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. 

“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!” C. Joy Bell

I love this quote. We all know the components of books, and my new beginning really is like beginning a new book. New characters: children, peers, neighbors. New setting: town, school. New problem: Changing from Literacy Coach for grades K-5 to Curriculum Instructional Coach for K-2.  And the details, oh, the details! Just getting the IMPORTANT details in the story, and letting the minor details go! New solution: Keep reading! I'm not done yet!! Just like a book!!

As I'm beginning this new novel (which could be considered an action adventure/comedy...is that a genre?) I'm having to recall all my math training and fabulous Science, Social Studies, and Math lessons from my first series of books. But, I'm finding that my love of literacy, and the single minded literacy focus from the past few years is definitely influencing my view of the other contents.
And, is that a bad thing? 

Is reading AND writing important in Math, Science, Social Studies?
I'm finding teachers absolutely believe that reading is vital to all the other subjects. (Except for possibly the writing teachers...go figure!) However, I'm not sure teachers are finding the absolute value and necessity for WRITING across the content areas.

So, here's a challenge for you. Don't write at all for one day! Okay, you can write a story about your summer. But that's it! Don't write UNLESS you are in writing class. 

Realistically, you can't take me up on that challenge. You probably have jobs, which require e-mails to be sent and responded to, you have to write your lesson plans, you have to text your husband and children, you have to update your Facebook post, you have to caption your Instagram photo, you have to make your grocery list, you have to make your to-do list, you have to write parent notes, you have to send positive notes to your students....and the list goes on and on and on. Tired, tired, tired teachers!

Why do we put our students in the unrealistic box of writing in writing class? WHY???

 “Writing is the most extensive brain workout a kid can get,” said Steve Peha, founder of Teaching that Makes Sense. “It includes reading, logic, motor coordination and if writing for an audience, social emotional intelligence.”

Alright, let's look at the benefits of student writing from a teacher's point of view.

• Writing REQUIRES students to slow down their thinking. When they begin "explaining" their thinking processes in writing, the students THEMSELVES, may see their faulty thinking. If they don't, the teacher certainly can. Teachers can monitor student progress and gauge their strengths and weaknesses. It is VISIBLE thinking! VISIBLE, y'all. (How many times have you said, "If I only knew what Joey was thinking!")
• Writing is a great way to engage all of your students! You won't just hear from the kids who always  blurt out raise their hands.
• Writing helps you see gaps in instruction so you can adjust your teaching to insure that all students get what you're talking about!
• Writing saves you time. It can be a very efficient way to cover multiple standards at once because it is such a complex, multifaceted task. (We won't even MENTION the time saved in the copy room!)
• Students learn best by writing. "Kids learn the most through writing," said Mr. Peha. "If you're only gong to do one thing, writing is the highest payoff activity you can pick."

In content area writing, the thought process is important. But, revision and editing will just become a natural part of the process. And, the "writing" teacher will thank you. A lot!!

Lovin' Writing from the HEART!!

Our district focus this year is on using Mentor Texts to teach Reading and Writing skills. First grade teachers at my school all chose The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli as one of their Mentor Texts for writing.

I happily modeled a Writing mini-lesson in each class last week. The first grade classes are beginning their unit on Narratives, and The Best Story is a great way to begin this unit.
I started with reading the entire book (which ideally should be done BEFORE teaching any strategies or skills, but....). So, obviously, my mini-lesson was not that mini.
If you've ever read this book, you know that it just screams "Heart Map"! So...that was an easy decision.

                                                  I modeled a heart map.

The students made their own heart maps.



We shared our Heart Maps!

These wonderful teachers LAMINATED the heart maps, knowing that they will be used over and over and over!

Next lesson....getting ideas from the heart map and turning it into a small moment story!
I do love mentor texts!!

Nonfiction...Really!!

Summer...a time for getting that long, long list of "I'll do it this summer" started  completed! Summer is starting a bit later for me. I decided to teach summer school, adding to my shopping and retirement fund. The retirement fund is probably more important, but shopping IS my favorite pastime.

I was assigned third grade language arts, which is a new grade level for me. Since I was venturing into the unknown, I took a along little expert help...Finding the Heart of Nonfiction, by Georgia Heard

www.heinemann.com.  This provided the added bonus of trying out teaching with mentor texts in an actual classroom setting.

We all know, kids LOVE non-fiction. They love learning about animals, insects, interesting people. Win....win!

The running theme was reading and learning from non-fiction, and writing and teaching with non-fiction. The children also learned what a mentor text is...

 and experienced many wonderful texts.

The exciting thing about mentor texts is that you get to use a fabulous book over and over again! The days of having a different book to teach the same skill every day for a week, then start again...OvEr!

Finding truly wonderful books is overwhelming (thousands of books out there), but Georgia Heard has listed many easy to find books. For summer school I used Frogs, by Nic Bishop, Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea; The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of The Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry, and Whose Egg? by Lynette Evans.

Writing:

Each of the 7 essential craft tools was discussed by reading a page or two from one of the above books, discussing the author's craft used, and then giving the students a chance to try it on their own. Because of time limitations, and the fact that these students were struggling in some aspect of their reading and writing, we used a page from a very, very basic non-fiction book. Students took that page, and practiced one of the craft tools taught through the mentor text. The gradual release method (modeled, completed together whole group (shared), completed in a small group of  2-3, and finally attempted independently) was used throughout the process. Copies of a page from the mentor text and their revisions were glued into their very own non-fiction anthology. (Fancy for spiral notebook...)

Reading:

Reading strategies for non-fiction (non-fiction features, author's craft discussed through the mentor text, stop and jot) were practiced independently by the kiddos in non-fiction books of their choice. Because of the diversity of reading levels (16 students ranging from Guided Reading Level C to P), students were able to practice the same skill in their own comfortable reading zone.

All guided reading was also in appropriately leveled non-fiction books, with the teaching point emphasized with each guided reading group. During share time, each student was able to confidently contribute!

Whose Egg?  was especially fun...filled with chances for inferring. Then students wrote their own "flap" about something they read in a non-fiction book during independent reading. On the outside flaps, they gave clues about their subject, on the inside, they wrote and illustrated the "answer".

Although our time together was short (just 3 weeks) it was FILLED with learning...from books AND from each other!

Are we there yet?

Our school year is coming to an end. This is normally a time of extreme "busy-ness". So much to do, and so little time.
Of course, being a Reading Recovery teacher, it's also a time of extreme stress. Students being tested, data input, records and millions  hundreds of books put away.
However, putting all that data in, has been wonderful as a Literacy Coach. The progress made by my students has been amazing, but, of course, I know the work that went into them. I'm glad it shows up on paper!
But, looking at data of the students I did not "directly" instruct, and the growth made, makes my heart happy! Knowing that consistent Balanced Literacy components in the classroom has made that Tier 1 instruction stronger, every child is a better reader and writer, makes my Literacy Coach job very rewarding. I hope the teachers see the growth, and want to get stronger and stronger.
I am Lovin' Literacy! I (almost) can't wait until next year!! (I hope I don't accidentally pack my professional books...)