O.K., just so you all don't think I'm a big slacker, I will explain that this is the dreaded Music Program Week. We have spent a large amount of the past two days practicing for Thursday's performance. I did manage to squeeze in some instruction time this afternoon.
My kids asked this morning if we could PLEEAASE do reading workshop today. How can a teacher say "no" to that? We had about 55 minutes of workshop before the last practice. The kids were really engaged today. It could have been shear exhaustion from standing on risers for hours or they could really be becoming avid readers. (I'll choose to believe the later)
I spent conferences today working on decoding issues. I conferenced with one little girl, C, who has been reading at a G/H level in group. She was reading a level I from her "just right" books. She needed to be reminded to go back and reread and them point and slide. We practiced on one page together and then she proceeded to read the rest of the book by herself. She did appeal a few times, but I told her that she had the tools and I thought she could do it..... and she did! She shared with the group how she used rereading and told them that she felt "good" when she figured out a tricky word.
I watched Debbie Miller's Happy Reading tapes last night and I feel re energized again. I think I may work on a sheet to record individual conferences and then bind these into small "books" to use next year. I am thinking I would need a space for what they are doing well, a small running record, what we worked on in this conference, what we may need to work on in the future, and possible group work. I like using the small steno books that I am using now, but maybe this would organize information better.
If I figure this out and figure out how to put this form into the blog I will do this. I welcome any ideas you may have on this form. Feel free to post!
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2 comments:
I have been thinking about choosing "just right" books as compared to our usual practice of analyzing a running record for accuracy, fluency, etc. Your comment reminds me of a boy I was tutoring a couple of years ago when he was a second grader. He was determined to read a Magic Tree House book that was 2 levels above his reading level in classroom instruction. We slogged through the first in the series together, with my frequent reminder that he could stop any time (hoping that he would-it was painful to listen!). It took weeks, but he read the full book. Instead of losing confidence and being frustrated, he broke through to a higher level of processing and built a momentum to keep reading in the series. As a fourth grader he is reading what interests him and considers himself a learner, reader and writer. His confidence is obvious.
Another advantage of developing a form for your conference sheet would be that it keeps"in front of you" the kinds of things to think about while conferencing. I like your idea!
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