Tutoring was rough for me this week. Not feeling up to par mixed with focusing on work was a little difficult.
My student and I got through our guided reading and word study. I also took on two other students today as well, so I changed up my Guided writing lesson to playing with voice. We had a mini-lesson and discussion on what voice is within writing then we did a writing activity. Each student was given a character to write as ( For instance a 6 year old boy who broke his favorite toy) and had to write in first person so the rest of the group could listen and try to figure out what type of character the person was writing as. We then read each one aloud and discussed how we saw voice in each child's writing.
While I was doing guided reading with my student I had the other two students reading their guided reading books. I was trying to manage both guided reading materials at the same time. It flowed a lot better than expected.
Once we moved on to the poetry I felt that our whole group instruction went well. We went through the poetic devices and then had all the children particpate in a writing activity directed towards Free Verse Poetry writing.
Unfortunately, I missed the High School teacher speak. I hope to get caught up on what I missed.
I find that our textbook for class is assisting in some of my lessons. The idea of having my student go through the I think.. I feel... etc. process has had her become more vocal in how she feels and to comprehend more than just what is on the surface of the text. I can feel her being less freightened about messing up and feel more comfortable sharing her opinions but also asking questions at the same time.
We have materials for you from the HS presenter. I think you'll probably read some reflections on here later this week.
I'm glad you are finding the text helpful. It is very helpful when people actually use it! I am constantly finding things to use in it, as are many other reading teachers.
I had a great time with my students tonight! We used Schema (What you know) + Evidence (What you have) = Inference (Predictions) to examine an I Am Poem through the perspective of the author. The poem referenced the photographer capturing time through pictures. As we dissected the poem further, we reviewed the last session’s lesson on Symbolism with Kit by looking at the deeper meanings in phrases. Shannon was able to make several connections to the text. While I was working with individually with each student on guided reading, the other student was working on creating their own I Am poem online. As each student reviewed their poem with me, I noticed that the students were very focused, used larger vocabulary, and shared their desire of their own future careers. I shared with the girls the idea of a poetry jam and creating a classroom to match the environment of a coffee shop so the girls and other students could share their poems. The girls were very excited! We would like to bring food and a Keurig machine for coffee for the parents! As well as work on design of the room and background music. I hope the other middle-high school tutors are on board with this!I know the parents would be really impressed! I believe that the girls have enough confidence now in their poetry writing to take some larger steps…any suggestions as to what form I should try with them?
I would like to come up with a better system to record my thoughts during guided reading. I have post-its and keep these notes on the guided reading lesson- but I would like to see something that captures everything together so that I have a timeline to refer to so that I can better describe and substantiate growth.
This flows into Word Study as well- Shannon is really picking up on the concept of building words. Today we worked on ar word patterns through a game I found on Florida Center for Reading Research.
After our review tonight and video of Allison doing a 6th grade reading lesson- I had a couple of questions:
1.) If a teacher had the opportunity to provide one on one guided reading- would it be beneficial for a student’s fluency to read the entire time outloud rather than read silently?
2.) Would we be able to watch a movie related to Guided Writing?
During guided reading, my students read out loud quietly based on the information from the Continuum. I give them a few mins by themselves while I write anecdotal notes on their reading behavior on the back of my guided reading lesson plan. While I work one on one with a student I do a running reading record and take additional notes of anything I feel they are improving on or need to focus on for next lesson. By using the back of the lesson plan I can easily figure out what it was they were reading that day as well as what we were working on.
this week was exhausting. many things got hammered home and new fears formed and old ones became bigger. It is difficult balancing the needs of capstone with practicum and even more difficult trying to get through everything with 3 incredibly loud, active kids. they may be nice, but they have way too much energy. I attempted the self-monitoring thing, but they were incapable of it. I don't know what this stems from--perhaps its not really seeing this as on par with being in school. I don't know. Its aggravating trying to teach a lesson to kids who cant seem to be quiet and listen for 5 minutes. Add to that a student who refuses to read the text and hands the book back to you 2 times...it isn't the most productive group.
thus far, we have barely gotten into writing and not even gotten close to word study. we did some poetry work last session. we discussed the different forms of poetry and I TRIED to have them relate the lesson on tone that we did and have them write a poem incorporating that. Another spectacular failure.
I foresee little coming of this semester of practicum. My girl would only begin to read--and not even really read--when I told her I would speak with her mother. Her mother at least is on my side. D'Ondre will actually do the work....if the people around him are quiet. which is not always the case. I think Ta'kara may be better off in a one-on-one setting, because she will talk a lot. What I will get out of this semester is management training.
The plan of action is, once we get back, try the rewards system. they love food, so what better way to attempt to get them to focus. Next class is the last day I have to do work for my study, so we'll be cramming a lot into that day. ...if possible. Things may break down being that we only get deeply into writing and word work once my study is complete.
Kit- I am going to make the suggestion to move your students to a classroom with desks and chairs or a table in the area where we are. The couches may not be structured enough for them. You might get better results for your capstone if you find graphic novels that pique their interests rather than the one you are using. Good luck and have a good break!
This week, I gained a deeper understanding of some of my student's needs for learning. This upcoming week is her IEP review, and her mother is very interested in sharing the informations being gathered through testing. (What a welcome change from last semester!)At the last tutoring session, she brought her updated audiologist report. I don't know how many of you are familiar with reading special education paper work, but for me I have found them to be very informative. Without getting into the (confidential) details of the report, I thought it was really interesting to be able to read exactly what types of testing was conducted, and how that testing translates to management needs and educational recommendations. For a student with processing needs (such as my student), it can be really hard for him or her to verbalize things. Reading a report by someone who had the time to conduct in depth testing and analize the results was really interesting to me. I'm so glad the mother decided to share this information, and she said she'd be bringing any additional information to share over the next few weeks.
This week, I wanted to do something a little special for my student, since she had just recently had her birthday. She had mentioned to me how much she loves popcorn, so I made everything we worked on popcorn themed. I put word study words that we were working on, long and short /i/, on cut out paper popcorn which she sorted by vowel sound into a popcorn container. We worked on fluent reading by choral reading a poem about popcorn. Also, this week I pulled a nonfiction article on the history of popcorn. This is what I used for guided reading. I was trying to practice the idea of close reading, but I think I missed the mark a bit. After our conversation at class, I think I'll try a shorter section for close reading next time. While my student ate popcorn for snack, I read her The Popcorn Book by Tommi DePola. If you aren't familia with that one, it's written so that there is a fictional story about two kids making popcorn, but while they do that, one of the kids is reading from an encyclopedia about popcorn. Much of the information in this book was the same as what had been in the article. While I didn't think my student had gotten much out of reading the article (it was VERY hard for her), she was able to make many connections as I read her the other book! This reinforced, for me, that she was retaining some of the information even though the text may not have been the best choice this week.
In response to Kit...sounds like you had a tough week! What types of behavior management have you tried so far? I think Jessica is right, maybe you need to move to an area where you can be more structured. For your student who refuses to read...have you tried to give her options? For example, lay out two activities (that have to be done that day) and let her pick which she does first, with the expectation that they will both be completed that day.
Rachel...one think I did last semester that helped me organize my notes was keep a small notebook with me. Each time I was working with the students I would have it out so I could write things down. I'd put the date at the top of the page, with the book/activity for the day, and then in different colors of pen make notes throughout the session. I had one of those pens that writes in four different colors (so I wasn't constantly switching pens), and color coordinated my notes. For example, red writing may have been anything to do with word study, while blue may have been writing related. That way, even though the notes themselves may have seemed scattered, I could just look for a certain color and know that those notes all went with one category of instruction.
It was indeed a rough time this week with pretty much arguing with Ta'kara about the merit of the work she's doing. Unfortunately, because of the layout of my study, I can't really just give her one activity to do while the others do the reading. I understand her frustration with the book and dislike, but at the same time, the other kids like the book, so I don't feel I should have to change the entire study just to fit her personal preference. The reading is also just a small portion of it--once we move to the writing and discussion she usually perks up. I probably will take Jesse's suggestion and move them back into our previous room. Like she said, the area we're in now may be too unstructured for them to handle being in while still doing work. overall, I'm in a more zen place now that I've considered things and have taken a break haha
Laura, I think it is great that you themed your whole night around popcorn. I bet she enjoyed it as well! Very creative thinking! I think your idea of using a shorter passage will help you as well!
It's so nice that you did that for her. It just shows how dedicated you are as a teacher. That must have taken some extra time to plan and it probably meant alot for her. More than likely, she'll be happy to work with you and more open to addressing anything you need her to accomplish.
This past week went well for me! One of my students did not show up again so it was two of my students and a student from another group.
I worked with my students on poems. It is not easy for me to get my students to enjoy poem writing. Does anyone have any ideas? I worked on a cinquin poem and played a review game on syllables. The students enjoyed the game but when it came to writing the poem it was a little more difficult to keep their interest.
My students and I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At first one of my students was hesitant about reading it but then we talked a little about the movies and he got excited. He is really interested to find out how the book and the movies compare. My students were upset when I told them that we had to stop reading because we did not have enough time to continue reading. That was a good feeling!
Have your kids make a list of ten things they know to be true. It can be about anything that they feel is true to them. You make a list as well and share it with them. ( It really can be anything : I had a kid write down the date of the day we did it as one of there items on the list) . Ask them to share their lists. Once they do this, see what they come up with and what you want to know more about. See which ones lead into stories. From there, they can craft a poem. I have done this with older kids than you are teaching, but it may work!
This past week was great, a little hectic. I felt that I had to catch my student up a bit from missing the previous week when we were suppose to start skeleton creek. I also intended to try a new comprehension strategy from the comprehension connection text each week but I did two strategies this week in order to be able to fit in each strategy by the end. So this week we worked on metacognition and schema. For this I kind of bundled them together by teaching her how to write codes when she is reading to help with metacognition and had made her tell me a connection she was able to make with the story. We also used some of the statements (I noticed.. I can relate to..) as a wrap up discussion after the text. She was really excited to start reading skeleton creek this week! We tried alternating reading some because even though she is a great reader, some of the vocabulary is very rich and I want to take the time to pause and make sure the story's main ideas and details are not lost in trying to decipher some of the unknown text. I think it really helped to show me where she starts to struggle to understand and we can make sure she is comprehending the text better than if she were to read independently. I think it is also great so I can stop and ask questions based on the continuum to ensure she is grasping the information in the story and strategies she is using to understand the text. We also did a great group lesson with poetry, in which we went over figurative language to show them different elements of poetry. At the end the students wrote a group free-verse poem. The students wrote one line and folded it over so the next person could not see it, and after we read what was created as a whole poem. It was a fun activities that the kids seemed to enjoy. I can't wait to start reading poems with Hannah next week during writing and letting her try her first whole free-verse poem! I am hoping this week will be a little calmer in not having to feel like I have to cram in order to get through everything I want to get through.
My kids really surprised me...2 weeks ago now. I'm excited to see them tomorrow to see what we can get done. Our last meeting, they responded well to our activities and had a lot of fun. Nothing was outrageously creative but they enjoyed what we did. My students have decent comprehension but they struggled with putting the events in order and gave me alot of details. I wanted to focus their thinking on beginning-middle-end. We went through our guided reading lesson, as usual, and then I had them put the events in order. I took some pictures from the story and put them on magnets to use on the whiteboard. They had to work together to figure out what was happening in the picture and decide when it occurred, beginning, middle, or end. They did a really nice job! If one thought it was the beginning and the other thought it was the middle, they talked about their options based on what they remembered in the book. In order for me to make sure they were correct, I put the two beginning pictures on red magnets, middle pictures on white magnets and the end pictures on blue magnets. After we discussed the book and I wanted to address the vocab they struggled with when reading. When I asked if they knew what the word drapes meant, one student went on an elaborate definition that included fabrics, how they hang, different types of drapes. It was very impressive and it makes me curious about his vocabulary. He doesn't usually talk or write this way so I may have to push him a little more. He also used the word microspec, which I'm pretty sure he made up but it was clear what he was trying to say and sound like. Very interesting.
I found the guided reading video very helpful. It was nice to have an example to watch because now I can reevaluate how I am conducting my guided reading sessions. I thought bringing in the instructional artifact was a great idea because it made the content real. The students had evident that the material they were reading about truly existed. Also, after my formal lesson, Lauren mentioned giving a better introduction of the text and I wasn't sure how deep I should explain the text they are about to read. Allison's video gave me some good pointers for what to mention to the students. Lastly, I liked the idea of the Alpha Boxes for the instruction purpose but also because it allows everyone to catch up. One student is a faster reader than the other and this will give the student time to finish reading and fill out the boxes, while the other continues building on the Alpha Boxes.
Tutoring was rough for me this week. Not feeling up to par mixed with focusing on work was a little difficult.
ReplyDeleteMy student and I got through our guided reading and word study. I also took on two other students today as well, so I changed up my Guided writing lesson to playing with voice. We had a mini-lesson and discussion on what voice is within writing then we did a writing activity. Each student was given a character to write as ( For instance a 6 year old boy who broke his favorite toy) and had to write in first person so the rest of the group could listen and try to figure out what type of character the person was writing as. We then read each one aloud and discussed how we saw voice in each child's writing.
While I was doing guided reading with my student I had the other two students reading their guided reading books. I was trying to manage both guided reading materials at the same time. It flowed a lot better than expected.
Once we moved on to the poetry I felt that our whole group instruction went well. We went through the poetic devices and then had all the children particpate in a writing activity directed towards Free Verse Poetry writing.
Unfortunately, I missed the High School teacher speak. I hope to get caught up on what I missed.
I find that our textbook for class is assisting in some of my lessons. The idea of having my student go through the I think.. I feel... etc. process has had her become more vocal in how she feels and to comprehend more than just what is on the surface of the text. I can feel her being less freightened about messing up and feel more comfortable sharing her opinions but also asking questions at the same time.
Nice flexibility, Katie. Thank you!
DeleteWe have materials for you from the HS presenter. I think you'll probably read some reflections on here later this week.
I'm glad you are finding the text helpful. It is very helpful when people actually use it! I am constantly finding things to use in it, as are many other reading teachers.
I hope you're feeling better!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom Rachel:
ReplyDeleteRachel Hildreth
I had a great time with my students tonight! We used Schema (What you know) + Evidence (What you have) = Inference (Predictions) to examine an I Am Poem through the perspective of the author. The poem referenced the photographer capturing time through pictures. As we dissected the poem further, we reviewed the last session’s lesson on Symbolism with Kit by looking at the deeper meanings in phrases. Shannon was able to make several connections to the text. While I was working with individually with each student on guided reading, the other student was working on creating their own I Am poem online. As each student reviewed their poem with me, I noticed that the students were very focused, used larger vocabulary, and shared their desire of their own future careers. I shared with the girls the idea of a poetry jam and creating a classroom to match the environment of a coffee shop so the girls and other students could share their poems. The girls were very excited! We would like to bring food and a Keurig machine for coffee for the parents! As well as work on design of the room and background music. I hope the other middle-high school tutors are on board with this!I know the parents would be really impressed! I believe that the girls have enough confidence now in their poetry writing to take some larger steps…any suggestions as to what form I should try with them?
I would like to come up with a better system to record my thoughts during guided reading. I have post-its and keep these notes on the guided reading lesson- but I would like to see something that captures everything together so that I have a timeline to refer to so that I can better describe and substantiate growth.
This flows into Word Study as well- Shannon is really picking up on the concept of building words. Today we worked on ar word patterns through a game I found on Florida Center for Reading Research.
After our review tonight and video of Allison doing a 6th grade reading lesson- I had a couple of questions:
1.) If a teacher had the opportunity to provide one on one guided reading- would it be beneficial for a student’s fluency to read the entire time outloud rather than read silently?
2.) Would we be able to watch a movie related to Guided Writing?
Do any of you have any good ideas that are working for you for record keeping during guided reading? Please share on here.
DeleteDuring guided reading, my students read out loud quietly based on the information from the Continuum. I give them a few mins by themselves while I write anecdotal notes on their reading behavior on the back of my guided reading lesson plan. While I work one on one with a student I do a running reading record and take additional notes of anything I feel they are improving on or need to focus on for next lesson. By using the back of the lesson plan I can easily figure out what it was they were reading that day as well as what we were working on.
Deletethis week was exhausting. many things got hammered home and new fears formed and old ones became bigger. It is difficult balancing the needs of capstone with practicum and even more difficult trying to get through everything with 3 incredibly loud, active kids. they may be nice, but they have way too much energy. I attempted the self-monitoring thing, but they were incapable of it. I don't know what this stems from--perhaps its not really seeing this as on par with being in school. I don't know. Its aggravating trying to teach a lesson to kids who cant seem to be quiet and listen for 5 minutes. Add to that a student who refuses to read the text and hands the book back to you 2 times...it isn't the most productive group.
ReplyDeletethus far, we have barely gotten into writing and not even gotten close to word study. we did some poetry work last session. we discussed the different forms of poetry and I TRIED to have them relate the lesson on tone that we did and have them write a poem incorporating that. Another spectacular failure.
I foresee little coming of this semester of practicum. My girl would only begin to read--and not even really read--when I told her I would speak with her mother. Her mother at least is on my side. D'Ondre will actually do the work....if the people around him are quiet. which is not always the case. I think Ta'kara may be better off in a one-on-one setting, because she will talk a lot. What I will get out of this semester is management training.
The plan of action is, once we get back, try the rewards system. they love food, so what better way to attempt to get them to focus. Next class is the last day I have to do work for my study, so we'll be cramming a lot into that day. ...if possible. Things may break down being that we only get deeply into writing and word work once my study is complete.
As you can see, I need this break to refresh!
Kit- I am going to make the suggestion to move your students to a classroom with desks and chairs or a table in the area where we are. The couches may not be structured enough for them.
ReplyDeleteYou might get better results for your capstone if you find graphic novels that pique their interests rather than the one you are using. Good luck and have a good break!
I agree with Jessica. Let's get you set up in a classroom quickly. What more do you need to do for your study?
DeleteThis week, I gained a deeper understanding of some of my student's needs for learning. This upcoming week is her IEP review, and her mother is very interested in sharing the informations being gathered through testing. (What a welcome change from last semester!)At the last tutoring session, she brought her updated audiologist report. I don't know how many of you are familiar with reading special education paper work, but for me I have found them to be very informative. Without getting into the (confidential) details of the report, I thought it was really interesting to be able to read exactly what types of testing was conducted, and how that testing translates to management needs and educational recommendations. For a student with processing needs (such as my student), it can be really hard for him or her to verbalize things. Reading a report by someone who had the time to conduct in depth testing and analize the results was really interesting to me. I'm so glad the mother decided to share this information, and she said she'd be bringing any additional information to share over the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I wanted to do something a little special for my student, since she had just recently had her birthday. She had mentioned to me how much she loves popcorn, so I made everything we worked on popcorn themed. I put word study words that we were working on, long and short /i/, on cut out paper popcorn which she sorted by vowel sound into a popcorn container. We worked on fluent reading by choral reading a poem about popcorn. Also, this week I pulled a nonfiction article on the history of popcorn. This is what I used for guided reading. I was trying to practice the idea of close reading, but I think I missed the mark a bit. After our conversation at class, I think I'll try a shorter section for close reading next time. While my student ate popcorn for snack, I read her The Popcorn Book by Tommi DePola. If you aren't familia with that one, it's written so that there is a fictional story about two kids making popcorn, but while they do that, one of the kids is reading from an encyclopedia about popcorn. Much of the information in this book was the same as what had been in the article. While I didn't think my student had gotten much out of reading the article (it was VERY hard for her), she was able to make many connections as I read her the other book! This reinforced, for me, that she was retaining some of the information even though the text may not have been the best choice this week.
In response to Kit...sounds like you had a tough week! What types of behavior management have you tried so far? I think Jessica is right, maybe you need to move to an area where you can be more structured. For your student who refuses to read...have you tried to give her options? For example, lay out two activities (that have to be done that day) and let her pick which she does first, with the expectation that they will both be completed that day.
Rachel...one think I did last semester that helped me organize my notes was keep a small notebook with me. Each time I was working with the students I would have it out so I could write things down. I'd put the date at the top of the page, with the book/activity for the day, and then in different colors of pen make notes throughout the session. I had one of those pens that writes in four different colors (so I wasn't constantly switching pens), and color coordinated my notes. For example, red writing may have been anything to do with word study, while blue may have been writing related. That way, even though the notes themselves may have seemed scattered, I could just look for a certain color and know that those notes all went with one category of instruction.
Hey Laura
DeleteIt was indeed a rough time this week with pretty much arguing with Ta'kara about the merit of the work she's doing. Unfortunately, because of the layout of my study, I can't really just give her one activity to do while the others do the reading. I understand her frustration with the book and dislike, but at the same time, the other kids like the book, so I don't feel I should have to change the entire study just to fit her personal preference. The reading is also just a small portion of it--once we move to the writing and discussion she usually perks up. I probably will take Jesse's suggestion and move them back into our previous room. Like she said, the area we're in now may be too unstructured for them to handle being in while still doing work. overall, I'm in a more zen place now that I've considered things and have taken a break haha
Laura,
DeleteI think it is great that you themed your whole night around popcorn. I bet she enjoyed it as well! Very creative thinking! I think your idea of using a shorter passage will help you as well!
It's so nice that you did that for her. It just shows how dedicated you are as a teacher. That must have taken some extra time to plan and it probably meant alot for her. More than likely, she'll be happy to work with you and more open to addressing anything you need her to accomplish.
DeleteThis past week went well for me! One of my students did not show up again so it was two of my students and a student from another group.
ReplyDeleteI worked with my students on poems. It is not easy for me to get my students to enjoy poem writing. Does anyone have any ideas? I worked on a cinquin poem and played a review game on syllables. The students enjoyed the game but when it came to writing the poem it was a little more difficult to keep their interest.
My students and I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At first one of my students was hesitant about reading it but then we talked a little about the movies and he got excited. He is really interested to find out how the book and the movies compare. My students were upset when I told them that we had to stop reading because we did not have enough time to continue reading. That was a good feeling!
Have your kids make a list of ten things they know to be true. It can be about anything that they feel is true to them. You make a list as well and share it with them. ( It really can be anything : I had a kid write down the date of the day we did it as one of there items on the list) . Ask them to share their lists. Once they do this, see what they come up with and what you want to know more about. See which ones lead into stories. From there, they can craft a poem. I have done this with older kids than you are teaching, but it may work!
DeleteThis past week was great, a little hectic. I felt that I had to catch my student up a bit from missing the previous week when we were suppose to start skeleton creek. I also intended to try a new comprehension strategy from the comprehension connection text each week but I did two strategies this week in order to be able to fit in each strategy by the end. So this week we worked on metacognition and schema. For this I kind of bundled them together by teaching her how to write codes when she is reading to help with metacognition and had made her tell me a connection she was able to make with the story. We also used some of the statements (I noticed.. I can relate to..) as a wrap up discussion after the text.
ReplyDeleteShe was really excited to start reading skeleton creek this week! We tried alternating reading some because even though she is a great reader, some of the vocabulary is very rich and I want to take the time to pause and make sure the story's main ideas and details are not lost in trying to decipher some of the unknown text. I think it really helped to show me where she starts to struggle to understand and we can make sure she is comprehending the text better than if she were to read independently. I think it is also great so I can stop and ask questions based on the continuum to ensure she is grasping the information in the story and strategies she is using to understand the text.
We also did a great group lesson with poetry, in which we went over figurative language to show them different elements of poetry. At the end the students wrote a group free-verse poem. The students wrote one line and folded it over so the next person could not see it, and after we read what was created as a whole poem. It was a fun activities that the kids seemed to enjoy.
I can't wait to start reading poems with Hannah next week during writing and letting her try her first whole free-verse poem! I am hoping this week will be a little calmer in not having to feel like I have to cram in order to get through everything I want to get through.
Hello - Anyone have a copy of the formal observation lesson plan form?
ReplyDeleteMy kids really surprised me...2 weeks ago now. I'm excited to see them tomorrow to see what we can get done. Our last meeting, they responded well to our activities and had a lot of fun. Nothing was outrageously creative but they enjoyed what we did. My students have decent comprehension but they struggled with putting the events in order and gave me alot of details. I wanted to focus their thinking on beginning-middle-end. We went through our guided reading lesson, as usual, and then I had them put the events in order. I took some pictures from the story and put them on magnets to use on the whiteboard. They had to work together to figure out what was happening in the picture and decide when it occurred, beginning, middle, or end. They did a really nice job! If one thought it was the beginning and the other thought it was the middle, they talked about their options based on what they remembered in the book. In order for me to make sure they were correct, I put the two beginning pictures on red magnets, middle pictures on white magnets and the end pictures on blue magnets.
ReplyDeleteAfter we discussed the book and I wanted to address the vocab they struggled with when reading. When I asked if they knew what the word drapes meant, one student went on an elaborate definition that included fabrics, how they hang, different types of drapes. It was very impressive and it makes me curious about his vocabulary. He doesn't usually talk or write this way so I may have to push him a little more. He also used the word microspec, which I'm pretty sure he made up but it was clear what he was trying to say and sound like. Very interesting.
I found the guided reading video very helpful. It was nice to have an example to watch because now I can reevaluate how I am conducting my guided reading sessions. I thought bringing in the instructional artifact was a great idea because it made the content real. The students had evident that the material they were reading about truly existed. Also, after my formal lesson, Lauren mentioned giving a better introduction of the text and I wasn't sure how deep I should explain the text they are about to read. Allison's video gave me some good pointers for what to mention to the students. Lastly, I liked the idea of the Alpha Boxes for the instruction purpose but also because it allows everyone to catch up. One student is a faster reader than the other and this will give the student time to finish reading and fill out the boxes, while the other continues building on the Alpha Boxes.