Hi Mary- If the mini-lessons aren't mini, then perhaps they have more than one teaching point? Too much at once? Could the lesson be broken down in parts over two or three days? The students need practice time -that is how they process the information. Without the practice time, it becomes a lecture. One way to help with keeping the lesson to 10 minutes is to set a timer. When it goes off, you know you need to wrap it up and let them go try it. The trying it is valuable learning time. Jan We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit. -Robert Shaffer ----- Original Message ----- From: Mary Manges<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group<mailto:mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 7:23 PM Subject: [MOSAIC] Language arts block length
Hi everyone, I'm wondering how long most of you have each day for teaching language arts? I teach fifth grade and have about 90 minutes to teach reading and writing. I've basically divided it into two 45 minute blocks. This is the first year that I am following STW and Comprehension Toolkit, but I'm really struggling to get everything in. In the past I taught strategies, somewhat haphazardly, but I wasn't struggling as much with time. I know that with STW and the Toolkit I am doing a better job, it is just taking so long. I'm not sure I can speed things up without sacrificing the depth of thinking that comes with the lesson. Today it took almost 35 minutes to get through the lesson on questioning, which didn't allow much for independent practice with the strategy. I also try to incorporate literature discussions into everything as I know how important talk is to reading. Add in testing pressure, in PA I have to prepare them for both the reading and writing assessments (by February and early March). Every time I think about testing season my heart starts racing. My scores were the pits last year, so there is a lot of pressure to show some improvement. I have that "hamster in the wheel" feeling. I'm also struggling to get through writing workshop in the alloted time. I have had trouble keeping my writing workshop mini-lessons mini. I've always had this problem to an extent, but it just seems worse this year. We're working on using dialogue in narrative, which is a difficult thing for fifth graders, as most have not used it or been taught how to use it. My mini-lesson turned into a maxi-lesson, I didn't get it finished, and they didn't even have time to write. I'm wondering if it is me or the time that is the big issue. I'm basically the only person in my small, rural district who teaches this way. Everyone else uses the basal texts for both subject, so I'm desperately seeking some help from this group. Thanks! Mary _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org<mailto:Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org<http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org>. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive<http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive>. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
