2014-15 PDU Title Professional Development Unit Guided Reading

1. 2014-15PDU TitleProfessional Development UnitGuided Reading By: William Andrews School/Dept.: Eagleton Elementary

2. What new instructional strategies did I implement in my classroom/practice during the course of the PDU? I began this pdu thinking about how I can be more efficient and create tighter routines for my students during our guided reading groups. I tried chanting transitions to make my students more accountable and ready for group. I realized that I was not moving my students seamlessly from one place to the next. My students are now prepared with their notebooks. We cut out the chant because it was too distracting for my other groups that were already working. Do to practicing them often, we have cut our time from over a minute to under 40 seconds. I also began giving much better prompts and taking more time to plan them out. Students need to be using their critical thinking skills during guided reading and not just answering basic surface level questions. In addition, I have been working hard to get students having a flowing conversations based around these critical idea and questions. Students were tracking the speaker, keeping hand down when someone is speaking, and not interrupting. All students would use a voice that we could all hear, while using running starts to answer questions suing complete sentences. We had to practice this a lot. I gave each student 4 lime beans, they could only answer or ask question when they put their lima bean in the middle of the table and I collected it. This routine helped because everyone got the same amount of time to share with the group. This also made everyone accountable. Once you ran out of beans you were not able to share. We worked on elaborating on our answers. Using sentence stems we evaluated group members’ answers.

3. How did I apply the PDU strategies in my classroom? (examples) How did I collaborate with my team about implementing the PDU strategies? I applied habits of discussion in my room immediately. We worked on elaborating our answers using sentence stems and evidence from the text in partners. A great way to elaborate is to build off of other students’ answers. “I agree with what you said e because________________. I disagree with what you said because_________________. We practice nonverbal cues to evaluate student work and responses, as well as praising students when they did a great job. As I was praising one of my students I would always ask another group member to please tell me what strategy this person used or why you agree. Why was I just giving this student a compliment? I encouraged students to hint to their partners instead of just telling them the answer. In my class we call that stealing. We all show wait time, and we can give hints instead of just telling him/her the answer and stealing their learning right from underneath them. All member of the group would stay focus on the core question and if students thought one of our responses was not focused we would discuss why, giving all students a chance to share with their lima beans.

4. What three strategies did I implement from the study section of the PDU? What strategy worked best? Why? • -Building framework for each of my curriculum units and how that is going to look in guided reading. I realized that I was not purposefully planning my guided reading groups and was losing valuable time because of it. I now know what standards are going to be hit and what strategy we are working on with the correct materials. I also know when I am going to stop and teach the skill which is critical for I do, we do, you do. I have my critical thinking question ready for my group every time. This has helped us become much more efficient and identifying which strategies we are using . Compare and contrast, sequencing, drawing opinions and conclusions, fact checking, categorizing ect. Lastly the key for understanding all goes into my plans. • I have also been trying to stick with the structure of guided reading lessons. First I have all my student data analyzed and have chosen the correct text for each of my groups that match the skill they will be practicing. Then I introduce the book with a fun hook to get my groups interested and motivated to learn about whatever specific content that is in the book and identifying the strategy that we are practicing. While the students are reading I am focusing on word-solving prompts for students who need focus on accuracy and fluency. After we are done with our reading I facilitate a comprehension conversation either based around the critical thinking question or the skill we are practicing. Lastly I give students their target for tomorrow’s group. This has helped keep my organized in what I expect from students and it also helps my students stay organized. The only problem is that it takes a long time to plan these lessons out.

5. What did I learn to do differently as a result of the PDU and strategy implementation in my classroom? • I practice CLOSE reading and written responses much differently than I used to. I used to give the students too much overview with their vocabulary, main idea of the story, and sequence of events. I did not understand the importance of students’ writing responses to text before the conversation began. Writing is the ultimate way in which students can demonstrate how well they comprehended a passage. • I also do this better in guided reading groups as well as whole close reading. My students always complete their independent writing before we have our comprehension conversations. By reading a students response before our comprehension conversation because I can assess student’s level of comprehension before an oral comprehension conversation even begins. I can see what we are getting confused about or if we are supporting our answer enough.

6. Why is this PDU action research process important to my students learning and to my growth as a professional? • This research process has been extremely helpful to me in that I get a chance to analyze different guided reading strategies with my colleagues. We all have the opportunity to see what works and what does not, what is manageable and what is not. Having the chance to work collaboratively has been amazing and has changed my entire reading group rituals and routines.

7. PDU Data AnalysisReflecting on the data you have collected, how did this experience impact instruction, progress monitoring, student performance, and your own practice? • Reflecting on the data that I have collected, this experience positively impacted my guided reading instruction. I meet with 3 groups everyday and my intern meets with 2.All 5 groups are categorized according to their reading data from the DRA2 and last year’s interim scores. • I began with 22 students, 4 of which were on grade level for 3rd grade (28). Using planning, accountable talk, and prompting strategies. I have dra2 12 students on grade level for 4th grade (38). Also 17 of my students have shown at least 1.5 years growth. • According to my SLO data we have moved 14 students at least 2 proficiency bands according to R.L. 3.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about same or similar characters.

8. How will I apply my new learning in the future to further my practice? What are my next steps? • I will continue to stick to my before, during, and after reading plans. These plans have helped me stay on target and show the most growth with my students this year. I have created accountable talk in my guided reading groups using strategies from the book and strategies shared by my colleagues.

9. ACCOUNTABLE TALK • Response Stems • I disagree with that, because ____ . • I agree with _____, because ____ . • I still have questions about ____ . • I want to add to what _(name)__ said about___. • Based on my evidence, I think ___ .

10. Accountable talk • Questions and Prompts • Compare your evidence with the evidence from another group. • Clarify what you mean by _______ . • What evidence do you have to support that? • How could you prove that? • How can you apply what you know about ___ to this new situation? • Where did you find that evidence? • How does the evidence support ____ ?

12. PDU Artifact #2

13. )

16. PDU Final Peer Review Feedback FormName of Colleague Presenting__William Andrews____________Title of PDU Presented/Date:____Great Habits, Great Readers_(5.6.15)____ • Notes about PDU: • (Study, Implementation, Outcome?) • Tried the chanting to make transitions (he didn’t feel it worked with the same success as in the videos) • Was able to make transitions flow easier and more quickly. • Worked towards planning what he’s going to say and discuss during the guided reading more. • Tried beans as (talking chips) so that it was simple to see who had been discussing and keeping others from dominating a conversation. • Did a lot of work on elaborations using sentence stems to get the students better practice. • Used other students to identify the strategies that they were using during the guided reading lesson. I will definitely be taking another look at the critical questions that are provided in the text for the PDU. • Questions and Insights • I like the idea of having a different group member tell what the strategy is so that everyone has to stay in focus throughout the lesson, even if they weren’t the one talking. • Used the critical questions a lot to help with the “before, during and after the reading” • Focused a lot more this year on the “after reading” part of guided reading. • This PDU has Passed_X_Failed____ • Reason why?_Billy took considerable thought on how to better his guided reading instruction. • Name of Reviewer__Lisa Bergmann_

17. PDU Final Peer Review Feedback Form • Notes about PDU: -Efficient tighter routines - Planning out prompts and stops for GR - Talking beans for accountable talk with sentence starters - Guided reading is more focused before, during, after planning model How could this work be reproduced by another professional? - All classrooms could benefit from better habits. • Questions and Insights - Holding students accountable for learning and talking. How did accountable sentence starters improve learning? - Did it become a routine? This pdu has passed__x__ failed_____ Reason why? Billy has made instructional improvements that have benefited his students. Name of reviewer Eric Rapp

18. Exit Slide • Please write • How can we support your professional growth in future PDUs? • The best way to growth is by coming in to my classroom and observing these new strategies. It would also be helpful to peer review some of these new strategies in action. • 2 things that you took away from the PDU this year - To plan out my prompts and stops throughout the guided reading - How to better create accountable talk in my groups 1 piece of constructive criticism is that it would be nice to be able to observe other teachers trying out these new strategies.