Okay, I put off venting for several years but now I just have too! Let me start by saying that I have tons of books that I have spent hours upon hours leveling...
Because of our district being a former Reading first place, we are still following the "rules." A couple weeks ago the reading coach and specialist came in and wrote a note, "great classroom management, love the book bags, kid are all engaged, but...you can't use those leveled books." Reason: The kids are not practicing the weeks high frequency words, vocabulary, or phonics skills in those other books, and I haven't covered the skills my books have in them (they also don't say HM). Lots of arguing, discussions back and forth, etc and now I am using just the HM leveled readers.
Fast forward to today...meeting with same coaches..."Oh, you need to give the low level kids more reinforcement on the skills, so you can use the leveled books from Reading A-Z", but not your books. What??? Doesn't make sense to me. Reason: because you can print out books from the site that cover the phonics skill you are working on for reinforcement - but if my books cover those skills the "coaches" must check with the heads up to see if they are okay. WHAT????
I'm tired of people telling me kids can't read this book or that book - what happened to the idea of kids just reading! Don't 1st graders need to read as much as possible to learn the joy of reading, the strategies that make a good reader, to practice fluency, and to learn as many words as possible? My kids are now limited to 6 page HM books or photocopied books instead of reading real books!
Some of my kids grew 2 levels in 5 weeks because of the variety of reading, now I'm worried they are not going to make the same gains with the "boring books" (as kids call them). UGGGGGG!
That is completely ridiculous! I get so annoyed by people abusing their "power" and misinterpreting the "rules". I have taught at reading first schools and I have never heard of anything like that. Kids need to read. They need to read a variety of books. Yes, they need to practice the skills you are teaching, but they also need independent time with books at their level. I am sorry you are dealing with that. You should find a way to still allow them access to your books. Maybe they can use them at other times, just not during the reading block.....or just ignore the coaches and do what you know is right. Tell them that if your students do not make progress, then you will put your books away. If they do make progress, your books and the routines you have built stay.
be getting on the NCTE and IRA websites and printing out position statements and policy research that BTW backs up your position TOTALLY. If you walk in there with the research, I don't see how they can ignore that. Yeah, district rules, blah, blah, blah, but if you come in with the unbiased RESEARCH, well, they may hate you for it, but I don't see how they can ignore it.
Or maybe they can. Schools ignore research all the time.
Gosh, you are lucky to have the books you have and it seems really silly to not be allowed to use them. I mean, can't you focus on a skill during a lesson, but if they are reading for pleasure, shouldn't they have as many choices as you can give them??? Sheesh.
for your support! I am still in discussions with the "coaches" and have been told I can use them with my walk to read group (25 higher students) but that is only 25 minutes. I want my own kids reading various books during the 90 minute reading block so that my low kids find success. The low are the ones that get the most enjoyment from the books I have because they can actually read them, and they feel like they are reading real books. I'm still working on a way to incorporate the books because I feel that the more real literature kids read the better they will become!
This is from Best Practice: Today's Standards for Teaching & Learning in America's Schools in regards to their recommendations on teaching reading and what needs to be INCREASED in classrooms:
"Children's choiced of their own reading materials."
"Grouping by interests or books choices."
"Teaching skills in the context of whole and meaningful literature."
and a DECREASE of "Teacher selection of all reading materials for individuals and groups."
10-28-2009, 07:24 PM
Simple View
