A. Johnson- December Blog #5 Chapter 8 Teach Comprehension

A.  Johnson- December Blog #5 Chapter 8 Teach Comprehension

Comprehension is one of the hardest things my students struggle with. Almost every single one of my students have a comprehension goal in their IEP and every student has a very hard time with it. In this chapter it started out saying that if we want our students to wind up with comprehension, we have to begin with comprehension. If we spend most of our time on just reading the words, students get the message that reading is about words rather than understanding the meaning.

My students come to me as such low readers and my focus is to learn letter sounds, blends, and just to be able to sound out and read the words. We focus on direct instruction curriculums trying to close the gap that has been made. Routman shared that by the time the focus shifts to comprehension, they have lost years of knowing what real reading is about. Having a lack in comprehension can relate back to students not having the background knowledge, prior experiences, or knowledge of the way texts and authors work that is difficult for them.  You can’t start teaching comprehension in grade three, you start the day they enter kindergarten.

Routman stated that students are more likely to increase their comprehension when we as teachers show them how we understand a text and model a variety of strategies; such as: asking questions, predicting, summarizing, and clarifying.

Evatt- Blog #5 Chapter 12 You Only Have So Much Time

     This chapter summarizes everything most teachers feel on a daily basis.  How can I get all this done and still have a life?? The chapter stresses that we re-evaluate our schedule- at home and at school.  Why do we spend so much time away from school grading papers and creating elaborate centers? At school, why are we constantly falling behind and not getting everything done that needs to be done. Routman does an excellent job of explaining why and how we are feeling that we can't get it all done.  We are putting our energy into the wrong places.  We need to look at the amount of busy work we are giving students vs the amount of quality teaching our students are getting. Teachers need to communicate with administration about things that are out of their control that eats up so much time.  Communication is key.  Routman also does a great job of how teachers can integrate subject matter so you don't feel rushed jumping from one topic to another. 
     Some days I feel that I am a hamster on the wheel- never getting anywhere. There are days that I do have busy work.  I have re-evaluated my plans many times through out the years, but I still think I could do so much better with my time.  When I give my students quality instruction and then are to work on something that has meaning and purpose, the day runs so much smoother. I am less stressed and so are the students. I feel that my first grade team does a great job of combining areas together- like shared reading with teaching reading strategies.  One of my biggest pet peeves is doing grammar as an isolated topic. I am trying my best to incorporate grammar into shared reading, guided reading and independent reading. I think social media plays a part in how stressed we are over time.  Social media lets us connect with other teachers but it also shows the "fabulous centers" created or the million dollar classroom décor they have. So we feel stressed that my classroom needs to look that way.  All of that takes up way too much time- keeping up with your teacher friend down the hall or your instagram teacher friend never serves a purpose. As Routman said, rely on your professional feelings about what is purposeful in your own classroom.
    

Beth Sullivan-Blog Post #5-Routman Chapter 9 Emphasize Shared Reading

I enjoyed reading this chapter!  Shared Reading is a huge part of reading in kindergarten.  I love reading with and to my students!  It was great having the many benefits of shared reading affirmed as well as also gaining some new ideas to use with it.  Routman shares that shared reading can be used to demonstrate and help students practice all parts of the reading process.  She also points out that it is quick and time efficient.  How true!  I find that all students love to participate in shared readings and it is a great way to model and teach so many skills.  Kindergarten students love predictable texts and love reading the same thing over and over again.  Not only can many skills such as print concepts, inferring, comprehension strategies, vocabulary and other skills be taught through shared reading many of the books used during shared reading can also be used to teach science skills, writing and many other skills. For example, during the month of October I always read Joy Cowley’s book The Pumpkin with my students.  Not only are many reading skills taught during this shared reading but so are many science skills including the life cycle of a pumpkin and the needs of plants. My students even act out the story and write their own versions of the book.

This chapter contained many fantastic ideas and strategies on ways to use shared readings to teach concepts and help students become independent readers.  One of the areas that I have been working on this year is modeling thinking aloud to my students and having my students share their thinking with the class.  I found the ideas and suggestions of the language to use when modeling thinking aloud and the language of partner work to be very helpful.  I have used the strategy of turn and talk with my students in the past but have to admit this has always been a little scary for me.  I worry that students may not be on-task or may not be on the right track with their answers.  I think that modeling the language of partner work is an important step in helping students gain the most from turn and talk.  I needed the reminder that it is important for students to be able to talk about texts and their thinking with their peers.  This chapter has given me a fresh perspective on shared reading and it was packed with many great ideas!  

Dawn Mitchell's December Blog 5: Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

Dawn Mitchell's Teach Comprehension Regie Routman's Chapter 8

During the month of December our application we are working on learning about theories that have shaped literacy and reflecting on how they have changed our practices as well as applying inquiry based learning in our planning for a unit of study we will teach in the coming spring semester.  

In December’s blendspace you will find a variety of resources including the four theories that we are sharing with you such as Cambourne’s Conditons of Learning, Halliday’s Functions of Language, L1 to L2 Transfer, and Marie Clay’s Reading/Writing Reciprocity  to read and reflect upon.  We have worked to embed two new tech tools, QR codes and Google Forms into your reading/writing workshop that can also be used in your classroom.  Lastly, you will find the new 2015-2016 SC ELA Inquiry standards that can help you enhance your existing units of study through the use of student-driven, inquiry-based learning.

This month for my blog post, I have chosen to read chapter 8 from Routman’s Reading Essentials for many reasons.  First of all, I believe that reading is meaning and without understanding what they are gleaning from texts, students aren’t really reading even if they are the best word callers/decoders on the planet. Without meaning, they are just words.  Second, with current reform initiatives in place in our state and across the country that focus on third grade comprehension it is vital that we realize that comprehension and comprehension instruction starts way before that.  We can’t wait until third grade to determine if our students are ready as readers. We have to keep comprehension in mind from the very start.

Routman says, “In my continuing work in schools, its’ rarely a lack of word work that prevents students from understanding.  It’s almost always not having the background, prior experiences, or knowledge of the way texts and authors work that stumps them – not knowing that good readers are aware of their understanding or lack of it and always do whatever is necessary to make sense of what they are reading.  You can’t start teaching comprehension in grade 3.  You start teaching it the day kids enter preschool or kindergarten.” (Routman, pg. 118)

One of the major points Routman made in this chapter that really convicted me and helped to improve my practice is her point that reading strategies are not synonymous with comprehension and are not meant to be taught in isolation.  I have been a reading/writing workshop girl since back in the day and consider myself to promote and implement the teaching of reading and writing in the authentic context of their own reading and writing.  When I read Routman’s explanation of a typical classroom’s reading instruction I realized that I have too often taught a proficient reading strategy that way.  I have introduced a reading strategy in a minilesson, employed metacognition and modeling, and then had students work to apply that strategy using sticky notes or reading responses to help strengthen their reading.  I realized that many times that took out the authenticity of their independent reading and either simplified a complex, cognitive process into one strategy and weakened their overall comprehension of the text by focusing all of their efforts on one strategy.  Routman says that actually makes reading harder. 

She writes, “Students become so focused on identifying words they don’t know, questions to ask, or connections to make that they forget to read for overall meaning.  While its fine to introduce and practice strategies one at a time, remember that when we read we use all these strategies at the same time and that our comprehension process is largely unconscious.”

I love her question at the end of page 119, “Continue to ask yourself, “How is this procedure helping my students become more proficient and independent as readers?” This is a question that I will use to guide my instruction and I want to be more conscious of my reading application time to ensure that it is not either oversimplified or made harder because of inauthentic instruction. 

Other take aways for me from this chapter include:

*the 20 percent to 80 percent rule where the majority of the time in reading instruction is spent on student application

*the questions given on page 120 to help us focus on strategic reading rather than individual strategies

*megacognitive strategies on page 121 such as rereading, highlighting, writing down, survey, connect, and monitor

*teaching self-monitoring (I love the checklist of strategies on page 125)

On page 129 Routman says, “There is a huge difference between strategy instruction and strategic instruction.  Just teaching strategies is not enough.  Strategies must be “invoked” by the learner if they are to be used to increase understanding.”  I agree and appreciate the clear call to create opportunities for our students to apply what they are learning about reading in authentic ways in their own independent reading with support, with modeling, and with an undeniable purpose to understand what they are reading.

Sincerely,

Dawn

Amy Kemper Blog Post #4 Teaching with a Sense of Urgency

When reading this section of teaching with a sense of urgency, the saying quality over quantity kept coming to mind. It is very important that each lesson is presented to them in a way that is fun and beneficial to each student. There is a limited amount of time you have with each student during school and it is important to utilize this time in a effective way. With my students being on "life" track for school it is important that lessons are providing skills to help them prepare for life. 

The lessons need to be relate-able and all topics are chosen with consideration of the age gap and ability levels within the classroom.  When topics are chosen it is important to include hands on activities for the students to participate in and relate to. One of the last topics we did was about traditions. It was a lot of fun for students to share their own traditions with pictures they brought from home.  With the students being able to share this the meaning of "tradition" made more sense to them and they were able to work on their social skills through sharing stories with the class.  

Allowing my students to relate and lessons they are wanting to learn more and are excited to interact with the various lessons. I love seeing the students become excited over a new lesson. With setting high expectations for the students they begin to put forth more effort and enjoy what they are doing as well.

 

 

December Blog Post- Nicole Ashley- Chapter 12- You Only Have So Much Time- December 9, 2015

I laughed when I saw the title of this chapter- because I'm really feeling that right about now.  This month, we have so many things going on in first grade....Christmas Around the World, Grinch Day, Polar Express Day, Dibels,....the list goes on- all the while trying to keep a bunch of " Christmas Ready" first graders in their seats just long enough to listen to ONE thing.  I loved the part about spending most of your time thinking....I find myself doing that at the oddest times.  I wake up thinking about how I can do that lesson better, or while driving to school I'm thinking about a different approach to teaching a new topic.  Routman was right in saying you have to trust your own experiences to help plan in the most effective way.  I guess that's why I do so much thinking and planning ahead...realizing what may have NOT worked in the past and knowing that I need a new way or approach that might work better. Another part in the chapter focused on keeping a lively pace.  I feel like we have that one DOWN to a T!!!  There is no other pace that we keep!!!  I try to move along at a pretty quick pace, keeping things interesting and engaging students as much as possible.  That goes right along with maximizing participation....I love my tables as opposed to the desks that I had years back.  It suits perfect for a classroom that invites collaboration with one another- even in first grade.  It's important that they are social in their learning environment.  Sometimes they can teach each other much more effectively than I can teach them. I really enjoyed reading the suggestions about how to find ways and time to collaborate with colleagues.  Some of the best suggestions were...institute a late start for students one day a week, dismiss students early one day a week, hire roving subs, add paid days to the school calendar!  LOVE THESE!!!  haha

Chapter 4 Teach WIth a Sense of Urgency-VIckie Thompson

           This chapter, Teach with a Sense of Urgency grabbed my attention because isn't this our goal each day ... to race against the clock to cover as much material/standards as possible?  It is imperative that we make every moment in the classroom count! To ensure that this happens, our instruction must be engaging, our evaluation and reflection must be effective and we must make focused, smart teaching decisions.

I agree with her "Top 5 things she does to ensure students become excellent readers."  Her main point being that we need to intentionally teach  strategies that students  need to know to process  and understand text as well as evaluate students. Another key point which I have been implementing in my classroom is allotting more shared and independent reading time and less guided reading time.  I am trying to really "study" my students strengths and weaknesses and base my whole group and small group instruction on what they need right now to foster their growth as a reader.

Another key component of building confident readers and leaders is through demonstration and shared demonstration.  The latter is essential since it is through this process that the student interacts with both teacher and other students and is very engaged. This allows the teacher time to evaluate and address both strengths and weaknesses. This is a rich teaching context!

Jayna Lehrer – Blog Post (December) Chapter 4 – Teach with a Sense of Urgency

 

While Reading this Chapter titled, Teach with a Sense of Urgency, I learned that it does not mean that we teach quickly with anxiety, rather we teach with a sense of purpose and make every moment count. We need to be mindful of where we need to get our students and how little time we actually have to do so.

 

I can relate to her discussion on shared demonstration for that is what I do on a weekly basis in Kindergarten. She states that “in the instructionally rich sharing situations of participation or hand-in-hand learning lie the most fruitful situations for powerful teaching. pg.45” I love to have my students “pair-share” about certain topics from the shared reading. This provides my students with a way to communicate with their peers, on their level, about something of interest. They love to work in partners and by letting my students do this I feel as though I am fostering a safe environment for them to communicate and share ideas about what they are reading or what has been read to them.

 

I look forward to implementing her idea of creating our own texts for shared, guided and independent reading. She states that “relevant texts that students write with our guidance are especially powerful for readers who struggle. Reading their own written text on a topic they are passionate about can be a springboard to becoming a reader. pg. 54” I am excited to put this idea into action within my own classroom. I know that my students will love to take ownership of shared reading and it will in turn boost their confidence as readers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patricia Graham- Blog Post 4

          As I will be implementing shared reading in my classroom, I chose to read Chapter 9 on Emphasizing Shared Reading.  I found this chapter extremely informative and helpful as I plan for this important, yet often “missing piece in many reading programs.”  While I use guided reading and writing in the classroom, I had failed to use/ see the importance of shared reading.  I now see the importance of shared reading as a “critical learning context for demonstrating and scaffolding learning.” 

          Routman discusses the importance of shared reading where the “teacher combines reading aloud with interactive reading and shared reading.”  Students are able to see and take part in all aspects of the reading process with the different genres and engage in classroom/ partner discussions.  Shared reading is a safe atmosphere where all students are given a chance to be successful.  I am very excited about implementing shared reading in my classroom and look forward to seeing my students grow as thought provoking readers and active participants in classroom discussions.

Michelle Lanford- Nov. Post-Conferences

I started conferences with my focus group by doing an Interest/Attitude Interview. This provided me information about the students' home life with questions such as: Who lives with you, Do you have any jobs at home, What do you really like to do at home, Do you ever read at home, When do you read at home, Does anyone read with you, Do you have a bedtime, Is there a tv in your room, What are your favorite shows, Do you have pets, etc. It also gave me information about school with questions such as: Besides recess and lunch, what do you like about school. Are you a good reader, What makes you a good reader, If you could pick any book what would it be, Do you like to write, What is your favorite thing you have written about, etc.  I felt like this would help give me a little more insight into each student's life as a learner. Then I completed an IRI for each of these students to see where they are and what they can do as of now. I found out that most of them are pretty good at decoding and "word calling," but when it comes to comprehension they are lacking. They could recall a few of the literal details but they really struggled with inferential questions. I know from this that I need to focus on this area of reading with this group. I also accessed the listening comprehension of each student in my group by reading the passage aloud. It was interesting to see that all of them could answer more questions correctly after I read it aloud. This tells me that these students have the reading capacity to improve.

Jinger Willard Blog Post 5 (Dec.): Routman Chapter 5: Organizing an Outstanding Classroom Library

An outstanding classroom library is something I’ve always wanted to have but have not ever been quite able to achieve and maintain to the standards discussed in this chapter.  Most recently, moving states and switching grade levels has put me in the position of starting my classroom library over from scratch, twice.  At the beginning of each school year, when I had a larger book selection, I always had my new group of students organize my classroom library as part of our review of genres.  This also served as a way to get them familiar and excited about the books available in our classroom. I would have them make a list of books in their journals they were interested in reading as we worked on organizing books by genre and topic.  Students couldn’t wait to get their hands on the books once we finished organizing.  Routman’s chapter reinforced the value in doing this.  I have never had my library organized by reading levels.  Over the years I have felt the pressure to level my books based on reading programs being used at the school or district level, but I never quite seem to get that far.  This chapter helped to relieve the pressure of the need to do this.  I agree when Routman talks about the importance of paying attention to students’ interests and de-emphasizing leveled books. I can remember going to the public library as an elementary school student and choosing books I liked based on those that were displayed and caught my interest or based on topics I enjoyed.  These books were not leveled. My teachers never told me I had to choose books with a certain colored dot or reading range.  I never considered the level of a book when choosing them, but I was somehow able to find books appropriate to my reading abilities.  Programs like AR can sometimes pigeon hole students into a certain level, and they often feel discourage to reach beyond their level.  How else can we build our knowledge and vocabulary unless we are challenged with text that we read?  If a student is interested in a book, their engagement will help them to overcome some of the challenge a book might present.  This belief was supported by the quote from this chapter “reading comprehension test scores are more influenced by students’ amount of engaged reading than any other single factor”.

This chapter also helped to further motivate me in my goal to incorporate more reading into the content areas.  I would like to include “math reading” into my “Daily 4” math stations.  I am on the hunt for math content books that engage students in the text but also require them to apply problem solving skills.   Overall, this chapter reinforced many of my own theories and beliefs.  My classroom library continues to be a work in progress but am encouraged that I am on the right track.  

Sheryl Elliott-Routman- Chapter 5- Dec. blog

Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library opened my eyes to many things.  My library does not “jump out” at anyone who enters my classroom.  I do have a nice book shelf that was given to me by a former group of students, but it does not stand out when you walk into my room.  I know that I need more comfortable seating for my students.  I think that would make my classroom a more reading-inviting environment.  “An adequate classroom library will have at least two hundred books, but an excellent library will have more than a thousand.”  Wow that spoke volumes to me.  My classroom library is not close to having one thousand books.  I really liked the suggestion of surveying my students to see what they like to read.  That would give me great suggestions on books to add to my library.  In the past, I’ve relied on what my personal children are reading too.  I think my biggest weakness in my classroom library is nonfiction.  My selection is pretty slim.  I know I need to add more.  I love, love, love the suggestions found in the paragraph about making book talk “hot” in my class.  I am going to implement the “top-ten” list.  I think my students would love that.  I also love the idea of using rain gutters to display books.  I have a lot of wall space and would love to do that in my class.  This article made me realize that I have some work to do to make my classroom library better for my students.

Emily Plumley - November - Teach With a Sense of Urgency

In this chapter, the author discusses teaching with a sense of urgency, but not in a way that means we need to teach at a fast pace, constantly moving, leaving the kids behind us. This sense of urgency means its so important for us to pay attention to our students, and their wants and needs. And it means that we need to make every moment in our classrooms count. 

I absolutely agree with this. I want my students to know that I genuinely care about them and how they're doing. And I want them to know that I'm interested in the different ways they learn things and figure things out on their own. 

A quote I enjoyed from the chapter said that, "Teachers who read with young children and promote productive talk about stories are more likely to expand children’s language development." I really enjoy doing read alouds with my students because they get so hooked onto the story and it opens discussion about the story and the way the author writes something. It even encourages them to venture out and read the book on their own, or try and stay ahead of me. If doing a simple read aloud is something that will motivate my students to want to read, I will do one every year, and every day (if possible....lol). 

Michelle Butler - November Blog Post - Ch.4 - Teach with a Sense of Urgency

Michelle Butler – Blog #4 – Routman Ch.4:

Overall, I enjoyed reading this chapter. It was a good review of best practices for teaching reading. However, the part of the chapter that I marinated on the most was the discussion of the 4 phases of learning. As good teachers, our daily lesson plans should always include each of the 4 phases of learning:

1.     Demonstration

2.     Shared demonstration

3.     Guided practice

4.     Independent practice

I feel that I provide sufficient opportunities for numbers 1-3. However, due to the population that I teach, we really struggle to get to number 4. Independence is hard for my special learners. They really lack the confidence “to give it a try”. We spend a great deal of time encouraging, building self esteem, practicing with EVERY skill. Even after “heavy” modeling and practice, most of my students will freeze in fear when asked to read to me or when given a writing task. They are so afraid that they will get it wrong that they will struggle to even give it a try. Right now, we are really working on writing – which is directly impacted by other academic and functional strengths and weaknesses such as speech and language, auditory and visual processing, reading ability, sight word reading, gross and fine motor skills. Since most of my students have significant deficits in all of these areas, they are already fighting an uphill battle when it comes to reading and writing. At this mid-point of the year, my students have the foundation mostly in place (letter names and sounds, letter formation, fine motor skills to hold a book/pencil, some sight words) so that they are able to attempt reading and writing. My goal for the 2^nd quarter is to move them towards independence on their instructional level as much as possible. 

Brown (Blog Post 4) Miller, Part 2 “Why not? What works?”

I actually had some selfish reasons for reading Miller’s text. I was needing to respond to a parent who was questioning the amount of independent reading that was taking place in a classroom. I was trying to wrap my brain around why anyone would question reading taking place in the classroom. As I read Miller’s text, specifically the section about traditional SSR and ScSR (Scaffolded Silent Reading), it began to dawn on me that perhaps this parent was thinking of IR in a traditional sense. I believe she must be thinking of SSR or DEAR where the teacher is modeling silent reading while providing limited monitoring of engagement and little or no feedback. There is no accountability for students.

Miller explains, that effective IR can foster student growth. Effective IR includes:

• classroom time to read
•  student choice
• explicit instruction about what, why, and how readers read
•   access to a large amount of books
•  teacher monitoring, assessment, and support during IR
•  time to talk about what they read

It is so much more than just dropping everything and reading a book. The teacher plays a key role in IR. This parent was concerned about the amount of small group time her child was receiving, meaning she expected more. There has to be a good balance! The teacher cannot be doing all the work! The more the child reads, the higher her achievement will be. Miller sites the Anderson, Wilson, Fielding study from 1988 that found that students who read an hour a day scored at the 98^th percentile while students who read 4.5 minutes scored at the 50^th percentile. I am hoping to explain to the parent what teacher behaviors can foster effective IR. Miller states that teacher’s should provide:  

• explicit lessons on how to select books at appropriate levels
•  explicit instruction on and teacher modeling of reading strategies that can be used during silent reading
•   feedback on students’ reading
• reading conferences where students   read aloud while teachers take running records, discuss books with the children, and set goals for future reading
• student accountability for reading through post-reading responses
•   large and small-group discussion around texts that the students read

I feel I am prepared to respond to this parent about best-practices concerning IR! I hope she will see that IR is so important to a balanced literacy block and it can really improve students’ reading ability! 

Rachel Johnson- Routman- Chapter 5

            In this chapter, Routman discusses the importance of an efficient classroom library.  Notice I did not say the importance of having a classroom library.  Having an array of books in your classroom is not enough.  The books have to be applicable to your students.  These books not only have to challenge your students but also offer them fulfillment as readers.  The book selection needs to broaden their reading horizons while still offering comfort reads.  This task is not easy.

            Routman stresses that in order for students to develop and grow as readers they have to have books to read.  I will be honest, my first thought was, “Duh.”  But then I really thought about my students and what she was saying.  Sometimes I have trouble remembering that every child is not like my two children at home.  I would hazard a guess that my two children literally have hundreds of books at home available for them to read ranging from pictures books to chapter books.  That is hundreds of books for just two children.  Some of the children in my classroom do not have this luxury.  For some, the only books they have available to them are in our school library and my classroom library.  For these children especially it is essential that I have a well stocked classroom library.