For my real life inquiry I visited an elementary school during interventions (or small groups) for a fifth grade class. The teacher took a group of five students into a small room while an assistant worked with the rest of the class. When the five students came in the first thing they did was a timed reading activity. One at a time the students read a passage based on previous reading skills tests and they were graded on accuracy. I am not so sure I really liked the students working on this activity in the room together because while one student was reading, the other students were talking about who had the best score and other things that were not related to reading at all. After the students were finished with their timed readings they were all given a book and they took turns reading aloud, on words they didn't know the teacher would help them. The teacher also worked on some think aloud activities so the students could talk about what they thought about the book as they were reading, but they did not do any predictions or picture walking.
I really enjoyed the interventions that the students participated in, and I think it is something that I would like to use in my class room one day if the resources were available.
I really liked the read aloud and think aloud sections of the activity, and I think it greatly benefited the students. Things I would have improved about the interventions would be some way to keep the students occupied while their fellow student was reading. Another thing I would change is for the students to do a project and teach the rest of the class about the book the students read together (like we talked about in our class)--I really like this idea and think it enhances the reading experience and comprehension. I think that my experience really epitomized a lot of what we have learned and read about in class this past week on guided reading and groups.
Do you think that this is a useful tool in a classroom?
What would you add to make a classroom more interesting during reading interventions?
I think adding a project is a great idea! Since they are fifth graders, the teacher could definitely gain better control of their independent time to be more useful. I never like when students can compare scores with one another, I think it can discourage some of te children making lower scores.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Laurel about the timing and comparing scores. I think that it can take away from learning process and make it more about the score in the end. I think a guided reading approach is a more positive way to approach teaching a reading lesson.
ReplyDeleteI think that the students should not have compared scores and that their scores should have been kept private and congratulated later on during the day. The teacher could have had a one on one with the student and given them a sticker or some sort of reward. I think that reading aloud is great, but a teacher must make sure each student is paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I feel about the children comparing scores and times. This will decrease the children's confidence if they have a low score compared to their peers. When they aren't confident about their reading or think that aren't as good at it as their friends, they will not want to engage in it as much.
ReplyDeleteI agree- I think read alouds are important, however I think that it should be an individual activity. One thing that I have been doing in my practicum when we have free time is to read to the students. If they finish their main project/assignment, then I will pull them aside and read to/with them. Its a really great "time filler" instead of a "time waster". I would definitely recommend having students work on another project while the others are reading. It helps keep each student's occupied on their own work.
ReplyDeleteI agree the activities that the students you observed engaged in where beneficial and useful for you to observe for your future class. I did not like that some students were off task during the reading activity and agree that i would have them do something else to keep their focus on the subject matter at hand.
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