Karen Parker- Blog Post 1: Not This by Miller and Ross
Teachers sometimes say they do not have time for a Readers' Workshop in their classroom. In "Not This" by Miller and Ross, the authors evaluated how time was spent in several classrooms. The authors noticed that students were spending time having calendar time that was the same from one grade level to the next and probably very monotonous for the students. Even lining up took more time than necessary.
I have used a few variances of Readers' Workshop in my classroom. I have relied heavily on Guided Reading groups and tried routines based on the Daily 5. It is very important, I think, to find the routine that works best for you. The teacher is the one who must keep everything organized and running smoothly, so the routine must make sense to her (or him!)
Once the routine that works for the teacher is established, the instruction must be focused on the students' independent reading. Independent reading cannot stand alone, however. For me, it is accompanied by instruction to the whole class as a mini-lesson with a read aloud (I also think modeling reading fluency and applying reading strategies is crucial), instruction in a small group, and individual conferencing. I connect these components through learning reading strategies. I have seen growth in my students so far and I am proud of them!
I agree that there are time wasters that many teachers have always done and never thought about. I think of instruction sometimes that way as you mentioned the prolonged calendar time or morning work time. Do they students truly benefit? Does this time truly help them grow and learn and become independent? Do some of these students already know the days of the week, the letters, months, or skills that we spend so much time on? At all levels we need to know our students and meet them where they are. If they don't need it, why do we do it? Maybe I've asked too many questions, but I think that if we need more time, maybe we have been wasting too much of it. Maybe asking and assessing our students then using this information to guide us is the solution. Then as you said, create a structure that helps you to accomplish as much as you can with the time that we have so that students can become independent readers.
ReplyDeleteI agree--half the time battle is finding a routine that works for you! Stealing all those vital minutes with reading is key!
ReplyDelete