Saturday, January 11, 2014

Catching Readers

This year our district has given us a release day in April - I think it's the day after Easter. The catch is we have to get 7 in-service hours before then. I sorta missed the boat by not taking advantage of any of the few in-services the district offered this summer. {And boo, hiss - the district doesn't allow me to use the 6 college hours I'll have by then.}

Anyway, I've done a slap-dash bunch of in-services and I'm still an hour and a half short. Some of the other teachers in my school are also short. So I volunteered to do a book study, very loosely based on "Catching Readers Before They Fall." 




I was just re-reading chapter 5, "A Comprehensive Literacy Framework." I find myself reading professional books with two pulls - one is excited to see what else I can do; the other is reluctance to see where I am missing the boat. 

One quote I noticed this morning was this:


“If we want to support children as they build an effective reading process system, then we must show them what it looks like when a proficient reader is using his or her system.”


I would like to figure out how to do a better job of showing my students the thinking that is going on in my mind as I'm reading, so that they can {hopefully} transfer this information to their own reading. The authors advocate sticky notes - and I think that might be a good strategy for me to get started. 

Any hints from you?

4 comments:

  1. Still working on this one! What a great book to study with your colleagues.
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have read sections of this book - but haven't made it all the way through. My hope was that doing it for school would help me get through!
      Sara

      Delete
  2. Great question - when I thought about it a little I realized it doesn't have to be the teacher that is the proficient reader. Here is something I try to do as often as possible - whenever I hear a student doing something good while reading, maybe she read a sentence realized it didn't make sense and went back on her own and fixed it, I praise, praise praise that reading behavior by stating exactly what she did and telling all the children that is what good readers do and you can do it too. Usually this happens in small group or guided reading time. Your two pulls are so true. The greatest thing about teaching is our own learning is never done! Maria

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good thought - that it doesn't have to be me the teacher doing the showing. Thanks for that!
      Sara

      Delete