In our school district, we are all required to work on a Professional Learning Plan each year, to foster our own growth as educators. My focus for this past year and the upcoming year is on creating a culture of literacy and learning in my classroom. I have been using the Daily Five framework in my classroom to create an environment in which students enjoy reading, are engaged in reading and acquire developmentally appropriate literacy skills they need to be readers and writers.
I spent today rereading the Daily Five and taking notes again on what I read. After having 1 year under my belt of implementing the Daily Five, I think I was able to see the framework through a different set of lenses. Below are the quotes that stood out to me this second tiem around. I fill these quotes really speak towards my focus for professional growth this upcoming school year.
Creating culture of literacy and learning
o “The typical teacher has children doing a lot of “stuff”. How is what I’m having children do creating readers and writers?” – Regie Routman
o “It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants, the question is: What are we busy about?” – Henry David Throeau
o Quotes by The Sisters from The Daily Five
o “But did those things just keep our kids busy, or were they engaged in literacy tasks that will make a difference in their literate lives?”
o “We spent too much time managing their behavior, planning activities, and putting out fires instead of teaching.”
o “We were frustrated with our inability to engage students in independent meaningful reading practice”
o “The Daily Five is a student-driven management structure designed to fully engage students in reading and writing”
o “The Daily Five is a structure that envelops all of the components of comprehensive literacy and provides us with a plan to manage each piece in a user friendly way.”
o PURPOSE + CHOICE = MOTIVATION
o “If we are instructing so much that students don’t get a chance to read, or if we are counting working in a workbook as reading time, then we’re not giving them enough time to become better readers and writers”
o “We realized they had anchored their behavior to our reactions. We had unwittingly taught them to rely on our reinforcement to keep them on task.
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5 months ago
I totally agree with all of these quotes. My district is adopting a new reading program which has a lot of worksheets and "center" activities...but I fear that some of it will be busy work rather than meaningful literacy activities. I am taking a 1-day seminar in August (right before teachers report back to work) on Daily 5 and I hope it gives me a bit more direction.
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