I don't admit this easily but when it comes to my students completing their weekly reading logs, I have failed as a teacher! No matter how I collect them, grade them, provide feedback, etc., SOMEONE forgets to fill out their reading log, someone changes a book without checking in first, and I continue to be frustrated. Of course, there is something in my teaching that isn't going right...and that's okay, because we all struggle somewhere!
Over break I read two things, Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop by Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak and the following blog, http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com/. Both waxed poetic about the benefits of using State of the Class and made me a believer! When we return to school this week I plan to implement this idea. For now we're going to use this in place of the reading log until I reconsider how I want my log to look and what its purpose is in the classroom.
Rebecca Rojas has created a wonderful State of the Class document! You can see it here: http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com/2011/10/few-of-my-favorite-things-about-this.html
Take a look at this idea if you're not already using State of the Class. I plan to update my blog after a few days and share my class results. I'll let the students post their thoughts as well!
Showing posts with label Reading Log. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading Log. Show all posts
Monday, January 2, 2012
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Visualizing
It's been a few weeks, I'll admit. Teaching full-time, PLUS weekend teaching, the MEAP (Michigan standardized tests) at school, parent-teacher conferences, report cards, family illness, a family wedding, volunteering at my kids school...well, you get the picture.
Regardless, I hope to catch up on my reading lessons. So tonight I'll talk about visualizing.
Whatever skill level my readers (skill level tonight is defined as a Running Record score) I spend a few days covering the strategy of visualizing. I feel that this is the most critical and basic skill. Every other strategy is difficult without the ability to visual the reading. Visualizing is defined as painting pictures in the mind, running a movie in your as you read the book, activating the senses, and being able to "see" the story. (Sources: Strategies That Work, Mosaic of Thought)
I believe it's important to reteach this skill each year, to make the kids aware of it once again so they are practicing the skill deliberately. We began by practicing to music. We listened to a song twice, the first time listening with our eyes closed to visualize the song in our minds. Tanny McGregor recommends using the song, "Grandma's Feather Bed," by John Denver. We used this song in our classroom and shared our images using the class document camera. It's a great song for the activity! Everyone's interpretation was different and unique. Next, students practiced with their own song over the weekend. Everything from AC/DC to classical came back the next day!
From there we listened and visualized to our class read-aloud, 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies. Once again, everyone shared their unique mental images. We finally moved to practicing the strategy with our own independent reading books. From there, the visualization strategy became a strategy we could independently choose as a reader's notebook response.
What if your students struggle to visualize? Use songs more often and also poetry. Do the strategy WITH your students and share your images, thus teaching your students how you see a story. Pull out key words from the song, poem, or story and tell how they would assist in creating the mental image. When your students are more proficient, move to practicing this strategy with non-fiction. It's important to make this move (when they're ready) since students are exposed to more and more non-fiction as they progress through the grades.
Finally, teach your students to visualize and create mental images. It's a critical skill!
Regardless, I hope to catch up on my reading lessons. So tonight I'll talk about visualizing.
Whatever skill level my readers (skill level tonight is defined as a Running Record score) I spend a few days covering the strategy of visualizing. I feel that this is the most critical and basic skill. Every other strategy is difficult without the ability to visual the reading. Visualizing is defined as painting pictures in the mind, running a movie in your as you read the book, activating the senses, and being able to "see" the story. (Sources: Strategies That Work, Mosaic of Thought)
I believe it's important to reteach this skill each year, to make the kids aware of it once again so they are practicing the skill deliberately. We began by practicing to music. We listened to a song twice, the first time listening with our eyes closed to visualize the song in our minds. Tanny McGregor recommends using the song, "Grandma's Feather Bed," by John Denver. We used this song in our classroom and shared our images using the class document camera. It's a great song for the activity! Everyone's interpretation was different and unique. Next, students practiced with their own song over the weekend. Everything from AC/DC to classical came back the next day!
From there we listened and visualized to our class read-aloud, 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies. Once again, everyone shared their unique mental images. We finally moved to practicing the strategy with our own independent reading books. From there, the visualization strategy became a strategy we could independently choose as a reader's notebook response.
Finally, teach your students to visualize and create mental images. It's a critical skill!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The First Week
Typically the first week of a Reader's Workshop in my classroom involves procedures...lots and lots of procedures!
Procedures Menu:
1. Sharpening your Pencil--Students find out that sharpening their pencil, constantly, takes away from the focus of the reader's workshop. Therefore, I restrict pencil sharpening (of any kind) to the very beginning of the workshop period. Really, that's why I have a drawer full of sharp pencils!
2. I let students read any book for the first two or three weeks of school. It allows me to find out what kind of books students will typically pick when left on their own. Are they reading comic books? Are they jumping into a great novel? Are they "pretending" to read? It's a great time to begin my anecdotal records!
3. Where do we sit during reader's workshop? Anywhere...as long as it's not near your friend that will be a distraction to you or get you into trouble.
4. We have to take notes??? Yes! Notes are often related to the anchor charts we create in class. Sometimes students are asked to "have a go" at the class anchor chart and create their own.
5. You never know who's going to be turning in their reader's notebook, so do the work every day! Expect to turn in your notebook at least two times during the week.
6. Recess and lunch are times for talking with friends. End of story.
7. Yes, you really get to pick YOUR OWN BOOK for independent reading!
Those are the procedures we covered this week. We also discussed a few important components of books and reading:
We read the following books as read-alouds this week:
The Teacher From the Black Lagoon.
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Fireboat: the Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey **This book was our 9/11 read. It's a wonderfully uplifting tale about a group of heroes on September 11.
Procedures Menu:
1. Sharpening your Pencil--Students find out that sharpening their pencil, constantly, takes away from the focus of the reader's workshop. Therefore, I restrict pencil sharpening (of any kind) to the very beginning of the workshop period. Really, that's why I have a drawer full of sharp pencils!
2. I let students read any book for the first two or three weeks of school. It allows me to find out what kind of books students will typically pick when left on their own. Are they reading comic books? Are they jumping into a great novel? Are they "pretending" to read? It's a great time to begin my anecdotal records!
3. Where do we sit during reader's workshop? Anywhere...as long as it's not near your friend that will be a distraction to you or get you into trouble.
4. We have to take notes??? Yes! Notes are often related to the anchor charts we create in class. Sometimes students are asked to "have a go" at the class anchor chart and create their own.
5. You never know who's going to be turning in their reader's notebook, so do the work every day! Expect to turn in your notebook at least two times during the week.
6. Recess and lunch are times for talking with friends. End of story.
7. Yes, you really get to pick YOUR OWN BOOK for independent reading!
We read the following books as read-alouds this week:
The Teacher From the Black Lagoon.
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Fireboat: the Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey **This book was our 9/11 read. It's a wonderfully uplifting tale about a group of heroes on September 11.
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