I am currently reading the book Reading for Understanding by Ruth Schoenbach, et al. It focuses on the Reading Apprenticeship technique and how to implement it into the classroom. My school is very big on the reading apprenticeship method and as I read I can understand why. What I have read so far (I am about half way through) is that this program is about focusing on the process students go through to read, rather than the decoding process. This has been eye opening for me both as a reader and as a teacher. As I have been reading this book, I am starting to pay attention to my own reading habits/struggles. It has already helped me get through parts of the text that were dry or it helped me to build stamina as I needed to reach certain parts of the book to reach my daily reading goal.
I am already trying to find ways to incorporate the 4 main qualities of this method.
Ways I hope to incorporate what I have learned so far:
1) During the first few weeks of school, we will be focusing on creating an awareness of metacognition in each of the students. They need to see how they make sense of texts and what trips them up and WHY.
2) We will also be building a community in the classroom where students feel secure enough to share their struggles with reading. As I read, I find that RA relies on the ability of the students to share how they struggle and also how they worked their way through that problem!
3) Create classroom made anchor charts to guide students and to remind them of the topics we have covered as a class. These anchor charts should also portray the strategies and terms we have learned in the process!
4) Give credit for the process rather than the product. I really like this idea and I am trying to come up with ways to put the emphasis on the process rather than on the final product, Students are always graded on their final product, but in these middle level classes, the important part is that they know HOW TO GET TO the final product! Let's face it, those middle school grades are not as important as the ones they earn in high school or even college.
Along with reading and studying the RA program, I am also researching and working on implementing interactive student notebooks (ISN). Overall, I am super excited about creating these with the students and hopefully creating a resource for the students!
For English, this is what I have planned out so far:
#1 - Cover sheet - students will create a sheet that has their goals for the year and they will decorate it to reflect themselves.
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| My example that I created this summer |
#2 - Rubric - This will be where students tape in their grading rubric. The plan is to collect the notebooks once a trimester, but I will be doing random, timed pop quizzes that test the organization and neatness of their notebooks.
#3-5 TOC (I might need more space than this, but I figure we can always tape in more pages)
#6 - Give me 5 page - this will be the student reflection on the course syllabus. Students will trace their hand and then in each finger they will pick the 5 most important rules/procedures that they found in the syllabus. They are to decorate and make the hand reflect them as a person as well.
#7 Course Syllabus - taped in! (picture to come)
#8 2 :) and 2 ?'s - I found this idea on this blog http://mrshester.blogspot.com/ (I highly recommend it if you are looking into ISN!) Students will go over and read the ISN expectations in class (they will also sign it with a parent this is on the next page) and then on this page, they will write 2 parts about the notebook that really excite them and draw a picture to go with it and 2 questions/concerns they have about the notebook and draw a picture to go with each picture.
#9 - ISN expectations contract - This will be a sheet explaining what students are responsible for when it comes to completing their ISN. The bottom of this sheet will need to be signed by the student and a parent/guardian.
#10 - Books I want to read - I am going to give the students a fun header and then they will use the pages of the book to fill in info on books they hear about or see that they might want to read.
#11 - Reading Log - Students will track the books they read here. I have an ice cream party at the end of the year for any students who can read 25 books in a year. Last year this system didn't work out too well and most students forgot to track their books. With the ISN, I hope to have this be a little easier for me and for the students. Parents will also have to sign and date to show that they really did read the book.
Other parts I am going to have but I am not sure where to put them:
- Glossary of terms - I saw a great idea about creating a glossary of key terms used in class. I would like to try this, but at the moment I am not sure how I want to do it.
- Reading journal - Last year I started reading journals and I really enjoyed them. I would like to do them again this year, but I haven't decided how yet. Either the students will need a second notebook, or we will need to use a 3 subject notebook to include everything I want to do.
- Word Wall - Students are learning new words all the time, I just don't think they realize how many they are learning! I would like to have a place in the notebook where students can track new words they find as they are reading!
- Partner sheet - I have created two partner sheets to make pairing students fast and easy, but I am not sure where I want to put this sheet. I think I want them to tape on the back of the front cover, but I am not sure are this point.
- a Ribbon in the back to be used as a bookmark in the ISN.
At our open house, I plan to have a list of required materials for parents, and I will also have a "wish tree" where parents can pledge to donate needed items so that we hopefully have enough supplies to make this an easy process. More info to come on my classroom setup and my open house materials!
Now to start planning the lessons and materials to go with the classroom content!! Have you done ISNs in your classroom? What worked for you and what didn't?
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