I struggle mightily with homework. On one hand it is kids' time, and they should do with it as they will. On the other it is an opportunity for extra practice, connecting families (homework help), and good study habits. I dislike the daily homework seeing the legwork on my end to be significant compared to the payoff.
What I started doing 2 years ago was a current event. Kids select an article of their choice to read and summarize. It shows comprehension while also focusing on distilling ideas from a larger article into 4-5 key points. It ties into reading standards in a variety of ways while leaving little legwork on my end, and allowing kids choice.
This year I am going to tweak it a bit. Instead of an open ended free for all we will have a structured context to pick from within. For example, we started with Government this year in order to highlight the 2012 presidential election. The month of October will be focused on election stories- who is running, what they are saying, etc. it will provide some interesting context to go through facts/opinions and persuasive writing also. Later we will highlight other important events/milestones/themes. We will likely do something around community needs in December. January we will come back to government as the inauguration/government start up begin. February might be for finding something you love- animals, video games, etc.
I'm pretty excited about it. The evolution to something meaningful is going on, which is pretty great.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Fluency Testing
Last year I fluency tested my 5th graders that I considered to be low. They were students that missed grade level on the 4th grade MSP (state test), or we're close to the cut line. I opted for that approach, thinking it would be a time saver.... It was.
This year I have opted to fluency test our whole grade level. In a profession where time is of the essence, and oh so precious, it would seem counterintuitive. Why fluency test kids who exceeded grade level standard? The key is in knowing them as a reader. This is my first piece of information in my reading puzzle. From the conference I can see just how easy (by rate/voice) it is, as well as how they retell information. I can ask questions and see where they are, and the additional time is minimal because they are faster (by and large).
How does it inform my instruction? The key is it gives me a subtle benchmark for where to go. I don't fluency test them to the instructional rate because it largely isn't necessary- I can tell if books are right from simple passage reading if needed. But it tells me how the handle inflection while they read, punctuation (do they stop at periods?!), and what do they do in retelling? Do they rely on the cover, or can they give more specifics?
It is an interesting puzzle piece. It only begins to fill in as I continue my running records during reading.
This year I have opted to fluency test our whole grade level. In a profession where time is of the essence, and oh so precious, it would seem counterintuitive. Why fluency test kids who exceeded grade level standard? The key is in knowing them as a reader. This is my first piece of information in my reading puzzle. From the conference I can see just how easy (by rate/voice) it is, as well as how they retell information. I can ask questions and see where they are, and the additional time is minimal because they are faster (by and large).
How does it inform my instruction? The key is it gives me a subtle benchmark for where to go. I don't fluency test them to the instructional rate because it largely isn't necessary- I can tell if books are right from simple passage reading if needed. But it tells me how the handle inflection while they read, punctuation (do they stop at periods?!), and what do they do in retelling? Do they rely on the cover, or can they give more specifics?
It is an interesting puzzle piece. It only begins to fill in as I continue my running records during reading.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
End of Week Reflections
This year I have started doing two things differently. The first is writing objectives on the board during non-social studies block time. I write them during my literacy/s.s. block, but typically haven't during our get to know you or pre-assessment activities. I also did a thumbs up/down with it, and kids gave me a good check for how we are doing. I liked it, seeing it as important in this time when it seems like we aren't doing much.
The second thing I started doing is a weekly reflection. Kids are asked to come up with 2 things that were positive from the week- sharing with a partner, and a few to the whole group. This was awesome! Kids were willingly sharing, and had some great positives...
-I made a new friend.
-I climbed all the way across the monkey bars.
-people tried really hard
I want kids searching for those positives. I'm hoping it will only build going forward.
The second thing I started doing is a weekly reflection. Kids are asked to come up with 2 things that were positive from the week- sharing with a partner, and a few to the whole group. This was awesome! Kids were willingly sharing, and had some great positives...
-I made a new friend.
-I climbed all the way across the monkey bars.
-people tried really hard
I want kids searching for those positives. I'm hoping it will only build going forward.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
First two days
The best part about the mobile blogger app is that it makes blogging more accessible. I typically reflect on my day in the evening, and am not always in front of my computer. I also don't always want to be thinking about my school day while sitting with my laptop on my lap, or hunched over a table. So hopefully that leads to more blogging, or more reflection...
The first days are always a bit of a grind. You really aren't humming along, and everything takes a little longer than you think it will. But we got quite a bit accomplished. We've established our expectations, spending about an hour working on them- what is an expectation, what should the room look like during learning, what should the room sound like, and how do our interactions go. Kids have done this before, so it comes around after a few minutes of sputtering.
I've also committed myself to writing my objectives on the whiteboard where the schedule is. Why? I want kids to see where we are going. Right now that is me directing the ship, but soon it will be them crafting the objectives (with guidance). I surveyed kids (thumbs up/down) at the end of the day to see if we met our objectives... That gave me some barometer of how it went, as well as other things we need to work on (more community, more emphasis on reviewing routine).
So far so good. Very excited to really dig in. Tomorrow we will start doing some fluency work, and I'll also start to really dig into some initial writing kids are doing (intro letter) to see what we need some support with.
The first days are always a bit of a grind. You really aren't humming along, and everything takes a little longer than you think it will. But we got quite a bit accomplished. We've established our expectations, spending about an hour working on them- what is an expectation, what should the room look like during learning, what should the room sound like, and how do our interactions go. Kids have done this before, so it comes around after a few minutes of sputtering.
I've also committed myself to writing my objectives on the whiteboard where the schedule is. Why? I want kids to see where we are going. Right now that is me directing the ship, but soon it will be them crafting the objectives (with guidance). I surveyed kids (thumbs up/down) at the end of the day to see if we met our objectives... That gave me some barometer of how it went, as well as other things we need to work on (more community, more emphasis on reviewing routine).
So far so good. Very excited to really dig in. Tomorrow we will start doing some fluency work, and I'll also start to really dig into some initial writing kids are doing (intro letter) to see what we need some support with.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Get It Started
Tomorrow is day one for my school district. I'm firmly of the belief that if you don't get nervous for day one with students then it is time for you to reconsider your choice of profession. You've got 20-30 kids staring at you wanting you to give them direction- and you don't want to screw it up because... It is the first day, and first impressions are important. Alas.
Like 99% of my brethren I start with very simple objectives. The first day is about community building, routines, and common expectations. We'll sprinkle in some assessing, but not a ton on day one. There is that sweet spot for not assessing- not right away (kids are on summer mode) and not too late (wasted instructional time).
I'm toying with the idea of putting our 3-4 objectives on the whiteboard. Typically I do that for my reading/social studies block, but I haven't done that for our beginning of the year stuff. I have the feeling it will help us set our course, particularly since we are still dreaming of summer. So why are we doing "class about me bingo?" and why am I writing you a letter? Oh right, I am getting to know my peers and introducing myself. Right!
Carry on.
Like 99% of my brethren I start with very simple objectives. The first day is about community building, routines, and common expectations. We'll sprinkle in some assessing, but not a ton on day one. There is that sweet spot for not assessing- not right away (kids are on summer mode) and not too late (wasted instructional time).
I'm toying with the idea of putting our 3-4 objectives on the whiteboard. Typically I do that for my reading/social studies block, but I haven't done that for our beginning of the year stuff. I have the feeling it will help us set our course, particularly since we are still dreaming of summer. So why are we doing "class about me bingo?" and why am I writing you a letter? Oh right, I am getting to know my peers and introducing myself. Right!
Carry on.
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