Back to school - Testing, discussing and thinking about the future.

This is a quick update from my previous blog.

Upon returning to school I meet with my students. We discussed specific problems they have when reading. These range from not knowing the new words, losing their line, or forgetting what has happened in the story. I gathered their voice and made a record of the problems. These can be used when planning. Summarising and vocabulary work will be my initial focus with many of these students.

 Then I administered an eAsttle Reading Test. The results confirmed what I already know from the PAT data. Year 6 boys are generally achieving lower than the girls. Many boys were quick to finish the test which suggests that they were not reading closely. There are currently 10 boys sitting at 2B or 2P. My goal is to move these boys to 2A or 3B (an increase of 60 points in their scale score).

We had two lessons on reading habits and sustained reading. The students identified what they thought good reading habits were. These are:

• Sit away from distractions
• Have an interesting book to read
• Actually read the words
• Stay in the same space
• Be comfortable
• Get a book you can understand

Our first session was terrible. They were fidgeting and talking. There were arguments. Few students could sustain their reading for more than 5 minutes. That day I set the class up on epic.com. Students were able to sustain their reading for 15 minutes. There was a mixture of paper texts and digital texts. 

After reading Developing Strategies for Reading on TKI, I wrote out my generic questions for students to discuss during literacy circles and to help their reading reflections. These questions are:

• What have you been reading?
• What did you like about the text?
• What happened in the text?
• What are two strategies have you used to help understand the text?
• How did these strategies help you understand the text?
• What are two new words you encountered in your text?
• Where did you find the text?
• Would you recommend this text?
• What problems did you encounter in the text?

My colleagues Urmi and Paula have suggested that I add a prediction questions, increase the word identification to 3 words, and identify the main theme of the text (synthesis). I am aware that it will be necessary to focus literature circle discussions on key themes so each week may focus on specific questions.

My next steps are:

1. reread Effective Literacy Practise for Years 5-8 again
2. read Literacy Circles and their Improvement of Comprehension
3. Probe test target students
4. Make the prototype tool (release day)
5. Develop a two-weekly plan that allows for reading millage, guided/ targeted teaching and literacy circles