RPI. Post Day 5 : Planning a reading program

There are a lot of factors to consider about timetabling and fitting everything in. Today was certainly aspirational and an opportunity to see what others ideas are and what could be possible. 

I would like to think more deeply about using an overall curriculum tracker like the example here as it is potentially simpler and more effective than what we do. 

We are doing well with our learner tracking doc. However,  the work done in books may not be well reflected in the tracking doc, which means things in two different places.

 I still think our visibility to learners and parents could be better (incl rewindability) through schooltalk so will revisit how I link my digital slides into schooltalk so they can more easily see across a week. 

I also want to have something that makes it clearer to learners what they need to have completed by the end of each week. I do what the expectations are by the end of each day well, but could be clearer about the bigger picture, especially for learners looking at their work with parents at home, which more of our parents want.

I need to work out how to better spend more explicit time with my target learners (they are mostly on the same table). At the moment, I spend time with them while others are doing the same task independently. (This is what we were encouraged to do on the SL PLD. Have target and extn learners close by to scaffold and extend in the moment.). Sometimes this is not enough time though, or too disjointed.

Definitely will utilise the Epic and Readworks better, for text searching and questions. Need to work out how to track completion of these activities though.

We work the idea of reading like writers and writing like readers , and integration, into our lessons very well.

We use SL in our spelling (Code) and targets have an intervention group for 20 mins per 4 days, but I need to increase morphology and etymology into spelling and vocab building better.

 BLOG Day 4

Today was useful as it helped consolidate many activities I already do, plus added a few more. I want to ensure I am doing all of the following in a wider reading programme:

Reading aloud to learners (eg feed and read or modelling), shared reading (maybe before deconstructing texts together), small group instruction, paired reading (usually whole class), independent reading (independent activities)  and recreational reading (in the Library, sometimes SSR).

For every text:

• Text purpose/ Introduce text

• Observe learners reading

• Brief Discussion

• Precise teaching points

• Independent followup to consolidate learning

• focused word work

• Reflection time

The concept of rewindable learning was good. We have shared slides which are all accessible through Schooltalk for learners and whanau and teachers to revisit, but I am wondering if it is user friendly enough for learners and whanau if the week has gone by and they want to find it again. 

Building knowledge together - purposefully and equitably. Front load vocabulary. Keep the focus on the LI when reading a text - keep coming back to the purpose and using specific evidence from the text.

Listening to reading - ensuring I hear everyone read - using digital if needed - every 2 weeks ish. I liked the fluency rubric. I need to break this down and model for learners rather than doing everything at once. I also need to have a specific teaching point when doing fluency reading practice eg intonation. Pace should come in last.

I need to reflect with the team on if just a simple recording is better than Snorkl where the feedback is from AI. In other words, I think the feedback and evaluation would be better coming from themselves or another learner against a rubric.

For discussions. I need to ensure I always review and embed ground rules and ensure they know it is a learning discussion not a test  for example say: “OK we are having a learning conversation now”

Questioning

Ensure I am using all types of questions in my followups and discussions, and that it is learner led, provoking questions that will build conversation, not just elicit a single answer that nobody builds on. Try this with a smaller group.

This Fountas and Pinnell cycle for small group text work is useful. The LI can be brought in during explicit work (teaching points)