I spent Friday at an all day seminar entitled : "Teaching Students with Autism: Classroom Strategies That Work". Wow, my mind is full of thoughts and ideas for the upcoming year. I will have a child with Autism in my room next year. I was excited about experiencing this before I went to the workshop, but now I can hardly wait to get to know T*.
The presenter was Paula Kluth. If you ever see this name associated with a training, RUN, don't walk to the workshop. She was so knowledgeable and such a dynamic speaker!
One of the things she addressed was the idea that we all have aspects of the autism spectrum in us. If you have a strange collection, a ritual, a weird fascination, you have a little "ism". We need to respect these things that make each student an individual. Often times, once that diagnosis is made we immediately try to change the student; make him more like the other children in our class. Do we really want all the children in our class to be alike? Or, do we want a classroom of individuals who act, learn, think, and communicate differently? She wasn't saying that we shouldn't teach our children with autism ways to communicate better, fit into our society better, etc... She was just saying that we need to respect them as individuals.
The workshop was full of practical ways to help all students, especially ones with disabilities. She shared the idea of the Birthday Party Test. After reading a child's IEP you should be able to think of a really good birthday gift for that child; if you can't think of one, the IEP isn't worth the paper it is written on. She believes you should always work with what the child can do, his strengths, then build from there. Rather than looking at the weaknesses and concentrating on them. (sound familiar, Reading Recovery Teachers?)
Paula Kluth has a website: http://www.paulakluth.com/ she is also the author of several books. Check it out, you'll be glad you did!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Cleavage and Big Butts
A few blogs ago I shared some books that my son Corey recommended. I also shared that Corey was a reluctant reader. I have three children and my eldest, Maggie, is anything but a reluctant reader. Maggie has always been a good reader. She really wasn't an early reader. She went from reading level c books to reading Harry Potter in 1st grade. (yes, I know that the length and content of Harry Potter are not meant for a 1st grader, but I also believe that if child is motivated that you should let them try...and I thought she would get a few pages in and give up)
Maggie did have a set back in her reading journey near the middle of 2nd grade. The school Maggie attends uses Accelerated Reader pretty heavily. Part of their grade each year is based on it, the hallways are full of graphs indicating how well each child is doing, etc. Well, Maggie read at a 6th grade level in at the beginning of 2nd grade. She was made to check out books and read 6th grade books. Maggie was NOT interested in these books. She wanted to read American Girl books in the worst way. I, being the rue breaker, told her she could read anything she wanted at home, she didn't need to follow these rules when we bought books or went to the library. Maggie fell so far away from the tree on the rule following thing. She would not go against her teacher.
I contacted her teacher to ask if she could either change her ZPD at school or encourage Maggie to read non AR books at home. Her teacher informed me that her ZPD would stay the same and she was glad Maggie was reading only AR books at home. So the years goes on, Maggie loses her passion for reading although she is racking up the points and her little "space ship" is zooming to the top of the bulletin board. Maggie's teacher also required each student to take two AR tests a week. Around February Maggie was reading a long book(remember she is reading 6th grade books). We had gone to Corey's basketball game one evening and to my dad's to eat on another evening this week. She did not finish her book on time. I told her her to tell her teacher that she didn't have time to finish the book due to family commitments (you would think I would have learned by this time). Maggie was told to take the test anyway. She received a 70%. This particular teacher required a 80% on each test or...they stood on the wall during recess. This was a common punishment for naughty behavior. Everyone at recess could see who had been naughty. Maggie was devastated. I did mention earlier that Maggie was a rule follower, didn't I? She came home crying. She thought we would be mad at her for getting into trouble.
I was furious! I contacted the teacher to set a meeting time (after I calmed down). We had the meeting. I voiced my concerns. The teacher told me I was wrong. I explained why I felt the way I did. She repeated that I was wrong. I told her why I thought AR was not benefiting the children. She again told me how wrong and misguided I was. She then said,"we will have to disagree about this subject. Thank you for sharing how you feel." I was dismissed. Worse that the way I felt was the result this episode had on Maggie.
Maggie began to only check out short books. She always read the books in the time allotted, even if it meant missing out on fun life experiences, she followed the rules. Her reading level went down in third grade. I asked her how the STAR test went. She said she started missing questions when she noticed others had completed the test so that her level would be more "normal".
This story does not have a sad ending, however. Maggie is 14 years old now and she regained her passion for reading slowly after 2nd grade. She has had a wonderful 8th grade Language teacher this year (Thank You Mrs. Neff).
She and her friend recently returned from the library with an odd collection of books. They had decided to choose each other's books. They both agreed to read the books. Two of the three that Maggie's friend had chosen were: The True Meaning of Cleavage by Mariah Fredericks and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. First, I think this is such a fun idea and will try it soon with one of my friends. Second, I love to see my children having fun with reading and literature. Maggie enjoyed these books even if they were chosen for the "embarrassment at checkout" factor. She probably would not have checked either of these books out herself. I am glad that Maggie has friends that talk about literature, share, and enjoy literature together.
Maggie did have a set back in her reading journey near the middle of 2nd grade. The school Maggie attends uses Accelerated Reader pretty heavily. Part of their grade each year is based on it, the hallways are full of graphs indicating how well each child is doing, etc. Well, Maggie read at a 6th grade level in at the beginning of 2nd grade. She was made to check out books and read 6th grade books. Maggie was NOT interested in these books. She wanted to read American Girl books in the worst way. I, being the rue breaker, told her she could read anything she wanted at home, she didn't need to follow these rules when we bought books or went to the library. Maggie fell so far away from the tree on the rule following thing. She would not go against her teacher.
I contacted her teacher to ask if she could either change her ZPD at school or encourage Maggie to read non AR books at home. Her teacher informed me that her ZPD would stay the same and she was glad Maggie was reading only AR books at home. So the years goes on, Maggie loses her passion for reading although she is racking up the points and her little "space ship" is zooming to the top of the bulletin board. Maggie's teacher also required each student to take two AR tests a week. Around February Maggie was reading a long book(remember she is reading 6th grade books). We had gone to Corey's basketball game one evening and to my dad's to eat on another evening this week. She did not finish her book on time. I told her her to tell her teacher that she didn't have time to finish the book due to family commitments (you would think I would have learned by this time). Maggie was told to take the test anyway. She received a 70%. This particular teacher required a 80% on each test or...they stood on the wall during recess. This was a common punishment for naughty behavior. Everyone at recess could see who had been naughty. Maggie was devastated. I did mention earlier that Maggie was a rule follower, didn't I? She came home crying. She thought we would be mad at her for getting into trouble.
I was furious! I contacted the teacher to set a meeting time (after I calmed down). We had the meeting. I voiced my concerns. The teacher told me I was wrong. I explained why I felt the way I did. She repeated that I was wrong. I told her why I thought AR was not benefiting the children. She again told me how wrong and misguided I was. She then said,"we will have to disagree about this subject. Thank you for sharing how you feel." I was dismissed. Worse that the way I felt was the result this episode had on Maggie.
Maggie began to only check out short books. She always read the books in the time allotted, even if it meant missing out on fun life experiences, she followed the rules. Her reading level went down in third grade. I asked her how the STAR test went. She said she started missing questions when she noticed others had completed the test so that her level would be more "normal".
This story does not have a sad ending, however. Maggie is 14 years old now and she regained her passion for reading slowly after 2nd grade. She has had a wonderful 8th grade Language teacher this year (Thank You Mrs. Neff).
She and her friend recently returned from the library with an odd collection of books. They had decided to choose each other's books. They both agreed to read the books. Two of the three that Maggie's friend had chosen were: The True Meaning of Cleavage by Mariah Fredericks and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. First, I think this is such a fun idea and will try it soon with one of my friends. Second, I love to see my children having fun with reading and literature. Maggie enjoyed these books even if they were chosen for the "embarrassment at checkout" factor. She probably would not have checked either of these books out herself. I am glad that Maggie has friends that talk about literature, share, and enjoy literature together.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Keep questioning everything you do
This is a quote from the book I am reading at the moment. Reading Essentials by Regie Routman. This book makes me think.
She really stresses that teachers be accountable for their own education. We must read about, hold conversations about, and try out new methods. We must be knowledgeable enough about teaching that we don't jump on every bandwagon that comes along. We need to know WHY we do the things we do.
In chapter 2 of this book she talks about bonding with the students. I moved away from centers this year. I now use The Daily Five and Reader's Workshop. This freed my time up enough that I conferenced with each child once in about every 10 days (some more often). I got to know them as readers. It was so interesting to see what books they chose, why they chose these books, how they read these books, etc... I learned that some of my readers liked to have several books going at once. Some liked to read a book straight through. I learned that some liked to read nonfiction while some liked rhyming books. I learned that some of my readers didn't have any books at home while at least one of my readers used his small allowance to buy books from garage sales. I learned more about fighter planes, dinosaurs, and motorcycles than I ever thought I needed to know. I bonded with these kids as readers.
I would like to think that I have always bonded with my kids. This year was a little different I bonded with them as readers in a way I haven't in the past. In the past, I may have known that Suzie really liked dogs, but I didn't know that she only liked to read fiction about dogs and not nonfiction. I may have known that James liked dinosaurs, but I didn't know that he used his weekly allowance to buy dinosaur books at garage sales that his grandmother took him to each Saturday. I felt like I moved to a different level this year.
In the past, I would try to match the guided reading books to interest levels for that group. I took that responsibility to choose books they would like. How presumptuous of me! This year's class knew what they liked and they knew what they wanted to try to read. With a little help, they knew what level they needed. That doesn't mean that I don't still need to suggest books. I still have the students choose from different genres, but I do give them the final choice now.
Along these lines, Routman talks about building a reading history with the class. Displaying a copy of the covers of all the books you have read together as a class. I won't lie, this thought overwhelms me. I think about the number of picture books we read together as a class and I think about where I would display these... I am going to try to accomplish this this year. I may start by making the covers smaller. I need to really think about where to display these so that the kids really use them to reference. I want the class to make those text to text connections more often and I think this will help.
Another suggestion Routman gives is to use books for Sharing Time. (Show and Tell) I think I will modify this a tad and have each child bring one of their favorite books with them on the first day of school. I will ask that they keep them at school for the first two weeks. We will start the year off reading these books together and getting to know each other through these books. I think I will prop them on top of our library shelves with a name plate by each one. (note to self: include this in the welcome letter)
I think I will stop now. I will you keep you posted on more as I read more!
She really stresses that teachers be accountable for their own education. We must read about, hold conversations about, and try out new methods. We must be knowledgeable enough about teaching that we don't jump on every bandwagon that comes along. We need to know WHY we do the things we do.
In chapter 2 of this book she talks about bonding with the students. I moved away from centers this year. I now use The Daily Five and Reader's Workshop. This freed my time up enough that I conferenced with each child once in about every 10 days (some more often). I got to know them as readers. It was so interesting to see what books they chose, why they chose these books, how they read these books, etc... I learned that some of my readers liked to have several books going at once. Some liked to read a book straight through. I learned that some liked to read nonfiction while some liked rhyming books. I learned that some of my readers didn't have any books at home while at least one of my readers used his small allowance to buy books from garage sales. I learned more about fighter planes, dinosaurs, and motorcycles than I ever thought I needed to know. I bonded with these kids as readers.
I would like to think that I have always bonded with my kids. This year was a little different I bonded with them as readers in a way I haven't in the past. In the past, I may have known that Suzie really liked dogs, but I didn't know that she only liked to read fiction about dogs and not nonfiction. I may have known that James liked dinosaurs, but I didn't know that he used his weekly allowance to buy dinosaur books at garage sales that his grandmother took him to each Saturday. I felt like I moved to a different level this year.
In the past, I would try to match the guided reading books to interest levels for that group. I took that responsibility to choose books they would like. How presumptuous of me! This year's class knew what they liked and they knew what they wanted to try to read. With a little help, they knew what level they needed. That doesn't mean that I don't still need to suggest books. I still have the students choose from different genres, but I do give them the final choice now.
Along these lines, Routman talks about building a reading history with the class. Displaying a copy of the covers of all the books you have read together as a class. I won't lie, this thought overwhelms me. I think about the number of picture books we read together as a class and I think about where I would display these... I am going to try to accomplish this this year. I may start by making the covers smaller. I need to really think about where to display these so that the kids really use them to reference. I want the class to make those text to text connections more often and I think this will help.
Another suggestion Routman gives is to use books for Sharing Time. (Show and Tell) I think I will modify this a tad and have each child bring one of their favorite books with them on the first day of school. I will ask that they keep them at school for the first two weeks. We will start the year off reading these books together and getting to know each other through these books. I think I will prop them on top of our library shelves with a name plate by each one. (note to self: include this in the welcome letter)
I think I will stop now. I will you keep you posted on more as I read more!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Some Good Reads
If any of you know me, you know I have a 13 year old son. He is sitting beside me as I browse all my "teacher sites". He would like to contribute his thought on his favorite author/ books.
He asked me to tell you about Carl Deuker. He was sharing with me earlier this evening that his two favorite books are Heart of a Champion and Night Hoops. (if anyone knows how to underline in a blog, please let me know) Both of these books were written by Deuker. My son is, to say the least, a reluctant reader. So, if they gained his attention, they just may capture the attention of a reluctant reader in your life. They must be good if: A.) he was discussing them with me B.) He asked me more than a few times to post this C.) He agreed to read more this summer if I bought/ borrowed more books by this author for him. I will be checking the library and Amazon tomorrow morning!
He asked me to tell you about Carl Deuker. He was sharing with me earlier this evening that his two favorite books are Heart of a Champion and Night Hoops. (if anyone knows how to underline in a blog, please let me know) Both of these books were written by Deuker. My son is, to say the least, a reluctant reader. So, if they gained his attention, they just may capture the attention of a reluctant reader in your life. They must be good if: A.) he was discussing them with me B.) He asked me more than a few times to post this C.) He agreed to read more this summer if I bought/ borrowed more books by this author for him. I will be checking the library and Amazon tomorrow morning!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Student Story Challenge #1
O.K., I am going to attempt to do a challenge from Two Writing Teachers (I'm not sure I will know how to link when I am done).
The challenge is to write a story about a student we have had in the past (changing all names, of course).
If you know me, you know that I have struggled and struggled with ideas to use with ENL kids, when teaching them to read. I just feel that meaning is such a driving force with beginning readers, that to eliminate meaning just really handicaps the reader. I have asked for more training to work with the ENL population for several years, because I don't feel like I am doing my best work. I must add here, I LOVE working with this population, I just don't feel like I am doing them justice.
I started out this year with 28 students and 9 of them spoke English as their second, or in one case, third language. I had some very proficient ENL readers and some struggling ENL readers. One of my strugglers was a little hispanic boy, *Juan. He had been to head start and extended day kindergarten. He didn't talk much in English. I made sure that he was always at a table with someone that spoke Spanish so he felt like he could communicate. (I know that some people say we should force our kids to speak English at all times, but I feel it is more important to feel safe and secure) I do encourage the kids to speak English as much as possible, but I also don't want them to feel ashamed of their native language.
When it came time to nominate students to be tested for Reading Recovery, I didn't nominate *Juan. I felt like he was using the stretegies I had taught him and the only thing holding him back was his language issue. During our first parent/teacher conference, his dad asked if it was OK that they read to him in Spanish. Of course, I encouraged reading to him in Spanish. His parents seemed to a have a literate household, he seemed interested, he was a hard worker... and yet he was still reading at a very low level.
I consulted my fellow teachers and reading coach. "Research shows good instruction is good instruction. Just keep doing what your doing" is what I kept hearing. Patti (formentioned reading coach) also told me to read the entire book to my group before they tried to read it. I had been giving really strong book intros, but reading the whole book seemed a little like cheating to me. However, I trust Patti so I gave it a try. This group (two hispanic boys and a Ukranian boy) and I would would meet several times a week. I would read the book to them teaching them the vocabulary they would need. Then, they would read the book. *Juan would struggle through the books, but he would use the strategies that we had learned in class. It never sounded pretty and I was never sure if the fact that I read the book first was helpful or hurtful (Sorry for doubting you, Patti).
I wasn't worried that *Juan would eventually do just fine in class. I fugured, once he mastered more of the language he would take off in reading. He had the strategies down he just needed more time. Well, at the end of each year we give our kids a DRA. We expect them to read at a level 16 by the end of first grade and we don't test them higher than an 18. If they read an 18 and pass we put 18+ on their DRA folder and indicate the child is above grade level. I started *Juan out at a level 10 he read it well and we moved on to a 12 same results... By the time we got to a level 16 (grade level) he was blowing me away with his comprehension responses. He even shared some "I wonder" questions with me during his reading. He passed the level 16 and the level 18. He was definately lower in decoding than comprehension, but always above a 90%. I was so proud of him. He was beaming by the end of the DRA testing.
He was officially reading "above grade level". Why had I not known this??? He and I had individual conferences once a week, he was usually reading lower level books and doing good work. Should I have pushed him up in levels or did he need to practice in easy books? If I was learning a new language would I want to read chemistry books in that language or nursery rhymes? I am just so confused. (what's new?) I can't wait to go to Purdue next month and learn what is considered best practice for ENL students. (Is there a best practice or is each individual different?)
Note: Out of the three boys in that group two ended the year above grade level in reading.
The challenge is to write a story about a student we have had in the past (changing all names, of course).
If you know me, you know that I have struggled and struggled with ideas to use with ENL kids, when teaching them to read. I just feel that meaning is such a driving force with beginning readers, that to eliminate meaning just really handicaps the reader. I have asked for more training to work with the ENL population for several years, because I don't feel like I am doing my best work. I must add here, I LOVE working with this population, I just don't feel like I am doing them justice.
I started out this year with 28 students and 9 of them spoke English as their second, or in one case, third language. I had some very proficient ENL readers and some struggling ENL readers. One of my strugglers was a little hispanic boy, *Juan. He had been to head start and extended day kindergarten. He didn't talk much in English. I made sure that he was always at a table with someone that spoke Spanish so he felt like he could communicate. (I know that some people say we should force our kids to speak English at all times, but I feel it is more important to feel safe and secure) I do encourage the kids to speak English as much as possible, but I also don't want them to feel ashamed of their native language.
When it came time to nominate students to be tested for Reading Recovery, I didn't nominate *Juan. I felt like he was using the stretegies I had taught him and the only thing holding him back was his language issue. During our first parent/teacher conference, his dad asked if it was OK that they read to him in Spanish. Of course, I encouraged reading to him in Spanish. His parents seemed to a have a literate household, he seemed interested, he was a hard worker... and yet he was still reading at a very low level.
I consulted my fellow teachers and reading coach. "Research shows good instruction is good instruction. Just keep doing what your doing" is what I kept hearing. Patti (formentioned reading coach) also told me to read the entire book to my group before they tried to read it. I had been giving really strong book intros, but reading the whole book seemed a little like cheating to me. However, I trust Patti so I gave it a try. This group (two hispanic boys and a Ukranian boy) and I would would meet several times a week. I would read the book to them teaching them the vocabulary they would need. Then, they would read the book. *Juan would struggle through the books, but he would use the strategies that we had learned in class. It never sounded pretty and I was never sure if the fact that I read the book first was helpful or hurtful (Sorry for doubting you, Patti).
I wasn't worried that *Juan would eventually do just fine in class. I fugured, once he mastered more of the language he would take off in reading. He had the strategies down he just needed more time. Well, at the end of each year we give our kids a DRA. We expect them to read at a level 16 by the end of first grade and we don't test them higher than an 18. If they read an 18 and pass we put 18+ on their DRA folder and indicate the child is above grade level. I started *Juan out at a level 10 he read it well and we moved on to a 12 same results... By the time we got to a level 16 (grade level) he was blowing me away with his comprehension responses. He even shared some "I wonder" questions with me during his reading. He passed the level 16 and the level 18. He was definately lower in decoding than comprehension, but always above a 90%. I was so proud of him. He was beaming by the end of the DRA testing.
He was officially reading "above grade level". Why had I not known this??? He and I had individual conferences once a week, he was usually reading lower level books and doing good work. Should I have pushed him up in levels or did he need to practice in easy books? If I was learning a new language would I want to read chemistry books in that language or nursery rhymes? I am just so confused. (what's new?) I can't wait to go to Purdue next month and learn what is considered best practice for ENL students. (Is there a best practice or is each individual different?)
Note: Out of the three boys in that group two ended the year above grade level in reading.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
It's a sickness
I am so pathetic. Yesterday was the last teacher day. Everyone is our building has to switch rooms except three of us. So who do you think was the last teacher in the building? You guessed it, the one with the least amount of work to do.
I couldn't help it. As I started to clean everything up, I also started to plan for next year. I started to envision my room and library, the changes I would make, the things I would keep the same. I saw so much growth this year in my kids, I can hardly wait until next year. Notice, I said hardly. I do enjoy summer and look forward to it. I love spending time on the lake with my kids, reading, completing projects around the house, and just keeping up with housework. However, when I'm in my classroom, I can't help to get excited about having the opportunity to teach kids again.
I will be attending several workshops this summer. I will attend the ALL WRITE summer institute (can't wait to hear Ellin Keene speak), a workshop by SDR on Autism (I will have an autistic boy in my room next year), and one at Purdue University on English Language Learners (I had 9 ELL students in my room this year...I need some ideas on how to teach reading to this population that can't rely on meaning). I look forward to all of these... Habe I already mentioned I'm a geek?
I am so fortunate to work for a corporation that values staff development. I appreciate my corporation and principal more and more as I hear and read other teachers' experiences.
I love to read professional books, but there is something about attending a conference or workshop with other professionals, that just can't be duplicated in a book.
Well, I plan to blog as a way to keep an online reader's notebook for myself this summer. So you will be hearing from me soon. (Give me some time to clean my house first...the last weeks of school were not kind to the house)
I couldn't help it. As I started to clean everything up, I also started to plan for next year. I started to envision my room and library, the changes I would make, the things I would keep the same. I saw so much growth this year in my kids, I can hardly wait until next year. Notice, I said hardly. I do enjoy summer and look forward to it. I love spending time on the lake with my kids, reading, completing projects around the house, and just keeping up with housework. However, when I'm in my classroom, I can't help to get excited about having the opportunity to teach kids again.
I will be attending several workshops this summer. I will attend the ALL WRITE summer institute (can't wait to hear Ellin Keene speak), a workshop by SDR on Autism (I will have an autistic boy in my room next year), and one at Purdue University on English Language Learners (I had 9 ELL students in my room this year...I need some ideas on how to teach reading to this population that can't rely on meaning). I look forward to all of these... Habe I already mentioned I'm a geek?
I am so fortunate to work for a corporation that values staff development. I appreciate my corporation and principal more and more as I hear and read other teachers' experiences.
I love to read professional books, but there is something about attending a conference or workshop with other professionals, that just can't be duplicated in a book.
Well, I plan to blog as a way to keep an online reader's notebook for myself this summer. So you will be hearing from me soon. (Give me some time to clean my house first...the last weeks of school were not kind to the house)
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