Partner Reading
I don't want to comment too much on the first half of chapter 8. Mostly because it confirms much of what I have already talked about. But I want to share a few brief anecdotes related to the "Partner Reading" section.
Last year, my 4th period Literature class enjoyed the times I provided for them to read with one or two partners. A little pre-text; I was a floating teacher, and as such I worked in a total of five different classrooms. 4th period drew the school's Home Economics classroom. Quite a contrast from the typical tile floor, prearranged rows of desks in a "standard" classroom. The Home Ec. room had a kitchen, carpeting, tables spread out around the room instead of desks in rows, and twice as much space with which to work. This was not a "standard" setting in which we held a Literature class, but I tried to make it work (one thing I clearly recall is taking advantage of the carpet to schedule large group read-aloud). I emphasize "tried" not because I don't believe it's an authentic setting (in fact, it's more authentic than the usual model), but because students had grown so accustomed to the routine rows and rigid structure of a "normal" room that they had more than a few growing pains (as I did).
But one of the things the Home Economics room encouraged was partner reading because the spaced-out tables were extremely conducive to small group work, as students sat in close proximity to each other. There were usually 3-4 students to a table, and if I gave them time on their own, most of them usually found a way to finish the work. Partner reading was interesting. I had to monitor this quite a bit. Here are some of my observations worded accordingly with the points made in Classrooms That Work:
- Students are not shy about reading in each other's company. It is different when I read to my students compared to letting them read together. As they all settle down to work, they develop their own strategies. I saw several instances of students taking turns, asking questions, saying something (never knew what would come out of some of their mouths!), and particularly choral whispering (p. 190). The latter especially impressed me because it told me they were attempting to honor the work of other tables around them (now don't get the wrong idea; it was difficult to maintain this sometimes, but when it worked, it hummed).
- Students work faster with partners, and thus need more things to do. This is tough sometimes. Students are astute enough to recognize the difference between informative work and "busy-work." I don't want to give them more work purely for the sake of giving them more work, but I know the danger in too many of them finishing early, especially in a room that encourages movement and chatter.
- Students have particular "cliques." Use them and abuse them as needed. I didn't assign any seats for my classes the first day/week of the year. So students gravitated to people and places where they felt comfortable. I let this continue only as long as they worked productively. If they strayed or bothered other table groups, then I didn't hesitate to switch students around until I settled on an arrangement that worked. All the same, I tried to hold back from interfering with the synergy of a group; the innate way these kids knew each other enabled them to find the best combination of strategies to help them accomplish their tasks.
The Book Club Group is interesting. I wonder - how might the group function if more responsibility for conducting activities was given to the students? Perhaps they can identify different genres of books instead of the teacher selecting them in advance. Or they can partner up according to their own particular strengths and weaknesses as the teacher monitors. And I agree - never tell the children outright which books are considered "easy," "average," or "hard;" I'd much rather the students come to their own conclusions based on their reading comprehension skills.
Last year, my 4th period Literature class enjoyed the times I provided for them to read with one or two partners. A little pre-text; I was a floating teacher, and as such I worked in a total of five different classrooms. 4th period drew the school's Home Economics classroom. Quite a contrast from the typical tile floor, prearranged rows of desks in a "standard" classroom. The Home Ec. room had a kitchen, carpeting, tables spread out around the room instead of desks in rows, and twice as much space with which to work. This was not a "standard" setting in which we held a Literature class, but I tried to make it work (one thing I clearly recall is taking advantage of the carpet to schedule large group read-aloud). I emphasize "tried" not because I don't believe it's an authentic setting (in fact, it's more authentic than the usual model), but because students had grown so accustomed to the routine rows and rigid structure of a "normal" room that they had more than a few growing pains (as I did).
But one of the things the Home Economics room encouraged was partner reading because the spaced-out tables were extremely conducive to small group work, as students sat in close proximity to each other. There were usually 3-4 students to a table, and if I gave them time on their own, most of them usually found a way to finish the work. Partner reading was interesting. I had to monitor this quite a bit. Here are some of my observations worded accordingly with the points made in Classrooms That Work:
- Students are not shy about reading in each other's company. It is different when I read to my students compared to letting them read together. As they all settle down to work, they develop their own strategies. I saw several instances of students taking turns, asking questions, saying something (never knew what would come out of some of their mouths!), and particularly choral whispering (p. 190). The latter especially impressed me because it told me they were attempting to honor the work of other tables around them (now don't get the wrong idea; it was difficult to maintain this sometimes, but when it worked, it hummed).
- Students work faster with partners, and thus need more things to do. This is tough sometimes. Students are astute enough to recognize the difference between informative work and "busy-work." I don't want to give them more work purely for the sake of giving them more work, but I know the danger in too many of them finishing early, especially in a room that encourages movement and chatter.
- Students have particular "cliques." Use them and abuse them as needed. I didn't assign any seats for my classes the first day/week of the year. So students gravitated to people and places where they felt comfortable. I let this continue only as long as they worked productively. If they strayed or bothered other table groups, then I didn't hesitate to switch students around until I settled on an arrangement that worked. All the same, I tried to hold back from interfering with the synergy of a group; the innate way these kids knew each other enabled them to find the best combination of strategies to help them accomplish their tasks.
The Book Club Group is interesting. I wonder - how might the group function if more responsibility for conducting activities was given to the students? Perhaps they can identify different genres of books instead of the teacher selecting them in advance. Or they can partner up according to their own particular strengths and weaknesses as the teacher monitors. And I agree - never tell the children outright which books are considered "easy," "average," or "hard;" I'd much rather the students come to their own conclusions based on their reading comprehension skills.
posted by david @ 6:29 AM
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