Chapter+5

===//1. One of the gifts this text provides us is the ability to think about the numerous structures available to us in a reading workshop and fit those within the lenses we already use when looking at readers to plan next steps of support. Book clubs and partnerships are two of these invaluable structures that we set up to provide our students multiple opportunities to read, think about and talk about books. We can use these structures to our benefit when we consider the multiple lenses of skill/strategy instruction within readers’ independent reading levels, within the current unit goals, and based on what we know about students as readers. Whew! That is a lot to hold on to in our minds! Thankfully, we don’t have to do so. Thankfully this text provides some concise support to plan for instruction through a couple of these lenses using the structures of partnerships and clubs.//===

//What resources or detailed descriptions stood out to you most across the pages of this chapter? How do you think they might enhance your work this upcoming school year with readers?//
Chapter 5 from Bobbi Friend #1 – I plan to implement partnerships in my classroom this year. Last year when I was using reader’s workshop, I did not use partnerships very well. I did not do a very good job matching my students up with partners that would work well together and did not cooperate with each other enough for the experience to be as meaningful as it should have been. According to Jen, “Many children need modeling prior to being able to participate productively in a social setting. This is especially important when we are not right next to them. Independently carrying on a conversation or listening and responding to a peer can be a challenge if we don’t provide initial instruction. Some clubs have difficulty because they aren’t adequately prepared to discuss a book.” This section spoke to me because I believe that is what happened in my classroom last year. I did not prepare my students well enough and they were therefore not prepared to be productive members in their partnerships and clubs. In addition, Jen states, “Children also need supportive practice while in partnerships and clubs.” I did not do a good job teaching students what to do during their partnerships either. I will need to focus more on the process of talking and listening and teach how they need to work with partners in order to make it a productive and meaningful use of time.

I was talking to my colleague about partnerships and clubs. She doesn't use the Readers' Workshop per say. Her curriculum has some of the structures. I was asking her about how she sets up her partnerships/clubs. I like her approach to partners and clubs but I want to step up the game. I chatted to her about creating lessons that teach the social factors of partnerships/clubs. Also giving children a chance to practice this skill. My partnerships/clubs will start in Unit 2. I do want to keep my partnerships across the curriculum. Based on my research I am hoping my partnerships will be based on mutual interest or even skill development. The neatest thing we talk about was the "conferring" during this partnership. I can do it.

Margaret Fox

I would like to use partnerships differently in my class this year. In the past, I have partnered up a higher level student with a lower level student. I thought this would be a good idea so one could be more of a leader and mentor of the group. I am going to try pairing the children at the same levels. I have never really had them reading in partnerships with activities, listed like a menu, to do with together. I know that the youngers have a reading span of up to about 15 minutes which means I need to travel around quickly so I can support them and make sure they are engaging in book discussions. I hope this helps them to reflect more about the books they are reading. (My main goal for partnerships is to make sure I provide initial instructions and that they are adequately prepared to discuss their books.) Ronda I need to make better use of my partnerships this year. I am new to RW but I have always established partnerships for various activities throughout the day. I need to be more mindful of choosing partners keeping their reading levels in mind not just thinking behavior management. I think the idea that I thought was great from this chapter was the "menu" for the partnership to use as a reminder of the work that they need to be doing. I am very visual so this would also be helpful to me as I move around to coach the students providing me with the activities they have been taught. I hope this tool will help them use a variety of stretegies and not just have the same conversation for every book that they read. --Jodee Tuttle

My experience has been somewhat limited with partnerships. I have tried high-low partnerships but they rarely seemed productive. Either the high partner was bored or unable to find a middle ground with the low, or they were unable to work together. Probably the biggest problem though was my failure to give enough support. I know I only minimally coached and modeled, and looked at it as a social issue that we spent a lot of time on,"Just working together, and getting along with one another". I see now I should've used specific strategies and coached one small piece at a time. I think it will be much more successful. On **__p.132 Interactive Read-Alouds,__** "the purpose of the read-aloud is to help children interact with the text, with the teacher, and with each other." made think of ways I can make my read-alouds more productive and efficient. Jen goes on to say,"During an interactive read-aloud, I pre-plan, with clear goals in mind, places to stop and model my thinking, or think aloud, as well as places for the children to talk to a partner, or "turn and talk" this was as far as I usually went in the past. I see an opportunity this year though to go deeper with my teaching by using the **//Read-Aloud Prompts Figure 5.3 on P.132.//** Mike I think the point that stuck with me the most during this chapter is how important the modeling is to teach children how to have productive conversations around a common book. The author talks about and shows us how she explicitly models how students might "talk" during their book clubs. I like how she created menus for groups so they could remember some of the skills they had been taught and focus on using those skills in their groups. I loved the "push the belly" inferencing tactic...very creative and very useful! Last year I talked to several of my workshop teachers and my Literacy Coach about the book by Fountas and Pinnell called __Continuum for Literacy.__ I love the author's description of how this book could be a useful teacher tool when identifying what to look for from a group of level D readers or a group of any level reader. I plan to have my Literacy Coach use this book as a "show and tell" during a staff meeting this year to teach my staff how significant a resource this could be. Carol Dawson

I agree with Carol that the modeling Jen put in place seemed to be the foundation for the conversations in book clubs. I appreciated how she scaffolded the learning of conversational skills through whole-class interactive read-alouds, then book clubs with a read-aloud, then with book clubs or partner work. Another theme that struck me was how she mentioned some obstacles I have faced with their conversations being flat: announcing what they think but not responding to each other's thoughts and making comments on the literal level of the text. Most of her lesson examples helped foster deeper thinking, understandings, and conversations that would help the students move past the literal understandings and more into personal interpretations and inferences about the books. ~ Stephanie Benedict //added whole-class conversations into your work a few times a week, maybe you’ll work on helping your students develop and linger on one line of thought for extended amounts of time. In defining a goal for interactive read-aloud and/or whole-class conversations, you may choose to speak specifically to the proficiencies you hope to scaffold your readers toward and/or some of the support along the way that you plan to provide.// Chapter 5 from Bobbi Friend #2 – I plan to use interactive read-aloud on a daily basis in my classroom. Last year, most of my interactive read-aloud choices were chapter books with discussion points that served as teaching points. I would choose a book related to a content topic that I was teaching in my classroom. When introducing new topics, it makes sense to me to use interactive read-aloud to help teach about that topic while also enhancing reading instruction through the interactive piece. When I choose books for sixth grade, I plan for my read-aloud to be based on different genres that I plan to teach through reading clubs. My read-aloud will be very brief (approximately 5 minutes at the beginning of each class), and very meaningful. I plan to use the skills that I teach in read-aloud to scaffold the skills that I will teach in my genre based units. I believe that by using a planned approach to the read-aloud it will be a worthwhile use of my time. Jen writes, “Researchers have long regarded read-aloud as an indispensable part of the school day, with some recommending several opportunities each day for teachers to read aloud to students from a variety of genres”.

On p.132,"Researchers have long regarded read-alouds as an indispensable part of the school day, with some recommending several opportunities each day for teachers to read aloud to students from a variety of genres." I see this as the springboard for me to extent read-alouds across the curriculum and to also really solidy our procedures and predictable framework by using the same :Connect-Explain-Engage- and Link structure for most of my lessons. Following one consistent pattern will be easy for my students and myself to plan and predict what is next, and build upon our classroom expectations. I felt the Chapter Introduction is one strategy I want to try to incorporate into my Social Studies lessons. Mike As a teacher, I was doing a lot of interactive Read Alouds but I really like how Jenn identified for very different promts to use during a read aloud to keep a nice variety for various learners. I often used a "turn and talk" or "think aloud" while I did read alouds. If I were still in the classroom, I would make more of a connection between my reading and writing with ideas like "stop and jot" and giving kids access to a reading journal as a place to record thoughts they had while reading to save for sharing with their peers or with me. The "stop and act" idea is brilliant! What a fantastic idea to have kids really synthesis what is going on in the story or what the characters might be thinking in the story...great retelling and inferring and great for allowing some creativity and movement. I think this variety in whole class modeling would serve the children well in their independent work as well. Carol Dawson

I have used reading partners in the past. I thought I modeled what partner reading should look like and sent them off to read. After reading chapter 5 I can see I sent my students off not prepared to work together. I see this important part of our reading needs very detailed support and lots of engagement to be successful. I plan to model and coach my students until I can see the understanding is present in their work. Deb McLeod

This chapter gives so many succinct summaries on the club topics. Plus it breaks down the ides to grade levels. It will be such a good resource for assist Teachers who have specific questions on specific topics. Like the read aloud section explains the interactive read aloud. This cites the research then goes into the real meat of the work. The stop and jot which will read them in their independent reading journals. The stop and sketch which will assist them in the retells for comprehension wince it focuses on visualize. One other I will mention is turn and talk which help students summarize and formulate their ideas. Kdn

===//3. What is your current role when students are talking about books? In looking at the four methods of teaching into conversation on pages 147-150, are you encouraged to try new methods or adjust the level of support you gradually will provide for your partnerships and clubs? If you are planning any changes in your methods, what do you hope the specific results will be for your students? How will you measure their growth as thinkers and conversationalists around literature?//=== //Today, during our face- to - face a comment came up that we sat back and addressed. As I reflected this evening I know I will need to inbed in Unit One whole class conversations off of read-alouds. This will be used to give students the opportunity to practice a conversation about literature. This will give me the opportunity to listen and prepare minilessons directed at the challenges heard or observed. I will then inbed in Unit Two moderate support, because this is when I will setup my partnerships for the first Reading Club.My goal will be four Reading Clubs this year. My notes will be an indication as to growth of their experience to independence. //

Margaret Fox

My current role when students are talking about books is to walk around and monitor. Sadly, it was mostly to deal with behavior issues because I didn't have established expected behaviors and I didn't have activities that supported the skills that they needed to practice. I really fell short in this area and the partnership results proved it as most of the students weren't actively engaged in reading and discussions. I need to change "how" I teach. I don' t use my prompts in a productive way that forces the children to take on the "language of conversation." I want to decrease my support sooner and have them become move towards begin independent conversationists. I will measure their growth as thinkers and conversationalists by monitoring and the notes I take. Ronda

Reflecting back on last year I think I mainly provided example and explanation along with demonstration. I did not do a good job at sccafolding the students toward independence-I had never heard of "ghost partner" or "proficient partner." I was "stunting" the class' growth because I didn't have a strategy to continue them in their growth toward independence. With what I now know I will do a better job from now on. Like Rhonda said I often moved around putting "fires" out rather than listening in on conversations. I also need to keep notes/records on partnerships rather than just keeping track of if they work well together or not. My goal throughout all 4 of the book studies is to keep better records that will help in my planning of instruction. --Jodee Tuttle

Classroom management is always an issue when the students don't feel like they are being asked to be accountable. I failed miserably at keeping my students and myself accountable and engaged in "deeper thinking" about literature. I hope to do a better job this year. I have organizational issues, so I'm hoping there will be some check-lists or forms available to help me keep on track for each part of my reading lessons. Keeping better records is my goal also. Anyone have an easy form to share to help with that? Mike

In response to Ronda and Mike regarding how much of your time is spent on management...I really recommend checking out the "Daily 5" book for some help in establishing early routines in your reading time. This book talks about how to build stamina in students and it also really zeros in on establishing routine and not letting kids practice bad behavior during your reading time. Carol Dawson

My current role when students are talking about books is as a listener. I monitor partner converstaions and talk one-on-one as they share their reading experiences. I was not aware of these methods of conversation support. I have used the proficient partner method and have had good success in expanding partner book talk. Now I know what it is called! I am in the same boat as Ronda and Jodee when it comes to behaviors. This year I plan to practice procedures to make sure there is a clear understanding of what is expected. I will measure student growth through their conversations and notes I have kept. Deb McLeod

My methods will probably change a little as I switch this year from 2nd back to Lit Coach. I like to use the ghost partner in my classroom. It seemed like an efficient use of my time. This I will continue to use to model the positive constructive talk—the whispering into students ears while teacher observe. The proficient partner—this I generally only used when I was a Title I teacher. Now again I will have the flexibility to model in the classroom and join a specific group of book club members and demonstrate to both teachers and students. The other ways I would use from time to time to model in rooms per the need. KDN

= =

//In addition to the questions and thoughts above, here is a place to post our other ideas and burning questions from chapter five, if any..//.
This chapter made me think about how my intervention sessions are an avenue for struggling readers to comfortably practice having substantial conversations about books that would hopefully transfer to partner work and book clubs in the classroom. As I think about my teaching, I realize that I tend to lead the discussion with prompts, questions, thinking-aloud, and encouragement for multiple student responses. It is really only two-sided because even when I ask all of them to respond to the same question, they are answering me, not responding or building on one another's responses. When they do respond to each other, it's amazing how much deeper the conversation goes! I would like my sessions to look more like a book club, where I might have some leading questions, but a majority of the conversations are the students thinking and responding to another student. Jen taught me that I will have to spend time modeling what good discussions look like, and scaffold their learning and monitor application of the skills. ~ Stephanie