Sunday, November 11, 2012

What I Learned from Gail and Joan

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to attend a two day Daily Five/CAFE workshop with Gail and Joan.  I need to point out that I am no stranger to them.  I've attended their workshops before and listened to them speak at the MRA (Michigan Reading Association).  Their books-I've read.  Their DVDs-I've watched.  Their website-I'm a member.  Their Tip of the Week email-I get it!  Why am I such a fan?  Three magic words-authentic reading and writing!  How can a teacher not love to see their students participating daily in authentic reading and writing?  Even being a self-professed Daily 5 geek, I still learned a great deal from this workshop.  I'm going to share here just a few of the tidbits I gleaned from those wonderful two days.

-Add "bathroom stamina" to your charts!

-3 Rounds per day (Kindergarten and Intermediate-2 rounds)

-Don't have the children "brainstorm" when creating your I Chart.  Just label it.  You may have to create the I Chart in two separate sessions based on children's stamina.

-Teach the 10 Steps to Teaching and Learning Independence in chunks.  3-4 different times throughout the day to fill up the chart.  It is too much for student's to digest at one time!

-Age of child=number of minutes of direct instruction.  (This stops at 10 minutes.)

-Ask your Media Specialist to teach the Good Fit, I PICK book lessons in the library as well.

-Model the strategy "go back and reread books in your box when you are done".

-Read to Someone is last to be taught

-Fluent readers are 5-7 words ahead in their brains of their voice!

-Leveled classroom libraries are discouraged.  Leveling systems are for teachers not students.

-Reading level is not the primary determinate for placing students into a group-it's the skill needed!

I could go on and on and on.  Everything they said was spot on and they have the research to prove it.  In the classrooms I visit throughout my district I see powerful results of Daily 5 implementation as well.  It's hard to argue with kids reading and writing everyday!
 
"The person in the room that does the most work does the most learning."