I can tell from my student's attitudes that the Daily 5 has changed them and I'm starting to wonder why. I've been really interested in what they are reading during the Daily time because I think this choice may have something to do with their positive attitude. So since I decided not to pull groups this week with testing I decided that I would do a book check today. Of the 21 children that I checked in with only 3 were reading questionable books meaning that they weren't at their just right level. Two of them were my higher students who are reading out of grade level books (fifth grade to be exact) and the other is a middle grade reader but was reading a higher level book. The one I was most interested in I had a conversation with about her book choice. She was reading a Weird School series book and she really can read Level S or T and understand. She is really deliberate about everything she does so I knew there had to be a reason. When I pulled her aside to ask her she said that the higher books had words in them that she doesn't like (cuss words or slang language) and that there are words that are challenging for her and she just likes to be able to read a book and not have to sound words out. For a girl that has never had a hard time with reading this made complete sense to me. Another thing she mentioned was that "in the harder books, it takes a while to get to all the action but in the easier books for me there's always action going on." Then we had a talk about rising and falling action-something I've been working on with her reading group. Then I told her that the series that she was reading was really super easy and I thought we could find some appropriate books that weren't too challenging but sort of easy for her but that had more action right away in the book. We wound up finding a series The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes for her to read and I'm going to have to see how that works and if she likes it. Another discussion I had was with a student that doesn't always like challenging but needs it and benefits from it. I gave him a level W book which he is at a level S or T but I knew this book Freak the Mighty would keep his interest. He wasn't interested at first but today he seemed to be buzzing through the book. He was having a hard time picturing the two characters so I think I am going to print him some pictures of the movie I think there is one. I'm glad he stuck with it.
I am torn if I should continue to do things like this because research wise I know the benefits of children reading books at their instructional level, but at the same time I want the kids to love to read and part of that is the choice embedded in the Daily 5. I know they've enjoying reading so much this year because it's different everyday and they get to choose what they're reading but for those kids that need a push I'm torn. I really thought at the beginning of this year that doing this would be the most challenging with working with the lowest kids. When in fact, what I've found is that it's been most challenging to find the right balance with the highest kids.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
journal 69 it's like riding a bicycle
Today was the first day of testing. Yuck. I'm not sure who hates it more me or the students. I was impressed with the work that they did though. Many of them went back to find the answers in the test. In fact after the test many of them said that there were so many right there questions! It made me proud to hear them using the language I've been teaching them.
After lunch my team and I decided that we didn't want to switch so I had reading and math. During Reading time we did the Daily 5 because I knew they'd be asking for it. Many of them shouted YES as I told them we were going to do that. I was proud. But what I did notice is that my nonreader (not anymore! :)) heard that we were going into the dailies he knew exactly what to do. He hasn't been in my classroom for reading in about 3 weeks and he just went right back into the routine! It's like riding a bicycle. He knew exactly what the expectation was and was able to fit right back into what he was supposed to do. He happened to be at the read to someone daily along with another child that receives special services. All three of them decided that one student who doesn't receive specialized services would read to them and they would both listen. I was weary at first not knowing how much reading they would actualy get done seeing as how they are the 3 most active boys in my class but they were just fine! They sat reading a variety of picture books for almost 35 minutes! It was the cutest thing I've seen in our Daily time so far this year. It made my student who stays with me so proud to know that he could read any of the books that they chose for him. It got me to thinking about the confidence that my students have gained through the daily 5. They believe in themselvews as readers and I really saw that confidence come out today during the test. They know how to approach a variety of different texts because the daily 5 has given that opportunity to read different text!
After lunch my team and I decided that we didn't want to switch so I had reading and math. During Reading time we did the Daily 5 because I knew they'd be asking for it. Many of them shouted YES as I told them we were going to do that. I was proud. But what I did notice is that my nonreader (not anymore! :)) heard that we were going into the dailies he knew exactly what to do. He hasn't been in my classroom for reading in about 3 weeks and he just went right back into the routine! It's like riding a bicycle. He knew exactly what the expectation was and was able to fit right back into what he was supposed to do. He happened to be at the read to someone daily along with another child that receives special services. All three of them decided that one student who doesn't receive specialized services would read to them and they would both listen. I was weary at first not knowing how much reading they would actualy get done seeing as how they are the 3 most active boys in my class but they were just fine! They sat reading a variety of picture books for almost 35 minutes! It was the cutest thing I've seen in our Daily time so far this year. It made my student who stays with me so proud to know that he could read any of the books that they chose for him. It got me to thinking about the confidence that my students have gained through the daily 5. They believe in themselvews as readers and I really saw that confidence come out today during the test. They know how to approach a variety of different texts because the daily 5 has given that opportunity to read different text!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
journal 68 wanting some constuctive criticism
As I mentioned I wrote a Study Group Coach grant about the Daily 5 in which team members will learn how to implement the Daily 5 method. I've been pretty vocal about how much I love it at my school and I asked around to see if anyone would be interested in joining my study group. With that I've had a few teachers ask if they could come watch me during the daily 5 time. I'm not worried about the visits. In fact, I like when people come into my classroom because I want them to tell me what to do better. But since my principal has been so supportive of my research and doing this method, I've kind of been put on a pedastal. I don't know how to spell that. Opps! Anyways while I am really thankful for all the support and positive press about how I teach reading, I still consider myself a new teacher (this is my 5th year) and I would like some constructive criticism when people come to visit me. Today one of the teachers came to observe during the Daily time and she had nothing but positive things to say which while that's great I'd like to know if there's anything more I could do. She listened to my discussions with my two groups that I pulled and after the one about questioning, I told her that it was a test prep thing but I'm not calling it that and she thought it was wonderful and wanted to use that in her classroom which is kindergarten. I guess this all comes back to my confidence as a teacher. I do think that I've grown into a much happier reading teacher but I do still feel like I'm learning and I'd still like ideas from the more veteran teachers. I've mentioned it a bit before but since I'm the only one that's really doing the Daily 5 at my school the way it's supposed to be done I feel kind of alone and like I really don't have anyone at my school to talk to. I know I can share ideas with my ARLI fellowship people but I'd really love ideas from other teachers. I don't know is this all strange???
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