100 Minutes- My Thoughts on Chapter 8- Small Group Learning

Wow, Chapter 8 already!

Where has the time gone?

Thanks to Emily from Emmy Mac's Class for hosting Chapter 8.

Be sure to head on over and check out her post if you haven't already.

Small group learning is something I have really embraced in the last few years, especially in my math teaching but I still struggle with it in reading and writing. Coming from the intermediate grades (7 and 8) there wasn't any guided reading being done in my class or other classes, and while I did have writing conferences they weren't a regularly schedule thing.

If I could go back in time....wow, would my class/teaching be different.

But I guess that's what reflecting and growth is all about.

One of my goals for this coming school year, and part of the reason I chose to read this book and use it for the book study is that I really want to have a guided reading/ writing conference program in place this year that works for both me and my students.

Really this whole chapter was a great refresher on small group learning but I especially liked-

- the ideas about how to form your guided reading/ writing conference groups on pg 122 (by interest! awesome idea)

- how often to change your groupings (p 123)

- the outline for how to conduct a guided reading lesson

(this reminded me that I want to get out my copy of Guiding Readers by Lori Jameson Rog from the book study 2 years ago and re-read that as well!!)

- the guiding questions based on the reading strategies provided on pages 130-134

- the entire section about Feedback and Writing Conferences on pages 126-127

- "A writing conference is not a time when students hand over their work to the teacher in order to have it corrected." YES!!! YESS!! YESSSSSS!!

- on page 128 Lisa talks about assigning a role to each student during a writing conference so that they have a specific task to do and focus on, she provides some really cute suggestions too

- the feedback prompts for writing conferences on page 135

Lisa states that students should spend the majority of the time during a guided reading lesson actually reading. If the lesson is only 15-20 minutes in length ... is this reading all reading aloud? Shared reading? 

How many lessons do you spend on one text? 

Should the children have had an opportunity to read the text to themselves before coming to the guided reading lesson so they are prepared to read and discuss??

Ahhhhhh!!!!

How I will structure my guided reading lessons so that it works for me and my students.

How I will track my student's writing goals.

My plan to embed word skills (getting ready to start reading Word Nerds very soon!!)

Now that we are into the nitty gritty of the book (and near the end...giveaway coming soon!) I am starting to have so many more questions about how everything will look in my class and how I will structure my 100 minutes. I foresee a lot of time spent re-reading this book, making MORE notes and planning.

And to be honest... I can't wait!!

So what does all this mean for my classroom?

To be continued...

I'd love to hear more about your guided reading lessons and writing conferences...link up below.

One chapter left!!

Tina from Croft's Classroom is our last co-host for the 100 Minutes book study.

I hope you will go visit her on June 25th.