Being involved in this reading and writing course has fundamentally impacted my teaching of 8th and 9th grade students. There have been some relatively easy transitions, such as adding more choice in my classes, conferring more often, and adding read aloud texts. However, some transitions have been more difficult. For me, I have struggled the most with following the mini-lesson format presented in the Calkins' books, yet I see improvements every week!
The struggle for me is keeping the mini-lesson short and to the point. I always want to spend an exorbitant amount of time in front of my students showing them the teaching point. As I ponder the reason for this, it seems to go back to when I was in college and when I was a student teacher. The thought was always that the educator was supposed to be in the front of the room, and that learning happened the most in those moments. I have had to change my thinking substantially in order to understand that the real teaching happens when the students are working on their own and when I can work with them one-on-one. Yes, conferring has always been an aspect of my teaching, but it is now an even more essential component.
My mini-lessons are much shorter now and more concise. Although there are still days where they seem to take too long, I continue to notice this more and work to get better. In the end, isn't the pursuit of improvement the essence of being a strong educator? This is my "aha" moment.
It's interesting to hear what the challenges are with the units from an upper middle school/high school teacher. I don't remember ever conferring with my teachers in upper grades, but thinking back, I really think I would have appreciated that focused attention to my individual goals and progress. Your students must really be benefiting from this shift in teaching on your part!
ReplyDeleteI am trying really hard as well to cut down my mini lessons to 10-15 minutes. It is a challenge, but very important for the sake of getting the students off reading and practicing the skills we have discussed. I also have a couple of students who receive services a good portion of our independent reading time, so I need to work hard for that time frame so they can get to independent reading as well! But yes, acknowledging that we have things to improve on and attempting to make those improvements shows that we are striving to be better!
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