Reading Group Management

"Mrs. West, can I go to the water fountain?"

"Mrs. West, what do I do now?"

"Mrs. West, I'm stuck."

"Mrs. West, I like dogs."

Sound familiar? During reading groups, I expect my kids to get started with their jobs right away and stay on task while I meet with reading groups. However, there's always a handful of children who vie for my attention in one way or another, and I end up with a string of 8 year olds at my elbow: "Mrs. West. Mrs. West. Mrs. West." Ignoring them just didn't seem to give them the message.

On Monday, we had a chat about what their responsibilities are during reading groups, and what mine are. We decided on the following:

Pupils will:
1. Get started right away
2. Stay on task
3. Use soft voices
4. Think what makes sense

Teacher will:
1. Meet with reading groups
2. Ask questions
3. Give praise
4. Give advice

Pretty great list from a group of 8 year olds, if you ask me. Number 4 on the pupil's responsibility list was the most important for this particular discussion. We added that one in because sometimes they just need a reminder that they need to think for themselves before coming to speak to me. We talked about how they need to think, "do I really need to ask this question right now?" and "What makes sense for me to do right now?" The children are always given enough information and tasks to keep them going for the whole reading session, so they shouldn't be asking me "what do I do now?" (Does anyone else hate that question? I have a whole display in my class called the "I'm Done" board with choices for them to choose from when they're finished).

Even after our discussion, though, I still thought the kids might need a visual reminder that they need to think before coming to me. It's not fair to interrupt another group's time with me! I found this cute lantern at ASDA (Scottish version of Walmart), and I keep it with me during reading groups. When the light is on, the kids know that I'm only available to the reading group I'm meeting with. I turn off the light when I'm transitioning to a new group. That way any pressing issues can be dealt with quickly before I meet with my next group.



So far, it's worked really well. The kids have really seemed to "get" it that I'm busy and that they need to think for themselves or ask a friend before coming to me. When I turned on the light with one reading group today, a wee girl said, "Yes! No one can bother us now!" I'm glad she enjoys our time together so much!

Work in Progress

Just a little something I'm working on...



These task cards will be aligned with the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, but that's not to say you couldn't use them in any classroom! Keep an eye on my TpT shop for when they'll be available. All content is original, including the clip art (clip art by me can also be purchased in my TpT shop!).

Book Detectives: Reciprocal Teaching

Book Detectives is an amazing resource that I use during reading groups. It's not my idea (it came from Moray Council Aberdeenshire Council in Scotland), but I have made it my own and established it in my classroom routines.



The above task cards are developed by me using the Book Detective roles. I created Learning Intentions and Success Criteria to go with every role. On the back, there are examples, questions to consider, or other prompts to help pupils fulfill the success criteria.

I implement these task cards in different ways. I have 4 reading groups. Each reading day, I meet with 2 reading groups (by the end of the week, I meet with each group twice. We have 4 reading days). Every reading group is given a task from the Book Detectives ring that they must complete. Sometimes each group has the same task, sometimes different ones, depending on the book they're reading or the skills they need to practice. With older children, I would slowly train them to become more independent with the roles/tasks and have each member of the group fulfill a role and feedback to their reading group. I'm no where near that with my current class, but maybe some time in the future with a more able class I will be able to implement Book Detectives that way.

How do you implement and organise your reading groups?

Class Tour - April 2013 - Primary 4

If anyone reads this, you know that I changed schools in April. I'm permanent! Yay! I moved to a very new building; the school opened in April 2011, so you'll see that everything looks very fresh and bright and new. I thought I'd post some photos of my new classroom. Hopefully in August/September I will post my setting up process when I "start from scratch."

This is what you see when you first walk into the class. Yes, those are lovely big windows along the back wall.


Looking into the class on the right, we have our meeting area with the SMARTboard. I also have two of these portable double sided whiteboards. They are FAB. I've since moved this one so that I have easier access to the cupboards behind it, and so there is more room for the children to sit on the floor.


This is our computer area. These are all connected to the internet. The laptop on the far right is mine that connects to the SMARTboard.


My school is open plan. All the walls between classrooms and out to the corridor can be opened up. The walls to the corridor all must be open (which took me all of a day to get used to), but the walls between each class are closed in the Senior wing. I've put borders up on the wall that divides my classroom to the one next door so that it can still open when we need it to (like for our Science Fair this week).


I have a tiny wee book corner as there isn't much room for anything more, but the kids seem to like it. And yes, that's a sky-light in the next photo! I have a remote control that opens it up to let in some fresh air. It also automatically detects rain and closes on it own (a great feature to have in Scotland!).


These tray shelves are brilliant. Each child has their own tray labelled with their name. In them, they keep unfinished work, personal whiteboards/pens, homework diaries, and reading books. The extra ones are used by me to store spelling resources, extra whiteboards/pens, writing resources, etc. The other photo is VERY important for the smooth running of my classroom. Children know to look to the "I'm Done" board when they are finished their tasks so they know what to do next.


These photos depict my Behaviour Birds clip chart. The children each have their own peg with their name. They start on "Perfect Peacock" and move up or down depending on their behaviour. You can buy your own in my TpT store.


My kids love this! As a class, there is always something they need to work harder at. Right now, it's being a quality audience. If they show that they are working towards mastering this skill, they get to add a piece to Mr. Potato Head. When he's finished, they get 5 extra minutes of play time.


On one of my whiteboards, I have 3 folders for handing in any work that is not written in a jotter. Kids have to think about how they did on their task as they hand it in. Work completed in jotters already has self assessment forms stuck in them.


That's the tour for now. As I add things to the new room I'll add more photos. Do you have a classroom tour on your blog? I'd love to see!

Preparing for a Supply Teacher

I realise I haven't posted on this blog for awhile. Oops! I do have an excuse though. I changed jobs! I left my temporary post as a Nursery teacher and joined the teaching staff at another Primary school as a permanent member of staff. For the duration of this school year, I am teaching Primary 4 (Grade 3). So my excuse is I have been crazy busy. And the first two weeks of April were a holiday. Now that I'm settled in with my new class and my new school, I'm back to posting. And now that I've started my new permanent job, I'm leaving for a week for a wedding! Great first impressions, right? Excitingly, I live in Scotland and I love it, but it makes it tricky when family members get married back home in Canada. As a result, I've prepared some information for the lucky teacher who gets to take my lovely class while I'm gone.





I have a simple cover and welcome letter to give a bit of information about the class.



Next, I have a class list which will have photos of the children. This can definitely come in handy for supply teachers. It's tricky learning 25 new names. Hopefully this will help speed up the process.



After that, I have a page for important information like what to do during a fire alarm, where to put money collected from pupils, and how to log on to the laptop and use the SMARTboard. Every school is different and every class is different, so it's important to me that my supply teacher feels they have the information they need to make the day run smoothly.



For consistency's sake, I have a page dedicated to behaviour systems in place in the class. I'm sure the children would mention table marbles or Mr. Potato Head (because they constantly remind me!), but it's important to have that info in black and white so the supply isn't totally confused when the kids ask, "Can we add a piece to Mr. Potato Head?"



Last, I have a few pages dedicated to the classroom routines. Spelling and Reading are pretty much carried out the same way each day. Kids are creatures of habit and the less change that occurs, the better. I've also included any special things that will pop up in the timetable, like assemblies and swimming lessons.

As someone who has gone into classrooms as a supply, this sort of thing would have been really helpful. I've gone into classrooms where the teacher's desk is a disaster and there is not hint of a plan left to go by. I've just had to fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak. As much as I love going with the flow, I still think there needs to be an element of routine and planning and sanity-saving.

In preparation for my absence, I am also planning to leave some games, worksheets, books, and task cards that can be used so the children are always learning. I still want my kids to accomplish something while I'm away!

What do you do to prepare for a supply/substitute teacher?

A Teacher's Professional Portfolio

*update* after using this Professional Portfolio in my interview last week, I got the job! And a permanent one at that!
*another update* My new Head Teacher gave me some feedback from my interview. I thought this may be helpful to some of you as the end of the school year approaches and some of you may be interviewing for new jobs. Here are some of the positive points from the interview when I used this portfolio:

1. Referring to items in the portfolio during the interview showed that I was organised and prepared for my interview. This indicated that I am an organised teacher as well.
2. My Head Teacher liked that I had photos of things I'd done in other classrooms so she could see what I was talking about.
3. By including things I'd made (like my behaviour management clip chart), I showed that I was creative and ICT savvy.
4. My depute self-proclaims to suffer from OCD and she loved all the tabs, charts, and tables in my folder. :)

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Does anyone actually use one of these in interviews? I'm under the impression that these are a must in America, but here in Scotland, teaching portfolios aren't really something the majority of teachers take with them to an interview. That being said, it's not going to stop me from putting together a folder of "look how great I am" to my interview next week. For the interview I did for the job I'm in now, I took with me some resources and photos of things I've done in my classes, but not much else. It impressed and it got me the job. This time around, inspired by all the teaching portfolios I've seen on Pinterest, I've decided to take that extra step and put together a folder of goodies to take with me. From my experience the last time around, it really helped to focus my thoughts when I had something to refer to. So without further ado, here is my portfolio:



Right at the front, I made sure to put a title page with my name. The next page is a Table of Contents to state what each section of the folder holds, and of course, I have dividers to make it easy to flip through the folder as I'm speaking in my interview.

The first section is my Philosophy of Education, which was in my application when I applied for the job. Next, I included a section for Relevant Work History and References. Again, this stuff was in my application, but I just thought I'd pop it in there anyway. Most likely, I won't be referring to this stuff during the interview.

Next, I have a section for Planning and Assessment. In this section, I included forms for planning and assessment I've used for different stages of Primary. I want to be able to make myself look like a versatile teacher who can succeed in any Primary stage, so I have examples throughout the portfolio from Nursery to Primary 5 (Pre-School to Grade 4 for you North American folks).



I've included a copy of a topic plan I created for Early stages last year in Health and Wellbeing. I also have an example of a mind map I did with the children in my current Nursery class. I did this to show that I plan using the Curriculum, but also using the children's knowledge and influence. I've also included a daily plan example from Primary 4, as well as a Topic Plan for tasks children can do when they complete classwork.



To show my knowledge and experience with Assessment, I've included a resource I created on Assessment is for Learning strategies (AifL), an example of Learning Intentions and Success Criteria being used in assignments, and an assessment format that I would like to use in future for larger projects or units of study. I'm very interested in assessment strategies and methods at the moment because the Scottish Curriculum can be a bit vague when it comes to National Assessment.

Next, I have a section for Curriculum Development. I'm fairly early on in my career, so I don't have much experience with Curriculum Development, however I have had the benefit of teaching the Heath and Wellbeing Curriculum to Primary 1-5 last year, which brought the responsibility of developing the Health Education Plan. I've included a copy of the plan in this section.



Following that, I've included a short section on classroom displays, and I popped in some photographs for interest. The reason I did this is to show that I have an understanding of how display can be used in the class to benefit the learner, and not just to show how creative I can be.



Next, there's a section I've titled Active Learning. This is a hot topic at the moment, which is why I've included this in my portfolio. It also allows me to show some of the fun learning opportunities and experiences my pupils have had. I made sure to include photographs of children of varying ages to show my versatility. The photos will also be a great talking point and give my memory a wee kick when I'm trying to come up with examples of active learning.



After that, I have a section for Behaviour and Classroom Management. I've actually printed off one of my blog posts and popped it in here because its all about behaviour management strategies that I've used or heard of. I've also put in a behaviour scheme that I created. I think this section will highlight my knowledge of behaviour strategies as well as my ICT savvy! Personally, I think Behaviour and Classroom Management goes hand in hand. If you have good Classroom Management routines and expectations, then behaviour should be in check. Of course behaviour strategies are still necessary. That being said, I've also included some group task cards that I created as an example of good classroom management, as well as reading task cards that I use during reading groups. Along this topic, I would also be talking about the way I set up my class (grouped desks vs rows) for different types of learners.



The next section is on Inclusion, where I've included photos of a visual timetable, a poster I made with different languages, and examples of visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learners. During my time speaking about Inclusion, I'd also be mentioning other professionals involved with different types of learners, provision the school provides, and ensuring that I have a clear and deep knowledge and understanding of pupil needs.



Next is Parent Communication, where I have photos of ways in which I've made parent communication much easier. I've popped in a copy of a recent newsletter I put out, as well as a calendar I use to keep parents informed about upcoming events. Here, I would also speak about parent inclusion and partnership and how they are vital to their child's learning journey.



Lastly (finally!), I have a section on Professional Development, where I've included the titles and dates of courses I've attended.



Each section has a title page the same as the one at the front, and all papers are neatly tucked into page protectors. Sounds a bit OCD, but it looks pretty, so it's worth it.

Hope this helps any of you for upcoming interviews. Is there anything you would include in your portfolio that I missed out?