RPI Day 5: Planning a Reading Programme

 Today has been a really awesome session in the Day 5 RPI, the most interesting part of my day was the Read like Writers and Write like Readers. I absolutely enjoyed this part and will be using this in my class. Great day overall. Looking forward to Day 6.

Here are a few of my takeaways from this session.

Pillars of Practice: Today we are focussing on the second Pillar, but with a more detailed view of Guided Reading. Regular and systematic Guided Reading offers particular benefits for teaching, observing and scaffolding to develop skills and strategies to better understand text. 

Reading through Class Sites  

Making sure you have minimal clicks to get to the students learning they need to do. Having an attractive site so kids get hooked in, and having meaningful group names for your learners. 

The Learning Pit:

Self explanation on the picture but I really love this and I will be sharing this with my kids and ensuring them that they need to be in the Pit at some point however its ok again if they are not yet there, Keep tracking along and we will eventually get there. 

Where am I going?, How am I going?, and Where to next?  

Read like Writers and Write like Readers.

The main thing today I have taken away from today’s session is the Read like Writers and Write like Readers. I totally enjoyed this activity and I honestly can't wait to try this activity with my class, I think they would really like it and be totally engaged Reading a short paragraph about something and then actually writing their own paragraph about it too using the same questions we were asked. Watch this space.  

Writing like Readers and Reading like Writers, is to ensure we can meet the coverage for our learners to be able to think and become great readers and great writers. Deepening their understanding by listening to what the reader is trying to tell us, we will be able to then put it into our own words to become better writers.

See you on the next one. 

RPI Day 4: Guided Reading and Comprehension.

Here we are Day 4: Guided Reading and Comprehension. I enjoy how we always start our day with hello’s and then break into our breakout groups and quickly catch up on how we are going thus far and how we have done with our homework. For me, this just sets us up to be ready to contribute to conversations we have within our group. It also allows us to get much needed feedback about what we are doing and maybe what we can use or change in our plans for the following weeks. Thank you to Naomi and Amie for allowing us to do this. 

Ok, so first off we started with the background to guided reading which was helpful and I know we all know this however it is a great refresher for us. We then went into Introducing the Text and Purpose. As we were following through 

Based on Dame Marie Clay.

Highly valued learning outcomes that need regular and dedicated time each and every day for students to read and learn about.

For me this means, when it is learning time, leave the kids to learn and when it is play time let the kids play.

Introducing Text and Purpose. Today we looked at Introducing the Text and Purpose. Before we start our guided reading conference with our groups, I ask the students to have a look at the picture / cover of the book and look at the title and tell me what they know about what we are going to read about this week. Activating prior knowledge has always been a biggie for me as I like to hear and understand that the text for the week has a connection to the learner. So introducing the text first off is a very important part of reading, knowing and allowing the learners to make connections with the text. 

I will be implementing one of these Observational Note taking techniques to use in my class. This will help me to understand where my learners are at with their reading and how or what I can do to help them and push them to their next level. This is a great tool to use and to refer back to if needed.