Hi Melissa, I'm a first year teacher, so the number one thing I struggle with is classroom management. After that, it's definitely curriculum planning and implementation. We are required to teach ELA 2 and 1/2 hours per day. This fits perfectly with the time I have between official start time and daily specials. The first half of the year, I was doing Reading for the first 90 minutes and Writing for the last 60. In February, I switched it so we start with Writing (makes a better transition into the day) and follow it with 90 mins. of Reading. Writing is minilesson, often times with reading of a mentor passage or text. Independent writing (when I'll do individual conferences and/or small group work as needed). Then sharing. Readers Workshop is by far the more complicated because I'm juggling an overly full Harcourt Trophies curriculum, which includes Narrative Elements, Word Study, Vocabulary, and weekly text along with Isabel Beck's Robust vocabulary instruction, Reciprocal Teaching, and 3 small group instruction sessions per day. Daily small group instruction also has to include a Phonics intervention curriculum for the lowest achieving readers. It's been a *huge* undertaking to learn these various curriculum pieces (although I had previous experience with some of them). Definitely a work in progress. Very interested to hear how others respond to your question about effective implementation of Literacy curriculum.
On 3/25/08, Zey, Melissa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Can some of you elaborate on the time frame all of this is being completed > within? That is the number one thing I struggle with is fitting it all > in! I'm sure we all do. I try to do word study, reading workshop, writing > workshop, and I go back and forth all of the time on guided reading and > individual reading conferences. So it's great to see how someone else > structures their reading and writing workshop time. Now I'm just curious to > know what amount of time it's being done in. Is some of you would like to > offer your schedules and how you fit everything (or as much as you can) in > your day I'd love to hear it! > > Thanks, > Melissa > > ________________________________ > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Mary Manges > Sent: Sat 3/15/2008 9:12 PM > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Guided Reading in Intermediate? > > > > Rhonda, > Thanks for responding, even if it took a while. I appreciate all the > input > I can get, especially from people that are doing this already. It seems > that guided reading is an umbrella term of sorts. I know that there are > specific models like Four Blocks, and Fountas and Pinnell. I'm mostly > concerned with how I can "do" guided reading to meet the requirement of my > district and not have to give up what I feel is already working in my > classroom. This is what I do, if you can see how GR would fit into this I > would appreciate some input. > Each day of my Language Arts block looks like this: > > 1. I do a read aloud from a novel of my choosing, with some sort of short > activity on a bulletin board. We have tracked the plot, summarized using > illustrations with a sentence, brought in an artifact for each chapter, > etc... > 2. I then teach a mini-lesson on a reading strategy, word study, or > whatever I see they need and what I need to cover in the standards and > assessment anchors. This is done as a whole group. > 3. Then they either participate in literature circles or reading workshop > depending on the time of year. I use all novels and avoid my basal > textbook > like the plague. > 4. I confer with individuals during reading workshop or sit in with 1 > literature circle group per day. > > Then we go into writing workshop: > 1. I read a poem to them and we decipher it togther (they have a copy to > follow along) > 2. I teach a writing mini-lesson on a writing craft, grammar skill, or > something else. I try to coordinate mini-lessons in reading and writing > to > feed off one another. If we are working on character analysis in reading, > we study character development in writing. > 3. They write independently and I confer with individuals. > > It seems that the component I am missing is small group instruction and > maybe more of a devotion to word study. > Am I way off base here? When I look at the Big Blocks components, I see > some of what I'm doing. Any thoughts? > Thanks again. I'm searching for ideas. My district seems to have put the > cart before the horse. They wrote guided reading into our strategic plan > K-5 and now they have no clue how it is to be done in intermediate grades. > I'd like to be able to show how what I'm doing shouldn't have to be thrown > out the window entirely. > > Thanks a bunch! > Mary :) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rhonda Brinkman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 6:20 PM > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Guided Reading in Intermediate? > > > > >Hello Mary, > > > > Sorry it took so long to answer just crazy here. > > > > To me guided reading can be incorporated into anything. For example-- I > am > > looking for students to synthesize nonfiction text. I would began with a > > small piece of text and model how to synthesize info and build by adding > > pieces each time. Then I might use the same writing pieces to model > > informative writing. The pieces could be shown to model voice (or lack > of > > it in writing). I have used Four Blocks in lower and upper grades and > find > > it easy to incorporate with any program and fairly inexpensive. Patricia > > Cunningham and Cheryl Sigmon developed an awesome idea. > > > > Mary if you have more questions. Email me directly-- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Hope this helped, > > Rhonda > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Rhonda, > >> Can you share any specifics? I teach strategies and use mostly lit. > >> circles > >> with novels in fifth grade. I also do writing workshop so I feel like > I > >> have the basics in place I'm mostly wondering how Guided Reading will > >> change these practices. > >> Thanks for the help! > >> Mary :) > >> > >> ----- Original Message ----- > >> From: "Rhonda Brinkman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" > >> <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 6:05 PM > >> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Guided Reading in Intermediate? > >> > >> > >>> > > >>> I love Modifying Four Block for the upper grades. Have been using it > >>> for > >>> years and I teach middle school. I easily incorporate reading > strategies > >>> and whatever the students may need. > >>> > >>> Rhonda > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> I'm wondering if anyone is using guided reading in upper elementary. > >>> It > >>> > was written into our strategic plan, yet no one seems to know how it > >> works > >>> > in 4th and 5th grade. I 've been able to find a few resources to > >>> > purchase, but haven't yet. One is from Fountas and Pinnell, and the > >> other > >>> > was from Four Blocks (Big Blocks model). Basically I'd like to know > >> which > >>> > resource would be better to buy, and also if anyone can tell me what > >>> > guided reading looks like and involves at this level. Is it > >>> effective? > >>> > Do you it like or dislike? Pros/cons? > >>> > > >>> > Thanks, > >>> > Mary > >>> > _______________________________________________ > >>> > Mosaic mailing list > >>> > [email protected] > >>> > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > >>> > > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > >>> > > >>> > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > -- > >>> > This message has been scanned for viruses and > >>> > dangerous content by EduTech's MailScanner Vaccine4, and is > >>> > believed to be clean. > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Mosaic mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > >>> > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > >>> > >>> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Mosaic mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > . > >> > >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > >> > >> > >> -- > >> This message has been scanned for viruses and > >> dangerous content by EduTech's MailScanner Vaccine2, and is > >> believed to be clean. > >> > >> > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mosaic mailing list > > [email protected] > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > -- Mary Ellen Sinkiewicz _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. 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