Texts for Comprehension Focus Groups- Middle School Level

Heather Zimmerman contributed today's thinking. For further information, read Heather's first post about comprehension focus groups.

Looking at the calendar, I find it hard to believe it is already January.  In some ways these first few months went by quite quickly.  The chatter in the hallway of Halloween costumes is over and soon Thanksgiving break plans will start.  I am about halfway through my first Comprehension Focus Group (CFG).  Part of me feels as if I should be much further, but when I look at the days spent building routines in September and preparing for our first CFG, it makes sense.  I also get pulled from classroom for meetings more frequently than I would like, but that is part of the balance of being a reading teacher and coach.

I mentioned in my last post, as I prepared for the first few months of school I spent the first few weeks in the classroom getting students into the routines of the class, building relationships, and going over signposts from Kylene Beers and Robert Probst’s book, Notice and Note.  Outside of the classroom, I spent weeks and weeks planning for my first CFG.  I did not think it would be so tricky.  First of all, I found myself doubting what I normally do as good teaching practice to follow the format for the CFG.  Second of all, I struggled to find engaging short stories that were fiction.  I wanted to stick with the fiction genre to continue our practice with the signposts.  Trying to find short stories that were modern and not memoirs was not an easy task.  I am sure many of you can relate the hours and hours spent on a project, and then the feeling that you got no where.  Not fun.  

Here is an overview of my first CFG:  

• Genre- Fiction
• Focusing on story map (theme, point of view, and plot line)
• Sign Posts
• Texts-
• “Charles” by Shirley Jackson (mentor text)
• “Jared” by David Gifaldi
• “Two Were Left” by Hugh B. Cave
• “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas

This might not seem like much, but I hope it saves you time.  If you want more specifics on my lesson plans, feel free to leave a comment with your email and I will send you more information and the handouts.