Question #10 END OF BOOK!

Well we have finished reading the book. I hope that you have found some useful information in the book. In my mind I am not wondering what next? What would you like to see happen as a result of reading this book? Can we (as a team) set one or two goals on things to work on this year? What would you like to see those goals be? Give me your ideas, then I would like to have a 30-40 minute meeting sometime to set those goals. At that point I would like to collect the books (so that another grade level can read it) and give you CEU participation sheets for all that you have done. Let me know a good day that I could meet you down in one of your classrooms.

I also wondered if a few of you would like to tell the staff about the book study and what we learned from it at our staff meeting (on teacher work day)? It doesn't need to be anything long and drawn out, just an explanation of the book and what goals we have based on reading the book and doing the book study! You have done a wonderful job and I am proud of what we have accomplished. I would like to see you share it with others! What do you think?

Thanks again for ALL you have done.
Vickie

Question #9 Chapters 20-23

"Every year a new wave of kindergarten students hit the beaches of our schools. Every year 40 percent of these students are already one to three years behind, just like the last wave and just like the next wave." (pg. 203)

This quote really is true and creates so much of the challanges associated with education! We are all trying to make growth with all students, along with catch those students up who are behind.

Chapter 21 talks about the READY program. What are your ideas about starting some kind of "Ready for Kindergarten" program at NU?

Final Chapters

In this week's reading, I was amazed with the difference in the amount of money spent on catching students up versus educating those who are "on track". Just thinking about the makeup of our building; thirty "regular" classroom teachers versus maybe a dozen assigned specifically to remediation of some sort, I found it hard to imagine the numbers would be that far apart. Almost double the amount being spent on those struggling. Granted, we need to catch those kids up so it may be money well spent.
I thought the targets for READY were right on track with skills and activities parents should be teaching their children anyway(if they take the time). I was covering for a teacher for a few minutes Sunday at church. The lesson was on how parents teach us things. I asked what they had learned how to do from their parents that they couldn't do when the were a baby. One replied, "I can use a remote now." I guess, in their home, that is a skill they need to learn.
In chapter 22, a quote that stood out was, "From birth to five, a child's brain is wiring itself to hear distinct sounds and syllables..." The chapter also points out how reading aloud exposes children to a richer vocabulary. I think we all knew that but it makes we wonder about those kids just plopped in front of the tv or a video. not only are they exposed to a "poorer" vocabulary in most cases, they also cannot pick up on all the "distinct sounds and syllables" needed to reproduce language.

Question #8 (Chapters 13-19)

I found it interesting in chapter 16 that it explained how "public schools do not cause the reading gap" (pg. 178) "The achievement gap in reading is created before the first day of kindergarten" (pg. 178) . As Kindergarten teachers I know that you already knew this. What kinds of things are you already doing to help those students catch up. I know that some use parent volunteers (I even did that for Belinda when she had Tiffany), but what other things are you doing. Sandy Ridge may be another person that you are using to help these students.

Question #7 (Chapters 13-19)

These chapters talked a lot about data and testing. While reading them I realized that I know very little about our KRA-L assessment. I would like for you to explain maybe what it tests, how useful the information is and how it drives instruction (if it even does). I am excited to learn more about this assessment, because it was even discussed in my Administrative meeting this week in Columbus.

Chapters 13-19

I didn't see any questions, so here are some errant thoughts I had while reading. The first idea I found interesting was on page 151. "...entry level jobs required higher reading level skills than the lowest 40-50% of our high school students." That's a scary thought. I had heard something once about how many job applicants, can't even read the application they are required to fill out to get the job in the first place, let alone read to fulfill job expectations. I always felt I had a broad vocabulary, but I was just reading a series of vampire books marketed to teens ( not Twilight) and was surprised by some of the words the author used. I was a good student and used my context clues to infer what they meant but I can't imagine some teenager knowing them.

Another thought came when reading about the standards and how they came to be. I realize each state has thier own unique standard, and some areas of the country require different knowledge based on culture, location and such. I started thinking though about when we teach kids about standard and non-standard measurement and how each was standardized to be universal, to eliminate error and bias. When reading about how the global economy and industry have affected the educational system, I thought maybe corporate America should have a say in standards. Also, to make educational standards more of a "standard" shouldn't they be based on a national set of requirements? Just some things that came to mind as I was reading.

Question #6 (Chapters 9-12)

Chapter 10 discussed things that the building did to help improve their scores. "You have to have the right tools (pg. 119)", "At first we took a piece meal approach (pg. 119)", "We needed to provide our teachers with the whole package (pg. 120)", "A basal series is necessary to get the materials, support, and structure to build high-performance programs (pg. 121)".

Wow, that was a lot of quotes! I quite often feel like we have a "piece meal approach" to teaching reading. I do not know that basal programs coming back to NU, since we like the guided reading component, but what do you think about what we are using?

Do you see it as a "piece meal approach"? What pieces do you think we need? Any other ideas?