As a Teaching Learning Project (TLP), we are well underway with our data collection and the results have proved very interesting. Overall we are seeing students progressing through the reading levels and increasing their stamina rapidly. I had some great advice recently from Leanne Woodley, a Consultant from AIS, about mapping our journey against the Quality Teaching Framework for further evidence of our changes in practice and pedagogy and I look forward to our staff having a chance to look at that in Semester 2.
What is difficult to measure are the attitudinal changes in both, us as teachers and in our students, towards Literacy learning. Should anyone ask me to express these in numerical value then I shall be a disappointment to them! I know, that I know, that I know, that the change is HUGE! To say we are better Literacy teachers as a result of our research and implementation of Daily 5 and CAFE is simply the biggest understatement ever. We have a new professional language, we have a new understanding of methods of managing the Literacy session and if that wasn't enough, we also have a greater understanding of how children learn to read and write and what teaching strategies we can use to move them along.
Our students as well have a new language for describing themselves as Literacy learners. They have a new understanding of their responsibilities in the learning process and they have a whole new world of strategies to draw on as they practice reading and writing. When I hear a student tell me their goal for improving their reading and to hear them actually articulate the strategy they will use to achieve that goal....well, I just get a wee bit excited! To hear a student during read to someone ask their reading partner if they need time or a coaching session and then have them share possible strategies with their buddy....well, I just get a BIG bit excited! To see and hear them cheer in classrooms when their teacher tells them it's Daily 5 time...well, that's ENGAGEMENT!!!!
When I see and hear our Prep students, our 4 year olds talking about Daily 3 in the Prep class, I just become amazed at what our little ones are capable of. Last week I had a visit from Finn. He showed me his Daily 3 card with a stamp on each activity. He told me that for Read to Self, he read a story using the pictures. For Word Work, he wrote his name in the sand and for Work on Writing, he traced a hopping picture. Frankly, he blew me away! What a bonus for our Kindy teachers next year when these little ones come all prepared!
As we get ready to launch into a book study of CAFE and hear from our colleagues who are already on the CAFE path, I think it timely to celebrate our achievements. A huge thanks to all those educators out there on twitter who have set a great example for us, shared resources with us and answered our seemingly simple questions along the way. You have all been an invaluable support. To the most amazing staff in JS, your commitment to research, trialling, sharing and always seeking to be better teachers is simply outstanding. It's onwards and upwards Ladies!
Would love for you to all share your thoughts to date on our TLP. Just like the language we are teaching the students at the moment in evaluating lessons they are engaging in, let's go with:
3 what I love/learnt/went well things about Daily 5 and
1 would be even better if.....
Look out for chapter 1 of CAFE coming your way by Friday!
Deb
11 comments:
The Daily Five has revolutionised my attitude and approach towards the teaching of English. University left me feeling unequipped to teach this KLA and in the past I have felt that I have let my students down in this area.
Thanks to the Daily Five, I feel that each day my students are gaining new reading and writing strategies, they're engaged and taking more and more responsibility for their own learning.
It consistently amazes me that when I start the day with "it's time for read to self" the students are still enthusiastic and their attitude towards the Daily Five continues to be positive.
I'm looking forward to rereading the CAFE book and the Daily Five to refresh how I'm teaching them, and ensure that I'm on track with all the elements of the Daily Five.
It is great to see the kids motivated in Word Work time - loving the water writing. I've appreciated my stage teachers and the way they have worked together so beautifully to get the program off the ground. It has been incredibly freeing for me to see the kids have space to engage in their own learning. It's taken pressure off in terms of creating tasks to keep kids on task. Now the kids want to be on task. I love the link between working on writing and spelling. The kids have been so much more engaged in leaerning words because they are words that are meaningful to them. I'm having trouble making sure the kids doing partner reading are actually reading. I think i need to teach them how to pick a good partner that they are not just going to talk to!!!!! I love this program and wish id read this book earlier!
3 things I have learnt, loved, and thought went well about daily five are:
1. Watching the kids get excited about reading and sitting down with their friends reading a story. Some have no idea what they are reading but they are making up a story to the pictures.
2. The improement in writing through word work. Some of the activities are very simple eg.writing on white boards or painting their sight words but they spelling and letter formation is imroving out of sight.
3. Something that went well (which surprised me) was their story writing skills. We made some simple little books and the kids loved it. They had their own stories going and they all wanted to read them to me.
Something that would make my Daily Five activities work even better would be if I had more time. I find with all the other work we need to do for English in Kindergarten I'm finding it hard to fit everything in. We are only doing Daily four at the moment and I am looking forward to implement the final element.
3 things I love about Daily5:
1. I love that my literacy block now has a defined structure that both the students and I apply consistently. We all know our role within the lesson and this creates a smoother flow.
2. The combination of Daily 5 and CAFE have improved the way I teach reading drastically! Due to the high levels of engagement shown by students in Daily 5 activities I can now focus my attention on listening to students read and discussing their strengths and needs for improvement, rather than constantly interrupting them to manage the behaviour of the rest of the class.
3. I have increased my vocabulary and knowledge of reading strategies through use of CAFE and this has meant that I'm able to more effectively meet their specific needs.
1 thing I'm still working on:
I have increased my speed at conferencing students and am working on making it less teacher focused ie. me telling them what I think they need to work on rather then them identifying themseves what they need to work on. I am also struggling to find the time to fit in strategy groups on top of conferencing with each student regularly enough, fitting in mini lessons and the writing lesson.
Daily 5 has been fundamental in changing the way I teach. The structure of Daily 5 has meant that I have learnt how to stand back and allow my students to develop their own independence and management of their behavior towards their literacy. Daily 5 makes reading strategies accessible by giving students the language and explicit behavior they need to use them. The opportunity to then practice these strategies, by way of goal setting ensures that each student improves in their understanding of their reading and their writing skills.
I'm still working on extending this idea into writing, because I love the way these strategies work so effectively.
Loving Daily 5!
Kate
What I love/learnt/went well things about Daily 5
* I love how the students have so much more responsibility. They are all in charge of their own learning and the answers are no longer hidden. I love how they can assist each other because they now know different strategies to improve their reading, writing and spelling.
* I have learnt so much about moving students from where they are to where they need to be.
* I love how much the kids have improved. They have all increased their reading levels and their fluency and understanding is amazing.
Things to improve:
* I would love to come and see other teacher's rooms and see Daily 5 being done.
* I know I need to use the anchor charts more and revisit them regularly.
* Word work resources are also a problem sometimes because with things like shaving cream, they get used so quickly.
~ The main thing I love about Daily 5 in Junior School is just seeing students getting switched on to reading and books and loving it! I know this will sound terribly nerdy but when I look back on my own childhood, I think of many of my favourite books growing up almost like old friends!! I know having a love of reading from a young age helped me academically through school as well as many other facets of life... I just can't say how strongly I believe that children should be exposed to books and literacy and that the learning is SOOOO much more beneficial when there is engagement and interest on behalf of the child, the Daily 5 model is so motivating for the students. We can see it working! We can hear it working!
~ I have learnt so much about how Daily 5 works just by listening to my colleagues and engaging in discussions and professional learning... I have learnt not to overlook something just because it is new or scary, that it can work when we all work together! :)
~ I think what has worked really well about Daily 5 in our classrooms is having the CAFE / Daily 5 wall displays and charts set up. They are colourful and provide such a great point of reference for the students and visitors to the learning environment.
~ One thing I think would be even better if would be if teachers could visit each other's rooms during Daily 5 sessions (although I think this is in the works already)... I also think it would be great to have teach meets with other Daily 5 teachers in other schools for us to continue growing and learning because that can only enrich our pedagogy, practice and ultimately the learning of our students!
I love that my little Preps have more purpose and direction in their reading - they know what it looks like when someone is reading a book the right way and they are domonstrating more engagement in reading than I have seen in previous years
I love that my little Preps can tell me two ways to read a book . . . and they can do it
I learnt that explicit teaching of behvaiour and practice to build stamina is the crucial element that makes it work
I need to put a few more strategies in place and create some extra visual tools to support Prep with achieving a more fluid and consistent 'Daily 3' program
I started as a casual teacher at MACC. The daily 5 made it so easy to go into a class and know where the students are up to. The times were written on the board, the daily 5 posters were displayed throughout the classroom. I found it easy to pick up from where the teacher left and continue on with the English program.
Now teaching Kindergarten I've found the students love the daily 5. Students particularly love Word Work. Students love writing words with play dough, paint, small whiteboards, chalkboard, with textas, and with magnetic letters.
The Daily 5 really works its fun and engages the students.
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