I think it depends on how you plan on teaching Reading. I taught
3rd-5th grades for many years and used Reading groups and
centers. While I worked with a group, the rest of the students
were working in centers which consisted of Writing, Grammar, and
Spelling activities. I am now in a middle school setting
teaching 6th grade Lang. Arts. I do whole class reading using
our Literature book or novels. Writing is integrated with
whatever we are reading as much as possible. I also do grammar &
spelling. If we're working on a story in our Lit. book we
usually spend a week per story. Generally two days are spent
concentrating on reading and discussing the story. The other
days are spent revisiting it with story elements, figurative
language, grammar, etc. During these days there is normally more
time for writing than on the days that we are spending time
reading. Hope this helps. I'll be interested in seeing what
other responses you receive. I'm always looking for ways to
refresh my teaching methods.

On 7/01/09, Jenny wrote:
> "I do NOT want to shorten my reading lessons."
>
> I'm new here (1st time), but I have a lot of experience w/ 1
> hr. 45 min. blocks in language arts. I have taught at the hs
> level for 9 years under the same block schedule. While they
> are worlds away in maturity, my best advice is that you will
> probably have to shorten your reading. My 9th graders aren't
> even capable of paying attention to reading lessons for an
> hour and 15 min. on a regular basis. What I've found
> successful is to not just block out the period, but block out
> days. Maybe one week you'll do reading most of the class for
> 2 days, then grammar 1 day, and writing 2 days. Change it up
> based on your class' needs. It will keep them engaged. The
> worst thing you can do under a block is to follow a strict
> routine of blocked out time that stays the same every day
> (reading for the first hour, grammar for 20 min., then
> writing...). Also, whenever possible, merge the subjects. If
> you're studying verbs, have them ID them in their reading and
> use them for prewriting those essays you were talking about.
> Like I said, I'm brand new here, and I know from other
> message boards that newbies can seem insulting, but I promise
> I'm just trying to share my experience. (And trust me, I
> teach in CA, where the exit exam and state tests are nearly
> Biblical, so I can sympathize w/ the need to get everything
> in!). Hope I helped even a little :)
>

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