3 Day Update:

This week Betsy and I started our journey to incorporate all the elements of a best practice approach to her reader’s workshop block: a minilesson, independent reading time (allowing the students to read, read, read and allowing the teacher to conference and hold small group sessions), share time, read aloud, shared reading, and word study. So far… so good.

Planning:

Betsy and I spent time planning her new block before the break. The change was in how Betsy was structuring both her guided groups and her word study. Instead of running the kids through a center-type system which allowed one center to be a word study stop and one to be a guided reading point, we planned to have a simpler structure aimed at the kids having more time to read. (All the research says time spent reading is the deciding factor in reading achievement.)

The minilesson, including independent practice time would kick-off the reading period. From there we would confer with students and determine when/how to share. Allowing 30 minutes for a word study session would provide time to teach (with shared reading, read aloud and modeling) then students would have 15-20 minutes to work with words before a share.

Resources:

Throughout this time we will be using the daily lessons from the unit of study: Using Prediction to Further Our Thinking based on Pam Allyn’s book The Complete Four in Reading and Writing for Grade 1, and word study lessons from Fountas and Pinnell’s book.

Day 1-

It was decided that I would observe Betsy teach the focus lesson; then I would model conferring with students in the independent reading time. We would pull them back to the meeting spot to transition into partner reading. I would continue to confer while Betsy pulled a group together for a guided reading session. Then we would return to the floor to share our work. Following that I would teach the word study lesson.

Debrief: We wanted to conference with students to learn what they were doing “in the field.” Instead of approaching the child and asking “What was your prediction?” We instead approached with “What are you working on?” then lead into a compliment and a recommendation. The amazing thing with this method, was we learned that most of the children were not using predictions. However, some of the compliments we did note were students: thinking aloud and picture walking, using multiple decoding strategies, and reading for a longer period of time than was originally expected. Anecdotal notes were invaluble to our learning.

Day 2-

Day 2 was the identification stage of the unit which is written based on a gradual-release model. In Day 1, the students were immersed in reading and told to notice if they were predicting. In Day 2, Betsy named what predicting looked like and what it does. For my part, I again modeled conferencing with students while her teaching assistant shadowed me. Finally, Betsy decided she would pull two guided groups after she conferenced with readers for about 10 minutes during the independent practice time.

Debrief: As we met to discuss the day’s work, Betsy mentioned she felt like we accomplished a great deal. The students read either independently, with a partner, and/or with Betsy in a small group for 30 minutes. In her small groups, Betsy was able to get to the teaching she wanted to do as well. As I moved around the room, Ms. F, Betsy’s teaching assistant followed me, listening in and reading over my shoulder as I conferred with children and wrote anecdotal notes and next steps. This was a new task for Ms. F, and it required she approach the children not so much as a teacher giving directions, but instead like a doctor interviewing a patient- asking questions, taking notes, and mulling over next steps. I applaud her effort to learn this valuable skill.

Day 3-

Today we flipped things a bit and I took over the teaching of the reading minilesson and Betsy planned to teach the word study lesson. Ms. F would take notes side-by-side with me as we continued to practice conferring. Again, two groups were pulled for guided sessions during the independent practice time. Laura, another grade 1 teacher observed the entire block and agreed to sit in on our debrief.

Debrief: After another successful day we reviewed the anecdotal notes and discussed how the children were doing. Today I charted 3 guidelines for the independent practice time which helped to focus their work:

• Readers read
• Readers think
• Readers talk about their books

At all times these guidelines were what the children were to be working on (in addition to their first day of guided practice with prediction). This focus helped with stamina and gave the independent time a sense of purpose. Laura, Betsy and I discussed different ways to pull flexible groups based on the evidence gathered in our anecdotal notes and even talked about using what we are seeing in the word study sessions to help identify children who need more support. Ms. F tried conferring on her own and helped students feel that this time and reading in general is supposed to be enjoyable.

More to come… a wonderful start. I hope my colleagues will add their insights to this post.