Books that I have read the past couple months that I would defintitely recommend:
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Conferring
Lately, I have been reading a lot on conferring. Katie Wood Ray and Aimee Buckner have inspired me to make this post. A lot of the information I am writing about today comes from readings written by Ray and Buckner.
Many teachers skip over this critical part of the writing process: conferring. Teachers must confer with students during independent writing time. Make sure that you move out to kids, don’t have them come to you. This way you are visible and can work with your community of learners. It is important to have a record system for your conferences. You must know who you talked to and what you talked about. Documenting this is important.
The purpose during this time is to teach. However, sometimes, interruptions can take place. When I am conferring with students, sometimes I get random stragglers who will come up to me. Most of the time, though, if I ask a kid, 'can you take care of this on your own?' they are able to do so.
Lucy Calkins has told us that there is 4 Parts of a Writing Conference.
1. Research
-Ask kids‘what craft techniques are you using?’
-Preface with ‘Tell me about….’
-Kids need to articulate their writing process. They should not tell you to read to find out. They need to TELL about their writing.
-Ask open ended questions, use wait time for no-talkers.
-Once we hear something in the student’s discussion, we need to interrupt them and go back to teaching that directly.
-We teach in response to what kids say.
2.Decide on what to teach
-Give feedback to students
3. Teach
-Have kids try the strategy taught right there
-Have kids try to do the strategy in their own writing independently
4. Make a record of conferences
-Think of conferences as conversations
-They go well if both parties know why we are having them
-Do not try to fix everything
-At the end of the conference, we should be able to name what we did to help the student become a better writer.
Many teachers skip over this critical part of the writing process: conferring. Teachers must confer with students during independent writing time. Make sure that you move out to kids, don’t have them come to you. This way you are visible and can work with your community of learners. It is important to have a record system for your conferences. You must know who you talked to and what you talked about. Documenting this is important.
The purpose during this time is to teach. However, sometimes, interruptions can take place. When I am conferring with students, sometimes I get random stragglers who will come up to me. Most of the time, though, if I ask a kid, 'can you take care of this on your own?' they are able to do so.
Lucy Calkins has told us that there is 4 Parts of a Writing Conference.
1. Research
-Ask kids‘what craft techniques are you using?’
-Preface with ‘Tell me about….’
-Kids need to articulate their writing process. They should not tell you to read to find out. They need to TELL about their writing.
-Ask open ended questions, use wait time for no-talkers.
-Once we hear something in the student’s discussion, we need to interrupt them and go back to teaching that directly.
-We teach in response to what kids say.
2.Decide on what to teach
-Give feedback to students
3. Teach
-Have kids try the strategy taught right there
-Have kids try to do the strategy in their own writing independently
4. Make a record of conferences
-Think of conferences as conversations
-They go well if both parties know why we are having them
-Do not try to fix everything
-At the end of the conference, we should be able to name what we did to help the student become a better writer.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Vocabulary Instruction
The past couple weeks, I have been doing some reading on vocabulary instruction. I read a book by Robert Marzano called Building Academic Vocabulary and an article titled Direct and Rich Vocabulary Instruction. Below are my notes and some of the things that I took away from the readings.
To begin, in the article I read, it started out by stating that there are tiers to the kind of words that we use. Tier one words are basic words. Tier two words are high frequency words used for mature language. These words are often useful in understanding texts and they are words that have connections to other words/concepts. (These are the kinds of words that we should be teaching. ) The last tier of words is Tier three words which are infrequently used words typically found in high level content books.
It has been suggested that one of the best ways to teach vocabulary is through direct instruction. You can do this by using school materials, news stories, TV/Commericals, or simply using the book that you are reading in class. The whole goal here with teaching vocabulary is for comprehension to increase. By simply teaching definitions, this is not going to be what is in the best interest of the child.
Therefore, we want to provide rich, vocabulary instruction. The idea here is for the kids to use words in different situations and look at relationships with words. The example that was given was the word console. The teacher in this classroom provided a question such as, ‘Have you ever consoled someone?’
Some activities that are suggested for rich instruction is to use over head conversations. This is where 4 sentences are written out that are synonymous with the vocabulary words you are teaching. Then, the kids match the words to the dialogue. Another suggestion is using an example and a non-example.
It’s important for the teacher to use think-alouds but also have the students do think alouds. You can also have words re-appear. For example, if you taught the word hermit already and need to teach the word gregarious, you could ask, ‘is a hermit gregarious?’ Other ways to keep words in appearance is by having a journal of words learned and post this in your classroom. You could also have a word wizard chart. The kids get a reward for bringing in things from out of class where they saw the word being used.
In addition to the above article, I also read a book on vocabulary by Marzano. Below are my notes from the book that I read.
1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of a new term.
-Ask the kids what they think they know
-Use videos, powerpoint, brainpop, movies, advanced organizers, mazaine clippings
-Use pictures or images
-Use books
-This section is where only a general understanding of the term takes place
-Eventually, students go back to terms to terms introduced and add to their understanding, correct misconceptions, etc.
2. Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
-They can’t copy what you say
-Help clear up confusions/errors as they work (you may need to provide additional explanations)
-Let kids work in small groups/partners
-Let kids who are struggling create linguistic representations
-Keep an academic notebook (buy flimsy binders and copy pg 19 to go into notebook)
3. Ask kids to construct pictures/symbol/graphic representation of the term
4. Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of terms in the notebook (spend about 15-20 mins per week on this)
-Kids may want to change their description of the word or their picture
-Kids may also use the extra space in the bottom to do the following:
-highlight prefix/suffixes to help remember
-identify synonyms/antonyms
-list related words
-write cautions or reminders of common confusions
Other activities:
-Free Association
-Comparing Terms
-Sentence Stems
-Venn Diagram
-Double Bubble
-Matrix
-Classifying terms
-Solving analogy problems
-Creating Metaphors
5. Think/Pair/ Share (spend about 15-20 mins per week on this)
-compare descriptions
-describe pictures to each other
6. Play games that relate to the term
-What is the question?
-Vocabulary charades
-Name that Category
-Draw me
-Talk a Mile a Minute
To begin, in the article I read, it started out by stating that there are tiers to the kind of words that we use. Tier one words are basic words. Tier two words are high frequency words used for mature language. These words are often useful in understanding texts and they are words that have connections to other words/concepts. (These are the kinds of words that we should be teaching. ) The last tier of words is Tier three words which are infrequently used words typically found in high level content books.
It has been suggested that one of the best ways to teach vocabulary is through direct instruction. You can do this by using school materials, news stories, TV/Commericals, or simply using the book that you are reading in class. The whole goal here with teaching vocabulary is for comprehension to increase. By simply teaching definitions, this is not going to be what is in the best interest of the child.
Therefore, we want to provide rich, vocabulary instruction. The idea here is for the kids to use words in different situations and look at relationships with words. The example that was given was the word console. The teacher in this classroom provided a question such as, ‘Have you ever consoled someone?’
Some activities that are suggested for rich instruction is to use over head conversations. This is where 4 sentences are written out that are synonymous with the vocabulary words you are teaching. Then, the kids match the words to the dialogue. Another suggestion is using an example and a non-example.
It’s important for the teacher to use think-alouds but also have the students do think alouds. You can also have words re-appear. For example, if you taught the word hermit already and need to teach the word gregarious, you could ask, ‘is a hermit gregarious?’ Other ways to keep words in appearance is by having a journal of words learned and post this in your classroom. You could also have a word wizard chart. The kids get a reward for bringing in things from out of class where they saw the word being used.
In addition to the above article, I also read a book on vocabulary by Marzano. Below are my notes from the book that I read.
1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of a new term.
-Ask the kids what they think they know
-Use videos, powerpoint, brainpop, movies, advanced organizers, mazaine clippings
-Use pictures or images
-Use books
-This section is where only a general understanding of the term takes place
-Eventually, students go back to terms to terms introduced and add to their understanding, correct misconceptions, etc.
2. Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
-They can’t copy what you say
-Help clear up confusions/errors as they work (you may need to provide additional explanations)
-Let kids work in small groups/partners
-Let kids who are struggling create linguistic representations
-Keep an academic notebook (buy flimsy binders and copy pg 19 to go into notebook)
3. Ask kids to construct pictures/symbol/graphic representation of the term
4. Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of terms in the notebook (spend about 15-20 mins per week on this)
-Kids may want to change their description of the word or their picture
-Kids may also use the extra space in the bottom to do the following:
-highlight prefix/suffixes to help remember
-identify synonyms/antonyms
-list related words
-write cautions or reminders of common confusions
Other activities:
-Free Association
-Comparing Terms
-Sentence Stems
-Venn Diagram
-Double Bubble
-Matrix
-Classifying terms
-Solving analogy problems
-Creating Metaphors
5. Think/Pair/ Share (spend about 15-20 mins per week on this)
-compare descriptions
-describe pictures to each other
6. Play games that relate to the term
-What is the question?
-Vocabulary charades
-Name that Category
-Draw me
-Talk a Mile a Minute
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Questions Teachers Ask about Struggling Readers and Writers
I love, love, love this article! I am able to relate to many of the questions asked in this article. To begin, one of the very first questions was directed towards students that read 2 years or below in reading and how we should combat that issue in the classroom. The authors of the article suggested that incorporating student interest and background knowledge is an excellent way to get those below grade level invested in reading. Suggestions also included:
Using high interest books
Using peer groups, such as literature circles
Doing shared reading
Having small grouped instruction
Writing for authentic purposes
It was also suggested that for guided reading, you can have 4-5 groups with 4-6 kids in each group. Make sure that you are meeting 3-5xs a week. During this time, you can also have a chart/grid with notes on what was discussed in each guided reading group.
It was also suggested that to give feedback, use journals/logs. You can stagger this by taking how 5 per week and use verbal feedback. You can also use peer conferences and rubrics. Feedback is an incredibly important feature in the classroom. This feedback should allow students to see where their strengths and weaknesses are and help them to do better in their areas of study.
As stated in many of my previous posts, it's also important to use read alouds and teach explicit strategies that good readers use. When reading aloud, expose kids to good, motivating books with your read alouds. Also, strategies that good readers use include summarizing, finding the main idea, visualizing, asking questions, making connections, etc.
In order to motivate students, kids should be reading with 90% accuracy. We must take time to teach at student's instructional level. This time can be used duing small group instruction a few times per week. This kind of instruction helps facillitate fluency. We also need to make sure time is given to practice reading at grade level.
One of the last questions dealt with how we should teach and prepare students for on level testing. I struggle with this daily because many of my students with special needs are not at grade level, but are required by the state to take the test AT their grade level. The suggestion from this article said that as teachers, we should integrate daily test preparation into our lessons. This doesn't necessarily mean teaching to the test, but instead, we should be exposing students to the various formats used in testing. Meaning using multiple choice and teaching students the process of elimination, using open response or open ended questions, or using a scoring rubric.
To read more about this topic, the article that I read is available here:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/pdf/Qs_struggling_readers.pdf
Using high interest books
Using peer groups, such as literature circles
Doing shared reading
Having small grouped instruction
Writing for authentic purposes
It was also suggested that for guided reading, you can have 4-5 groups with 4-6 kids in each group. Make sure that you are meeting 3-5xs a week. During this time, you can also have a chart/grid with notes on what was discussed in each guided reading group.
It was also suggested that to give feedback, use journals/logs. You can stagger this by taking how 5 per week and use verbal feedback. You can also use peer conferences and rubrics. Feedback is an incredibly important feature in the classroom. This feedback should allow students to see where their strengths and weaknesses are and help them to do better in their areas of study.
As stated in many of my previous posts, it's also important to use read alouds and teach explicit strategies that good readers use. When reading aloud, expose kids to good, motivating books with your read alouds. Also, strategies that good readers use include summarizing, finding the main idea, visualizing, asking questions, making connections, etc.
In order to motivate students, kids should be reading with 90% accuracy. We must take time to teach at student's instructional level. This time can be used duing small group instruction a few times per week. This kind of instruction helps facillitate fluency. We also need to make sure time is given to practice reading at grade level.
One of the last questions dealt with how we should teach and prepare students for on level testing. I struggle with this daily because many of my students with special needs are not at grade level, but are required by the state to take the test AT their grade level. The suggestion from this article said that as teachers, we should integrate daily test preparation into our lessons. This doesn't necessarily mean teaching to the test, but instead, we should be exposing students to the various formats used in testing. Meaning using multiple choice and teaching students the process of elimination, using open response or open ended questions, or using a scoring rubric.
To read more about this topic, the article that I read is available here:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/pdf/Qs_struggling_readers.pdf
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Books that kids want to read
The article, Flood Insurance: When Children Have Books They Can and Want to Read discusses the importance of having a classroom library that is interesting and engaging to the students in your classroom. Jo Worthy and Nancy Roser give a list of 7 criteria that should be included when creating your classroom library:
Books should be......
1. Interesting to kids (stuff they want to read)
2. Culturally relevant
3. Age appropriate
4. At appropriate level of the reader
5. Time should be given to kids to read
6. Students should be given strategies on what good readers do
7. Library should contain a variety of texts
8. Time should be given to students to discuss texts they are reading
The study that this article is based on uses what is called a book flood. I am sure you are thinking the exact same thing I was thinking when I read this article: what the heck is a book flood??? A book flood is an intervention where a huge amount of texts are incorporated into the classroom for reading sake. According to one study, Elley discovered that, "the evidence is now strong that it is possible to double the rate of reading acquisition......with a "book flood" of 100 high-interest books per class and short teacher training sessions."
One of the ways that researchers discovered what students preferred to read was by interviewing them. However, this was not the only measure used. Researchers observed students directly and made notations on what students were reading and why they picked that book. Most notably, kids enjoyed reading scary books, picture books, and books written in two different language.
Something that hit home with me when I was reading this article was the discussion on having appropriate books in your library. In this study, students in the classroom could decode, but had problems in the area of comprehension. When the teacher analyzed the books in the classroom library prior to the book flood, it was discovered that 80% of the books were above the reading level of most of the students in the classroom! After reading this, I was prompted to look at my library and realized I had many books above the level of some of the students in my classroom.
One of the ways that reading was facillitated in this classroom was through daily read alouds and guided reading instruction. Additionally, students had time to read alone and had instruction on decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, genres, and writer's craft. There was also time to share with peers and students in this study even wrote to the author of Esperanza Rising!
Students in this study also took on the art of re-reading. They would often draw out scenes from books that were re-read, present scenes in dramas, and one student even claimed he wanted to re-read just to see if he could make his voice sound like the teacher's!
The idea of finding appropriate books in your classroom library seems like such a no-brainer. Yet, for many (myself included), we often do not take the time to analyze our library. Thanks to this study and article, I know I will be more critical in deciding what goes on the shelf in my classroom library.
Here is the article:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/pdf/flood_ensurance.pdf
Books should be......
1. Interesting to kids (stuff they want to read)
2. Culturally relevant
3. Age appropriate
4. At appropriate level of the reader
5. Time should be given to kids to read
6. Students should be given strategies on what good readers do
7. Library should contain a variety of texts
8. Time should be given to students to discuss texts they are reading
The study that this article is based on uses what is called a book flood. I am sure you are thinking the exact same thing I was thinking when I read this article: what the heck is a book flood??? A book flood is an intervention where a huge amount of texts are incorporated into the classroom for reading sake. According to one study, Elley discovered that, "the evidence is now strong that it is possible to double the rate of reading acquisition......with a "book flood" of 100 high-interest books per class and short teacher training sessions."
One of the ways that researchers discovered what students preferred to read was by interviewing them. However, this was not the only measure used. Researchers observed students directly and made notations on what students were reading and why they picked that book. Most notably, kids enjoyed reading scary books, picture books, and books written in two different language.
Something that hit home with me when I was reading this article was the discussion on having appropriate books in your library. In this study, students in the classroom could decode, but had problems in the area of comprehension. When the teacher analyzed the books in the classroom library prior to the book flood, it was discovered that 80% of the books were above the reading level of most of the students in the classroom! After reading this, I was prompted to look at my library and realized I had many books above the level of some of the students in my classroom.
One of the ways that reading was facillitated in this classroom was through daily read alouds and guided reading instruction. Additionally, students had time to read alone and had instruction on decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, genres, and writer's craft. There was also time to share with peers and students in this study even wrote to the author of Esperanza Rising!
Students in this study also took on the art of re-reading. They would often draw out scenes from books that were re-read, present scenes in dramas, and one student even claimed he wanted to re-read just to see if he could make his voice sound like the teacher's!
The idea of finding appropriate books in your classroom library seems like such a no-brainer. Yet, for many (myself included), we often do not take the time to analyze our library. Thanks to this study and article, I know I will be more critical in deciding what goes on the shelf in my classroom library.
Here is the article:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/pdf/flood_ensurance.pdf
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The art of peer conferencing
Ahhh, the art of peer conferencing. How many of you listen to your students give the following types of feedback:
"Great story!"
"I wouldn't change a thing!"
"Good job!"
Being that I teach special education, I hear these comments often. That is why I needed to search out to find a more effective way to get my students to respond to each other. In the article, Peer Conferences: Strategies and Consequences by Jack Wilde, this teacher discusses some of the strategies that he has used in his classroom to help students articulate specific feedback.
We know that students need to practice conferring and giving feedback. In most cases, kids (and adults alike) share how we feel about a piece instead of what works/doesn’t work. I mean, think about any book or movie you've seen. How often do you explain what does and does not work? (I know I don't!) And with that said, Mr. Wilde points out something so relevant to my students and my classroom: there is an assumption that the reader knows what the writer knows (keep in mind we are not mind readers). Also, kids assume that the writer will know what ‘that’s great’ means!
One of the ways that Mr. Wilde proposes that we change peer conferencing is by conferencing on books read aloud TOGETHER (this is “safe” b/c we are not conferencing about peer writing). During this time, Jack explains that he makes sure to read acknowledgements because it shows that even authors work with others to get feedback on their writing before they publish it!
After the book is read aloud, a simple question is asked: 'What worked for you in what we read today?' The answers are discussed aloud in a big group. This helps students (especially ones who are apprehensive about responding) to get an idea of what others are saying. Hopefully in time those who are shy will begin to speak up.
Then, it becomes time to respond to the read aloud in written response format. This is important because it gives kids a chance to think on their own about the question. It's explained that kids must cite examples to go along with any statement they make. Through conferring orally, this practice should come naturally to the students.
As the students continue with their own writing, the teacher sets up conferencing in groups of 4-5. These groups tend to be mixed-ability groups. Rules are discussed, such as no comments allowed that say 'here's how I would fix this piece' and students must make revisions to their paper. Too often, students declare themselves "done" with a piece without going back and looking at it.
It's really simple. Kids just need time to practice the art ofconferring. I believe if we model and give students the opportunity to practice this art, they will get it and become better in the writing process.
To read the article, click here:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/writing35/pdf/s6_peer_conferencing.pdf
"Great story!"
"I wouldn't change a thing!"
"Good job!"
Being that I teach special education, I hear these comments often. That is why I needed to search out to find a more effective way to get my students to respond to each other. In the article, Peer Conferences: Strategies and Consequences by Jack Wilde, this teacher discusses some of the strategies that he has used in his classroom to help students articulate specific feedback.
We know that students need to practice conferring and giving feedback. In most cases, kids (and adults alike) share how we feel about a piece instead of what works/doesn’t work. I mean, think about any book or movie you've seen. How often do you explain what does and does not work? (I know I don't!) And with that said, Mr. Wilde points out something so relevant to my students and my classroom: there is an assumption that the reader knows what the writer knows (keep in mind we are not mind readers). Also, kids assume that the writer will know what ‘that’s great’ means!
One of the ways that Mr. Wilde proposes that we change peer conferencing is by conferencing on books read aloud TOGETHER (this is “safe” b/c we are not conferencing about peer writing). During this time, Jack explains that he makes sure to read acknowledgements because it shows that even authors work with others to get feedback on their writing before they publish it!
After the book is read aloud, a simple question is asked: 'What worked for you in what we read today?' The answers are discussed aloud in a big group. This helps students (especially ones who are apprehensive about responding) to get an idea of what others are saying. Hopefully in time those who are shy will begin to speak up.
Then, it becomes time to respond to the read aloud in written response format. This is important because it gives kids a chance to think on their own about the question. It's explained that kids must cite examples to go along with any statement they make. Through conferring orally, this practice should come naturally to the students.
As the students continue with their own writing, the teacher sets up conferencing in groups of 4-5. These groups tend to be mixed-ability groups. Rules are discussed, such as no comments allowed that say 'here's how I would fix this piece' and students must make revisions to their paper. Too often, students declare themselves "done" with a piece without going back and looking at it.
It's really simple. Kids just need time to practice the art ofconferring. I believe if we model and give students the opportunity to practice this art, they will get it and become better in the writing process.
To read the article, click here:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/writing35/pdf/s6_peer_conferencing.pdf
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Literacy Instruction Grouping
In the next article I read, Grouping for Instruction in Literacy: What We've Learned about What Works and What Doesn't, Jeanne R. Paratore goes into detail about what she has observed to work in Literacy Instruction. She explains that grouping students by reading level does not work. Instead, she suggests that a flexible grouping model is much better. Research says that students achieve higher with this kind of grouping.
To begin, students who DO struggle with reading are not just automatically given a text that is way above their capabilities. The teacher does read alouds, repeated readings, peer support, word study, and sometimes additional pull out in addition to classroom instruction. This way students who are below grade level get exposure to these techniques.
Paratore suggests that flexible grouping in reading looks as follows:
1. Community Reading- reading/listening at grade level. You can do literature circles and other student centered activities. This lasts about 45-60 minutes.
2. Just Right Reading- this is reading where kids are reading at 90% accuracy at their own level. It’s 3-4 kids, normally in small groups. Lasts about 30 minutes.
3. On Your Own Reading- This is when kids choose their own books. Lasts about 15-20 minutes.
Also suggested for the classroom is the idea of having a consistent, predictable routine. Students with disabilities can struggle with transition times. However, by having a schedule posted and by going through a daily routine, this can alleviate inappropriate behaviors. Kids like to know when they will be reading, re-reading, and writing.
Lastly, Paratore suggests that teachers should think about adding learning centers, where students can be reinforced on a particular concept at an independent level. She also mentions the use of a writer's notebook in literacy instruction, too.
To read this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/readingk2/pdf/session6/GroupingforLiteracyInstr.1.pdf
To begin, students who DO struggle with reading are not just automatically given a text that is way above their capabilities. The teacher does read alouds, repeated readings, peer support, word study, and sometimes additional pull out in addition to classroom instruction. This way students who are below grade level get exposure to these techniques.
Paratore suggests that flexible grouping in reading looks as follows:
1. Community Reading- reading/listening at grade level. You can do literature circles and other student centered activities. This lasts about 45-60 minutes.
2. Just Right Reading- this is reading where kids are reading at 90% accuracy at their own level. It’s 3-4 kids, normally in small groups. Lasts about 30 minutes.
3. On Your Own Reading- This is when kids choose their own books. Lasts about 15-20 minutes.
Also suggested for the classroom is the idea of having a consistent, predictable routine. Students with disabilities can struggle with transition times. However, by having a schedule posted and by going through a daily routine, this can alleviate inappropriate behaviors. Kids like to know when they will be reading, re-reading, and writing.
Lastly, Paratore suggests that teachers should think about adding learning centers, where students can be reinforced on a particular concept at an independent level. She also mentions the use of a writer's notebook in literacy instruction, too.
To read this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.learner.org/workshops/readingk2/pdf/session6/GroupingforLiteracyInstr.1.pdf
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