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dyanne - I will be teaching RR for the first time this fall
naya - oh
dyanne - Do you presently teach RR?
naya - No I do not. I am still in college
didi/australia - this is my 4th year dyanne
naya - can you explain the basics of it to me
didi/australia - theres lots to learn but i like the fact you learn on the job
dyanne - What can you tell me to get me prepared? I have taught for 22 years, most recently 5 years in 3rd grade
Mary/PA - Have you visited the North American Reading Recovery site? - http://www.readingrecovery.org/sections/reading/index.asp
dyanne - Hi, Mary. I am in KY
didi/australia - you'll be fine they teach you as you go along and with your knowldge of kids it will just expand your understanding of how they learn
Mary/PA - I've been teaching RR for 9 years
Mary/PA - naya, that site I just posted will tell you about the program
dyanne - No, not yet. I'll do that later tonight. Thanks for the suggestion
naya - thanks mary
Mary/PA - dyanne, where are you located?
dyanne - Mary, I am in Nicholasville (Jessamine Co. Schools) in Kentucky
didi/australia - Hey mary i've at last got my top one to L13 at W16 so I'm hoping him and the one on L10 will go off successfully at L16 in 3-4 weeks time.
Mary/PA - naya, I was late, so I didn't see your first remarks. Are you too going to be training in the fall to teach RR?
Mary/PA - didi, sounds like your l10 will take a lot of hard teaching to get to 16 in 3-4 weeks.
naya - No. I'm going to be student teaching in the spring of 03 but I was interested to know about RR
naya - Mary, I looked at the website...it has some good info.
Mary/PA - Will there be any interuptions in the schedule? Will you have 15-20 more lessons?
naya - how does RR differ from just regular tutoring?
Mary/PA - Oh, OK, naya
didi/australia - Yes but he is doing lots of good things even when not cooperatting he SC and rereads in spite of himself I just wish he read more at home
Mary/PA - The teacher has been highly trained to do RR. In regular tutoring, the teacher just does what he/she knows. In RR there are exact lesson segments that must be completed during each lesson and they all have to be done in 30 mins.
didi/australia - Naya it is a very set lesson outline with one on one teaching daily for weeks
dyanne - Didi and Mary, have you-all seen really good results with your RR students?
naya - oh...are the lessons focused on things like comprehension and word recognition?
Mary/PA - The teacher has to be very quick to make all the best decisions for the student.
didi/australia - We are on our mid year break for 2 weeks now but after that they should get unbroken weeks after school resumes on the Tuesday
Mary/PA - dyanne, I taught first graders for 23 years before finding Reading Recovery. I spent most of those years looking for a way to help the lowest students at least begin to read and write. Now with RR I see most of them doing things I never before thought possible.
didi/australia - dyanne we are in a very uunder fundes state at present I'm the only RR for 100 Yr 2 kids so I'll only get to 8 kids which will include a few who will need further help after RR
Mary/PA - naya, not too much, those are items, we focus mostly on strategies
naya - and RR is only for 1st graders?
Mary/PA - We help the child learn how to think and what to think about in order to solve the reading and writing problems. Item knowledge comes into the picture, but most of what we do is within continious texts.
didi/australia - However one year we had 4 RR teachers and that year level 3 years later is still feeling the benefits with the top students having iimproved outcomes as the class teachers have more time for them
dyanne - Mary, that's great to hear. My school is intent upon improving literacy in the early primary grades, and this will be our first year to have RR in our school. I will be trained in August, right before school starts.
didi/australia - However one year we had 4 RR teachers and that year level 3 years later is still feeling the benefits with the top students having iimproved outcomes as the class teachers have more time for them
didi/australia - However one year we had 4 RR teachers and that year level 3 years later is still feeling the benefits with the top students having iimproved outcomes as the class teachers have more time for them
didi/australia - However one year we had 4 RR teachers and that year level 3 years later is still feeling the benefits with the top students having iimproved outcomes as the class teachers have more time for them
Mary/PA - One part of the lesson is called "Making and Breaking." This is the section of the lesson where we help the child learn how to learn words.
Mary/PA - dyanne, you mean you will start your training in August. Your training will continue the entire year.
didi/australia - hi tylee susie and gecko
naya - does the school offer the RR training
tyylee - Greetings all
dyanne - Mary, I forgot about that. I will be attending class once a week for the first year, then once a month after that, I believe.
dyanne - My school is paying for my training with funds received from a literacy grant. I have to attend classes at a training site in a nearby town.
Mary/PA - The school has to join up with a region or larger group in order to make a Teacher Leader available among other things. Some very large districts have their own Teacher Leader, but most districts don't
Mary/PA - dyanne, yes, that's correct
didi/australia - Mary who monitors your kids after they come off training and progress up the school
dyanne - Thank you all for your help and information. I will need to log off now due to another commitment at this time. Good luck in the future to all of you.
Mary/PA - didi, in my district, we don't have a formal monitoring system in place. I do ask their teachers about how they are doing, but that's about all the time I have. We do have a Title 1 program in place. If the kids slide, they see the Titile 1 teacher 3 times a week in a group setting or in a pushing program
tyylee - Didi, in my school we (myself included) Title 1/Reading Recovery teachers still teach small group reading to first, second, and third grade children. We test all children K-3 each year, spring and fall to see how they are progressing .
Mary/PA - No PUSHING!!! I meant to say push-in
Mary/PA - tyylee, I wish we could do things that way.
Mary/PA - tyylee, how many RR and Title 1 reading teachers do you have in your building?
tyylee - It is good to have Reading Recovery teachers also doing small group instruction.I monitor my former RR students and if I see that they are sliding I make sure they are getting some extra help from myself or another trained RR teacher even though that help is in a group situation. We have found it to be very successful although there are always children who don't make or sustain the progress we would like to see.
tyylee - Currently we have two RR/Title 1 teachers and three Title 1 instructional assistants who are Literacy Group trained and are terrific teachers.
naya - what happens to thoes other students...who dont make or sustain progress
naya - do they recieve any other help
naya - or is it up to the general educator
Mary/PA - In my building they would go into the regular Title 1 program if they don't qualify for an IEPed program
tyylee - Sometimes they are eventually tested for Special Education. We are starting an after school tutoring program using university work study students that should be some extra help for those students still needing help. We are funding the program with a two year grant.
didi/australia - that sounds great Tyylee we have a system of providing book boxes of books at an appropriate level but it is still a concern about those children who do slide
Mary/PA - WOW, tyylee, that's a lot of staff. It's wonderful that your district is so supportive.
naya - yeah ..tyylee that does sound like a good program
tk - i teach first grade..and am having a real dilemma about what to do with my lower students.....
didi/australia - whats the title 1 program is is staffed with trained teachers
tk - tell me more about the RR
Mary/PA - tk, if you go to - http://www.readingrecovery.org/sections/reading/index.asp you can read all about it.
Mary/PA - tk, have you tried to implement 4 Blocks literacy?
tyylee - Title 1 is a government funded program for schools that have a high poverty rate. It pays for teachers, instructional assistants, and materials and can be for reading and math. My district choses to only do reading. Most of our Reading Recovery teachers in my district are paid out of Title funds.
tyylee - Mary, we are implementing 4-Block in the fall, how do you feel it works with RR?
naya - thanks for all the informaion you all I have to go not
naya - now
naya - bye
Mary/PA - tyylee, I think they go together very well. If the teachers really do 4-Blocks the way the authors intended it to be done, you will see some great changes in your RR teaching.
Mary/PA - 4-Blocks teaches what we teach in many ways
tyylee - What kind of changes?
Mary/PA - The kids will be far better writers for one thing. They will also know how to look at words. In short, they will be applying the same strategies that we want them to be applying.
Mary/PA - There are no workbooks in 4-Blocks. The kids read and write.
tyylee - We have had two days of initial training and I noticed that many things were similar. WE have been doing Fountas/Pinnel Literacy Groups for about three years and they also use many RR strategies. We are going to try to continue to do Lit groups and start 4=Block at the same time but I noticed that Cheryl Sigmond doesn't recommend that. Any thoughts?
tyylee - I hope we can get rid of the workbooks!!!!
Mary/PA - They learn how to look at words and see the "chunks" or small words in larger ones.
tyylee - We are currently teaching chunks and doing lots of writing in our Lit. groups so it sounds to me like they will compliment each other.
Mary/PA - It really isn't necessary to do the guided reading in small groups. The kids learn in the large group setting if the teacher is doing things the way the 4-Blocks people train them to do
didi/australia - Is this four blocks a commercial program
Mary/PA - You may do a small group now and then to over come a problem here and there, but it's not necessary to do that all the time.
didi/australia - And the lower children are ok with out small groups
Mary/PA - didi, it's not really a program. It's a way to deliver redaing and writing instruction
Mary/PA - oops -reading-
tyylee - we are hoping to keep Lit groups as they are now, an extension or extra reading time in addition to all the instruction they get in the classrooms. I think we will consider our Lit group program as outside the 4-Block times.
tyylee - Mary, are you doing Building Blocks in Kindergarten?
Mary/PA - It's a way to teach. You can use any reading material that you want as long as you have various levels so that each child can be reading on a level that is right for him/her
Mary/PA - I did do Building Blocks what I taught Kinder.
didi/australia - as i'm on class next year this sounds interesting
Mary/PA - I'm teaching RR all day now
tyylee - Didi, on this Teachers.net site there is a lot of information abut 4-Block and places where you can purchase the books.
Mary/PA - didi, you learn a lot from reading through the 4-Blocks center here at teachers.net - http://teachers.net/4blocks
Mary/PA - Be sure to read Cheryl Sigmon's articles
Mary/PA - http://www.teachers.net/4blocks/column.html
Mary/PA - There are 78 articles now to read
tyylee - Gotta go, goodnight, it was nice to chat.
Mary/PA - Good night, tyylee
Mary/PA - I have to go as well
Mary/PA - See you all next time
didi/australia - hi I have just bookmarked those sites thanks mary
