Growing as Students
This page describes how we taught students to become stronger readers, thinkers, and discussants of literature and nonfiction text.
Responding to Text
Our students have become more actively involved in their independent reading and read aloud work. They understand that reading is an activity they do with their "mind awake." They know that reading is an activity where they react to the text and then respond to why they are reacting. During the first part of the year we focus with our students to help them develop their "inner voice" that responds to text. This helps them become prepared to share their responses with others.
Partnership
It is in partnerships that our students begin to deepen their responses to text. They learn how to actively listen and respond to their partners' ideas. Our students learn to see conversations as building on each others' ideas and growing new ideas, rather than just "my turn, your turn."
Individual Reading Conferences
In reading conferences, the teacher and student have an opportunity to have a one-on-one interaction. When a teacher sits down with a student, s/he is able to get to know the student in a variety of ways. The teacher learns the student's preferences for types of books, what kind of problem-solver the student is, and in what ways the student responds to text while reading independently.
It is during the reading conference that the teacher is able to differentiate instruction with his/her students by addressing a particular student's needs. The teacher determines in what areas the student may need some extra support or an extra push. Individual reading conferences allow time for providing for the needs of each student.
This video is an example of a research reading conference with a student:
Strategy Groups
Strategy groups are also a time for meeting individual needs. When a teacher forms a strategy group, s/he determines that a small group of students could benefit from being taught one concept together because they have similar needs. In this way, a teacher is able to address individual student's needs and address multiple students at once, freeing up time to continue with additional individual conferences and strategy groups with other students.
Book Clubs
Book Clubs provide our students with a framework for responding to text and responding within a larger group. The foundation that was laid during partnerships earlier on comes to independent fruition here. In book clubs, students make plans for what pages they will read, hold each other accountable for reading and work, participate in self-directed conversations, and encourage new thinking to develop with their peers. Students feel proud of the autonomy they have as an individual reader's voice and of the voice they create as a group. We have found that Book Clubs lay an excellent foundation for the work students do in upper grades in" Response to Literature" Essays.
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Growing as Teachers
