The first lesson I taught was an accuracy strategy students can use while decoding tricky words in their reading. In our classroom, each strategy has an animal name which corresponds to what the student needs to try to do to solve the tricky word. The first lesson I taught was “slippery snake” where students learned that they need to slide their finger all the way through a tricky word to help them see all the letters and sounds within it. Our reader’s workshop is composed of a five to seven minute mini-lesson, buddy reading, independent reading and a five minute share to conclude. Each mini-lesson is composed of four parts. First you explain the teaching point to students and define what it is that students will need to be able to do. Next, you model the teaching point for students and gradually release the responsibility onto them. Third, you have students actively engage in the teaching point by having them implement the objective with the support of a partner. Finally, students will listen as the teaching point is re-iterated and they then try to implement it individually.
The share portion of reader’s workshop is how we conclude this portion of the day. It is during this time that I can assess which students understood the teaching point and who successfully used it without additional support. The students did very well with the implementation of slippery snake during buddy reading as well as during their independent reading time. One student shared that while reading she read the word “look” as “like”, but after realizing that like did not make sense, she used slippery snake and ran her finger all the way through the word to reveal that it was actually look. Students have been exploring other strategies they can use when they encounter tricky words, and this student did just that. In addition to using slippery snake, she also used "crosschecking cheetah" which is making sure that the words you read look right, sound right and make sense. This student initally thought the word "like" looked right; however after reading the sentence, realized that it in fact did not sound right or make sense.
In addition, share time also revealed that other students were also applying several strategies that we had previously learned to decode tricky words in addition to slippery snake. Some of these strategies include eagle eye: looking at the picture, wise owl: what would make sense, and lips the fish: using the first letter or sounds of the word. Something interesting that I encountered during conferencing was that one student used a strategy while reading that we had not even talked about yet. He had used his fingers to break apart the parts of the tricky word that he knew and then put them together to solve the word. I then used our share time to introduce this strategy to the class and applauded the student for using it before it had even been addressed in class.
If I noticed that one or more students did not understand the teaching point, it may be something I address with them during their individual reading conferences. However, if I noticed that the entire class was not understanding the day's objective, I would then re-teach the entire lesson and take a new approach. If I were to teach this lesson again, I might have students get with a partner and share a book. I would have one word on the first page of the book highlighted and students would take turns running their finger through the entire word to decode it. This would provide students with the opportunity to become actively engaged in the lesson and practice the strategy in a supported setting.
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