[MrsM]

Hi LaVerne,

My own philosophy is that the best way I can help the kids is to help them be more independent of others for reading. Self-monitoring, self-correcting, etc. I don't allow students to bring work from the classroom, because I have plans of my own to complete. It's great that there's already a system in place by which you know what they are doing in the classroom. That will help when a teachable moment happens, and you won't have to ask if they've had lessons on _________ yet or not. You can simply say that you know they've heard of it and worked with it in the classroom. I think that helps open kids to the idea that what you do with them transfers into the classroom, too, because what happened in the classroom transferred to your class. If you can work the same concepts into your lessons as well, the kids get more repetition of what they need to learn, and that's always helpful.

You may need to find some individual activities for some kids to work on and conduct a small reading group (within a group). What I do right now is very individualized, with kids reading aloud to me after they've read silently and completed a comprehension writing sheet. I'm going to change things for next year and do more of a guided reading group when I can. Try not to rely on worksheets, but have activities with manipulatives that students can work with.

Be sure you are working with sight words, decoding strategies, self-monitoring strategies, comprehension, fluency, word work, and some writing. Writing is tricky for me, give them opportunity, but you aren't the writing teacher, but writing goes hand-in-hand with reading and is a big part of literacy.

I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you what to do, but this is what's been going through my own mind for a while on what I'll do differently. So far, I haven't taught the same way two years in a row! Good luck.

Dear MrsM, Your posts have been very helpful to me.
I am considering doing a day of the week type of thing:
Example: Monday Journal
Tuesday word of the day
Wednesday reading/comp
Thursday Strategy discussion
Friday Game day

Do you follow any kind of rotation like this? I have visited with some of my teachers and what they want most is more work with skills they are doing in their classroom. I am a bit overwhelmed thinking about planning a different lesson for 40 students.

Thanks for your input.

Ok, I am back....I am the new title 1 reading teacher for grades 3-5. I have visited with our out going title teacher who has been doing this job for almost 30 years. I have a few ideas from her but I am in search of ideas to set up my 25-30 minutes with my varying students. Would some one be so kind has to tell me how you plan your time with your many different groups?
There is a weekly sheet that goes out to my teachers where they fill in what they are doing in the classroom. I will change the form some to accomodate English/spelling/ and perhaps some vocab from social and science for the older kids.
Still I am at a loss as to meet the needs of so many different groups. Do you reinforce what skills a teacher asks you to? Do you let the students bring along work from the regular classroom? How do you structure your time with your students?
I would appreciate ANY and ALL advise or suggestions.
Thanks very much...it will be a big help to mull your ideas around to help me get ready for the fall.

LaVerne

[MrsM]

I don't currently do a rotation like you described, but remember I said I will be changing what I do next year. I think it could be helpful, and I was thinking of having a regular writing day. As far as reinforcing the skills taught by the teacher, that's fine, but you cannot try to do 10 different concepts if the teachers are all in different places. If they honestly are asking for this, you can ask that they coordinate (by grade level) to have your help, otherwise it can be something you may mention. That would be just too difficult!

[fun_friend]

I am no expert on teaching reading to struggling readers, but I also meditate on this topic a lot since I DO have strugglers in my classes.

I think fluency is something you might emphasize. Fluency in reading gives students a lot of confidence. You might give them a piece to read all week or at least over several days until they can read it with increased fluency. Maybe a poem or a short story (one or two pages).

I've found that even my most struggling readers enjoy a novel. Maybe you can read a novel orally to the class as they follow along. Sharon Creech has many novels with really short chapters so it's easy to find a stopping point for your short class time. You can use graphic organizers to emphasize literary topics like main idea, character analysis, theme, etc. I teach middle school so literary elements are a big deal. A lot of the reading challenges you must teach can be accomplished using a novel. At least I've found it to be the case with my 6th graders and Bud, Not Buddy.

Kids love to use computers too. If you have access to computers, you can surely find software or websites that cater to the needs of your students.

Kids seem to love to read and write poetry too. Maybe you can have them create haiku or some other form of poetry in response to what they read. If you have a web page, you can post the work there so the kids will feel the thrill of being published. That is my current goal with my kids.

The teacher who works with our middle school strugglers takes the kids to an elementary school to help younger kids. Could your older kids help some younger kids? They really feel good when they do that! The little ones enjoy the attention too. Maybe your older kid could practice reading a book for fluency and then read it to a kindergarden student or group of students (small).

I hope you have an excellent year working with these students. It can be challenging when the students don't pick up what other kids learn so easily.