I am going
to try to paint a vivid picture in your mind in order for you to get a better
grasp of what I am seeing while working with the students. Everything noted in
the session is simply my observations. I haven’t conducted any student
interviews in my research so I will not use exact student quotes. This is what
I observed with the HELPS group today:
It is
Wednesday, February 12th at 3:00 pm. The students have just finished
up PPA (planned physical activity aka recess) in the classroom. Today the students
watched an episode of the Magic School Bus. They are a little “chatty” as usual
when PPA comes to an end. I hear the normal moans and groans as I turn off the
movie. I have the students clear off their desk as I am getting ready to tell
the students what we will be doing next. I inform the students that it is time
for me to work with my group for the day. They are getting in the routine now
to where they know they work with me on certain days. I read the names of the seven
students that are in the HELPS group and ask them to take a seat at my moon
table that is near the reading corner in my classroom. I ask the students to
take a pencil with them as they will need it to write with. I tell all other
students that we will be doing our Daily Five “Read to Self”. It is “I Love to
Read Week” and we are trying to get in plenty of reading time in the classroom.
Students get their book boxes and to find an empty spot in the classroom. I
walk over to my moon table to find my group I will be working with today. I take
a seat at the head of the table only to find that not all students brought a
pencil to the table. I ask these students to go back to their seats and get a
pencil. The students that are doing the Daily 5 activity are beginning to get
loud and I have to ask them to quiet down. All students finally return to the
table with a pencil. I have the students write their name at the top of the
reading passage. I read the first part of the directions that goes along with
the HELPS program. As I read, I find that one student is looking around at the
other students in the classroom as does not seem to be focused. I redirect the
student and read the rest of the directions. I set the timer for one minute and
tell the students to begin reading the passage. As all students read in their
head and follow along with their finger, I notice that one student is just
skimming with her finger down to the end of the passage and is not really
“reading”. After the timer goes off, I have all students circle the word that
they stopped on, assuming that they are being honest. I remind the students of
the importance of really reading the passage and not just pretending to make it
to the end of the reading. I now have two students that are not in the HELPS
group standing around my table wanting my attention. I try to answer their
questions while keeping my group on task. One student asks to go to the
restroom and the other student asks to switch out their books in the classroom
library. I make an announcement to the class as a reminder to “ask three
students before you ask me” if possible. I continue reading the next part of
the HELPS directions and have the students read the passage two more times. I
tell the students to circle where they stop each time. As the clock strikes
3:25, busses start to pull up in the bus loop. Our huge floor-to-ceiling window
in the classroom provides an easy distraction for students to want to look
outside and see what is going. The students in the group begin to ask if it is
time to go home. I tell the students they need to stay focused for a few more
minutes as we finish up the session. Once we finish, I collect the students’
reading passages. I have all other students put away their book boxes and I inform
the students it is time to pack up. As students are beginning to pack up, I
call the students in the HELPS group over one at a time. I have the student
read the passage once, while marking miscues along with marking where the
student stops after one minute. I spend one minute with each student. I
continue calling the seven students over, finishing just in time as car riders
are called over the announcements.
As you can
see, no session is perfect. Feeling rushed always seems to be an issue. There
will always be students that need me, students that interrupt, some that are
not focused, some that need redirecting, some that just skim the passage, etc.
This is all part of a normal first grade classroom. With kids this age
everything in a way seems unpredictable.
Devon,
ReplyDeleteThis has absolutely nothing to do with your research but students interrupting while I am working with a small group is one of the things that drives me the craziest. I had a great teacher tell me this trick my very first year teaching and I have taught it every year and it works great. If a student needs to use the restroom/get a drink of water during centers work (when I am working with small groups at my "moon" table) they stand by the door and must wait for me to make eye contact with them and shake my head either yes or no. I am able to do this in the middle of a lesson, running record, anecdotal notes, whatever and it doesn't distract the kids in my group at all. This definitely keeps the distractions down to a minimum.