Welcome to the 21st Century!

Our world has SO many possibilities. Now, more than ever, our students have to be prepared for the life they will live in our current and future society - a life full of information, problems to solve, and constantly advancing technology!  In fact, www.p21.org is dedicated to help the education world teach our 21st century learners.  21st century learning isn't just about the use of technology, although it's important.  It's about helping our students use the 4 C's of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity to be successful and active members in our world!

Listen to the 2010 Teacher of the Year, Sara Brown Wessling, speak about how to meet kids where they are, build upon that foundation, and then stretch them to use critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

2010 Teacher of the Year Video Link

Additionally, here's a great tool I learned about through one of my graduate classes that you could use with your students to motivate them to READ and talk ABOUT reading! You could have small group discussions and can make them as simple or complex as you like! No logins or passwords to remember - just simple and easy! This is one I created.  It took about 2 minutes!

www.wallwisher.com/wall/coolwords

Building Relationships

The conversations I have with students during small guided reading groups are always enjoyable to me.  It seems to be a time set aside only for them.  No other students should be interrupting us since we've set up independent routines, although there are always those emergency situations.  When I hear my students making connections from a story to their lives, it helps me understand them a little better.  I wish I remember what it was like to be 7 or 8.  The things that are important and big to them are far different from an adult.  My perspective on the school day varies greatly from theirs.  I think that's why it's so important that we build those trusting relationships with our students first.  While this may seem easy enough, when you have a class of 25 or more students, this can become a challenge in itself.  I think it's great to use small group time to get to know your students better, not just as readers and writers, but as people! 

The following video was shared with us at the beginning of the school year.  It reminds me of the things that are important to kids and to not always take things so seriously - to relax and focus on the positive!

What Level is this Book?

There are so many ways to level books - Guided Reading Level, Lexile, Grade Level Equivalent, DRA etc.  Leveling books seems to be the trend.  I'm not sure if this was popular in the past and if this is just the pendulum swinging back again.  When I started teaching 5 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a reading level was or what it meant.

Now, knowing my students' reading levels is integral to my everyday teaching life!  There are times when I feel that we can become too dependent on a child's reading level, especially when it comes to parents using this as the one and only measurement of their child's reading abilities.

I primarily base my small guided reading groups around levels.  My ultimate desire is to be able to group students by the reading strategies they haven't yet mastered. Meshing level and strategy groups together in a way that makes sense and fits into a reasonable time frame is still a work in progress for me.  Additionally, while reading programs' leveled books are convenient, they may not always be representative of authentic reading.

Here are some websites I use to level picture and trade books that aren't already leveled that I think my students should experience:

http://bookwizard.scholastic.com
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
http://books.atozteacherstuff.com/leveled-books
https://leveledbooks.beavton.k12.or.us/search.php

What's Hot and What's Not for 2010

One of my graduate class professors shared this article with my class.  I found it extremely eye-opening, and it encouraged me to reflect on my literacy instruction and beliefs. 

What's Hot for 2010
http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/ReadingToday/RTY-0912_HotList2010.aspx
This article includes a link to the What's Hot for 2010 Chart.  Literacy leaders from around the country were interviewed either by phone or in person, and their opinions on these areas of literacy were collected and recorded.  Just because these leaders agreed that a particular area was hot does not necessarily mean he/she thought it should be hot.

Highlights of What's Hot for 2010
Some of the "hottest" topics: ELL/ESL, Struggling/Striving Readers (grades 4 and above), Response to Intervention (RTI), Early intervention, High-stakes assessment, Comprehension, and Literacy Coaches

Some of the "what's not hot" topics: motivation/engagement, adult literacy, critical reading and writing, fluency, phonics, and professional development

Look at the chart to see what experts in the field thought SHOULD or SHOULD NOT be hot.  This may be different from what is actually hot or not hot.

Here are some questions to help you reflect on this article:

• What do you think should be hot?

• Based on your school's school improvement goals and professional developments, what does it seem like your school believes should be hot?

• Would your students, parents, fellow teachers, and principal be able to tell what you value by walking into your classroom?

• Which of these areas do your focus on the most in your small guided reading groups?

• How will this list change in 2011?

Encouraging Independent Work

There are times throughout the week when it's just not possible to follow your small group reading schedule to a "t."  There are scheduling interruptions at times or just unexpected situations that arise that require your full attention.  When this happens, I have found that giving students a purpose for reading part of a story independently with the intention of sharing their thoughts when the group meets next is a great way to make sure your students are becoming better readers.  After all, we want our students to become independent readers and thinkers.

Depending on the student and text they're reading, you might have them read a whole chapter, a few pages, or even reread what they have read so far.   Additionally, I like to use a simple organizer entitled "My Ideas" that a 3rd grade teacher shared with me so students can write about their reading.  Oftentimes, I will briefly discuss with students what they should be doing while they're reading and what they should write about before, during, or after reading.

For example, they may write their prediction of what's going to happen next in the story before they read and then explain if their prediction was correct or not after reading.  Because the boxes are blank, teachers or students can easily write their own directions at the top of box to serve as a reminder during their independent work time.  The next time I meet with the group, each student would share their predictions and results.  This would serve as a review before we continue reading.

Click picture to enlarge.

This way of writing about reading doesn't only have to be used when you are unable to meet with groups.  In fact, it's a good idea to model and introduce it to students before sending them to do it on their own.

Moving out of your comfort zone

I am quite a conservative person and someone who loves staying in her comfort zone.  One of the things that is way out of my comfort zone are the kinds of books that have a lot of comic-type drawings mixed in with the text.  There are a large variety of these books from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to actual Batman and Star Wars graphic novels.  They are especially popular among boys.  When a boy's parents in my class asked me how interested their son was in reading, I realized just how disinterested and unmotivated he is.

We talked about the kinds of books he checks out at the library, and I knew I needed to adjust my reading groups and make an interest group instead of my regular leveled groups for a particular group of boys.  Not every boy in this group is disinterested in reading, but I thought they would all enjoy the type of book that just happened to come for free in my Scholastic book order.  It's called Black Lagoon Adventures:  The Book Report from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler.  It's about a boy named Hubie who has to do his first book report.  Hubie has a lot of trouble with reading and does not enjoy it.

I tried to look up its exact reading level unsuccessfully, but I decided to try the book anyways.  I have to admit that the pages drive me a little nuts with all the comic-type illustrations and speech bubbles surrounding the entire text, but those are the parts that keep the boys' attention and engages their thinking and sense of humor.  We discussed the best way to read the book because it has different text features than a typical book.  Some boys decided they preferred reading the text of the story before the illustrations and speech bubbles, while others decided to read it the opposite way.  Some of the words are harder for them, but they seem to tackle them more willingly.  We'll see how our book discussions continue!

*Update AFTER finishing the book!
I asked the boys to rank the book on a scale from 1-10 with 10 meaning they loved it and 1 meaning they did not like it at all.  Two boys gave it a 10, one boy gave it an 8, and the boy who was the least motivated gave it "ten thousand 10s."  I've ordered more from Scholastic!

Give them a CHOICE!

So far this school year I have spent a lot of time trying to pick out just the right book for each of my reading groups.  Sometimes my long searches have resulted in less than what I'd hoped for.  I have two little boys who both moved here from different countries just this school year.  They are incredibly eager to learn and enjoy learning new words and having conversations about the new things they are learning here.  Today I decided that I would show them 3 different books at their reading level and let them decide together which book we would read.  They both agreed very quickly that they wanted to read the book about animals.

Before I read a new book with any of my students, my first objective is activate my students' prior knowledge and help them connect to the story.  While doing this, we also take a picture/word walk through the book to preview it and help our thoughts.  Depending on the students and book, you may have to ask questions to get them to share or think.  Other groups may go on forever and ever!  That was the case today with these boys.  I didn't intend for our 20 minute group to be a discussion all about animals without actually reading the book, but before I knew it the boys were hooked on the pictures of bats in the story.

I just happened to have another book (at a much higher level) at the table for another group that has incredible pictures of animals.  The book is called Animals Nobody Loves.  The boys looked through that book completely on their own.  I simply sat and listened to their conversation.  They discovered hyenas and how they are the same animals in The Lion King, and they learned the word poison because some snakes are poisonous.  They talked about how big an octopus brain might be and wondered if a bigger brain means you're smarter.  They repeated words for each other when one of them was saying a word incorrectly.  They told stories of a time when they smelled a skunk.

I was totally amazed at the large amount of rich language these two boys were using with each other.  It was like I wasn't there.  They were helping each other, asking and answering questions, and laughing through it all.  This greatly veered from my original plan, but what they experienced with each other was much more meaningful.  I was reminded that students should be the ones doing most of the talking and discussing in a classroom and that giving your students choices is a very powerful thing!

Follow one 7th and 8th grade English teacher's journey to motivate her students to read:
A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like

How do I schedule small groups?!

Scheduling is a big challenge every school and teacher faces each year.  I had to rethink my instruction this school year when my schedule changed.  It took some getting used to, as well as some trial and error.  Currently, my students are grouped by reading level.  I meet with 5 groups everyday.  This ensures that I meet with every student (I have 25 second grade friends.) 3-5 times/week depending on their needs.  If I am assessing students, I do it during their small group time.

Here is what my schedule looks like.  It may look a little crazy at first, but after using The Daily 5/CAFE I've never been happier with the way things are going!  It took the first 2 months of school just to practice these routines and the transitions before I started meeting with small groups.  The kids are learning in smaller chunks of time and moving around a lot.  This correlates well with a second grader's attention span!

9:00-9:10  Small Group 1
9:10-9:25  Small Group 2
                 *Rest of the class is working independently in a Daily 5 routine
9:25-9:35  Whole group CAFE Focus Lesson
9:35-9:55  Small Group 3
                 *Rest of the class is working independently in a Daily 5 routine
9:55-10:05  Whole group CAFE Focus Lesson
10:05-10:25  Small Group 4
                  *Rest of the class is working independently in a Daily 5 routine
10:25-10:40  Whole Group CAFE Focus Lesson

Later in the day...
1:50-2:10  Small Group 5
                 *Rest of the class is working independently in a Daily 5 routine

Do I really sound like that?

Do you have students in your class who are reading accurately, but struggling to put words and phrases together smoothly, quickly, and with expression?  It's hard for students to hear themselves when they are working so hard on reading words correctly in front of a teacher or classmate.

Let them listen to themselves read!  Use an audio recording device or program to record students as they read a selection.  Then, let them listen to it.  The first few times they will be totally entertained by hearing their own voices.  They'll often say "That's not me!  Do I really sound like that?!"

Now that you've got them engaged, ask them to listen for certain things.  Use a fluency checklist (see below) and let them evaluate their reading.  After they have evaluated it (and they are usually painfully honest!), help them pick one aspect of fluency to work on.  Then let them record again.  Play it back to them and let them compare the two readings.  Depending on the age of your students, you may be able to teach them to do this independently or with a buddy.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

If you want to take it a step further, record a small group performing a Reader's Theater.  Some programs, like GarageBand, allow you to add sound effects!  Not only will students be listening to and evaluating their own reading, but they may learn a thing or two about using technology to become better readers!

You don't have to reinvent the wheel!

Teaching students in small groups adds a large chunk of planning to any teacher's plate.  Keep it simple!  Choose one or two areas to focus on with your students during each group meeting, or even for a whole week.  After all, you may only have that group for 10-20 minutes.  Not only will it help you focus your instruction, but your students will have a clear purpose for reading and becoming better readers.  Whether you meet with students by reading level, interest, or reading strategy, here is a great website with a plethora of instructional techniques to use with students.

Visit fcrr.org!  It's the website for the Florida Center for Reading Research.

Use the "Student Center Activities Search Tool" under the link "Instructional Materials for Teachers."  The search is broken down into 7 areas:
1.  Phonemic Awareness
2.  Phonics
3.  Fluency
4.  Vocabulary
5.  Comprehension
6.  DIBELS
7.  SSS (Florida's State Standards)

Some of my students' favorites are the fluency games!  You can print out directions to the game, as well as all the game materials.  Not only can you use this with students during small groups to build fluency, but they can do it independently!  Once they realize that they can read more smoothly and quickly, let them reread a page in a book a few times they are reading to see if they can read more smoothly and quickly.

There's no shame in "borrowing" ideas from a website or a respected colleague.  Try what works and modify it for your students' needs.