Daily Five Book Study

First, I want to thank Seusstastict for hosting The Daily Five Book Study.  What an awesome idea :)

If you haven't read The Daily Five, go and buy it right now.  Seriously.  When I first read it in my second year of teaching I remember thinking- "OMG!  This is how to TEACH!"  It was like getting the Cilff Notes.  Sadly, the district I worked for at the time demanded fidelity to their curriculum- implementing D5 was not an option at the time.  Happily, I have moved on to far greener pastures :)

1. On pages 4-6, the authors present two different pictures of their classrooms. In thinking about and reflecting on your own practice, how would you characterize your literacy block? Does it look more like the first or second scenario, or is it somewhere in between? How will you change it?
My literacy block, sigh, my literacy block...  
Back when I was in my teacher training program, low those many years ago, I had a cooperating teacher who gave me the soundest piece of advice I have heard to date: "Never, EVER work harder than your students."  I have been smart enough to not waste my energy making adorable and decorative but meaningless activities that need to be written, laminated, cut out, set out, stocked daily, graded, and returned to students.  But I also know that the work students are doing is not tailored to their needs- it is basically a list of page numbers from the work book that goes along with our curriculum.  


One size fits none- some kids can't even read the directions, others are finished in 10 minutes, the rest know in their hearts that it is busy work and act out accordingly. For all my big talk about how the kids were responsible for working, all of the lessons I gave on how to solve problems, all the 'fostering independence' lessons, I was still at the front of the class.  The busy-workers were constantly interrupting with meaningless questions about their meaningless work while the small group became restless, wanting desperately to join in the party that the rest of the students seemed to be having.  I am looking forward to giving my students meaningful work that will encourage them to really participate in learning to become readers.  

2. The typical teacher is very busy having students do lots of different activities. How is what you are having students do now in your classroom creating quality readers and writers? 

I have been pretty successful with getting kids excited about writing.  I am not sure HOW I am getting this to happen, but somehow they're always pumped to spin a good yarn.  I think a big part of what makes writing engaging for my students is that I am excited about their stories.  I really do look forward to reading them- I call one of my dear friends and we chat endlessly about how wonderful their ideas are, the progress that a specific student is making, and how to guide another student toward the next step.


I think I create a culture of writers- I love reading their work, give personalized feedback, share a story here and there, and have fun with guiding them along the way. Reading, not so much.  I have them doing their work, but it is erratic.  There is no real structure or pattern to the kinds of things they are assigned.  I am covering the components of the Daily 5, but in an unstructured way.  Kids are reading, writing, doing word work, and participating in literacy but with no consistent pattern to guide them.  And we all know what happens when you take consistency out of a kids life- LOL!!

3. What sets the Daily 5 structure apart from what you are doing in your classroom?

There IS a structure- LOL!!  I am really looking forward to giving the kids a chance to show what they can do when good choices are taught, modeled, reinforced, and control is relinquished to them.