Has it been 6 weeks? It has indeed. In all honesty I've simply been lazy, not in the mood to write. What has happened in the meantime? Spring Break came and went. Our focus groups for state testing came and went. State testing has come... and is almost done, with one more day and some makeups to be done.
April made a few things painfully obvious...
First was that I should have started our novel study months ago. The switch was flipped for many of our kids as they started to get engrossed in really good literature. Accompanying that was a fact/question/response log (FQR) that grabbed question stems from the standards and put them to use in responding to literature. Kids got a chance to show comprehension of literature, analyze elements of literature, and experience how quality children's authors write. I wish I'd started in the fall, but will need to settle for taking that knowledge into next year. Additionally I'll pour more money into book sets published more recently.
Second takeaway was how beneficial targeting students can be. This is a no-brainer, and is done by countless teachers on a daily basis. I've done this as well, but I've seen the payoff of late. There are times when the loudest, or the most disruptive, can monopolize your time, making teaching less about the 20+ kids in the room and more about those 1-2 children. But at some point you need to focus your resources to impact those kids that might be lost under the loud or disruptive, the kids that might more comfortable not being pushed.
Lastly, you need to maximize instructional time and focus on your standards. There are so many things that will pull you away from instructional time, from concerts to art projects to god knows what else. As we hit April, I was constantly going "gosh, there isn't much time left between now and testing time" which is when they are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the standards. Time is a luxury you have in October, but less so in March/April. You need to use it wisely.
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