This summer I'm participating fully in CyberPD! There is a great hashtag on Twitter. There is also a Google+ community. Come join us!
I love to "talk shop" when it comes to literacy. It's not uncommon for me to ask about reading instruction and what you are excited about in your classrooms. There is no other motivation for it than I love to hear what other Brilliant Educators are doing. So this is a fair warning to my local friends...get ready, I'll probably want to talk your ear off about this book. :)
What struck me right away in chapter one was the idea of focusing on the whole of the instruction rather than the pieces. In my reading instruction currently, there are all kinds of pieces! This idea that when we teach our pieces to students, we rob them of the experience of figuring it out them selves! When I'm focusing on the whole, I'm aiming to help students develop problem solving skills over all, not to simply "get" a skill.
Yes! Now without reading on, this is a shift in learning for me. Knowing I need to learn more, I am wondering what a schedule would look like. How am I instructing emerging readers to read from a problem solving standpoint, rather than "workshopping" through all my teaching pieces?
I loved moving on to chapter two, because a bit of this was laid out for me! On page 24, the reading on shared interactive read aloud had me thinking about complex text and empowering students to tackle complex text on a daily basis.
As I considered the reading process in chapter 3 and balancing the science behind why I do what I do already (workshop with mini lessons) as well as the art of teaching, I can't wait to read more.
Can I really approach this time from a problem solving stand point? I can't wait to see how this journey goes!
Joy!
Kendra
I'm anxious to see how the book unfolds too! Have you read "Who's Doing the Work?" By Burkins & Yaris? It's great! Really pushed me to always ask if I'm doing the work for kids.
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ReplyDeleteHi Kendra,
ReplyDeleteI'm excited there is another 1st grade teacher here. I too am trying to think through using this with emerging readers. I'm still reading the 1st section but think raising the level of discussions is going to be very helpful to our beginning readers.
I am going to be posting on the similar question and I teach fifth grade. I think as educators we are always asking about schedule/time. I am going to not think in 1/3 (reading, writing, word study) I am thinking about the whole. Not sure where I will end up....but the first section of the book is helping me dig deeper.
ReplyDeleteIt's always so fun to see where thoughts and ideas merge . . . I love how Burkins and Yaris push us to think about balancing time across a week as well as across whole days - not just literacy time. This really DOES allow us to be more flexible in our thinking.
ReplyDeleteYour response has me thinking about this problem-based approach and what it might mean for different readers. I'm thinking it might look different for emergent readers as compared to beginning or transitional readers. I'm so glad you are joining the conversation again this year! I look forward to continued conversation.
ReplyDeleteI can hear your excitement in your learning and seeing how it fits with what you are already doing in the workshop, and then when, how and why we would be more explicit and model and so on ... This has posed many questions for me as well and look forward to reading more of the examples Vicki shares in the second part of the book.
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