Amelia UoS Reflection

Something I worked on due to this class was the students use of sticky notes and discussing them during conferencing.  This helped me to see the growth of comprehension in one of the students.  This student is below standard for reading but making very good progress and continuing to move up reading levels.  When conferring with him and discussing the use of sticky notes I could see the progress he was making in comprehension and relating what we were doing with our mentor text.  He was using the sticky notes accurately.  He was marking places that gave him clues to the type of person his character was, recurring objects, and mood of the story.  I was very impressed with his progress and the gains he has made.     

UoS Libby

One thing I wrote about in my reflection of the UoS was my use of assessment. At the beginning of the year I did not do much assessment, instead I just sped along and went through each session assuming all students understood. Once I started diving deeper into the UoS, I realized the importance of assessment. I started creating small formative assessments that I could use at the end of each mini-lesson. I believe this affected my teaching style because I started learning how to modify lessons based on student results. It affected student learning because they were able to show what they know and I could focus on the areas that needed further instruction. As I have started my second unit, I have really been focusing on assessment. If even two-three students do not understand something we will go back and cover the topic again. This is something I plan to do for the rest of my teaching career. I am glad I have had the opportunity to observe the benefits of observation within the UoS. 

Karie UoS Reflection

What I have enjoyed so far about using the Units of Study with the Kindergarten class, is that they are already starting to see themselves as readers. The first few days of Reading Workshop, when I brought out books and had kids actually sit with their own books in their laps and were asked to look at them, I ended up having a few of the kiddos just completely refuse to pick a book and sit with it. I am now a few weeks into the units, and all of the kiddos know just what to do and ALL of them join in and are able to sit with a book on their own. (Of course we are still working on increasing their stamina!) And not just sit with it but read and reread it. They are starting to develop this sense of seeing themselves as readers, and that's so important.

The conferring piece has been, and still is, the biggest change for me as far as how I interact with students as they read. I had previously spent student's private and partner reading time with reading groups (with older grades), so adding that component with this group has been a nice addition, Although I am being more mindful of this aspect of the workshop, I still find it difficult in that I am working with young students that have shorter attention spans so it can still be a challenge to ensure that I routinely and consistently am able to get that piece in.

Shelby - (UOS) Reflection

Since I began  using the reading units of study, I have always known that one of the most important ways I could set the scene for our workshop time is to carefully plan overarching instruction.  Through this class and developing a greater knowledge of and experience with this curriculum, I have gotten to know my students more deeply and feel more confident to make careful decisions about how best to proceed from day to day.   All of this decision making and planning is enhanced by having time for reflection.  It's always so hard to have the time for reflection and even when given the time, it can be difficult to decide  how to best go about this task. Having the time for reflection and collaborating in class has helped me to deliver a higher quality of instruction. 

I have so many different takeaways from this class, but the two that stand out the most are using the learning progressions with the students and bands of text complexity. Immersing the students in work with  micro-progressions has helped to provide suggestions for ways they can reach reading goals. Also, using writing samples helped to show them how others might have reaced similar goals. These concrete examples provided individualized and doable ways for them to make their own reading lives stronger.  

I also began using information from the bands of text complexity when working with small groups and individuals.  I specifically focused on using this with two readers who seemed stuck at their current level.  Feeling more knowledgeable of instructional focuses for teaching them to read at the next band has helped take the guess work out of planning for their guided reading group.  

UoS (Sarah)

I noticed the affect the workshop model had on a small class I had last trimester. One student in particular made such great strides in his work, and I could see the influence this success had in his belief in his abilities. Following the structure helped him and others focus on the specific work for that day. I also think reflecting on the progress they made, using conferring as a way to talk about their improvement, allowed them to verbalize and listen to themselves talk about their success. After seeing this one student grow over the trimester, and moreso his pride in his work, I’m definitely going to continue to use the workshop model and conferring with students about their progress. It was incredibly beneficial and I’m really looking forward to using this in my new seminars. 

Laurie---UoS
Even though I have used the Units of Study for three years over the past months I took a new look at the units and how best I can use them with my students.  I really enjoyed delving more into conferring.  I feel as though this is an area of my teaching that needs a boost.  I am forcing myself to try a little bit of all the ideas given so that I can find the one that works best for me and my current group of students.  I received so many great ideas about different tactics/strategies that I tried using.  I thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk to fellow primary grade teachers and share thoughts, ideas and  strategies.    

Kristina- UoS Reflection

One of the biggest take-a-ways I got from working with the UoS was the idea of book clubs instead of book groups. I have always allowed my students choice when they were silent reading and then I would put them in small book groups to meet with at a certain level to focus on specific skills. Now, I am excited to revamp my "book groups" to allow more student choice. Today, after Thanksgiving break, I reviewed some reading expectations with my students and talked a bit about some new expectations I will have for them now that we are 1/3 of the way through the year. Almost all them seemed eager and willing to rise to the occasion. They got really excited when I told them I would be going to the book room to pull out some collections of books for them to choose books from. I can't wait to start book clubs!