Posts Tagged “crash”

Connecting
In today’s instant, ready-made, immediate gratification world, students are used to where interactive things react to them with the flip of a thumb, and books seem like too much work to understand. Struggling students often give up before they even get started. Because of this, I make all of my guided reading students a promise on the first day we meet. “I promise we will only read GOOD books.” That’s my promise, it’s easy to make and it’s easy to keep. I have some real aces in my pocket that get pulled out regularly, “Crash” by Jerry Spinelli, “Riding Freedom” by Pam Munoz Ryan, “Dead Man in Indian Creek” by Mary Downing Hahn and “Summer of the Swans” by Betsy Byars are just a few that are always big hits with my fourth and fifth graders. I know the real reason these books work for students is because they can connect to them, to the characters, to the situations and to the messages.

In my district, a reading teacher co-teaches in a classroom with the classroom teacher during the guided reading block. This normally means I will see two groups of 4 to 6 students for a 20 minute period each day. I LOVE guided reading groups, LOVE them! I am passionate about reading and this is my best opportunity to pass that passion along. In the end, you get moments that make all of the struggles of the year worth it, and I got two of those this year when I saw struggling students get excited, and become active learners.

The first “yes this is why I teach and why I am still paying those student loans” moment happened with a fourth grade group. We were discussing vocabulary and the students had to create definitions using just context clues. The word we were defining was “cajole”. None of the students arrived at the right definition independently, but as we started to discuss what was happening in the book, one student said, “Oh, I know now!!! It’s like that word from “Terror at the Zoo” (another staple), you remember don’t you Noah, you know, that word, “coax”.” My teacher’s heart soared!!!!! This group then went on to bring me a visual example of a “brand”, after that was also a vocabulary word. I drew a poor visual on a white board, and they felt the need to bring a “good” picture of a brand to have in my folder for next year’s group. They also found more biographical info on Wild Bill Hickok, the main character of the story we were reading, to add to my file again. All of this, not assigned, not suggested, but very exciting from the “buzzard” group – you know the diehard strugglers, who come to the table already defeated – well, look out world, they have just realized they can own what they’re reading AND help out next year’s groups too!!

The second came from a fifth grade girl, “Shelby”. Shelby had actually been a special education student, had received Title I services and although she “graduated” out of both programs, she still struggled. Her group was working with the “Lit Circle” set up as we were reading “Run Away Home” by Patricia McKissack. This group of 3 girls and 2 boys was particularly cohesive, and I enjoyed their mix of personalities immensely. They certainly never let each other get away with “doggin out” on their jobs, and pushed each other to excel. Shelby came to group one day, ahead of the rest, clutching something to her chest and breathlessly these words tumbled out of her mouth, “Mrs. R, I know I am not the connector today, I’m the summarizer and I have my summary but I have the best connection, a better one than anyone ever had, even Aly, who is the connector today, has and I just want to know if after she does her connections I can share mine even though I know it’s not my turn and if I can’t share it then I really really really really want to be the connector tomorrow because I have the BEST connection, you aren’t even going to believe and I found it all on my own, nobody even had to help me so can I please please please share it today?! PLEASE!!!” YES, of course, you may share your connection today; I am certainly not going to put a damper on that enthusiasm! What Shelby had made was a text to text connection. In the story we were reading, a female Apache Indian warrior, named Lozen, was mentioned, quite briefly actually, as well as Geronimo. What Shelby brought to group was the book, “Cool Women”. Lozen was discussed, and a picture of her with Geronimo was included. Shelby was right, her connection WAS pretty spectacular. Spectacular enough that not only did she impress her teacher, she impressed her group as well.

It’s all about connections….between students in a group, between students and their teacher, between students and the book; but mostly it’s between students and themselves