Learn Like a Pirate: Student-Led Classrooms and Concerns

Ahoy mateys!  Every summer I read at least one professional development book for school.  This summer I was very excited to see that there was another book in the Teach Like a Pirate family: Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz.  I absolutely adored Teach Like a Pirate, so how could I not love this one?!  As I read this I realize it is PERFECT for the Leader in Me model at our school!  Paul in fact even mentions it a few times in the book ;o)

I'll be joining some other amazing teachers for this book study thanks to The Primary Gal!  Click on the images below to see what everyone else thought about these sections! I am going to try my best to condense these as much as I can since I combined them into one post.

What is a student-led classroom?
"A student-led classroom is one in which students make decisions and choices throughout the day without consulting the teacher."  Everyone in the classroom appears to have equal power and equal say in what happens, although they understand that you, as the teacher, have the final word.

For the most part, I thought I had a good chunk of my day as "student-led."  Even reading through some of the concerns, I didn't feel like a lot applied to me so I thought I had this in the bag!  I. Was. Wrong.  I'm on the right track for the most part but it is not as amazing as it could be and that is my goal for next year!  Paul gives you some really great tips, ideas, words to calm your nerves (lol) and videos to help you through this process.

Is my classroom a student-led classroom? Eh.

Yes, my students make decisions but they aren't always the best choices (GASP!) and they don't always think about how their actions will effect themselves, their peers, or even me.  Reading through this book has shown me by taking control they are really starting to see things in a new light.  They are actually taking control of the class (interruptions and all - this makes me a smidge nervous as there is a fine line between teaching moment and bad manners, but Paul says it works so I'm going with it!), teaching each other, helping each other and learning from one another!  I've got a lot of work to do but I'm very excited for the journey and I think my kids will be too!

Concerns
Don't worry, it's not a free for all!  You still have teacher led time (mini-lessons) and there is also collaborative work time and time to reflect or synthesize.  This is a scary endeavor to embrace wholeheartedly though, let's be honest.  We're teachers.  We're perfectionist and micro-managers by nature usually.

Here are some of the main concerns (not all mind you):

• "I'm worried about giving up control to my students." (Let's be honest... WHO ISN'T?!)
• "I can't do this.  I'm definitely going to make a lot of mistakes and fail." (Yep!  We sure are!  But that's okay because we can use them as teaching experiences and if your kids see that it's okay to fail and try again, they won't be as hesitant to embrace this experience with you.)
• "There's just too much at stake.  I can't risk this not working." (If you fail at a student-led classroom, you end up with a teacher-led classroom! At least you tried!)
• "This will be too much work.  I can't take on another thing right now!" (Hopefully your kiddos will take on most of it after a while.  That's the whole point.  Consider this the epitome of the "work smarter, not harder" saying.)
• "I'm overwhelmed.  I don't know where to begin." (Begin by getting this book! It's amazing!)
• "But won't my room get loud?" (I have a love/hate relationship with my loud room.  Love that they talk and collaborate and really, they are a little family because of it.  That being said... they talk and collaborate about things that are not necessarily academic or even what were working on sometimes.  You probably don't have kids like this in your room, lol.  I need to find my happy medium.  All in all, I'd prefer talking to no talking.)

There are many other concerns and Paul addresses them all beautifully in the book.  By the end of the chapter you have this wonderful self-confidence that you can do this... and you can!

This won't necessarily be easy.  It will take LOTS of practice for your kiddos to be comfortable making decisions without you.  They are used to "perfect classrooms."  Where the goal was to make the perfect choice, the perfect grade, etc.  Here, you want them to make good choices and do well, but you want to see improvement, growth, thinking, taking risks all while being comfortable enough to make those decision and feeling safe with their choices.  Make sure to show praise for making an effort, even if it didn't go as planned.  For this to work, your students need to feel safe with you (and not in a "I got your back in a fire drill" kind of way).  They need to know you care about them as people: how their soccer game went, what their hobbies are, working one on one with them throughout the week, etc.  If they know you care about them, they will strive to make this work.

Every day you'll want to provide learning opportunities and show them what a student-led classroom looks like.  Because as new as it is to you, it's definitely new to them too!  Some things, like the interrupting, you are going to have to show them when and what is appropriate to interrupt for and what isn't.  And this will take you more than one day.  More than one week even, but you can do it!  You will have some push back from your students, co-workers, maybe even admin.  It's going to take work but by the second semester, you'll see a student-led class in action (Paul says so, so I'm taking his word and keeping my fingers crossed)!

All in all I'm very excited for this journey and I hope you continue along with me and the other fabulous teachers over at The Primary Gal's blog.

Guiding Readers Ch. 3 - Guiding Emergent Readers

Ch. 3 in our Guiding Readers Book Study is all about the emergent reader.  To be truthfully honest, in fifth grade, we do not get a lot of emergent readers.  And by not a lot I mean none.  Now others might, but I have yet to receive one (which means all the wonderful teachers before me are doing an amazing job and I thank you for it).  I read the first page, which is three paragraphs and some bullets, and instantly thought, "WOW!  Look how far they have come by the time they get to me!"  In my mind I've always known where they start as readers, but seeing it all laid out like that and the activities really drove it home. 

I think one of my favorite parts of this chapter (and hopefully every other chapter) is that Lori Rog gives you Lesson Routines with different ideas of how to implement strategies and skills and Must-do activities for most of them also.  You have to look at all the Lesson Routines for emergent readers (* means that they have a must-do activity that accompanies it):

Working with Sounds

1. Picture Sorts*
2. Syllable Segmenting* 
3. Train Sounds*
4. The Sound Bus* (my favorite!)
5. More games for playing with sounds (4 total)

Working with Letters and Words

1. Alphabet Mats*
2. Letter Bags*
3. Name Games*
4. Letter-Sound Games

Working with Books

1. Show What You Know*
2. Parts of a Book*
3. Spaces around Words*
4. Print Matching*
5. Make Your Own Book*

Reading-Writing Connection

1. Shared Writing
2. Cut-Up Sentences
3. Writing with Pictures

LOOK AT HOW MANY THERE ARE!!!!  Remember, if you still don't have a copy of the book, you can read it online for free on the publisher's website :o)  You'll be able to see the description of every lesson routine above.  Now I won't post every lesson routine for every level of reader, but you just had to see what an amazing resource this book is already and it's only chapter 3!


The "light bulb" moments and key points for me:

• Certain words are pictographs in the reader's mind.  Just because they recognize words in one context does not mean they will recognize it in another (the example they gave was the word Crest on the toothpaste tube).
• Not necessarily talking about connections based on the cover because their thoughts won't relate to what the book is about and the conversation can go off topic.  Like a book with a sunfower on the cover and the title was  A Sun, A Flower.  Kids can go in all different directions but the book is about compound words!
• There needs to be A LOT of repetition!
• Guiding sequence for emergent readers only lasts about two days.  The texts usually only need that much time and you want to expose them to as many books as possible.
• Introdcing letter-sound correspondence is most effective in K-1 because they're the only age group with a larger speaking than writing vocabulary.  In K-1 when a student sounds out a word, they will most likely recognize it, but when an intermediate student sounds out a word, it is usually unfamiliar and they won't know what it means.
• Loved how she called the copyright the book's "birthday"

I would have absolutely LOVED to know some of these lesson routines when I was a Reading Assisstant! They would have helped me out tremendously. I do not know much about emergent readers as I have always taught intermediate but frankly the thought terrifies me, lol.  These teachers are really building a foundation where, for a lot of kids, there was nothing before.  This chapter was very helpful in my understanding and I can't wait to delve into the rest of the chapters as the reading process continues!

If you check out the Guided Reading link at the beginning of this post, you will find that our book study host Beth has compiled some amazing resources from other blog experts on guided reading.  Don't forget to also check out this chapter's host Jennifer from Rowdy in First and give her some love!

Sabra

Guiding Reader's Ch. 2 - Guided Reading Lesson Sequence

Stacy from Leading and Reading and Tori from Tori's Teacher Tips are both hosting Chapter 2 of Guiding Readers and it is all about the lesson sequence.  Be sure to check them out and give them some love (they also have wonderful freebies).  I am loving this book and the thought of guided reading!  Because let's be honest... I was not OVERLY thrilled with the idea of having to do Focus Groups and Guided Reading Groups next year in my reading block.  I was worried that it would be a little redundant but in actuality the two are very different and I am way more excited about the guided reading and letting the students take over!  Here is a break down of the sequence:

Day 1: text introduction and first reading - focus on basic accuracy and understanding
Day 2: rereading of text - focus on comprehension and word study
Day 3 (and sometimes more): rereading of text - extension of thinking, focus on text structures or writer's craft, often includes a writing experience

I know it seems obvious but sometimes we get caught up in everything else we have to do and planning for more groups just falls by the wayside but for this to be effective your lessons will need to vary according to the needs of the learners, the goals of the lesson, and the nature of the text.  And be flexible to spontaneous teachable moments!

I really liked the Three P's to Book Introduction!

1. Preview - It can be a one sentence summary or page by page picture walk (discuss what you see and introduce key vocab ONLY if the text does not offer enough context clues for them to figure it out).
2. Purpose - be upfront as to why we're reading that text.  You want students to set their own goals and be able to adjust their reading rate & style to the purpose of reading.
3. Prior Knowledge - what we already know about this topic, drawing analogies to another book, invite students to make a connection to a personal experience.  If they don't have the background info or don't know how to access it - Preteaching!

The "Light bulb" Moments for me:

• Text level and word level comprehension goals (I seem to mostly focus on text strategies as opposed to word, now I will def be adding those goals in!)
• "Being able to read a level 9 texts tells us some information about the reader but not what they need to get to level 10."
• Need easy-peasy texts, just like the shallow end when you are learning how to swim (She has THE BEST analogies, lol, very relatable).  Tough texts are for read-aloud and shared reading.
• "Must do" - practice what was learned in GRG before moving on to other independent learning routines
• Teachers are prompting, questioning, and explaining while students are reading!
• Tips, Tools, and Techniques: establish routines, minimize transition, eliminate interruptions (would LOVE this!), build in assessment (need to let go and realize that it is okay for us to devote instructional time to this), and manage materials.

Lori talks about some of her materials she manages and one of them is the Reader's Toolkit.  I loved the idea of this and will be creating my own!  Check them out tomorrow!

Sabra

Guiding Readers Chapter 1 - What We Know

Today it begins... my very first book study!  You should go check out Misty over at Think, Wonder, & Teach, she has done an amazing review of Chapter 1.  I also wanted to give you my thoughts on it, so here is my quick recap.  I'm still pretty new to teaching and luckily I have worked at some great schools that give us creative reign over our reading blocks.  That being said, the district is making a big push for Guided Reading this year and I wanted to know more about the specifics of it (because after reading chapter 1, the focus groups I was working with WAS NOT GUIDED READING).  It was purely working with a small group for 30 minutes on a focus skill that they needed.  Was it beneficial?  For the most part, yes, but after reading "you have two ears and one mouth," and realizing that I should be doing more listening and less talking in these groups I knew that they could be better.

I was really excited when I started reading this book because already from the first chapter there were things that I was doing in my classroom that I realized I could improve on and things that I was doing right (which always makes you feel good)!  One of the things that I'm excited about is our Reader's Workshop.  The studets write me letters once a week about what they are reading, their thoughts and feelings, predictions, using the strategy of the week, etc., and I write them back.  Definitely connecting their reading and their writing I feel!  Now I want to think of some more creative ways to incorporate writing.  If anyone has other ideas please let me know!

The "Light bulb" Moments for me:

• Guided Reading is the "We Do" of a lesson
• Independent learning should be student directed and engaging in what was practiced in guided reading groups - Reading, Writing, "Must-do" (Ch. 2)
• LOVED the analogy of the just right books to standing on your tiptoes!!!
• The 90/10 percent (challenging words) when put into context was an eye opener of how many words were too difficult for them to read on each page.  200 words on each page = 20 challenging words per page!
• Use easier text to reinforce strategies and skill and revisit the text
• When revisiting the text provide a different purpose each day
• Students have different ways of learning so why not different ways of thinking?  Don't get upset with the student who keeps on talking out their response - they are just thinking out loud.  Or the student who doesn't answer right away - they are just thinking internally for the right way to say it before they put their words out there. 
• Three or more 18 minute sequences of guided reading lessons with each passage (this made me feel better because in my mind the title made me think that it all had to fit in one session)
• The reading-writing connection helps them think about what they are reading

Those are just a few, haha.  The book is really great so far and I can't wait to delve more into it.  Remember if you haven't received your copy of the book yet, or just want to follow along, you can still go Stenhouse Publisher's website and read an online copy for free!  I would love to know what you all think so far so please feel free to leave comments (and don't forget to go give Misty some love too!).

Sabra

The Ladies of the Guiding Readers Book Study

Beth from Thinking of Teaching has posted a wonderful calendar on her blog to help you follow along on our journey.  Click on any of the buttons and be instantly taken to the blog that is hosting that chapter.  We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as well!

Along with Beth's calendar I have also created a bookmark!  Just cut it out and glue them back to back and you have yourself a new bookmark to help keep you on track.  If you open it in the PDF file, you can also click on the blog names/website address and be taken directly to that blog!  I hope you enjoy and visit all these wonderful ladies and their amazing blogs.

Happy Reading Y'all!

*If you have not yet received your copy of the book, you can follow along at the Stenhouse Publishers website (the whole book is online). Just click on the preview online button!*

Sabra

Summer Reading Linky

Well now that I am offically part of my first book study through the blog I figured why not join up to a linky party (or two)?!  One of my most favorite things to do of all time is READ!  My Kindle is the second best thing I've ever bought in my life, the first is our dog Bailey (if that tells you anything).  So I joined Mrs. Bainbridge's and Mrs. Stanford's linky parties and can't wait to hear what everyone else is reading to add it to my ever growing pile!

This summer there seem to be far more professional books in my pile than pleasure, but that doesn't seem to be bothering me.  That obviously means that I'm in the right profession!  So here is my summer reading list so far:


The Daily Five and CAFE (read this last year but totally worth a second look) by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

Guiding Readers: Making the Most of the 18-Minute Guided Reading Lesson by Lori Jamison Rog

(This is my book study!  I'll be reviewing chapter 6 on July 8th-11th)

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

Power Reading Workshop by Laura Candler

Whew!  I think that's it... I feel like I might be missing one but let's hope not, lol.  Now for the good stuff that keeps me sane when I just need a break from life:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Just finished it and LOVED it)

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (#2 in the trilogy)

Death Cure by James Dashner (#3 in the trilogy)

Susan Mallery's newest books - Let's face it, I love a good cheesey romance novel where I know there will be a happy ending and her books make me laugh out loud!  Just can't help but fall in love with her characters.

Get started on the 2012-2013 Sunshine State Books (15) - I can't let the kids beat me this year!

So there in all it's wonderful glory is my summer reading list y'all!  What are you reading this summer?  Any recommendations?

Sabra

Guiding Readers Book Study

I am excited to announce that I will be part of the Guiding Readers Book Study starting June 18th with Beth from Thinking of Teaching!  She is hosting but a lot of other wonderful blogs have already signed on to help out.  The TBA authors will be hosting the chapters and sharing their thoughts and ideas.  Beth will also be hosting a linky party for each chapter so that everyone can join in on the fun.  I can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks and how they plan to implement these great ideas into their classrooms!

We will be reading Guiding Readers: Making the Most of the 18 Minute Guided Lesson by Lori Jamison Rog.  I realize the book is not sold on Amazon (don't worry, I was also shocked to my core), but you can buy a copy, or the e-book, on the publisher's website, Pembroke Publishers.   

Hurry and get your copy today... The book study starts NEXT WEEK!!!!  Can you tell I'm excited? ;o)

Sabra