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Mary/PA - Welcome to this evening's Reading Recovery Meeting here at Teachers.Net. Tonight's topic is "Discontinuing."
Doug - Hello mary
Sadie - is anyone ready to discontinue someone/
Mary/PA - I have 3 that are probably ready
Mary/PA - My other one is making progress
Sadie - I only have one that is ready, 2 will be there in 3-4 weeks and one who may not make it
Doug - I like to see kids read 14, WV a 40 and show good sc ratios with some initiative and a little fluency and phrasing wouldn't hurt. i also like seeing them strong in the classroom
Sadie - oops, that was supposed to be sad, not mad
Mary/PA - The problem is the new way we have to do things...very time consuming
Sadie - Doug, the one that is ready is reading 19's with me but she has some processing difficulties and does not do so well in the classroom.
Sadie - I needed to be sure that she was reading well above her peers before I felt that she could discontinue.
Sadie - What do you mean, Mary?
Doug - 1 is an 11 but has problems my roaming child has attendance problems and I am testing for a third
Mary/PA - We have to test a bunch of the other kids in the classes to find the "average" then send a tape of the kids we want to discontinue to our TL along with the Ready to Discontinue form filled out
Doug - I am also testing all new kids and after vacation we have a lot
Doug - Mary- we have a new form also
Sadie - Really, Mary? How time consuming! And that takes so much time from your lessons!!
Mary/PA - and then spend two weeks working with the child on classroom materials while we wait for the TL's go ahead
Sadie - We had a teacher in training drop out so her students will fill our first empty slots so I won't need to test.
Mary/PA - Plus in the mean time we are testing each other's kids - we have to give the entire OS to the students of other RRTs when discontinuing
Doug - Mary- that is a long time to wait.....
Mary/PA - There is so little time to teach our own kids
Sadie - wow.... nothing can be easy, can it?!?!
Doug - mary- why not just text reading and leave the rest to you
Sadie - I have some exciting news to share with my RR colleagues ( I was going to wait until there were a few more but I think I'll have to get off-line soon)
Mary/PA - Doug, I don't know - our new TL wants it done like this
Sadie - I was chosen to receive the Nancy Pollock Fellrath scholarship to attend the national conference in Ohio in February!
Maureen - You seem to have a different procedure than we do.
Doug - Sadie- congratulations!!
Sadie - Thanks doug! I am so excited!
Maureen - Wow! Congratulations, Sadie!
Doug - Maureen- do you use the classrooms rank ordering and the OS?
Doug - Sadie- will you have to write a paper?
Doug - will
Maureen - We know what our classroom averages are because all kids are tested on text reading monthly. Disc. Testing is OS and 3 levels of text reading.
Sadie - Yes, Doug. I answered 3 essay questions to apply and i must submit a follow up report after the conference.
Maureen - What were/will be the topics, Sadie?
Sadie - Maureen, are the kids tested monthly by their classroom teacher?
Doug - Maureen- do you use the Scott- Foresman test package?
Maureen - Either the CT or our specially trained Aides
Sadie - Maureen, I needed to say how the conference would benefit me, who I would share the information with and why I could not pay for it myself. The questions are posted on the RRCNA website.
Maureen - No Scott Foresman used here< Doug.
Maureen - Gee... I wonder if they would fly me from NZ next year! LOL
Sadie - Maureen, our kids are supposed to be tested regularly by the CT's but often the levels are way off what we have them at. does this ever happen to you?
Mary/again - Sorry folks, my computer jammed up
Doug - maureen- for the text reading I should have said
Mary/again - I missed something - what are we congratulating Sadie about?
Maureen - We don't have the Scott Foresman packet. It is used in US because it is part of the ongoing research project.
Sadie - Mary, I was chosen to be awarded the Nancy Pollock Fellrath scholarship to attend the national conference in Ohio!!!
Mary/again - Maureen, who does that monthly testing?
Mary/again - Hey, that's cool!
Maureen - Classroom teachers and their Aides. The Aides are specially trained ... by me.
Mary/again - Sadie, did you apply or were you nominated?
Sadie - mary, I applied. I never thought in a million years that I would get it. You answer 3 essay questions and you need a letter of recommendation from your TL
Mary/again - Wow! that is really something! Way To Go Sadie!!!
Sadie - Thanks mary! i actually have to run... i just wanted to share my news. I will try to come back later. Have a great night!
Mary/again - See you next time, Sadie
Mary/again - Is Doug still with us?
Maureen - Bye, Sadie
Doug - Maureen- are there some internet sites that focus on early literacy/Reading Recovery issues from NZ?
Sadie - Bye all
Mary/again - connection is really bad tonight
Doug - I know it's not supposed to happen but it is raining very hard here and my computer is sluggish
Mary/again - Maureen, are you on summer break?
Doug - Maureen- when you get a child ready for discontinuing do you focus on the whole lesson?
Mary/again - Maureen, at what levels do you discontinue at mid year?
Maureen - Doug, I'll look them up and post them on the RR Chatboard. OK?
Maureen - Yes, Summer Break here, Mary.
Doug - maureen- thanks....
Maureen - I usually discontinue at 18/19/20, Mary.
Mary/again - Maureen! That's very high for mid year!! What are the end of the year levels!
Maureen - It depends on the child, Doug. I generally follow the guidelines on p17 in the GB and look at the child
Doug - maureen- do you use goals on a monthly basis or do you use them at all?
Mary/again - Those levels (18, 19, & 20) are second and third grade levels here
Maureen - We cannot Disc below level 16, Mary. The L18 is a low average for the schools that I work in.
Mary/again - I'm sorry, I missed the goals discussion, what is this about?
Mary/again - Maureen, is that at any time of the school year?
Doug - I was just interested if you write monthly goals...I was a bit off topic sorry
Mary/again - Are your levels the same and mid year and end of year?
Mary/again - Doug, do you mean like the Predictions of Progress?
Doug - mary yes....sorry
Maureen - Yes. Our school systems are different, Mary . Kids go to preschool 3-5 years and then start school on their 5th b/day. Formal instruction starts then. .
Mary/again - We have to do them
Mary/again - So each child is on his or her own time table, so to speak?
Mary/again - That makes sense
Mary/again - I wish I could come over and see how it's done
Maureen - Predictions of Progress at the beg of the child's programme. Then lesson records, colleague /tutor visit notes for review of goals. visit
Mary/again - So Maureen, do you start kids on the 6th birthday in RR if they are not making good progress or at 6.5?
Mary/again - I guess that would be 6.6
Maureen - Yes, but the there are curriculum guidelines to follow and each school sets benchmarks that are approp to the National Educational and Achievement Guidelines.
Mary/again - We have to update the Predictions of Progress each month
Maureen - Well, I'm lucky in that I can usually take kids in within 1-3months of their 6th b/day/ Depends on level of implementation from school to school. We are always told that the RR Window is 6.0 - 6.3
Mary/again - Oh, that is interesting
Maureen - OS is given to pretty much every kid in NZ on or about 6th b/day.
Mary/again - What is the average number of weeks of a child's program?
Mary/again - Are there enough RRTs to work with every child who needs it at that time?
Maureen - Our RR Cluster group (57 RRTs) has an average of 14 weeks in the programme most years. That includes RRTs in training.
Doug - maureen- do you think the strong acceleration is due to stronger teaching in the regular classroom?
Mary/again - At what levels do most of the kids enter the RR program?
Maureen - Our area has about the highest implementation rate in the country.
Maureen - Yes, Doug. I am sure that's true.
Doug - 14 weeks wow.....
Mary/again - We need better training for our Kindergarten and First Grade teachers
Maureen - The average in one of my schools is L3, the other is L1
Mary/again - Do you have levels A and B?
Maureen - That's what I hear a lot of people saying, Mary.
Mary/again - For those children who can't read at Level 1?
Teacher - We have RR in our school and I am a first grade teacher. What kind of training would you suggest for me? I think the RR program is great.
Doug - most of the kids I have started with are reading level A or B....LI is usually 20 or below, WV is 6 or less, DIC is usually 10 or less
Maureen - No Mary. If L1 is too hard then we use Child Dictated text ... try diff line arrangements etc and note behviours.
Doug - and get me started with attendance
Mary/again - Teacher, more training in understanding the needs of the emergent reader and what kinds of things to do and not do
Doug - I mean don't get me started with attendance...LOL
Mary/again - Where I am, there is no special training for people who work with our youngest students
Teacher - Our program only reaches first graders.
Mary/again - Doug, DIC of 10 is high! LOL
Maureen - Literacy is a big part of Teacher Training here. All primary teachers have to learn to use rrecs.
Mary/again - Teacher, I mean for the regular classroom teachers of Kindergarten and First Grade
Mary/again - Not just special training for the Reading Recovery Teachers
Mary/again - That's what we need Maureen
Teacher - I did get training with running records in college with my masters. Yes it has helped me in understanding what RR does and how you test the students. I do the same somewhat in my class.
Teacher - I do think that if there was a training for teachers it would help us know more about what you are doing, supporting you that is.
Doug - maureen- when you give a running record, do you use the forms given in the observation survey book or are there other forms you use
Mary/again - Maureen, do your students who have weak oral language skills get help of some kind early on in their schooling?
Maureen - Does your RR Centre offer anything, Teacher? We are able to run Staff Dev at the Centre or at School with the TL's help and guidance.
Maureen - We have 150 leaf pads of the same form, Doug.
Mary/again - Teacher, that's the point, Regular classroom teachers and RRTs should all be operating with the same understanding in mind
Teacher - They are implementing parental workshops. Teachers can attend this also. It is once every semester.
Doug - I need to go...thank you everyone....bye
Teacher - Mary, I agree. Doug thank you for letting me join your discussion.
Mary/again - No, teacher training here falls far short on literacy understanding training
Maureen - All kids get ROL as part of New Entrant Assessment at 5 yrs. I am pushing for reinstatement of Oral Language Catchup Prog. It got dropped for 2 years and we are noticing a negative shift at 6 yrs assessment.
Teacher - Do you have something written down about literacy understanding for the classroom teacher?
Mary/again - Maureen, where could I see some info about Oral Language Catch-up? We need something here and there just isn't anything
Teacher - We assess our kindergarten students just promoted to our class within two weeks for assessment listing for RR. We use a list the K teacher has ranked the students in her class. It is so quick on my part to make a recommendation.
Maureen - Fountas and Pinnel books perhaps, Teacher?
Mary/again - Teacher, all of Marie Clay's Books are available
Maureen - I'll see what I can find, Mary and contact you, OK?
Teacher - Just purchased them and attended a workshop. I have the Clay book on assessment, I will take a look there. Thank you both!
Maureen - The new CAP books and guide would be useful.
Mary/again - That would be great! mary@teachers.net
Teacher - Maureen I would like that also. I teach inner city students and oral language is lacking usually. We grow so much in my classroom.
Teacher - Mary may I email you personally to get a copy?
Mary/again - I've been looking for years for a strong oral language program, and haven't found one
Mary/again - Sure Teacher
Mary/again - Well, thanks for coming this evening
Teacher - Thanks again for letting me join your discussion. The RR program had 70% success rate in our system last year. I am sure that they will keep a while, I hope so too.
Maureen - Clay mentions a book called Wally's Stories by Paley. It isn't a programme, but her ideas on using drama for pe-literacy oral lang dev are good.
Mary/again - Good evening, Maureen and Teacher
Maureen - pre literacy, sorry
Mary/again - I'll look for it, thanks
Maureen - Bye to you both, nice chatting.
Teacher - Thank you again and good evening all.
