Best Practices in Writing

After reading about the best practices in writing, I felt reassured about some of the things I was doing in my classroom and I also got some new ideas of things I could change around in the current curriculum. 

The article talked a lot about allowing kids to write about topics that interest them.  This is something I do in my writing center.  The kids can write and illustrate stories, draw and label pictures, create anything that appeals to them.  I have been amazed by the writing that comes out of this center!  The kids really embrace the chance to be creative and to teach the rest of us. 

The other also states “The best language learning occurs when students attempt actual communication and see how real listeners/readers react.  This statement hit home with me as I too feel this is extremely important.  I have a time after lunch on Friday’s where the kids can sign up to be a guest author.  It is such a good experience for all the kids whether they are reading or in the audience.  They get to practice reading to a crowd as well as practice being a good audience member/listener. 

There were also some great ideas that I can use to change up our current curriculum. The article mentioned writing across the curriculum.  I already am thinking about ways I can make our social studies and science units include writing where the students have more input.  I look forward to seeing how creative they can be!

Best Practice Teaching

After reading about Best Practices in Teaching, I was able to reflect upon how these might be or are being used in my classroom.  There are seven basic structures that embody best practice including small group activities, reading as thinking, classroom workshop, authentic experiences, reflective assessment and integrative units.  These practices are most important because they take the teacher out of the spotlight and pass the responsibility of learning to the students.  I think this applies to what I will be doing for my action research project because my goal is to form connections between all the kids and myself.  And before I can accomplish anything in small groups or integrative units, the kids need to feel safe, valued and connected.  This will enable us to move through the curriculum and have authentic experiences that will help them be successful.

Praxis - Fluency in First Grade

Can small group instruction improve the fluency of my first grade students?

According to research found in the article, The Role of the Teacher in Effective Fluency Instruction, fluency is a key component of effective literacy instruction.  Fluency is the ability to decode and comprehend text at the same time.  This research is what led me to implement an action research project in my classroom.  This project involved first grade students who were not yet fluent readers.  I found this project to be extremely important after reading, Fluency Beyond the Primary Grades, which states that students who don’t read, don’t get better at reading and students who are not good at reading, don’t read.  I really want all my students to enjoy reading and be successful at it.  Therefore, I set out to support my first graders in becoming fluent in their reading before the year was complete.  I found this small group instruction to be extremely beneficial to my students and I look forward to beginning it sooner next school year. 

Attention to Intention

While reading The Principle of Attention, I was reminded of the book The Secret and reading about intention.  I know that keeping a positive attitude in life is so imporatnat.  Yet it is something that I struggle with on a daily basis.  I get so caught up in what I need to get done and all the pressures associated with work, school and family life that I get sucked into negativity. 

Reading this article really struck a cord with me.  The author writes “Where your attention is, there too is your soul.”  He is basically saying that where you place your attention shows what you truly value in life.  That if you want something to grow, you must pay attention to it.  I have realized that I need to start thinking differently about things.  I can turn things around for the positive by paying attention to what I truly value and having positive intentions. 

I was also intrigued by his statement that “Today’s world is an environment that does not allow linear, thoughtful leisurely processing and discourages riding down the river where you can put your hand in the water and drift.”  There is no time for drifting anymore – everything moves a million miles per hour.  This is so true.  Maybe part of the reason for my negativity is the fact that I am always rushing somewhere to do something.  There is no time just to relax and be.  Is this what I want to be teaching my children?  I said to my 8 year old daughter the other day that we were actually going to be on time.  Her words were “What does ‘on time’ mean?”  Being stuck in the white water rapids is not how I want my children to grow up.  So I need to change my focus and my attention. 

I want them to know that it’s OK, healthy even, to stop and think.  To focus their attention on what is important to them.  In order to do this, I need to turn my attention back onto myself.  As I embark on a summer filled with grad school work, I need to pay attention to my being.  To remember “Don’t just do something, stand there.”

AGAPE - IDEA

This semester’s Lasallian concepts will definitely show up in the routines and strategies that I use in my teaching next year and for years to come.  These can be found in the practice of IDEA: Instruction, Discipline/Content Area, Environment and Assessment. 

With instruction, I have really tried to make the move to constructivist teaching.  I tried to allow the kids more freedom and choice in their learning.  I worked to back off direct instruction when possible and make the move to more small group facilitating.  This is something I will continue to improve upon in the years to come as I found in helped motivate kids and decrease some of the behaviors I was experiencing. 

As far as discipline and content, I really worked to have more intention behind what I was teaching and why I was teaching it.  I did my first unit using the backwards design method and that is something I will continue to use.  It was much easier for us visual learners to lay out the lesson and to know exactly what I was teaching on which day and how I would assess it.  I also will continue to include time to teach about what the kids are interested in.  I found that this time was the time when the kids were most engaged in my teaching as was I.  I found myself enjoying their excitement!

For my classroom environment, I did some things this year that I will continue to use in the coming years.  Relationship building is a big piece of what I tried to implement this year.  I made sure to greet each child daily when they came into the room.  I also incorporated relationship-building activities into my morning meetings each week.  I found this to be an incredible way to form connections between the kids and really helped them to become better friends.

As for assessment, we tried as a grade level to base our assessments more on the standards.  I think this will be really helpful as it has seemed we were just randomly assessing things in the past with no real reason behind them.  In my classroom, I tried to do more summative assessments to catch those kids who don’t understand a concept rather than moving on without them because that’s what the curriculum says to do.  To do this, I have incorporated more small group interventions based on specific skills for each unit.

All in all, this semester’s Lasallian concepts worked well for me and will continue to show up in my routines and in the teaching strategies I use for years to come

Growth and Change

This year has brought about a lot of change and growth for me as a teacher and a person because of both changing grade levels and entering my master’s program.  I have worked on changing the environment of my room as well as the relationships in our classrooms.  I have put more intention behind how I set up the schedule of our day.  Everyday during our morning meeting I try and have some kind of activity where the kids have to work together to accomplish something or to just have fun.  I try to have more group activities to build connections with kids and to place more focus on relationship building as a class as well as with me. 

I also have grown and changed in the area of instruction.  I am much more aware of the intention behind my instruction as well as how it affects the kids.  I have moved toward a more constructivist classroom where the children drive some of my teaching.  I have tried to build some of my instruction time to accommodate the kids’ interests and to allow and encourage them to ask more questions.

This year I have grown in the area of discipline and content as well.  I have learned so much about designing unit and lesson plans using backwards design.  I have enjoyed the process and learned how to plan units around the knowledge that I want the kids to come away with.  I have found this to be a much easier process when planning units. 

Assessment is another area where I have grown and changed.  I have become much more aware of what, why and how I assess kids.  I have changed the type of assessments I normally do to make them more in line with standards and what kids are coming into first grade knowing.  I have also increased the amount of small group interventions I do to improve and increase knowledge. 

Overall, this has been a year of tremendous growth and change for both my students and myself.  I have learned so much and look forward to implementing more next year.