With all the concepts about setting up your room and gathering materials in chapter 3, the thing I most focused on was teaching my studetns the concept of a "good fit" book.
My assistants and I implemented the lesson outlined in the book that shows kids the concept of a good fit compared to the concept of shoes fitting well. I brought in my husband's golf shoes, my scuba diving fins, my niece's tennis shoes (who is 3), a pair of high heels, etc. The kids really started to understand that there was a difference to purpose and interest.
We have all of our books in bins and labeled according to their levels. The students had their individual levels assigned to them and posted in the reading log folders. I was in for a BIG surprise, however.
Shame on me....because they could pick out books in the library according to their levels and because they could tell me their levels, I assumed they could find them from our classroom library too. Wrong! They didn't understand the concept of a range. So when I pulled out books and was showing them how to return them to our classroom library, I got lots of nods. When I handed each child a random book and asked them to return it to the classroom library, they couldn't do it. They didn't know that the bucket labeled 2.0-2.4, included levels 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.
When I figured out they couldn't return books to the right spot, I decided to ask them to show me which buckets they would look in if they wanted to find a book at their level....again, they didn't know how to do it!
We had to have several days of practicing cleaning up the books and finding books in their ranges before they understood this.
That was a good wake up call for me. I didn't really even think about understanding the concept of a range being a prerequisite skill for be able to access books quickly and easily at their levels.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sight Word Writing
This sight word strategy is truly an example of how good ideas just keep getting passed along and how many children can benefit from one teacher's great idea.
I have two children who are in second grade and reading at an end of kindergarten level this year. They need a lot of practice with phonemic awareness skills and sight word mastery. At this point, they have been exposed to the district curriculum materials so many times; they really need something new. I'm always keeping my eyes open for them.
A friend of mine who is a kindergarten teacher was telling me she uses this strategy in her classroom. She got it from another teacher on her team, who in turn got it when she and a group of teachers were working on literacy centers. Wow! How many times has it been passed along? How many kids are learning because of it? I love that aspect of teachers sharing ideas!
It's very simple. You take a piece of plastic window screen (can be purchased at Home Depot) and cut it approximately 10 x 13. Then you use electrical tape to tape off the edges on both sides. Finally, use a blank sheet of paper or a simple typed up sight word worksheet and some crayons so children can practice writing their sight words "bumpy style."
I have put this in some TEACCH task baskets for these two boys. I'm also thinking of making some more and adding it to my Daily 5 Working with Words choices.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Differentiating....How do You Explain It?
I'm currently teaching a class for our local college that focuses on an introduction to the exceptional learner. I love facilitating this class because the questions that are generated from my students often help me to clarify and articulate what I believe and what I practice in my classroom. Sometimes it's nice to have to formally explain what you do and why you do it.
This week we have been focusing on strategies and differentiating. There have been quite a few questions along the themes of how do you implement a strategy and not embarrass a child who has difficulty; or how do you do something different for one and not others; or how do you plan for a child with a speech impairment during read alouds.
Since these questions were addressed and clarified my for my class, I thought the information would be of interest for this blog, too.
To me, these are brilliant questions. They get to the heart of "What does that look like in the classroom?" and I'm interested but I don't know how to do that yet. "How do I do that with all of the other demands?"
The following is what I shared with my class:
".........Not every strategy is going to work with every child. That's why it's important to know how to research strategies and methods. You may come across a child who exhausts your "bag of tricks" and you need to find a new way to teach him/her a skill or concept.
HOWEVER, sometimes a strategy WILL work if you think through the challenges and set your classroom climate to be supportive. When your thinking starts with a problem solving and supportive approach, it will often help the child succeed.
So what does "a problem solving and supportive approach" look like? It can look differently in different classrooms. I'll share with you some of the methods I use.
When I think about a strategy and a specific child I think may have a challenge with it, I try to problem solve by thinking about questions like this:
1) What skill or concept do I want the child to master?
2) Is this strategy going to help him/her master that skill or concept?
3) What is the challenge I think he/she is going to face? Is there a way to adapt or modify the strategy to adress this challenge BUT still help the child master the skill? If so, this is usually the method I try first.
Here are a few things that I do to set a positive classroom climate at the begninning of the year:
1) We hold a class meeting and set our rules for the year. I pose them as "agreements" and explain to the kids that this is like a promise. This year the teachers agree to: be respectful to everyone, make sure everyone is safe, help everyone learn new things. This year the students agreed to: listen to the teachers, be kind to each other, keep hands and feet to ourselves.
Please note: If the students don't generate an idea for an agreement that I think is necessary, I usually try to guide them to it by posing questions and scenarios about if I let someone do something to them. For example, if they didn't generate an idea similar to being kind, I might ask them: What if someone kept calling you names? Would you like that? Would you want me to help you if you couldn't solve that problem by yourself? Is this important to us as a group? If it is,maybe we should come up with an agreement about that.
2) We talk about leaders. The United States has a leader, it's our president. Our school has a leader, it's our principal. Our classroom has a leader, it's the teacher. The leaders job is to make sure that everything works together smoothly. I remind them that I am the leader in our classroom and it's my job to make sure everyone is learning what they need to be learning.
3) We read lots of literature about differences. The books we revisited many times this year are: "It's Okay to Be Different" by Todd Parr; and "Little Louie the Baby Bloomer" by Jose Aruguelo.
These two books were chosen this year for specific reasons. The first one addresses differences in general, not related to a disability. The second one addresses how a tiger can do things, it's just that the way he does things is a little bit different than how the other animals do things (which in a very indirect way teaches kids about accomodations).
4) We have a class discussion where I explain to them that not everyone is going to be doing the same thing or have the same work. That's okay! (Establishing the role of the leader and then talking about differences establishes a foundation of knowledge for my students to fall back on when I start differentiating lessons and assigning different children different work.) I hold up our books and remind them what we learned from each of those books. Then I simply tell them those are the things we need to remember when we do our work.
5) If you were ever to come into my classroom, you would hear me redirect somone by saying "Try again, please and remember we are a kind class." or "Oh gosh...try that one more time and remember, you are a kind person." I want them to internalize that we treat each other with respect and kindness. We support and encourage each other when we master something that was hard for us (even if it would have been an easy task for someone else).
When children have this kind of positive, supportive climate every day, it becomes a little bit easier to take an academic risk because you know that your classmates are not going to laugh at you and your teacher is going to help you. And when you can do it on your own, you will be proud of yourself and others will celebrate and encourage you.
The way that I believe this relates to the questions my college students generated is that it creates a climate that allows a child to take a risk and not do well; but be able to take that risk again and do better; and finally take that risk again and master a skill. These steps attempt to support the child towards growth both academically and emotionally.
One teaching experience that I remember very vividly didn't happen in a classroom, but I think it illustrates this point. It happened at a cooking party we had with a chef at my sister-in-law's house. We were all laughing and socializing and having a great time. The chef was guiding us in preparing the meal and taught us some basic knife skills. When it was our turn to try, one of us was chopping and the chef prompted her by saying "That was very good. Can I show you how to do it better?" I don't know that anyone else in the room really heard her, but I did and I thought: GENIUS! What a phenomenal phrase that was non-threatening and encouraging, but also prompted her to do better....I'm so going to steal that. And of course I have.
I try to recreate that type of climate.....well, there's not any wine in my classroom, but you get the idea! :-) ......... It's safe. It's supportive. It's encouraging. It's okay to make a mistake or not do something perfectly....the people around you will help you do it better!
This week we have been focusing on strategies and differentiating. There have been quite a few questions along the themes of how do you implement a strategy and not embarrass a child who has difficulty; or how do you do something different for one and not others; or how do you plan for a child with a speech impairment during read alouds.
Since these questions were addressed and clarified my for my class, I thought the information would be of interest for this blog, too.
To me, these are brilliant questions. They get to the heart of "What does that look like in the classroom?" and I'm interested but I don't know how to do that yet. "How do I do that with all of the other demands?"
The following is what I shared with my class:
".........Not every strategy is going to work with every child. That's why it's important to know how to research strategies and methods. You may come across a child who exhausts your "bag of tricks" and you need to find a new way to teach him/her a skill or concept.
HOWEVER, sometimes a strategy WILL work if you think through the challenges and set your classroom climate to be supportive. When your thinking starts with a problem solving and supportive approach, it will often help the child succeed.
So what does "a problem solving and supportive approach" look like? It can look differently in different classrooms. I'll share with you some of the methods I use.
When I think about a strategy and a specific child I think may have a challenge with it, I try to problem solve by thinking about questions like this:
1) What skill or concept do I want the child to master?
2) Is this strategy going to help him/her master that skill or concept?
3) What is the challenge I think he/she is going to face? Is there a way to adapt or modify the strategy to adress this challenge BUT still help the child master the skill? If so, this is usually the method I try first.
Here are a few things that I do to set a positive classroom climate at the begninning of the year:
1) We hold a class meeting and set our rules for the year. I pose them as "agreements" and explain to the kids that this is like a promise. This year the teachers agree to: be respectful to everyone, make sure everyone is safe, help everyone learn new things. This year the students agreed to: listen to the teachers, be kind to each other, keep hands and feet to ourselves.
Please note: If the students don't generate an idea for an agreement that I think is necessary, I usually try to guide them to it by posing questions and scenarios about if I let someone do something to them. For example, if they didn't generate an idea similar to being kind, I might ask them: What if someone kept calling you names? Would you like that? Would you want me to help you if you couldn't solve that problem by yourself? Is this important to us as a group? If it is,maybe we should come up with an agreement about that.
2) We talk about leaders. The United States has a leader, it's our president. Our school has a leader, it's our principal. Our classroom has a leader, it's the teacher. The leaders job is to make sure that everything works together smoothly. I remind them that I am the leader in our classroom and it's my job to make sure everyone is learning what they need to be learning.
3) We read lots of literature about differences. The books we revisited many times this year are: "It's Okay to Be Different" by Todd Parr; and "Little Louie the Baby Bloomer" by Jose Aruguelo.
These two books were chosen this year for specific reasons. The first one addresses differences in general, not related to a disability. The second one addresses how a tiger can do things, it's just that the way he does things is a little bit different than how the other animals do things (which in a very indirect way teaches kids about accomodations).
4) We have a class discussion where I explain to them that not everyone is going to be doing the same thing or have the same work. That's okay! (Establishing the role of the leader and then talking about differences establishes a foundation of knowledge for my students to fall back on when I start differentiating lessons and assigning different children different work.) I hold up our books and remind them what we learned from each of those books. Then I simply tell them those are the things we need to remember when we do our work.
5) If you were ever to come into my classroom, you would hear me redirect somone by saying "Try again, please and remember we are a kind class." or "Oh gosh...try that one more time and remember, you are a kind person." I want them to internalize that we treat each other with respect and kindness. We support and encourage each other when we master something that was hard for us (even if it would have been an easy task for someone else).
When children have this kind of positive, supportive climate every day, it becomes a little bit easier to take an academic risk because you know that your classmates are not going to laugh at you and your teacher is going to help you. And when you can do it on your own, you will be proud of yourself and others will celebrate and encourage you.
The way that I believe this relates to the questions my college students generated is that it creates a climate that allows a child to take a risk and not do well; but be able to take that risk again and do better; and finally take that risk again and master a skill. These steps attempt to support the child towards growth both academically and emotionally.
One teaching experience that I remember very vividly didn't happen in a classroom, but I think it illustrates this point. It happened at a cooking party we had with a chef at my sister-in-law's house. We were all laughing and socializing and having a great time. The chef was guiding us in preparing the meal and taught us some basic knife skills. When it was our turn to try, one of us was chopping and the chef prompted her by saying "That was very good. Can I show you how to do it better?" I don't know that anyone else in the room really heard her, but I did and I thought: GENIUS! What a phenomenal phrase that was non-threatening and encouraging, but also prompted her to do better....I'm so going to steal that. And of course I have.
I try to recreate that type of climate.....well, there's not any wine in my classroom, but you get the idea! :-) ......... It's safe. It's supportive. It's encouraging. It's okay to make a mistake or not do something perfectly....the people around you will help you do it better!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Reading Interventions
While browsing on Pinterest, I found this incredible resource from Jen Jones on Teachers Pay Teachers. (It's free!) It is a table that pairs a reading problem a teacher may observe with several reading intervention ideas that can address it.
The ideas are all tried and true strategies we have all probably already used at some point in our teaching careers. I love this aspect of the document. We are not reinventing the wheel, we are thinking critically and planning systematically to address a problem.
Click here to check out Jen's If / Then Reading Interventions Menu.
The ideas are all tried and true strategies we have all probably already used at some point in our teaching careers. I love this aspect of the document. We are not reinventing the wheel, we are thinking critically and planning systematically to address a problem.
Click here to check out Jen's If / Then Reading Interventions Menu.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Smiles from kids.......
Two things have happened this week that have really made me smile.
The first happened with a little boy I tutor. We are reading the book Cam Jansen and the Circus Clown. He's recording one sentence for each chapter to show how his thinking changes throughout the book as he gathers more clues from the story. In the second chapter, Aunt Molly finds out her wallet is missing. Most kids take the clues from the title and an incident in the chapter and predict that the wallet was stolen. This child took the evidence that "her purse was on the ground under the chair, so maybe her wallet fell out and the janitor picked it up for her." I thought this was so sweet. He's looking for the good in the characters and people!
Here's the other:
It's bag of crushed tortilla chips. One of the boys in my class pulled it out of his pocket this morning and gave it to me. I asked him what it was and he says "I saved this for you because I know you like nachos." How sweet!
The first happened with a little boy I tutor. We are reading the book Cam Jansen and the Circus Clown. He's recording one sentence for each chapter to show how his thinking changes throughout the book as he gathers more clues from the story. In the second chapter, Aunt Molly finds out her wallet is missing. Most kids take the clues from the title and an incident in the chapter and predict that the wallet was stolen. This child took the evidence that "her purse was on the ground under the chair, so maybe her wallet fell out and the janitor picked it up for her." I thought this was so sweet. He's looking for the good in the characters and people!
Here's the other:
It's bag of crushed tortilla chips. One of the boys in my class pulled it out of his pocket this morning and gave it to me. I asked him what it was and he says "I saved this for you because I know you like nachos." How sweet!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Re-visiting PreK Favorites
I've had a few comments recently about lessons for pre-schoolers.
If you've been reading for awhile, you know that when I started this blog I was teaching a self-contained class for preschoolers with varying exceptionalities. You may want to explore some of the older posts where I posted a lot of what I was doing at the time. Since I'm now thinking and problem solving for older students, I'm posting more about them! But the oldies and goodies are still here.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Fall Festival
Hot Pumpkin
Post-It Graphs
I'm Thinking of a Word
Block Play
If you've been reading for awhile, you know that when I started this blog I was teaching a self-contained class for preschoolers with varying exceptionalities. You may want to explore some of the older posts where I posted a lot of what I was doing at the time. Since I'm now thinking and problem solving for older students, I'm posting more about them! But the oldies and goodies are still here.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Fall Festival
Hot Pumpkin
Post-It Graphs
I'm Thinking of a Word
Block Play
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
First Week of School
In many ways, the first week of school this year was just like any other. We established classroom rules and procedures. We talked about respect of teachers and peers. We identified and practiced ways to solve common problems and conficts. We read stories. We went to recess. We finished beginning of the year tests, etc, etc, etc.
However, this year was quite a bit different for me. For the first time, I have a student who is blind. She also has some other exceptionalities, but to be perfectly honest, it's her blindness that has caused so much thinking and reflecting on my part.
I've always known that I rely very heavily on visual supports. For many children with learning disabilities and language impairments, adding a visual cue provides them another way to access concepts. I do this deliberatley and systematically with Boardmaker, graphic organizers and simple line drawings on assignments, tests or the white board or Activeboard. It's become an integral part of my planning and lesson delivery.
What I didn't fully recognize until this charming, engaging, delightful girl who happens to be blind was in my class was how heavily I use and rely on facial expressions and gestures. Simple things like giving a thumbs up across the room to a child who is working on independent work while I have a group at my table. Or using the sign language symbol for "stop" in an assembly for someone who is talking to a neighbor. Or smiling to welcome a child who is joining the group from speech therapy or OT without interrupting the flow of the group. And of course, giving the "evil eye" when a child is doing something he/she knows is inappropriate.
I like this.......facial expressions and gestures give encouragement or redirection in a way that doesn't distract others.
Not surprisingly, these strategies are completely ineffective for my student who is blind. I'm in the process of re-thinking how to discretely give these types of cues to her in a way that helps her but doesnt distract the other students.
She happens to be very affectionate, so we're practicing high fives, pinky hugs and "golf claps" (quiet clapping that celebrates her successes). Right now in large group settings, I'm also using a lot of proximity and whispered cues to let her know things that are happening.
In addition to this, I'm modeling talking about pictures and details of things as we pass to her and the class. I'll have to let you know how this goes...this is one of those "gut" things. I don't know of any educational theory to back this up. But, my hope is that in modeling my description of pictures and things we pass, the other students will notice this and start to do it, too. I hope that this will not only increase their acceptance of others' with differences, but it will also increase their own skills at recognizing main ideas, important details, clues, descriptive words, feelings, etc. That verbalizing all of these things for one child will also help the other to more fully understand the importance of them.
This is one of the most exciting parts of teaching children with special needs. I get a chance to think about problems and hopefully come up with solutions. Then not only do I think about the potential solutions, but I get a chance to implement it and observe the results. Whether or not the things that I'm trying right now will work, I don't know. I do know that the process of thinking and reflecting on this and trying things out and observing the results, which then prompts more thinking is defintitely making me a better teacher. It's making me more aware of some of the things I do without thinking and it's requiring me to think in new ways.....that can never be be bad.
I hope by the end of this year I have a few more posts that tell you how excited I am over my students' successes!
However, this year was quite a bit different for me. For the first time, I have a student who is blind. She also has some other exceptionalities, but to be perfectly honest, it's her blindness that has caused so much thinking and reflecting on my part.
I've always known that I rely very heavily on visual supports. For many children with learning disabilities and language impairments, adding a visual cue provides them another way to access concepts. I do this deliberatley and systematically with Boardmaker, graphic organizers and simple line drawings on assignments, tests or the white board or Activeboard. It's become an integral part of my planning and lesson delivery.
What I didn't fully recognize until this charming, engaging, delightful girl who happens to be blind was in my class was how heavily I use and rely on facial expressions and gestures. Simple things like giving a thumbs up across the room to a child who is working on independent work while I have a group at my table. Or using the sign language symbol for "stop" in an assembly for someone who is talking to a neighbor. Or smiling to welcome a child who is joining the group from speech therapy or OT without interrupting the flow of the group. And of course, giving the "evil eye" when a child is doing something he/she knows is inappropriate.
I like this.......facial expressions and gestures give encouragement or redirection in a way that doesn't distract others.
Not surprisingly, these strategies are completely ineffective for my student who is blind. I'm in the process of re-thinking how to discretely give these types of cues to her in a way that helps her but doesnt distract the other students.
She happens to be very affectionate, so we're practicing high fives, pinky hugs and "golf claps" (quiet clapping that celebrates her successes). Right now in large group settings, I'm also using a lot of proximity and whispered cues to let her know things that are happening.
In addition to this, I'm modeling talking about pictures and details of things as we pass to her and the class. I'll have to let you know how this goes...this is one of those "gut" things. I don't know of any educational theory to back this up. But, my hope is that in modeling my description of pictures and things we pass, the other students will notice this and start to do it, too. I hope that this will not only increase their acceptance of others' with differences, but it will also increase their own skills at recognizing main ideas, important details, clues, descriptive words, feelings, etc. That verbalizing all of these things for one child will also help the other to more fully understand the importance of them.
This is one of the most exciting parts of teaching children with special needs. I get a chance to think about problems and hopefully come up with solutions. Then not only do I think about the potential solutions, but I get a chance to implement it and observe the results. Whether or not the things that I'm trying right now will work, I don't know. I do know that the process of thinking and reflecting on this and trying things out and observing the results, which then prompts more thinking is defintitely making me a better teacher. It's making me more aware of some of the things I do without thinking and it's requiring me to think in new ways.....that can never be be bad.
I hope by the end of this year I have a few more posts that tell you how excited I am over my students' successes!
Monday, August 13, 2012
The Last Day of Summer
Tomorrow teachers report back to school (in my district.)
This morning it was raining. The beach excursion that my sisters and mom and I had planned evolved into a shopping excursion.
This afternoon it was pleasant, breezy and sunny! The shopping excursion evolved into an afternoon on the the deck of one of our favorite bay front spots!
This was our view:
We love it and thoroughly enjoyed the last afternoon of summer with some iced tea or adult beverage of our choice!
This evening it was time to head home. My husband was already at the house when I arrived. He greeted me with this song:
"Back to Life Back to Reality"
He's soooo mean!!!!
Although, in all honesty, I am ready to go back.
I've been reading The Daily Five this summer and I'm ready to start implementing some of the new procedures I've been thinking and reflecting about.
Thanks to my sister and sister-in-law, I've also recently become addicted to Pinterest. I've found a lot of great ideas for supporting reading comprehension and understanding of complex passages, specifically as it supports the Common Core Standards.
However, this summer has primarily been a summer of relaxation!
However, it is time to "get back to reality" and I am eager to learn about my new students try out some new ideas and get back into a problem solving frame of mind.
Now I have to go set my alarm....ughhh! if only I could start my reality at 9:30am instead of 6:30am......
This morning it was raining. The beach excursion that my sisters and mom and I had planned evolved into a shopping excursion.
This afternoon it was pleasant, breezy and sunny! The shopping excursion evolved into an afternoon on the the deck of one of our favorite bay front spots!
This was our view:
We love it and thoroughly enjoyed the last afternoon of summer with some iced tea or adult beverage of our choice!
This evening it was time to head home. My husband was already at the house when I arrived. He greeted me with this song:
"Back to Life Back to Reality"
He's soooo mean!!!!
Although, in all honesty, I am ready to go back.
I've been reading The Daily Five this summer and I'm ready to start implementing some of the new procedures I've been thinking and reflecting about.
Thanks to my sister and sister-in-law, I've also recently become addicted to Pinterest. I've found a lot of great ideas for supporting reading comprehension and understanding of complex passages, specifically as it supports the Common Core Standards.
However, this summer has primarily been a summer of relaxation!
- I've spent time with family visiting local attractions and playing games.
- I learned how to crochet and even completed 1 dishrag for the mere cost of $21 ($18 class, $1 crochet needle and $2 yarn).
- I've also enjoyed a number of books we term "beach reads"...not a lot of substance and not great literature but very enjoyable none-the-less.
- My husband and I have taken a few weekend get-away trips.
- And I have 1, yes 1, thing completed off of my "I'm taking summer off so I'll really have time to get some household projects completed list." (How pathetic!....not that I'm worried about it...I had a great time playing instead!)
However, it is time to "get back to reality" and I am eager to learn about my new students try out some new ideas and get back into a problem solving frame of mind.
Now I have to go set my alarm....ughhh! if only I could start my reality at 9:30am instead of 6:30am......
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Word Verification
I'm sorry. I just can't take it anymore!
As I was reading through blogs a few weeks ago, I saw several posts about blog pet peeves. The one that topped almost everyone's list was having word verification on comments. I checked my blog to see if mine had that. Sure enough, it did! So I changed the settings and took it off.
Well, today I reinstated the word verification on my blog because I've learned MY top blog pet peeve! Opening up e-mail and seeing a number of anonymous comments that link to buying term papers, overseas stocks, adult toys,videos and medications, etc. Granted many of these went to my blog spam and didn't actually get published, but quite a few of them slipped through. I've deleted more comments in the last few weeks than I think I have on the whole blog!
So I'm sorry, I'll be annoying many of you by keeping the word verification active, but I just really don't want to continue deleting comments that I don't deem appropriate for this blog's purpose.
As I was reading through blogs a few weeks ago, I saw several posts about blog pet peeves. The one that topped almost everyone's list was having word verification on comments. I checked my blog to see if mine had that. Sure enough, it did! So I changed the settings and took it off.
Well, today I reinstated the word verification on my blog because I've learned MY top blog pet peeve! Opening up e-mail and seeing a number of anonymous comments that link to buying term papers, overseas stocks, adult toys,videos and medications, etc. Granted many of these went to my blog spam and didn't actually get published, but quite a few of them slipped through. I've deleted more comments in the last few weeks than I think I have on the whole blog!
So I'm sorry, I'll be annoying many of you by keeping the word verification active, but I just really don't want to continue deleting comments that I don't deem appropriate for this blog's purpose.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Daily 5 Linky Party, Chapter 2
I'm a little late with my chapter 2 post! My sisters and I had a fun get-away weekend, so I was playing instead of reading and thinking.
Chapter 2 is all about the Foundations of the Daily Five. As I was reading this chapter, I didn't find anything that was really "new" or "outstanding" to me as far as reading theory or tips on how to get started with the Daily Five. What I DID, strongly appreciate about it is the compact overview explaining why I would implement the Daily Five and why some of the procedures are important.
As I think about this, it makes me reflect on how I will communicate some of these policies and procedures to my para professionals who work with me. When I start working with a new para-professional, I usually give them simple "homework" during pre-planning week. I ask them to tell me what is the classroom activity or thing the love to do most with the students. Conversely, I also ask them to tell me what is the worst job I could ask them to do throughout the day. Then I also share with them, my own personal answers to those two questions. It helps us to build communication with each other and gives us a little bit of knowledge about things each of us like and don't like so that we can get all of our classroom tasks done. It also helps me to plan who will lead specific activities or groups based on my para-pros interests and strengths (when possible.)
I think I would like to use chapter 2 as a communication tool for us next year, too. I'd like to earmark some time during pre-planning so that they can read it and know the foundation of what we will be implementing. I can't always explain every single instructional decision that I make. Much of it is based on what I know about children from their individualized testing, what I learn from them through observation, what I learn about them from our STAR and SM reports, what I know from previous experience, what I learned through college and training, etc. etc.
I can't always take the time to explain everything, but chapter 2 does a great job of explaining the habits we want to develop and the ways in which we can go about doing that. I think it would go a long way into ensuring that all of our classroom staff is on the same page. After they read chapter 2, I'd like us to have some time to discuss it and explain how it will impact our reading block time and other reading and writing times during the day.
I think this is especially important in a self-contained classroom where I rely on my para-pros to help make our classroom more effective. They are invaluable! I think the ides of "trusting the students, building stamina and staying out of the way" are things that we will definitely have to have conversations about. You'll remember from my previous post about chapter 1, I am trying to figure out in my head how I (personally) will release some of the control to students. I also have to figure out how to ensure that my para-pros can also release that control.
It's tough. Sometimes, I think even more so in special education classrooms because you want to support the child. Hopefully, we'll be able to come together and re-frame our concept of what it looks like when you are supporting a child. It doesn't have to be with constant attention and prompting (In fact, I loved the story about how the authors trained they kids to rely on their praise and attention. Then had to go back and work on it again.) We can support children by helping them to build their stamina and become independent readers and writers. I'm hoping our implementation of the Daily Five will help us get there next year.
Chapter 2 is all about the Foundations of the Daily Five. As I was reading this chapter, I didn't find anything that was really "new" or "outstanding" to me as far as reading theory or tips on how to get started with the Daily Five. What I DID, strongly appreciate about it is the compact overview explaining why I would implement the Daily Five and why some of the procedures are important.
As I think about this, it makes me reflect on how I will communicate some of these policies and procedures to my para professionals who work with me. When I start working with a new para-professional, I usually give them simple "homework" during pre-planning week. I ask them to tell me what is the classroom activity or thing the love to do most with the students. Conversely, I also ask them to tell me what is the worst job I could ask them to do throughout the day. Then I also share with them, my own personal answers to those two questions. It helps us to build communication with each other and gives us a little bit of knowledge about things each of us like and don't like so that we can get all of our classroom tasks done. It also helps me to plan who will lead specific activities or groups based on my para-pros interests and strengths (when possible.)
I think I would like to use chapter 2 as a communication tool for us next year, too. I'd like to earmark some time during pre-planning so that they can read it and know the foundation of what we will be implementing. I can't always explain every single instructional decision that I make. Much of it is based on what I know about children from their individualized testing, what I learn from them through observation, what I learn about them from our STAR and SM reports, what I know from previous experience, what I learned through college and training, etc. etc.
I can't always take the time to explain everything, but chapter 2 does a great job of explaining the habits we want to develop and the ways in which we can go about doing that. I think it would go a long way into ensuring that all of our classroom staff is on the same page. After they read chapter 2, I'd like us to have some time to discuss it and explain how it will impact our reading block time and other reading and writing times during the day.
I think this is especially important in a self-contained classroom where I rely on my para-pros to help make our classroom more effective. They are invaluable! I think the ides of "trusting the students, building stamina and staying out of the way" are things that we will definitely have to have conversations about. You'll remember from my previous post about chapter 1, I am trying to figure out in my head how I (personally) will release some of the control to students. I also have to figure out how to ensure that my para-pros can also release that control.
It's tough. Sometimes, I think even more so in special education classrooms because you want to support the child. Hopefully, we'll be able to come together and re-frame our concept of what it looks like when you are supporting a child. It doesn't have to be with constant attention and prompting (In fact, I loved the story about how the authors trained they kids to rely on their praise and attention. Then had to go back and work on it again.) We can support children by helping them to build their stamina and become independent readers and writers. I'm hoping our implementation of the Daily Five will help us get there next year.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Daily 5 Linky Party, Chapter 1
This is my first attempt to join a Linky Party, so Mel D. at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations or Nicole at Teaching with Style, if I'm missing some piece of linky etiquette or rules, please correct me! I take critical feedback well. :-)
I am not teaching summer school this year! This is the first time since my first year of teaching that I have not worked at a summer camp or taught summer school. I'm into one week of summer without work and I have so many things checked off of my home "to do" list. :-)
Anyway, since I'm not investing my time into setting up a summer school classroom, setting up a program and learning new children and families; I thought I would take the time to really get into and read the Daily Five.
If you've been to my blog before you know last year I taught a third grade, self-contained class for children with mild to moderate disabilities. After completing the year, I felt pretty good about our reading gains, our reading procedures and our reading rotation. However, there are always things that I want to revise and refine. I thought the Daily Five would be a great book to offer new information and opportunities for reflection.
Daily Five Chapter 1: Reflection
I think, overall, the reading activities/lessons in my class are somewhere in between. If you take a look at previous reading posts, you'll see that I have a lot of staff supported lessons in our rotations (between myself and my 2 assistants). Since my class is a self-contained class for children with special needs (and that includes children with behavioral disorders), I could never imagine myself sitting at a reading group with my back to the class. I always situate my group in an area where my back is to the wall I and I can see the whole room. I don't see that aspect changing. These two aspects keep me in that "teacher controlled" part of the continuum.
In reading those previous posts, you'll also see we did a lot of work in building stamina, reading to self and reading to someone. That puts a little bit closer to the other end of the continuum. I also spent a lot of time working with the students and my assistants to let them know they DO NOT interrupt reading groups. Kids do not ask questions about their independent tasks and teachers and aides do not give assistance to kids at the independent area. This was huge and it took a lot of work to make sure this was a habit for both the students and my assistants. Not only did I have to make the expectation clear for the kids, I had to make sure my assistants knew I did not want them leaving their group to support kids at the independent area.
What I see as potential changes for my class for next year, is refining that stamina to include the writing and word work. We had a journaling time period during the day and it was ok, we also embedded phonics and word work into the reading lessons and that was pretty good because it gave the kids the support the needed, but I think it could get better.
I also really liked the small group/independent time transition from whole group mini-lessons. This structure gives a good opportunity for me to make sure that all students are introduced to grade level materials/focus skills. It also provides a natural opportunity for movement.
The typical teacher is very busy having students do lots of different activities. How is what you are doing in your classroom now creating quality readers and writers?
I actually don't have a lot of busy work during our reading block. It's pretty structured between my station of guided reading work, my assistant's station of robust vocabulary and exposure to grade level materials; and my other assistant's station of SRA phonics work. Our independent area was typically reading choices on the computer: Tumble Books, SuccessMaker, www.FreeRice.com; Hear Builders, etc. During my actual reading block, I didn't have much of the Daily 5 reflected at all. I was pretty rigid. It was during our Individual Instruction Time and our Sustained Silent Reading time that I started to use pieces and parts of the Daily 5. I think these structures helped children to develop their reading skills. I'm hoping to make it more cohesive next year and also improve my ability to develop writers! I don't think I did such a good job with that this year.
I'd like to get better at fostering independence in authentic reading so that my students will view themselves as readers. By this age they know they are in a "special" class. They talk about it. Since they talk about it, I feel like I need to address it with them too. Most frequently, students are in my class because they were struggling with reading in the general education class. They remember these struggles and it impacts how they view reading activities and their reading abilities. I'm hoping that the Daily 5 structure will help me to foster that internal view of themselves as readers.
What sets the Daily 5 structure apart from what you are doing in your classroom?
Right now in my reading block time, I have 3 main stations (teacher, 2 aides) that are controlled by me. I choose what each assistant will be doing (and consequently the kids at her table) and I choose what I am doing (and consequently the kids at my table). Within the reading block, the students don't have a lot of control or choice in what they are doing.
The Daily 5 requires a release of this control. I'm going to have to think more about this. There are things that I have to do to meet the direct, specialized instruction component of my students' IEPs. This means they need specific, specialized instruction at their instructional levels. I also have to expose them to grade level materials. However, many of them don't have grade level skills. This means they need support for this. I am going to need to figure out how to do the things I'm required to do that require support, but still embed that student choice and independence components that I"m longing for to help them view themselves as readers.
I am not teaching summer school this year! This is the first time since my first year of teaching that I have not worked at a summer camp or taught summer school. I'm into one week of summer without work and I have so many things checked off of my home "to do" list. :-)
Anyway, since I'm not investing my time into setting up a summer school classroom, setting up a program and learning new children and families; I thought I would take the time to really get into and read the Daily Five.
If you've been to my blog before you know last year I taught a third grade, self-contained class for children with mild to moderate disabilities. After completing the year, I felt pretty good about our reading gains, our reading procedures and our reading rotation. However, there are always things that I want to revise and refine. I thought the Daily Five would be a great book to offer new information and opportunities for reflection.
Daily Five Chapter 1: Reflection
On pages 4-6, the authors present two different pictures of their classroom. In thinking about and reflecting on your own practice, how would you characterize your literacy block? Does it look more like the first scenario or the second scenario or in between? How would you change it?
I think, overall, the reading activities/lessons in my class are somewhere in between. If you take a look at previous reading posts, you'll see that I have a lot of staff supported lessons in our rotations (between myself and my 2 assistants). Since my class is a self-contained class for children with special needs (and that includes children with behavioral disorders), I could never imagine myself sitting at a reading group with my back to the class. I always situate my group in an area where my back is to the wall I and I can see the whole room. I don't see that aspect changing. These two aspects keep me in that "teacher controlled" part of the continuum.
In reading those previous posts, you'll also see we did a lot of work in building stamina, reading to self and reading to someone. That puts a little bit closer to the other end of the continuum. I also spent a lot of time working with the students and my assistants to let them know they DO NOT interrupt reading groups. Kids do not ask questions about their independent tasks and teachers and aides do not give assistance to kids at the independent area. This was huge and it took a lot of work to make sure this was a habit for both the students and my assistants. Not only did I have to make the expectation clear for the kids, I had to make sure my assistants knew I did not want them leaving their group to support kids at the independent area.
What I see as potential changes for my class for next year, is refining that stamina to include the writing and word work. We had a journaling time period during the day and it was ok, we also embedded phonics and word work into the reading lessons and that was pretty good because it gave the kids the support the needed, but I think it could get better.
I also really liked the small group/independent time transition from whole group mini-lessons. This structure gives a good opportunity for me to make sure that all students are introduced to grade level materials/focus skills. It also provides a natural opportunity for movement.
The typical teacher is very busy having students do lots of different activities. How is what you are doing in your classroom now creating quality readers and writers?
I actually don't have a lot of busy work during our reading block. It's pretty structured between my station of guided reading work, my assistant's station of robust vocabulary and exposure to grade level materials; and my other assistant's station of SRA phonics work. Our independent area was typically reading choices on the computer: Tumble Books, SuccessMaker, www.FreeRice.com; Hear Builders, etc. During my actual reading block, I didn't have much of the Daily 5 reflected at all. I was pretty rigid. It was during our Individual Instruction Time and our Sustained Silent Reading time that I started to use pieces and parts of the Daily 5. I think these structures helped children to develop their reading skills. I'm hoping to make it more cohesive next year and also improve my ability to develop writers! I don't think I did such a good job with that this year.
I'd like to get better at fostering independence in authentic reading so that my students will view themselves as readers. By this age they know they are in a "special" class. They talk about it. Since they talk about it, I feel like I need to address it with them too. Most frequently, students are in my class because they were struggling with reading in the general education class. They remember these struggles and it impacts how they view reading activities and their reading abilities. I'm hoping that the Daily 5 structure will help me to foster that internal view of themselves as readers.
What sets the Daily 5 structure apart from what you are doing in your classroom?
Right now in my reading block time, I have 3 main stations (teacher, 2 aides) that are controlled by me. I choose what each assistant will be doing (and consequently the kids at her table) and I choose what I am doing (and consequently the kids at my table). Within the reading block, the students don't have a lot of control or choice in what they are doing.
The Daily 5 requires a release of this control. I'm going to have to think more about this. There are things that I have to do to meet the direct, specialized instruction component of my students' IEPs. This means they need specific, specialized instruction at their instructional levels. I also have to expose them to grade level materials. However, many of them don't have grade level skills. This means they need support for this. I am going to need to figure out how to do the things I'm required to do that require support, but still embed that student choice and independence components that I"m longing for to help them view themselves as readers.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The Last Month of School
School's out for summer!
Adam redirecting another student who said something that was rather mild, but not very nice. "You know, you really shouldn't say that because it's not kind and we are a kind class." (I didn't say a word. Adam handled it beautifully and the other child stopped.)
A group of students making up a table hockey game on the last day of school. On the last day of school I gave them some extended "choice time." (It's similar to "free time" but I won't let them call it that because if they don't make a choice, then I make one for them.) They made up the rules, figured out how to keep score, took turns playing and had fun playing. It was great! (If you teach a self-contained class, you know that some year's you need to work on cooperative skills all the way up to the last minute of the last day. This group "got it" and it was wonderful to see and hear.
photos courtesy MicroSoft Office ClipArt
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tough Puzzle!
I like to have a puzzle table with an ongoing puzzle set up in my room. It's a nice anchor activity for my students when they finish work and it also lets me integrate some team building and cooperation conversations throughout the day. It's also nice to hear the students start to compliment each other when they find pieces and the picture starts to come together.
This particular puzzle was intended to be finished by December. We finished it the first of May! There was a period of time when they students really weren't motivated or interested in going back to it because it was so hard.
I was stuck. Do I take it down and start a new one or push through it?
Luckily, I have the most wonderful paraprofessionals in the world! One day one of them encouraged a student to go over and put one piece in "the hardest puzzle in the world." He did and then was congratulated for helping us with the "hardest puzzle in the world." That threw down the challenge and regained the kids' interest in the puzzle. They started talking about finishing the "hardest puzzle in the world" and actually started to enjoy the challenge of it again. The crazy thing had been up for so long in the classroom all kinds of pieces were now missing (which made it even harder!)
I'm glad we finished it (to the best of our ability with all those missing pieces.) It gave them a sense of accomplishment and pride. They even asked if I would take their picture by "the hardest puzzle in the world." It also gave us some funny conversation and teasing....they asked me to "Please, never buy another puzzle from Goodwill." :-)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
My heart is breaking......
My heart is breaking for my students. We received our FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) scores back today. In my self-contained class of thirteen third grade students with special needs, one student participated in the alternate assessment, two students passed the FCAT (yay!) and the other ten failed the FCAT reading portion.
My heart is breaking for them because they have worked so hard this year. My assistants and I spent the entire year talking to them about their:
- gains in our SuccessMaker Computer Lab
- successes in being able to take AR tests independently
- sight words they knew at the beginning of the year versus the number of sight words they know now
- gains in their oral reading fluency probes and how many words correct per minute they can read
- reading selection tests and how they have improved
- robust vocabulary grades and how they have improved
- ability to read by themselves for twenty minutes without any help
Tomorrow I have to sit down with ten students and tell them they failed. Six of those ten students now face a mandatory retention in third grade. (Of course I won't use the word failed, keep reading to see how I plan to explain this to the kids.) The other four who don't face mandatory retention had already been retained once and have intensive instruction in reading, so they meet the eligibility criteria to waive the mandatory retention and can move on to fourth grade.
This is such a frustration for me! All of my students have been through a comprehensive, individualized series of standardized assessments to show their academic levels and their processing strengths and challenges. Many of the students in my self-contained class are significantly below grade level norms. If they were not, they would probably not need my setting. Since I have a whole year of classroom data and a whole stack of individualized, standardized assessments that document their current levels of performance, why do we continue to force them to take grade level standardized tests?
I do not have a problem with FCAT. I think it gathers an important piece of information for us. And to be perfectly honest, if I had a choice, I would have recommended six of my students take the FCAT because these students were systematically moving through and showing success on below level third grade materials. I thought they deserved a shot at it (and of those six, two passed and the other four who failed, actually came pretty close to the cut score for passing. They might be able to pass the Stanford 10 when they get a chance at that next week.)
However, I do have a problem repetitively administering a test that continues to document failure rather than success. I had six other students who just do not yet have the skills to pass a third grade level skills test. I don't have the answer to this problem. If we never give them the opportunity to test in the actual testing situation, we seem to be tracking them for a special diploma.
How would they be able to pass the high school test if they never experience it in elementary or middle school? But, if all of a student's experiences with a test result in failure, how confident will s/he be going into the high school test? What are those failing experiences teaching? Are they really preparing a student to pass?
It just seems to me that we should be able to match the standardized testing environment, format and language to a test that is based on the skills a child was actually able to systematically learn and master throughout the year.
By this I mean, I wish my third graders who are reading at a mid-first grade reading level could take a standardized test that is off-level normed. I wish they could be assessed on the first grade reading skills. Over time, this would actually show their growth, rather than continue to show that they have failed a grade level test. I know, it's a big wish.
So now I'm gearing up for tomorrow. It's our Reading Celebration Day at school (how ironic!) and at one point during the day, I need to have individual conferences with all of my students to discuss their FCAT results.
My plan is to show them their developmental score and explain this to them.
- I'll remind them that tests give teachers more information about what we need to teach.
- I'll remind them that this was their first time taking FCAT and now next year we will really be able to see how their developmental score improves. Just like we saw how their SM score improved throughout the year and their mastered sight words improved throughout the year.
- I'll remind them how proud I am of their hard work and all of the goals they have mastered this year.
- I'll remind them that they are readers!
photo courtesy of MicroSoft Clip Art
Monday, May 14, 2012
Silent Reading Procedures
I like having my students practice sustained silent reading. So often in special education classes we are so focused on providing direct instruction and therapies, managing interventions or collecting data; it seems like we forget that students need to be able to choose their own literature and read on their own!
My goal for my students this year was for them to be able to choose their own book and read silently (or at least quietly in a whisper) and independently for 20 minutes. Since three of my third grade students started the school year with reading levels below beginning first grade, we obviously had to provide some structure and scaffolding to help them reach this goal.
The first thing you see labeled in this picture is the "book bucket." It is a simple plastic box purchased at Big Lots for about $2. Each student in my room has their own personal book bucket. Within this book bucket we store the child's whisper phone, their sight word rings and Reading A-Z books at their individual levels.
I chose to start our sustained silent reading with book buckets because it was an organizational system that we had previously taught the students in my class. They all had their book buckets and had spent individual reading time with my assistants and me reading the material within. I knew that every child could independently read more than 90% of the material in their book bucket.
The first day I introduced silent reading time, I didn't give them many choices. I asked them all to get their book buckets out on their desks. They were allowed to read anything that was in their book bucket. I then set a screen timer for 5 minutes on the Active Board. We use a free download like this. I challenged them to see if the entire class could read silently until the timer beeped and cut this grid so that it showed only 10 squares and glued it to a piece of green construction paper with the phrase "We can read silently for 5 minutes." They were all required to read for 5 minutes out of their book buckets. When they successfully read for 5 minutes, we put a sticker towards the class goal. After they reached that goal of reading silently for 5 minutes on ten different opportunities, we congratulated them and told them how proud we were of them and that they were ready for a new goal.
After we met that goal, I made another simple grid and set the screen timer for 7 minutes. When we met that goal, I bumped them progressively to 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes and then finally 20 minutes.
As they showed they could manage the silent reading, I loosened up on the control a little bit. I would let them choose three books from our classroom library or their library books. (Remember while some of my students are reading chapter books, I still have a group reading first grade level books. I needed them to have enough material that would keep them reading for the full 20 minutes.)
A little bit after that, I loosened up the control even more and allowed them to find personal space in the classroom with a laundry basket, a throw pillow or a throw blanket.
Through each little step, I wanted them to maintain their sustained reading but gradually have it become something that they enjoyed and got to choose rather than something I imposed on them. I'm hoping that this will help them to view themselves as readers and ultimately read for leisure rather than just for work.
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