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.