Read alouds are such a great teaching strategy and one of
my personal favorites. This past year during our school wide DEAR (Drop
Everything and Read), I read to my students several times a week the series of The Penderwicks. I think read alouds are
such a great way to tie in skills/standards. You can find short story books to
read that connect to whatever you need. With Common Core, we will be doing read
alouds often, if not daily, to teach a specific skill. This past year, I had a
co-worker who polled her students about what they enjoyed the most about last
year. The majority of them said they like being read to, which she did almost
every day. I am looking forward to implementing read alouds as a mini-lesson
reading strategy.
Guided reading was a must for my school this past year. I
am excited about where ‘guided reading’ is headed with Common Core. I do not
feel that my guided reading rotations and time were beneficial this past year.
With Common Core, students will be engaged in sustained reading or small group
with the teacher. Sustained reading is becoming a huge part of my reading time.
As Weaver stated, independent reading is such an important component to helping
students become lifelong readers.
Next year, my school will take part in a simultaneous hour
of writing time. This is to help build our writers across all grade levels. We have found (at my school), that when our students
reach fifth grade, when we have the writing test, our students do not know how
to write. We then find ourselves teaching our students how to simply write a
sentence with a capital letter and correct punctuation. We feel that, as a
fifth grade teacher, we should be extending our student’s writing, such as how
to use similes, idioms, metaphors etc. Instead, we must teach the basics, in
which results in poor writing scores. I am looking forward to having enough
time to actually teach writing, verses only writing across the different
content areas. The majority of this writing time will include guided writing,
sustained writing, and individual writing conferences.
These are the components of the comprehensive literacy
program that I implemented and plan to use next year. I cannot rave about
Common Core enough. I think that this change will give us time to teach the
depth of reading and writing knowledge that our students need.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though you use a lot of the components of a comprehensive literacy program in your classroom. I also found read alouds to be hugely important in my classroom. I couldn't believe how engaging it was for my fourth graders to sit there and listen to me read. In addition, I loved the whole-class discussions that evolved from the read alouds. I was amazed at the connections that the students made. I am also excited about the changes that Common Core will bring. I have also implemented guided reading in my classroom over the past two years. Similarly to you, I feel as though my rotations were not always as beneficial as they could have been. I have always been weary of having my students involved in sustained reading while I am working with another group. I mainly feared the accountability of my students. After reading Weaver's text, I realize how imperative this sustained reading time is, and what a great place guided reading rotations are for it.
That is so interesting that the students choose that they loved read alouds! Of course, I knew they loved this time, but I guess I have never asked students that questions before. A few memories from my childhood shaped how I felt about reading. I have my mother, a reading specialist who read to me every night, which I loved. Then, entering 3rd grade, I was hit by AR points & test, and was boldly pointed out that I had reading struggles. I have always remembered not feeling like a good reader in that classroom. The next year in 4th grade, I learned to love reading again, because there was not pointing out that I was behind on AR points, etc, etc. My 4th grade teacher read chapter books to us every day, while we just sat there and listened. THAT was my favorite time I had in elementary school, and I still remember the joy I felt to this day. The power of love of reading is important to pass along.
ReplyDeleteI too am required to do guided reading groups and am excited to see where it goes this year with common core. I like reading aloud to my students but felt as though I didn't do it as much this past year as I will most likely need to this year with the new standards coming in. I did mostly independent reading with my students and reflecting/discussing what they read to gage comprehension. You are implementing a lot of great aspects of the Comprehensive Literacy Program and have some great ideas to continue or build upon in the coming year. I wish we had an hour a day set aside for writing because my fifth graders really struggle in writing and it's hard to bring them up to speed for the writing test when they don't have the strong foundation from earlier grades. I will be putting more focus on combining the two areas better in the coming year.
ReplyDeleteMaking time to read-aloud to my students is also one of my favorite things to do. I have always gotten great responses from my students in first and second grade when I read to them. They get so intrigued by the stories, especially when I change my voice and “get into” the characters. I particularly enjoy reading Magic Tree House books to my students. The students just look at it as a fun, entertaining experience when a teacher reads to them, but it really provides countless learning experiences as well.
ReplyDeleteThe school-wide writing approach your school is adopting sounds interesting. I would like to know if your school notices writing improvements after this year and in the years to come due to changing the writing instruction block or by putting more emphasis on writing now. I feel that I’ve always struggled a bit when it came to teaching certain types or styles of writing. I guess it’s because as a student myself I’ve never really cared much for writing, and I’ve always enjoyed math more. However, I would like to learn new techniques and strategies to help make my lessons more effective and better prepare my students for future writing and assessments like you mentioned. I would like make their writing experience more enjoyable and pleasurable than mine was.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteWe used read alouds multiple times throughout the day during my student teaching experience and my students loved it. It's a great time for me to model how I want them to read for guided reading groups and when they read independently. Also throughout my student teaching I was fortunate enough to be in a Common Core model classroom that focused on reading and writing. The unit my teacher completed was at the end of the semester and it was amazing to watch! Everything flowed so well and transitioned nicely. The students were so much more engaged and interested in the topics they were learning. I think it's going to be amazing when it's implemented in the fall.