Monday, March 14, 2011

CAFE Appendix pp.171-190

My last blog from this book! I am excited that I tried it and also know that I want to do it differently next time.  In order for a blog to really empower and move everyone contributing to it and reading it, we have to be on an RSS feed to my understanding.  I will work on that as it seems that most of you are going on, reading my post, and then posting your post.  The idea is to give each other feedback and enter your own feedback which will take some time to master I am sure.

Final thoughts:
  • This last section was one of the hardest to comment on as the strategies are some of the most "basic" in terms of attacking text.
  • I did enjoy seeing the hands-on approach of using a flyswatter, using sticky notes, colored tape, colored highlighters, rubber bands, flipping the short vowel to a long vowel, etc.
I hope you have enjoyed our blogging experience.  Thanks for joining in with me!

CAFE Appendix pp.151-171

Again, I do not have much to offer on these pages, but my mind is spinning thinking of the management side of how we could get this to work at TJ....
  1. I would love to have each of you videotape yourself with your Flipcam with a student for a writing conference.  I think it would be a great way for us all  to give each other feedback.
  2. What do I love, love, love, in this part?  The chart on p.153 that takes you from what student behaviors you are seeing to some possible strategies AND some alternative strategies!
  3. Do any of you have any of those "checks" made of wood for check for understanding? 
  4. I love the retell rope on p.157!  We need to get some of those for our PK-2 retelling  We must model for them what we want them to include (Characters, setting, problem, event 1, event 2 next, event 3 then, event 4 finally, ending which circles back to solve problem)
  5. I love that they include some of the tried and true tricks like KWL and QAR.
  6. Do any of you use the clear acetate sheets to help kids use text features?
I love walking away from a reading and having a couple of ideas we might all be able to try!

CAFE Appendix pp.130-150

Well, when I created this blog schedule last September, it seemed like a great idea to blog about the 60 or so pages at the end that are full of forms and schedules.  I am now not quite in agreement with myself :)

Here are my take aways for these 20 pages :)
  1. If it really takes up to 26 days to Launch CAFE, would it be helpful to work with a partner to do this?  For example, Core would work with 1st or 2nd, Title would work with K or 1st, SPED with 3rd, etc....?
  2. As we start to look at CAFE for next year in PK-5, how does that impact our overall specials schedule and our intervention time with Title I and/or SPED?  From what I have seen, you all have plenty of minutes in your daily schedule to make sure to get all of the components of CAFE in.
  3. Do we all have a big, laminated copy of the "The Literacy CAFE Menu"?  It would seem to be something that we need in our lesson plan book and on our walls.
  4. I would love, love, love, love, to use Google calendar with all of you.  Do I have any takers?  It seems like such an easy way (once you are trained) to organize yourself and your conferences.  I am sure Marcia would help us with it if we were interested.

CAFE Chapter 7: Strategy Groups

I am so excited that this is our last chapter!  I have really enjoyed reading this book, but now I want to get out in the classrooms and see it "happening".  I think this book reading and blog will create bigger conversations for us for 11-12 and beyond.

I love that they started this chapter with a hair/hair color analogy.  For MANY women, changing the hair cut, hair style or hair color causes lots and lots of anxiety.  This same anxiety is experienced by many teachers when we talk about guided reading groups vs. strategy reading groups.  I have wanted to work on this area for a long time and I hope this opens up a dialogue among all of us.

I am not as old as these authors are, but their experiences mimic my experiences starting in 5th grade guided reading groups in Houston in 1995.  We had tons of classes on running records and finding out exactly what DRA level the student was at (38, 44, 50, etc.).  Then my job was to find time during the day to divide them into three groups (even if we really needed more like 4 or 5) to meet with for short periods of time to read books from the guided reading book closet.  I would go in there and choose books at the right "level" and that seemed appealing.  Then we would sit down and read together (but not ROUND ROBIN) at my kidney-shaped table.  I felt very successful on the exterior as my schedule was organized, my levels were figured out, and my kids were all in small groups reading books at their level.  Perfect, right?  Wrong.

I remember meeting with my principal and saying that I didn't think it was working.  Not every kid needs the same amount of table time.  Not every kid at a 38 is at a 38 for the same reason. Some had English language learner issues, some had fluency issues, and some had comprehension or lack of comprehension issues, but yet they were still all 38s?  Also, it seemed that the skill I was working on with one group worked better with the book that another group was reading?  Also, it seemed that I needed a concrete list of skills by area (fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, etc.) and then could move through them like a scope and sequence and move the kids in an out of the groups if my "formative assessment" showed that they needed extra help or no.  Wow, and that was all in 1995.....

When I left Iowa City about 6 years ago, our LARS (Title I specialists) were on their way to converting our guided reading groups in our SINA schools to strategy groups instead.  I didn't get to stay around to see it happen, but I have to believe that it improved reading instruction and learning.  When teachers are able to get that specific about what kids can and cannot do, the teaching and teacher improves in my experience.

Are any of you trying strategy groups instead of leveled groups?  I think this is a powerful strategy that we could even look at across grades and not just within one grade/classroom?

The CAFE Book Chapter 6: Whole-Class Instructuion

My goal for today's blog is to make is short and sweet.  After I looked back over my previous 5 chapters' blogs, it became clear to me that I was writing a Cliff Notes for the chapter and not really a blog.  So hear we go...
  • I love the idea of mini-lessons, but my gut also tells me that this can be dangerous with an inexperienced and/or ineffective teacher.  How do they know what mini-lessons to teach?
  • What if we followed Renee's suggestion and worked as a school on 4 strategies to do consistently across PK-5?
    • Check for understanding
    • Back Up and Reread
    • Tune In to Interesting Words
    • Cross Checking
  • I like the bulletin board on p.93 that shows the strategies in a visual way by comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary.
  • The whole-class lesson elements that really stuck with me are:
    • Secret to success cannot be a secret!
    • Let students write the strategy cards for buy-in.
    • Review, review, review...
    • Recognize the student who helped with the strategy is another "teacher in the room".
  • I love the shoe lesson.  It is a yearlong anchor that should be referenced continuously to encourage successful reading and reading choices.
  • Have any of you played the Inferring Game?  How did it go?
  • I like the visual chart of summarizing text and sequencing main events.  I would think it would have to cut back on unneeded details that children share??
  • Do any of you use the "Class Word Collector"?  It sounds fairly simple, but I am not sure if the vocabulary would stick??