In the book Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller, she outlines the components of effectively teaching reading comprehension in a Reader's Workshop. In the first chapter, she reminds us how important it is to base our teaching on research. Miller stresses that we need to consider the research and actively think about our own thinking as we are instructing. She also discussed how it is essential to plan and really look at the big picture. She advocates creating a plan for a six-to-eight week period of time. At first, this seemed incredibly difficult to me. The abilities and needs in my first-grade classroom change every week. How would I be able to plan for two months? But Miller is talking about a "big picture plan," one that guides her daily teaching and can change as necessary.
Chapter 2 outlined how to create a community in September that allows for readers to flourish. She discussed the necessity of building relationships and a community with "rigor, inquiry and intimacy." We all agreed that we strive to do this and completely agree that is necessary. Miller believes we need to "show" rather than just "tell" students how to behave. Though we do this, we questioned how effective and easy it is to do. In our primary classrooms, we constantly remind the kids to gather nicely on the rug. And when they push and shove, we discuss other options for gathering and we practice what to do. But the next time we gather, we have to discuss it all over again. Does our "showing" really stick? And sometimes at the end of the day when the office is calling for a student and Joe is crying because he tripped, when Luis pushes another student on the way to the coatroom, it is hard to show and discuss other ways to behave. But it was nice to step back, especially in the middle of February, and consider September and our anticipation for the beginning the school year. How far away it seems!
Now that we have some background information, we are excited to read on and learn about specific strategies that we can use in the classroom!
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Students in the M.A. program in reading at Rowan University are blogging about this book.
Jenna, I completely understand the frustration of trying to show, not tell, kids how to act. I tried implementing a more "responsive" approach to classroom management, as my principal is really pushing the responsive classroom.
ReplyDeleteWell, I failed miserably. I found that it's VERY hard to take time out of that busy day, amidst all the chaos to "show" someone what to do and to discuss the best ways to do something, when all you really want to do is tell the kids to go sit down.
I plan to read "The First Six Weeks" (which, by the way, is the recommended time to teach classroom routines--- yikes!!!!) over the summer and then try it again in September!
Well ladies, as you may already know, it isn't much better in middle school. We have something called CPR every morning (Circle of Power and Respect) to teach social skills, manners, respectful behavior, and basically how to be a civilized human being. It's actually worked for some of them. We have less calling out, more eye contact, more "please" and "thank you" and less walking in between two people who are in a conversation. You get the picture. It's amazing how many of them just have no clue about these things, they have to be taught. I guess the same goes for classroom routines.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to more posts from your group to see what these strategies are. :)
The book that we are reading also discussed the importance of "showing, not just telling". I've learned this lesson the hard way. There have been days that I try racing the clock. I feel pressured to cover all of the information that I have planned, so I skip over the modeling activity and resort to telling the students how to do the skill. BIG MISTAKE! They look at me like I have five heads. This haunting voice whispers in my ear...Find a new career and leave the poor children alone! Just kidding.. But yeah, we need to model, not simply tell them how to do something!
ReplyDeleteYou have all heard me say this before...this is another reason why I LOVE teaching Basic Skills. Working with a smazll group for a designated time period allows me to take the time to deal with these kinds of issues without that feeling of being so overwhelmed that I just can't be bothered....I remember feeling anything but polite at the end of a frustrating day as a classroom teacher!
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