Kids First - Rethinking Social-Emotional Practices in the Classroom

Read this fascinating series of posts as two teachers Christine Hertz and Kristi Mraz) rethink, re-do, and troubleshoot their classroom management approaches and systems, getting rid of clip charts, stickers, and time-outs.

• Post # 1: Kids First from Day 1: Life After Clip Charts   
• Post #2: Three Essential Social-Emotional Practices for the New School Year and
• Post #3: Same Problems, Different You: Life After Clip Charts

From the American Association for the Advancement of Science

This is an outstanding, free resource for science teachers: http://assessment.aaas.org/topics
Click on a topic to get key ideas.  Click on a key idea to get sub ideas AND a list of typical misconceptions.  As Jay McTighe noted in his 9/23/10 tweet, "...a science misconception database.
An excellent source to inform and guide pre- and formative assessments. Please share this with all secondary teachers!"

Getting Second Graders Reading More Fluently

            In this article in The Reading Teacher, Eun Hye Son and Maggie Chase (Boise State University) report on an idea they implemented with a second-grade teacher: improving fluency by having pairs of students read carefully chosen books to each other and then assessing how they did. The books were chosen with these criteria in mind:

-   The plot is driven by two characters who talk to each other throughout the story.

-   The book is funny and the characters are likable.

-   The speaking roles between the two characters are fairly balanced.

-   It’s clear which character is talking based on graphic features or font color.

-   The readability is appropriate for beginning readers, with ample use of sight words.

-   There are abundant text features to support reading prosody.

-   Fonts are used to indicate tone (e.g., a bold font when a character is yelling).

The teacher and researchers introduced the paired reading process by reading one of the chosen books (Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching) to the class, having students discuss and retell the story (beginning, middle, and end), modeling how two readers would read the book aloud to each other (the adults made intentional mistakes), then modeling how they would assess each other, using a three-point scale (Just right, I still need some work, I’m not there yet) on these aspects of fluency:

-   I’m not too fast and not too slow. (Pacing)

-   My voice goes up and down to show feeling. (Expression)

-   I obey the punctuation marks. (Observing punctuation)

-   I read all the words correctly. (Accuracy)

-   I understand the story. (Comprehension)

Note that reading speed is not assessed. The authors believe a common misconception is to conflate speed and fluency. They steer clear of timing readers’ speed and don’t push students to read faster. “Instead,” say Son and Chase, “we set out to purposely focus on reading for enjoyment, but with an emphasis on comprehension, which would lead to prosody.”

            Next, students were paired up (by reading levels, languages spoken, personality, motivation, or randomly) and the teacher set up the paired reading activity as one of several stations through which students would rotate during the literacy block. The instructions for that station were:

-   Decide who will read each character.

-   Select the appropriate character stick (to point to the line being read).

-   Begin reading, helping each other as you go.

-   When done, use the self-assessment rubric to evaluate the reading.

-   Reread the book, practicing to improve prosody.

-   Switch roles and read again.

When all students had rotated through the paired reading station, the class debriefed how it went and in subsequent days, the teacher introduced different books. Son and Chase report that students loved the paired reading, sometimes rereading a book as many as 15 times.

Over time, students might be ready to do Readers’ Theatre performances of books for their classmates, the principal, other classes, or parents.

Here are books the authors recommend for paired reading stations in primary-grade classrooms:

-   There’s a Giraffe in My Soup by Ross Burach

-   You Are Not a Cat! by Sharon Flake

-   Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching by Laura Gehl

-   Peep and Egg: I’m Not Trick-or-Treating by Laura Gehl

-   You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman

-   Tiger and Badger by Emily Jenkins

-   Snail and Worm: Three Stories About Two Friends by Tina Kugler

-   Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door by Sabine Lipan

-   This Is My Book! by Mark Pet

-   I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty

-   I Don’t Want to Be Big by Dev Petty

-   There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems

-   Elephants Cannot Dance! by Mo Willems

-   Waiting Is Not Easy! by Mo Willems

-   I Will Take a Nap! by Mo Willems

-   The Thank You Book by Mo Willems

“Books for Two Voices: Fluency Practice with Beginning Readers” by Eun Hye Son and Maggie Chase in The Reading Teacher, September/October 2018 (Vol. 72, #2, p. 233-240),

https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/trtr.1700; the authors can be reached at eunhyeson@boisestate.edu and maggiechase@boisestate.edu.


(Please Note: The summary above is reprinted with permission from issue #754 of 
The Marshall Memo, an excellent resources for educators.)