We began the day in our breakout groups, discussing our progress with our reading activities. Most of us are in the same boat with being pushed for time. Our discussion had a few interesting ideas such as Liam using the letter his Great-Grandfather wrote after his first day on the front line of WW1, as a resource.
Our next topic was 'Reading Apprenticeships', (formerly known as 'Guided Reading'), with the focus on small groups of readers. I have already sorted my class into reading groups based on their literacy abilities.
This model will be of great help:
We then looked at examples of a Digital Modelling Book and Teaching Slides to be used for reading activities. I'll be using the Teaching slides.
I'll be using these excellent prompts in my reading lessons:
Next, we went into breakout groups but I joined the wrong one and couldn't return to the group I was meant to be in. However, I learnt bout a very effective observation form to use when students are reading aloud and this can certainly be used with my year 9's.
Our next focus was on fluency. We did an activity based on the fluency rubric. This was a helpful activity which helped me to focus on the different aspects of fluency.
Next we focussed on the 'after reading teacher process'. The aim is to be conversational but focussed on the purpose of reading. Using a range of questions is vital. These should be a mix of the following type of questions:
- Literal
- Vocabulary
- Reorganisation
- Inference
- Evaluation
- Opinion
I need to make sure I use a variety of questions instead of only using two or three different types.
My next task was to start filling in the teaching slides that I'll be using for my small group reading activity. I'll be using Janet Frame's poem 'Tūrangawaewae' as my text.
We then went into small breakout groups to practice reading and questioning, using bookmarked questions. We all found this a bit awkward as hadn't met each other before but conversation soon freely flowed with many valuable questions and answers happening. I'll certainly keep the bookmarked questions handy for such activities.
Again, todays session had much valuable information and many valuable techniques that I'll be attempting to incorporate into my teaching and lessons.
Hi Sean, Your reflection is a wonderful way to see which parts of the RPI you found ost helpful and what you're planning to implement going forward. I too like the structure the Fontus and Pinnell model give us. I also found the listening to reading resource, including the fluency rubric very practical. The rich variety of question types is always a good place to get conversation about text going. Wonderful to hear you are going to try out the teaching slides. I can't wait to hear how that went for you and your learners. Nga mihi Kiri
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