Visual Display of Data - Yay!

Finally I have figured out a way to display some of my data results through graphs on my blog! The graph, of course, does not show up in exactly the same way it did when I created it on my computer, but you get the idea! The above graph shows my students feelings about reading when simply asked, "How do you feel about reading?" They had the option to choose Love it! Like it! Ho-Hum! and Don't Like it! The blue graphs show the Fall responses and the purple graph show the more recent responses! I am thrilled to see that no one falls into the "Don't Like it!" category any more! My main goal in offer choices in Reading Workshop was to create students with positive attitudes towards reading, and while Ho-Hum may not be the most positive attitude, the majority of my students fall into the Love it! and Like it! categories! I hope that I am creating students who go through life enjoying reading!

Connections

Over the past week I have had so much fun watching my students connect to their reading. I can not say specifically what it is that has brought this on, but there is not question that the statement: Reading is Thinking is ringing true in our classroom. In everyday interactions I have seen students comment on the likeness between one students actions and a character from our weekly reading story. While commenting on different things I have noticed many students beginning their comments with, "I can connect to this..." I do not feel that I have suddenly given extra time to the ideas of connection to our reading, nor has it been a part of any recent mini lessons. Regardless of where it is coming from and I am really enjoying all the connections being made to reading in our classroom! The specific incident that sparked this post happened today during Read Aloud. We end each day on the carpet with Read Aloud, and at the end of the day I do not expect that everyone is always listening fully as I read from our current book, but most students are usually willing and able to answer questions that I ask when I pause or when we review what was read the previous day. Today after a quick review of what was most recently read last week I dove right in to the chapter, and as I read some specific events that were occurring in the chapter hands started shooting up. While I had made the connection right away, I was fully expecting to have to pause and question the class in regards to any connections that could be made. But as I looked out at all the hands I simply asked if their hands were up because they had made a connection and they all eagerly nodded. We are currently reading Escaping the Giant Wave by: Peg Kehert and the students connected to a book we had read earlier in the year called Chasing the Falconers - On the Run Book 1 by: Gordon Korman. The connection was made that in both book characters were caught in a fire and both went to the bathroom to cover and/or use a wet towel to escape the fire. There connection was nothing amazing, but just that fact that they are making this connections with prompting makes me smile! :) Reading is Thinking!

Wordle - A Visual Display of Data

                                                               
This is a Wordle, created on www.wordle.net, which shows the opinions of my students when asked about how they felt about having choices in Reading Workshop this year in 4th grade. The words "Reading" and "Choices" are words that I typed in to emphasize what this illustrations was referring to. The other words shown are the words the students used to describe Reading Workshop. With this program, the bigger the word the more often it was used by the students. The big words that stand out are "awesome", "fun", and "exciting" which are three positive descriptions from the students about their opinions of providing choice in the classroom. There were a few "negative" words used, such as "dislike" but those words are small, indicating that very few share that opinion. I am not sure how well you can read all of the words in this image, but if you click on it I believe it will take you to a larger image on the Wordle site. This Wordle is a different way to show some of the data I have gathered from the students directly, and I think continues to support that idea that student choice in the classroom is a positive thing!

Always Learning...

I am still looking for a way to display my data on this blog, but I am struggling with the technology part of it. Hopefully I can figure something out soon.

What I have learned from my data (data = surveys, grades, and observations) is that choice is motivating! When students were asked to write down three words to describe their feelings about the subject of reading at school their responses remained positive! They included words like: fun, awesome, cool, good, fine, love it, excellent, sweet, exciting, relaxing, and interesting, among other positive words! Of course I did get a few ho-hums and OKs, but the majority of the students used positive words to describe reading.

Additional information that I gathered from the surveys was not exactly what I had hoped it would be. At the start of the year I gave students a Reading Attitude Survey, and I administered this survey again in January. The survey looked at their recreational reading, academic reading, and then combined the two for a look at their full scale attitude. I did not see as many significant changes as I had hoped to see, and in fact some of the percentages decreased from September to January. In reflecting on the surveys and the results I am able to see where and how some of these shifts, or lack of shifts, may have occurred. The initial survey was given during the first week of school, which is a time when most students are still in the "honeymoon" phase of being back at school. During this first week students are enjoying seeing friends, having fun, building a classroom community through a variety of different activities, and trying impress their new teacher in different ways.  Lets face it, the first week of school is not that rigorous in the academics department. By January the students have settled in to the routines and things may no longer feel as exciting, even if they are enjoying what they are doing. While the overall attitude percentages did not show any significant changes, but specific questions, regarding reading, have shown that students attitudes towards reading at school have become more positive over the year. They have shown that they are enjoying reading and the choices that come along with it.

I am thrilled with the results that I am seeing, even if the data is not as strong as I had hoped they would ultimately be, but do I think they Reading Workshop I have created is perfect... by no means. Moving forward there are things I would like to change and improve on, some things I will try this year, and some things I will implement next year. Some things I would like to change and/or improve are: the Word Work/Spelling choice, looking at the value of the Work on Writing choice (knowing that students have time to write during Writing Workshop), the way in which students log their choices, and a way to find a way to incorporate more than one choice per day. This will always be a work in progress... it will change as I gather new ideas, it will change each year as the students I have in my class change, it will change as we adopt a new reading curriclum, but one thing I am certain will remain, I will continue to offer choices in Reading Workshop.

The Peek into Our Classroom for this week is another choice that the students have had a chance to partake during the month of February. Because February is I LOVE TO READ MONTH I invited my 4th graders to be Mystery Readers in our classroom. We typically have Mystery Readers every Friday (parents, siblings, other teachers, etc) but during the month of February I allow my students to be Mystery Readers if they would like to be. They write down clues about themselves that are then shared with the class on the day that they are the Mystery Reader. I started out with quite a few Student Mystery Readers, but after a few students had their chance to read they inspired others and we have now had to extend our Student Mystery Readers into the beginning of March! Students are embracing this chance to share their love of reading with their classmates. It has been a lot of fun to watch! Below is a picture of one of last week's Student Mystery Readers:

  

Thinking About EVERYTHING...and Drawing Conclusions

Taking it all in... looking at everything.. trying to figure out what it all means! This has been my most recent task as I prepare to present my learning with others. I am currently surrounded by surveys, comprehension quizzes, and logging sheets trying to make meaning of all of the work that I have done this year to enhance my Reading Workshop through student choice.

My focus has been on the attitudes of my students and my hope was to create students with positive attitudes towards reading. Research and experience have taught me that if a student has a positive attitude about something they are more likely to truly engage and therefore learn more and be successful.

As I look through the different data that I have collected over the months one thing has become very clear, each and every one of my students is different. I know that seems like an obvious statement, but it became very apparent to me as I read through one of the most recent surveys. On the survey there were quite a few questions, but two questions that I have come to see as very valuable data were: "What part of Reading Workshop do you enjoy the most?"  and "What part of Reading Workshop do you enjoy the least?" I did not intend for these questions to overly important, but as I read through their responses I reazlied that everyone had different feelings towards the choices that they enjoyed the most and the least. It was like an AH-HA moment. Why would I want to "make" someone always Read to Self (as I have in the past during Reading Workshop) if that was something they do not enjoy,  clearly they are not going to be engaged in something they do not enjoy. Offering choices allows students to figure out what works best for them, in terms of their enjoyment and their understanding, and the majority of the time if students are doing something they enjoy they are motivated and engaged in what they are doing. The variety of responses that I have about most and least favorite parts of Reading Workshop is DATA, students want and need different things in order to have a positive attitude and therefore be engaged in what they are doing!

I am currently working on some "numbers" data that shows how my students attitudes have changed over the year so far. Not all of that data is showing significant changes, and some are showing changes in the opposite directions of what I would like to see, but  I know there are different factors that contribute to that, and I will save that analyzes for an upcoming entry. What I do know is that what I  am seeing in the classroom is showing me the power of choice. Today during Reading Workshop I took a moment to stop and look around, and what I saw was 25 students ENGAGED in reading. Some were doing it in pairs, some were listening, some were reading alone, and some were working on patterns in different words, but everyone was truly engaged.

As the implementation of my Action research project begins to wrap up I have decided to try and bring a little bit more of my classroom and what we do each day to this blog. I will try and include a few different peeks at what we do each day in some of my upcoming blogs.

This Peek into Our Classroom shows a student's weekly reading log. Each student has a log that they fill out daily. This first picture shows the log, this tracks what choices the students has completed over the course of a week. On this log the Writing About Reading choice was blocked out as no journals were due, and Friday was blocked out as we were on our Catholic Schools Week field trip to the roller
rink that day! :)

                          
      

This picture shows the back of the reading log. Each week on the back of the log the students apply some of their learning through our weekly story. On this log students had to fill in Venn Diagram as we had been talking about comparing and contrasting. At the bottom of the log are the week's vocabulary words which students fill in through our discsussions or through the glossary in the back of their reading book.

Looking at Data... Data... Data...

Throughout my Action Research I have tried to collect data mainly through observations and surveys. My students also take part in NWEA testing, however we only test in the fall and the spring, so at this time I am unable to use that data at this time. In April when I present my Action Research to other educators I will have the NWEA test scores and will be able to use them as a part of my final presentation.

Overall my goal of providing choices during reading was to create 4th graders with positive attitudes towards reading. My research stated that one way to help promote positive attitudes towards something is to allow for student choice. Therefore I provided choices in reading in hopes that the students would be more motivated to take part in reading and the correlating activities associated with reading. Ideally this would then have positive impacts on their success in reading, which would carry over into many areas, as reading plays an important role in many aspects of our lives.

My observations are a comparison of my students from previous years (keeping in mind that each class is different) with my current students, and a comparison of my current students and how they have changed throughout the year. At the start of the year I had a handful of students who struggled with settling in to read, and reading for the duration of "choice" time. As the year has progressed and more choices have been added I have seen some of those students fully engaged in their choices during "choice" time. Some continue to need my support, but I definitely spend less time keeping students on task then I have had to in previous year, or since the start of this year. I find that to be a sign of success for allowing these choices during reading. In the past I have felt that half of the battle of independent reading time can be keeping students on task and focused, at this point in the year I do not feel that is a battle I need to fight with my students as they often times are motivated to complete the task that they are working on.

My survey results have remained positive throughout the year. At the beginning of the year I gave a Reading Attitude Survey. During the first week of school, before introducing choices my 4th graders had the following results:
When asked: "How did you feel about independent reading time in 3rd grade?"
11 = Love it! 9 = Like it! 4 = Ho-Hum! and 1 = Don't like it!
When asked: "How do you feel when it's time for reading class?"
13 = Love it! 6 = Like it! 5 = Ho-Hum! and 1 = Don't like it!
These reults showed me at the start of the year that I did have a group of studets who, for the most part enjoyed reading.

At the end of September a survey with different questions showed similar results.
When asked: How do you feel about Reading Workshop so far in 4th grade?"
8 = Love it! 12 = Like it! 4 = Ho-Hum! and  1 = Don't like it!
When asked: "How do you feel about having choices in reading?"
12 = Love it! 11 = Like it! 2 = Ho-Hum and 0 = Don't like it!

In December when asked the same questions, the results had shifted slightly, and the attitudes stayed positive. At this point in the year as I looked at the results I also thought about the fact that we had been in our routine for awhile, and over time things that are routine can become a little less exciting. The results however continued to show postive attiudes towards reading and my observations continued to show engaged and motivated reader. At this point in the year I was THRILLED to see 0's in the Don't like it catergory.
When asked: How do you feel about Reading Workshop so far in 4th grade?"
8 = Love it! 14 = Like it! 4 = Ho-Hum! and  0 = Don't like it!
When asked: "How do you feel about having choices in reading?"
12 = Love it! 12 = Like it! 1 = Ho-Hum and 0 = Don't like it! I have made a few bar graphs to show a comparision of some of these results, however I can not figure out how to upload them to this blog. I will talk to some of the "tech support" people in my life and see if the can assit me with gettin the visuals onto this blog.

Looking forward I plan to give my students the Reading Attitude Survery again to look at their overall attitude towards reading, compared to the start of the year. This survey is 20 questions, compared to the smaller 4 - 5 question surveys I have given throughout the year. I look forward to getting the results of the attitude survey and comparing them to the start of the year.

Thinking about Challenges and Changes

This past week we have taken some time to get back to the basics. As we hit the mid-point of our year together I was starting to observe some of the things I have seen in the past throughout the year... a lot of movement during independent reading time – a lot of “time wasting” movement! I am happy that I have not been seeing this all year, and it is a challenge I expected to arise sooner or later. So as a way of refocusing our independent choice time I decided that we were going to spend some time reviewing and getting back to the basics.

This was done through a lot of conversations this week before and after independent choice time. Mid-week as the students were settling in for choice time I heard one student say to other (as they were about to do Read to Someone) “Remember to grab your back up book in case we finish this one!” YES! They were really listening to me! On Friday we had mandatory Read to Self  practice time, some student were bummed that they could not do other choices, however we reviewed why we needed to have this time and overall it was great. It was very quiet and there was little movement and most of the 25 students were on task and reading, only a few were “fake reading” so I feel a conversation about that would be helpful next week.

Overall my observations and surveys have continue to yield positive results, the student enjoy Reading Workshop, and I am confident that choices are something I will continue to offer as a way of keeping my student motivated to read, but the question has been asked “How do you plan to sustain what you have started?” The answer to that question is simple, for this year, we will just keep doing things the way we have always done them; this year’s 4^th graders don’t know any different. But to truly sustain what I have started there are some things that I would like to change.

My biggest challenge right now it TIME, and that is not something I have the power to change. Using our Reading Workshop time for independent choices and our basal reading book leaves us with very little time to spare, and there are other things that I would like to include into Reading Workshop as well. For example, this week in our basal we read a story title The Last Dragon, because this story took place in Chinatown we also took time to focus on the Chinese New Year, which started this Monday. It was a perfect story to connect to something that was going on in the world. We talked about the Chinese zodiac calendar, what “year” we were all born in, and made paper lanterns for the Lantern Festival, celebrated on the last night of the Chinese New Year, not to mention needing to find time for a comprehension quiz. The students enjoyed all of these extras, and it was a great learning experience, however, if you add all that stuff in to our already crammed Reading Workshop block and you are not left with much time for choices. In my research much of what I read talked about having time for more than one choice each day, but in our classroom that just hasn’t fit. Students have a weekly log on which they log what they have done each day, I have thought about making it a two week log where students can look at what they have done over a two week period and try to complete a variety of choices, versus just a week by week log. I feel that the log does help to hold students accountable for what they do each day, as I take time over the weekend to look at their log and comment, or take notes, as needed.

Moving forward as I continue to offer choices in Reading Workshop I would also like to build a more concrete plan for how I meet and work with my students on their reading skills and abilities. I have read the CAFÉ book and would like to implement some of those ideas, not that I am confident in how to offer choices and manage my classroom as a group of independent readers.

Teaching is a never ending process of learning new things, trying new things, and finding great ways to motivate your learners and help them be successful!  

Back to the Basics

This week we tired to spend a little time getting back to the basics of what we should be doing in Reading Workshop, while also accomplishing everything that needs to be accomplished. (Easier said then done.) Our main focus this week was on the movement that seems to occur lately during Reading Workshop. I have noticed a trend... after a good solid 10 - 15 minutes of independent choice time there tends to be a lot of movement, too much movement. Students are getting up to put books away, get a new book, take a walk around the room, etc. We reviewed how and why this should be avoided, and the next day things seemed to really improve, except for 3 specific boys. Next week I plan to head right over to them at the start of Reading Workshop and make sure they have everything they need to get started.

While spending some time focusing on the "management" of Reading Workshop I have also made an intention for myself. Now that I have worked to create a reading block where quality independent work is being completed I want to really focus more on one on on and small group conferences and guided reading. I am not sure what exactly I want that to look like yet, but I know I would like to move towards using the CAFE model as I continue to work with offering choices in reading.

Sometime I feel like there is so much I want to do... and there is always so little time.

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year! We started 2012 off with a great week back at school, and many students came back from their Christmas break with NEW books that they were excited to read! One of my students listed off all of the new books he had gotten for Christmas and then told me that he was now "set for the rest of the year!" I was thrilled to hear this and to see so many students excited to tell me what books they got Christmas' I love to see my students LOVE READING!

Prior to Christmas break (as I mentioned before) we took some "time off" from Reading Workshop with Choices and strictly did Read to Self while completing certain tasks on an Independent Reading Contract. I used this change in our routine to guage students feelings and attitudes towards having choices in Reading Workshop in a different way. Upon returning from break I had the students complete a survey a few questions regarding which approach to Reading Workshop they enjoyed the most, and the results speak for themselves.

Question 1 asked: How did you feel about doing the Independent Reading Contract before Christmas instead of having choices in Reading Workshop?
1 = LOVE IT!      4 = LIKE IT!      10 = Ho Hum...     9 = Don't Like It!
Question 2 asked: How would you feel about changing Reading Workshop and doing more contracts like what we did before Christmas?
1 = LOVE IT!      2 = LIKE IT!       9 = Ho Hum...     12 = Don't Like It!
Question 3 asked: How would you feel about continuing to have choices in Reading Workshop like we usually do?
18 = LOVE IT!     4 = LIKE IT!      2 = Ho Hum...     0 = Don't Like It!

I also asked the students a more open ended questions about which approach to Reading Workshop students prefered and why... and again the responses were overwhelming. The majority of the students prefer Reading Workshop with Choices, for reasons such as: I like not doing the same thing everyday. I get to read in different ways which is more fun. Because it is better to work with friends.

The final question on the survey was a complete this sentence questions: In 4th Grade Reading Workshop is... Students answered this in a variety of ways: Fun! Awesome! Nice! Very Helpful! but the one that stuck out the most to be and helped to validate everything I am doing was the one that read: Great when we have choices!

Last week Reading Workshop was back to having choices, but not fully "back to normal" as we did not have a story out of our reading hardcover book. Instead we launched the next theme in our reading book called: That's Amazing! by doing a short study on Tall Tales. Students enjoyed reading and doing activities relating to a variety of different Tall Tales. This week we will be fully back to our routine with a story out of our reading hardcover book as well.

As I went over the student's Reading Logs this weekend I did notice some students getting lazy with their logging. I did have to be gone for 2 days last week, so part of it may have been not having me there to give my usual reminders, but I also took this to mean that this may be a good time of year to review the expectations of Reading Workshop and all of the different choices, so that will be on our list of things to do this week....

Happy Teaching! Have a great week!

An Observation

This week the only choice students have had is Read to Self and completing different tasks on their Independent Reading Contract, and while this seems to be going ok I have noticed that I have been bothered with the "Can I go to the bathroom?" questions quite a few times during reading this week, and usually that NEVER happens, partly I think because they know when they get in their spot and get started, they should not need to get up. At one point today when a student asked I responded by asking if they really needed to go, or if they were just bored... they smiled a little and said they really had to go, but I have other thoughts.... I am looking forward to getting back to our usual routine, I hope the students are too!

Less Choices Today!

As I attempt to help twenty five 4th graders create their Christmas present for their families I also decided to change up Reading Workshop... after Day 1 I am already wanting to go back to the way we usually do things in Reading Workshop. I miss our familar routines. I feel like this will provide some good insight into the way the students actually feel about Reading Workshop, I just hope it doesn't make for a stressful two weeks before Christmas.

Our Christmas project requires some small group teacher supervision, and Reading Workshop usually provides a quiet enviornment where this can happen, so we will be multi tasking during Reaidng Workshop for the next two weeks. While I am helping student choose letters that go together, sand, paint, and modge podge their work the students will also be completing an Independent Reading Contract, while also taking part in the Read to Self choice. Today was Day 1 and I already had students asking me if Read to Someone was a choice today. After students got working they did great, I think it is good for them all to have some quality Read to Self time! We will see how this continues... 9 days of Read to Self, while also completing some independent activities that relate to their reading. Here it goes!

Our CHRISTMAS Project: On an unrelated note I thought I would take a moment to share our Christmas Project Idea, as we consider it to be a fairly inexpensive, but cute project. Each child makes a wooden sign with a holiday word on it, like the crafty type signs you sometimes see in stores. We buy the wood from the bin at Menards and then cut it down to size. Then using my Cricut and holdiay scrapbook paper we cut out letters and give students the choice of what word they would like to put on their board: Merry, Hope, Joy, Jolly, Peace, Noel. Students mix and match the different letters and styles to create their word, then they paint their board, and Modge Podge the letters on. I will try to post some photos after we are a little more underway.

A week with ALL the choices… and limited interruptions!

This past week was probably the last “normal” week until after the holidays and I took time to enjoy it before all the hussle and bussle begins.

 This week students had all 6 choices available to them everyday, and while I have not taken a look at this week’s logging sheets I can say based off of my observations that most students accomplished a variety of choices throughout the week.

Word Work/Spelling was offered for the second time this week and the students really seem to enjoy the Wikki Stix and the Stamps, just as my observations had shown in the previous week. I am not fully satisfied with this choice yet, although in some very unofficial data I did notice a lot of high spelling test scores this week, on a pretty typical list of words. While student really seem to enjoy these hands on ways of practicing their spelling words, I want to tie in a little more vocabulary and use of spelling skills and strategies. In these week’s survey I did as the question, How do you feel about the Word Work/Spelling choice? and I found that the results varied. There were 5 the Loved it! 11 that Like it! 4 that said Ho Hum… and 5 that Don’t Like it! This was one of the largest spreads I have seen for a choice, and I feel that my “high” spellers found this choice boring and not challenging, and those that struggle with spelling a little more found it as a good way to practice. This choice is one that I am definitely still thinking about… how can I improve it and make it better?

Some of the other data this week showed that most students continue to have a positive attitude towards reading, and enjoy the choices being offered. I was bummed to see another one fall into the Don’t like it! but it is just another challenge to overcome, another reader to inspire!

How do you feel about Reading Workshop in 4th Grade?
Love it! 7	Like it. 14	Ho Hum… 3	Don’t like it! 1
How do you feel about having choices each day in Reading Workshop?
Love it! 11	Like it. 13	Ho Hum… 1	Don’t like it! 0

 I was particularly happy to see that students are enjoying the choices, on the survey after they answered this question I asked them to explain their choice. Many of the things students wrote down involved the fact that they like to have the choice. Some of the responses I got as to why they like having choices were:

“It is fun, so you can do something different everyday!”

“It is OK, it is nice to be able to choose a choice.”

“I like it because not every day is the same.”

“Well, it is fun switching it up every once and awhile.”

Overall, as the numbers show, the responses towards having choices were positive! J It definitely makes me feel like choices  are a good fit in our Reading Workshop, something the seems to motivate these 4^th graders!

Next week will be different, from now until Christmas there will be no choices in Reading Workshop, well… kind of. Students will be getting an Independent Reading Contract that they will need to complete while doing the Read to Self choice. Along with this contract students will have 4 choices in the areas of Reading, Writing, Skill, and Art for which they will have to choose an activity and relate it to their I PICK book. I am interested to see how this goes and if students miss having their “regular choices” during Reading Workshop, I feel this will be a good opportunity for data comparison with my Action Research topic!

Happy December everyone! Good luck with all that there is to get done before BREAK!

Choice #7: The FINAL Choice - Word Work/Spelling

This week was another short week for the students, and I was finally able to introduce our FINAL Reading Workshop Choice: Word Work/Spelling. As I have expressed before this is the choice that I was most hesitant about... being that I did not know exactly what would make this a benifical choice for my 4th graders. The main focus of this choice during this first week was practice with Spelling Words, although I feel that I would like to incoperate some more vocabulary into this choice in the future. These were the observations I made regarding Word Work/Spelling during Reading Workshop Choice Time this week:

Whiteboard: Practice writing your spelling words in print or cursive on a small whiteboard. After you have written each word you may then draw words to go with each spelling word. If you do not know what a word means, look a dictionary to look it up. A few students choice this option throughout the week and it seemed to be an ok way to practice spelling words. One student told me, after completing this choice, that if you got almost all the words right on your spelling pretest then this is not a great choice because it is too easy.

Wikki Stix: Practice your spelling words by writing them with Wikki Stix. Do not cut or break the Wikki Stix, find ways to use them as they are. This was a popular choice with students. I had enough Wiki sticks for 3 students to do this each choice time. As students started this we found that using their clipboards provided a good surface for them to work on and allowed them to still work in their Book Nook spots. I found this to be a good way for students to practice their spelling words, and after they made the word they could trace it with their finger - allowing for more kiethestic like practice.

Grammar: Read the directions of the folder and complete the corresponding activity. If there is a sheet you need to fill out with the activity please attach it to your logging sheet. This choice was not popular with the studnets this week, as many were more interested in "fun" and "different ways to practice their spelling words.

Vocabulary: Look up this week’s vocabulary words using the glossary in your reading hardcover book. After you write the definition using words you may then draw small picture to show what the word means. Most students do this during Morning Work time, so the number of students completing this during chocie time was limited.

BONUS: Occasionally there will be another option for Spelling/Word Work. Look for a note card on the back of this sheet for more information about this option. This week the additonal choice was using letter stamps to stamp out the spelling words and this was a hit with the 4th graders! I only have 3 sets of letter stamps, so only 3 students could be doing this per choice time. However, this was so popular I feel that I may need to make it a regualr choice for Word Work/Spelling.

The theme of this week's words was frequently misspelled words, but in the future when there are more specific letter sound themes to our words I would have the students underline the sounds and or pattern when they are practicing their words on the whiteboard, with Wikki Stix, or with Letter Stamps. Patterns are something I feel more students need work with, in regards to spelling so I see this as another way to focus on that spelling strategy.

Overall I would say this first week of Word Work/Spelling was successful, of my 25 students I think about 18 were able to try it out this week. I look forward to asking some Word Work/Spelling questions on my next student survey to get a better idea of thier thoughts.

Also this week during Reading Workshop students practiced and performed Reader's Theater plays. We considered this to be our fluency practice for the week so Read to Someone was not a choice this week. Students LOVED doing the Reader's Theater plays, but were bummed that Read to Someone was not a choice. It was reaffirming to know that they do enjoy having the choice to Read to Someone, but also a good change of pace to have them practice their fluency in a different way and spend some time on other choices they may not do as much.

                                          Word Work/Spelling with Wikki Stix

                                         Word Work/ Spelling with Letter Stamps

Two five day weeks and then a four day week lead us into Christmas Break... and with a lot of extra things going on I am sure some of our Reading Workshop time will be affected, however I am looking forward to seeing all of our choices in action over the next three weeks and taking some time to reflect with my students about what they like and dislike about our Reading Workshop time in 4th grade.

Going forward I am looking at the organization of our Reading Workshop choices. I am asking myself questions like: How can I better organzie who does Listen to Reading and Word Work/Spelling - because these choices have limited spots and/or supplies? How do I make sure those that REALLY need it get to specific choices? How can I keep better track of student choices? I am also thinkign about how I can continue to keep students motivated during Reading Workshop now that all of the choices have been introduced.

And the Journey Continues...

Reading Workshop continues to be a valuable part of our day each and every day, although this time of year begins creates some challenges in “juggling” our schedule. We have already had to start making adjustments for testing, field trips, conference prep and it will continue with Christmas Program preparation, Christmas gift making, the Geography Bee… and the list will go on. Unfortunately I feel that my reading and writing block is the portion of our day that is often shorted as other things get busy. But regardless of all that… the journey continues!

We have been practicing and taking part in all 6 choices mentioned so far in this blog on a daily basis; however I must admit the one we have yet to make a part of our daily routine is Word Work/Spelling. I am just a little unsure of this choice and how exactly I should offer it to the students. I am not sure if I want to focus on spelling words or vocabulary, or both! My plan is to start with the following options on Monday and see how it goes… that is part of what this journey is about, giving things a try and seeing what works!

Word Work/Spelling

If you are choosing to complete this choice in reading today you may choose from the following options:

1. Whiteboard: Practice writing your spelling words in print or cursive on a small whiteboard. After you have written each word you may then draw words to go with each spelling word. If you do not know what a word means, look a dictionary to look it up.
2. Wikki Stix: Practice your spelling words by writing them with Wikki Stix. Do not cut or break the Wikki Stix, find ways to use them as they are.
3. Grammar: Read the directions of the folder and complete the corresponding activity. If there is a sheet you need to fill out with the activity please attach it to your logging sheet.
4. Vocabulary: Look up this week’s vocabulary words using the glossary in your reading hardcover book. After you write the definition using words you may then draw small picture to show what the word means.
5. BONUS: Occasionally there will be another option for Spelling/Word Work. Look for a note card on the back of this sheet for more information about this option.

If you finish one of these options you must still stay in the Word Work/Spelling choice for the duration of this choice time, make sure you are prepared for more than one option if needed. 

If anyone has any ideas of how to offer this choice please let me know!

In my most recent survey I was able to see the affects of a student’s ability to choose what they read vs. being told what to read. The research has shown that students are much more motivated to read when given the choice of what they can read, so in my most recent survey I decided to ask students their feelings towards reading stories from our Reading Hardcover (textbook) book vs. their I PICK book on a scale of Love it! Like it. Ho Hum. and Don’t like it! The results were as follows:

How do you feel about reading stories from the Reading Hardcover book?
Love it! 1	Like it. 9	Ho Hum… 10	Don’t like it! 5
How do you feel about reading your I PICK book?
Love it! 17	Like it. 7	Ho Hum… 1	Don’t like it! 0

Although this is the first time I have asked this question in a survey I do feel that the results strongly show that my students greatly prefer reading a book of their choice compared to being told what story to read. While I am unable to give them their choice 100% of the time due to the requirements of our curriculum I do find this data to be reaffirming. I feel that it shows that what I am doing in allowing students choice in what they read during a portion of our Reading Workshop time is what the students want!

As I have with most surveys I also asked the students: How do you feel about Reading Workshop in 4^th grade? The results for are shown below:

Week of September 26th – 30th	8 Love it!	12 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 10th – 14th	10 Love it!	10 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 24th – 28th	11 Love it!	12 Like it!	2 Ho Hum	0 Don’t like it!
Week of November 14th – 18th	Love it! 8	Like it. 14	Ho Hum… 3	Don’t like it! 0

I am happy to see there are still 0 in the Don’t like it! category, however there has been a shift in the other numbers. I am not surprised to see these numbers changing, as it seems that as things are done more often the novelty can wear off and therefore attitudes may not been as positive. I will be interested to see if these numbers change again after introducing another new choice this week and creating a little more variety in the choices after a few weeks of the same choices with nothing new introduced.

I have continued to enjoy our Reading Workshop time and I feel that the students are truly enjoying and growing as readers through  the choices they have available. Last week I had 3 boys in my class approach me to ask me if they could start a Book Club, as the 3 of them and 2 other students had all just gotten the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I was intrigued by what they were asking and thrilled to see their excitement. We talked a little bit more about it and how it would possible work, as we have talked a lot about Read to Someone being a choice for just 2 people to do together. We decided they could try it, meeting during choice time 2 days a week as long as they are on task and not disturbing to others. The boys were thrilled! They could not stop talking about how they were the “inventors of the Book Club” – as if it were a brand new concept! J  I have sat in on their meetings and they are very good about taking turns reading and listening to one another, but my favorite part has been watching them stop and discuss, asking each other THICK questions! It has been a lot of fun to see their excitement about reading, especially because one of these 3 boys has had a “less than positive” attitude towards reading in the past. They hope to continue this Book Club idea with a new book from the December book order, I am interested in seeing where this idea takes them, and how long it continues. I am proud of them for taking this on, and in a way adding their own new choice in to Reading Workshop.

Mid Action Research Thoughts...

First quarter ended last Friday! Nine weeks of offering choices to my students in Reading Workshop has been completed, and at this point I am happy with the way that things have been going. Looking back on the past nine weeks we have slowly added choices, with the sixth and final choice being added this week. It has been a slow process, but I think that is part of what has helped the student’s learn the routines and expectations of Reading Workshop with choices.

When I started my Action Research in September my plan was to look at how implementing student choice during reading would affect my fourth graders’ comprehension and attitude towards reading. As the year got underway I realized that obtaining data on both comprehension and attitude was taking on a little more than I could handle, at which point I shifted my focus to specifically looking at how my fourth graders’ attitudes towards reading would be affected by having choice in Reading Workshop. That is not to say that I am not looking at their comprehension, however, I am just not looking at it in my data collection as closely as I am looking at attitude.

To collect data on students’ attitudes towards reading I have given a variety of short surveys to the students asking them to gauge their feelings on a scale of love it, like it, ho-hum, and don’t like it. I started the year off by giving a twenty question survey about students’ attitudes towards reading, both recreationally and academically. The shorter surveys that I have continued to give throughout the year have some of the same questions, which allows me compare how the students’ responses have changed over time.

The question I have asked most often to this point is How do you feel about Reading Workshop so far in 4^th grade? because I feel that this questions says a lot about students’ attitudes towards reading. What my results have shown so far has been reaffirming to me as I continue on my Action Research journey.

Week of September 26th – 30th	8 Love it!	12 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 10th – 14th	10 Love it!	10 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 24th – 28th	11 Love it!	12 Like it!	2 Ho Hum	0 Don’t like it!

The most positive thing I took out of my most recent survey was that there was a 0 in the “Don’t like it!” category. J If I can get all of my students to “like” Reading Workshop in some way, they I will consider my efforts a success. Creating students who like and enjoy reading is a huge step in helping to create successful lifelong readers.

My concern at this point is that as we continue our routine of having choices in Reading Workshop students will tire of the way we do things. Right now having choices such as this is new, exciting, and different. In February it will be the norm, and I am curious to see their attitudes then. This week we will add our final choice and from there we will perfect our routine, and in perfecting our routine students should benefit from having even more quality time with each choice, allowing them to truly become better readers!

I look forward to seeing how Reading Workshop will continue for us, today we had to switch Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop around and when it was finally time for Reading Workshop one student vocalized his thoughts, saying, “Yes! Finally it is time for my favorite part of the day!” It made me smile! Looking forward with my Action Research I am thinking about taking a week off of choices in the future, just to gauge my students’ reactions to having no choices in reading, to see if it is something that truly motivates them. Just a thought for later…For now, we will continue with our choices in Reading Workshop!