Habits

Habits....

I'm trying to create some habits. I have some apps (Productive, Rally, Fit Bit) to help me with those habits. I have to say....the eating fruit habit is not going so well! So why do I think habits will work in a classroom?
Research says that it can take up to 8 months to create a habit! Yikes! We only teach 180 days a year! So how can we create automaticity (habits) in our students? It might help that they are a little, lot, younger than us. Also, repetition is a key element. (More fruit, more than once a day!)

A blog,http://sourcesofinsight.com/50-repetitions-to-make-a-habit-stick/ talks about repetition and habits.
Also, when thinking about creating these fundamental habits in a classroom, it will get much easier, and virtually unneccesary in upper grades, if all teachers follow these same routines and procedures.                                                         

Once again, primary teachers SAVE THE DAY!!

Chapter 1 in Great Habits, Great Readers focuses on the procedures and creating of habits in your classroom. (The READERS part of the title needs to be ignored for now. This will work in ANY classroom, all day long!)

Why do you want to establish procedures?

It will save time...and I don't mean minutes. It can save DAYS, y'all.  Think back to your transitions - from carpet to desks, desks to carpet, station to station, desks to door, etc. Tick...tick...tick...tick..

Core ideaYou can't add more hours to the week, but you can add more hours of INSTRUCTION . Just build tighter routines. 

Give high priority to efficiency in the systems that happen most frequently over the course of the school day.

Core idea

Time lost to systems is time lost for learning. 

Some of these time eaters are on the teacher: Are materials ready and at your teaching spot? Do you have activities ready for children, learning and practice they can do on the carpet as they are all getting to their spots?
(If I am your coach, I would be more than happy to come and time your transitions for you! It seems like it would be really difficult to do on your own!)
Some of these time eaters are on the kids: "That's my spot!" "I can't find my crayons, pencil, eraser...." 

You can hear them now. 

                                You can see them now. 

Quick, back to summer!!!

While you are working on that new recipe (for whatever summer delight you are concocting) think about making thoughtful and intentional transitions, to make transformational instruction possible.

The book tells about two ways to make the greatest gains in student learning.


1. Setting up the room.

Core idea
The best classrooms don't just encourage student learning; they're designed for it. 

Set up space and resources to intentionally maximize time whenever possible.
*It took me a few years, but I hated dismissal time. It ate a LOT of time. I put half of the mailboxes on one side of the room, and half on the other side. So at dismissal, instead of having 24 kids trying to get to their mail at once, I had 12. Easy, peasy!
Have resources at your small group table. Make sure students know that learning is occurring at all times.
Great Habits, Great Readers lists the top seven materials to have on hand.

Core Idea:
Pay attention to materials before the lesson....so you can ignore them during it.

I have these pictures because I took pictures
as we learned procedures, printed them
out the first day of school, then made
procedural anchor charts which were used
all year.

*Also, I avoided line-up time gobblers, by giving students assigned-ish places in line. Depending on the age group I taught, I had ways to line up. For instance, I always had a leader (front of the line) door-holder (2nd in line), light person (2nd to the last person in line), and caboose (last in line). The caboose job was very important during field trips. They had to make sure we had everybody!
*Also, in kindergarten, I taped shapes to the floor (triangles, rectangles, etc), and had shapes on the tables. Triangles would line up, etc.  Needed math vocabulary AND procedures!! 
*In first and 2nd grade I had students line up in ABC order by 1st name. (This would change every week, because my helpers changed weekly. That kept them on their toes!) Every 6 weeks I would rotate...last name, first name, etc. Until the last 6 weeks of school...then we lined up by MIDDLE name! The excitement!!
*I assigned carpet spots....yes I did. 

I taped their names on the carpet, using name plates. Let me just say...the counselor, principal, visitors to our classroom loved that. And now that I am going in and teaching lessons to 80-100 different children a day...I would love that, too! It's a really great way for visitors to call kids by name. 

You can kind of see the sight word cards
taped to the carpet.

I also had sight words on yarn necklaces, and sight words taped to the carpet. When the students came in to the classroom, I would greet them, they would sign in (attendance/lunch count), grab a necklace, and that was their spot on the carpet for the day. They would read the word to their neighbor, it was their job to write that work in interactive writing, find they word and highlight it in shared reading, etc. I didn't start this until I had enough sight words for each child...usually the fourth week of school.

You could also use the carpets with letters (first or last name, vowels/consonants, etc.).

And if your carpet doesn't have squares already....duck tape, y'all! 

2. Habits of effective transitions. 

Core idea

To make great transition work, you must first take the time to practice them.

Tightly scripted....every single transition....every single time...with a positive tone (and a little hint of challenge!)
The videos that are included with the book are amazingly insightful!
Also...gradual release:  I do (10%); We do (60%), You do (30%)

Key tips in effective transitions (as quoted in the book):

• Teacher location
• Instructional materials
• Designated pathways
• Economy of language (none is best)
• Immediate start
• Chanting (optional...but fun!)

Core Idea
Repeatedly teach your students to be the class you want. Excellence is not an act but a habit.

So go, relax, dream of your perfect class. 

Now...what changes do YOU need to make to make that dream a reality? 

Summer List

I love summer! My list is full of things that make my days happy, and my school year easier.

1. Read

 I try to read a book a day! When I lived in Amarillo, the public library had a book sale. You could fill a grocery sack full of books for $5. You know, those grocery bags that you are SUPPOSED to take to the store to cut back on waste. I use those....for books. Several bags means many books. Then I bring them home and put them, in alphabetical order by author (of course), on shelves, in drawers, inside trunks. During the summer I read them, in a sort of alphabetical order. One A....then one B, etc.  I can't just let my OCD tendencies go for the summer. And I read until the end.Sometimes the books are completely forgettable. Sometimes, the characters are old friends, come to visit for the summer. 

2. Clean

....the house, the closets, the pantry, the washing machine. (I do all of the following between reading!)

3. Cook

because I'm cleaning the pantry, the freezer. Also, I have time. And, I double cook, freeze, and have meals to get me through those first, time-consuming weeks of school. 

4. Spend time with friends. 

It's on my calendar. But nothing is planned yet. I need to get on that! 

5. Fish -boat - spend time outside.

It's been raining, so the boat ramp is closed. Still, it's only the first week of summer.

6. Catch up on doctor's appointments

Dentist yesterday - rest today!

However, that colonoscopy I've been putting off....still haven't made that appointment. 

7. Spend time with family

My parents just left. We need to get to Houston to see our sons. And we need to meet Austin's fiance's parents. But, have you ever driven in Houston??? Courage is needed. And a lot more rest. 

8. House projects

Touch up paint

Hang curtains

It's a new house....so that shouldn't be too difficult. I can definitely do this between chapters!

9. Pinterest projects!

Pinterest overwhelms me. I've taken to creating a to-do this week board, and I put about 7 pins on it. One of which is a drink recipe. And a house project!

10. Go to professional conferences, workshops, coaching book study. 

( A typical teachers "summer off",)

11. Read a professional book and blog about it!

So, the book I'm reading is Great Habits, Great Readers by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Aja Settles, and Juliana Worrell. I'm thinking I can read a chapter a day!

And I'll blog about what I find interesting. Which is what THIS blog is really about!

Great Habits, Great Readers

Today I read the introduction. Let me say, I believe this book can change classroom landscapes. I feel like it takes all those pieces of the literacy puzzle, and puts them together in a meaningful, usable way.  (It also includes videos!)

• Students reached extraordinary heights because they have all developed extraordinary habits: a deeply learned database of skills and strategies that they can access automatically when they read. Automaticity is important...in reading and writing! That's why we work so hard on letter id, letter formation, and high-frequency words. But reading automaticity can be taken to the comprehension level, the discussion level. Isn't this exciting????!!!
• Habits are the product of the choices their teachers have made. Make reading lessons about learning the right habits. Targeted instruction!
• Every student can be taught.
• Repeated actions build our habits, our habits build our skills.

Core idea

Key determinant of success is the number of practice opportunities participants have. So...reading ONE book a week (around 36 books) or FOUR books a week (around 164 books). Hmmmm......

• Reading proficiency....higher rates of graduation and college enrollment, depth and breadth to one's understanding of the world. (Plus....what do you do in the summer if you don't READ?)
• Teach on grade level. 
• Radically reduce the amount of time spend on transitioning, looking for pencils, etc. to increase the amount of time spent on practicing key skills.
• Guided reading allows students to read, engage in rigorous comprehension conversation with their teacher and peers, each moment cementing a great reading habit more deeply. It ensures that every practice opportunity is a perfect practice opportunity. Guided reading also ensures that students are always working on the skills they most urgently need to master.
• The best teacher carefully and routinely tailor their instruction to the skills their students need the most. They differentiate. They adapt. 
• When a child gets something wrong, leverage that instant to begin forming the habits that will help him get it right. I always taught my students that when they were WRONG, they were learning something. And, it helped me know what to TEACH! (Which was my job.)

Habits are started at the moment of error, 

not at the moment of success. 

Core idea

• Content area instruction is vital to the literacy block. Is departmentalization a good idea?At what grade?
• Balance informational and literary texts, creating a staircase of text complexity. Build vocabulary as you increase the complexity.
• Require text based answers.
• Write from sources. Writing becomes the critical first step to grasping meaning from a text. Writing drives comprehension conversations. 

I can't wait to read more! Please feel free to post comments, if you are or have read this book. I feel the need for discussion...to cement my learning!

Now, to another item on my list. Okay....I'm going to read another chapter of my literary text! I love summer!

Reader's Workshop...Daily 5...Work Stations...
DIY's...Centers...

I'm sure I left off a few "titles" for what we call our "Reading Block" or "Guided Reading Time".
Really, as an Instructional coach in multiple grade levels, and having taught Kindergarten, First, and Second grade,
 I don't think it really matters what we call our Guided Reading management system. But I do think there are some "must-haves".
 And, knowing that summer is a great time for reflecting, I'm hoping that teachers can take some time to reflect on their management systems, use what works, and, in testing strategy lingo, "slash the trash".
Must-haves:
1. Have a mini-lesson
     What comprehension or decoding strategy are you teaching this week? Teach it!









2. Let kids practice that strategy
   This means TARGETED work stations, centers, jots on post-it notes. If it's important enough to teach, it's important enough to practice, practice, practice!







3. Guided reading is the time to scaffold that teaching point! Yes, your children will also practice what they specifically need. But....practice the strategy, as well. So, when choosing books for groups, keep that in mind! Make sure they lend themselves to your teaching point for the week.

4.   Don't set a timer for guided reading lesson length.


5.  Give students time to practice the strategy through gradual release BEFORE you assess (give a grade). Don't expect mastery on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or....well, you know your kids, and the              strategies will differ. But, you know what I mean!

6.  Walk around the classroom and conference with kids between guided reading groups.



7.   Include a share time at the end of your Reading Block to close the lesson. Always have at least one of the students who worked on the strategy with you during guided reading share their learning. It's a good idea to have a random system (yes, Popsicle sticks...they just work!) to call on 2-3 other students to share. That will increase accountability. As a teacher in one of my workshops once said, "If you don't have share time, you have completely wasted everyone's time!" 
8. Anchor charts - made with the students. (You can re-write them more neatly later!)

What are some of your must-haves?

We have ALMOST made it! Another school year in the books! And, once again, I reflect. (I think that's a Reading Recovery thing.) 

I review what I have accomplished as an instructional coach.

I make goals for the coming year. The goal part is easy. I spent ALL day....(really not exaggerating here) in meeting with grade levels about the end of the year "stuff". Teachers yelled. Teachers almost cried. Teacher cried. Teachers looked completely, totally, and utterly #done.
And I was sorry...really, really, really sorry.
 So, reflecting...what can I do to help? This is MY job...to help! My first year on a campus, a campus filled with really wonderful teachers, truly fabulous people, was tough. 
I coached....they wanted an interventionist.
They looked at me as an administrator....I wanted to be a peer.
 I wanted their trust....they wanted me to earn it.

 So...I'm a fixer, (Aren't all teachers??) I have developed plans to START the new year, so the old year isn't quite so....well, overwhelming. (I mean...it is what it is and will always be. There is an END after all.) I will definitely post those....as it will be done in the SUMMER when I have more time!

Anyway, I'm at the computer downloading my 417 pictures from school. Isn't that what all humans do? Turn to a mindless task when the mind is tired?
But guess what?  All these pictures SHOWED me what I DID this year.


I helped set up Daily Five in a few classrooms this year!

Wiki Stix used to find sight words in Kindergarten "Read to Self"

Response sheets in "Read to Someone"

Word Work with magnetic letters

Look at these kids learning and working and actively engaged!!

Well, Georgia Heard. Of course I took a picture of her, and with her, and of all the slides in her presentation.

These are just the things I took pictures of! So, I know I did a LOT. 

Sensory writing using a mentor text...In November by Cynthia Rylant

At a new school.
In a new town.
Without friends anywhere near!

We started Reader's Workshop in 2nd grade!

Some pictures were on purpose.












Some were accidental videos...and I got to hear myself leading Instructional Rounds. (Not a bad learning tool. Not posting here...just sayin'.)
I'm glad I took the time after this LONG day full of an overbooked schedule to download these pictures.
My next few blogs will be about the INSTRUCTION that took place around these pictures.
But, for now, I'm just reflecting on my joy.
A new job.
 A new town.

 New friends. New learning.

And, as of now...I'm glad I made it! #done(ALMOST)

Read Fast!!

When I was a classroom teacher, I didn't notice much about what was happening in other classrooms. Mainly because I was in my classroom.  I was busy.  I was tired.  I was the only one with kids who couldn't do whatever it was, and I was trying like crazy person to fix it BY MYSELF, because that's what I did!(Yes...said in a 6 year old whiny voice!)            Plus, EVERYONE else had it together, they were rockin' this teaching thing. I wasn't about to admit I couldn't do something.

Then along came coaches. Thank GOODNESS!!

And now I'm an instructional coach, and I get to see and hear things that the teachers don't. 

Like today....

Three teachers at DIFFERENT grade levels came to me about fluency. Their kids aren't fluent. And the teachers have the fluency checks to prove it. They didn't talk to each other, but those smart teachers did ask their coach. :) 

So, I'm thinking if it's a question on my campus, other teachers may be wondering what to do, as well!

Another interesting thing was that two of the teachers were talking about super D-dooper slow reading. And one teacher was talking about "speed reading". WHAT???? Reading really, really, really fast will never show up as a concern in our "fluency checks". But.....it sure does show up in COMPREHENSION! MEANING!! (That reason we read in the first place.)

And on that note, in a research study on a fluency reading program that can be purchased, when students were asked what "good reading" is, they answered "reading fast". So, BE AFRAIDl! BE VERY AFRAID!! Watch that in the quest for "fluency", you don't create speed readers, who just skip over the hard words and keep going, so they can get their "word count" up. Read this paragraph again. 

Fluent reading is reading the way the author intended the reader to read. Stopping at punctuation. Exclaiming at exclamation points. Rising voice at question marks. Quotation marks showing students where to "read it like the character would say it". PHRASING!

And, we may as well admit it...."Reading speed and reading fluency are linked to increasing improvements of reading test scores in older readers." (Marie Clay, Literacy Lessons 2)

Kuhn and Stall researched fluency and concluded that fluency instruction generally seems to be effective (direct teaching). It has more to do with assistance from a teacher, demonstrating and encouraging the reader to listen to himself, and less to do with repetition. Fluency instruction is especially helpful for children in the late first and second year of school. 

So do we need to purchase a program?  Nope!

Here are a few fluency strategies that can help you help your students.

1. Drop students at LEAST two levels.  I know...that hurts. (A lot.) But, let me tell you why.  You want your student working on reading fluently. You don't want them working on word solving. You really don't want them doing any work at all, except fluency. 

2. When you introduce the book, give the meaning, let them do the book walk and discuss what's happening in the story. Maybe even choose a book they know WELL. (Fairy tales come to mind.)

3. Speaking of fairy tales (and folk tales)....books with repetitive text are really great for building fluency. The students still need to attend to the print, but "Run, run, as fast as you can...." gives you a great opportunity to praise that fluency!

4. Poems are GREAT tools for fluency building. You know that.  They are being read every day in your classrooms! I would have mine read the poem TOGETHER by table groups on Friday, then as a class. Put those poetry notebooks in their book boxes for independent reading time. Let them read those poems to a partner. Practice, practice, practice....we want fluent reading to be a habit! (Shared reading!)

5.  Read a story to a child, demonstrating fluent reading. Be sure to tell children to listen to HOW you read. (Read-alouds!)

6. Read a story on the child's level to her. Then reread it with the child, with your voice stopping mid or end of sentence, allowing the child to end the sentence fluency. 

7. Make sure known words are in the book selection, and that those known words are really fast! Perhaps flash cards, writing the word fast, locating the word in text quickly before reading, would help with this.

8. To encourage looking ahead, you can push across the text with a small card. Fluency has as much to do with fast looking as with language.

9. You can frame phrases, and tell the student to "Put those words together".

10. Using prompts so children know what you mean, such as "Make it sound like I am reading the book",  "How would Baby Bear say that?", or "Make it sound like a movie". 

11.  Reader's Theatre....small group, leveled plays  There are also several guided reading books that are written as plays.  You can find some Reader's Theatre professional books. 

 Or Google free Reader's Theatre. There are some great resources there. Hey, why not have your students write their own plays!!

12. And have children WRITE, write those fast words fast, slowly articulate through unknown words and THEN say the word quickly and smoothly again, and then REREAD their writing so it sounds like they are talking! 

Try these things this week with your students! And be aware of your teaching possibly slowing down the fluency.  Don't accept word by word reading, don't make them think that reading is only about words and letters (Sound it out....Tap it out...., etc), don't interrupt the reading frequently, and don't let the child interrupt her own reading frequently!

Again...my warning! Don't let children think that reading "fast" or reading "sound by sound" is reading. Just DON'T!

Enjoy the beautiful reading from your students!

What fluency strategies have worked with your students? Let me know and add it to the list!!

I hu-a-tu-ee ru-e-a-du-i-nu-gu!

 These were not the actual sounds printed on the page. But that was certainly running through my mind! At this point, my ability to SEE the words was impaired by tears. Seriously, WHAT could I do to "fix" this?
I'm a teacher, a fixer, that what I do!

But, "Universal" screening, that RTI nightmare, was sitting at a table with me, in the guise of a 6 year old boy.
He was working so hard, doing exactly what his teacher had been telling him to do...."Sound it out!"
So, this sweet baby, believing he was "reading", was saying EVERY SINGLE sound on the page. EVERY SINGLE SOUND!!
There wasn't a thing I could do at this point...to stop and instruct would have compromised the testing situation. So I sat, and listened, and stewed, and clinched my fists, and prayed he would be kicked out of the program for taking too long.
 (That DID happen...18 LONG minutes later.)

Be prepared for a rant. And if you believe this is reading, or the way to teach reading, stop reading now. 

So now, halfway through first grade, a habit has been formed. A habit that may not be broken if someone doesn't step in. This is me....stepping in.

Reading is NOT sounding out words. It's not!

Reading is putting a bunch of words together (thoughts), and knowing they mean something. That something can be new learning, it can be familiar emotions, it can be loud guffaws.
Yes, at times, you may need to break a word into parts to figure out what the WORD is, then put it back into the story for meaning. But not EVERY SINGLE WORD,  EVERY SINGLE SOUND, EVERY SINGLE BOOK!

(That's also why we learn sight words...you can't SOUND THEM OUT.)

So, let's see what Marie Clay says about reading:
"I define reading as a message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practised." Becoming Literate

Yes, sound sequences and letter sequences are important in reading. It is a visual task. However, these should be little "dips" into visual cues, with meaning and structure driving the rest of our reading vacation.

And, how do we develop this message-getting, problem solving flexibility? In Literacy Lessons Part 2, Marie Clay states three activities which have proven useful:

• Writing - analyse the sounds in spoken words for written messages. Then READ that message back? WHAT??? Writing has just become a reading task. (You slowed down that necessary sound to letter correlation, THEN sped it right back up for reading.)
• Attend to the order of sounds within words while you are reading them.
• Link the analysis of letters and letter clusters in a word you scan from left to right to the word you are hearing in your head. (From beginning to end.) And while I'm thinking about it, don't tell a child to "check the end".  They may think they have to start at the end, then we've got a directionality habit to correct AS WELL as a huffing and puffing habit. 

\And, just to be clear, take all this learning back into running text as soon as possible.

In a previous post, I challenged you to spend a day not writing ANYTHING. I'm guessing that was pretty difficult.

This challenge is much, much easier. 

If you are a teacher of reading, if you are a teacher of anything that requires reading, or if you ever sit with your child and let them read to you, don't say "Sound it out" at all, for one day. Just one day. (This includes "tap it out".) You CAN say "say it slowly", or "stretch it out smoothly". (That will eliminate all those extra 'UH's" in words.) But try to do that one or two times per book. 

Let me know how it goes. And no, I don't really hate reading. But, I'm so thankful I don't have to read one letter at a time.