What you'll love about Daily 5 and Literacy Cafe is the blend of direct teaching, and small group/individual teaching. You generally teach and review reading strategies during the "Mini-lessons" before the Daily 5 rounds, and then when you work with small groups and individual students, you target the specific reading strategies that those learners need to work on.
Daily 5 is the structure that provides the time for you to give more meaningful instruction to individual learners. Literacy Cafe gives you specific, highly researched reading strategies organized into a way that is accessible to the students. It's fantastic to hear the students take responsibility for their own, individual learning ("I know that I need to work on my accuracy. I need to read the words. So, I am going to try (insert name of accuracy strategy here), because that will help me read the words.")
When I want something to be accessed by the whole group, I will read it aloud. I have readers from level 0 (Kindergarten) to level 27 (end of Grade 3) in my Grade 1/2 class. I would never expect my students to read the same text, but I might want to do something with a text, particularly in social studies. Reading it aloud gives all students the same ability to comprehend the passage, and then they can relate to it, and we can work with it.
On another note, there is a trend to move away from traditional groupings by readability level. I haven't grouped my students by readability level in 4 years. I see my students primarily individually, and "read with them" the same way I did with my own children... coaching them through the book that they are already reading from their book box. We start by reviewing what their goal is (accuracy, comprehension, fluency, or vocabulary. In my class, most students are working on accuracy), and then we review what specific strategies they were working on (most are working on stretch it out, and cross checking). Then, they continue reading from whichever page they were on when I sat down beside them, and I listen to see if they are using those strategies. When they get stuck, I act as their coach, and help them use the strategy, if they need me to. Then we end the conference by reading what I noticed from their reading today, and what the next steps are.
I have 3 rounds of daily 5 lasting for 15-20 minutes each, so I read with 6-9 students individually each day. That means I see all of my students 1 on 1 twice a week, and my most at risk students *every* day. I will sometimes pull a 'strategy' group (3-5 students working on the same strategy, but at different reading levels), but I really do feel that most students get a LOT more out of individual coaching time with me, than from direct class instruction, or small groups. Plus, it has the benefit of developing a really strong rapport with the students, and shows them that they are accountable for what we discussed at our last conference.
Just my thoughts
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03-18-2011, 08:32 AM
