Best Practices in Reading

After reading the chapter Best Practices in Reading, I discovered five important factors that can and will continue to play a large part in my reading instruction.  The first being comprehension being the main goal of reading instruction.  As a 1^st grade teacher, I have seen first hand the importance of understanding what you read.  We talk all the time in my room about what’s the point of reading if you don’t understand what you just read.  This is something I can continue to focus on and ramp up for next year.  I would like to include some more comprehension strategies and maybe even more find a way to focus more on comprehension during guided reading groups.  Another important factor is having lots of opportunities to hear books read aloud to them.  This is something that as a former Kindergarten teacher is extremely important to me.  I make sure to read aloud to the kids twice a day as well as having various books on CD available for them to listen to.  We also play a Tumblebook during snack time everyday.  Ample time to read is key for learning to read.  It has often been proven that the more kids read, the higher their achievement.  While we have silent reading everyday, I would like to experiment with literature circle next year.  This would be a great activity for my higher-level kids since they are able to choose their own books as well as lead the discussion relating to the book. I would simply be a facilitator in the process.  It is also extremely important that the kids receive phonics instruction.  In these early years, when kids are just beginning to learn to read, it is vital that they learn these skills.  If they are unable to “crack the code” reading will ultimately be a challenge for them.  Coming from a Kindergarten background, I focus a lot on phonics activities throughout the year.  We continue to work on blends and phonograms even up until the end of the year.  Next year, I would like to do even more small group instruction focusing on phonics skills.  Last but not least, children need many opportunities to interact with print on all different levels.  This is something that we can work on building wide as well.  In my classroom, we have done lots with listening to stories, partner reading, book buddies, writing stories and iPads.  Next year, I would like to incorporate both small and large group activities using more technology.  We just received iPads in January so they are still relatively new so I would like to come up with some more ways to include them in my classroom.  By incorporating all these strategies, children are sure to become successful readers.

Backwards Design Reflection

Creating a backwards design unit was a new experience for me.  At the start, I was very frustrated by the process but by the end, I found that I this process was a better way to plan and teach than simply putting pulling out a file and teaching it.  By doing it this way I felt like I had a much clearer picture of not only what I was teaching but also why I was teaching it. By creating Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions, I had a better idea of what I wanted the kids to learn and what questions to ask them.  This made much more sense to me and kept me on track with what the focus was.  Creating the assessments before teaching the lesson helped me to stay on track as well as helped me by giving me something to teach toward.  I knew what I wanted them to learn and to walk away from the unit understanding.  It helped guide my instruction as we went along too because I was able to see what they were understanding and what was still unclear to them.  It made me much more aware and concise in my teaching.  It impacted the students because if they were unsure about something, I knew about it right away and could adjust my teaching by either re-teaching or reviewing. 

Overall, I liked the experience of planning a unit using backwards design.  I felt much more prepared as well as knowledgeable about what I was doing.  It felt like the lessons flowed better and helped make more sense to the kids.  I also feel like the kids had a better experience because they truly came out of the unit with a good understanding of the topic.  I really feel like this is a better way to plan units.  It was also nice to have a visual layout to refer back to and I didn’t feel like I was scrambling to plan activities.  It felt more smooth and efficient.  This is definitely a tool I will use to plan future units.  

Constructivism in the Classroom

After reading about the constructivist learning theory, I have learned all sorts of ways to engage students and motivate learning.  Well, this week an opportunity to do just that sort of fell into my lap.  We have 3 horses and our pony is pregnant.  All the kids in my classroom know this and so everyday they ask me “Has Buttercup had her baby yet?”  Well yesterday I got a call that she had delivered her baby.  I let the kids know and promised to take pics and video to show them.  We discovered later that it was actually another pony’s baby that she abandoned and our horse stepped in to try and take care of the foal.  So today I had to explain what happened to the kids.  I used a few minutes of our morning meeting time to do this and assumed it would be a few minute discussion and then we would move on to our math lesson.  Well, was I ever wrong!  They were so extremely interested in the story that we spent our entire math time – 45 min – having such a great discussion and looking up info on google!  They wanted to know all about horses and their foals and how this could happen and what to do about it.  They had such great questions as well as ideas about how to find out more about it.  They also had some creative suggestions about how to help the foal!  While it was hard to “throw aside” the math lesson, it was so much fun to see their wonder, excitement and thought processes.  I realize that this is not a feasible idea all the time but it was sure nice to do.  There were no behaviors or tattling the entire time either!  This is something I will definitely need to incorporate more often – taking their interests and running with them!

ABC Summarize - First Grade Style!

This week my first graders are learning all about Clifford.  They love these books as they are ones they can read aloud too!  To start off the unit, I wanted to something different and mix it up a little at the end of the year.  So we read a story and talked about how we were going to brainstorm all the things they knew about dogs – but we were going to do it using the alphabet!  So I gave them each a sheet with all the letters on it.  I then gave them some time to try and come up with as many words having to do with dogs as they could and then write them next to the correct letter.  After a chunk of time, I had them work with their table group to see if they could come up with any more.  We then went over it as a group and listed off a couple words for each letter.  Those that had empty spots could fill them in at that time.  It was so cool to hear all their ideas!  They came up with so many ideas and words that I had not even thought of!  It was a great way to show me what they are capable of – they exceeded my expectations!

Constructivism

There is a lot of talk in schools these days about aligning curriculum to state standards, increasing student performance and test scores.  What we don’t hear enough about is putting students first by putting learning back into their hands, students creating their own meaningful connections or teachers facilitating rather than lecturing.  All of these are examples of the constructivist theory.  This theory is gaining ground, as teachers grow weary of teaching to the test and watching their students’ motivation go by the wayside.  Because of this, moving to a constructivist classroom just makes sense. 

Constructivism is a learning theory that is student centered.  There are four areas that encompass constructivism.  They are assessment, backwards design, effective instructional strategies and action research.  The goal of assessment is to promote a deeper learning.  Students can create their own meaning rather than spit back what teachers have taught on in informal or formal assessment.  Backwards design focuses on creating long lasting understanding.  It begins with an essential question that uses prior knowledge to bring about a new understanding.  The teacher’s role is to act as a guide during this process.  Effective instructional strategies focuses on high yield results for the learner. The key to this is to make meaningful connections.  Marzano wrote about nine principles used to engage students.  The ninth principle works to promote the deeper learning associated with constructivism.  Action research is practiced by using assessments that put the focus back on the learner and what meaningful connections they are making.  Action research helps the teacher to guide learners into making these connections by using their observations and results.   When these areas are integrated into the classroom, and the student is at the center of it all, constructivism is working at its best. 

Instructional Strategies - Beachball

This week I decided to try a new instructional strategy to try and keep kids engaged at this point in the year.  I decided to use the Beachball strategy as a review for my fairy tale unit.  I pulled out a beachball and wrote some higher level thinking questions on it that had to do with all the different fairy tales we read.  I then had all the kids stand in a big circle and we tossed the ball back and forth to everyone in the circle – I did tell the kids that once they had the ball they couldn’t have it again – so that everyone would get a chance to answer a question.  Once they got the ball they had to read and answer the question that was facing them.  I feel like this lesson went really well.  The kids were all engaged and helped to make sure everyone got a turn.  I think it went well too because it was something different, something we had never done before.  I actually had kids ask when we could do it again!  It was also a good activity to hear everyone’s reading abilities and what their understanding of the unit and the various stories we read.  Overall, I think it was a good strategy and one I would adapt for other units.