Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive - Planning a Reading Programme - Day 5

After last session's epiphany about my Guided reading, I kept doing what I was doing as I saw the next session was about planning the reading programme. I didn't want to rush ahead and then have to redo it all as I didn't hit the mark.

This session I have taken away several ideas that I will be working on, in the coming weeks. The biggest delight this week was the writing as reader session. I find writing my weakest pou in my whare of learning. It is hard. This activity is such a great way to add more modelling to my tamariki and improve their writing - all from their reading! 

I sometimes see the odd akonga using wording or phrases they have gained from read out louds (chapter books) in their writing, but it would be great to see more of them doing this. By using a book they enjoy by an author they connect with as the basis of their writing will be stimulating and engaging for them. They can write just like someone they "know" and love! It adds to their vocabulary, has them reading the text carefully and them emulating the text. It really is a big bang for your buck teaching time. I cannot wait to use this.

It really brought to the fore how modelling to akonga is essential. It is a big leap from seeing something and doing it though, but with scaffolded frameworks for students to use it can be tailored to all levels in the classroom.

I will be looking at stepping up my Mahi Tracker the tamariki use too. Most of them enjoy seeing themselves and how far they have come and the more visual spreadsheets provide great feedback to them. 

I also realise my visibility timetabling is a little weak. I have it, and I put it up each day for them on the board, but I need to share it on my site for full visibility and it is in greater details for the tamariki that need it. I recently completed a PLD on using coreboards run by an MOE advisor in Speech and Language Therapy. I have increased my usage of images in the classroom as a result for the few students that need the images to help them navigate their world so I will ensure it is on my digital copy as well as my wall and that the images are the same across the board for easy accessibility. 

Seeing others' timetables was great - I will borrow some of their look and feel that suits my class the best. Manaiakalani and it's philosophy of sharing and not reinventing the wheel is just fantastic. Coming into teaching from outside industry it was a shock to see how much people do NOT share things with others compared to other industries I have worked in (IT, FMCG). It is refreshing that this is encouraged by Manaiakalani.

The apps were interesting too; I use all bar the Learning Planet which I am going to delve into. I have been using them rather loosely though and will return to the more rigorous way I used them in the past (eg setting assignments in Epic! and ReadWorks). This was a great reminder of how much is available that can support and scaffold their learning in particular areas such as inferencing. 

It was interesting that the research showed that talking about inferencing and finding inferences is as good as direct instruction. I do a bit of both, but I will now look at my mahi with a more detailed eye and use the lense of this course to shape my usage of mahi for inferencing.

Another great week of learning. Can't wait for the next one.

Manaiakalani Reading Practice Intensive - Guided Reading - Day 4

Guided reading is the mainstay of reading instruction in my classroom. However, I was checking every child's reading every time I saw them in guided reading. Doh! I have looked at my guided reading (GR) instruction from university and it wasn't very complete at all. So for the past five years I have been struggling to keep up with the groups and every reader every week. No wonder I have found it to be not my favourite part of the day. Probably not for the tamariki either.

The biggest epiphany is that I don't need to do this! I do have tamariki on the colour wheel which I will continue to work on intensively, however, I can now release the older and better readers and only do observations maybe fortnightly. Sigh. A lot of work over the years for probably little benefit for my tamariki and way too much work for myself. I think I might sit in the corner and cry later today. 

I will be taking a closer look at the more formal note taking ideas from the rōpu and trying various options to see if it works for me or if I need to make changes. Currently I do anecdotal notes which end up all over the place unless I do a probe or other formal assessment. 

Looking at the introduction of the texts for GR, I have probably been a bit loose in my preamble with regards to prior knowledge, and the examples of the more targeted questions and the choice of words was excellent. 

Fluency is something we are working on currently. We have been recording ourselves, but I will now use the fluency rubric to get my tamariki to self assess and then discuss it with them. It will make them look more carefully at the way they are reading DURING their reading, rather than waiting for me to assess afterwards.

This is the first time I have been explicitly taught how to do comprehensive guided reading. This is my 6th year of teaching. I have found bits and pieces here and there about it, and have watched others, but this PLD session has been great on the practicalities of teaching reading and I will be changing up the way I do things as a result. 

I found the Fountas and Pinnell Guided reading framework a good way of structuring my sessions, although I will be introducing the learning intention at the start of the session as well as touching on it during the lesson. I find the more you express the LI, the more likely the tamariki seem to be to understand what and why they are learning something. 

Fountas and Pinnell 2017

Overall I found the session gave me a practical sense of what I should be doing, as well as the theory behind the practice. I am doing most of it, but perhaps not as well as I should be, and other parts I am doing relentlessly unnecessarily. Yay for ongoing learning! I hope my tamariki get as much out of my learning as possible and I'll enjoy changing things up a bit with guided reading and hopefully they will enjoy it more and therefore, enjoy reading more.

Now off to write some feedback for my University!