In my second year of teaching, I obviously still consider myself a new teacher. Although I have many experiences in the classroom that I can take with me and I continue to learn new strategies, there is one thing that I have trouble with . . . differentiated instruction during reading lessons. For guided reading, students are already grouped by their ability (reading level) and so each group is already receiving differentiated instruction to fit their needs. The main area I need help in is in my whole group lessons each day.
We have a new curriculum, and although it has amazing lessons, there are minimal chances to differentiate how to teach them. Maybe I'm doing it, and I don't realize it, but I really think I know my area of growth! I know I'm already doing things like setting high standards for all of my students, and assessing them to plan out future instruction, but it's the other stuff I'm not so sure on. For instance, I need to be varying follow-up activities for my students, but I'm not sure how. It's hard for me to give one type of worksheet to some students, and a different one to others. Also, many follow-up activities are supposed to be done with a partner, so I have a difficult time deciding on which way is best to pair them. Our curriculum does not give us many examples for differentiated activities, and it's hard to develop them on my own. I do give my struggling students sentence starters, or help them more often than the students that are more "abled," but I just don't know what else to do. I do not make adjustments to make a lesson necessarily easier, because I feel as though all students should be learning the same things. If I can challenge them, then I do so with that group of students individually, or during guided reading.
Is there an easy way to differentiate during whole group lessons? I am afraid to do something way off-base with the fear that I would get "in trouble." I am to follow the lessons as they appear in the curriculum and so I can't change them up to much. I am in desperate need of help to learn some new ways to differentiate during whole group (other than the couple of things I am already doing). Do you have any ideas??? Please lend a helping hand . . .
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Fluency
Fluency when reading is extremely important. It consists of three components: accuracy, speed, and prosody. Something that my class textbook (Tompkins, 2010), and many people believe, is that fluency is compatible with successful comprehension, and vice versa. Although I believe this to be true most of the time, I have found that it is not always the case.
Last year, I had one student that was a very slow reader. She was able to decode the words she didn't know well, but her rate of reading was painfully slow. Most students would not be able to retain what they read if they are concentrating on each word that closely, but she could comprehend everything. I honestly don't think there was one time last year where her comprehension was incorrect. I worked with her on getting her mouth ready for the words, and focusing more on that first letter and each piece of each word. We also talked about trying to speed up her rate and I modeled what it should sound like. Even though she was still reading somewhat slow at the end of the school year, her rate of reading sped up and she actually looked and sounded like a fluent reader.
Last year I also had 3 students that read fluently and could decode new words quickly, but their comprehension was not there. They could read a level 7 text "fluently" but could not comprehend unless they were reading a level 3 text. That showed me that even though they could read the words, they had no idea what they were reading. With these students, I had to work on slowing down their rate and to make sure we did repeated readings. In addition, we worked on previewing the texts more thoroughly so they had a better idea of what they would see in the story.
These two scenarios are very different. One student would not really be labeled as a fluent reader, but in fact she was a very high leveled reader with great comprehension skills. The group of students that seemed like fluent readers had no idea what they were reading most of the time. Students' levels of fluency depend on many aspects, and working on their skills often require individualization.
Have you seen similar issues in your classroom? What do you do when you do not have a fluent reader? On the other hand, what do you do when you have a fluent reader but they are not comprehending?
Reference: Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Last year, I had one student that was a very slow reader. She was able to decode the words she didn't know well, but her rate of reading was painfully slow. Most students would not be able to retain what they read if they are concentrating on each word that closely, but she could comprehend everything. I honestly don't think there was one time last year where her comprehension was incorrect. I worked with her on getting her mouth ready for the words, and focusing more on that first letter and each piece of each word. We also talked about trying to speed up her rate and I modeled what it should sound like. Even though she was still reading somewhat slow at the end of the school year, her rate of reading sped up and she actually looked and sounded like a fluent reader.
Last year I also had 3 students that read fluently and could decode new words quickly, but their comprehension was not there. They could read a level 7 text "fluently" but could not comprehend unless they were reading a level 3 text. That showed me that even though they could read the words, they had no idea what they were reading. With these students, I had to work on slowing down their rate and to make sure we did repeated readings. In addition, we worked on previewing the texts more thoroughly so they had a better idea of what they would see in the story.
These two scenarios are very different. One student would not really be labeled as a fluent reader, but in fact she was a very high leveled reader with great comprehension skills. The group of students that seemed like fluent readers had no idea what they were reading most of the time. Students' levels of fluency depend on many aspects, and working on their skills often require individualization.
Have you seen similar issues in your classroom? What do you do when you do not have a fluent reader? On the other hand, what do you do when you have a fluent reader but they are not comprehending?
Reference: Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Junior Great Books
As a first year teacher last year, I was told I needed to do the Junior Great Books (JGB) Program for 2 weeks each quarter. First off, I had no idea what JGB was . . . it was honestly new to me. Then, when I was told what it was, I really didn't want to do it. A 1/4 of my class was below grade level, and I was supposed to implement a program that is meant for advanced (or gifted/talented) students! I really didn't see how it was going to work. In addition, I never had training in how to implement it in the classroom. My reading specialist came in one day to observe me, and she had quite a few complaints and questions about how I ran my lesson. I told her the reasoning behind what I was doing, but she told me, "You should be doing it this way . . ." I informed her I had never had training, and I was reading the lessons straight out of the guide. I thought I was doing everything right, but I didn't have anything to base it on, since I've never seen anyone teach it before. She helped me with some strategies and explained the JGB program a little more thoroughly. After that, it started to get a little easier, and more natural, to teach it.
This is all on my mind currently, because I am writing about, and doing research on, JGB for my reading class. Even though I wasn't too impressed with using it in my classroom at first, I have really seen the benefits over the past year. I have grown accustomed to it and really enjoy reading the stories with my class. It is amazing to see how much the kids understand and how their minds come up with the most creative ideas. Just because a child is below grade level doesn't mean they cannot be a part of this program. I only have 2 students that are below grade level this year in reading, but they enjoy the activities that accompany the readings. I tell my students to follow along as best they can while we are reading the story, because they will be able to learn new words. Also, their listening comprehension is still great, so there is no reason why that won't know what's happening. The higher order thinking questions are very elaborate, but most of my students make sense of it and can share their thoughts. Then their thoughts spark another idea in someone else, and it really gets the ball rolling. Each text spends about 4 days going through repeated readings and activities like drawing, asking questions, and completing a shared writing experience. The stories that are in the JGB series are fun to read, and all of my students look forward to it. I think that JGB has really grown on me, and I definitely think it helps students become better readers AND thinkers.
Do you implement JGB in your classroom? How often do you do it? Do you see the benefits, or not? I'm interested in what others think, because this is still very new to me . . .
This is all on my mind currently, because I am writing about, and doing research on, JGB for my reading class. Even though I wasn't too impressed with using it in my classroom at first, I have really seen the benefits over the past year. I have grown accustomed to it and really enjoy reading the stories with my class. It is amazing to see how much the kids understand and how their minds come up with the most creative ideas. Just because a child is below grade level doesn't mean they cannot be a part of this program. I only have 2 students that are below grade level this year in reading, but they enjoy the activities that accompany the readings. I tell my students to follow along as best they can while we are reading the story, because they will be able to learn new words. Also, their listening comprehension is still great, so there is no reason why that won't know what's happening. The higher order thinking questions are very elaborate, but most of my students make sense of it and can share their thoughts. Then their thoughts spark another idea in someone else, and it really gets the ball rolling. Each text spends about 4 days going through repeated readings and activities like drawing, asking questions, and completing a shared writing experience. The stories that are in the JGB series are fun to read, and all of my students look forward to it. I think that JGB has really grown on me, and I definitely think it helps students become better readers AND thinkers.
Do you implement JGB in your classroom? How often do you do it? Do you see the benefits, or not? I'm interested in what others think, because this is still very new to me . . .
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