How to teach my 65 minute reading class?

Question

I teach four 65 minute reading classes. I do not have my own room, rather I "float" from room to room so whatever materials I use, I must take with me. That in mind, I am totally lost as to what to do. I have the curriculum knowledge, I just don't know how to put it together. I do not want to fall into the trap of reading a story and answering the questions. I would love to do small groups with a variety of stations, but I can't bring those materials to three different rooms. Plus the students misbehave if they aren't watched closely. I am plannign to read a story on the Fitzgerald that sunk in the great lakes in the 70's next. I also use critical thinking news articles twice per week. So my question is what to do the other three days? I would like to break the period into chunks so we do not spend the entire period on one thing. We have bellwork for the first five minutes but the rest is up in the air.

Answer 1

You actually float from room to room!!!! I gotta see this! That Harry Houdini ain't got NUTHIN' on you!!!! Do you make scary sounds too when you do it? "Ooooooooooo~~~~~oooo...." I'll bet that scares the kids!

Hold on... Maybe I'm off base on this. It is possible that you teach in a school that has canals rather than hallways and you float around on your raft like Huck Finn... But I still like the original answer better.

Your Friend,
John Zonk

Answer 2

How about a "novel in an hour". Break class into groups. Give each group a chunk (pages, chapter - depends on material). Each group reads their section. When finished, large group combines and the story is reassembled by each group reporting on their section. Suddenly, chapters out of sequence make sense. A great way to include low readers with high readers. And students usually are engaged because they are interested in how their part fits in. Works great for reading, paraphrasing, considering the informational needs of the listener, identifying the main idea, and differentiating between the pertinent and impertinent details in the story. Also, kids can get exposed to a lot more and greater variety of material than going through a book chapter by chapter in class.

Answer 3

I understand that you float from room to room, but what is the frequency with which you see the same students? Once a week, twice a week, everyday? I would suggest incorporating some kind of literature circle activity, so that the students work in small groups to explore books (at their level) in depth. You can assign each student a different role each week or every other week (depending on how often you see the students). Give each group a reading assignment (say, one or two chapters) and have them come back to their circle to discuss what they've read. Suggested roles:

Discussion leader (comes prepared with several questions about the reading and guides the discussion)
Illustrator (visually represents a main idea from what was read)
Researcher (looks up vocabulary, names and ideas that are unfamiliar and comes prepared to present them to the group)
Organizer (after the discussion, creates a brief organizer outlining what was discussed)

Alternating the roles keeps things interesting and lets the students build on their strengths AND work on their weaknesses.

Answer 4

You didn't say how old the students are .... that makes a difference.

The first thing I would do if I were you is to get one of those AV carts on wheels so that you can easily and quickly move materials from room to room. You do need to sort a way to be more mobile with materials so that if you want to do a particular activity you know that you will have what you need. At a school where I was principal our French teacher floated as you do all the time and she used a cart like that and it worked very well.

Vary the activities as much as possible. For example, choose a story that they can make into a play and do the script and dramatization. This will involve reading, writing, and speaking, but will improve skills in all areas.

If they are older students who have reading difficulties have them practice reading books for younger kids so that they can go to those classes and read the books aloud to them. Would your school consider pairing them with another class occasionally so that individual kids can be paired to read to each other? Both groups get good reading practice this way, and have a purpose for reading.

Explore the concepts of "language experience approach" and incorporate some of those strategies into every class.

Do theme related reading. Get ideas from the students to figure about a topic they want to learn about and gather books and activities related to the theme.

Have students act out a story. This activity greatly enhances comprehension.

Have 5 or 10 minutes devoted to puzzles such as word find puzzles if the students like those. Also do anagrams using words they are learning.

Probably many of your students have hobbies. Have them take turns reading to the class something about their hobby. It can be something they have written themselves or something from a book or instructions about how their hobby works, etc. Have them bring in magazines about their hobbies or see if you can find ways to get them.

Find out what they are doing in other subject areas and design reading activities to support learning in other areas.

These links may be of some help.

Answer 5

I have a reading class that is so large that some kids have to sit on the floor. They are in two groups reading two different books. We focus on vocabulary and comprehension.

You said that they don't behave if they aren't being watch closely but I would like to disagree. If the students don't feel like what they are working on is important or they don't get it, yes they'll fool around. You need to give them consequences for not using their time effectively and make sure that they assignment they work on while you are working with another group is something relevant. Structured time is the best way to keep kids on-task.

In my classroom I also employ a student to "card guard." I have color cards that get changed when students misbehave and if I need to exit the room or take a phone call, this student is in supervisory mode. You could do the same thing when you are working in groups - just appoint one student the power to write down names of students who are not on task and you can deal with them however you see fit when you have the chance.

Answer 6

Let them each choose a book to read (chapter Book) and have them write each class briefly what they read.