So what's the deal with round-robin during guided reading?

Uh-oh. Am I totally opening a can of worms right now?

Round robin is a practice that is probably as American as apple pie. In case you haven't heard the term, round-robin means everyone has a copy of the text.

You choose students to take turns reading aloud. When one student finished reading aloud, maybe you stop him or her and have a teaching point or a conversation.

Then you move to the next student. Sometimes this happens during guided reading. Sometimes teachers use this as a whole-class reading strategy.

They may call on students randomly, move in a predictable pattern, or ask students to "popcorn read", where a student reads a piece, stops wherever they want, and then calls on the next student to read.

Here's the thing: research shows that round robin is not the most effective way to grow readers.

Here's why:

1. Only one student is doing the reading at any time, rather than all of your students.

2. Round-robin means that students are reading aloud, which some people like because they feel like it's good for fluency. The issue is that your students aren't the best model of fluency in the classroom. You are.

3. When one student is reading, the others might be "following along", but are they thinking, comprehending and reacting, or are they just desperately trying to keep track in case they're next? Or, if you move in a predictable pattern, they are probably counting out the paragraphs until they figure out which part is going to be theirs. Then they're practicing it in their heads, over and over. How do I know this? Because I used to do that.

4. Studies show that, when kids read in round-robin fashion, they are actually doing far less reading than by using other methods.

5. Studies also show that round-robin encourages a few bad habits: teachers interrupting to tell students what the word is when they're struggling, which results in students interrupting other students to tell them words they are having trouble with.

6. Round-robin puts teachers and students in a tough spot. Do you call on the struggling reader to read aloud? If you do, you're asking them to struggle in front of everyone, which is very hard on self-esteem. If you don't, the other kids notice that you don't, and decide that student is a "bad reader". That student does, too. (They probably already feel that way, but this confirms it.)

Am I telling you you're doing it all wrong? No! But when we learn something new, we should apply that to our teaching, right? So then what do we do instead of round-robin?

Here are some of the reasons people don't want to stop using round-robin.

1. They say kids like to read aloud.

Some do. There are appropriate times for that. At other points in the day, reading with a partner means half of your students are reading, not just one. You can differentiate texts that way, too. But guided reading isn't the place for it. And not all kids enjoy it.

2. They say kids like to help each other.

Some do. Working in teams gives them lots of opportunities to help each other. But guided reading isn't the place for it.

3. They don't know any other way to do it.

But there is a way!

Here's what you do:

1. You do your normal beginning-of-lesson things. You introduce the strategy you're going to work on (which is the point of guided reading - introducing a strategy and having students practice it with your guidance). You introduce the text and background knowledge, etc.

2. You introduce their purpose for reading (I use a purpose question that will require them to respond using the strategy they're practicing. For example, if we're practicing inferences, they have to make an inference to answer the question.) If they're only reading a certain amount of pages, have them put a sticky note marked STOP on the page you want them to stop on.

3. You ask all students to start reading. You can start them at the same time in the upper grades, because they are able to read to themselves. For some groups, you can have them whisper read. Just teacher judgment, there. For primary grades, many students read aloud. If you're worried about students listening to each other, stagger start them so they start reading at different times. Start one, wait till they read a few sentences or so, start the next, wait, start the next. etc.

4. As students are reading to themselves, they're supposed to be applying their strategy somehow, whether it's decoding, comprehension, or fluency. Tap front of a student. This signals them to "turn up the volume" a little so you can "listen in" wherever they are. They don't go back to the beginning or the beginning of a paragraph or anything. They just turn up the volume. Pause them, and prompt them to apply the strategy. You may prompt them in decoding if you see there's an issue. Listen to them read again. Prompt again. Move on to a different student.

5. Listen in to each student at some point during the lesson, prompting and discussing. I take anecdotal notes in order to plan my next lesson(s).

6. As they finish reading the text (or the chunk of text), they answer the purpose question, and then go back and reread. They NEVER just sit there.

7. After everybody's "done", we have a discussion about their strategy use and the purpose question.

Then we're done, unless I prompt them to apply this strategy to their independent reading.
I know that was a lot of information, but I really hope it's helpful. Got questions? Let me know!

P.S.
For more on lesson planning, for guided reading, check out my post where I break it down!

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Six Tips for Coaching Reader's Workshop

As coaches, we coach a variety of contents and strategies. We help teachers grow in whatever area they are focused on and using the approach that works best for students.

However, in many schools, there are a collection of approaches that the school is working towards. In this case, the coach is called on to coach teachers within those frameworks. This is the case if your school uses a framework such as Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, or Math Workshop.

Each of these frameworks  will look different from classroom to classroom, but the basic components will be the same. In Reader's Workshop, those components are the minilesson, independent reading, guided reading, reading conferences, and a closing share.

I am sharing even more ideas (and a really big free download) for coaching Reader's Workshop during my virtual session at the Simply Coaching Summit all about this topic, and so I thought I'd share some of the tips from that FREE conference (that you can still register for!) here on the blog!

Here are six tips to help you get started in coaching Reader's Workshop!

#1 Start out by building a common language.  

Without a common language, planning together and communicating can be really challenging. For example, the word "read" is used to mean many things. Some teachers use it to mean students are decoding accurately, but not comprehending. Others use it to mean that students read and comprehend - real reading. 

If everyone has a different idea what you're saying when you say, "minilesson", "inference", and "word study", it is nearly impossible to plan together effectively. Spending time on building a common language is a valuable way to grow a team.

Ways to do this may include modeling lessons for each component, creating a video bank of modeled lessons so teachers can watch them when they have time, doing language-building activities during PD where teachers match Reader's Workshop vocabulary words with their definitions before and after the session, and doing a book study on this framework.

#2 Collect everyone’s schedule.  

This is not a “gotcha”. This is to help you in scheduling visits to classrooms, opportunities for teachers to learn from each other, and to see where teachers are planning to spend their time during Reader’s Workshop. If something isn’t included in a teacher’s plan for the day, it’s definitely not on their radar. This will tell you what teachers value in reading instruction.

Once you have everyone's schedule, organize it into a spreadsheet. I broke mine down into fifteen minute increments. Then I made a column for each grade level and wrote in what they were doing during each time frame. It made it much easier for me to figure out when a good time to visit might be, and when to plan time to collaborate with teachers!

#3 Make sure teachers have what they need. 

Do a sweep of the school to ensure that teachers have classroom libraries, a space for guided reading, and the instructional tools and materials they need. This could be easels, chart paper, binders, baskets to organize books, book bins or bags, etc. It’s not that tools will do the job of implementing Reader’s Workshop, but if you can make a teacher’s life easier and better, and improve the student's learning experience by getting them what they need, why not? 

You may not be able to get everybody everything they'd like, but you may have some input when the principal is making purchases for the campus.

#4 Make sure that training includes a focus on the standards. 

Teachers need to know their standards, and so do you. Make sure that that you are really well versed in the standards for each grade and what they look like. Planning should start with what students need to learn how to do. If it doesn’t, it’s just fluff.

#5 Create a culture of collaboration. 

 One non-threatening way to start this is to ask people to bring something they’d like to share for your next PLC. Each person brings one student or classroom artifact that they have created throughout their unit of study. 

At the beginning of your next PLC meeting, ask each person to share their artifact and explain their process a little so everyone can learn from each other. 

Perhaps teachers can bring a reader's notebook response or entry. They can take a picture of an anchor chart they built with their students during a lesson, or share a mentor text that works really well with a particular skill.

Over time, this can grow, but it starts with making collaboration a standard “way of being”.

#6 Create a mentor text library.  

Organize books by reading strategy or skill. Label them. Host them in your coaching room. Over time, you can make sure teachers have a great collection of books, too. Read about how we put together grade level mentor text baskets for our teachers!

   

 

See you there!

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Bridging guided reading to test prep: One easy tip

Ah, spring. the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and the kids are bubbling answers.

Ugh.

We've all been there. 

During this push, push, push for test scores that happens every spring, sometimes guided reading can get the boot. It can feel like we "just don't have the time". And I get it. 

The test is scary and we want our kids to be prepared, because if they're not, there can be consequences. 

Sure, there are consequences for us, but there are definitely consequences for them.

So guided reading sometimes gets lost in the desperate race to get kids where the state wants them to be, even though we know guided reading is the real deal and the test is not.

If you're struggling with this, this post is for you.



Here's how you can do guided reading while embedding some test-taking strategies, too!

Step 1. Plan your guided reading lesson like normal. Use your test data to figure out what strategy to focus on that will help them as readers and reading test takers. Use an instructional-leveled text. Identify the vocabulary you want to plant, and the background knowledge you want to access. 

Our main strategy for this lesson in the picture below was finding the main idea. Students used post-its to mark the main idea of each paragraph as they read, applying the strategy I'd taught them about finding the three-four most important words or ideas in each paragraph.

Step 2. As you're planning, when you get ready to write your purpose question: write it in test format. I'm talking test question stems and A, B, C, D. Type it up and print it out so each student has a question strip.

It should require students to practice the strategy you're working on. For our main idea work, I asked the question, "The information on page 5 helps explain how -" This was a test question stem from our state test. Students had to use their main ideas to check every answer choice and see if it matched their evidence. 

Once students get to the page that will help them answer their question, they apply their strategy like normal, and then they answer the question. Here's the important part: They have to USE THE STRATEGIES YOU'VE TAUGHT THEM!

If my students answered a question without marking their evidence with a post-it, analyzing the question, and analyzing each answer choice, I'd take their strip away and give them a blank one so they could actually do the thinking they needed to do to be successful.

Step 3. You have students finish their reading, applying strategies, and then bring them together (as usual) for a discussion about the purpose question. Here, they verbalize their thinking and explain how they arrived at the answer.

It's an easy peasy connection and it'll give you the time and proximity to see what students are thinking as they approach these questions, while building reading strategies, too. 

Would you do this all year? Not really. You want open-ended questions for guided reading, most of the time. But bridging to the test is something that our kids need support in, and this is one way to do it without drill and kill!

Want to learn more about planning guided reading lessons? Check out my post: Planning for Guided Reading! It'll break it down a step at a time!

P.S.

If you try it, shout it out on FB or IG! 
Tag me @buzzingwithmsb!



Need more support in guided reading, and want some free resources to get you started? Enter your address below!

Beyond Dr. Seuss: Ideas for Celebrating Read Across America

Are you considering moving beyond Seuss for Read Across America? You may have come across  this article from the Conscious Kid that is moving you to try something different this year.

While many of us have celebrated this event with Seuss-themed activities and books (March 2nd is his birthday),  you can definitely celebrate the love of reading in a million ways that don't involve Seuss! After all, he is one of thousands of authors! This annual event is a great opportunity to celebrate reading with students expose them to something new in the world of literature.

If you're looking for new ideas to try out at your school, read on! You'll find tons of activities and theme suggestions to help you plan a fun schoolwide event!

#1 A Read-a-thon

When do you have time to just read? When do your kids have time to just read? The best way to grow the love of reading is to spend time reading! A read-a-thon is a fun way to encourage all-day reading. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Schedule a day of reading across your school. Everybody reads, all day in their classrooms
• Schedule guest readers throughout the day. When there's a reader, kids listen to them read. When there's not a reader, kids read on their own or with their friends.
• Guest teacher and faculty readers. Rotate teachers from one classroom to the next to share their favorite read alouds.
• Read with stuffed reading buddies. Each child can bring a stuffed animal, or the teacher can supply some, to read with!
• Read with human reading buddies! Schedule older students to read with younger students. 
• Make it into a contest: have kids keep track of their reading by # of pages or books read. Each class can have a thermometer and, at the end of every hour, you can check and see how many pages or books have been read. Color it in to keep track!
• Everybody reads. This means that, for a certain amount of time, everyone on campus will read. Principals, coaches, office staff - everybody reads in a visible place so kids can see it. You can have each person join a different class to make sure the kids know that everybody reads!

 #2 Book Battles

This would be a month- or week-long event. Choose several books and have classes read them. Have classes vote on them to determine a winner! If you do a Read-a-Thon (like suggested in #1), you can ask teachers to read the books during the day and have classes vote on them in the afternoon!

We did something similar with Dr. Seuss books a few years ago, but you could easily do this with any books you'd love kids to read! We provided each class with a tally sheet. Each book title was listed and students voted on their favorites. Then we used this data to make a bulletin board to represents which books we loved the most!

#3 Have an author study week

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of authors who your kids would love to get to know. Choose a great author and feature their books and activities around their books all week! You could also do this with a book battle (which I describe above in #2!) Here are a couple of great suggestions with books that could appeal to a range of ages.

Jacqueline Woodson writes about things that kids can relate to, while, at the same time, broadening their cultural experience and awareness. Books you could use to feature this author include The Day You Begin, The Other Side, and Each Kindness. Read about how you can use The Day You Begin here!

 Peter H. Reynolds would make an INCREDIBLE featured author for Read Across America. His books are accessible but powerful to a wide range of ages! Books by Reynolds that kids will love are The Dot, Ish, and The Word Collector. Just think of the visual arts connections you could make!

Allen Say teaches us to value our stories. Spending some time reading Allen Say books and having your kids share their stories would be an amazing way to spend the week. Books you could use to feature Allen Say include Grandfather's Journey, Tea with Milk, and The Bicycle Man.

Other fun authors could be Andrea Beaty, Kim T. Griswell, and Tad Hills.

Looking for some diverse children's authors to feature? Check out this list!

#4 Create your own theme!

You can choose an awesome theme of your own and build book experiences, crafts, and engaging days all around your theme! Here are a few ideas:

Reading Adds Color to Our Lives: feature crayon activities and books like The Day the Crayons Quit, and Red: A Crayon's Story.

Blast Off to Read Across America: use fun space-themed books like Rufus Blasts Off! and Mousetronaut, and meaningful books like Mae Among the Stars, or Hidden Figures.

Reading Changes the World: Include books about changing your world like I Walk With Vanessa, Let the Children March, and Rosa. 

Reading Helps Us Grow: Use books like The Gardener, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, and Grandpa Green.

 #5 Host a Bookmark Contest!

It's pretty easy to host a bookmark contest! We hosted one to celebrate the Grand Opening of our Reading Lounge! Here's how you do it:

1. Create a template. We contacted our school district's print shop because we planned to have the winners of the contest printed and distributed to kids. They provided us with a template they wanted us to use. If you're printing and cutting in-house, you can use whatever size you'd like!

2. Distribute the template to students who are interested in participating in the contest. Provide some basic rules about content, if it needs to be related to a theme, and what kinds of materials they used. Our theme was "Reading Helps Us Grow" because our reading lounge was garden themed. As for materials, we said pencils, colored pencils and/or crayons were fine.

3. Set a due date, a place to turn in their entries, and remind students frequently about the date.

4. Choose the winners. Once all entries are submitted, have a group of teachers get together to judge the bookmarks. Select as many winners as you'd like and have them printed, or print them on carstock and cut them out yourself!

5. Distribute the bookmarks to the kids! We had trouble choosing, so we had a winner from each grade level. Students were able to choose which bookmark they wanted from the eight different choices!

6. Feature the winners somehow: we made a bulletin board and announced it on our campus TV news. 

Found an idea you like? Pin it to remember!

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Celebrating Diversity with the Mentor Text: The Day You Begin

When you look across your classroom, what do you see? Are your students from similar backgrounds and cultures and do they have similar experiences?

Or do you see a diverse group of kids who come from different places, speak different languages, and struggle to find a place that feels like home?

Either way, as teachers, we have two responsibilities for kids when choosing books: to reflect their experiences with books that serve as mirrors, and to expose them to different lives, with books that serve as windows.

The Day You Begin is an absolutely beautiful book that can serve as both a window and a mirror, depending on your students' experiences.

If you haven't read this book yet, it's definitely a must-read.



The Day You Begin is a lyrical book that shares the experiences of students who have moved to a new, foreign place, and how they are struggling to feel like they belong. The children in the book have come from different places, and their experiences, lunches, names, and languages are different. They feel that "no one is quite like you." And it's not a good feeling.

Over time, they realize they can share themselves and find connections between themselves and other children and "the world opens itself up a little wider to make some space for you."

I dare you to read this book without crying. Seriously, I read it three times in a Barnes & Noble and got choked up each time.

The language of this book is incredibly moving and flowing, engaging the reader from the beginning and asking them to make connections to their own experiences or to people they know. It demands empathy.

And that's exactly how I would use this book. Making connections to oneself, to another text, to the world, and even to each other is a beautiful homage to the intent of this book. Here's what I would do:

1. Read the book, several times. 
Talk to students about your experiences and notice the beautiful language of the book together. Point out the way the author describes feelings and ensure that students understand the meaning. Have real conversations about the book. There's a lot to talk about, despite the short lines.

2. Student-to-Student Connections
Assign students randomly. Give each pair a Venn diagram. Have them brainstorm the things that make them similar and different. This freebie below is a good way to get them started, as it has little categories across the bottom that can help them think about how they're alike and different. Then have them use the sentence starters to write about their similarities and differences!

3. Text-to-Self Connections
Not everyone has had the experience of moving from another place to land in a new home, but most of us have felt like we don't quite belong. Encourage students to talk about a time they have felt like the characters in the book.

4. Text-to-Text Connections
Have students think back to other texts you have read with them or that they've read on their own. What makes this book similar? If you need a few ideas for titles, check out the other titles in this Celebrating Diversity Link-Up and add to your collection!

5. Text-to-World Connections
There are more than enough stories in the world that we can connect this text to. Have students think about things that are going on in the world and use those things to connect the book to the world.

You could actually do one of these things each day for a week and reread the book each day. By Friday, students will have done many different levels of thinking and this experience should follow them as they grow!

Download the Student-to-Student Connections Venn Diagram here on Google Drive!
And head to Amazon to get The Day You Begin with my affiliate link!

The Reading Crew is sharing so many great diverse books today! Click below to learn about some more diverse books to add to your library!

An InLinkz Link-up

Self-hosted Wordpress: [inlinkz_linkup id=801311 mode=1]

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Texas Reading Test: Camp Reading Ready Test Prep Resource *Freebie!

Over the last few years, several hundred classrooms have used my Camp Write-a-Lot resource for Texas State Writing Test Prep.

I get so much great feedback about this resource, but I've also gotten one request, over and over: make one for reading!

So I did!

The last few days before THE TEST are a great time to review the major concepts you've been practicing, but in a new and fun way. Enter: Camp Reading Ready!

If you've used my Camp Write-a-Lot Texas Writing Test resource, you'll love Camp Reading Ready!

Camp Reading Ready consists of nine TEKS-aligned stations. I wrote them with the TEKS in mind, but guess what? They work for Common Core standards too, because they cover basic skills that most state tests expect kids to master!

Here's a list of skills that Camp Reading Ready will help your kids review:

• Identifying genre with related author's purposes, vocabulary & test questions
• Identifying main idea
• Identifying nonfiction text features and their definitions
• Matching vocabulary words with definitions and pictures
• Using context clues to infer word meanings
• Analyzing & describing characters
• Making inferences in poetry
• Sequencing events in fiction
• Synthesizing, using text features, and understanding text structure in expository text

To start with, the camp includes some motivational tools that will help kids stay focused while working through the stations. Choose from punch bracelets, punch cards, or collecting camp badges!

Identifying genre
In this activity, students read short texts and identify the genre of the text. Then they sort the author's purpose, vocabulary and sample questions into the different genres.

Identifying main idea

I think this might be my favorite station! (Probably because of the puzzle pieces) 

Kids read the paragraphs and match them with the main idea piece. Then they flip them over to check and see if they got a match! It's a fun way to self-check! 

Nonfiction Text Features

I found the best set of nonfiction text feature images and I'm so glad I did, because they made some awesome cards! To play, kids follow the rules of Go Fish to Go Fishing for Text Features! 

They make pairs of the feature and the name/definition of the feature! (Scroll down to the bottom to get this one for free!)

Vocabulary Match

I get a kick out of this station because it's got a s'mores theme, and if you know me, you know I'm ALL about s'mores. I prefer the chocolately sugary melty kind, of course, but in a pinch, this will do. Kids match vocabulary that's relevant to the test with pictures and definitions. They can play free-for-all style, or Memory!

Context Clues

This one's a no brainer. Kids HAVE to be able to use context clues, right? In this activity, they draw a task card and figure out the meaning of the underlined word. Sound familiar? It's test prep in a fun camp theme, so we can sneak in the test-taking skills!

Analyzing Characters

I really want to play this game, actually. Like, with another person instead of just with myself. Each player gets a game piece and some character cards. They move their pieces across the board, trying to get back to camp! To move faster across the board, they have to match their character cards (synonyms and descriptions) with the traits on the board. It's Candyland...minus the candy.

Making Inferences in Poetry
I had a BLAST writing these poems! Each poem is written from the point of view of an animal. Kids have to read closely for clues to infer what animal is the speaker in the poem!

Sequencing Events in Fiction
This station is all about making sense by constructing a story out of paragraphs. Kids read the paragraphs on strips and then sequence them to tell a fictional story about... you guessed it: camping!

Students have to use sequence of events and clues they gather from transitions to put the paragraphs in logical order to tell a story!












Building Expository Text
Okay, maybe THIS is my favorite station. I love having kids use text features, understand text structure, and synthesize all in one! First, kids sort out the text features and begin figuring out the topic and structure of the text. They match captions and photos, titles, maps, and more. Then they take out the paragraphs and really get busy! It's one of my favorite things to do with kids because it is so engaging and requires lots of thinking.

These stations are an engaging and purposeful way to review for the Texas State Reading test, and they're in my TpT store, ready to go. Just click to head over and grab it. I really believe your kids will enjoy it and it will take away some of your test prep stress.

Are you a Texas teacher? Enter your email address below to get a freebie from this resource!

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