Reading in the Wild: Chapter 3

Wild Readers Share Books and Reading with Other Readers

Authentic experiences with books!!!  We do NOT take quizzes after each book.  We do NOT read to get prizes.  We read because books open doors and allow us an escape; they allow us to travel to times and places we would have never been able to experience.  Here are the key terms from (summary of) this chapter:

Online Reading Communities—such as http://www.goodreads.com SIGN UP and BEGIN! 

Reading Graffiti— a dedicated space to quotes from books

 You could also use black butcher paper, as suggested in the book, and provide students silver, gold, &/or white oil-based Sharpies to write with.

Book Commercials—kind of like a book talk, but quick, impromptu discussion about a book where others can share their ideas about the book, as well

Reading Doors—post pictures of the books you have read and quotes from the books or about reading in general; both students and teachers can participate!

Epicenter Readers—readers whose enthusiasm for reading explodes and overflows to such an extent that they encourage others

Reading Influences—who encourages you to read? Who are the readers in your life?

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New Product Posted

Syllable and Letter Cards

A co-worker of mine asked how I assessed syllable knowledge; here is what came about after my explanation:

Red vowel cards

Black consonants 

 And more...

 Syllable cards for every combination I could think of in both English and Spanish and...

 Six cards per page to save both ink and paper when printing.

 A few blank cards are included and...

Syllables that do not have their own page have been distributed throughout the other pages in the middle of the right-hand column.

Reading in the Wild: Chapter 2

Wild Readers Self-Select 

Reading Material

Self-selection of reading materials provides students with ownership of their learning.  It gives them choice.  Where do students get ideas for their selections?

·         Book recommendations from the teacher or peers
·         Book commercials by the teacher or peers
·         Through the preview, sharing, and discussion of books
·         Read-alouds

              How do I (the teacher) choose a read aloud? 

§  Choose 5 authors that you think your students SHOULD know before they leave your class and read at least one book from each of these authors during the school year.

§  Make sure to share a variety of genres.

§  Consider time restraints.

§  Decide how students will view illustrations.  **Use the doc cam!**

§  Read books you enjoy because your enthusiasm shows.

§  Ditch the book if it doesn’t work and discuss why we are abandoning it.

o   Invite students to share their favorite read-alouds and compile a list to post and to give to parents after checking availability in both the school and public libraries  **Make sure each and every student has a book to share about prior to this activity**

o   WORLDREAD ALOUD DAY is the first Wednesday in March (03/04/2015)

o   Allow students to choose the next read-aloud from 3-4 options that you have previewed

o   Post a list of all read-aloud books near the classroom library to support students in choosing their own books

·         Creating a book buzzàhave drawings to select who gets to read the new books first
·         Why do we abandon books?  Discuss reasons with the students.  Provide an example of a time you abandoned a book to show that it is okay to abandon a book sometimes.
·         Lexile levels should NOT always be a consideration for self-selected texts.  Leave these books for guided groups or a level text provided by the teacher.  **Ouch!  I have a confession…I used to have students try to choose from the books that I determined to be in their ZPD (zone of proximal development).  That is changing now.**
·         Preview stacks can be provided to students that included a variety of books that may interest the student.  They choose one or two to read and write down the others they would like to read in the future.  

Guided Math Conferences: Chapter 3

The Structure of a Guided Math Conference

A guided math conference (GMC) is math talk between two mathematicians.  The GMC consists of four phases. 

1.     Research—The research phase of the conference should last than 1/3 of the time and consists of the teacher observing the student work and then asking open-ended questions in order to clarify or have the student explain his/her thinking. 

2.    Decide what is needed—This phase lasts a maximum of one minute, but is the focus of the conference.  The teacher gives the student an authentic compliment and then proceeds to decide: What should I teach this student to provide long-term growth?  How will I teach it?

3.    Teach to the student needs—In this phase, it is the student’s responsibility to be an active learner.  The teacher can choose from three ways (how?) to teach: guided practice, demonstration, or explanation of examples.

a.    Guided practice is the gradual release of responsibility.  Teacher does it, student and teacher do it together, and student does it with teacher guidance.

b.    Demonstration is where the teacher shows the student how to do something and does a think-aloud.

c.    Explanation of examples is when the teacher uses pre-created work (either anchor charts or another student’s work) and discusses with the student the good aspects of the work.

4.    Link to the future—Here the teacher summarizes, the student reflects on their learning, and concludes with the teacher reminding the student to use this learning in future work.