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!

Choice #6: Work on Writing

The Work on Writing choice is in full swing, and as I expected there were many smiles about this new choice! I have learned from my class this year that they love to write...well, they love to write when they can write about what they want, which is part of how our Writing Workshop is run. For many the idea of getting more time to work on their Writing Workshop story was viewed as a positive thing. Many students are often asking for more time in Writing Workshop, or if we can just keep going with Writing Workshop and skip whatever is next. So giving them a choice in which they can spend more time writing is great! This is a choice that helps students not only become better readers, but better writers as well. It allows them work with words in a different way, it allows them to tell their own story, in which they will often have to reread and reconfigure their words so that what they are trying to say makes sense to other readers.

I was not at all surprised to find that when asked "How do you feel about the Work on Writing Choice?" 10 students stated that they Love it! and 12 that they Like it. There was 1 students who had a Ho-Hum response and two others that said they Don't like it! but the majority of the class seems to be embracing this choice. Of those that do not like this choice one stated that they feel they have enough time during writing to write while another simply said, "I don't like to write." My concern with this choice is that students will choose to complete this choice too often, while I see the value in having this as a choice in Reading Workshop, I also see the value in spending time with a good I PICK book. I am giving it a little more time to see how things play out, and then thinking about possibly putting some limits on how often you can Work on Writing during Reading Workshop.

While my class loves to write... about things of their choice... they are not loving the Write about Reading choice. (see Choice #5) This choice by far has had the most mixed response from my students. When asked how they feel about Write about Reading, 3 showed that they Love it!, 11 that they Like it, 5 that feel Ho-Hum about it, and 6 that Don't like it! While there is still over half the class on the positive side of this questions, it is the biggest challenge that I have faced yet! The students have only had to turn in one journal entry so far, with next week being the second turn in week. I did watch a few students excitedly open their folders to my letter back to them, so I am hoping that is some sort of motivation as we continue with this process. After reviewing the survey results and some of the reasoning given by the students about their dislike of this choice I noticed a few students saying that they should not be spending reading time writing, as this will not help them become a better reader. (although they sure don't seem to mind being able to Work on Writing) I feel that maybe I did not present the Write about Reading choice in the best way that I could, looking back it was over a period of time when I was sick and prior to MEA, when a break is so needed. I think that after this next round of journals I am going to take a week to go back to this choice and discuss the importance of Writing about Reading and helps us as readers think more about what we are reading... it is a way of showing that Reading is Thinking! As we are really starting to get into our Reading Workshop routine (which feels like it has taken awhile, but introducing choices is something new for me so I think that it is good that I am taking my time) I finally feel like there are more days when we can offer more choices in one reading block period. Today I had a student ask me if we would have time for more than one choice today, because he was hoping to do both a reading and a writing choice. This was cool to hear... they are thinking about their choices prior to Reading Workshop. :) My hope is to be able to start getting more than one choice in most days!

The next choice I will be implementing is Word Work/Spelling, this is the last choice that will become a part of our Reading Workshop routine, and it is not by chance that it is last. This is the one that I am most unsure about. I know that my students could use some additional practice with spelling and vocabulary, I am just not sure of the most effective way to do this... stay tuned to find out!

As I continue to document what I am doing in my classroom this blog is a way for me to keep track of how I am putting my research into action. I have spent a lot of time researching ways to motivate students in the classroom, specifically in reading, and through my research I have have decided on student choice. The link below leads to a Prezi that presents some of the research that I have found most valuable throughout this process. http://prezi.com/soivglb7undl/present/?auth_key=1yxflej&follow=sebrac10@smumn.edu