The minilesson I taught today is in fact inspired by one of Debbie Miller's concept (2002). She clearly explains and transcribes one of her reading minilesson in her book, Reading with Meaning, in this minilesson, she incorporates the use of charts in her whole-class think aloud lesson. She transfers her students' thinking to the chart which evidently displays their text-to-self connections with the character and story. I took this idea and fitted it in my minilesson, anticipating that students would be engaged to make connections to the two stories, Ruby Sings the Blues and Alexander, the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day that they showed great interest in last week.
When I first introduced the teaching point, children tend to be a little bored, and uninterested in the topic, especially Jesse. But as soon as I modeled it with the book that I read aloud before, Ruby Sings the Blues, they just loved it! Nathan showed great interest to talk about who Ruby is, and what she does, and how she reacts to the problem. Many of the other students were raising their hands and wanting to take part of the discussion and the completion of the T-chart. They were able to identify what I put on the t-chart, for example, ‘Ruby shut down herself after school, she didn’t talk to anyone. She was quiet.’ Nathan then raised his hand and said, ‘yeah, that’s her action, how she acts when she is being treated unfairly.’ I was very glad that he picked that up right away. Another girl, Jewel also shared her similar experiences. I brought up Jewel’s example and complimented her that she was making great connection by actively thinking about her and Ruby. Generally, students responded well to this lesson. On the other hand, Jesse was having some time-out during the workshop. Like most of the time, he rarely fully participates in workshops. I am not sure how much he is getting though. I am very worried. I am wondering if I should provide him a checklist of teaching point/good readers strategies, so that he is aware of all the things that he can do during reading. I am not sure if this will help.
As a result, the students were generally responsive in the active engagement part because both stories involve characters whose actions and experiences are 'authentic' and familiar to them.
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2 comments:
Two thoughts come to my mind:
1) Perhaps it will be useful to just sit back and kidwatch Jesse for a while - and not just during reading time. What do you notice about the way he is positioned in class, and how he attempts to position himself?
2) You could also do some textual/visual analysis of the Ruby book. What is it about this book (and how you read it aloud) that makes it stand out in students' minds?
Revised Entry
Yes! Kidwatching is definitely something that I have been doing consistently throughout the cycles. I think as a teacher/researcher, often I overlook issues that are outside of the learning contexts, namely, students’ socio-cultural perspective and behavior. Owocki and Goodman (2002) illustrate the benefits of kidwatching, and how it helps to understand the children’s development of language and literacy. When understanding takes place, in other words, teachers have full knowledge of their students’ background, learning behavior and patterns, it helps to teachers to create a more solid learning community for everyone.
I believe that Jesse is in the position of testing himself and others around him. Most often, he tries to get attention from his close friends; just to see if they are listening to the teacher, or to share “cool” things he did over the weekend. I think that Jesse definitely requires “talk”. Generally, like many other students, he enjoys talking to others and sharing his personal experiences, however he chooses the wrong time. Perhaps I should look into literature and articles about the importance of “accountable talk”, or more book club strategies that could enhance Jesse to connect or disconnect his personal experiences in a more accountable way.
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