Would also like to see how your single-day field notes go.
PS: I keep looking back at your folder of nonfiction articles. Any likelihood you'll be adding articles in there? I haven't found found more engaging articles anywhere else.
Oh yeah! Nonfiction! I will be sometime this year for sure!
Single-day field notes are the same old-same old field note instructions. We're just making one from start to finish in one class period (about 45 minutes) instead of spreading that work out over the course of multiple days.
I’ve noticed the same thing with independent reading! The only way to build outside school reading habits.... is daily time reading in school. Every time I think, oh, they’ve built the habit, I can do a little less in school reading.... the outside school reading goes down.
One thing I’m doing differently this year is having students do a short (1-2 minute) “Do Now” in their notebooks BEFORE they settle into reading. Then we go over the Do Now after reading. Generally, the do now is some level of sentence study (sometimes just noticing, sometimes comparing sentences, sometimes imitating-- I’ve been using things from the middle school version of Patterns of Power a lot). Tucking it into those first two minutes of class has been amazing-- it’s like this little minute of hidden time that I’ve just stolen back: those two minutes were necessary anyway for settling in before reading, and now there’s something concrete to do, and when they finish reading again it only takes a few minutes to go over the Do Now, but they are already primed for it.
Are your whole class books read alouds, or are students responsible for some of the reading on their own? I am struggling significantly with how to approach whole class books this year, due to the number of students I have who will not read beyond the walls of this classroom. Yet, I have others who will fly through a book on their own in a matter of days.
I was really helped by Ariel Sackstein's WHOLE NOVELS FOR THE WHOLE CLASS. She has so many amazing tips for dealing with the logistics of whole-class novels. In short, I make periodic due dates and students make their own personal reading calendars to get there based on their speed, times of day they read best, etc.
Thank you for the recommendation. It is not a book I'm familiar with, and I just ordered it. The last couple of years in particular I have been struggling with the teaching of whole class novels. It used to be one of my favorite parts of class. I'm looking for anything that can refresh my teaching in this area, and resources geared toward secondary teachers are not always easy to find. Thank you!
This came at the perfect time. I've been doing the 10 minutes of independent reading religiously since they got books the first week of school, but I was toying with the idea of rotating that with notebook work (I do Quickwrites and use a lot of Linda Rief's models from her book). BUT, I know that my 7th graders thrive on routine and once I start messing with it, things tends to go downhill. So, I am feeling very okay about keeping IR at the beginning (plus, it settles and calms them down after lunch, etc.). Then, I follow that with a QW for now. I need to add in First Chapter Fridays and/or Book Trailer Tuesdays, but we have a rotating schedule so anything with a day of the week name has to be tweaked since some classes miss those days.
Thank you for sharing all your plans! I need to get back to that amazing Executive functioning in reading sequence of lessons. I have several students this year that could benefit from that kind of support.
We also have a rotating schedule. Love it, and also have to constantly battle to wrap my mind around it. I do first chapter fridays on true fridays, knowing that by the end of the year everyone will get the same number of "first chapters". It's the only way I can keep it straight.
Of course we'd love to see the parent stations!
Would also like to see how your single-day field notes go.
PS: I keep looking back at your folder of nonfiction articles. Any likelihood you'll be adding articles in there? I haven't found found more engaging articles anywhere else.
Oh yeah! Nonfiction! I will be sometime this year for sure!
Single-day field notes are the same old-same old field note instructions. We're just making one from start to finish in one class period (about 45 minutes) instead of spreading that work out over the course of multiple days.
I’ve noticed the same thing with independent reading! The only way to build outside school reading habits.... is daily time reading in school. Every time I think, oh, they’ve built the habit, I can do a little less in school reading.... the outside school reading goes down.
One thing I’m doing differently this year is having students do a short (1-2 minute) “Do Now” in their notebooks BEFORE they settle into reading. Then we go over the Do Now after reading. Generally, the do now is some level of sentence study (sometimes just noticing, sometimes comparing sentences, sometimes imitating-- I’ve been using things from the middle school version of Patterns of Power a lot). Tucking it into those first two minutes of class has been amazing-- it’s like this little minute of hidden time that I’ve just stolen back: those two minutes were necessary anyway for settling in before reading, and now there’s something concrete to do, and when they finish reading again it only takes a few minutes to go over the Do Now, but they are already primed for it.
I am intrigued by the picture of the learning wall and would love to know a little bit more about that.
Are your whole class books read alouds, or are students responsible for some of the reading on their own? I am struggling significantly with how to approach whole class books this year, due to the number of students I have who will not read beyond the walls of this classroom. Yet, I have others who will fly through a book on their own in a matter of days.
I was really helped by Ariel Sackstein's WHOLE NOVELS FOR THE WHOLE CLASS. She has so many amazing tips for dealing with the logistics of whole-class novels. In short, I make periodic due dates and students make their own personal reading calendars to get there based on their speed, times of day they read best, etc.
Thank you for the recommendation. It is not a book I'm familiar with, and I just ordered it. The last couple of years in particular I have been struggling with the teaching of whole class novels. It used to be one of my favorite parts of class. I'm looking for anything that can refresh my teaching in this area, and resources geared toward secondary teachers are not always easy to find. Thank you!
This came at the perfect time. I've been doing the 10 minutes of independent reading religiously since they got books the first week of school, but I was toying with the idea of rotating that with notebook work (I do Quickwrites and use a lot of Linda Rief's models from her book). BUT, I know that my 7th graders thrive on routine and once I start messing with it, things tends to go downhill. So, I am feeling very okay about keeping IR at the beginning (plus, it settles and calms them down after lunch, etc.). Then, I follow that with a QW for now. I need to add in First Chapter Fridays and/or Book Trailer Tuesdays, but we have a rotating schedule so anything with a day of the week name has to be tweaked since some classes miss those days.
Thank you for sharing all your plans! I need to get back to that amazing Executive functioning in reading sequence of lessons. I have several students this year that could benefit from that kind of support.
We also have a rotating schedule. Love it, and also have to constantly battle to wrap my mind around it. I do first chapter fridays on true fridays, knowing that by the end of the year everyone will get the same number of "first chapters". It's the only way I can keep it straight.
Love your work! I would love to learn more about "Field Notes", but haven't had any luck with a search. Can you point me to additional info?
Here you go:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/learning/making-vocabulary-instruction-active-with-language-field-guides.html
https://movingwriters.org/category/language-field-guide/
https://mwcommunity.gumroad.com/l/MVWDB