaching with urgency you still need to give students feedback and build the relationships that teachers learn from students just as much as students can learn from their teacher while sharing what they are thinking. Routman states, “Teaching and learning are seen as inseparable components of the same process.” Not only do I believe that students become engaged with learning from the teacher but the teacher is able to learn so much more about the students during this social process. It’s a win-win situation.

      I love the fact that it’s okay to let the kids know that teachers are humans who sometimes need to redo teaching strategies. When reading the Put the Learning Model into Action section it talks about how we sometimes go to quick, don’t explain enough or go on teaching when the kids don’t understand what we just said. Routman gives a great explanation to tell the kids why you are re-teaching or re-explaining. I think it is important for students to see that teachers are learning too and sometimes we just have to do things again to get it right.

McKenzie Blanton: Blog #4 Routman "Share Your Reading Life"

         I love to read but it hasn’t always been that way. Reading was hard for me in the early years of my life. It wasn’t until middle school that I was finally told that read could be for fun. I didn’t have to read every single word precisely right in order to read. I liked the fact that I now have the ability to choose whatever I want to read. I do have several favorite authors and even my husband knows which books I like to read. He has picked up several James Patterson books for me to add to my collection. I found that I liked reading once I could read what I chose and there was not an expectation of my reading.

        I have never thought of including books that I love from my childhood into my classroom reading time. I feel like they wouldn’t get into me pulling out my Patterson novel for some personal reading time. I believe that I could incorporate some books that I loved as a child. This would allow for my students to see me as a reader for enjoyment. I know I have a lot of books that I loved to listen to as a child. I believe that I will begin pulling out some books that I enjoy and reading them during center time. I think this is a good way to incorporate leisure reading in my classroom. 

Jeremy Joye, Blog Post 4, Routman Chapter 8: Teaching Comprehension

Teaching comprehension. Prior to reading this article, I was in the dark regarding strategies used to strengthen comprehension. I have come in contact with my fair share of texts that were difficult to comprehend. I simply reread. However, if I am studying, I will highlight anything that I think I will need to pay special attention to when I reread.  Oft in times, I have even put down the reading piece until I can approach it with a fresh approach. But how do you teach this to 4K students?

Considering that very few of my students are able to read, I employ many of these strategies during read alouds in an attempt to model comprehension strategies. The most consistent, though may have to be rereading and surveying. Not only do I read the same book several times each week (or sometimes several times in a day), I also do a quick flip through of the book, allowing students to see various parts of the story before I actually begin reading. This is beneficial since all of the books that are read to the students are illustrated. It gives them a good visual and allows them to read the pictures to predict what may happen.  When rereading, I often turn the book at various parts of the story so that the pages are facing me rather than them while I ask, "What do you think happens next?" Although, I use these strategies on a daily basis, because I am teaching 4 year olds I never really considered these to be comprehension strategies.

In addition, this chapter has forced me to take a closer look at my own strategies. Perhaps I too will begin scanning ahead or doing a flip through or two.

Caroline Smith - Blog Post #5: "Teach With a Sense of Urgency"

When I hear the word “urgent” I think of hurry, so this chapter really made me rethink how I view it. Routman says that she does not mean for teachers to teach from anxiety but in reality I think all teachers battle with that at some time. With all of the assessments and portfolios and expectations, it is hard to not get anxious over what we have to accomplish. But Routman reminds us that that kind of teaching is what can hurt our students and ourselves. Teachers should be excited and happy when they come to work, but sometimes everything else gets in the way of that one simple thing. The deadlines can keep us from really taking the time to work with our students and move them forward. I do not want to become the teacher who selfishly hurries the lessons just to say I did them and move to the next thing. It’s important to make every moment count with these students, especially at an at-risk program. We must constantly be aware of where students are, where they need to be, and what we need to do to get them there.  Part of teaching with a sense of urgency includes keeping expectations high for our students.  Teachers must include high-level thinking, problem solving, and questioning within their instruction. When Routman talked about “Focus on Language Acquisition, Not Just Letters and Sounds” I was surprised. I agree with the fact that students have to understand stories and written language before they can pay attention to print. It was interesting to about the “fourth-grade slump” and how beneficial oral language development is to future literacy skills. I cannot let my sense of anxiety and pressure be a pitfall in my students' literacy development.

Caroline Smith - Blog Post #4: "Emphasize Shared Reading"

As Routman said, shared reading is powerful because it helps students and teachers bond; becoming partners in a fun process. With 4 year olds, shared reading is practically expected! I LOVE doing read-alouds with my students because they get so excited. Now that they are starting to develop their comprehension skills it is easier to engage them in the story. I can ask those questions about key details to keep them interested while monitoring their comprehension at the same time. I read The Three Little Pigs aloud this week and had my students say “Little Pig, Little Pig, let me come in” and “Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin” and they loved it! I also kept them active during the story by having them huff and puff when we got that part in the book. I think shared reading has a huge impact on students, especially this young. They cannot read the words to gain comprehension at this age but they love books. Shared reading is a wonderful way to combine those two! Melissa Wells recently came to my room and did a read aloud with the class. She introduced me to a resource called wegivebooks.com. I had never heard of this before but I am so grateful I know now. The pages take up the full computer screen, allowing the teacher and students to see the words and pictures easier. This is also a great way to track the words as you read them and get children familiar with print concepts (reading from left to right). I like the framework that Routman laid out in the chapter. Even though some of these concepts are over our babies’ heads, the checklist is a nice way to see what areas we are covering! 

Blogpost 4 Lisa L. Smith (CDC) for November 2015

Blogpost 4 Lisa L. Smith (CDC) for November 2015

Reading Essentials by Reggie Routman; “Share Your Reading Life.”

This chapter was very thought provoking to me.  Because I teach 4 year old children, I guess I haven’t thought much about sharing my reading life with them.  I know that one of the teachers that most impacted my literacy identity did exactly that.  She shared with us her love of reading and her passion for books.  She made books come alive for us and told us all the time that she often got lost in a book and couldn’t put it down.  She was by far the most influential teacher I ever had.  I think now that it was because she did share her literacy identity with the class.  We knew she liked informational books about cats.  We knew that she enjoyed reading mysteries and love stories.  We also knew that she read the newspaper every single day because it was “important to know what was going on in the world around us.”  She often shared appropriate and pertinent news with us and helped us to see how it affected our lives.  After reading this chapter, I will make a more concerted effort to share who I am as a reader with my students, even if they are young.  The most important thing I want them to know is that I love books and that I read a lot.  I will bring in books that I have been reading to share with them.  I will do a better job of helping them see that reading is not just for learning, but for enjoyment.  I thought it was very interesting that a principal indicated that reading was not enjoyed at his school because there were in essence too many strings attached.  They had to summarize, write book reports, answer questions, take tests, and get their parents to sign their reading log.  This is definitely something that we as teachers do in order to have documentation of reading.  However, it sucks the life and joy right out of the book.  I probably would not curl up with a good book at my house if I knew that I would have to do tons of work to go along with it.  The author kept a reading record.  I personally don’t know if I feel it necessary to record everything I read because that becomes drudgery.  But I do think recording a favorite book, or a meaningful quote or message from a book could be rewarding.  The burning question is, “How does that look for a 4K classroom?”  I guess what I take away is the effort to communicate with my students my love of reading and passion for books.  I want them to know that it is a big part of who I am.  I want them to know that I like cats and enjoy reading mysteries and historical fiction.  I want them to know that my husband has read 35 books about the same subject because he wants to know as much as he can about the subject.  I want them to know I read to be a better teacher.  That is definitely an ongoing conversation I will be having with my students.  I want to do a better job of helping them get more out of the books they read and the read alouds we do.  I already attempt to make the books come to life, but I think I may have us write a little as a class about what was meaningful about certain books that we really enjoyed.  These are the things I took out of the chapter.  I hope that by adding a few of these changes in my classroom, my students will come to know me as a reader and hopefully I can impact them as much as my long ago teacher impacted me when she sat in her creaky rocker and told us about her love of reading and read to us.  We thought we were too old for that in some ways, but every single one of us was on the edge of our seat when she picked up a book.  

Diana Reid Blog 5 Routman (2003), Ch. 12: You Only Have So Much Time

Routman suggest that one should spend their time wisely.  She also recommends thinking about instructional goals and customizing instruction for students.  Experience is helpful as well for knowing what will or won’t work.  Using activities that are applicable to the students’ learning and is student driven are more effective.  Recently, I have been using class made books to help my students practice reading Nursery Rhyme and to know how to handle a book properly.  Routman advises using teacher made books for guided reading, which is exactly what these books are for.

Creating opportunities for our students to become independent requires the teacher to implement activities that are simple and need little teacher directives.  Transitional periods should be teachable moments.  While waiting for our pictures to be taken with Santa, I will bring a basket of books for my students to read.  This is a wonderful opportunity for students to participate in IR. 

I am so grateful to Routman for giving me permission to read the comics again.  Any minute I have free, I feel obligated to read work related information.  From page 217, “Make Time for Personal and Professional Reading,” I have started to look at my personal reading differently.  For the past three years I have been working towards my plus thirty, never giving attention to my personal interest.   Recently my husband mentioned how The Wall Street Journal has a subscription deal, six months for ninety-nine dollars.  Articles in this newspaper are very well written.  With how much reading I do for work, I usually save The Wall Street Journal for vacations or holidays.  Well, guess what is sitting on the counter waiting for me to read?  Yes, the Wall Street Journal!  After finishing my write up for chapter twelve, I can read the article that my husband just shared with me.  Wow, this is how reading can be in my classroom!  Now I do not have to feel guilty for reading information that does not relate to education specifically. 

Towards the end of the chapter, the author also recommended mentoring.  This gives educators opportunities to learn and teach each other skills that may require an in-service.  Working together with other educators in planning to help with creativity is very helpful in saving time.

Diana Reid, Blog 4 Routman (2003), Ch. 10: Examine Guided Reading

Guided Reading has been around for many years.  I remember my student teacher experience with guided reading.  The teacher that I was under used a strategy that is frowned upon by the author of the text.  “Be Cautious about how your Group Children” from page 152 disagrees with grouping past 2^nd grade.  Being an educator of children in preschool, I have had my high with my low and noticed the high children correcting the lower children.  I had no intentions of helping the students with reading, the purpose was actually to address social issues.  Reading has many psychological benefits that can be helpful for students to develop social issues. 

The “Flexible Grouping” with Readers Theater is one of my favorite tools as an educator.  During my years in general education, Readers’ Theater was great for nonfiction material.  I have been entertaining the idea of doing Readers Theater with Nursery Rhymes. 

“Qualities of an Excellent Text for Guided Reading” reminds me of the suggestions for helping to develop a fluency in reading.  For students whose IEP’s goal is colors, I am having them read a color book.  They are to look at the picture, name the color, then predict the color word.   This is one of the first suggestions to help the child to “Figure out and understand the words.” Using “… the illustrations or photos to support understanding,” helps my students to use their working memory to look for words that have the beginning sound. 

Another suggestion is to give books that are not appropriate for guided reading to use at home. The other day I purchased for my students a book as their Winter Break gift.  This way, my students will have an opportunity to read at home with their family over the two weeks from school. 

Love the “… guidelines I set for my students.”  For my class, I have really been stressing being quiet, and respecting each other’s learning.  I needed this section to help emphasize that my modeling needs to be practiced more than once.  I thought that my instructions were not clear.  From this chapter, I have discovered this is an ongoing process.  

Melissa Revis #4: Routman Section 3: Share Your Reading Life

This is going to be a blog of honesty; I am not a reader. I never have been. My parents would have to bribe me to read. There were few books that I would get into. I loved the American Girl Books though. When I started reading the first one, my parents were so excited that they bought me as many as I wanted. Now as an adult, I still don't pick up a book for fun usually, but I do love to buy children's books for my students. I started buying books when I was in college to get a jump start on my collection for my class library. I promote reading in my classroom by sharing what I do love about books and reading. I love to share the new children's books I buy and put them out on display. I talk to the children about the fun things that go on in each book and why I like the book. Children's books are so much fun; they can provide so much laughter, fun, and learning! It makes me sad to think that some of my students go home to a few to none books to read at home for fun. I recently have started collecting the little books that Chic-fil-a gives out with kids' meals and I put them into my treasure box for the children. If I could send home a copy of every book we read at school, I totally would, but that's just not really possible.

Jennifer Campbell, Routman: Chapter 8 Teach Comprehension, Blog Post 4

I almost skipped over this chapter because I thought that actually teaching comprehension doesn’t really apply to 4K, but at the same time I didn’t really know why.  Then I read “You can’t start teaching comprehension in grade 3.  You start teaching it the day kids enter preschool or kindergarten.”  I felt like I wasn’t the only one who just assumed you taught it later on.  Then after I read about some of the strategies like sequencing, constructing summaries, making connections (to other texts we’ve read, the world, our lives, from known information), and making inferences that’s what we’re already doing. They’re learning to comprehend oral language as well as the pictures in books. I know when I’m reading a text I’ll often stop and ask questions about things they may have noticed, the setting, characters, and connections to other known things but it didn’t occur to me that I could actually be teaching comprehension skills they can use in the future.  If they start early enough then it will become second nature to them. 

            One strategy I would like to incorporate is allowing them to preview a book before I read it to the class.  Routman calls it “survey the text before they begin to read”, but I could have the book out a few days prior in our library center for them to preview the pictures on their own before I read it to the class.  Another way I could use this is in a small group with several copies of the text and have students create graphic organizers or create an anchor chart as a group. 

           I normally "teach" as I am reading book or after we have read the book through sequencing activities, charts, or acting out the story.  It would be interesting to see how these new strategies boost their comprehension of a text.

Tonya Hendricks Blog 3 Routman (2003), Ch. 5: Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

After reading this chapter I am more motivated to recreate my classroom Library so that it better meets the needs of my young readers.  Unfortunately my classroom is one of the smallest in our entire school.  With much work and still more to do, I am still trying to create a cozy learning community for my students.  I believe my classroom Library is one of the most important parts of my room.  I currently have one two sided bookshelf in the front of my classroom. The bookshelf sits on the floor in front of the colored carpet and displays a variety of books.   I also have milk crates with hand-made covers that the students sit on while reading books or they can just sit on the carpet.  The books on the bookshelf are frequently switched out with book baskets and other book collections that I have.  I try to have books displayed that we are currently reading with our unit of study or, books that we have read previously in the year.  After reading this chapter I have been given ideas as to how to recreate my classroom Library. My first plan of action will be to discover what my students are interested in reading.  I would like to discover what their likes and dislikes are.  My desire is to go beyond the common, simple, idea of “car books,” for boys and “princess books” for girls.  After reading this chapter I do plan on creating a Class list for my students based on what books they would like to see in our class Library.  I plan to use this information for the Donors Choose Grant I am currently writing to purchase books for our classroom Library.   I also continue to keep collecting books when the opportunity presents itself.  I frequent the Library for cheap books for sale.  I visit garage sales in search of books for our classroom Library.  I’m also in the process of trying a “Book Swap,” with a friend who teaches as well. In addition, I would like to have my students help in the organization of my classroom Library. I believe that “we,” can create a way of organizing our collection of books so that students are able to easily choose books based on their interest.  Another goal I have is to incorporate more times to visit our classroom Library.  I would like to focus on reading for “pleasure.”  I believe that my young students often overlook visiting our classroom Library because they feel insecure about their reading abilities. My goal this year is to incorporate more reading times throughout the day.  I believe with more opportunities to read and look at books students will become more comfortable with choosing to visit the classroom Library on their own.   I believe that as students continue to visit the Library their interest and love for discovering what’s in a book will only deepen.

Samantha Guest, Blog Post #4. Routman: Chapter 12: You Only Have So Much Time

I’m sure every teacher always asks the question “Is there enough time?” I find myself saying often “If only we had more time…” There is so much that I want to do, make, read, write, and teach to my class but it just seems like there is never enough time in the day to get to it all. Because I am a new teacher I am so excited to teach my class and everything that we are doing is new to me. I have so many ideas of things I want to do with my students. I have found from reading this chapter that time is valuable and we should all use it in the most meaningful productive ways possible. I also like the point about how if the classroom activities are not helping my students become more independent readers, writers, and thinkers then maybe I should set it aside. Sometimes there are great, cute activities for my young students to do but I have to make sure they are learning and benefiting from each activity that we do. To make the most of your teaching time it’s important to focus on one or two very important teaching points and do them well. Hit those points and try not to just stuff your lesson with things that really are not as important. This will help to maximize your instructional time. I really thought the section about using transitional periods as teaching times applied to me and my class specifically. We spend so much time transitioning multiple times a day I think it would be so beneficial to use this time to reinforce teaching. For example, I can reinforce colors by saying “If you are wearing blue please line up.”

I also loved the point that it made in one section of the chapter about living an interesting life as a teacher. Some teachers often spend countless hours creating fabulous projects, centers, and worksheets, but that is not the best way we can help our students become better readers and writers. They will become better readers and writers if they receive excellent instruction. It’s also important to still make time for your friends, family, and doing what you love outside of teaching  because we are not only role models for learning, but role models for living.

Dawn Mitchell's Conferencing Experiences and Regie Routman's Chapter 7 – Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner

Dawn Mitchell's Conferencing Experiences and Regie Routman's Chapter 7 – Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner

During the month of November  our application of formative assessments such as analysis of miscues, conferencing, kidwatching, reading response and more to guide our instruction and provide valuable feedback to our students.  

In November’s blendspace you will find a variety of resources including examples of using msv to analyze running records, yyn to analyze miscues, conferencing questions to guide both peer and teacher- student conferencing, excerpts of articles, suggestions for strategies to use with students after analysis, and relevant activities to help you to apply authentic reading assessments with your students.

This month I worked to apply the informal conferencing strategies that I learned about from Routman’s chapter 7 Make Assessment Instruction’s Working Partner.  In last month’s blog post I shared Routman’s Framework for informal reading conferences she outlined on page 104.  I loved how she began by asking students to bring her a book that they could read pretty well. 

Last week I met with my focus group of second grade students before school and we had a group reading conference.  I wanted to share that transcript with you and then share what I learned about my students from it. 

Favorite Book Conferencing

11/5/2015

7:15-8:15

Student I:

Book chosen: “Miss Fox’s Class Goes Green by Eileen Spinelli”

Why did you choose this book:  “Because her whole class had to take care of the school.

What did they do:  “They helped pick up trash.”

What else did they do? Can you give me some more details?:  “They all saw the principal and the teacher riding a bicycle.  Then they tried to ride a bicycle too.”

Would you recommend this book to someone:  “Because it’s helpful.”

What did you learn:  “Always try to help your school.”

Can you point to your favorite part and tell us a little bit about it?:  (Turns to page 26 and 27).   “They pick up trash without the teachers telling them to and they have a surprise party for the teacher because it is her birthday.”

Will you read this favorite part for us?  “Yes.”

*reads with accuracy and fluency

Would you like to write a book review?: “No, I want to write my best friend a letter about this book instead.  She will want to read it then.”

Okay, Let’s talk about what you could put into your letter?:  “I want to tell her how this book will make you want to take care of your school!” 

Student K:

Book Chosen:  “Meekats by Kari Schuetz”

Why did you choose this book:  “Because they stand on two legs.” 

What did you want to learn about Meerkats: “They dig holes.”

Why did they dig holes?  “They need homes.”

What did Meerkats make you think about:  “They have black eyes.”

Okay, I want to model/show you how to do a nonfiction book talk.

*I modeled how to do a book talk on Sharks. Student P engaged and discussed what he learned about sharks and student I chimed in and we had a shark talk.

What did I do in my book talk about sharks that you could do in your book talk about Meerkats?:

“You told us cool things about sharks and you told us that Eli used to be scared of sharks and wouldn’t get in the water but now that he has learned about them he likes learning about them and he knows they probably want eat him in the ocean because they like fat seals.”

Okay, so can you try out looking through your Meerkat book and decide what you want to tell us about Meerkats?”  “Yes!”

*After Student P shared with us about Henry and Mudge, Student K said he was ready to share with us about Meerkats.

“Meerkats live in groups of mobs.  One mob can have 40 meerkats.” He asked, “What is a mob?”  We talked about how a mob is a large group and how meerkats live together in big families.

Next, student K said, “They eat scorpions and insects, and bird eggs!”  Student C said, “What! That’s crazy!”

Student K shows us a grasshopper!  Student C says, “They have a stinger in it and they could sting the meerkats!” 

“How do you think the meerkat keeps from getting stung?” Palmer said, “I think they bite the tail off.” Student C says, “I think they use their teeth to crunch it up.”

Student C said he could learn more about them on direct tv on called Nat Geo Wild!  “I watch it with my dad sometimes!  They show us about meerkats sometimes.”

Who do you want to recommend your book to a friend?:  “Yes!”

Student P said, “Pick me!  I want to read this one.  I want to learn about animals and I like that scorpion page!”

Student K began writing his letter of recommendation to Palmer.

Student P:

What book did you choose:?  “Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All by Cynthia Rylant

Why did you choose this book:  “Because the dog is so big and he jumps all around and he licks a little boy.”

What is the little boy’s name:  “Henry, but what I don’t like about it is that they don’t they don’t tell you Henry’s mom and dad’s name.  They just tell us Henry’s mom and Henry’s dad.”

Student P can you give us a book talk?”  “Henry has a birthday and they have a piñata and they have it outside.  They bring a fish birthday cake! (He shows us the picture! Student K laughs and says, I love this book too).  They have these three games that they made.  They had ring toss, go fishing, and a potato sack race.  The winner got rings and baby goldfish.  The winner of the potato sack race got potato chips.

Who would you recommend this book to?:  “My friend Will B.”

Why:  “He’s your friend and he goes to my church and he was in first grade with me last year.”

Why do you think he would love this book?:  “He has animals at his house too. I think he has a kitty.”

What is your favorite part that you want to read to us?”  “He chooses page 24 -26 where they hit the piñata.

He read fluently and Student K began reading with him. They both proceeded to read together through page 29.

Student K asked, “What is taffy?”  (Taffy was in the piñata)  We discussed what taffy is.

Student P began writing a letter like Student I to his friend Will to recommend this Henry and Mudge book.

Student C:

What book did you choose?:  “Big Max by Kin Platt

Why did you choose this book?:  “Because it’s about a detective who is helping people find their missing stuff.”

Can you do a book talk on this book and tell me your favorite parts?”  Student C begins to read it out loud.

*One thing I noticed is that Student C substituted cell phone for telephone in the text. J

Student C said, “I already took an A.R. test on this and I made a 100 on it.”

What is your favorite part?:  “My favorite part is when the elephants dance.”  He turns to page 54 and begins to read with expression.  He paused for punctuation.

Tell me why you loved this part?”  “I loved this part because it’s about a birthday cake and my birthday just passed.  I turned 8.  I had birthday cake too.”

Student C would you recommend this book to someone?:  “Yes, I think they might like it because they might like detectives too.”

Who do you think would like it?:  “Haden because he probably likes detectives like me.”

Would you like to write him a letter too?:  “Yes.”

On page 107 Routman reminds us to teach intentionally.  She says, “Any time we spend with a child is an opportunity to teach.  If we make an assessment and don’t use it to move teaching and learning forward, the assessment is largely a waste of time.  Use your informal reading evaluations to do need-based teaching.  Ask yourself “What’s most important to teach in this moment for this child to move him forward?”

In conferencing with my small group I noticed that our students were re-telling their books or starting from the beginning to read the book without really engaging in a conversation. After “I”s conference I asked her if she wanted to do a book review because she seemed to really love her book and she said that she’d like to write a letter to her friend K instead.  We went with this and I saw it as a teachable moment.  While she was starting on her letter, student “K” began his conference and while he told us random facts he really struggled to engage us in the book or to cohesively really explain why he chose the text and what he got out of it.  I saw this as an opportunity to introduce the concept of a book talk. 

The book talk mini-lesson provided students with a model for talking about their books and it served to inspire the rest of our focus group to consider writing a letter to a friend to recommend a book. After modeling a book talk about an animal Eli and I loved learning about, “sharks”, we discussed how a book talk allows you to really share not only what you read but what you learned, why you loved it, and how to engage others in wanting to read it to, kind of like “I”’s letter only in person.  It worked and inspired “P”’s book talk, “K”s book talk, and “C”’s and it led us to want to use the same language and purpose in our book talks in our letters to our friends recommending the book to them.

I enjoyed my conferencing time with my small focus group this past week.  That time was valuable for us to share books of choice that we’d read about topics or characters that we were interested in.  I learned a lot about my students which by itself was a valuable outcome of our time.  Having the opportunity to connect a real world experience of sharing our love of a good book with our peers through a letter (which wasn’t even my idea but “I’s”!) made me thankful for the reciprocity of reading and writing and for the teachable moments our students provide us. 

Sincerely,

Dawn

Tonya Hendricks Blog 2 The Pleasure Principle

This article is such a wonderful reminder of how important it is to allow the youngest of children the opportunity to read just for fun.  In addition it is important to give students the opportunity to choose what they are reading.  Throughout the day I provide my students many opportunities to be exposed to books and reading.  We have a group story time where I sit on the carpet with them and read.  Following that time the students and I usually talk about and discuss what the book was about or have a time where we practice our writing and drawing skills by having a writer’s workshop time.  This is a time where students draw and write about a book we have read in class.  In addition I also have many times throughout the day where I allow students the opportunity to choose books to read just for fun out of our book basket.  Whether they are sitting on their carpet square, table seat, or just curled up on the rug with a pillow, I allow them the opportunity to freely read books.  Although they can’t actually read the words in the books they are still excited by the time they have to look at the books.  It is so fun to first watch them trying to decide which book they will choose to read.  Some students spend a lot of time picking the perfect book, while others just choose the first one they can put their little hands on.  Once they start to look at the books they begin to smile, laugh and even talk to the other children around them.  However, it is clear when they do not like the book they are looking at because they quickly loose interest and start to focus on other things.  As a teacher I appreciate this article because it gives a new respect for the word “choice,” during reading time.  The “Reader’s Bill of Rights is a wonderful resource that I will implement in my daily reading times.  I appreciate the ideas of skipping pages, or not finishing a book, especially speaking of the young age group that I work with.  I also respect my student’s choices therefore the idea of the “right to read anything,” makes perfect sense when working with young readers.  “The right to read anywhere,” is also very valuable to my young readers because they enjoy laying out on the carpet with a pillow and a good book.  I truly appreciate this article because it focuses on reading as being a student led “discovery,” by choice alone.  When students have the freedom to choose then they are also being given the freedom to independently discover what’s in a book.  As a teacher this is one of my ultimate goals for my students, to learn through self-engagement and self-discovery.  

Tonya Hendricks Blog 1 Children’s Success as Readers and Writers: It’s the Teacher’s Beliefs That Make the Difference.

I believe that teachers practice the art of teaching students like that of a painter painting a picture.  The painter paints the portrait from his/her own belief of what the painting should look like.  The beauty of the painting comes from the painter’s decisions of how to paint.  The piece he or she chooses or the colors that are used to paint the picture all reflect the ideas and beliefs of the painter.  Likewise, teachers practice the art of teaching based on what they believe will be most effective for their student’s overall learning and success. However, this writing is a reminder that what a teacher “thinks,” is the best, is still based on their individual opinion of how students should learn.   The text demonstrates two teachers with very different mind sets when it comes to the “practice,” of teaching.  Both teachers had the best of intentions when it came to teaching Matt however, due to the difference in learning environments, Matt demonstrated totally different level of abilities in his behavior and learning. This text is a reminder to me that my students will not always learn by the way I teach them.  As I continue to teach I must remember to allow my students to guide me in the way I teach.  I have to allow flexibility in my curriculum in order to give my students the freedom to engage and learn in their own individual way.  I believe students learn through self-expression and self-discovery of knowledge.  As a teacher my goal is to allow my students the opportunity to learn and to paint their own pictures.

1. Blog 3 Routman (2003), Ch. 3: Share Your Reading Life

Sharing my love of reading with my students helps to make reading real.   From chapter three, page twenty-three, “Many students will not see and feel the power of reading without your enthusiasm and modeling.” Fortunately my own two children accumulated a huge library of books that I am able to share with my preschool students.  The other day, I read a fall book that had my son’s name written inside with his own handwriting.  Whenever we would get a book order, I would always insist that names be written inside the book.  I was sure to share with my students that this use to be my son’s book, and he is letting us have a chance to enjoy the book, too. 

This month, our unit of study is Exercise.  To help our students make connections with body and movement, we are also identifying body parts.  Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe is a wonderful way to review body parts, movement and animals.  Eric Carle is one of my favorite author and illustrators.  Page twenty-seven, “Talk About Favorite Authors and Favorite Books,” justifies why I went to the library and checked out any books of his that are missing from my own library.  These books are out for students to read, and for them to ask me to read aloud to them.  I am also using this as an opportunity to really emphasize the illustrator’s purpose.

As for the exercise and sport, I never really gave much thought to also sharing my family’s magazines.  My son has Sports Illustrated for kids.  ESPEN Magazine and Sports Illustrated subscription of my husbands would be a great way to get my boys to engage in reading.  Of course I will leave out the swimsuit issue!  “Let Students Know What You Are Reading and What You Will Read Next” is very powerful for purpose. I will share my Runner’s World and Yoga magazine.  Explaining to my students that I am reading to learn more about my hobbies.  Oh, I could share my gardening books.  And the Sunday comics! I am sure there is so much more that my students could be exposed to from my reading interest as the year progresses.

Blog 2 Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to support Independent Reading?

If you find a problem, you have to find the solution.  Debbie Miller suggested that we as educators need to take a hard look at what we do each day.  Just because we have been doing our procedures the same way every day for eons does not make it practical or useful.  As an educator that is perusing my plus thirty, I am always changing by using researched based procedures. 

When the example of a school using the calendar from kindergarten to second were observed, I had to giggle.  A few years ago, I had an opportunity to sub in kindergarten, first, and second.  Mornings were never a concern, since a knew we would spend a good thirty minutes or more on calendar, season, weather, announcements, lunch count, attendance, etc… 

Wanting every second to count for my 4k special education students, I totally reevaluated my procedures.  None of my students had days of the week, months, seasons, or weather in their IEP goals.  Nor was this a skill addressed in DIAL or our districts 4k report card.  Having reevaluated my instruction time made it possible for many of my students last year to develop skills I had never thought we would master.

1. Routman (2003), Ch. 5: Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

Organizing my books helped me to take inventory of what I already had, and what I needed.  Using the recommendations by CDEP for implementing a conducive learning environment with the text helped me to see my class in a more logical light.  In the Math Interest Area, I have all kinds of counting books.  At the same time I am lacking in shape books, too.  While I am writing this entry, I just thought of how I also need to include books about colors in the Math Interest Area as well, since it is assessed under math. 

A preschool classroom takes a little more than just organizing books.  I also had to take the time to organize the toys.  While straightening the plastic and stuffed animals, these needed to really be in my Science Interest Area.  What really would help, Is to place all my animal books with those props as well.  Students would be able to make kinesthetic and visual connections to the reading. 

Today, I introduced a student to the Science Interest Area to assist him with the letter “D.”  Using books on Dinosaurs helped to create purpose.  We used the plastic models of dinosaurs to match with the ones in the book.  While looking at the informative text, I explained to him that these books can help answer our questions.  We looked in the book until we found a match to the stuffed Triceratops.  We counted the horns, “Three!”  I mentioned how the prefix “Tri” means three.  I could go on and on with the teachable moments.  This time with him helped explain why I spent three hours working in the classroom Saturday.  

Reading specifically from "Include Lots of Nonfiction" from page seventy helped me to feel comfortable about placing informative text in the class room for my preschool students.  Even if the children are not able to read, the realistic pictures will introduce the students to real and make believe.