Poetry

Last week we began our study of poetry with a simple discussion focused on four questions:

1. What do you already know about poetry?
2. What do you like about poetry?
3. What do you dislike about poetry?
4. How can learning change our thinking about poetry?

Students discussed these questions at their team tables, and then after some time shared their answers with the whole class. I took notes on the board (see pictures for each class below) to gather this information as our starting point for our study of poetry. As we study poetry--learning about elements of poetry, reading lots of poetry, analyzing poetry, comparing/contrasting poems--it will be interesting to see how (if at all) the answers to these questions may change. That reflection won't come until the end of the quarter though, so stay tuned. 

iReady Reading Test

Thursday and Friday of this week we spent time working at different stations that would hopefully help students more closely and tightly connect the learning we've done throughout the first semester. There were four stations at which students used the computers and four stations at which students either read or worked through scenarios in discussions.

I like the idea of reinforcing learning, with something like a review, but I also really like the idea of stations, to allow students quick opportunities to connect different learning objectives. All of these stations dealt with reading skills, but different skills. On the computer, there was: comparing/ contrasting fictional passage elements presented in print and video, citing textual evidence in nonfiction, prefix vocabulary practice, and determining methods to go about finding answers in various texts. Away from the computers, there was: silent reading time, two different scenarios analyzing author purpose and character motivation, and then conferencing about previous test scores.

I feel good about how this went, but would like to better prepare students for the mindset and attitude necessary to get the most out of the experience, without having a teacher standing over their shoulder telling them what to do. To help students achieve a mindset where they understand learning takes place better without me, amongst their peers, would provide better learning opportunities in the stations. At least that's my thinking. 

I'm thinking I'll do stations at least two more times this year. It's not easy to plan or prepare for, but hopefully the more we do it the bigger the benefit will be. We shall see.