Text Selection:
It has been really great today to look at text selection today. It is often really easy to just chose a text that is at the level of the students but not think about what they are specifically learning to do.
It is really important for students to feel as though they are represented in a text and can connect to a text - this is something that I often find a challenge as we are quite limited with the texts that we have available. Using journal surf can help find books that we may have or that we can find online. We currently use Wushka so I can also utilise this better to help with this.
Groupings for reading:
I have always had guided reading groups that are based on students levels and how students will work together - these often change based on reflections.
Something that I want to do more of is mixed ability grouping where the learning is based more on a common learning area that students need support in. This something I can plan and implement into term 2.
I really enjoyed the conversation about vocab and unpacking this a bit as this has been a focus for some of my learners this term and made me confident in the words that I have made sure we discussed and look at.
I really liked the summarising skill builder. This is something that I want to build into my programme and I want to try this in shared reading first and bring it into guided sessions later on. I am also going to share the resources with my team as I think it is a good step by step instruction on what to do.
Wider reading programme:
It was great looking into this as it confirmed that there is already a lot that I am doing in my class but also that I can add paired reading to this as well. This is something that I want to develop in term 2.
Hi Lauren, I'm happy to see that the skill builder was useful to you. Love the idea that you are going to share this resource with your team, please let us know how that goes. We love to get feedback from the classroom. I too love the clarity of the tiered model for vocabulary, it makes it much easier to check that the vocabulary we are targeting is going to be the most beneficial for our learners. I think there is going to be more discussion about ability grouping in the near future in NZ with a push to 'abolish streaming'. I think this is where we need to be very clear about teaching to need and using flexible grouping as the best way to do this. Being adaptive as opposed to a rigid streaming model. I'd like to hear how this has gone for you in your class next term. Nga mihi Kiri
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