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Friday Five: Student-Centered Classrooms

I’m changing up the Friday Five. To be honest, Friday Five is my least favorite series to write. Some weeks I have so much to say and other weeks I have almost nothing to say. I also felt like the posts weren’t really that valuable. So now, I am changing it up. Each week I’ll select a new topic and give five tips or insights into that topic. It will be quick and meaningful and easier for me to write. Really, a win for everyone!

One

Flexible Seating & Classroom Design

Flexible seating isn’t just a fad. It also isn’t anything new. Designing your classroom space with your students in mind is important. Take a look around your classroom. How much teacher space is there? How much kid space is there? There should be more kid space than teacher space. I got rid of my teacher desk years ago and I never looked back. I sit at a table while working and kids can always sit at the table. They can even sit on the cool desk chair. If my table isn’t clean my kids can ask me to clean it off for them. All space in my room is everyone’s space. Now, that might not work for you so how can you ensure that kids have a lot of space in your classroom? Can you rearrange or push your desk against a wall?

Flexible seating provides so many seating options for the kids. I have a little table low on the floor, two big comfy armchairs, a regular table with chairs, a table in a corner that is quieter, a standing table, and cushions to sit wherever. Kids spread out and find the area that works best for them. We don’t have assigned seats and kids can handle the choice. Providing a lot of options and letting them choose is such a great way to have a more student-centered classroom.

Two

Accessibility Student Supplies

If you want your classroom to be more student-centered kids shouldn’t have to ask for supplies. They should all be out. We have two supply areas in our classroom. Each area has pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, markers, crayons, glue sticks, a stapler, and scissors. Kids always know where they can get supplies. They also take responsibility for keeping them organized. Kids will call attention to the area when it isn’t tidy or when they haven’t been putting caps back on. They take care of the supplies and work together to make sure the supplies are well kept. It is great.

Similarly, all math manipulatives, writing supplies, and reading materials are out in the classroom. At any time kids have access to everything they need.

Three

Create Leaders

I’m sure you have class jobs in your classroom. This year I switched and called them leaders. Using the name leaders is more empowering for the students. I also hand over a lot of classroom work to them and we run our classroom together.

Technology leader is responsible for turning on and off our interactive tv and changing it to the right channel. They also turn on and off the lights as needed.

Clean Up Leaders encourage others to clean when it is time and the call students back to certain areas where more cleaning needs to happen.

Coat Room Leader makes sure everyone leaves the coatroom neat and tidy. They also check to make sure everyone’s shoes are put away and off the ground at the end of the day.

We have many more leaders who help our classroom run smoothly. Working together helps to build a community of learners.

FOur

Ask the Class

I constantly ask my class’s opinions on things. We work together to solve problems. Early in the year, we had a marker cap problem. They decided they wanted to track how many dead markers we found each week and work to make that number less and less. That’s what we did. They tracked the marker data on their own and the marker cap problem was solved.

Our schedule had to be changed recently for literacy week. We sat down together and decided when we would relocate a few classes. It didn’t matter to me but they took great pride in rearranging and adjusting our schedule.

Ask your class about their opinions whenever you can. Then take what they say to heart and use that to plan. They love having a say in what they do. Don’t you also love when you get a survey for a staff PD day? I love having my voice heard and so do your students.

Five

Monitor Your Talk Time

In a few days, there will be a whole post about teacher talk time. In order to create a more student-centered classroom, the students need to be talking more than the teacher. Teachers don’t need to parrot back everything a child has to say. We don’t need to interrupt kids sharing and add our own thoughts immediately. I try to follow the same guidelines that I have laid down for my students. Let me tell you, it is HARD. But I know that being a respectful member of my own classroom community is very important. Maybe take a day and tally every time you talk vs a student. Or start and stop a stopwatch for your talk time. Then try to talk less and have students talk more. What are some things you’re saying that should be their talking?

There are so many ways to create a student-centered classroom. Please take a minute to share your tips, tricks, questions, and advice!

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…but are they engaged? Using An Engagement Survey

Student Engagement is Essential

Student engagement is key to learning. I know that if my readers aren’t engaged in the work of readers they aren’t going to grow. The same goes for my writers, scientists, mathematicians… if they aren’t engaged they’re not going to grow. Student engagement can be difficult to study. Every once in a while I complete an engagement survey with my students. To complete this survey I usually just use a blank piece of paper sitting next to me but I have attached a freebie engagement survey sheet at the end of this post.

Completing an Engagement Survey

Shown above is an example of an engagement survey. I keep mine simple. After all of my students have found spots to work I jot down their names along the left-hand side. I generally jot them down in the order they are sitting in. That makes it easy to do a quick sweep and record the information. Then I glance up about every 3-5 minutes and jot down what students are doing. This one I have detailed jots of what each child was doing. Sometimes I just use an x to mark off-task or a green crayon to mark on task. I switch it up depending on what I am looking for. In the made-up example above I was looking for engagement in the writing process. That’s why it is more detailed. During this time I’m not walking around and watching over all of my students I am carrying on business as usual. As I confer or lead small groups I look up and around and jot down what everyone is doing. Usually, I have a code for working with the teacher and take note of that too.

Analyzing the Data & Determining Next Steps

Now that you have all the data you have to analyze it. Right now I want my first graders to sketch before they write. It is how they plan their stories. I can note right away that 9 students (half of this class) didn’t start with sketching. Four of them started with writing. I might want to pull a small group and remind them why sketching and making a plan is so important for authors.

The last time I checked in on them all students were actively engaged in writing. Perhaps I notice that it takes some students 10 minutes before they engage in the work for the day. Maybe I am not setting them up for success at the end of my mini-lessons. Maybe I need to hold those students back at the carpet and send them off with a more concrete plan than the other students.

Sharing the Data

I explain very clearly to my students that I don’t take secret notes on them. If I complete an engagement survey with them I always offer to share the results with those who are curious. Sometimes I choose to share with everyone. Usually, everyone is quite curious to see. The next day I might hold mini-conferences with each student to discuss their data together and work together to create a more successfully engaged class.

Try It Out

Click here to download your own FREEBIE!

This will help you complete your own engagement survey in your classroom. Pick a subject, maybe one where student engagement is lacking. You might notice something you hadn’t noticed before.

Let me know how it goes!

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msnatashatheodora Literacy Instruction

Balanced Literacy: Conferring

Welcome back to our balanced literacy series! Today the focus is on conferring. All the kids are independently reading and now it is your turn to teach! Let’s dive into how this works!

You might want to read Planning for Teaching During Independent Work Time before reading this post. It breaks down how to decide which teaching move to use during workshop. Conferring is just one option.

Don’t forget to stop by every Tuesday to gain a better insight into using a balanced literacy framework within your classroom!

What is Conferring?

Conferring is one-on-one with just a student and a teacher. The teacher typically follows the research, decide, compliment, teach method. First, the teacher will observe and research the skills the reader has and does not have yet. The teacher will decide what teaching is best for this student next. Then the teacher will compliment the reader to reinforce a skill they have. Next, the teacher will teach a new skill and practice it a few times with the reader before the reader is left on their own. This lasts about 5-7 minutes.

How Do I Start?

Grab a small post it and make a t-chart. On one side write notice and on the other side write teach. Now, choose a student to confer with. Sometimes I observe a bit before I walk over to the student. Do they have a book out, do they have a pencil, what are they doing with most of their time? I jot down any sort of observable behavior I see.

Research

Research is the first phase of conferring. Here the teacher sees the student working independently. The teacher can see what skills, strategies, and behaviors the student knows, almost knows and, doesn’t know yet. At times this last part will be the most obvious. Sometimes we research and just see lots and lots the student doesn’t know. The mini-lessons we’ve taught that they aren’t using or the previous conferring that isn’t being used. When this happens, look closer. You can’t build off of the unknown, only the known. Read more about the Zone of Proximal Development here.

I like to observe a bit before I walk over and sit down next to the student. I also teach my readers and writers to keep working when I sit down next to them. Sometimes I dig in and read previous pages in their story or look at their reading log or post-its. After I’ve gotten a feel for what they’re doing it is time for me to talk to them. Usually, silent observation only takes about a minute. I like to ask what they’re working on as a reader or writer. I’ve found that opening line to bring forth the best conversations. Different teachers use different things. Try out a few lines to find your conferring style and see what works best for you.

Sometimes I ask guiding questions related to our mini-lesson. At times I’ll ask what they’ve tried that didn’t work out recently or what they’ve tried out that was a big success. It all depends on the reader. The questions you want to ask will tell you what the reader can do and what they need help with. That is what you want to determine.

During the research phase (and every phase) jot down some notes. Record keeping is so important in balanced literacy… and all of teaching. I like to keep open notes. This means that I will always share my jots with the students. It can stress students out if they know you’re writing about them and you don’t show them what you’re writing. Imagine if your principal observed you and jotted down lots of things and then never shared them. It would frustrate me so I make sure not to do the same to my students. After sharing notes a few times students don’t continue to ask.

Decide

This phase is sort of incorporated into research but it is significant enough to have its own section. Once you know what you can compliment and teach the research phase is over… and so is the decide phase! A lot of times this phase happens quickly at the end of research. You’ll see something the reader/writer is doing to reinforce and you’ll see something you want to teach them.

The teaching point is something that the student is almost doing. They’re right on the edge but they just need some tips to finally do it. This teaching point is something you want the students to be able to complete independently forever and ever (with a bit of reinforcement) for the rest of their reading and writing lives. Keep that in mind as you choose the teaching point. It shouldn’t be something that they don’t know and aren’t even close to doing. That is much too big for conferring. Think what is one step this reader/writer can take toward this large goal today. One step they can take on today by themselves.

Sometimes you can’t decide on a teaching point. Sometimes you sit and observe a reader and jot down a lot but nothing comes to mind. If this happens, compliment and then walk away. Plan later for that reader/writer and then confer with them another day. Don’t waste their time. It happens to all of us.

Compliment

The compliment serves several purposes during conferring. It helps build a positive relationship between you and your reader/writer. We all like to hear positive things about what we’re doing. It helps readers and writers recognize the good work they’re doing and encourages them to continue that good work. It also butters them up to hear something that they need to work on. Let’s be real, we all like to hear something good before we hear something that we need to work on. Sometimes my compliment will lead to my teach especially if I want to build off of the good things that are happening.

Every teacher has a different way to document their compliments. I usually put a star by it on my conferring sheet. Sometimes I’ll circle it. Some teachers jot it under the teach and just know the first bullet is always the compliment. Everyone does it differently. Find what works for you. Below I jotted down the language I might use. Remember, this language might not feel natural to you- try out a bunch of stuff to figure out what works for you. You want to come off genuinely during the entire conference so using someone else’s words might not work out. You’ll get it with more and more practice.

Teach

Now the reader has heard a compliment and they are ready to hear something to work on. Our readers and writers will get the hang of the pattern of a conference so after the compliment they know they’ll get a tip to make them an even better reader or writer. I always use language to explain that all readers and writers are good but we can become even better. Also… a bit of a tangent here but I share my reading and writing life with my class so they can see my strengths and struggles too. Ok back to the teach.

Your teaching point should follow the same sort of format as a mini-lesson teach. It should be quick, focused and explicit.

Teacher: “I want to teach you one thing today that is going to help you as a reader. Readers pay attention to many details while they read a book. One thing they keep track of is the characters in a book. They get to know them just like they are old friends and can predict what they’re going to do before they do anything. To keep track of characters at the beginning of a book or series. You may want to make a post-it for each character, just in the beginning, to help you keep track. Let’s do that here. Who are the main characters?”

Student: “Jack and Annie” *inspired by Magic Tree House*

Teacher: “Ok, let’s list Jack here and Annie here. Let’s list down some things we know about Jack here. What do you know about Jack?”

Student: “I don’t know.” Here a student might say something. If you already know this is going to be the response skip the question.”

Teacher: “Let’s read a bit to help us figure out what we know about Jack. We can pay attention to what the characters say and how they act. That will teach us a bit about who they are.”

This goes on until we have a few things for Jack. Then the teacher could prompt the student to try Annie on their own.

The teacher will want to circle back to this student at the end of the book but before the student reads the next book in the series. Students should know that Jack likes to follow the rules and complete the mission according to the rules every time. Annie is more impulsive. She likes to explore and is more adventurous than Jack. Annie always puts them into some sort of danger at the last moment and Jack is so worried. They always escape just in time. Knowing these things about Jack and Annie will help the reader of any Magic Tree House book.

Knowing how to get to know book characters by paying attention to their actions and their words is a skill that a reader could use in every story they encounter.

Teacher: “I want to teach you one thing that will help you become a better writer. Writers use paragraphs when they write to organize information for their reader. Let’s take a look in this story to see how writers use paragraphs.” Here I would pull out a class read aloud or a familiar story to show paragraphs.

Teacher: “You can see that each paragraph is about one topic. It helps to organize information so that the reader can read it easier. Can you imagine if this whole page was just words without breaks? It would be sort of hard to read. Do you see that each paragraph starts on its own line and the first word is pushed in a little bit, that’s called indented. Now, we won’t rewrite your whole story but let’s figure out where we could make a paragraph.” The teacher and student could reread the story so far and add a mark where each paragraph should begin. Perhaps this student is one sentence into what should be a new paragraph, then you might consider having the writer erase and start a new paragraph. Don’t make them erase lots and lots though, that’s discouraging.

Circle back to this writer before the end of workshop to check in and see if they have paragraphs. You might even want to sit with them and watch them write until it is time for a new paragraph. It all depends on how much support the writer needs taking on this new knowledge. Make sure to compliment them when they do!

Using paragraphs can be a hard thing to master. If we push students into paragraphs before they’re ready they use them infrequently and often incorrectly. Using paragraphs is a huge transferable skill. Often we teach students a number of sentences in a paragraph but writers don’t count sentences. Do you think J.K. Rowling went back through her paragraphs to make sure they were 3-5 sentences in length and somethings seven? No! That isn’t what writers do. Teaching paragraphs through writing conferences when a student is ready will ensure greater success and less formulaic understanding. We want writers to understand what they do and why so they can transfer that knowledge into new contexts.

Link

Now you’ve complimented, taught and you’re ready to leave your reader/writer behind. You might want to leave behind a reminder of the conference. Sometimes I re-create a piece of our anchor chart to leave behind on a post-it. Other times I leave a small note of encouragement. I make sure the reader/writer can continue their work as I leave them with high levels of success.

Now… I used educlips clipart here but I don’t just draw like this on the go. These would most likely (100%) be stick people. Don’t feel like your artifact has to look this beautiful!

The lines here would probably be scribbles. I might want to label the new line and indent if I think the writer might need them. I also refer the writer to a page to check if they aren’t sure. This helps to create independence in the new skill.

Are You Ready to Confer?

This week choose just one or two students in your class to confer with. Grab a post-it, make a t-chart and start. Your conferences won’t always go perfectly- I’ve been conferring for over 8 years and mine still don’t always go according to plan. Just try it and then keep going. I highly recommend starting out with compliment only conferences. These might be the least intimidating. All you have to do is find one thing to reinforce with the student through conferring.

Click here to download free conferring templates!

Leave your questions and comments below! I can’t wait to hear how conferring is working out for you!

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