Monday, January 21, 2013

A little background...


This will be my third year teaching 2nd grade in Lexington, KY.  Reading is my favorite subject to teach, but every year I have noticed I often feel drained after teaching Reading Workshop and am ready to pull my hair out!  During daily reading rotations, the students visit three different stations- guided reading, independent work (an assignment targeting the specific skill taught in whole group instruction to follow up the story that is read), and a writing and/or computers.  Every day, it never fails… my guided reading groups get interrupted multiple times every rotation.  “I am confused about the independent work.”  “Is this good enough?”  “What am I supposed to do again?”

I have a wide range of ability levels which encompass my class which causes some challenges in the planning process because I have to find whole group material that engages all students and independent work which will allow the students to show they have comprehended the material.  Finding something that correlates with the whole group skill/ read aloud that all students can complete successfully seems next to impossible, however as an educator, I want to differentiate my lessons so that all students are met at their instructional level.  Due to the drastic range of ability, I have mainly been using graphic organizers for each specific skill in hopes that students can work to their highest potential and at least get something out of the activity.  Unfortunately, my students are beginning to groan at the thought of another graphic organizer.  Since the effort is not there and they are not motivated to complete their work, I have difficulty determining whether they have comprehended the information/ text being presented during whole group. 

No comments:

Post a Comment