In this blog post I will outline some the implementations that I have used throughout my inquiry so far. This is a helpful way to see what I have been changing in my practice so I can see if there is a change at the end of the year.
This is something that I have implemented into the classroom since term 1 as part of our homework for RPI. I have been using this during guided reading and have also set this up in a task form for follow up tasks. One thing I have noticed so far is that some of my students are starting to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas with each other during guided reading. One area that I need to improve this in is having the students continue these discussion with each other after reading with the teacher. Other colleagues of mine have been using this in their classrooms as well and have created a presentation that I have also been using with my class.
One thing that we have been focusing on during RPI is vocabulary and how we can create tasks that are specifically linked to key words from the text. I have been adding these into my follow up tasks. One of these tasks that I really love is word associations as it make the students think about other words that fit best with the new word they have come across and it allows them to really grasp the meaning of these key words. Another activity that my class really loves is the spotlight activity where before reading the students need to place a tick in a box for each word under one of these categories:
- Never seen this word before
- Seen it but don’t know what it means
- Sort of know what is means
- Can explain what it means
After they have finished reading the text they then need to be able to explain what this word means using the text. It also allows the students to see that they have been able to locate the word and can now explain what it means.
Another key thing that I have implemented from RPI is follow up tasks that are really linked to the text and there is a learn, create and share element to this. By having a create task at the end of this task it allows the student to be able to create an image that will continue to solidify the meaning of the text and link to our learning intention from that week. I have also been more intentional with my questions in these follow up tasks. One key thing I have taken away from this is to have a really focused response to text task for the first text of the week. I then will have key questions from the text for the other text with follow up questions and then focus on using generic follow up activities that the students can choose from to continue to develop that skill but with a bigger focus on that first text and using the second text to supplement understanding.
Another key element that I have added into my follow up tasks and guided reading sessions are pictures. From these pictures I then ask a range of different questions that require the students to infer meaning from what they are seeing. Pictures are a powerful tool as they are a screenshot in time and are a less invasive way of getting the students to think critically about a text.
I have used a range of different implementations so far and I will continue to evaluate these and check in with students to see that they are working. These are the key ones that I have been looking at with my inquiry and I will continue to develop and change these over the course of this term and term 4.
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