RTI

After reading a fellow cohort member's blog post, it made me think about RTI in a different way. I think that RTI can be used for any student, not just students we may suspect have a learning disability. Kids who are "fake" readers may be doing that for many different reasons and getting them interested in reading through any means (even through some RTI techniques) will be very beneficial to them.

RTI techniques would also be helpful to ELL students. So many of them exit from the ELL program but still have difficulty reading and writing because they are weak on comprehension. Going through the RTI process with ELL students will get them the help them need without classifying them as Special Ed when they really may not be.

Classroom Libraries

Routman Chapter 5: Does your placement have a classroom library? How is it organized? What are the strengths in this organization and what are the limitations? Are there any changes you would make?

There is a classroom library in my placement. However, I don’t think it’s a fantastic one…

It is organized by reading level (Guided Reading Levels) and the kids know which baskets they can choose books from and which they can’t. I think they are allowed to pick books from their level and below, but never above! I don’t think this necessarily a good way to organize a library because it could make some students at the lower levels feel embarrassed. One of its major limitations is that kids aren’t thinking about how to choose a “just right book”, they just go the bin with their level labeled on it and pick any book. Maybe they would be able to read a higher level book if it was a topic they were interested in or something they had some background knowledge on, but they are not even given the chance to do this.

Another problem I see with the library is that there are a lot of really old books in it. Some books look like they have been there since I was in 5th grade (some them I even remember reading in 5th grade). I do think it’s good to have well-loved books but there comes a time when they books are just too out of date and need to be taken out of the classroom library.

One thing I really like about the library is that my teacher tries to have complete series that the kids like to read. She has many different series and has almost every book in the series! I have seen libraries where there is the first or second book or even just random books from a series. Sure it is a good way to get kids into a series, but I think they should also be able to finish a series (with book from school) once they start it. My teacher does a good job at making sure her students have this opportunity!

Shared and Guided Reading

Routman Chapters 9 & 10
What are the key differences and similarities between shared and guided reading? What elements of shared or guided reading have you observed in your placement?

Shared reading is more of a whole-class activity where guided reading is a small-group activity. Shared reading is a way to get all students involved and give all students a chance to be successful in reading. In shared reading, students follow along as the teacher reads either out loud or silently; they turn-and-talk to their neighbors to answer questions about the story. I think the most important part of shared reading is that students of any reading ability can participate and be successful.

Guided reading is more for teaching specific reading strategies to small groups of students who need it. Students will read passages from books silently (mostly) then talk to each other about what happened. The teacher is there to guide the conversation towards the reading strategies that are appropriate for that group of students. Guided reading is also a time for the teacher to observe how students are reading and what they may need next to help them be better readers.

Reading Conferences

After reading chapter 7 in Routman, reading conferences do not seem as hard as I thought were originally. I really like the idea that it can be an informal thing but a good assessment of the student’s reading ability can be gained from it. I have seen my master teacher do informal reading conference and it works so well! She just explains to the kids that she will be asking a few of them to come talk with her about their book that day during independent reading time. She really makes sure they understand that it is just a conversation and NOT an assessment!

With my Juanita buddy, I think I will follow Routman’s guidelines exactly. I think it is important not only to make sure a student understands the book they are reading, but that they think about their choice of book. Asking them to rate the book on how hard it is for them is fantastic! In my main placement, I talked to a girl who chose to abandon her book because she knew it was too hard for her and she didn’t understand what was going on. I think it takes courage to admit that to a teacher! I also agree with Routman when she says that sometimes a short reading prompt is not a good measure of a student’s reading ability. It is much better to sit next to a student with a book and ask them to read aloud while you take an informal running record. Their interest level in the material can really play into how well they read and how hard they are willing to try to understand what they are reading.

I think the overall key to reading assessment is to keep it as informal as possible. There will always be times when a formal district assessment is necessary, but until that time comes, the less pressure there is on a student the better they will do on the assessment.

Spelling Instruction

Templeton and Morris: What aspects of spelling instruction mentioned in this article do you see playing out in your placement? Pick one aspect to describe and discuss how it works with children.

In my placement I have seen students doing word sorts with their spelling words. From what I can tell they are closed sorts because the teacher has given them certain categories to sort their words in to. Students are in three different groups which are based ability level. However, I don’t think the kids know which level they are at because each group is working on different spelling patterns. One group’s words aren’t necessarily harder than another group’s words, they are just different. They do the sorts on their own and they also do them with a partner where they test each other for speed. Also during the week, they pick about 10 words to write in sentences. This helps them learn the meaning of the words and gives them more practice writing the words. When Friday comes and they have their spelling test, the teacher randomly picks about 15 words from their lists plus some words not on the list but that have same pattern they are learning. I like this method because it eliminates the potential for memorization and regurgitation. Students really have to learn the spelling pattern and how to apply it.

Genre

Out of all the readings this week the idea that interested me most was Routman's talk about genre. I was taught (as I am sure many of us were) about each genre in isolation, learning all the characteristics of the genre and writing to fit them. I really like how Routman in Ch. 8 talked about just teaching good writing and the different genres would happen more naturally. She also mentions that as teachers, we need to nurture students and give them what they need in terms of writing. If a student feels she needs to express herself with a poem, that would be a good moment to give her a mini-lesson about poems. In Writing Essentials, Routman said that, "The purpose for writing determines the genre or form the writing takes, not the other way around" (194). I completely agree! I have seen it done the other way around and seen kids struggle through an assignment just to get it done. They had no investment in the assignment whatsoever. I think the important point to take away here is that all we need to do is teach good writing and the rest will follow.

Grading Writing

In Elbow he mentioned that not every writing assignment has to be graded and Routman pointed out that like reading, becoming a good writer takes practice. I think these two ideas go hand-in-hand. Grading everything students ever write is not only time consuming for the teacher, but also sends a message to the students that they need approval.

I think that writing workshop (or something similar) is a great way to integrate writing time into the classroom. I feel that writing is usually done in spurts and are usually fairly substantial assignments. Writing every day is the only way that students will become better writers. This also means that students need to be free to write about whatever they want. That's not to say that there can still be assignments where students write about specific things (something has to be graded to show their progress!) Giving students that time every day just to write is necessary. It also means that teachers would have an overwhelmingly huge amount of grading to do, therefore, don't grade every piece of writing!