Skip to main content

Small Moments

The small moments in our classroom are so important!
They may not be part of our lesson plans or the curriculum guides. They are made up of what students bring to the table.
To ignore them would be to do students a disservice.

When we return to school on Monday after Spring Break, my students will have three days to prepare for student led conferences. A very short turn around time, to be sure! But, at this time of the year, when we've reached a comfortable rhythm of learning in our class, this is doable. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not wrong!


But, back to the point of this blog post - honoring the small moments in our classrooms.

A few days ago I asked my students to start thinking about what they might share with parents. One girl said that she was going to share a book she had read at the beginning of the year - When You Reach Me - and compare it to The One and Only Ivan, which she has just finished that day.



My first thought, and I'm not thrilled that this was my first thought, was that When You Reach Me is a F & P Level V while The One and Only Ivan is a F & P Level S. So, of course the first book would be challenging at the beginning of the year, while the second book would not be as challenging at the end of the year. Since we're all about levels at my school, this situation would not be viewed favorably by colleagues.

So, I will take this small moment and go with it.
I will celebrate my student's engagement with books.
We will talk about both books and dig deeper
about what she sees as the fundamental
differences between the two books.
I'll ask her to find another book she has read recently
that is also just right for her.
I will use this moment to investigate deeper.
To better understand my student as a reader.
To celebrate with her.

This small moment could yield big ideas about how my student views herself as a reader.

The small moments in our classroom are so important!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson.  He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade...
10 comments
Read more