I teach remedial reading for second and fourth grades. We started a program called Read Naturally. I'm new to it and I'm not quite sure if I like it or not. Is anyone familiar with it? Any input? Thanks.
It is single handedly the one program I have used the last seven years in my classroom that has made the greatest difference in my students' reading abilities. Every ONE of my students made AYP the last 6 years. PLUS - the students love the program! I also believe programs are only as good as the teachers implementing them, as well. It is a very teacher-friendly program but you should have the one day training seminar to correctly implement the program. I have many districts coming to observe the program in my classroom and they were implemeting it incorrectly and wondering why they aren't getting the results????? The company is also very teacher-friendly and are always willing to help with Q and A. On 10/23/05, JW wrote: > I teach remedial reading for second and fourth grades. We > started a program called Read Naturally. I'm new to it > and I'm not quite sure if I like it or not. Is anyone > familiar with it? Any input? Thanks.
I have a question regarding a phenomenon I am seeing more and more in schools and yet I don't see the "payoff".
It seems like more students are being read to in class and these days the students have little or no responsibility/incentive to read. I teach ESL, yet many of my students are in "regular" English as well. When I ask them what they do in their regular ELA classes they tell me that the teacher reads them a story and asks questions. My students, for a variety of reasons, don't/can't/won't follow along. They don't understand the story or the questions. When I ask them why they just don't read the story again, to themselves, they usually answer, "Why? The teacher justs reads it to us!"
At what point are students supposed to take responsibility for learning? Why are we making things SO easy for them? Why don't we require the students to read? We say we do, but it seems more and more that teachers are doing all the work!
I am a first year 5th grade teacher. Many of the students in my class are very low and 14 of them are reading below grade level. I am very confused by our writing program and don't see how it works. The kids are very poor writers and still don't use periods. Our literacy coach is a bit of control freak and got mad at me because we weren't writing personal stories and write from prompts. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make them stronger writers? In my district we use two books: the no non-sense guide to writing along with Craft Lessons. There is not a lot of structure to our program and our coach thinks that it is great. Help!
Here is a site where people can write/blog about a teacher who made a difference in their lives. It's called No Great Teachers Left Behind. We all know that teachers deserve more recognition for the work they do. This could be used as a writing/technology assignment for classrooms everywhere.
I'm looking for any ideas, support, etc for the amount of time you spend on the components of Open Court. I'm new to OC and I'm trying to schedule in the workshop portion. Any help?
I am looking for QAR sample paragraphs and questions to use with my 4th graders. Anyone know of a good site where I can find them. I want to do whole class instruction on it before letting them tackle their own books. Thank you!
I am looking for QAR sample paragraphs and questions to use with my 4th graders. Anyone know of a good site where I can find them. I want to do whole class instruction on it before letting them tackle their own books. Thank you!
On 10/25/05, Michelle wrote: > I am looking for QAR sample paragraphs and questions to use > with my 4th graders. Anyone know of a good site where I > can find them. I want to do whole class instruction on it > before letting them tackle their own books. Thank you!
I am also looking for QAR samples. Did you get any responses??
I'm switching my middle school reading program to Read 180 within the next couple of weeks. (Not sure of the timeline. It'll be whenever furniture, computers, and training all come together.)
Currently I'm running a loosely-structured form of centers so my kids are used to working independently or in small groups while I float around and assist. I don't think they'll have too many problems adjusting to the format of Read 180, but I'm tryng to think through what I need to do to make the transition as smoothly as possible.
I teach a writing seminar class to (mostly) 9th graders. It is a half year class, a requirement for graduation. It is supposed to work on their writing skills, particularly essay writing. In the past I have been lucky to get one small group and another filled with honors students who liked writing. This year I have 17 squirrely 9th graders who aren't that interested in writing. There a few good kids who are but the majority are not. Consequently, it is nearly an impossible task to get them to quietly write for an length of time.
I am getting some help with discipline from a behavioral person at my school and hopefully that will help with that issue.
***However, I think the class also needs more structure. Anyone have ideas on how on a structure or routine? They need lots of little activities... Also, ideas on where to find some online-- like grammar or writing exercises? I am swamped with prep and this is the last thing I need right now. We are doing journalism, poetry and creative writing before the end of the term. Thanks.
It is single handedly the one program I have used the last
seven years in my classroom that has made the greatest
difference in my students' reading abilities. Every ONE of
my students made AYP the last 6 years. PLUS - the students
love the program! I also believe programs are only as good
as the teacher...See More