Friday, January 21, 2011

Proposition 3

Proposition 3: Teachers are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring Student Learning.

• NBCTs deliver effective instruction. They move fluently through a range of instructional techniques, keeping students motivated, engaged and focused.
• They know how to engage students to ensure a disciplined learning environment, and how to organize instruction to meet instructional goals.
• NBCTs know how to assess the progress of individual students as well as the class as a whole.
• They use multiple methods for measuring student growth and understanding, and they can clearly explain student performance to parents.

1. Readers Workshop Model

Description:  Readers Workshop Model

Process:  It all starts on the first day of school when we learn the process of the Readers Workshop Model. We discuss the 4 parts, mini lesson, independent reading, conferring, and share time. The teacher models these steps over and over for the first two weeks until the students begin to independently follow the routine. During this initial 2 week period, the teacher also discusses and teaches the students about reading behaviors during the workshop time; what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like. They focus on building stamina, finding what type of books interest them, and how to browse the classroom library. Students and teachers will create posters of the skills and strategies they learn and post them all around the classroom as reminders. Students refer back to these posters daily and use them as tools to become stronger readers. The children become part of the daily lesson therefore becoming much more connected to it. After the first two weeks, students learn how to choose “just right books” for them. Their independence becomes more evident in that they move through the workshop with little guidance from the teacher.

Artifact:








Reflection:   The 2010-2011 school year, was the first year that I fully implemented the Readers Workshop model in my classroom. Over the summer, I organized a binder that included the mini lesson, teaching point, conference notes, small group notes, and reflections for the day. Going into the year I was much more confident because I was organized and ready to go. The first two weeks were a little crazy, but that is to be expected as it was the beginning of the school year. After mastering the routines and procedures, the class began to look, sound, and feel like a community of readers. Mini-lessons were running smoothly, the students reading stamina were getting stronger and longer, and I found myself letting go and letting them be more independent. As the days and week went on, the students were having literacy conversations, they were giving classmates recommendations for books, and their reflections were becoming more and more in-depth. It’s almost as if they were maturing as students but also as readers. Their responses and connections were above and beyond the my initial expectations.
When reflecting on previous years, it is hard to recall these “mature” book conversations going on naturally with my students. I felt as if I had to hold their hands through lessons, and give more answers to them. That motivation to be an independent lifelong reader was absent, which I can now say was a huge road block for the students learning and my connecting with them. The Readers Workshop model allows all students to learn and practice the behaviors of a life-long reader, and helps them gain that liberation in reading.

2. Fountas and Pinnell

Description:Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment

Process:I conducted the Fountas and Pinnell benchmark assessment at the beginning of the year based off of the individual students Fountas and Pinnell benchmark assessment at the end of their second grade school year. Approximately two months into the school year, I then conducted another Fountas and Pinnell reading benchmark assessment to document the progress. The students read a non-fiction story, and I would carry out a running record that measured the following skills- accuracy: the percentage of words the child reads out loud, comprehension: the process of construction meaning while reading the text, self-correction: errors the reader corrects herself/himself, fluency, the way oral reading sounds, including phrasing, intonation, pausing, stress, rate: the words per minute the child could read. I kept track of each student’s progress on an Assessment form and used it as I updated each assessment to document progression. Each assessment took approximately 15 minutes.

Artifact:

1. Assessment Summary Form

2. Fountas and Pinnell Comparison Chart

Reflection:  When I carried out the Fountas and Pinnell assessment at the beginning year, I found that the students matched the reading level they were at from the previous year or had advanced. Having a reading level from the previous teacher saves a lot of time with the process in that you have an idea of where to start off the students. This also allows students to continue to read books at a level they are familiar with and have some sort of direction. I feel that the overall, the Fountas and Pinnell assessment is accurate in that when the students get their book level after the assessment they can read and comprehend the material.
The entire program is very user friendly and easy to carry out. The books do a great It is time consuming, but time well invested for sure! The material is also easy to communicate and share with other teachers and families. I use the material at conferences to explain to the parents where their child is at for reading, how well they are progressing, and to set a reading goal. The assessment is explicit enough so I can pinpoint specific areas the student needs to improve on and or is a strong area for them.

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