Thursday, 4 March 2021

Reading with Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey

Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey March 2021

Aims:  
To review the modelled, shared and guided independent reading approaches.
To share practical ideas for planning a realistic and manageable reading programme.
 
Explicit teaching of reading is important for all levels.  We need to know exactly what our kids need and teaching to these needs.  Student agency can take place as long as we know exactly where our teaching is happening throughout the day.  
Mini-lessons.  Skills can overlap as they support learning in reading and writing.

Reasons For Reading:
  • Reading for pleasure.
  • Reading to support writing.
  • Reading to learn...reading across the curriculum.  
Q. Do I have enough time in my day to ensure children can read for pleasure?  

Development of Reading Skills and Strategies
Developing a love of reading
Developing oral language and vocabulary.
Getting ready for reading...Learning to read...Developing independence as a reader...Becoming a proficient reader.

Early years...school entry...junior primary years...middle years...senior primary years.

Reading Levels, reader characteristics and text characteristics.
The Reading Process...Chapter Two of The Reading Book

Critical thinking can happen when we make time to talk.  Conversation Cards form the Oral Language Book support listening, talking and being able to elaborate on ideas. 
One card we tried was using the proverb, No matter how many times you wash a goat, it will still smell like a goat.  Ethiopia
Prompt:  What is the author trying to tell us?

Using all of the visual language information available to us.
All three decoding skills are important and can be taught in mini-lessons.
A balanced programme will include all of these.

Important for kids to know about word parts.  

Website:  The Literacy Place
Rhyme lists help support reading development.  HIgh-frequency word development.  Use a whiteboard to write as many high-frequency words and share.  

Self-Monitoring Strategies
Can pick and choose your own fix-up strategies that suit your learners.   

A Balanced Reading Programme

Model and teach a skill on a Monday and revisit this in instructional groups.  Practice skills and strategies with a focus on the main skill.  Four-day timetable with the Friday being about finishing work, teaching a certain type of od activity and developing a joy for reading.  
Reading to kids and reading parts too, gives kids more confidence and can be more engaging.  Reading aloud to kids can be within different approaches.  
Why we read to students:  
Modelling how to read and respond to texts.
Enjoyment.
Relationships and connections.  
Broadening experiences and insights.
New vocabulary.
Variety of contexts.  
Connections.
Fostering a love of reading.
Exposure to different text structures, organisation and language features.  
Extend general knowledge and understanding of the world.
What Can We Read?
Love the idea of reading stories from the cultures that our kids are from.  Also need to read more of the writing students create.  

Develop more of a culture where we read together a lot.  The Literacy Place
Have a look here for links to some great online reading that we can share in the class.  

Shared Reading
If we include shared reading, what we learn there can be included in guided reading.  A shared reading programme will help your reading programme become better.  
Texts we can use:
Big books, fiction and non-fiction
Poems
Songs
Picture Books (projected)
Sections from novels (projected)
Articles
Visual texta, comics, graphic novels, videos with texts)

Variety is needed.
KidsNews is a cool site and is organised into levels.  Literacy Online has a range of reading material with listening files.  

Catering to a wide range of needs.  Quality over quantity.  For shared reading, the same book throughout the week.  Repeated reading is really valuable.  The first time is on a superficial level and throughout the week going deeper.  Read shared books at a level that is higher than the level of the students.  
Focus 1: Book Introduction
Focus 2: Zooming In-Looking at words, sentences and decoding.
Focus 3: Zooming Out-Comprehension and thinking critically about texts.

Vocabulary
From the shared text, select words that might be challenging for the kids.  Word on a card in groups.  Decode the word, talk about phonics, discuss their meaning, predict what the text may be about.  
PHONICS
CHUNKING
ANALOGY 
This activity can be used in shared reading but also in guided reading.  Anything available in shared reading, also enable students to access this in guided reading.  
Using whiteboards during reading lessons supports their writing.  Walk and talk to share and change/add to your ideas. 
Introduce Fix-Up strategies.  
Tick and check 
Word building activities and looking at the text in more detail. 

Resources in Oral Language Book can help discussions around comprehension. Using thought bubbles to talk about what characters might be thinking.  Use it in your big book so you can model it to students.  Could laminate the thought bubbles and children could write what the thoughts might be.  Can also use a Question.  

Drama
There are ten drama cards on Page 160.  Act out the story.  Shows retelling and helps kids to remember the story.  
Hot seating:  One student takes on the role of a character and students ask questions to the character.  Asking questions of the student in role helps them infer.  
Dice have been created to help with asking questions.  
Freeze frame-Create a scene, one student goes around and asks each character what they are thinking.  great inferring actib=viyt and looking really deeply into the text. 

Teacher talk less, kids talk more.  

Guided Reading
Intro
Components of a guided reading lesson
Opportunities for talk
10-20 minutes for each group.
The teacher guides a group
Other students engage in reading activities (collaborative or independent)
Guided reading shouldn't be about getting through the book or reading a certain number.  Aim for quality over quantity.
Planning and Assessing Progress
Flexible approach to grouping, can some kids go into another group if theirs is a small group?  Keep the same learning goal and work on that across a range of books/texts.
Link shared, guided and independent.
Generic follow up activities.  Don't create a set of questions to answer about the book.  Maybe use a question dice.  
(See Page 124 for levelled goals for reading, cracking the code, fluency and comprehension).  

Modelling Books
Not really used to Magenta/red groups as they can't read what you write and things are quite quick with them.  
How can you use your modelling book?  
Tricky Words-Record tricky words from the text.  
record questions for the guided session.  Can write questions and children write answers on post it's as shows evidence of work towards meeting learning goals.  
Record teaching point and notes about tricky bits.
CUse the modelling book for a 'warm up' or 'follow up' activity.  Graphic organisers...collect examples of student work.
Keep a record of progress.
One goal at the front of the book.  
 Guided Reading
1) Book introduction-teacher hold the book through this part.  Make sure kids have a really good understanding of the book before reading it.
 2) Lesson focus-Alphabet cards, word cards at level, high-frequency words hunt...can you find...?  Looking at where does the sentence start, the text spotters to isolate words.
3)  Independent reading (guided by the teacher) If a longer text, chunk it up.  Children read and come back together and talk about it.  Listen in and guide and support.  Students read in a quiet voice OR read silently.  Tap and read...you tap child and they read aloud so you can hear what is happening while they read. 
DON'T-
Read in unison as this becomes shared reading.  Limits how we can self-monitor and check.  
Round robin read.  Interrupts meaning for kids and outs them on the spot.  Get children to read quietly by themselves.  Short and sharp and then they get to come back together.  

 4) Wrap up-Discuss comprehension, review tricky sections, review learning focus, introduce the post-reading activity.  

Aim for kids to talk more than the teacher.

Independent Activities
Don't plan too many activities.
Mixed ability groups can work.
Consider letting students move between activities when they are ready.  
Provide some choice and the opportunity to self manage using Must Dos and can Dos.
Limit worksheets because you have to find them and make them specific to the group you are working with.  Need explaining, monitoring and then marked.  
Plan generic activities that can be used several times in different contexts.  
Story maps, Venn diagrams, same and different Venn diagrams, 
A cool activity was the one using the dice and children look for certain details in the text.  
Reading Activity Modelling Book
Frayer chart for looking at words, definitions, uses and a picture.  
Choice systems, book clubs, See Reciprial Reading slide from the site.  Reader's Theatre
Independent Reading
Be more active.  get up and go and talk with kids about what they are reading.  
Set clear expectations, show a list of with stamina and without stamina.  
Supporting kids to select and read appropriate reading material.  
Set personal reading goals, professional reading, novel.  Must read the books we are getting students to read.  Reading challenges.  Record selves reading and then share.  Reading Thoughts activity.

For me, this session has really given me clarity and more of an idea of how to structure and run my Literacy class.  I also feel a little overwhelmed with the levels and abilities of the children I am working with and struggle to see how I can possibly meet their needs.
Next steps:  Create modelling books for reading groups.  Include activities of a more creative nature for children to be doing while they are not working with me.  




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