It's been an interesting March thus far.
I have a new 1st grade group of three, 2 boys and one girl, all three with lots of energy. All three have the need to monitor and correct each other's actions, no matter what. I can be right in the middle of teaching and one will interrupt loudly, totally ignoring me and the lesson at hand to either: A, tell me what the other person is doing wrong or B, tell the other person what they're doing wrong. Usually they choose option B which then lead to an argument between two of the three students and learning stops while I settle the dispute.
I'm struggling with this group for a lot of reasons beyond behavior and inattention. Mostly, I am questioning the logic of moving on to teaching blends when clearly these 3 are still not confident with their knowledge of short vowels, vcv patterns or consonants. They often do not differentiate between consonants and vowels, nor do they understand that every word has to have a vowel. I find myself trying to insert skills pertaining to vowels and consonants while trying to teach blends. I'm frustrated.
I have been gathering data from our RTI 4th graders for a meeting with the staff from the 5/6 building. I am also questioning some of that data and our responses. I discovered that 5 or 6 of our students are currently performing at grade level. I have more than one data piece to supports this. So I ask myself, why are we still pulling these kids out for interventions? Who makes that decision, who says STOP and move on to the next needy student? I think we are lacking in our reporting/monitoring process. Who monitors the interventionists? Should the interventionists be reporting to someone (who?) that their student has been reading proficiently for the past x amount of time? I think we need to revisit this problem.
One of the reasons this distresses me is because I know of other students in the school who are on a waiting list for intervention. We do not have enough people, or possibly we have the people but the interventionists do not the time, because of budget constraints, to service all in need. It's all a balancing act, that's for sure.
Maybe concentrate on the vowel sounds before the blends. I am not sure.
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that all of the students can hear the vowel sounds and the blends.
As for the fourth graders, do the teachers let you know when the students are reading at grade level in class? Do the teachers document their conferences with students? Are other forms of documentation being used on a regular basis? It seems the teacher needs to report improvement to one main leader, so other students can benefit from intervention.