Learning new vocab

The beginning of the term was a great opportunity to introduce new strategies for learning vocabulary in reading lessons. The structure of my small group teaching has been modified so that new vocabulary is now discussed and made visually available during the week on the wall behind the teaching table. The task now is to have opportunities for the students to use this new vocab during the week in some way. I have introduced the game Scrabble to my reading rotation with bonus points given to any student able to use a new word learnt that week. I found that this was quite difficult but helped a lot with the students understanding word families and the ways that words can change with a couple of letters. Bonus! There is room to be able to link my reading and writing tasks to give another opportunity for new vocabulary to be used. I still have ideas such as crossword, word find and puzzle activities that can be created by the students. Lots of ideas - now to implement them!

First look this term

Inquiry focus for Term 1 2016

This year I will be inquiring into how I can get accelerated progress in reading using formative practise to inform teaching steps for my Asterix reading group. This group is below the national standard and are not receiving any extra reading support.

During small group teaching and running records early in the year I found that this particular group of students were lacking understanding of a large range of vocabulary. This was affecting their understanding of what they were reading.

My first steps will be looking at the way I can incorporate word work and visual aids into small group discussions and follow up activities that can be revisited at any time. I will be trying out a sentence or definition quiz template that these students can create to show their understanding of new word or word groups.

End of Term 4 reflection

Classroom management

After spending time making specific follow up tasks for my micro-groups I am still struggling with having students on task when they are not at the table with me. There are always constant interruptions from around the room which is distracting for the others around the class as well as for the students with me. 

How can I manage this a little better?

Having audio recordings for my lower readers has been a great success. I am able to explain in detail exactly what I want them to do and they are able to listen to it again if confused. This promotes independent learning and I have found that they have been able to complete their work almost completely by themselves. 

I had not added them to the follow up activities that I had been making for the rest of the class as I thought they were able to read the questions therefore it wasn't necessary. As it was pointed out to me during our SM observations, the way in which some of the questions were phrased could be confusing for some students, especially my ESOL learners. By resolving this my students would potentially be more on task and the constant disruptions could decrease dramatically. Not only could I phrase questions using more familiar vocabulary I could also add instructions in audio form. 

WALTs and follow up Explain Everything tasks

As a beginning teacher I have found selecting WALTs very difficult. Looking at progressions has been very helpful and now I am able to have specific learning areas that are taught in direct instruction. How does this affect my following up activities?

It's great when we are able to share all our resources with each other. However, by really focusing on the specific learning areas for my micro groups I was finding that some of the Explain Everything (EE) tasks were not tailored to the needs of the group.

In one particular micro group I was looking at speech marks and sequencing which wasn't covered by the EE already made. I was also finding that the students in this particular group weren't able to read the instructions which was hindering their independence. I added in audio recordings which meant they were able to listen to the instructions and re-listen to them without having to be sitting next to the teacher. 

Where to next? Where do I have all the time to make these?! 

What is really working!?

Being a beginning teacher I am on a huge learning curve - especially with the introduction of 1:1 iPads and the use of Explain Everything. After using generic whole class templates for one week I have found that the learning that specific groups need to receive in guided reading sessions is not going to be followed up appropriately. It is necessary for each book and group to have a project that is specific to the learning that they are doing that week. Rather than change the projects given to the students I will need to change the routine so that I am seeing two groups a day rather than all four/five and work on a continued rotation.

I have also been trying to develop the tasks that the students will be able to cover over one lesson. It is sometimes hard to gauge how long a particular task will take some students. This will hopefully become more clear in the coming weeks. 

The following is an example that I have created for the book In the Days of the Dinosaurs: Zala Runs for Her Life. The agree/disagree template is easily copied into a new project and will be a slide that I can re-use throughout the year. I'm always on the hunt for time saving ideas that still push the students.