A new day, an new lesson

Today, I taught the second of my three lessons on fluency. These are the lessons that I am basing on my case study students that I am assessing for 497. I am doing this project on two kids, instead of one, and with both students (average fourth grade readers, I believe) struggled to read fluently. My CT and I figured that all of my class could probably benefit from some lessons on fluency, so I have been teaching these lessons to the whole class.

Today, we focused on trying to say words like what they might sound like, because it would help us understand the text better. I read a poem and had them listen for words I emphasized, and then we did another together. Then, after we worked as a whole group, I had them go off and work together in partnerships. They all practiced reading the poem, and then shared in the last 10 minutes of Lit. I hadn't originally planned to have them work together on this, and I also hadn't planned on having them perform. However, both of these choices were good ones, I felt. I felt that several students needed the extra support of working with a partner for this activity. Also, because so many students worked so hard on it, I felt that they would really enjoy sharing. I only had them share one line, but it worked out really well.

Tomorrow, we are going to work on speaking like characters, and will be doing some reader's theater. I am very excited about this, and so are the students. I passed out their scripts today, and I feel that it will go well. Also, I am trying to work a little more on the equity piece for this project. I am having three students who are quiet and don't contribute that much be "facilitators." They will fill the "director" role for their group, in addition to reading their own parts. I feel that this will give these students the opportunity to really get involved, and will help them seem more capable to their peers.

There were some minor management issues today with a few students. During my lesson, there was a group of about four students who were whispering to each other. At first, I was kept reminding them that while I was speaking, they needed to be listening. This worked for a moment, but then they would start it up again. Finally, I moved over to sit near them and continued my lesson from a few feet away. It worked, and they stopped chatting. Two of these students were also chatty during the partner time. I was conferring with other groups, so I didn't deal as effectively with them at that time, but when I went over to work with them, they did get back on task, although I think they got off again later.

I also started to use the facilitator role in the daily language today. We have been trying to get the students familiar with these roles in math and literacy, and facilitator is relatively new. I had the students talk in their groups about the work, and then the facilitator shared. It worked out very well. The students were much more engaged. Also, I think students who don't usually contribute shared in their groups.

I also provided an adaptation for a student during writing as well. This was the first time I had ever really done this. This particular student is usually pulled for literacy, but today, the students were writing stories in the afternoon. All of the students had an outline to help them plan for their stories, but this particular student was not really getting started even on that. I went and talked with her, and tried to get her started, but she didn't want to do it. I went around and helped a few others, and then came back to her. Instead of having her fill out her outline, I asked her questions, and filled it out for her. It worked out very well. She had lots of ideas, but just hadn't written them down. After we finished her outline, I got her the paper to write her story on, and then told her I would come back, and she got started on the story right away. It really worked well. This student regularly has behavior issues, and she did later in the day, but I felt that, for that period of time, I helped her feel like she could succeed. It was a wonderful feeling.

So, overall, a great day!