Facebook and the Old Fashioned Book Study…

I love Facebook…totally can be used for the power of good!  I am taking part in two book studies on Facebook right now!  I am in a Daily 5 group and a guided reading group.  (Yes little ones, teachers are in reading groups too!) Because of the nature of the nature of these books, I am going to post them separately and I will post my chapter reactions, thoughts, questions etc on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Can we say some sort of linky party may be developing…I don’t know, I digress…

Before I go any further with my Wednesday book (its my only book this week since I have to go pick my other book up) I wanted to link to the Facebook groups in case you might be interested in joining us. 

Daily 5 Book Study AND thank you to the fabulous Marie Lee of The Literacy Spot for putting together our club for The Next Steps in Guided Reading  by Jan Richardson. 

Onto the first two chapters of the the CAFE book.

Chapter 1 is basically an introduction to the book and how the system was born.  CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Extend vocabulary.  We learn in chapter 1 that the teacher does meet with each student, some students more than other dependent on how the needs show up during assessment.  Students become goal oriented in the design through individual conferences with the teacher, again each student, but some more than other others each week.  There are not a huge number of record keeping forms because the Sisters wanted this process to be in-depth, but user friendly.  Based on the conferences and what goals the students set, small fluid groups are formed.  The groups are goal based so students may or may not be reading the same book.  As I stated before, some students get more face time with the teacher than others.  Taking from Richard Allington’s research, exemplary teachers of reading knew that children with the greatest needs get the most instruction initially and then as the school year progresses the amount of time decreases as the needs decrease.  This doesn’t mean your advanced readers at any grade level get ignored, it just means the quality of the instruction when they are with you must be enriching!

One key standout of chapter 1 was a research point.  The Sisters refer to it as a touchstone of what they do…It was drawn from an article from Johnston, Allington, and Afflerbach in 1985 and titled “The Congruence of Classroom and Remedial Reading Instruction.”  In relation to Rita today, in order for students to become readers and develop strategies, coordination must take place between what these students are learning in the classroom and what is going on in tiered instruction.  Otherwise, students do not get the opportunities for application of the newly learned skill.  This is one plus for curriculum pacing guides in districts and food for thought when discussing student progress during the PLC!

Chapter 2…The Pensieve…

This is the organization station of those few forms.  I love the calendar and the keeping track form.  The strategy group sheet I can see helping me streamline my groups by organizing the information from the conferences and the data I get from my running records.  We are a guided reading classroom and school and that data is significant for RtI groups. I love the individual data I will be able to collect and how that will help me back better instructional decisions for these kids.   I am sure I am going to learn this as I read further but I don’t yet know what the touch points are. 

 

And those are my musings and a question over the first two chapters of The CAFE Book.  Check back next Wednesday for chapters 3 and 4. 

Have a great day and a blessed tomorrow!