Monday, June 4, 2012

Looking back...

I am embarrassed that I haven't written a blog post since January! I want to reflect a little bit on the benefits of Doing the Daily 5 this year.

At some point this year the Daily 5 switched from something I needed to constantly reflect on to a process that just hummed along. This morning (with 10 school days to go) my classroom was a quiet place where students were engaged in meaningful literacy activities.

IF (IF IF IF IF) my students pick spots with bubble space they are incredibly effective with working the whole time and are really productive!

This year hasn't been perfect with the Daily 5. There are some students who need redirection to find the right spot and get started. And due to the way students were treating the materials, I've had to restrict use of the computers or listening center materials at times.

Last year I remember making sure I had "filler" activities for the end of the year. And while the activities were meaningful in their own way, I don't think anything is as meaningful as a bunch of second graders reading and writing as we gear up for summer break!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Whose Stamina Are We Building?

Since we returned from our glorious winter break on January 9th, I have been reviewing our I-charts with my students, having them model how it should look, and building their stamina! We are having a tough time getting our stamina past seven minutes.

My students are itching to get all the choices back (Word Work, Listen to Reading, and Computers) and I am itching to get conferencing going. Each time I go back to rebuild expectations and stamina with my students, I am so frustrated that they can't build their stamina back as quickly as I want them to!

The biggest realization I've had from my moments watching my students and the timer is how important it is to rebuild their stamina when returning from breaks. If I don't take the time to truly rebuild their stamina, but rather "enforce" them to the stamina I want then my students are not truly independent. My desire to rush through the stamina building process makes me think, "whose stamina are we building here?" Is it really my students who need to build their stamina, or is it me?

Starting tomorrow I am going to work to try and get a couple of conferences in as my students are working. We'll see how it goes!