Re: Katie K.

I too liked the idea of using sticky notes while reading. I think the ways we read about in the readings where they explicitly modeled and used guided practice would work well even in Katie K. and Is first grade classroom. I think this could be a good strategy to add into our unit. The students are learning new strategies, we could use the sticky note strategy to help the students be conscious of what strategy they are using to help them read.

Week 6 - Response to Questions

For this weeks blog post I’m supposed to offer advice about how to implement high quality literacy instruction. Since Tracie and I are teaching the same thing....I’m going to focus on Katie’s target areas. 

Reading through your answers to the questions from last week Katie, a lot of ideas sparked in my mind both from the readings we’ve done and also from my personal experience in my placement classroom last year. For your reading workshop you are focusing on readers thinking deeply about the texts they’re reading and learning how to respond to the texts. Chapter 6 of “Strategies that Work” talks a lot about using sticky notes to track student’s understandings of texts. Last year in my 3^rd grade class, we used sticky notes ALL THE TIME and for many different things in reading workshop. By the time my students finished a book there were sticky notes sticking out everywhere. They used the sticky notes to write “ah ha” moments, changes that they saw in characters, predictions, questions they had, and many other things. Through working closely with the students and conferencing with them about their reading often, I found that the sticky note method was incredibly effective with them. And I think it could be a great way to jump start your student’s ability to understand texts and get more out of what they are reading. 

Well now that I kept reading your questions I see that you already plan on using sticky notes. Clearly I think they are a really great tool :)

I also think a great way to implement high quality literacy instruction is by doing something that our group already likes to talk a lot about- beginning with the end in mind! Showing the students what the end product is and what you are expecting I think will really help them in learning the new strategies and concepts you will teach them. 

For your writing workshop, when I was reading the “Writing Essentials” book, one part in chapter 7 really stuck out to me as something that you could incorporate into any writing situation. Starting on page 169, there is a whole list of strategies for all writers, especially struggling writers. I think these could be really helpful because if your classroom is anything like mine and Tracie’s, there is a wide range of writing abilities and I think these strategies could be implemented into lessons to help all writers. 

Katie K's Core Practice Questions

Tracie and I are teaching the same thing....so don't be alarmed if some of our responses are similar! 

1. Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

In this unit, the students will focus on picking out just-right books for their reading level. They will also be learning strategies to support their reading and understanding of these just-right books. 

2. Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

Reading Workshop is from 9:15 - 10:30 every day. 

3. Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward? 

CCSS: ELA & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects K-5, CCSS: Grade 1, Reading: Foundational Skills

Phonological Awareness

RF.1.2. Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

•  a. Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
•  b. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
•  c. Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
•  d. Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

Phonics and Word Recognition

RF.1.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

•  a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs (two letters that represent one sound).
•  b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
•  c. Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
•  d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
•  e. Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
•  f. Read words with inflectional endings.
•  g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Fluency

RF.1.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

•  a. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
•  b. Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.
•  c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

4. How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

In this unit, students will learn strategies that will allow them to better understand and comprehend texts that they come in contact with. Also, teaching them about just-right books will give them the skills to pick out books that are at their right level. These books will challenge them enough and allow them to use the strategies they are learning about without being too difficult. 

The students will learn literacy through reading their just-right books. They will learn about literacy by learning new strategies that will help them become stronger readers. 

5. What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)? 

At first it will be more teacher-led during the introduction and instruction of the reading strategies and tips for picking out just-right books. However, once the students get more comfortable with the Cafe process and are learning more strategies, the lessons will gradually lead into more student-led time, focusing on their individual needs. 

As for the norms that I would like to build, I would like students to feel comfortable asking questions about strategies and interacting with individuals on their same reading level, sharing strategies that help them best. 

6. Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning? 

Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment. Focusing on this strategy will really help me in my own professional learning because it will give me the experience of working with the Café strategies as well as allowing me to see which strategies work best for different types of learners. 

7. What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area? 

Classroom library, school library, resource library, SMARTboard, Café board 

8. What additional resources do you need to obtain?

Training or literature on the Café system. 

9. How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

Through discussions with the students, observations, analyzing reading assessments, and discussing with  my mentor teacher. 

10. What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

My mentor and I are currently working on assessing all students to get their DRA scores. After all the assessments are finished we will be able to analyze the results and group our students based on their reading levels. This will help me and the students select just-right books. 

11. What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

I need to become more knowledgable on the Café strategies. I have an idea what they are, but I need to really understand them before I can be responsible for educating the students on them. 

12. What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

I just want my students to get as much out of the lessons as possible. I want to be able to teacher the strategies in a way that all the students can understand and relate to. 

Inquiry 2 part A - Core practices

My Core practice is Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment.

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

Reading for meaning and print strategies. In this unit we will work to have the students pick “just right“ books as well as learn strategies to figure out words and to understand their stories.

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

Readers Workshop 9:15 – 10:30 everyday

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

R.WS.01.07 use strategies to identify unknown words and construct meaning by using initial letters/sounds (phonics), patterns of language (syntactic), picture clues (semantic), and applying context clues to select between alternative meanings.

R.WS.01.08 use syntactic and semantic cues including picture clues, word chunks, and the structure of book language to determine the meaning of words in grade-appropriate texts.

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

Students will learn strategies that allow them to better understand the text they are reading. They will be able to use this skill in all aspects of their lives. The students will learn literacy by practicing reading their “just right” books. The students will learn about literacy by learning and implementing strategies for literacy learning. Through using the strategies, students will learn the content in the literacy selections they read.

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

Teacher-led at the beginning when teaching the students different strategies. Then the studendts begin using the strategies independently. The learning process for choosing “just right” books is also scaffolded, however the responsibility eventually gets turned over to the students. I think a norm for this unit I would like to utilize is the sticky note strategy. This strategy helps students monitor their inner conversation and easily realize when there is a breakdown in understanding.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment. Focusing on this core practice well help my own professional learning by allowing me to see what strategies work best for particular kinds of learners.

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

Classroom library, resource library, SMARTBOARD, Beanie Baby Strategy bookmarks, CAFÉ board

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

CAFÉ reference book (for teachers)

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

Classroom discussions based on comprehension of texts, “exit slips” – written understanding of a particular aspect of a text.

10.   What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

DRA scores for all students, we are in the process of testing all students. These scores will help my MT and I be able to group the students based on levels.

11.   What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

I think to effectively aid my student’s comprehension and learning I need to learn more about the types of questions to ask when checking for comprehension.

12.   What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

My main concern is being able to create adequate accommodations for my ELLs. This unit will be difficult for them since many of them are at a –A reading level.

 

Katie Overfield: Target Area Questions

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

o   Reading:  Reading Workshop:  Readers…Think and Talk About Books

o   Writing: Writing Workshop:  Organizing information into a writing piece (using TAK and Wheel of Thought to create 5 sense books)

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

o   7-10 minutes for whole group lesson (we only do mini-lessons in our multiage classroom)

o   45 minutes for small group discussions (15 for each group/ each teacher meets with 3 groups)

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

o   Reading:

§  Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges

§  Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot

o   Writing:

§  Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section

§  With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

o   Writing:  students will learn how to create organized and polished pieces, similar to those they will have to create in their higher level schooling – knowing this organizational pattern will also help them to read future informational texts

§  Learning about literacy:  students are learning how to write informational texts and how to organize them so others can interpret them

o   Reading:  students will learn how to respond to texts and what to do with that response

§  Learning literacy & learning through literacy:  students are learning how to correctly respond (and identify that response) to their reading pieces – we are using their reading texts to show them how to use feeling and invoke response in their own writing pieces as well

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

o   2 styles of classroom talk within the multiage classroom

§  Teacher-led

·       During the mini-lessons – students need to hear the information from the lesson

§  Student-led/focused on higher-level thinking

·       During our group work – focus on the level the students need while incorporating the lesson strategies

o   Monitoring Comprehension

§  The use of sticky notes in our small groups would be very beneficial since we don’t meet with all our groups everyday

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

o   Thinking Aloud

§  In reading and writing

·       Allows students to relate to a demonstration at their own level, even when its demonstrated by an adult

·       Demonstrating a think aloud shows students how to use it during group work or conferences

o   Lets me learn more about my students

o   How to interact with them or relate to them individually

o   Shared Writing

§  In writing

·       Allows students to see each others examples

·       Creates an “at level example”

·       Allows me to see the true impact peers have on each other in a classroom

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

o   Reading:

§  District guidelines for Reading Workshop Unit 2

·       Outlines teaching points and main concepts to teach students

§  Chart paper within the classroom

·       Use to create lists of how emotion is invoked in the students individual stories

§  Student book bags

·       Contains the books the students will use during individual and group time

o   Writing:

§  ELMO projector

·       Display the “Do It” with instructor so all students can clearly see example

§  TAK inspired book

·       Individual ones for each student (and one for example)

o   Ensures students are practicing correct organization

§  Colored paper

·       Write sentences on different colors depending on the specific sentence

o   Beginning/Lead/Ending = Green

o   Big Idea = Yellow

o   “Tell Me More”/Details = Pink

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

o   Appropriate & favorite read aloud texts (predictable texts – fairytales – are recommended)

o   Student examples from previous years (to show good examples they can relate to, rather than the teacher example)

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

o   Reading:

§  Will assess individually by group work and see which students need to focus on which strategies more

o   Writing:

§  Will assess based on an personal narrative prompt

§  Students know how to write personal narratives, so it will show how what organization level they are at

10.   What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

o   I will need to know their starting level in each subject

§  Allows me to concentrate on and emphasize specific strategies during the mini-lesson

11.   What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

o   I want to look up more examples of the use of sticky notes

§  This will allow me to be able to use them at all reading levels

12.   What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

o   Fitting each lesson into the 7-10 minute block I am allowed for my mini lessons

RE: "The Essential Day of Writing"

It seems we all use the 7 habits and begin with the end in mind is definetley a biggie related to student work. My MT is an expert at modeling what the ending product should look like. I think with the set up of the writers notebook, allowing them to learn multiple styles of writing my MTs classroom will only further build towards what Routman would like a class to look like. In my classroom we also do a lot of celebrating the students writing. We do this by both sharing aloud as well as gallery walks where the students walk around all the tables and look at other students work. I do know that further into the school year we will do more of the publishing that Routman talked about in these chapters.
As of now it is hard for me to determine if there will be a dilemma with time constraints. The students are still at an instructional level in the gradual release model. I think once they become more independent there may be the opportunity to conference individually with multiple students a day. As much as conferences was stressed in the reading, it was also stressed that conferencing can take many different forms. With the length of student writing samples at the first grade level, it does seem manageable to conference with multiple students a day when they get to a more independent level.


For some reason I am unable to post comments to posts so I had to make a new post.

Katie Overfield - "The Essential Writing Day"

To answer your question, to help my students see me as more of an equal, I have started to taken on a more active role of discipline, as well as teaching.  I have my own individual writing and reading groups where I work with different students each day in groups to help strengthen their writing and reading skills at their own pace since we have used differentiation in determining groups.  Throughout Routman's book of writing, I have seen many of his tips and strategies will be helpful in my individual writing groups, as well as looking forward into my lessons.  As a beginning teacher I saw several places where an "expertise" would be helpful for this writing advice.  Having an extensive knowledge of why the students are learning that skill and how it will effective them in the future is a key component.  If you can't explain why to a student, how should you expect them to be motivated to achieve it?  To incorporate the 7 Habits (I think you both use the Leader in Me stuff in your school too), an expertise is also in habit 2, Begin With the End in Mind.  If you don't know where you want your students to finish, how will you know the best route to get there?  Personally, my MT has shown the writing rubrics to our class, which has helped them to see the basic skills they need to master in order to get a certain grade.  This is one way that I have noticed my MT being an "expert" in that would be in sync with Routman's advice, have you seen any expertise in your class?

I also see certain dilemmas occurring in the use of "The Essential Writing Day" advice.  It is stressed that conferencing with students is an immense step to learning and progress in students writing.  Therefore, teachers should not simply teach a lesson, have students write, then grade their piece and move on.  Working even further with students on a small group, full-class 'presentation' and individual basis is essential for students to understand what good writing is.  However, some teachers may feel that they do not have time to meet individually with students, or have not developed a sufficient "teacher talk" to conduct such conferences.  As of now, I feel that the "teacher talk" is a dilemma for me since I have had little experience teaching any form of writing to students.  Since we have individual groups, it is difficult for me to see everything my MT does to help her groups progress, so do you have any advice or little tips you have used or seen an MT use?

RE: Week 3

Katie K. -
I agree with the differentiation specifically in Literacy instruction for our two classes. We have yet to begin assessing students reading levels, however based on the ending reading levels from Kindergarten we have quite the range. I know eventually our classes will mix during reading time and students will be organized based on reading level. The organization process will be interesting to see because it seem as if both are classes have a great deal of lower level readers and few high level readers.
Katie O. -
Do you have any strategies to help your students see you as an equal to your teachers?

Katie Knoedler- Week3 Response

Just like Tracie and the other Katie, I feel that differentiated instruction will be a huge challenge for me this year. With such a diverse class, both in ethnicity and knowledge level, tailoring lessons to each students needs will be something that will require much time, patience, and practice. In regards to teacher-student relationships, I have had limited issues so far. From day one, my mentor teacher treated me as an equal in the class, and even though I haven’t been teaching as many lessons as she has, she consistently includes me in every lesson, making sure the students know what I am also a teacher of the class. This has been great because the students truly do view me as one of their teachers, nearly equal to my mentor teacher. The students split their questions pretty equally between me and my mentor teacher, showing that they do not view her as the “main teacher” and me as the lesser of the two. Because this has been established so early on in the year, I believe that I will have very few issues with students not taking me seriously as the teacher when I begin to teach more. 

Tracie and I are in the same school, and therefore we both use Atlas Rubicon. This will be a great resource for us this year and will help remove an issues with constructing relevant curriculum.  

After having spent a few weeks in the classroom already (geez has time flown by!) I know that there are definitely some areas that I feel confident in and some that I really need to work on. I think I have developed a great relationship with my students and my mentor teacher, and they all give me confidence in the teaching that I do. Although I feel comfortable with the teaching I’ve done so far, I know there is so much more for me to learn, and I know for a fact that I will really grow as an educator throughout this year. 

As far as assessments go, I have already had a large roll in administering reading and writing assessments to my students. I feel that the assessments went really well and I was able to learn a lot about the students through them. But I am looking forward to creating and administering many more assessments throughout the year, especially in math. 

Katie Overfield - Internship Pros & Cons

Throughout the internship year, I expect lots of dilemmas to arise, small and large.  Like Tracie, determining differentiation seems like it would bring the most dilemmas with developing lessons and assessing students.  Since I am placed in a first and second grade multiage classroom, I have to create lessons that adjust to every level of first and second grade students.  I also am expecting, and have already seen, dilemmas to show in my teacher-student relationships.  Since I am out of the class once a week and Jayno Adams Elementary is used to having interns in the building, most of the students tend to view us as “not quite teachers”.  They see me as an authority figure, but still tend to act up more with just me around than with my MT’s and sometimes only will ask them questions instead of me.  To reduce these dilemmas, I have a goal to bond more with the students to develop a mutual respect and understanding of the classroom situation.  One of my dilemmas that I was anticipating to occur, but have now seen that it will not be one is the aspect of creating and assessing students.  Since we have a multiage classroom will two teachers already, collaboration is used in planning every lesson and every assessment. 

In terms of confidence, I feel fairly confident in my ability to plan, teach, and assess literacy concepts.  I feel confident in my teaching ability in this area, especially in regards to instruction based on mentor texts.  I have already done several read alouds in my class and have had great responses from the students in terms of classroom management.  I also feel pretty confident in the planning aspect of literacy since I have had the most experience with it and the collaboration of my MT’s is immense.  Like I stated above, collaboration is important and used in every lesson for our class.  I would like to learn more about appropriate and effective assessments for each unit.  Working with my MT will make me more comfortable with creating my own assessments that I know will effectively tell us as teachers what and how the students have learn. 

This year is full of opportunities for learning for me as a developing teacher.  The collaboration aspect in itself is an immense learning opportunity for me as an educator because collaboration with co-workers is such an important skill to have.  The multiage class also allows me the opportunity to learn two grade levels of behavior issues and curriculum requirements.  With this opportunity to learn also comes an opportunity to finesse my lesson plans.  In the article by Kersten and Pardo, it explains that new teachers like to look at the curriculum and maneuver it to fit their preferred teaching styles until they are comfortable in their teaching ability.  I feel that this type of finessing will also be my strategy for the internship year.