They will be showing a selection of some of the best previous K12 Conference presentations (but they’ve also included mine : ).  After the presentation, I’ll be there live to answer questions and talk about the project.

My preso is the first one up.  I’ll be there at 11:00 Pacific Time.  You go to http://www.edtechtalk.com to see it/hear it.  Here’s a link for more information.

The Basic Phonics Skills Test (BPST)
This is helpful in identifying specific areas of phonics need (short vowels, long vowels, digraphs, etc.)

San Diego Quick Assessment
It’s also important to know students’ knowledge of sight words which is an almost completely separate skill from decoding and an almost equal predictor of reading success.

Yopp-Singer
Test of phoneme segmentation

DIBELS
provides several free fluency passages as well as comprehension assessments

What pre-assessments do you use?

I’ve answered some questions about Independent Work Time before:

IWT FAQ

What Do I Do During IWT?

Additional Articles on Independent Work Time

Here’s a new question about debriefing, those few minutes of wrapping up loose ends at the end of IWT:

Hi Mathew!
I am a 2nd grade teacher in AZ and I purchased your CD and have followed it for 3 weeks now. So far, it is working wonderfully for me. However, I haven’t been very faithful about the debriefing time after IWT is over mainly because when our IWT is done then it’s time to go out for recess and the kids (and myself) are in a hurry usually.  Should I continue to do the debriefing all year?  If you consider it important, I will try to do it more consistently.  I guess I need to allow a 5-10 min. time before recess to debrief the kids.  Also, we are mandated to have literacy centers that cover the “big 4″:  Comprehension, Phonics, Fluency, and Vocabulary. How would I work that in with the Must Dos and May Dos?  Thanks in advance.

I do feel that debriefing is important.  However, if behavior is not a problem, it would less important and in the real world there will be days you don’t get to it.

Invariably there will be small problems that come up and get bigger over time and if you don’t debrief, it’s difficult to address them.  Also, debriefing is the time when you can talk about the work itself and hold students accountable to having finished it.  For example, asking “Who found out something new in their research today?”  “Who revised their writing and how did you make it better?”  If you never debrief then students might get the message that there aren’t specific skills they’re working on.

In terms of your mandated centers, they can be either must dos or may dos.  Certainly there are more engaging ways and boring ways to address the same skills.  Your creativity will go a long way in planning those centers.  Good luck.  -Mathew

How about you, how is debriefing working in your classroom?

I’ve never believed that you have to like your students in order to teach them.  However, over the course of a year, I do try to find one thing I appreciate in each  of them.  Some things like charm, a sense of humor or an encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs show themselves on the first day of school.  However, other things like a penchant for organization, a photographic memory, or the ability to cleverly problem solve take time to reveal themselves.

Signs of personality in your students show themselves everywhere if you’re looking for them.  I notice which cartoon characters are on which student’s backpack or homework folder.  I notice how they relate to each other when they think I’m not listening.  I provide opportunities like music and drama, often integrated with the rest of our curriculum, to provide opportunities for students to show talents that don’t typically show up in a classroom.

So, if you think you’re going to get to know your students during the first day, first week, or even first month of school, remember it’s a marathon and not a sprint and keep yourself open to getting to know who they are all year.  Knowing who they are helps you know how to reach them.  And the ones who are hardest to reach need you the most.

Need something to do?  Want to get to know your students?
Activities for the First Day of School

Want to beef up on classroom management?  Here’s everything you need from job charts to management systems:
Classroom Management for Teachers

For Open Court Reading teachers, I’d start with
Unit Openers
then Concept Question Boards
and finally have a plan for more explicitly teaching reading comprehension this year

I hope my readers have had a restful summer.  As a reminder, this is the official blog of Open Court Resources.com (not the publisher of Open Court Reading but a teacher created resource) as well as the personal expression of me, Mathew Needleman, teacher, filmmaker, and technology integration guru of sorts.

You are receiving this because you subscribed to it and will receive weekly updates as long as you continue to subscribe.

I will continue to write about teaching language arts as well as integrating technology into the curriculum.  I am entering a new job as a provider of intervention to at risk students.  I suspect that I will be writing about that in the months ahead as well as commenting on changes in educational policy taking place at the state and national levels.

Thanks for reading.

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