February Data Retreat & P.D. Where Are We?

1. February Data Retreat & P.D. Where Are We?

2. F & P Assessment – Have we gotten more consistent?

3. Looking at Classroom Data • How did your students do? • Check our your growth chart.

4. The Data Shows:

5. Break It Down…

6. Before We Start High-Fiving: • How have we REALLY impacted these scores? • Idea of assumed growth – more time = improved (placebo) We need to look at those students who have grown MORE than one level (and those who stayed the same). What can we do to help encourage MORE growth?

7. Make It Personal: Instead of Dale picking your students, look at your class list. Pick 4-5 students who you’d like to track from now to May. Who would you like to impact the most?

8. Teacher Survey Says

9. Structures/Strategies Currently In Place:

10. Break Time! Exit Slip – As a reflective practitioner… What’s an area you’d like to learn more about to help impact the readers in your classroom? Where do you feel you could stand to improve in your instruction?

11. Guided Reading In a Nutshell Tailor instruction to meet the needs of the various readers in your classroom. It consists of: • Flexibly grouping students for targeted small-group instruction on whatever skills or strategies they need. • Other students work independently on tasks that are practice of a previously taught skill OR a skill that will be revisited later.

12. Stop and Consider: • What skills could you strategically group students to work on? • What things are you currently doing whole class that could be done independently?

13. Structure of Guided Reading Teacher Can Work with Many Different Groups or Individuals 25 minutes

14. Why Doesn’t Everyone Already Use Guided Reading Format? • Stigma of “elementary” mentality of teaching • Very student-led – we’re used to transmitting information to our students • Student adjustment – Need to be independent problem-solvers So much to do…so little time!

15. How Can We Tweak What We Already Doto offer optimum support of students & use of our time? Readers & Writer’s Workshop What do we already do that can fit into a Reader’s (or Writer’s) Workshop?

16. Teacher Resource Packet – Teaching For Comprehending and Fluency pg 364-367

17. Middle School Student’s AREN’T too old to be read to! Read Alouds/Think Alouds Offer: • Modeling of Strategic Reading • Modeling of Fluent Reading (rate & prosody) • Students see US as fallible readers • Opportunities to guide students • through texts that would otherwise be • too challenging (shared text) • A chance to engage students after • transition 5 minutes of time well spent!

18. Our Goal: To Create Capable, Efficient, and INDEPENDENT Readers

19. You Do • Independent Practice with FEEDBACK • The Single Best Way to Improve Reading is to ACTUALLY READ! What it means for you: • Should occur Daily – at home • 20 minutes a night is NOT enough • Set a PURPOSE for • independent reading time • Students Respond about what • they’re reading and learning • Assessment of thinking should occur more than 3X a year & should be an authentic look at student reading.

20. How To Assess Students Reading • Reading Conferences during independent time. • Listen to read a snippet of text (fluency, is it a good fit?) • Have him/her talk to you about their thinking • Guide students to different texts or to think about something specific during reading • Reader Response Journals • Students write about their thinking in a letter • Essentially a written, personal conference • Teacher responds to what he/she sees and gives individualized feedback to students • Offer up differentiated prompts

21. Differentiated Questioning: Letting Assessment Guide Instruction Give Students More of What They Need – So they CAN be successful on these F&P Assessments

22. What about Fluency? How to help those painfully slow and choppy readers! • Repeated Readings • Choose genre, topic, group size, and student ability • Looking for an extension? Have students write their own Reader’s Theatre Scripts based on what they’re reading • Focus on READING, not acting • Use F&P Fluency Rubric to Assess

23. LUNCH BREAK • After Lunch: • Examples from the Trenches • Resources You Should Know About • How I Can Help • Fly Away, Little Bird!

24. How Do Reader’s Notebooks Fit In? Reading is a transaction between the reader and the text. As reading, the author’s meaning connects, or transacts, with the reader. Having students provide a response to their reading (as they read and after they finish reading) enables readers to share their unique, personal meanings and feelings through conversations “reader to reader” about a text. Louise Rosenblatt

25. Cornerstones of reader’s notebooks:: Foster students’ responses to reading so they are ACTIVE CONSTRUCTORS of their own meaning • A response is not a test of knowledge, but a thoughtful, critical reflection on a text • Readers draw from their personal knowledge and background – different readers approach and read the same text differently • For any given text, no single meaning exists • Readers may vary their stance as they read • Student responses provide you with a window on the thinking they did as they read • As students share their responses with others, they deepen their understanding • When readers talk about their responses, they expand theirreading power Guiding Readers & Writers pg. 164

26. Teacher Response is a Critical Piece! • What Students Gain... • What Teachers Gain... Teachers can • Reinforce good thinking • Help students set goals for themselves • Offer challenges and suggestions • Direct student thinking to more effective or useful ways • Provide modeling for reflecting on reading Personal interactions with their teachers! • Learn more about the readers - what they like and dislike • Information about where to guide mini-lessons for reading • Learn more about students’ writing skills to help address their needs in your writing lessons • Important feedback on your teaching Personal interactions with your students!

27. Providing Natural Differentiation • Meet students where they are - tailor your feedback to push each student in his/her thinking about text • Recognize each individual background and perspective • Every student response is valid and valuable

28. Let’s Take a Look at Some Sample Letters What can we learn about this student as a reader from looking at the first letter? What feedback would you give this student to help guide his/her comprehension and interaction with the text?

29. Assessing the Actual Letters Six guiding questions to consider: • To what degree is this writer’s response interesting and uniquely his? • To what degree does the writer use language to communicate ideas clearly? • To what degree does the writer show evidence of understanding (including providing evidence and making connections)? • To what degree does the writer show he is aware of the characteristics and structure of different kinds of texts? • To what degree does the writer use conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and organization) in a standard way? • To what degree is the student gaining awareness of himself as a reader and writer?

30. Differentiated Questioning for Any Text Authentic Assessment Tailored to Individual Students Can use as prompts for RRJs or as exit slips at the end of an independent reading session.

31. Change Questions Up According To Genre

32. Try Your Hand At Crafting Questions • Using the text that you brought with you, create differentiated questions that can be used to assess students: • Within The Text • Beyond the Text • About the Text

33. Turn The Tables Students Craft Their Own Questions • Bring student thinking to the next level. • Apply knowledge of the text AND • the questioning/critical thinking • skills.

34. Some Resources for Targeting Instruction What’s appropriate for each level? Mini-Lessons, Guiding Student Thinking, Writing about Thinking…The whole Magilla!

35. Online Resources Worth Checking Out:

36. Young Grasshopper… • Be Patient with yourself. • Be Patient with your students. • Persevere! Everything takes time! • Celebrate the little victories. • Track those “pets” you adopted at • the beginning of this time. • Use your resources – including • me.

37. Reflection & Feedback