As a teacher of exceptional children who struggle with reading fluency and
comprehension, reading mini-lessons and conferencing mostly consists of word
strategies and meta-cognition for making sense. For children with processing
difficulties, this can be a lot of work. The best reading material LOOKS like
what everybody else is reading, but has decodable text. Discussions, checking
for understanding, drawing simple pictures of what is happening in the text
helps. But what helps the most is the feeling that "we are reading for reading"
and that are a group with the discovery of learning as our goal. National
standards will put "informational" reading for elementary students in the
forefront. I like that social studies will be part of the
language arts curriculum, because we do need an informed society. But to assume
that we are crafting opinion and argument as a major goal for 21st Century
learners at the developmental level we are starting may be a lofty and
dangerous place to go. If I remember my childhood well enough, it was about
work as play and joy in the natural world. When it became political,
problematic, or seriously disappointing, the innocent and pleasurable part of
life was lost. Picture books are wonderful, trade books are nice and contain
lots of graphics. My students want to read chapter books and enjoy reading like
everyone else. Is there anything wrong with that?
Donna Petree
Exceptional Children's Program
Germanton Elementary School
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-----Original Message-----
From: mosaic-bounces+donna.petree=stokes.k12.nc...@literacyworkshop.org on
behalf of Emma Takvoryan
Sent: Tue 2/28/2012 9:06 AM
To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Reader's Workshop Conferencing
To answer all your questions (and I am so thankful to everyone for replying
because I feel overwhelmed with what I am trying to implement at times):
1. I teach 5th and 6th grade multi-age at a Montessori school. I have 10
students.2. I have 1 hour, 3 days a week to teach reading (crazy, right?)-I
use 10-15 minutes of that to do a Read-Aloud, which is where the bulk of my
reading instruction comes from.3. I teach mini-lessons at least once or twice
a week for the first 10-15 minutes. 4. I have had them write letters because
when I researched about RW I kept seeing them at as way to keep track of what
they were thinking. I also liked how it gave me a starting point for
conferencing.
I guess what I am finding is just that maybe I don't know well enough how to
take what I'm seeing in their letters and use that effectively. I don't know
if part of that is because I have such a small group of students and almost all
are proficient readers??--Reading above grade level, able to make
inferences/draw conclusions, make connections, predictions, ask questions,
etc...
That's why during my read-aloud I try to focus on looking with the students at
taking the novel to a deeper level-look at foreshadowing, theme, types of
conflict, symbolism.
Sorry for this lengthy response!
>
> I love most of this. Question : when did you teach lessons or mini
> lessons? How much time did you allot for RW?
>
> I teach middle school, but I see lots of ways to tweak this.
> Kim
> On Feb 27, 2012 4:52 PM, "Renee" <phoenix...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Feb 27, 2012, at 10:35 AM, Emma Takvoryan wrote:
> >
> >> I am starting Reader's Workshop this year and the biggest problem I am
> having is when I conference with my students. I have them write me
> letters, I read them and write comments, and then when we go to conference
> I feel like I am not always saying anything of use. How do you all
> organize your conferences?
> >
> >
> > Emma, I am interested in your comment that you have your students write
> you a letter and that you respond and then you feel like you have nothing
> of use to say in your conferencing. So I would ask you these questions:
> What is your purpose in having them write you a letter? Do you require
> certain things in those letters?
> >
> > Here's why I ask:
> >
> > When I was running an independent reading program (and really, with
> anything I implemented in my classroom), I always considered how much time
> something would take AND whether or not the time was well spent. So,
> regarding these letters your students write to you, if your purpose is to
> have them tell you about their work, then you might want to consider
> skipping the letter and having them just *tell* you during your conference
> because that will take less time and give you the same outcome. If your
> reason for having them write the letter is to have them practice writing a
> letter AND give you kid-oriented documentation for their work, then I would
> use that letter as a jumping off point.
> >
> > When I conferenced with students, I did more asking then telling, because
> I wanted them to tell me about their work and also get more details. So I
> would ask them to tell me about the story they are writing, tell me about
> the book they are reading, etc. and then I would ask follow up questions to
> get more detail.
> >
> > And on organization: Every teacher needs to consider their own classroom
> environment in order to create an organized structure that works for them.
> I worked in a double classroom with another teacher. Between us, we had
> three grades (1, 2, and 3) and 40 students. Our "conference" table was
> "between" the two rooms where we could see everything and everybody at all
> times. We each had another work table off in opposite corners of the room
> that were more private.
> >
> > My students had an independent reading and writing folder in which they
> kept all their writing, checksheets, individualized spelling lists, and
> anything else related to the workshop that I'd want them to bring to
> conference with the book they were reading. I had a little marked-off
> section of my chalkboard (and yes, I had a chalkboard!!!) where my students
> signed up for a conference when they reached the end of their checksheet. I
> kept a tally sheet with every student's name on it, and the ONLY thing I
> put on that sheet was a tally when I met with a student. The only purpose
> this sheet had was for me to see immediately who might not be signing up
> for conferences. Grades, comments, etc were on the student's checksheet.
> They got a new checksheet at the end of the conference.
> >
> > So somebody is going to ask what was on the checksheet. Well, it changed
> over time, but basically it was something like this:
> >
> > Read a book.
> >
> > Write about the book. Use a prompt card.
> >
> > Draw an illustration that goes with your writing.
> >
> > Do a proofreading task or a skills worksheet.
> >
> > Go over your spelling words.
> >
> > Work on something from your writing file.
> >
> > Sign up for a conference.
> >
> > While you wait do something from the "While you wait" chart.
> >
> > Now some of these things are not going to make sense because they were
> specific to our classroom. I have Montessori certification and I ran my
> class very similarly to a Montessori environment, where all materials were
> available to students and a lot of things used task cards of some kind,
> most of which I wrote myself. For example, the "proofreading" task cards
> were similar to the Daily Oral Language most people are familiar with. They
> were numbered and color-coded (remember, three grades) and students knew to
> write the card number on their paper. The "skills worksheets" were color
> coded, in folders on the wall, with a little table right there. They were
> changed about every week and addressed things like alphabetizing,
> proofreading, rhyming, etc.
> >
> > Students had a writing file that was separate from the work folder where
> they kept starts, ideas, etc.
> >
> > The "while you wait" chart was student-generated and hung on the wall
> near the conference table. It was a list of things to do: read the walls,
> read poetry, write a poem, write a letter, share your book with another
> student, etc. I don't remember all the things on the chart.
> >
> > I could keep going, but this is just a tiny taste of what this looked
> like in my classroom.
> >
> > I spent the whole independent reading/writing time conferencing with
> students, just going down the list. I taught students to cross off their
> name, NOT erase it, so that when they signed up for a conference no one
> could "jump the line" so there were two or three columns of names. When we
> ran out of space, the first column was erased. It's a small detail, but an
> important one.... one of those structure things that evolved over time out
> of need.
> >
> > If anyone is still reading this and has specific questions, just fire
> away!
> > Renee
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