Launching the First Six Weeks of School

In our book, Comprehension Shouldn't be Silent (International Reading Association, 2007), Michelle and I talk about all the structures and mindsets we establish with students during the first six weeks of school. We included this section because I like to have something to refer to each year and thought perhaps others would too.  Since I started a blog, I thought it might be interesting for people who've read our book to see how this process works in real time with real students and fire alarms and broken air-conditioners and mandated testing and all the other things that punctuate the start of school.

When I read books written by other teachers, I tend to picture the person who wrote it teaching perfect kids, in a perfectly clean and organized classroom, in a perfect school, with perfectly supportive teammates and administrators. Of course, that isn’t always my reality (especially the part about the perfectly organized classroom.) I'll admit I teach in a really great place. It's half a mile from my house so I can walk or bike if I want to and I always get a great group of kids (how can kids be anything but perfect?) But just like most other teachers, I face a daunting list of standards, students with an incredibly wide range of intellectual and social needs, and the whole host of other things that interrupt or change our perfectly laid out plans. I mean, what is the statistical chance that during the first week of school, all 23 of the years I have taught, the air-conditioner would malfunction and we would have at least one ark-inspiring deluge during dismissal?

Week 1

In Comprehension Shouldn’t be Silent, we list the following activities for week 1. Under each bullet are notes on whether or not I was able to do the activity, what I did and what I learned.

Activities: Establish an emotionally safe, discussion rich environment and assess students’ interests and reading preferences

This will be easy this year – kids are nice to each other, well-mannered and verbal. I had students do an in-class interview of each other, the Gesture-Name Game from Kagan, and our interest inventory at home, which was brought back and used to find commonalities in various cooperative learning structures.  The Gesture-Name Game is one in which students stand in a circle and say their names with a gesture, which the others copy. It serves as a litmus test of the kids’ ability to follow directions, have fun but hold it together, and pay attention. It looks like this will be a good year!

I also shared my Math About Me book. This is a simple pattern book where students write about one thing on the first page, such as, “I have 1 dog,” and build up until they have ten things on the last page. Usually, after I share my model, I have students draft and publish their own on an index card book which is shared with the class. I like to do this the first week because it gives everyone a chance to share some things about themselves and it gives me a chance to pull everyone to complete their DRAs (Developmental Reading Assessment). I realized this class is going to keep me on my toes when a little girl asked if they could publish at home on PowerPoint like I did and the next day, another student brought in her completed book on a pen drive. Um… extensions anyone?

Activity: Work in cooperative groups to establish rules.

We didn’t do this. We have our class norms and it seems to be enough. If the need arises, we will revisit this.

Activity: Set aside time for unstructured reading to observe off-task behaviors.

It never ceases to amaze me that some children, when given time to read, never actually do. They get up, go to the bathroom, change books, roll on the floor, pick their noses (okay, it was only one but I felt the need to share my pain here), and stare into space. I used our disengaged reader checklist from the R5 book (International Reading Association, 2008) and observed for 3 days. By the end I had a good picture of who was truly disengaged and who had an off day. Now I need to begin helping them find a good book.

Activity: Assess metacognition, reading comprehension, and students’ ability to self-assess and goal-set.

Got all my DRAs done. Now I just have to score them. Plans for the weekend?

Activity: Begin Read Aloud

I started reading Ralph Fletcher’s, “The Writer’s Notebook.” If you haven’t read it, it is a book that teaches children how to think and live like a writer – noticing things and writing them down in a notebook. I have always loved sharing this with children because I use books about writing to help me get better and I think they should too. Also, I am a Ralph Fletcher fan. It was especially significant this year because Michelle and I are working on a book about meaningful at-home literacy and we’ve been guided to one of Ralph Fletcher’s books as a mentor text. As I was reading his take on living a writer’s life to students, it was like he was speaking directly to me! When my writing and teaching worlds fold together like this it makes me feel like I am on the right path. My students were inspired as well and many of them brought in their own notebooks the next day. I even saw one get up to write something down during the unstructured reading time.

Activity: Brainstorm what it means to have a discussion, discuss a topic of interest

Did I mention these kids are verbal? They had no problem coming up with what a real discussion looks like and doesn’t look like. And they talked with one another. The only problem was that even though we decided just going around a circle and taking turns wasn’t really a discussion, they defaulted to this at first. I think maybe they have some preconceived notions about what teachers want, regardless of what I tell them. With a little redirection and gentle prodding, they discussions became a little more organic. I think this will take some further coaching to solidify.

I looked over the list of week 1 activities in the book on Friday and felt pretty good about where we were. Oh, and in case you pictured me in a crisp polo shirt with perfect hair in a cool, comfortable room while I was doing all these things, you would be WRONG! It didn’t get below 85 in my room the entire first week. The humidity was ridiculous so I was sporting a lopsided blonde semi-fro and I gave up and wore some of my dressier tank tops by mid-week just to stay cool. My room does still look organized though.