Every time I tell teachers or friends that my kids just read during class, they want to know: Where is the accountability? How do you KNOW your kids are reading? How do you know they're learning what they need to learn from the text? How do you know they're using strategies??
No one EVER asks me: How do you know your kids are growing as readers? or How do you know your kids LOVE reading?
:|
I guess for me, I want to know that my kids are growing as readers. That they love to read, or that they have finally found their Gateway Book, the book that keeps them coming back for more reading experiences. I know so many teachers care about these things, but sometimes our classrooms don't directly reflect them.
Every year I try to improve my craft. I want to get better at what I do, I want to be better for my students and for myself. Taking a look at research, and using best practices in my classroom are two things that are at the center of my growth. There are so many things that I still don't understand, so many things I know I'm not doing the best way, but we keep learning and growing... Right?
After my last post about Setting up the Reader's Notebook, I have planned with my grade level team and started to really look at what will be in our binders. We want to make the items intentional and useful to both us and the kids.
The type of "accountability" I've moved into over these past couple of years uses the help of some materials in our Reader's Notebook. Most of the forms from Reading in the Wild help with this accountability piece. Students track what they're reading, review books, recommend books, make plans for what to read next and work towards our 40 Book Challenge.
I made some new graphic organizers in hopes that they would help students reflect on their day in workshop and make plans for the following day. We will use these this August to get started with workshop and they will be housed in our Reader's Notebooks.
It's also important to mention that my biggest accountability piece with my kids is Conferences. I meet with my kids as much as I can during the week (still perfecting this) and this is a great way for me to know what my kids are reading. Once you get to know your kids, this becomes more natural and the conversations you have with kids are key to seeing how they are feeling about reading and discovering struggles as they arise!
I would LOVE to giveaway a copy, so if you're interested, please follow my blog and comment in this post about your favorite part of the Workshop Model for teaching Reading and/or Writing!
Good Luck!
My favorite part of the workshop is using authentic text during mini lessons! No more boring basals! Love this method and your work! Hope I win!!
ReplyDeleteI love that this will help keep kids accountable! I love giving students time to read to themselves & this will help me track their growth as readers too.
ReplyDeleteJen
Two Little Birds
Thanks for all of your wisdom and help! As an 8 year cyber school teacher to an 8 year Title I reading specialist to a new first year third grade teacher :-).
ReplyDeleteWe just finished our first year with LC RWW- most I all , I loved seeing my students' excitement and commitment to reading when they were given choice over their reading materials and their reading lives !
ReplyDeleteJust finished our first year with Lucy Calkins RWW. What I like most is seeing my students' excitement and investment in reading now that they were given personal choice and more control over their reading lives.
ReplyDeleteI would love to integrate your new product into my RWW! primarypractice@gmail.com (meant to add this to my comment)
ReplyDeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from someone else who mentioned you. So glad I did! I felt like I was reading my own thoughts in your post. My students read for somewhere between 20-30 minutes a day in my class. They don't fill out complicated logs or monitor their time. They just read. I meet with them about every two weeks (I can't seem to have short conversations about books!) They love the meetings, we work on goals together, and they're off and running again. Donalynn Miller had a huge impact on me, as did some parts of the CAFE workshop information from the Two Sisters. I think you're on the right track! And you've just gained a new follower :)
Marion
I love that the kids practice right away after the mini-lesson, and that they are looking at models and constructing their own knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your setup!
Vicky
phillips_v@nrschools.org
I love the extended amount of time to use multiple types of mini lessons, even though I still run out! I also love using your products and my kiddos do too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your ideas!
Megan Jorgensen
snapshotsofsixthgrade@gmail.com
I don't do reading workshop per say-we have a basal that we need to use-but I'm trying to figure ways around it! Part of the issue is that I share kids for Guided Reading groups, which limits the time I can spend. Some day. Of course, I'm a big advocate of independent reading choice-and encourage all of my kids to read whatever (and whenever-as long as I'm not teaching! ;) they would like!
ReplyDelete:) Kaitlyn
Smiles and Sunshine
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI am a new teacher fresh out of college. I will be teaching 4th grade and am SO happy I found you. Because of you I read Reading into the Wild and learned so much. I love how passionate you are about independent reading because I feel the same way! I have been using your resources and blog posts to help me prepare for the school year. Thank you! I can't wait to use conferences as a way to get to know my students as readers and to keep them accountable. :)
Jenna! Sorry it took me so long to respond. Have you seen Donalyn Miller's Slideshare about The Golden Gate Bridge Method of Conferring???
DeleteI'm in the same boat as Kaitlyn and being departmentalized doesn't help either as far as flexibility. I try to incorporate as much authentic reading through the day that I can. Thanks for sharing and your response on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteChristy
Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road
Thank God for Instagram because through it I "met" you! Reading your blog posts has become an important part of my professional development. I read The Reading Zone and will soon start In the Middle (Nancie Atwell) because you inspired me. I can't wait to read Donalyn Miller's books, also thanks to you. I am beyond excited about implementing your (TPT) resources, mini-lessons, conferences with my students... Please keep sharing your knowledge, and above all, your passion, which is contagious.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Hazel
Love you, Hazel!!!
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ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of workshop is how much students love doing it! They get so upset if it gets interrupted my an assembly or they had a sub. Knowing that my students value their reading time makes it all worth it to me!!
ReplyDeleteRachel
A Tall Drink of Water
Love that!
DeleteI stumbled upon your blog this evening. I am excited to begin using your ideas and TPT resources as they will help me tweak and amp up what it is I already do! :) Read Alouds are my favorite part of workshop. I enjoy modeling my own love of reading and the thinking process to my students in hopes that it will inspire them to develop a life long love for reading.
ReplyDeleteI love read aloud too, Charlotte! I hope you're having a great school year!
DeleteI loveeeee your blog! I'd love to watch your LA block in action! I'm most excited to hold my students accountable and for your digital responding pieces. I love that you do conferences too. I have opted recently to work more one on one with conferences than guided reading in the past two years and I have really seen growth!
ReplyDeleteConferring is my new favorite thing to do... Confession: I used to DREAD conferences. After attending Reading Summit this summer, I learned so much more about conferring. You should look up Donalyn Miller's Slideshare on the Golden Gate Bridge Method for Conferring!
DeleteThis is a fantastic blog. I'm changing to fifth grade and looking forward to implementing the workshop model. I really like the emphasis on student choice and the potential to develop a lifelong love of reading. Thank you for all of the great content you have posted.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice comment Brooke! So sorry it took me so long to reply. I hope you'll keep checking back. I have a few new posts up my sleeve.
DeleteYin the past have taught pretty traditionally, dabbling in readers workshop. I will admit that I have skipped independent read for other "more important" things. yikes! The changes I made last year I saw true improvement with kids becoming readers verses just doing reading activities. Plan to make even more changes this year....this shift is hard...structure, assessment, etc. I appreciate your posts...they are the encouragement I need to push forward. Excited you will be 4th this year...same as me.
ReplyDeleteHeather! Isn't it wild to look back on your own teaching and CRINGE? I do that when it comes to my first year of teaching. Thank goodness for seeing the light and then moving in the right direction. I hope the blog continues to be a place where you can find that encouragement!
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI'm a second year teacher and I'm still trying to work out some of the 'kinks' that I have during my reading workshop. Right now I'm trying to figure out the reading log battle. I'm wondering if you use a in class reading log, or if you have students complete a reading log at home? I see the importance of being able to study reading trends, but I also feel like the students who are going to read are going to read and those who won't still don't. I'd love input on what you are finding works well!
My kids do keep a sort of reading log which keeps track of the books THEY HAVE READ. I would recommend looking up Donalyn Miller. We use all of her forms in our Reader's Notebook! Check out my post about setting up our notebooks.
DeleteI may be biased (towards all the research conducted over how many years...) but we don't do homework. I expect the kids to read each night, but there is no punishment or reward. I think it's silly to have parents sign sheets saying their kids read. I think it's even worse to set timers for kids. That doesn't promote a love of reading. You have to work to build the community and then kids want to read at home.
I hope that helps!