Thinking Deeply About Reading, Spring 2015

1. Thinking Deeply About Reading, Spring 2015 By: Natalie Keane

2. During the course of this PDU, what three instructional strategies did I implement? What strategy worked best? Why? Strategies: literature circles, reflection/self-assessment of literature circles, heterogeneous literature circles In result of this PDU, I have implemented literature circles into my Reader’s Workshop. Within the literature circles, students are expected to share a part of their reading that they found interesting, ask a question to further their understanding of the text, and define two “wonder words” within the writing. After students participate in their literature circles, they have the opportunity to reflect on their contributions to the conversation. During this self-evaluation, students determine how well they shared their ideas, listened to their peers, commented on their peers, and how prepared they were for the literature circle. Another instructional strategy that I implemented because of this PDU was heterogeneous grouping in my literature circles. With the varying levels, I witnessed students teaching their peers about bigger ideas and context clues, as well as students that don’t usually participate much in group settings have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas through conversation. All three of my strategies are closely linked together. Through my literature circles, the other two strategies were put into motion. I believe that the introduction to literature circles as a whole into my weekly reading groups was the most beneficial. Since it opened the doors to different avenues of deeper learning. Although it is still a work in progress, the strategy, in general, has been the most successful.

3. How did I apply the PDU strategies in my classroom/practice? (examples) Who did I collaborate with during the PDU? Discuss the ways you collaborated while implementing the PDU strategies. I was able to apply the three strategies of literature circles, reflection/self-evaluation, and heterogeneous grouping through my small reading groups, students’ weekly reading responses, and weekly Reader’s Workshop reflections. Reference sheets were glued in each student’s Reader’s Response journal that included sentence stems and possible discussion ideas for their literature circles. In addition to the reference sheet, book club discussion planning sheets are given to students weekly to help them plan for their academic conversation with their group. This planning sheet is a chance for students to organize their talking points about a part of the text to share, a question to ask, and wonder words to present to the group to ensure deeper conversations. The different aspects of conversation (sharing, questioning, and using reading techniques) ensure that all levels of readers are able to contribute to the conversation with the heterogeneous grouping. Lastly, reflection forms are filled out by each student after each literature circle to ensure that students are consciously thinking about the conversations after they have happened to help them build on their learning for the next time. I had the opportunity to collaborate with everyone within my PDU. As a group, we had great conversations about the strategies implemented in the classrooms to prepare for literature circles, discussed best practices leading up to and during the small groups, and brainstormed possible solutions to the struggles that we all are facing as we attempt to dig deeper into our reading. We also had the opportunity to share resources from our literature circles and reading groups. I had the chance to see/use ideas and practices already in place in the different classrooms that have been successful for my colleagues.

4. What did I learn to do differently as a result of the PDU and strategy implementation in my classroom or in my practice? Through this PDU, I was able to approach my book clubs differently. I have tried literature circles in the past, but this year I was able to release many of the ideas for the conversations to my students. With help from the planning sheets, students are able to lead the discussion, while I am there to move the conversations along if needed. Because of the student-led topics, I feel that the discussions have been deeper and more meaningful since it is based on student interest instead of talking points that I create for them. The reflection, or self-evaluation, allows students to also critique themselves, implanting a growth mindset, so they are able to recognize their strengths to celebrate and struggles to work on. It seems as if students have a deeper understanding of the texts we are reading and can apply the ideas and concepts learned in their literature circles to texts that they are reading independently or as a class.

5. Why is this PDU action research process important to my students’ learning and to my growth as a professional? I feel that this process of implementing new strategies into the classroom only strengthens students’ learning. Not only are they taught new learning strategies to deepen their understanding of the topics and ideas presented to them, they also learn that there are numerous ways to uncover concepts. In my classroom, students understand that there are many different types of learners; what works for one student might not work for another. Through this PDU process, students are subjected to many different ways of deepening their understanding of texts. It’s important for them to discover ways that work best for their learning to help them in the future. As for my growth as a professional, being a lifelong learner is an important value to have, especially in the field of education. Each class has different strengths and needs, and each year there are different successes and challenges. I feel it is important to have multiple teaching strategies, techniques, and ideas for a variety of needs that arise throughout each school year. If we take the best ideas and strongest techniques from each teacher and share that knowledge with the rest of the staff to implement in their own classrooms, the school as a whole will benefit greatly from it. I also believe that collaborating with colleagues about best practices, curriculum, and classroom management not only strengthens our own teaching, but builds stronger relationships to ensure that collaboration is continued and creates a sense of community in the school.

6. Reflecting on the data you have collected, how did this experience impact instruction, progress monitoring, student performance, and your own practice? I feel that this PDU has added depth to my Reader’s Workshop. The ability to share successes and challenges regarding my small groups with vertical team members, gather resources to build on my current practices, and discuss possibilities to enrich the academic conversations in my book clubs has been impactful on my teaching and on my students’ learning. I also have the chance to collaborate with colleagues to learn ways to better meet the needs of each student when I find it challenging or have exhausted my own resources. I hope that after this experience the student-centered, small group teaching style is apparent during my reading time. Through my implementation of this PDU, my students know and understand the expectations of literature circles and because of that they are consistently challenging themselves and pushing their reading comprehension to the next level.

7. How will I apply my new learning in the future to further my practice? What are my next steps? My literature circles are a work in progress. I have already tweaked my book club discussion sheet and my self-evaluation sheet to better meet the needs of the students in my class. I believe that those resources are something that will constantly be revolving based on student needs and classroom objectives. In addition to my literature circles, I will continue to focus on using literature that is not only interesting to students, but lends itself well to deep academic conversations. My next steps in the process pf deeper learning through reading is to continue my work on literature circles. I will use the self-evaluations and my own notes to change student resources and my academic focus to meet my students’ needs. I will also continue to collaborate with my grade level teams and vertical teams to find rigorous texts that enables deep conversations about concepts that can be applied to all aspects of literacy and foster real-world applications.

8. PDU Artifact #1

9. PDU Artifact #2

10. PDU Artifact #3

11. Exit Ticket What support(s) do you need to further your professional growth in future PDUs? - Ideas for rich texts around IB units that foster deep academic conversations - Ability to meet with vertical teams to discuss best practices and struggles of small groups during reading 2 things that you took away from the PDU this year 1. Ideas for a more student-centered/inquiry based literature circles 2. Excitement for my small reading groups all over again!  1 piece of constructive criticism 1. More time! I really enjoyed the opportunity for two PDU’s, but I feel like I would have gotten so much more out of the Thinking Deeply About Reading PDU if I had more time with the group.