Read Chapters 3 & 4 and respond to the following assignments. All responses are due
by 10/23.
Chapter 3 Read Alouds and Differentiation
In this chapter Robb talks about how powerful the read aloud can be when used as a common teaching text. She feels it is the first step in differentiating instruction. She says the read aloud does the following:
helps all students enlarge their prior knowledge;
ensures that all students learn to apply reading strategies and explore issues and themes;
when the read aloud is used as the teaching text, students can use other texts at their instructional level.
She uses read alouds for the following reasons:
to build background knowlege;
to model the application of reading strategies;
to teach narrative story elements;
to teach informational text features;
to use as a catalyst for teaching unfamiliar themes;
to teach different kinds of journal responses;
to help students explore issues and themes for pinpointing big ideas in texts.
Robb explains each one of these thoroughly. She also provides a sample lesson for each which includes her think aloud, follow up activites and suggested texts to use as models.
After reading each one share one way you would like to use (or have used) the read aloud. Include the name of the text you would use and some follow up activities.
Please note on P. 75 Knowing When Students Have Absorbed a Reading Strategy. She has some suggestions for assessing their progress.
Also note on P. 76 she lists the narrative story elements to teach. In the back of the book she lists elements for non fiction along with definitions.
On P. 95 Robb states that, "Issues move students beyond the facts and encourage them to use facts to infer, connect and conclude." She then provides a chart of issues and related core questions to be introduced during read alouds. Hopefully you find some issues you use or would like to use.
Finally, please share any ideas you may have on using the librarians in our schools to help us find read alouds -- including picture books, poetry and short texts.
Chapter 4 Whole Class Instructional Reading and Differentiation
Robb discusses differentiating through whole group instruction in this chapter. She discusses 10 questions she is most often asked about this approach. Share 1 or 2 questions that you would ask about this approach to teaching reading -- they can be different from the ones she listed or maybe they are the same.
Robb discusses different conferences to use when assessing. They are retellings, book conferences, strategy conferences and peer book conferences. Which one of these would work best in your classroom and why?
Enjoy the rest of this chapter -- it is rich with information, suggestions, examples and guidelines.
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Chapter 3 Read Alouds and Differentiation
ReplyDeleteI recently read the book, Abbie Against the Storm by Marcia Vaughn as a read aloud. I only have a couple of copies of this wonderful book. It ties into our curriculum on the rocky shore as well as being an exciting book based on real events in Maine. The girl, Abbie, must keep the lighthouse lights burning in a terrible storm while her father is away. It is full of powerful imagery, strong verbs, similes, and suspenseful sayings that keep the kids on the edge of their seats. When we read the book, I have the kids notice the powerful word choices, imagery, and similes like “panic washed over her like a cold wave”. After we have finished, the students have a better image in their minds of a rocky shore and they can’t believe that it is a true story! Then we start to take the story apart. I give out copies of just the text so that we can first find and record on a chart examples of strong verbs, precise nouns, and vivid imagery. After that, the children read through the text in pairs and look for similes and suspenseful sayings that we will use as a model for our spooky stories. I then read the story again but this time, we are looking at character traits. I introduce the difference between character traits and attributes and we start to talk about Abbie. She has many strong traits that are easy for the students to recognize. We find three that we like and we write examples to prove them. The students then get into small groups and write a paragraph (topic sentence, details, ending sentence) that show Abbie’s three character traits with examples. From the group work, the students will write their own paragraphs. At this point, I will know if they have absorbed the lesson on character traits.
Chapter 4 Whole Class Instructional Reading and Differentiation
ReplyDeleteThe whole class instructional reading approach is interesting. I have the same questions that others have already posed to Robb. How do you find all of the reading materials??? That is not easy. I am not comfortable with the teacher not reading all the book selections. I find that some things can sneak up on you and be inappropriate if you don’t read it first. I could see using this approach for a content area like science. It would be hard to find that many different texts though. The approach seems more effective with slightly older students who can be trusted to read various materials and respond in different ways.
The retell is an appropriate tool for conference assessments. I use it and feel that they are revealing in regard to comprehension. I also like to listen to a student tell me about a strategy like figuring our word meaning from the text. It is interesting to listen to the way a student absorbs the information.
Patty, you get a lot of mileage from that story. It sounds WONDERFUL. The language alone is enough for many lessons. It seems you maximize those lessons. I love how you revisit the text and change the focus to character traits. Havng the students find examples to prove them is so crucial to their comprehension. Thanks for sharing those great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI, too find the whole class instructional model a bit overwhelming. I'm more comfortable in reading groups. To me it's too many books going at one time. I'm glad that she presents this model, though, for teachers who have the materials to support it.
I agree that retellings are a solid way to assess a student's comprehension. It's interesting to note the various ways Robb suggests formatting conferences. She states it doesn't always have to be a retelling. Some kids may do better using a strategy retelling or do better retelling to a peer. Thanks for sharing your great ideas.
While teaching at BOCES I covered a unit on Child Labor Laws. My students were between the ages of 14-21 years old, but congnitivly around 4th grade. I started off the lesson by having the principal come in and tell them that they would no longer be having recess/gym/art or any favorable acitivity. Instead they would be cooking the lunches, cleaning the bathrooms and cutting the grass. We waited for their reactions and sat back to listen to their complaints. This was really a good motivation. We then had a short discussion on the fairness of the whole concept. I then read the book The Bobbin Girl by Emily Arnold McCully. This book is about a ten year old girl who is forced to go work as a bobbin girl in the hot, noisy cotton mill. She has to work long hard days to support her family. Working conditions at the mill are poor, and people come in contact with illness and injury. An immediate follow up activity that I used was writing a diary entry from her point of view or comparing life now to life then. I would have also enjoyed relating this to the Bill of Rights and making our own classroom Bill of Rights.
ReplyDeleteI love using my read alouds to model the strategies taught during reading workshop. One example of a book I use is Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo. I use this book when I launch the reading workshop. I model how to reread to recall, reread to refocus, stop and think, naming the big events, etc. Once they see how I incorporate the strategies, they start to practice them on their own. I have had parents comment on how their children use the strategies at home too!
ReplyDeleteOne strategy Robb uses that I currently do not incorporate in my classroom is using the read aloud "to teach different kinds of journal responses." I have never used my read aloud for this purpose but I am going to start to use this strategy. I think it is a great idea!
I have most of my read alouds mapped out from when I taught in the city, but our librarian at Munsey Park is great! Anytime I need to find a great book to use in reading workshop, she is very helpful. I just tell her the reading workshop unit we are engage in and she has several book recommendations to support my unit.
ReplyDeleteOne question I still have about differentiated instruction is "What kinds of activities do you create for a class of students who read different books?" I think my reading workshop units lack activities. I normally just move on to the next unit without having students complete an activity. Robb gave me great strategies on how to incorporate activities into the unit.
ReplyDeleteThe second question I have is "Do teachers organize groups of students to discuss instructional books?" I conference with my students regularly and I pull strategy groups with one-four students but when I pull groups larger than that I normally have them reading the same book. Students read that book during guided reading time and then for homework that night. On other days they go back to their other reading books.
I love how Robb showed how to "Assess with Strategy Conferences." I love the sheet she created and will start to use that in my conferencing too. I also think this strategy is great for my classroom because it helps prepare them for the ELA without making it obvious.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3: I loved this chapter on Read Alouds. I use Read Alouds to model the Active Reader Strategies (ARS) (Guessing, Picturing, Connecting, Wondering, Figuring Out and Noticing). As I introduce the book I am reading aloud, I review the ARS and emphasize how important it is to have your brain thinking while you are reading...saying the words is only part of the process. I choose text that is especially good for a strategy I am teaching. For example, I read "The Bus Ride" by William Miller, to my class which is very similar to Rosa Parks incident when she is asked to give up her seat on the bus. The character in the story is a young girl going to school by public bus and she is asked not to sit in the front of the bus. This book is great to use to illustrate Text:World Connections. While we were reading the story, we were able to make predictions, knowing the background of what had happened to Rosa Parks. We also were able to "notice" what was similar and different b/w the two books. What I gleaned from this chapter is how Robb activates prior knowledge prior to reading. It is something that is key to reading, and I do it a lot. But it seems that she spends a greater deal of time with it than I ever have. I guess the difference is that I am not teaching content so much as teaching the art of reading.
ReplyDeleteAs for librarians I love to use my local library in RVC. My son's teacher has gone to the RVC library and has books pulled if there was an author study or a genre (biography for example). These books are set aside and the kids can come in to check the books out. I think that may be a good thing to investigate thru the Manhasset Library. I think it's so important for families to be involved and use the library. This would encourage parents to visit the library with their child(ren).
I really love the list of Issues on pgs 96-98. It really promotes critical thinking. Currently, the Reading Street Series has units that focus around a theme; Exploration, families, etc. This is a part of the program that I like. It is a good way to take thinking beyond the page.
Gigi
Chapter 4 - Differentiated whole group instruction looks like a great model. Reading about the 2 different classrooms, it is obvious that the children benefit more from the 2nd class that uses differentiated instruction. The question, "How do I find so many books?" also should include, "How do you manage the books in your room?" At times, I have created a book exchange with some children. I send home 2 books per night and the child returns the next day and I give them another 2 to read. This is mostly b/c books at the early levels (B-I) are tricky to find. There aren't that many choices for parents. I spent a great deal of time checking books in and out. I'm not equipped to be a lending library. I can imagine this would be time consuming in a class. The conference model is great, but not easy to keep to 5 min. When I conference, I want to make sure the child doesn't leave w/o demonstrating that s/he "got it". Sometimes this learning takes more than 5 minutes. Lastly, I love the independent work idea to use post-its. My question is, "Do you check this independent work?" I guess you can pair up and share.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 - (cont.) I use retellings a lot. I'm glad to see that Robb sees value in this. Multiple choice tests and responses are one type indicator of how a child understood a piece of text, but the information gleaned from a retelling is rich. It gives clues about a child's oral vocabulary, sequence skills, summary skills, recall, etc. You have an opportunity to probe, prompt and see into how your student is thinking. Student's need to be taught how to retell; I do this through modeling. I like Robb's checklist on page 119. I may alter it to be more grade 2 friendly to use as a teaching tool and then let my students use it to grade themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Sean, "The Bobbin Girl" sounds like a great book. Kids today are so far removed from this era! Your lesson sounds great and the kids are sure to remember it and internalize the concept!
ReplyDeleteSean, what a great motivation to use to get your students connected. Robb talks a lot about using writing to build comprehension as well as an assessment tool for teachers. Sounds like it was a great lesson. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I agree that using the read aloud to model journal responses is a wonderful idea. I, too, am trying that this year for the first time. She suggests using these responses as assessment tools and to build comprehension. I think we'll read more about it in Chap. 7. I think it's more important to differentiate the reading material than the activity. Even if your whole group instruction focuses on a particular strategy, students can practice these in their own reading book. That way they are applying the strategy in a book that is on their instructional level.
ReplyDeleteIn the whole class model, I think she conferences with individual students. Ilike your idea of conferencing with small strategy groups. This could be done using different books as well. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Gigi, I agree with you about background knowledge being so important to comprehension. Robb uses the read aloud a lot for building background. I see in the upper grades -- the language becomes more abstract for students. They do not have the experiences they're reading about in content areas. This is where I see the gaps come through especially with vocabulary. I like Robb's idea for the upper grades to build background and vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteThe whole group model seems a bit overwhelming. I guess once it was up and running with books in place, it would work very well. Robb states there is no need for the teacher to have read every book -- I'm not sure how well you can assess their comprehension without knowing the story.
I'm glad you're finding tools to use for 2nd grade. Thanks for sharing.
I use Fundations in my AIS reading program which is a multisensory reading/spelling program. As a result, it is hard for me to find the time to squeeze in the read alouds that I truly love. I think that using read alouds is a great way to model the application of reading strategies. Over the last few weeks, I have been using several picture books to teach guessing/predicting. As I read these stories, I modeled my thinking by using pictures and details from the text to guess what might happen next in the story and to guess how the story might end. After hearing several stories like The Three Bears & Look Out Fish, my students were able to discuss what helped them to make better predictions. In the beginning, some of their predictions were wild and far out. Now my students are making more careful predictions and they are beginning to explain their thinking a bit more. I like to model the strategy several times together using different books and then slowly shift the responsibility over to my students to practice with a partner or on their own. Sometimes, I think that they have grasped a strategy but then I see that they have difficulty applying the strategy on their own. Then I realize that more modeling is necessary. On the other hand, Laura Robb said it best, “It is a great feeling the moment my modeling clicks."
ReplyDeleteHi Gigi, I was also thinking about what Laura Robb said about prior knowledge. Sometimes students do not have enough prior knowledge to get started on a particular topic. The teacher then has to provide enough background information so that new learning can begin. We have such a diverse population of students today. Sometimes it's not so easy to fill in the gaps. I like how Robb quickly pulled out the short biographies to use as an introduction to a
ReplyDeleteunit on Women's Suffrage.
The read aloud that I chose to start with this year is Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes. I've used this book in the past at the sart of the year, but now I feel that I can use a new set of lenses as I start with the story elements--a form of retelling for my students. We focused on the first page to visualize what is happening (a strategy we used with the picture books and short paragraphs/reading selections to state the main idea and details). Then I pose questions to the students to help them glean the characters setting, and the problem. It is also a way I find out informally who is abnle to absorb the content by making 'me too' connections, or predictions. When we re-read the next day, the students were asked to look at a specific paragraph to re-state the main idea and details. In my effort to differentiate for the students who have language and/or processing issues, they must re-state a peer's response. For the students who I feel are better able to process informaation, they must restate a peer's response using different words; at times I must supply a hint by asking, "what's another word that means the same as...?" Due to the reading abilities of my students, I tend to do read alouds and guided reading as my primary way of language arts instruction. I'm hoping to apply Robb's Big Picture Plan for Small Group Instruction during the second half of the year. By then, they will have more experience with queries from me that increase their ability to the absorb reading strategies. Moreover, they will have more command of their attentional issues internally or via external behavior plans that will increase their ability to function within the group (of ten). Thus far, I have them working on the main idea and details, and drawing conclusions (based on the author's word choices, precise verbs and figurative language). The follow-up activities that I include in my class and homework packets require the students to answer the questions in sentence form, matching terms to their meanings, or drawing pictures based on the language of the text.
ReplyDeleteI use the Reading Strategies For Non-Fiction and CARS as a way of knowing if the students have absorbed a strategy. Presently, the core questions relate to issues such as fear, conformity, and relationships.
One way I envision usinbg ther librarian is to pick her brain regarding some of the issues in the new Picture Book Plus section of the library when I can raise the bar for the higher level classified students. I have some lower functioning picture books that I can used like Chrysanthemum by K. Henkes, Shortcut by D. Crews, andf others which I can't think of right now.
In Chapter 4, I've not used confernces 1:1 yet, but I have done retellings in whole-class instructioonal reading lessons by incorporating Social Studies/Science texts. I've been able to use enlarged paragraphs to read with students to reinforce concepts learned in the content areas in an effort to solidify their ability to identify and restate the main idea sentences and note the details that support the main idea. We recently completed practice ELA sessions. It was an eye opener to see how difficult it is for many of children to respond to the questions related to a given text/story. Their responses are what gave me feedback on how much some of them can utilize text features, call on background knowledge, and apply/absorb reading strategies. I am trying to vary the tasks as a way of differntiation and I am in the process of creating an activity that will utilize the SmartBoard features. I also plan to use the retelling checklist for narrative/informational texts as a way to chart growth in their expressive language abilities. I'm not sure when I'll get to peer group conferncing, but it on a back burner... along with some of the five questions to consider (p.138) as I evolve with differentiated whole class instruction. :)
Differentiated Reading
ReplyDeleteChapter 3:
When it comes to read alouds, this is my forte…
I feel that picture books are the perfect springboard for the children to grasp and explore a plethora of strategies. At the start of the year, I try to expose my children to read alouds which target a select few strategies. Then, each strategy is a catalyst for the next strategy. For instance, I want the children to gain an awareness that authors write books to invite in their reader’s with a purpose. In the book, The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein, I begin with exploring the main idea verse the intended message. Through a whole group, we share ideas and our views. The next day, when I read The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, I divided the children into 4-5 groups to discuss its message. These two books enabled me to lead into compare and contrast and introduce character traits. Since the words are very limited, it allowed an opportunity for all of my readers to share and explore traits. The challenge was when the children needed to justify their traits with concrete information from the text. Character traits are a tricky skill for my children. Our task is to prove these qualities from the context of the stories. To help strengthen this weakness, I selected two different reading selections (a legend How Raven Made the Tides and a fable by Arnold Lobel Bear and Crow.) Within both selections, we analyzed the basic elements of literature and sub-divided the stories into beginning, middle and ending. This provided an opportunity for the children to try to look more closely at how the character traits can change and/or evolve in a story. I did not provide any mini-lesson indication whether or not there would be a change in the characters through the course of the storylines, rather, I wanted to see if this skill was noted and identified based upon previous reading lessons. As noted in the book on page 76, I was hoping that the different groups could identify the elements of setting, problem, conflict and resolution. In order to assess this skill, I needed to let the children flex their muscles and write their responses. Now this led to a whole new world of discovery….. Many of the children ramble and ramble about too much information that is not pertinent to the given questions.
Response to chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteTo be frank, the only type of one-to-one conferencing that I have been able to implement within my classroom is when I am administering the IRI Inventory Assessments. I have been making numerous informal observations through the content reading selections used on a daily basis. Presently, I have been trying to strengthen their ability to locate the main idea of given paragraphs. Many children are struggling with this concept. Therefore, it is important to master these beginning building blocks to help the children learn how to dig deeper for the more challenging skills such as inferential thinking and drawing conclusions. Therefore, to properly assess whether or not a child is absorbing this skill, I have been teaching through the use of modeling, how to mark up the text and interact with questions along the margins. Simultaneously, I am implementing the language that Gigi mentioned in her response (noticing, predicting, etc…) However; I am trying to align the language often used on the state assessments to those strategies. Luckily, I was able to get immediate feedback on all of my children with regard to their reading comprehension skills related to answering specific questions. We administered on our grade level last year’s ELA tests…. WOW! I personally feel that the last session where the children have to read two different stories and answer specific questions is an easy task. It is usually very concrete and cut and dry. These results were SO SO SO BAD! The children struggled with answering the given questions and there was no evidence of underlining where in the given reading selections their answers were derived. I am just about done with grouping my two reading groups, but I feel that I need to model appropriate behaviors and work habits as a whole group. I want to be able to show the children how to interact on task and mark up the text according to the given skills. Independent on-task working habits are too limited right now…. Therefore, I am gearing the two groups to have similar lessons but with higher level questions for the more sophisticated group (did I say that nicely…lol…?) For instance, today, when I was going on how to indentify the different type of questions from the ELA session #1 part, I modeled for the children how to chunk the text material. As I read the text aloud, I paused and interjected with my thoughts for all to hear. My ultimate purpose was for the children to witness that a “good reader” needs to pause and recollect his/her thoughts. As I mumbled my inner thinking aloud, I noticed different reactions mapped across their faces. I actually did some retelling of key ideas (it was a non-fiction passage about comets) to demonstrate how I was “trying to make sense of what I was reading by connecting it to ideas/concepts that I was already familiar with from my own knowledge-base. After reading the whole passage and doing this activity, I posed this question< “How many think you understand it better?” WOW! They were so honest. I hope this mini-lesson had value as I plan on having them make these kind of marking on their own passages. Time will tell.
More on my response with chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteA Librarian can make all of the difference in the classroom. I love when new picture books are introduced to me with sensory details and vivid content. The key is… the librarian needs to understand which books are my style and interest. I need books that trigger emotions and use strong word choices.
I agree with Patty’s remark that “she is not comfortable with reading material not already previewed.” One time I did this with a read aloud from the school book fair. I began reading this book aloud and the children were listening so intently to each spoken word. The book was reflecting upon past incidents with a little girl and her grandpa…. As I was reading this book (I’ll tell you all later the name), my assistant walked into the room to hear me reading this book. She gave me a VERY STRANGE LOOK…. Apparently, she had just finished reading this book herself and she was shocked that I was reading this to the class! As I read to the class, I felt my heart racing a bit tooooo much, before I knew it, I was sobbing and had to leave the room. This book was way too close for comfort with my own personal life. The book is called Thank You, Grandpa (by Lynn Plourde). So, prepare yourself and I will always preview the books!
Reading instruction needs to be organized based upon the demands within each classroom. I feel that this year will be my most challenging experience…. I need to establish good strategies on how to tackle a book and how to respond with explicit details to support responses and views.
Colleen, I agree modeling is so important. Each time students watch us, they take something away with them. It's rewarding that you see your students improving in their predicting -- they do get it!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I like your scaffolding approach -- and your options for responding. You really give each student an opportunity to succeed. Funny you mention D. Crews and Shortcut -- I used that story the other day to model inferencing for my students -- the part of them walking home silently. I love that book. It's great to have solid practices in place while experimenting with one or two new ones. It keeps our teaching fresh. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKim, it's great how each of your read alouds and lessons leads into the next. It's nice to have a clear map of where your teaching is going. Do the results you received from last year's ELA provide you with enough information to drive your instruction? I think it would be great to have a strong assessment piece at the beginning of the year. It's especially nice this year as you can measure how they improve with a year's worth of lessons.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have your 2 groups -- do they use the same text with different level questions? Currently I like to model strategies for the whole group, provide similar tasks/assignments for all groups but using different texts.
I definitely meet with my top group less often and move at a faster pace with them.
The librarian is a great resource. Amy recently pulled together a nonfiction unit for me. I agree with you that they need to know what the teacher wants and likes. Thanks for sharing.
I really enjoy using read-alouds in my mini-lessons to teach both Language Arts and Science. To introduce story elements in Language Arts, I played a Short Story Rap (not technically a read-aloud) but it was really great to get the kids engaged. I first asked then to listen to the rap and pay close attention to its "message". Then I gave each student a copy of the lyrics and played the rap again. This time they underlined key words and labeled the message in the story. They still go around singing the "message" of the rap. I then read Thank You, Mr. Falker (by Patricia something) to introduce the story elements. I wanted the students to use the elements learned in the rap to focus on the characters, setting and plot. I think picture books are great because they are so universal in the classroom. We discussed the students favorite children's books in class as a follow up and then we started reading Rikki-tikki-tave (my favorite children's story- but not the picture book version). The students are actually listening to parts of it on tape (found on-line). This is a read-aloud, although I am not the one reading... I think it is a good idea to use it to introduce short stories because the students learn the "art" of story-telling. One of my goals is to have the students read with enthusiasm! I also agree with Kim that it is difficult to narrow student responses to comprehension questions. One strategy we are using is going back and finding evidence in the story to support their response. For this reason, I like them to have a copy of the Rikki-tikki-tavi story in front of them, so that they can feel free to mark it up. The read-aloud for Rikki-tikki-tavi is excellent for teaching imagery. When the author describes Nag's (the cobra) hood expand and Rikki-tikki's eyes getting red as he is bouncing on his tail- I had the students draw a picture of what they thought this image looked like and then we compared it to the picture book (the author's image). Very interesting comparisons.
ReplyDeleteMore for CH 3: I look forward to utilizing the librarians to help me choose appropriate read-alouds for my lessons.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4: Since we are departmentalized, it is really the job of the science and social studies teachers to focus on the content area reading.. however, I I do not use the science textbook in 6th grade for several reasons. My two biggest issues with the science textbook is that it does not cover all of the topics that is part of our curriculum (so I would need many more than 1 textbook per student), and the textbook reading level does not match the level of content knowledge available. Therefore, I use the textbooks as a resource for me to create reading articles and lessons for the students to master the high level of content knowledge needed at a lower, more appropriate reading level. I really do not have time to conference one on one with students in any of my classes and be able to meet with every student. My assessments are mostly through quizzes, answers to comprehension questions of the reading passage, and class or small group discussion. I do believe I could incorporate more retellings into future lessons though. I think that is a good way for students to remember the plot through sequence of events. In my first few years of teaching, I taught a Gifted first grade after school program and we read the folktale It Could Always Be Worse. It was about a poor farmer who was complaining about his small, one room house. He went to the priest to ask for advice and the priest told him to bring in a goat into the house.. when that did not work, the farmer was instructed to bring in 3 chickens.. and the story went on.. To retell the story, I marked an outline of the house with tape on the floor and made necklaces of all of the animals that the farmer was instructed to bring into his house. As the students volunteered to retell the next part of the story, they wore the necklace of the animal and acted out their part. It was really cute. I think I could find ways to incorporate retelling into 6th grade too!
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteMy question is similar to one shared by Robb, “How can teachers effectively find materials that can be used as either common text or instructional books for students?” This really is a monumental task. I guess the best way to go about obtaining these materials would be to collaborate with colleagues. In the beginning it would be a lot of work (perhaps another collegial circle!) but over time you can add to your collections. In the text Robb mentions that it is not necessary to read every book. However, when teaching reading strategies, sometimes I read through dozens of books just to find the “diamond in the rough” book which seems to meet a particular strategy best. I would hate to have students waste time on books which do not really emphasize a particular strategy. That’s why I think setting up and organizing the materials is so important.
For my first grade students, I am currently assessing my students through retellings and questioning (literal, inferential, critical & evaluative).
Hi Laura, my first grade students would love the activity you shared. I really value retellings as an assessment. I feel like they provide a window into how that student is thinking. Sometimes students can share a well developed and properly sequenced retelling. While other students will start with the ending and share very unimportant details which obviously tells me that lots more work is needed.
ReplyDeleteLauren, I love the use of the rap song -- what a great way to get them hooked. I use Mr. Falker in my room, too. The kids love it. Using a tape to read aloud is a great way to keep them focused too. Sometimes just hearing a different voice is all it takes. I will check out our library to see if there are any novels/short stories on tape. Sounds like a great lesson you do with them. That's great that you create the sciene articles for them. It sounds like a lot of work!! I love that lesson with the gifted first grade -- so interactive. Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.
ReplyDeleteI most recently started a novel with my groups. I used another text with a similar theme to investigate leads and settings, and modeled my thinking about the lead of the read-aloud, encouraging student reactions and sharing as the discussion continues. We then began to look at figurative language, in particular similes and metaphors, which we have been continuing to explore through the read alouds. Abbie Against the Storm, which Patti introduced to me, was a fabulous read-aloud to follow these lessons. The students quickly interrupted me and did the thinking aloud for me. They were so excited to discover the similes and other examples of figurative language and made the connections to good writing immediately. They then went on to discuss the lead and how the author revealed the setting which allowed the discussion to begin to flow naturally into story elements and other examples of writer's craft.
ReplyDeleteIt is through the read-aloud, which is most often a picture book in my lessons but can also be an excerpt, that I am able to truly teach the strategies and skills.
I would very much like to have more texts going on in my classroom and have, in the past, used partnering and found it to be a wonderful teaching strategy which allows for dialogue both orally and in writing through dialogue journaling. However, I am a little reluctant to do so at this point on the fourth grade. I am also not comfortable in knowing enough books, and I do like it when the different books can be connected by a theme (issue) to allow for further whole class discussions. I did a little of this at the beginning of the year, in September, with individualized reading and it did work well.
I strongly agree with Robb that differentiated instuction works best when centered around a theme or issue. In the past I have conferenced with students centered around a text - either partners or small groups such as book clubs. I have found it very difficult to do it all during the language arts time in the classroom so that conferening this way allows me to touch base and dialogue with all of the children within a few days. I have always found time to be my enemy and have not been successful keeping conferences to five or fewer minutes. I'd love to be comfortable and able to succeed at that!
Interesting that Robb discusses a biography unit, because that has been one of my plans since I started thinking about fourth grade. I found it excited to read her suggestions and intend to use them when I plan my Biography unit.
I found Robb's Retelling checklists and Conference guidelines very interesting and I hope to try them. I love to try the ideas of other experts and twink them, when needed, to make them more comfortable for my style and my classroom. It is incredible how much prior planning and thought must go into a differentiated reading classroom and as a teacher new to the grade I am finding that time is again my biggest issue. I look forward to implementing more of the suggestions Robb makes with my class.
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ReplyDeleteI often use picture books as mentor texts with my class. Picture books serve as great mentor texts because of their focus on descriptive, focused language, often over shorter story lines. Students are able to pull such rich examples of tone from the texts because the wording of good picture books is so precise. For the same reasons, picture books also are wonderful read aloud texts. “Nothing Ever Happens in 90th Street” by Roni Schotter is one of my favorite read aloud story for several reasons: the language wonderful and the story itself deals with elementary school aged Eve’s difficulty in finding a topic for her writing. In thinking about her teacher’s writing advice, and lamenting about the lack of activity in her neighborhood, Eve explores inspiration in her own surroundings. The book works on two levels; it is full of the rich word choice that inspires imagination in readers, “finding poetry in your pudding”, but it also speaks directly to the reader as a writer, who may struggle with the same lack of inspiration as Eve does. When reading aloud to my class I focus on the story’s cadence and can add my own inflection to highlight powerful passages. Reading aloud also encourages my class to read their own works aloud to test for clarity and “readability”. This has been especially helpful when my class serves as reading buddies to the younger grades. After listening to read alouds in class, I witness many of my students experimenting with changing voice to represent character and inflecting to draw out story elements.
I think the librarians are an incredible resource in helping to select read aloud books. I rely on their insight when looking for books of a common theme and to introduce works of authors I have not yet experienced. It is always fascinating to me to hear their take on reading a poem or story that I have interpreted with my class and hear them pull in different elements.
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteMy first question to Robb is “How do you keep your conferences to five minutes?” It seems that just as we are getting to the meat of the meeting, it is time to move to the next reader. Robb has to be immediately insightful and also quick to pick up the tread of her previous conferences quickly. It leads me to my second question “How do you organize the notes of next step of each conference, especially as some of the reader interaction may be in one format (one to one conferencing) and some interactions in another format (storey retelling). I would think that the note system is imperative in order to be as efficient with her conferences as possible.
I would love to have more time for book conferences in my class. I agree with Robb’s assessment that “you learning more in a five minute one-on-one conference with a student then in twenty minutes of group instruction.” The issue, of course, is time. This is why I think retelling might be a powerful conference tool to implement more frequently in my class. I think it allows the insight to what an individual student is pulling out of a story, while keeping a larger group of students involved in the conference.
Joyce, it sounds as if you're doing some wonderful lessons with your class. I agree that the read aloud is a great opportunity to teach and model. It's a good feeling watching them transfer what they have learned into their independent or group reading. Time is too limited. I find by the time we get through the read aloud there's only time to meet with at most two groups. The groups discussions are brief as well. I think a 90 minute la block is ideal. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAlly, I like your point about students modeling the way they read aloud after their teacher. I never thought about that. That is such a great story -- I read it the other day. You're right there's so much you can do with it. Another good point is using the retelling more often. I would like to try that as well. In terms of having enough time, maybe alternating between group and individual conferences would work. Kind of what she suggests for writing and reading instruction. Thanks for sharing.
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