CSI Literacy

Well I have had a couple of days to think about the session on Thursday about CSI literacy. It raised some interesting questions for myself and my beliefs about Comprehension instruction. Kylie did a fabulous job talking about how she implements the program.

The whole class verses group teaching debate was raised again for me. I had thought that this had been long put to sleep and group teaching was the way to do things. The argument that CSI could be a year long program with whole class teaching being enough is a little far fetched. What I do believe though is...

FINALLY! software/texts that focus on the reading strategies! What an excellent resource to support a varied reading program.

It has really made me think about the role of shared reading in my classroom. Shared reading depends on two things to me.
1) The teachers ability to model effectively reading strategies.
2) Resources that can be read by the whole class.

Shared books are clearly an effective tool in the junior classrooms in the modeling of effective decoding strategies so why would it be any different in the senior classroom when decoding meaning?
Big books in the senior classroom are really a joke. Not because of the the kids don't dig reading them but because there is lack of a variety suited to strategy instruction and senior students. Using online reading material is so much more work than it is worth, finding material appropriate for the students reading level, strategy focus, and content appropriateness. The only other method of shared reading would be in the group (with individual texts) or occasionally photocopying a text for the class. How often do we do this?

With digital projectors there is clearly value in having digital texts. CSI is one of the few resources for teachers I believe that has catered for the modeling of strategy instruction in the classroom.

Goals So far

I was looking at Kate's Blog and it got me thinking. I haven't clearly posted my Goals So far. So here they are to date. I will work to more regularly record them here in the future.

Goal 5: Improve spelling through the integration of Lexia in the classroom programme

Goal 4: Create a writing Blog to get more work published and focus feedback about writing

Goal 3: Get reluctant writers to present their work with podcasts

Goal 2: Students will write an explanation on a given topic and present with Garageband

Goal 1: To set up a purposeful class blog

Inquiry Session with Lynn

Had an excellent session today with Lynn. It was great to hear that we are starting to head down the right track now. Early on this year my understanding was all over the show. I now see that each term I get a better understanding of what I'm meant to be doing. It was also good to see some real next steps for myself in planning.

Walking the tight rope!

Well I have been able to gather a lot of interest in my blog. The kids really enjoy reading our blog and the blogs of others. On an average post I can easily gain 10+ comments. What's more there is a range of children commenting. Admittedly most commenting takes place in class, before school, lunch times or during reading time. I am now beginning to walk a tight rope.

About once a week or so I am offering prizes for the best comment. Sometimes its a chocolate bar. Sometimes a greenie. The kids are highly motivated, but now I am beginning to point out spelling, and fundamental grammatical errors in the judging process. The thought behind this is that surface features (my inquiry focus) are extremely important in getting your ideas across to others. For too long I think my kids have been able to explain their way through errors and on a blog you can't.

So here is my tight rope trick. pointing out the areas where understanding can be lost while at the same time maintaining highly motivated young writers.

P.S. this is a great little story that has a book

Questioning using Wall Wisher

Wonderings On-line

Well today I think the previous terms work is starting to pay off. We did some wonderings and well I think the quality on a whole isn't looking to bad. Obviously some are better than others but the work we did earlier in the year around the question tree and levels of questioning has meant the children are thinking harder about what they want to find out.

This time I have used my classroom wall and wall wisher to display our wonderings. On Wall wisher it was much easier organising the questions into their levels. Tomorrow morning I will get the kids to see where their wonderings are and if necessary move their little heads on the tree up a level or so.