Inquiry 3, Part A, Step 3 (Taylor)

Literacy Resources and Programs:  

• Reading Street 

• Reading Street Spelling

• Small Group Reading Instruction

• Whole Group Reading Instruction 

• Writers Workshop

To what extent were you were expected to follow a scripted curriculum, or add your own ideas to a curriculum that already exists, or create a unit that is entirely new?

Although the East Lansing school district employs the Reading Street curriculum, I was not required by my MT to use this when planning for my unit.  In our classroom, we were already making use of small group reading instruction and I was given the freedom to design a unit with my own goals and objectives.  I did not select the text for my book, which I was hoping to have done but my MT chose a text that worked wonderfully with the ideas I had in mind, Arthur, for the Very First Time. 

What was unproblematic and/or challenging about planning a unit in this context?

Planning a unit in this context was a great experience.  I was able to work with a small group of students and came to know them as readers.  I knew their surface reading abilities based on standardized test scores that our district requires us to use. However, I learned so much more about the individuals in my group as I met with them for at least thirty minutes each school day.  This context also allowed me to adjust my lessons for my students and for myself.  I was not required to follow a script and I was not on a specific time schedule that mandated I must have covered certain skills, in a specific order, in a given time frame.

What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them?

One obstacle that I did face was actually being the teacher who began the unit with my group.  My MT originally had wanted to begin all of the book clubs.  This was a challenge for me because I wanted to establish the norms with my small group of students and felt that it would be much more difficult if they were already used to working with my MT.  It was also difficult to plan the unit out because I did not know how far my MT intended to go into the book with the group nor did I know the focus that she had in mind for that particular group of students.  I was able to overcome this challenge by simply having a conversation with my MT in which I explained to her how difficult it would be to plan for this unit and to establish norms and expectations with the individuals in the group.

What enabled you to be successful?

My relationship with my students and the support I had from my MT enabled me to be successful throughout this unit.  From the beginning of the unit, my students and I established group expectations for participation.  These expectations included coming to book club prepared, not talking when another member was talking, and posing and responding to questions from other group members.  Setting up these group norms helped to create a safe learning environment and to save time on discussions with individuals who were not respectful of the group.  In addition, the feedback that I received from my MT helped me to develop my teaching practice so that I was meeting the needs for my students as individuals and as an entire group. 

Did the unit proceed as you expected? Why or why not?

The unit as a whole proceeded as I expected.  I wanted my students to be able to make connections to the text and all of them were able to do that.  I also wanted them to be able to write about these connections; this is a skill that all of them are beginning to develop but that they still need more explicit instruction in. 

What surprises or “aha moments” did you experience?

            One pleasant surprise that I experienced throughout this unit was one of my student’s describing one of the objectives that I had designed for the lesson.  In the middle of one group discussion, my students were talking about the benefit of talking with other readers about a book.  Tyler said that when you talk about a book with another person it helps you to become a better reader.  He supported this statement by saying that there were some things that he did not understand that another reader could explain to him, and he was also able to explain things to other readers.  This moment made me very happy because it was only the second book club meeting and my students were already recognizing the value of what they were learning.

What do you still need to learn about teaching in this target area and about teaching literacy in general?

            As a teacher, I still need to develop my ability to help students respond to their reading.  There are many ways that a reader can respond to a text and I only focused on one small area:  responding to a character.  I want my students to see that they can respond to themes, plots, events, relationships, etc. and that they can write about these responses in addition to discussing them.