If There is Such a Thing, This is It!
I like to start reading time with reading. I want the kids to get their books and their journals out and begin reading quietly without me having to say anything at all. This is our entry procedure. It takes a few days for the kids to get the hang of it, but with a little practice, it comes together well.
Regardless of what I have planned, I appreciate a few minutes of peace and quiet to get myself together and to conference with a few kids to see what issues they’re dealing with. As I visit with them at their desks, I think through what I’m about to teach and consider possible modifications based on where kids are.
When I’m ready to begin, I call the class to order. I ask kids to open their journals, note the date, and tell me where they are in their books. They write down a page number and give me a sentence that completes this prompt: “Right now, I’m at the part where...”.
Then I whip around the class and take status. Sometimes I ask kids what page they’re on or to read a quick description of where they are. Sometimes I ask them how many pages they’ve read since our last session. Sometimes I ask them how many days they think they need to finish up. Status helps me keep kids on track. It also helps me identify kids I need to conference with.
Status is great for keeping kids motivated and increasing accountability. But what I like best about it is how it builds community. Everyone listens, wondering how far along their neighbors are, waiting to hear about some interesting thing that’s just happened in someone’s book, or an interesting topic someone is reading about.
Status should only take a couple of minutes but sometimes we get caught up in what people are reading. When it’s fun like this, I’m guilty of letting it go too long. But within five minutes, we’re usually ready to begin.
To organize a single class period, I follow a structure called Talk-Model-Work-Share:
- Talk. I start by telling the kids what we’re going to focus on and why I think it’s important. The kids talk, too. Some of my best lessons are the ones I begin with open-ended questions. For these, the kids suggest answers and I write them on the board.
- Model. I almost always try to model what I’m talking about or ask a student to model if that’s feasible. The modeling is really the most important part of the lesson. That’s when kids seem to get what I’m talking about. Modeling may take five or even ten minutes if I feel we need several different models.
- Work. When I’ve presented the focus for the day, I release the kids to reading. Before they start, I remind them of what I’m looking for, that I want to see something about it in their journals, and that if we have a conference, I’ll want them to demonstrate it for me.
During work time, I’ll be conferencing. Ideally, each conference will take just 2-3 minutes. To keep them short, I’ll try to stay focused on our lesson topic or, at most, one other important thing. I want to get to as many kids as I can during the 20-30 minutes we’ll have for work time. While it’s faster for me to meet with them at their desks, sometimes I bring them to another area in the room that I call “my office.” This is better for me when I’m tired, and I tend to think it’s better for kids, too because the kid getting the conference has more privacy, and we tend not to disturb other readers so easily.
- Share. I like to save at least ten minutes at the end for sharing. Sharing takes many forms: a journal entry, a demonstration of our focus for the day, a reading of something someone found interesting, or anything else a reader feels is important. I get to share, too.
Over the years, I’ve come to trust the Talk-Model-Work-Share structure. Sometimes, when I have several things to cover, or one big thing I want to cover in several small parts, I’ll repeat the cycle several times in a single class period: talk briefly, model something quickly, ask kids to try it on their own for a couple of minutes, and then check their work with a quick sharing session. Moving quickly through each stage keeps the pace lively and the classroom interactive. And using multiple cycles in a single class period helps me introduce more lesson material when that’s necessary.
Another advantage of using Talk-Model-Work-Share is that it helps me curb my worst habit: talking too much. Knowing, as I launch into another potential lecture, that I have to model something, let kids try it, and give them time to share, all before time runs out, keeps me from droning on for half the period as I used to do before I discovered this simple structure.
Comments