Blog 2: Literacy Focus

In my second grade classroom, literacy instruction takes places from 10:10-11:40am, and writing instruction takes place from 12:30-1:30pm. Literacy instruction includes a twenty minute reading mini-lesson, then children move to RTI groups from 10:30-11, which are based on a school wide system that divides reading level groups into RTI learning groups that are leveled from red, which is lowest level, to yellow, green, then blue, which is the most advanced level. My elementary school actually used a program like this to group students for reading instruction and I felt that it was helpful in that I was independently being challenged, but I also felt that I did not like that students could be physically labeled by their reading level. Hoose elementary does it differently in that the groups are still split up within the grades and by the color levels, but students do not physically know their level or group label because each teacher has an aid in the class and each class has two groups that meet, students switch classrooms to go to their certain RTI group, and meet with the teacher or aid in the classroom to do a small group guided reading lesson. During the RTI group I sat with my CT, who works with one of the higher RTI groups, and are working on reading a play, and my CT has already assigned students character roles, and students have been practicing these roles for the last week. The students read through the play once, and then my CT has students personally read their roles again, having some students read certain parts to her again, and then also modeling certain parts for other students to emphasize fluency and phonemic awareness for the group. Then my CT has students read through the play again as a group doing their parts, and as students read my CT makes comments for students encouraging them about their reading. Students seemed to enjoy working in these small groups. Students were actively engaging in their reading, following directions, and talked about their parts in the play with me. Also, my CT said that students have recorded better scores in reading overall in grades since they started using RTI groups to break students up into reading groups and to engage students in reading, but every grade level has a different system of how they set it up between teachers. I really liked that my CT was using plays and I think that using fun and creative readings like this encourages students to be engaged in reading. Then, at 11am, students go back to their homerooms and in our second grade classroom my CT meets with guided reading groups that she has grouped by individual reading level and meets with these groups for fifteen minutes each or longer. The teacher assigns certain readings for each group and during the guided reading lesson, my CT has students re-cap what they learned the week before from reading the text, then has students read through the text again, while listening to students read she is doing a running record on one student, and then my CT has a short discussion with that student about his reading, using fluency, and has him practice reading more fluently and smoothly and then compliments him and encourages him to continue using her suggestions. The students while not working with the teacher, they are to read books that they have from the school library, the classroom library, or books that the teacher has given them for their guided reading group. I thought it was interesting that the teacher didn’t take this time to have students working on writing notebooks, maybe having them reflect on the reading from their guided reading group or having them work on what they need to finish in their writing notebook, and I think students really weren’t fully engaged in reading when they weren’t working with the CT. I observed that some students were actively reading and interested in the text but others were visiting with their neighbors or just flipping through a book or magazine from the classroom library. I also think this would be a great time for a brain break, so maybe that is what my CT is trying to accomplish by allowing students to have this independent time.

This clinical experience is much different from my last clinical experience in that my last CT in a first grade classroom used the Daily Five literacy instruction, where students worked in different stations for twenty minutes; so for twenty minutes they met with my CT, twenty minutes they sent writing or doing a reflection/review activity from a reading, or did partner reading/silent reading/listening. I think that I really liked the Daily Five literacy instruction because it seemed to work so well in this classroom, and I found many useful ways in how to promote students to love reading, practice writing, and find time as a teacher to meet with guided reading groups to teach key concepts. But I also think that what I have seen so far for literacy instruction in my second grade classroom at Hoose elementary has been beneficial to my knowledge in that I have learned how I can group students and collaborate with teachers throughout the grade to support literacy instruction and allow students to work in groups outside of their classroom. Also, I think that the guided reading groups and free choice time my CT gives to students allows my CT for time to teach certain concepts and model key ideas to groups but also allow the rest of the class to use that time to have a brain break or to read independently or in small groups. 

Knowing this helps inform me that when teaching and assessing literacy, there are many successful and beneficial ways to teach and assess literacy, some similar like in both my clinical experiences my CT’s used guided reading groups to teach key reading concepts, but also some very different and dependent on grade level and school programs. I think in the future if I was teaching a first grade class, like I want to, I would use the Daily Five system, if allowed, because I really liked how it built classroom management, independence, and self-responsibility for children in the classroom. But I think if I was teaching an older grade like second grade, which I would also love to teach, I would want to give children more freedom like mt CT does this semester, but I would want to structure some activities for students to make sure they were consistently engaged in reading during literacy instruction time. I think as a future teacher I really want to have a chance to review other types of literacy instruction and get visual and physical examples of good examples of how to organize and set up literacy instructions for grade K-3. I think it is important as a teacher to have resources to go to that I can visit again and look at to get ideas for what would be helpful for me to organize literacy instruction in my classroom. Lately, I have found many useful tools that I could use in my classroom for literacy instruction and assessment, and I have posted them on my Pinterest “Reading and Literacy” page to keep them for the future. I am sharing some of my favorite ideas for literacy instruction below. The last one on the bottom I really love because I would use this as a great example of what I would use in a second grade class, like I discussed earlier in this paragraph.

 Fluency Fans, can be used during free time to practice reading these words, would be best for first grade.

teacherspayteachers.com

Sight Words Legos, students can use to manipulate and make words to see how word parts are related.

filthwizardry.com

Roll & Retell, helps students practice reviewing and reflecting on a text.I think this activity would be really great for my clinical students this semester for the time that they are doing independent reading or partner reading, so that they are fully engaged in the reading.

 docs.google.com