Think sheet – 10/06/12
1. Who do you think you might want to have has a focal student? What criteria will you use to choose your focal students? (Some teachers like to choose one high achieving student and two or three of their basic or below basic students.)
I’m going to use Beatriz as a student because she is an ELL who is a strong reader and works really hard. I’ve also noticed that she goes above and beyond and demonstrates understanding, so I want to understand why she does so well. She’ll kind of be my barometer for what is possible.
Then I want to use Ariel. He’s an iep student and also a latino student. He shows little understanding of what he’s reading. But he does a pretty good job of imitating what he hears.
Finally Tori, he’s an african american student who seems to have more capability than what he originally produces. He often requires more of a push, but then usually does okay work. He can easily get lost bc he can be quiet. He was also the typical kid who came in saying he doesn’t like to read.
2. How would you know what is happening for your focal students? What are you doing now that would make student thinking/ student understanding visible?
Currently I’m using reading notebooks, post-its, charts that I make. I’d also like to make the time to do a written assessment of their reading comprehension. I'm working on getting reading assessments done.
3. What data did you bring today? What does the data tell you about what is happening for your focal student? Pick one focal student’s work to consider.
Today I brought their reading notebooks, a post-it from each kid, and a chart that we worked on together.
Beatriz: Keeping up her reading list for what book she’s reading (organized, able to hold many things in her brain)
Keeping up her table of contents
Her mind picture: She drew something and she explained what she drew.
Her think aloud:
Sept 5
So far a girl named Jenny starts middle school, she is excited to see her old friend Addie back, but everything is different now, will Jenny be a popular one or a same 5th grader? I think she’ll soon be head of the school, I mean she is the main character, right? So Jenny is going to win. Anyways thats what I think.
Sept 6
I thought that Jenny was soon going to fit in with the pops, but she really never did, but i’m sure she will, because she’s willing to try over and over again.
sept 12
I was thinking that Jake&Lily might be different, but they have these powers that make them the same! In the chapters I read, there grandpa Poppy, came and told them about his hippie days with grandma, I thought it was sort of funny and that Poppy seemed really nice to open up just like that. Jake and Lily also seem like an amazing twin pair, even though their different they still know how to get along.
Okay, I can’t write every one of her notebook entries. I do notice that she’s using the notebook to mediate her understanding of what I’m saying. I even feel like she has entries in here that I didn’t tell her to write. She has a list of her fave books. And then she has a writing lesson in here. Which at first I’m like, no that’s writing. And now I’m kind of like, should it be separate. Am I making an arbitrary line between the two. Why not use the same notebook and read for craft and understand how the author gets ideas across and then we imitate.
Tori’s notebook has way fewer entries.
He has a think aloud:
Sept 12
I was thinking when Wonk made the price [prince?] a house out of chocolate, why didn’t he eat it?
This is a really interesting question to me. a) It’s beyond a surface question, and shows he thinking about the character. Also, it doesn’t show any background info or demonstration of understanding beyond that basic part.
In his connection chart he clearly has some connections that are truly connections for him. For instance,
Those last two are really interesting bc they show me something about him and they are clear that they’re real for him. It’s kind of a good jumping off point for moving to using your connections to understand the book.
4. If you had the opportunity to ask this focal student a question about their learning what would it be?
I want to ask Tori more about what some of his connections mean.
What I am thinking now:
One thing I am thinking about is making sure that I have a good rubric for the reading strategy, ones that I think are useful bc the book that I have that has a rubric, I might not agree with it.
Also, do they know what to do? That's a theme I heard a lot today. Do they know what I'm looking for? Maybe doing some work in small groups to write thoughtful responses to literature.
Next steps:
Interview all three focal students. Get a better understanding of what they think a good reader does. How they use the strategy. Maybe do the task of reading assessment and think aloud when you do it. Do the group reading assessment.
1. Who do you think you might want to have has a focal student? What criteria will you use to choose your focal students? (Some teachers like to choose one high achieving student and two or three of their basic or below basic students.)
I’m going to use Beatriz as a student because she is an ELL who is a strong reader and works really hard. I’ve also noticed that she goes above and beyond and demonstrates understanding, so I want to understand why she does so well. She’ll kind of be my barometer for what is possible.
Then I want to use Ariel. He’s an iep student and also a latino student. He shows little understanding of what he’s reading. But he does a pretty good job of imitating what he hears.
Finally Tori, he’s an african american student who seems to have more capability than what he originally produces. He often requires more of a push, but then usually does okay work. He can easily get lost bc he can be quiet. He was also the typical kid who came in saying he doesn’t like to read.
2. How would you know what is happening for your focal students? What are you doing now that would make student thinking/ student understanding visible?
Currently I’m using reading notebooks, post-its, charts that I make. I’d also like to make the time to do a written assessment of their reading comprehension. I'm working on getting reading assessments done.
3. What data did you bring today? What does the data tell you about what is happening for your focal student? Pick one focal student’s work to consider.
Today I brought their reading notebooks, a post-it from each kid, and a chart that we worked on together.
Beatriz: Keeping up her reading list for what book she’s reading (organized, able to hold many things in her brain)
Keeping up her table of contents
Her mind picture: She drew something and she explained what she drew.
Her think aloud:
Sept 5
So far a girl named Jenny starts middle school, she is excited to see her old friend Addie back, but everything is different now, will Jenny be a popular one or a same 5th grader? I think she’ll soon be head of the school, I mean she is the main character, right? So Jenny is going to win. Anyways thats what I think.
Sept 6
I thought that Jenny was soon going to fit in with the pops, but she really never did, but i’m sure she will, because she’s willing to try over and over again.
sept 12
I was thinking that Jake&Lily might be different, but they have these powers that make them the same! In the chapters I read, there grandpa Poppy, came and told them about his hippie days with grandma, I thought it was sort of funny and that Poppy seemed really nice to open up just like that. Jake and Lily also seem like an amazing twin pair, even though their different they still know how to get along.
Okay, I can’t write every one of her notebook entries. I do notice that she’s using the notebook to mediate her understanding of what I’m saying. I even feel like she has entries in here that I didn’t tell her to write. She has a list of her fave books. And then she has a writing lesson in here. Which at first I’m like, no that’s writing. And now I’m kind of like, should it be separate. Am I making an arbitrary line between the two. Why not use the same notebook and read for craft and understand how the author gets ideas across and then we imitate.
Tori’s notebook has way fewer entries.
He has a think aloud:
Sept 12
I was thinking when Wonk made the price [prince?] a house out of chocolate, why didn’t he eat it?
This is a really interesting question to me. a) It’s beyond a surface question, and shows he thinking about the character. Also, it doesn’t show any background info or demonstration of understanding beyond that basic part.
In his connection chart he clearly has some connections that are truly connections for him. For instance,
| text | connections |
| tide | wash to shore |
| wanted to be alone | i wanted to be alone when i get met |
| learned from mistake | run fast to make a layup and jumping from far learn not to do that |
| want her own dad | i want my own dad |
Those last two are really interesting bc they show me something about him and they are clear that they’re real for him. It’s kind of a good jumping off point for moving to using your connections to understand the book.
4. If you had the opportunity to ask this focal student a question about their learning what would it be?
I want to ask Tori more about what some of his connections mean.
What I am thinking now:
One thing I am thinking about is making sure that I have a good rubric for the reading strategy, ones that I think are useful bc the book that I have that has a rubric, I might not agree with it.
Also, do they know what to do? That's a theme I heard a lot today. Do they know what I'm looking for? Maybe doing some work in small groups to write thoughtful responses to literature.
Next steps:
Interview all three focal students. Get a better understanding of what they think a good reader does. How they use the strategy. Maybe do the task of reading assessment and think aloud when you do it. Do the group reading assessment.
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