Field Notes 2-27

It was the BEST day ever!!

I swear, every student in my room was doing what they were supposed to be doing during Daily Five! Groups were productive, and it was quiet in the room. A first grade teacher's dream!

Here are pictures of my typed up field notes. I love the 2 column set up. It really works for me. It tells me what I see and what I think about it. I hope to start using the post it note method on some of my field notes this weekend!

Also, here are a few photos of the kids working today!

 

Read To Self- Amanda

 

 

Read to Buddy- Brittney

 

Listening To Reading- Katherine

 

Read to Self- Sarah

Another Thick Description

This week, one of the times I was not scheduled to take field notes, I was very excited about what I was seeing from one of my focal students, so I decided to take notes on it! Here is what I got!

Earlier, when Brittney was at Working On Writing (described in field notes 2-20)I was very disappointed with the work I saw. She spent the majority of her time talking to the other student that was also at Working on Writing and very little time actually writing. While she did end up with a final product, I wish she would have followed the expectations we decided on at the beginning of the semester.

Brittney is the only ESL student in my classroom. While she does not receive any special ESL services, I still make sure to clarify my directions and check that she understands everything I say and what she is supposed to do. Brittney's father is very involved in her education, and wants the absolute best for her. While he speaks pretty good English, her mother speaks very little. At home, Brittney mainly speaks in Spanish- although her mother is taking English classes. Brittney's dad always wants to be informed about her behavior and how she is doing academically. I really value this partnership and know that it will help Brittney succeed in school.

She is reading just at grade level, although she sometimes struggles with understanding vocabulary. On this day, she was Reading with a Buddy. Her buddy is another student in my classroom who is reading above grade level. The two girls decided to sit together at a table in the middle of the classroom (usually the kids don't sit at tables, they choose a comfy place on the floor). The first thing I noticed was the girls spread out all of their books from both book bins (I have noticed Brittney doing this before). Then I saw them choose the book The Lorax to read together. The girls were using the "I Read, You Read" procedure they learned at the beginning of the semester, where one student reads one page and then the other reads the next page. Both girls were paying attention and following along. I could hear them reading the words since they were near my reading group table. The girls did not finish the book, before they stopped and selected a different one. They chose Wacky Wednesday, another Dr. Seuss book to read. This time they used the "Choral Read" method we learned where both students read the words at the same time. They were reading fluently and I could hear the rhythm that naturally comes from reading some of Dr. Seuss's rhyming books.

I was very pleased with Brittney's work today at read to buddy. She was on task the entire time and followed the Daily Five expectations. The two girls got started right away and were reading together the entire time. They even showed that they could use both of the buddy reading strategies we learned at the beginning of the year.

I wonder if Brittney's behavior and work ethic was different this time because she enjoys reading much more than writing, or if it was just a fluke that she was off task before, and on task this time I was watching.

Field Notes 2-20

Here is a picture of my field notes from this week. These were my biggest take aways this week:

• Most of the time the children really ARE doing what they are supposed to be doing!
• Yes, there is some talking, but they are quiet and not disruptive.
• This week one student (Brittney) was off task quite a bit during her time at Working On Writing. She had wasted about 10-12 minutes of her time with talking to her partner, and then rolling the idea dice. I did give her one correction, and she got busy right away.
• Even though this was a disruption to my group, and not encouraged by Daily Five, it is absolutely okay with me. It was one quick redirect that did not take away from my group, and then she got right back on track. I can handle this!!

I took a couple of pictures today. One of  Sam during read to self. He was absolutely PRECIOUS! He was reading, following the expectations, and looked like he was enjoying himself while he was reading! Then, I also took a picture of Brittney while she was actually writing, and then a picture of her writing. She still had a pretty good writing product even though she wasted 10 minutes of her 20-25 minute writing time.

Field Notes and Thick Description

Here are a few things I noticed as I was typing up my field notes from the past week:

• I always take field notes on Wednesday.... so the same kids are always at the same station. For example "Sam" is always at read to buddy. I think I might need to change this up- still take field notes once a week, but take them on different days so I have data on students at a variety of stations and I will have information abut the station with a variety of children. You would have thought I would have noticed this before today... but oh well. Better late than never!
• The most "off task" behavior is happening at working on writing. There is too much time being spent on coloring their illustrations and not enough time actually writing. I think I might need to revamp this station. Maybe put a timer there and only allow them to color for a certain about of time?? Or just find more creative things for them to write about- I think I will check out pinterest for some ideas. Any readers ideas would be helpful too!

Thick Description... I am really nervous about this. I am loving the way I take my field notes in a two column chart but I am not so sure that I really have been doing thick description. I feel better after reading my groups examples- but am still just feeling hesitant about it. So... here it goes!

Amanda is a six year old African American student in my classroom. She is reading just above grade level. Amanda is very well behaved and a very hard worker. I know that her parents have extremely high expectations for her behavior at school, and she has consequences for misbehavior. Her Mom and Dad are involved in her education and always want to know what they can do to help her if she is struggling with any concept. Through my observations she is almost always on task and working hard during Daily Five and I think some of this has to do with her work ethic and the expectations her parents and teacher have set for her. Today as I sat at the reading group table observing, Amanda walked up to the Word Work table, int the front of the room,  and had a seat in the chair. She got out the tub of colored markers and a piece of paper. She immediately began writing her spelling words for the week. She worked on this for about ten minutes. As Amanda was nearing the bottom of her page, there was some talking with the other student at the word work table. It appeared to me that they were talking about which colors of markers they were using, but I was not close enough to actually hear the words.  Then I noticed that she had filled up her paper with her words. Amanda put the tub of markers back on the shelf and opened up a drawer next to the shelf to get out new materials. She got out a dry erase board, marker, and eraser. I saw her begin to write her words on the dry erase board. When time was up, and the teacher made the signal to change groups, Amanda cleaned up the dry erase materials and put them back into the drawer. Then she walked over to her next group (with the teacher).

Sam is a six year old Caucasian boy in my classroom. This is his first year at Sandersville, the adjustment at the beginning was tough, but now Sam is a hard worker and tries his best to please his teacher. Sam is reading right at first grade level, but is still writing very phonetically. He has nice handwriting and wants to succeed. Today Sam was at Read To Buddy. On his Daily Five survey he indicated this is his favorite stations. Sam and his partner are sitting on the floor on the black carpet in the middle of the classroom library. They are both sitting near each other, however they are not sitting criss-cross applesauce. They are both sitting on their knees and are looking at the book they have selected to read. I can see from the round table that they are reading an Arthur book together. The boys are reading nicely at a level one and are turning the pages at a good speed. I can tell they are using the "I read, you read" method they learned where they take turns reading the pages. Sam reads his page and then sits and listens as his partner reads his page. After the boys have finished reading the Arthur book, they get the book No David out of one of their book bins. No David is a favorite in my classroom. They continue to do "I read, you read". I see the boys reading the words and turning the pages. Then on the page where David runs naked down the street, I see them pointing at the picture and laughing. This image is exactly what I want to see in my classroom- students reading and enjoying literature together. They are learning, becoming better readers, and having fun while they are doing it!

Daily 5 Survey

I gave a survey to my focus group last Thursday. Yesterday, I went back and compiled all of their answers into one document, so it would be easier to look at them... and code... once I get a handle on how to start that! Ha!

I was excited about how the surveys went. The students gave me some good answers and I learned a lot from what they said!

Here are a few conclusions/surprises I came to after looking at the kids answers:

• Every child said they liked reading group and Daily 5 time.
• Here were some of their reasons:
• "because I want to learn new things"
• "because I like reading!"
• "so I can be a better reader"
• "I like it because it makes you smart"
• "because it is fun!"
• Every child said there are enough books they like to read in the library. I asked them for suggestions too- I might go shopping at scholastic to get a few of their choices.
• This was my favorite question with responses... I typed them exactly as they were written on their papers.

• I asked them about changing the voice level from a 0 to a 1. 6 of the 8 said they thought I should change the voice level. The next question asked if they thought people would stay at a 1 if I did change it. 7 of the 8 kids were thoughtful enough to know that if it was a 1 students would not stay at a 1. This happens in my room ALOT.... I thought it was interesting that these kids were perceptive of this voice level problem we had.
• Favorites:
• 2 Read to Buddy
• 1 Read to Self
• 2 Work on Writing
• 3 Word Work
• Least Favorite:
• 1 Work on Writing
• 3 Read to Self
• 2 Word Work
• 2 Listening
• The kids had a variety of good reasons for why they did or did not like the particular station.
• Here are some of the best/ most valuable:
• I don't like read to self because "I might not know a word" "It is not fun because you have to read to yourself"
• I don't like word work because "It is messy"- I have to admit this one puzzles me!
• I don't like listening to reading because "we just sit and listen" "you have to keep on listening to a whole story" - I am going to try changing out the books more often.
• I like word work because "It is fun"
• I like read to buddy because "me and my partner get to read together" "because I read a page and my buddy reads a page"

Overall I am VERY pleased! There were several of the kids that answered with "because it is fun" for several questions. I tried to watch as they answered to make sure I got answers more specific than that- but missed a few. I really wish I had asked them a follow up question at the time, like what do you mean it is fun? or how is it fun? I wonder if I took their survey to them this week if they would be able to give me more information? Is that okay?

This week

Update:
I have gotten quite a bit of work done on my project this week! I took field notes on Wednesday and tried to be more mindful of thick description. I will post a couple of examples at my thick description attempts this weekend. I also typed up a survey about The Daily Five and did it with my focus group today. I was so excited about how the kids responded. They gave honest answers and were able to answer all of the questions and explain their opinions. I will post more about these this weekend too!

Next project will be starting to code all of this information I have gathered! EEEK!

Reading Attitude Inventory

This past week, I finally got around to giving my Reading Attitude Inventories for the first time in my data collection process. In my original plan, I was going to give this three times- beginning middle and end. I am wondering if giving this twice would be enough.... I guess I have a couple of more weeks to decide.

The attitude inventory gave me lots of great data! Before giving it to my kiddos, we talked about how I wanted them to answer the questions honestly, not how they thought I would want them to answer. Based on the results, overall, I think the kids were really honest- which is great! I had one student circle the happiest Garfield for EVERY question. I am thinking her survey might need to be thrown out...

Here is my data laid out in a chart. I can't get the picture to flip... CRAZY technology! I guess you will just have to turn your head...

From this survey I was able to draw these conclusions:

1. Every child (except for the one that answered all of the questions with the happiest Garfield) scored the question that asked how they felt about completing workbook pages and worksheets with the most unhappy Garfield. 
2.   I was very surprised at the variation in how a student might feel about recreational reading and reading at school.
3. I would have thought that recreational reading would have been lower for most students than academic reading- mostly because I would have thought they would have been more interested in playing or doing other things. However that was not the case. Several of my students preferred recreational reading.

** From this I can draw the conclusion that by getting read of the traditional center with a worksheet to complete, my students are happier! If they do not like to complete worksheets, finding a way for them to be productive and learn without worksheets is crucial!!**



I got the Garfield Reading Attitude Inventory from:

McKenna, M. C., Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers.

         The Reading Teacher, 43 (9), 626-639.

Busy Week!

Well... I am already a bit off from my schedule. Those snow days really messed me up!!

I have been very busy this week finalizing plans and collecting data!
Here are some things that have been going on!

• I FINALLY received all of the permission forms back from the students I was planning on using to collect data in my focus group. I am so relieved that all of the parents were on board!
• I have a focus group set in stone now and can weed out a few of the notes I took last week before I knew exactly which eight students I would be using.
• I need to give the kids pseudo-names starting now. This way, I can post my notes and data on the blog. This will be a weekend project!
• I gave the Garfield Reading Attitude survey. I am still working on getting those scored. Once I do, I will organize my data into a table and share it here on the blog. (Maybe on Sunday!!)
• I completed another round of field notes. I am already feeling more confident in my notes! I was able to observe and record much better this week, because the students in my group were doing an independent activity. I will need to stick with this plan for the next few weeks as I really try to get my data collected.
• I wish I could hear what the students are talking about when they are working. A few have been whispering as they work. I think this is okay with me-- as long as they are still working and on task too. I know if I was to set up a recorder, the students would not talk. Also, when I get up from group and walk past, they quit talking. If only I could read lips! Ha!

Field Notes: Trial 1

Field Notes- January 30th

Well.... field notes trial number 1 was semi successful!

I think I did very well writing descriptive notes about what was happening in my classroom during my focus group's daily five time. When I finished I had a page of total chicken scratch! I know if I did not go back to it within a few days, I would have had NO idea what my notes meant!

One thing that I was not very successful at was making observers comments while I was writing down what I was seeing. Next time, I will try to be better at noting both my observations and my thoughts about what I am seeing.

I went through and typed up my field notes in a word document with 2 columns. 1 side for my observations and one side for observers comments (this is what our reading this week suggested) so I thought I would give it a shot! I really liked it! Obviously since I did not make any observers comments, I had to go back in and add them in. But I feel like this might have been a good strategy for me. It gave me time to think about what I saw and evaluate it.

At the bottom of my typed field notes, I wrote just a couple of take aways. Here is what I said:

Overall, the students did very well today. Only a few off task behaviors, and they were all very short and did not interrupt either teacher’s reading group. These students seemed to be involved in their activities and working hard. Some even looked like they were enjoying themselves!

 I wish there was a way to upload/attach word documents to this blog! All it looks like I can upload are pictures. I might try to do this at school next week, because my computer there has a button to take a screen shot. Then I could upload a picture of my screen so you can see a visual of my field notes.

My biggest struggle this week was teachign while I was trying tot ake field notes. Next week, I plan to have an activity my reading group can do independently while I need to take field notes. This way I can give more attention to my field notes.