Classroom structure: Organizing Literature

Know that we are equipped with multiple methods and ways to teach reading, how do we pull it all together? How do we make sure that, as teachers, we are conducting reading activities in an organized, non confusing, instructional way?

First, just as discussed in Classrooms That Work, an efficient teacher has a schedule daily of what her students are doing. Successful teachers also have plans on how they are going to accomplish lessons and activities in class.  "Expert teachers also use a four-part process to scaffold student understanding during small-group guided instruction," according to Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher. This requires that the teacher be more knowledgable on the subject than the student so that the student may receive proper answers. Thus, in an organized classroom the teacher not only has a plan, but is appropriately equipped with the right answers. (*An example of this can be found to the right.)

Another way to create an organized classroom is to understand that there are many ways one can conduct a reading activity. But a successful teacher would consider his or her's particular class and students. As discussed in Allington's piece, The Schools We Have. The Schools We Need., too many schools practice generic plans of reading rather than thinking of personal ways to help students excel.

In conclusion, while there are many ways to create and organize how you teach reading, a daily schedule and a personal plan will contribute heavily to a successful classroom.

1. What are some things you deem necessary to include in a daily schedule?
2. How do you know how to modify an assignment to student's personal needs?

Assessment

"The more different ways I teach, the more children I reach."

Teaching reading is as simple as discussed in chapter eleven of Classrooms that Work by Cunningham and Allington. To accommodate for the multiple different types of learners in a classroom, it is important to consider how different teaching methods can help improve each students learning experience of reading.

One way to do this is by using a variety of collaborative groupings. You can divide the class up into partners and have students take turns talking, reading, or writing.

You can also divide the class into literature circles, selecting in advance four to six books that are related in some way and assigning one to each group. Within each group, just as we did in our reading education book clubs, each student can be assigned a weekly role of a discussion direction, passage master, vocabulary enricher, connector, and illustrator. As the teacher, you can even personalize these too the books, giving them more appealing names and duties to your students.

Another way to practice a different approach to reading is through coaching groups. This is a great method if, as the teacher, you realize that your students are having a hard time pronouncing unfamiliar words. Through this approach, you can teach students word identification strategies.

Other ideas to consider as you plan a reading activity are partnering older struggling readers to tutor younger struggling readers, find and train a tutor for your most needly child, use the latest technology, and finally, use other resources such a reading specialist and programs.

To the right is an exercise that involves making connections from a book onto sticky notes. This is a great way to discover what intrigues your students, and where they are confused! 

Questions to consider:
1. What is a method that you feel strongly about? One that you will practice in your own classroom?
2. Is there one method this exercise would fit best with? Or, could it be used in multiple methods?

Guided Reading

After reading Anita Iaqunita's article, Guided Reading: A Research-Based Response to the Challenges of Early Reading Instruction, I was enlightened to acquire some new facts on guided reading. Did you know that the early years are the focus for prevention of reading difficulties because those who begin to lag behind demonstrates that children who get off to a poor start in reading rarely catch back up.

It is estimated that one in three children experience significant difficulties in learning to read. Accroding to stats from Iaquinta's article, a child who is a poor reader in first grade is 88% more likely to remain a poor reader in fourth grade.

Guided reading has become what is known as "the best practice" for today's balanced literacy instruction, and is a great tool to help usher young readers into stronger fluency.

According to Iaquinta, guided reading has three different purposes:

1. to meet the varying instructional needs of all the students in the classroom, enabling them to greatly expand their reading powers.
2. to teach students to read increasingly difficult texts with understanding and fluency
3. to construct meaning while using problem-solving strategies to figure out unfamiliar words that deal with complex stench structures, and understand concepts or ideas not previously encountered.

As a teacher, we should consider the level of the child's ability in reading, and make groups accordingly. The teacher's goal in guided reading it to, "Strive to provide the most effective instruction possible and to match the difficulty of the material with the student's current abilities.:

With this said, material should provide a challenge that is just right for the student. A couple questions I will leave you with:

1. How do you balance pushing a student enough, but not too much when it comes to level of guided reading?
2. What are ways you can make sure you are not overlooking the student's personal needs when orchestrating guided reading?

To the right is a great work sheet that the whole class can use and apply to their specific level. This way, kids do not feel as singled out if they are in different groups.

Vocabulary and Read Alouds

"Just as a house needs a strong foundation, so reading comprehension depends on a strong base of oral language and concept development." This statement made by Camille L.Z. Blachowicz and Peter Fisher triggers the truth of why vocabulary is so important to reading.

How do we assist in helping build up our students vocabulary base? Bridget Dalton and Dana L. Grisham discuss possible techniques to help students. Recommendations such as encouraging wide reading, teaching words and word learning strategies, and promoting active learning and interest in words in a new way by integrating technology. These processes can be manifested with the help of digital tools, media, and the internet. Five strategies were discussed to encourage students in a better vocabulary base. These included:

1. Learn from visual displays of word relationships within text.
2. Take a digital vocabulary field trip.
3. Connect fun and learning with online vocabulary games.
4.  Have students express media to express vocabulary knowledge.
5. Take advantage of online word reference tools that are also teaching tools

In the current age we live in, it is increasingly becoming more necessary that teachers incorporate technology into the classroom. I found some great websites in relation to vocabulary on a post by the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning Site on 16 websites that can be used as vocab tools.This is a great source for students in the upper elementary grade levels, all the way up to college!