Professional Development-"Strategies That Work" by Harvey and Goudvis

Even though I have taught for ten years, I believe that a perpetual student creates a successful teacher.  I have always taught in title one schools, the majority of students are not English native speakers. This effects their reading as well as their writing.  Their cultures are as unique as they are, they have different interests that are culturally influenced and I want to make sure all students find reading materials that are interesting. I have found many of the boys gravitate to non-fiction, comics, sports, and" Diary of a Wimpy Kid".  I will frequently go to the library and suggest books for them to read based on conversations.  It is important for a teacher to be flexible, I have grouped the student heterogeneously, therefore they can learn from each other as well.  I have a listening center with the story for those students who need the extra time.  I work in small groups to help them develop their skills and focus on their weaknesses.  I love learning new strategies to keep the students engaged in reading. I have enjoyed reading Strategies That Work new edition.  I have found some wonderful new strategies that I am going to implement in my classroom this year.


I am currently teaching reading for my rotation, I love to focus on one subject and create new lessons using different strategies.  I introduce my students to reading as I view it, a great love.  I  want to continue to give my students the tools to help them comprehend and question what they have read.  I encourage my students to discuss their ideas, questions and findings during and after they have read a text.  We explore the theme and main ideas of a story.  With non-fiction we try to find the authors purpose and how we feel about what the author is writing.  I want the students to become more involved in non-fiction, this is where I feel they are losing interest and comprehension. While we read, students are encouraged to jot down ideas  on sticky notes so we can discuss them.  Students are also required to respond to text through Angel, an on-line tool.  I also have them use a variety of web 2.0 tools to enhance their reading experience.  I have introduced them to story bird to help them with their creative writing skills, Go Animate for a book report and Prezi for research projects.  My goal for this year is to incorporate more technology, I have acquired 5 nooks for my classroom reading instruction.  I want students to become responsible for their learning and it is my responsibility to teach them how.  I will assess the students by their conversations and text marks.

I try to have a wide variety and genres of books in my classroom for the students to enjoy.  My goal is to create an environment which is calm and relaxing.  Time is always a factor, especially with the interruptions for assembly's, field trips, testing, etc. Many days I am unable to meet with my small groups for our book studies.  Every group is reading a chapter book by Ronald Dahl for a book study.  This lets the students dive deep into the book and discuss it with me and others.  I am fortunate to have many resources at my disposal, sticky notes, markers, variety of books, computers and nooks.

My Proposal

Plan to Teach
My Big Ideas for my reading instruction is enhance students ability to identify their learning process.  My smaller ideas and approaches I will use for this process are strategies I have found in Strategies That Work,  "Noticing and Thinking About New Learning" (pg. 97) and Inferring Lessons from chapter 9 are a few areas I found beneficial.

Develop a Plan
I will first do intensive modeling, students benefit and become more proficient when shown what is expected.  I will have the students read through a non-fiction text and have them use sticky notes to identify new, interesting, and confusing information. (pg. 97 7.2)  I will also have them also have them list inferences and questions on chart paper (pg. 147 9.8)  My purpose for this lesson is to assess how the students ask questions as they read and if they are thinking about what they are reading.  My objective is for the students to be able to think while they read and be able to support their understanding of comprehension and words.    The students are familiar with making text marks, but I have noticed they are not thinking about what the marks represent.  They ask right there questions instead of inferring or "thick" questions.  I will need sticky notes, non-fiction text ie Read Works, Reading Rockets, National Geographic etc.

Collect Data
I will collect data by observing the students and what they write and share.  The students will also be able to illustrate what they inferred or question along with their written response.  This will help the ELL and students who are struggling, I will also read the text with them.  I will collect their work.