CHAPTER 2 - The CAFE Notebook & Record Keeping Forms

If you know me, you know I love using post it notes (or sticky notes as ‘The Sisters’ call them). They work for a while but a better way of recording was needed. After many attempts at keeping vital information together, the Pensieve was born. It is divided into 2 sections.

Section 1 – Teacher Notes

This is for organizing and planning time with your class, noting when you will confer with individual students and small groups and track how often each student has been met with. A simple calendar is used to make appointments with each student. You may speak to individual students about another meeting time and penciling this time on the calendar.he calendar is also used for strategy group meetings

Keeping Track Form is a simple grid with the name of each student on it and the date of the conference. The goal is not to meet with each student the same amount of times, rather the meetings take place on a needs basis (in regards to reading & writing).

Strategy Groups Form is used to create flexible groups based on similar goals of students. These are not ability groups, rather groups made up of children working on the same strategy eg: fluency.

Section 2 – Dividers/Tabs

Each student has a section of the notebook (CAFÉ Menu, Reading Conference Form & Writing Conference Form are included). At the top of each form there is space to note each student’s strengths & goals. Space is available to record instruction provided to help the child meet the goal (individually, in small groups or with the whole class). Space is also available to record what steps the child will take with teacher assistance to meet their goal/s. As goals are achieved, extra pages are added.

I am very motivated to get this happening in my room (obviously much better than what I have been using).

What have you found works when using this style of record keeping?

What folders/dividers have you found most helpful and user friendly?

Kaelene Harris

LET'S GO TO THE CAFE!!!

I'm so excited about our next book study. Many of us went ahead and have been working with CAFE by Joan Moser and Gail Boushey for the past couple of terms because we simply couldn't wait!


The success of Daily 5 has led us to want to expand our learning and our quality teaching with our students.


Gail and Joan had a similar journey. They were so amazed, just as we are, at how independent their students had become and the extended amount of time their students had following the introduction of Daily 5 to practice reading and writing. They had time to spend with small groups and students who were struggling. They then started coming up with new questions in their teaching practice, just as we have been as well! So, they set about developing another research based methodolgy.


They had concerns and questions about assessment. They knew the skills that were being taught but were worried about how little follow through they seemed to have with students after connecting the two.


Gail and Joan have come up with CAFE as a basis of wha they felt was missing.


C - Comprehension
A - Accuracy
F - Fluency
E - Expanded Vocabulary


The acronym CAFE also reflected the desire to have a selection of strateges for students to choose between when accessing the menu.


Gail and Joan believed that this new structure added coherece to their work with students.


I really relate to the honesty of their accounts. I too relate to Gail's story of being great at taking assessment and tracking student progress and they challenge in taking it to the next level of really knowing what students needed to learn, it wasn't clear or concise or manageable. This frustration led to the following questions:


1. How do we organise all of our assessment data so that we can make it work for us?


2. How do we keep track of each child's strengths and goals so that we can maximise our time with each child?


3. What about flexible groups? Is there really a way to make them flexible?


4. How do we present strategies so that students can access them when needed and practice them until they are proficient?


Joan goes on to explain the simpleness of the CAFE approach, ith the core elements being;


1. Teacher keeps notebook with key record keeping forms including calendar, individual student conference forms and strategy group planners. (Kate and I have been experimenting with evernote on the Ipad, making this a digital notebook and I hear the Sisters are developing an App to help with this as well)


2. Students meet with teachers during literacy sessions to conference, be assessed, receive explicit instruction, set goals and to follow up on previous goals. The teacher keeps track of progress and schedules future conferences on the calendar and the student posts their reading goals on the CAFE chart.


3. Teachers plan small group instruction based on clusters of studens with similar needs in one of the CAFE categories. These groups are flexible and based on needs rather than reading levels.


4. Whole group insruction is based on needs that emerge for many students, often using texts from whole class read alouds or other shared material.


The research base for CAFE is quite extensive and outlined well in Chapter 1. I found it most interesting that Pressley and Taylor's research indicated that the more whole class teaching offered, the lower the academic achievement in any school. There is a growing body of research to support this.


Gail and Joan do not consider CAFE a finished product and acknwledge the work of teachers all around the world refining and enhancing the system they developed. My aim at MACC is that we would continue that journey and that we refine and develop CAFE to suit our context.


I look forward to moving through our book study and from Kaelene with a summary of Chapter 2. In the mean time, I'd love to know what you think about the following ideas.


Did Gail and Joan's story resonate with you? Have you had similar concerns?


What are you most excited to learn about as we go through this book study?


Happy Reading!


Deb

Continuing the Daily 5 Journey!

As we embark on a book study for CAFE I'd really love for us to keep talking Daily 5 and to continue sharing our learning and our trials and tribulations as we use it in our classrooms. Feel free to use this post to keep the converstaion and interactins going about all things Daily 5!

Deb