Guided Practice for Guided Reading

One of my favorite online teaching resources is The Teaching Channel, a collection of videos, teacher Q&As, and other helpful tips on teaching. It has proven a particularly useful way for me to make sense of the multiple strategies, theories, and terms we have encountered during the course of our program. I thought it might be useful to the rest of the class to share what I found on the site about guided reading, one of the key elements of a comprehensive literacy framework discussed in Chapter 5 of Johnson and Keier's "Catching Readers Before They Fall" (2010). 

As Johnson and Keier tell us, guided reading is the practice of reading texts with children that are are appropriately challenging for their instructional level. The reading lists four important factors that we are to pay close attention to to support our struggling readers, including how to give supportive book introductions, choose a focus for a guided reading lesson, and how to schedule groups so struggling students get the attention they need. While I was not necessarily confused by the information presented in the text, as someone who learns best by interacting with and watching others, I wondered if The Learning Channel had a video that might help solidify my understanding. As it turns out, they have a whole series on guided reading! You can watch the overview of the series here.

Here, I'd like to focus on one episode of the series, "Small Group Guided Reading." (I'd embed the video if I had any idea how...) In this short video, Ms. Ogier conducts two meetings with small groups to give them explicit instruction to improve their reading skills and processes. One of the most helpful aspects of the video, I think, is the opportunity to observe the kinds of language Ms. Ogier uses during her instruction. That is, exactly how she points out what her students do well and how she supports them when their reading goes astray. For example, Ms. Ogier points out a successful strategy a student uses, saying:

Good job.  I like how April ... swapped the words right there, but then when she kept on reading, it didn't make sense, so she went back and she made it make sense.  Good. Good readers do that.     

The video also provides some insight into another aspect of guided reading--scheduling reading groups. Ms. Ogier explains:

During Guided Reading ... two things are happening. I'm pulling groups of scholars to directly meet their needs, and then the rest of the students are rotating in reader's workstations and working independently while I'm meeting with the Guided Reading groups.

Reading text about the action seen the video lessens its impact to be sure. However, in watching the video, we are provided a means of experiencing the clamor of a busy classroom and a few ways we might manage to tame it. And even affect student learning!  

A note: This video shows the guided reading practice of a fifth grade classroom. Although a grade or two beyond our current interests, I think the practices and strategies demonstrated in the video are still worthwhile.

Another note: I really love how she addresses her students as "scholars." I'm definitely stealing that.

References:

Johnson, P., & Keier, K. (2010). Catching readers before they fall: Supporting readers who struggle, K-4. Stenhouse Publishers.

  

Community Literacy Dig: On the Bus

For the Community Literacy Dig project, our group decided to ride the city bus. Our rationale for choosing the bus was twofold. First, in our mid-size midwestern town there are no other options for public transportation. For families and individuals lacking their own reliable transportation, the city bus is a central method of travel to and from work, school, and other social, economic, and cultural pursuits. Second, the bus looms large in children's imaginations. For example, the song, "The Wheels on the Bus" has been a favorite childhood ditty for generations, and "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems is a popular, award-winning children's book. Indeed, the city bus (not to be confused with its close cousin, the school bus) is frequently included in children's songs, literature, and other media. As a result, the city bus is a unique environment to observe literacy events situated in students' real lives.     

Our group (David, Matt, Matt, Vincent, Yiding, and myself) met at the downtown bus depot at 2 pm on a Tuesday. Upon boarding the bus (and spending some time at the depot) it was clear that our rationale for riding the city bus would have to be amended from "a unique environment to observe literacy events situated in students' real lives," to "a unique environment to observe literacy events situated in some students' real lives." Bus riders, as it turns out, are not representative of the population of our mid-size town as a whole. Although we observed variation in race and gender, bus riders (at 2 pm on a Tuesday) appeared to have the same low socio-economic status (SES). We inferred their low SES from their speech (lots of talk about money), hygiene, and material goods. For example, one man used towels instead of blankets to shield his baby from the cold.

Our group noted that there were two different ways to observe literacy on the bus. The first was to consider the types of literacy one would need as a first-time bus rider. The second was to imagine the types of literacy one uses as a frequent bus rider. As a first-time rider, one would be more likely, we felt, to take note of the various safety warnings and instructions posted throughout the bus. This would, for example, require reading short, declarative statements, such as "pull to signal," in either Spanish or English. One must be able to interpret that the signal in question alerts the driver and is required to stop the bus. A frequent bus rider, on the other hand, would likely know how the bus "works" and not process the texts around the bus.

We also discovered that the literacies involved in knowing how the bus "works" operate differently than the literacies required to know where exactly you would like to depart the bus. If you have ridden a bus in another city, you likely know how to ride the bus here--like the frequent riders, you will pay little attention to the safety or instructional texts on the bus. If you are new to the route or the city, however, we felt you would use a map, converse with a neighbor, read street signs, or watch for landmarks to make your way on the bus. The literacies involved in knowing when you'd like to get off the bus, then, can again be divided into two types: literacy for first-time route riders and literacy for frequent route riders. To ensure they board the correct bus, first-time route riders begin interpreting bus routes and maps before they step foot on a bus. Once on the bus, these riders must still connect the progression of the bus through the town to the features of the map. Conversely, frequent route riders are unlikely to use a map to locate their desired stop.  

In thinking about how to connect our bus ride to the Powell and Davidson article (2005), I was struck by the idea of how students might reimagine the bus as a place of empowerment. Powell and Davidson mention the efforts of several educators, including John Gust and Sandy Adams, to link literacy and students’ sense of efficacy by helping them to recognize their capacity for solving real-world problems. In these examples, students transform playgrounds and endeavor to save a mountain from strip mining. How would these same students reinvent the rules of the bus? How would they map our town? Would they, for example, devise routes that only went to parks? Or insist every route go by a park? How would students invite you to signal for your stop? Would saying "please" and "thank you" play a role?

As it currently exists, riding the city bus is frankly a depressing endeavor. The depot is dingy, riders complain to one another about their place in the world, etc. Riding the bus is not nearly as fun as the children's song implies it will be, and I truly do not know why a pigeon would want the job as bus driver in the first place. The changes children might make to the all-too-real-world activity of riding the bus would, I think, empower not only themselves, but bus riders in general. Instead of being a dreary means of moving from Point A to Point B, the city bus could be the beacon of possibility children's media purports it to be.

References:

Powell, R., & Davidson, N. (2005). The Donut House: Real World Literacy in an Urban Kindergarten Classroom. Language Arts, 82(4), 248.

Learning How-To from YouTube

I like to learn new things. Most recently, I've been learning how to restore wood furniture. I've completed two dressers, a bookcase, a few coffee tables, and a sofa table. I've also refinished a few other pieces that aren't as easy to define--a one-drawer farm-ish side table and a media cabinet-type unit I use as a liquor cabinet. This summer, I'm going to tackle my biggest project yet: a pedestal table with five chairs.  

When I decided I wanted to learn how to restore furniture, I didn't consult a book, a manual, or a person. Instead, I turned to YouTube. With over 77,000 videos returned when searching for "how to refinish furniture," it would seem I'm not alone.

Refinishing furniture is hardly the only skill one can learn from YouTube. From how to roast pumpkin seeds to how to make a PDF, the user-generated content on YouTube explains it all. According to YouTube, over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month—almost an hour for every person on Earth (2014). While not all of these hours are spent watching how-to videos, the rise of YouTube as a resource for building knowledge and understanding across multiple content areas creates a variety of questions. What does it mean, for example, to understand a process laid out in an instructional YouTube video? How does it differ from understanding the process itself? What exactly is the relationship between viewing a YouTube video about roasting a pumpkin seed and understanding how to roast a pumpkin seed?

Still more questions occur when one considers the relationship between YouTube instructional videos and literacy (broadly defined). The types of knowledge and understanding required to make sense of what viewers encounter on YouTube extends beyond mere content--users must assess the accuracy of video content, determine the trustworthiness of the source, and align new knowledge with previous knowledge. These and other issues would seem to be contained within the idea of literacy 2.0, which represents the multiple ways of making meaning in the modern world. How literacy 2.0 affects school-aged children is of particular interest here. Indeed, scholarly attention to children's viewing digital media, like YouTube, is prolific. Thus far, however, focus on the relationship between YouTube instructional videos and children is less so. (I'm no expert, but after some digging on Google Scholar, I feel confident making this assertion. Please, feel free to correct me!)

One can imagine a number of questions related to YouTube instructional videos and children worth investigating. We know new media present children with multiple entry points for learning--what is the role of instructional videos in this context? How exactly do children use instructional videos? What does engagement with instructional videos look like?

Based on my own experience with YouTube instructional videos, I cannot help but wonder how I might incorporate them into my teaching. I learned how to refinish furniture. What might my students be able to learn?