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/blockquote>
I've posted several times about my present success story. I
have to give the background here or people will not get the
point:
A little over a year ago this student was entering Grade 8
with a Grade 2 reading level and Grade 1 writing. Worse
he's left-handed so a lot of teachers just write him off <...See More/blockquote>
I've posted several times about my present success story. I
have to give the background here or people will not get the
point:
A little over a year ago this student was entering Grade 8
with a Grade 2 reading level and Grade 1 writing. Worse
he's left-handed so a lot of teachers just write him off
for teaching writing.
He is a pleasant boy with good manners, has never once
shown a sign of temper with me (pretty amazing with the
pressure of reading correction), has a nice stable family
and pleasant house and caring parents who will pay for me
to help him -- just hadn't learned to read. He is also
artistically talented and doe "doodles" that look like the
decor used on motorbikes etc. No signs of any real
dyslexia, just total, total confusion. Also (and this does
matter later in the story) he is exceptionally mature
physically as well as socially, taller than me beginning
Grade 8, now at six feet age fourteen entering Grade 9.
So we started out over a year ago and we had to go all the
way back to the bunnies and duckies. I apologized for this
and promised to move him up as soon as we got a few things
cleared up. We started on Book 3 of the phonics becasue he
apparently was reading; I soon saw that this was a mistake
and backed up and reviewed almost all of Book 2 with
special stress on vowels and syllables. I worked with him
on handwriting a bit and did some AVKO spelling, had to
drop it under time pressure but even twenty lists gave him
an idea to run with.
He caught on to at least the basics of reading and we moved
up to a Boxcar Children book. He really enjoyed it -- first
chapter book he had ever read, and he was interested in the
cultural/historical background. After school started we
started trying to straighten out pre-algebra/elementary
algebra and made some progress. Then he got into the
regular Grade 8 World History (Neanderthals to Renaissance)
and *loved* it. So we were working on reading "Neanderthal"
and Cro-Magnon" and "flint-knapping" and he was getting it!
Middle of the year, we moved into reading Hatchet and back
to phonics Book 3 with multisyllables, and doing some
simple equations, and not only reading but
spelling "feudal" and "suzerain". I was very worried that
things seemed to slip out of his memory, but found that
after using my favourite phonics books with twenty
repetitions of each and every topic it does stick, so I
hung in with it. By early summer we were doing Brian's
Winter (alternate ending to Hatchet ) and some old nicely
repetetive algebra books. He passed the regular history
class and we were all very proud.
OK, now starting Grade 9 after a few weeks' break. His
mother told me they had picked up a new book at the
bookstore, and he wanted to read it in order to use it for
a book report. Fine by me, as long as we keep practicing
and correcting his reading. I asked if he had bought it in
the youth section; he's not exactly a bookstore
sophisticate (yet) and had no idea. So, I dive in, reading
alternate pages as usual. The book is called "Caught
Stealing".
First page I see we are not in Kansas any more. The first-
person narrator uses quite a bit of . . . er . . .
interesting language, *quite* graphic, describing his own
physical state in the morning after being beaten up. Then
he breakfasts on a beer in his shower. OK, I say to my
student, I've heard all these words before (although I
choose not to use them) and no doubt you have too, so don't
let's worry about it. Luckily they are short so I don't
have to sound them out; that would have me in a bad state.
After the first session I mention to the mom that we have
definitely moved up in reading, that this book is quite
definitely adult; she said yes, she thought it was pretty
funny, so OK, if Mom is happy to see him reading grownup
stuff, I am just as happy to see him reading and we can
discuss appropriateness in context. He is definitely a
young man, no little kid, and it soes seem appropriate to
introduce him to adult material, but this is quite the
introduction!
The next session, the narrator discusses his friend being
killed when he crashed a car, then about having his
marijuana delivered and talks about the delivery guy who is
a former heroin addict who traded that addiction for
alcohol. Well, certainly a topical issue or two for
comprehension discussion!
After the first session, we did a summary and I asked the
student what happened next and next, and he *remembered* 80
percent of it! First time! Second session, we spent the
*entire hour* reading -- we started being able to do two
pages in twenty minutes and were up to six pages in half an
hour, so this is a huge jump. I have to go back and see how
he does for the summary, but even fifty percent after five
days would be outstanding.
And I sure do have material for further discussion.
/blockquote>
Is anyone using the Voyager Universal Literacy? I can't
seem to find anyone else on the elementary or state board,
so I figured I would look here. We are not using the
Passport, but the Universal Literacy. Here are the problems
I am having with this program: #1: So much time spend on
large group, but too few ...See More/blockquote>
Is anyone using the Voyager Universal Literacy? I can't
seem to find anyone else on the elementary or state board,
so I figured I would look here. We are not using the
Passport, but the Universal Literacy. Here are the problems
I am having with this program: #1: So much time spend on
large group, but too few readers to ever make it to the end
of the story by the end of the week. #2: Below grade level
readers have to do the same on-level small group work as
the others. Regardless that they do not know basic letter
sounds, they are suppose to echo me for 20 minutes, rather
than learn the skills they need. #3: No language
instruction! My second graders still don't understand how
to write sentences, make and use contractions, and cannot
identify parts of speech, even just nouns! #4: I have been
told to teach the following things during the 30 minute
intervention period: all language skills, letter sounds,
and anything else that my children need additional work on.
#5: 2 and a half hours long, leaving me only 40 minutes for
math (90 minutes is the requirement,) and social studies
gets only 15 minutes each day.
Anyone have advice? Thanks.
/blockquote>
Looking for a good Novel Unit Plan for Margaret Peterson
Haddix - Among The Hidden- any suggestions?
/blockquote>
I am begging for somone to walk me through this program! We
just got it and I need some help to figure out how all of
the components come together!
Thank you,
Erica
by Lisa Koyuki
Sep 26, 2005
/blockquote>
I'm interested in other middle school teachers' daily
routines for a 90-minute block. I am doing reading
workshop based on students' own book choices, writer's
notebook/writing workshop based on the unit at hand
(personal narrative), and whole-class texts based on the
unit at hand. The unit thing is by f...See More/blockquote>
I'm interested in other middle school teachers' daily
routines for a 90-minute block. I am doing reading
workshop based on students' own book choices, writer's
notebook/writing workshop based on the unit at hand
(personal narrative), and whole-class texts based on the
unit at hand. The unit thing is by fiat of the school -
I've never really taught such strict units before,
preferring straight-up workshop. I'm having a hard time
fitting everything in the period logically, and I'm having
problems making sense of published examples of daily
routines.
For example, look at Atwell's proposed routine. First of
all, Daily Poem takes longer than her proposed 5 minutes -
that's only enough to read it once and get 2-3 comments.
Then, the minilesson is immediately followed by independent
writing, whether or not the lesson has to do with writing.
Finally, there's no allowance for the possibility that the
read-aloud might have something to do with the minilesson
or with writing, as it is immediately succeeded by
independent reading.
How do you structure your class?
/blockquote>
I teach fourth grade and have a child with ADD. She is a
very loving child, but just can not focus. Any suggestions
on methods or software that I could use to help her
attentions problems? What teachng method do you suggest
with an ADD student?
/blockquote>
If you have any Pictures or your classroom or
yourself...post it
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Teacher Chatboards
On 9/26/05, Lysander wrote:
> Looking for a good Novel Unit Plan for Margaret Peterson
> Haddix - Among The Hidden- any suggestions?
Among the Hidden was an excellent book. It teaches morals
and really gets kids into thinking about how life would be
if they had to be illegal. I think you shoul...See More