Leap Into Literacy Grade 3
December/January
Reading Workshop
Conferring When We Haven't Read the Book
By Lori Sabo
I used to think I needed to have read the book a student was reading to have a meaningful and focused conference. Even though I am a voracious consumer of children's literature, this isn't always possible. I've come to realize that conferring with students differs from book club conversations, so even though it would be nice to have read the book, it isn't always necessary.
What I am after when I meet with a child is how they are progressing on their personalized goals of comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary. This can be determined whether I've read the book or not. Then I move into instruction. First, I take a brief moment to prepare for the conference by reviewing previous one-on-one sessions in my notes. After sitting next to a student, I say, "Tell me what's happening in your book." The answer to this question gives me an initial sense of their comprehension.
Then I say, "I'd love to hear a little of it. Please read a bit to me, starting right where you are." Now I can listen in to see if the student is applying the strategy we have been working on, and it helps me decide where I need to take my teaching during this conference.
Thoughtful questions can prompt a student of any age to think more deeply. I don't have to have had personal experience with the text to ask a question like one of the following:
How is the character feeling, and how does the author's writing let you know?
Is this a good setting for the story? How would another setting have changed things?
What has the author done that you would like to try in your own writing?
Is this book fiction or nonfiction? How do you know?
What do you think is going to happen? What makes you think that?
What are you wondering about?
If I feel the need to know a little more about the book, I might read the blurb on the back or look at the table of contents.
Like anything else, conferring becomes more comfortable as we practice. Whereas my mind used to race as I wondered what I should say next, conferring sessions have now become comfortable conversations where sticking points are worked through, guided and directed instruction takes place, and growth is celebrated whether I've read the book or not.
Writing Workshop
WARMING UP WITH GRAMMAR GAMES
Monday December 4, 2017 by Melanie Meehan
Before my daughter plays a soccer game or scrimmages, her team goes through several warm-up exercises. Watching the go through the motions, I’m impressed that they all seem to enjoy the warm-ups, and they also can explain the purpose of them.
It has helped me to think of these grammar games as the girls think of their soccer warm-ups. They’re quick, they’re fun, and they’re relevant to writing.
- Stretch a sentence.
The first thing I’ll say about this is that kids LOVE it. I started the lesson by showing the a three word sentence: The dog barked. Then, I showed them how I could make it a six word sentence: The big, black dog barked loudly. They got really interested when I took the sixteen word challenge and the twenty word challenge. However before I did that, I showed them a chart of word parts. Because they needed the word parts in order to play a game, they were really interested in how an adjective or an adverb would be perfect choices if you needed to change your sentence by just a few words. But, if you need to make more substantial changes, prepositions are your friends, and for major changes, conjunctions come into play.
This was a game, and it only lasted about fifteen minutes. However, the teacher and I sifted in reflective conversations throughout the rounds about the usefulness of words, and their responses were indicative of not only recognizing parts of speech, but thinking about how to use them meaningfully, both on their whiteboards within the parameters of a game and beyond the game and into the realm of their writing.
This sentence sentenced generated great conversation about how we have to be careful as to where we place our prepositional phrases.
2. Move around the words
This was MUCH more engaging to the kids than I ever imagined it would be! Before I challenged them, I modeled for them with a sentence, showing how, without changing or adding words, I could make the sentence different.
- The gentle, kind mother fed the hungry, tired boys.
- The mother, gentle and kind, fed the hungry tired boys.
- The mother, kind and gentle, fed the hungry tired boys.
- The mother, kind and gentle, fed the tired hungry boys.
- The mother, gentle and kind, fed the tired hungry boys.
(You get the idea, and so did they!)
What was more important and interesting to me was their analysis of what the changes did. One student explained how when you connect two adjectives with the word “and”, you make them both stronger. As a larger group, we debated which position–first or second–gave the adjective more impact. (This is a third-grade classroom!) And then they got into how much more beautiful the sentence sounded when the adjectives came second. They couldn’t explain why, but they liked my suggestion that maybe it sounded more song-like.
A lot of the time, we teach grammar in isolation, and we teach only for recall and recognition. Sometimes, we ask students to correct mistakes, an activity that involves slightly higher order skills. I loved these activities not only because students were playing, but also because students were creating and analyzing. And, even more importantly, taking those sentence stretching and word order understandings to their own writing.
I'm Done. What Should I Do Now?
If you hear this question all too often during the independent work portion of writing workshop, Leah Mermelstein in her book Self-Directed Writers, has a solution for making this time more productive for both students and teachers. Using a wealth of classroom anecdotes, student samples and specific teaching language, Leah illustrates how even the youngest students can become self-directed learners. Her explicit strategies include:
- creating an appropriate physical environment along with daily rituals and routines
- scaffolding instruction with Write Alouds and Interactive Writing
- planning units, focus lessons, conferences, and shares that are aimed at helping kids become self-directed.
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