Heather Zimmerman contributed today's post. More about Heather's work implementing comprehension focus groups in middle school can be found here.
As I wrap up my first year working with Comprehension Focus Groups (CFGs), I reflect on how the year went. I debated on telling you about my fourth CFG or a few of my questions and thoughts. I decided to do a quick snapshot of both.
Questions and Thoughts
I believe the CFGs are making a difference. The data is speaking for itself. I also know that the strong tier one instruction is playing a critical role. I believe in the basic structure of the CFG- Students work with a specific strategy through the entire CFG, I model reading, students practice reading three times, we discuss after each text, I model writing, students practice writing. I think this makes sense and works well for my students.
There are also questions I still have though and things I want to work on. Here is a list of these questions because I think it will give you insight into some extras that are happening, which I did not get a chance to write about and now you can think these through with me. Please comment with any thoughts.
- The CFG is 30 minutes, so I have different routines to start off the class. These include:
- Monday- Vocabulary development
- Tuesday- Read aloud
- Wednesday- Vocabulary development
- Thursday- Read aloud
- Friday- Choice read
I wonder though if this is a good balance. I question if there should be more choice reading. I only did one day, because they love the read aloud and engage in independent reading during the intervention. I try to choose texts they enjoy and find engaging. I also want to continue to find ideas for vocabulary development. Right now I use vocabulary from the read aloud and from Membean.com. (A teacher in my building got a free subscription for the year.)
- I feel the choice reading needs it’s own bullet point. During the CFG I feel I have not had a chance to develop them as life-long readers who can choose their own texts. Their independent texts are carefully picked by me while thinking about level and interests. I need to build in their own choice more. I am still trying to figure out how that looks, though. When I saw Donalyn Miller at WSRA, I was so inspired. Her books are on my summer reading list, and I hope from there I get ideas on how to work this into a possible CFG. The CFG is 30 minutes and when you add in relationship building and attendance that leaves about 15 minutes. I also add in a two minute stretch break, so that leaves 12 minutes. I will keep thinking how this will look for sure!
- Conferencing and record keeping. I need to do a better job at record keeping. I have yet to find a system I love. I also go back and forth between paper copies and using technology for this. I struggle with when to interrupt for conferences. I set up my students for success for their individual reading time. I do not want to interrupt when they are successful and working so hard. I need to think more on how this looks, but hopefully my record keeping reflecting will help this come along.
OK...I promised short and sweet. So will stop reflecting and share the good stuff. :-) Here are my resources for my fourth quarter CFG. Hope you had a great school year and thank you for coming along on this journey with me!
CFG 4- Textual Evidence Focus using Civil Rights Texts
- Mentor Text- “Selma” from Junior Scholastic
- Text 1- Martin’s Big Words by: Doreen Rappaport
- Text 2- Political Cartoon- Our district works with Document Based Questions
- Text 3- The Rock and The River by: Kekla Magoon: This is a longer text so it will be broken into three chapter chunks where we will move from phase one to phase two. I also plan on reading one of the three chapters each time.
- Graphic Organizer-
- Attempt
- Attempt 2- I realized that students were not focusing on our essential question and looking for the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, so I wanted to make sure that was an area they focused on. This graphic organizer will hopefully help with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. Your comment will appear after approval by this blog's editor.