My initial responses to this chapter were somewhat negative. I did not like the author's attack on calendar time, transitions, lining up, and packing up. How in the world can I give up calendar or speed up transitions with 6 year olds?! Upon further study, I realized that she is right about not needing to repeat the same activities year after year during calendar. I also decided that I can steal a few minutes from calendar time to add more time to SSR. I am not sure it's realistic to speed up my transitions, lining up, and packing up, but it's good to be aware that these can steal valuable educational time.
I still struggle with finding time to have conferences with every child every week. I have a plan for doing it, but have not managed to get it done yet this year. I do believe it's important to listen to students read on a regular basis to monitor growth and to provide guidance about strategies they can use in reading. Miller states, "Unguided choice and lack of monitoring can mean that students see struggle while reading as their own permanent deficiency." This statement hit me hard and made me see the vital nature of conferring with students on a regular basis.
I appreciate your honest response, Melissa. It really is hard to part with aspects of our classroom that we hold dear and find value in. Sometimes it isn't a matter of good or bad but of better and best. Finding a perfect balance is definitely a challenge . . . and sometimes an impossibility.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this chapter, I thought, "Early childhood people everywhere are gonna hit the ROOF." But then I read it again and I realized--she is not critiquing the structures of calendar and dressing the bear. She is critiquing poor priorities. Do we need to dress the bear every day? And still in 4th grade? Maybe not. Can we dress the bear when the weather changes? Sure. What's the point of dressing the bear? If we stay focused on the point (of bear-dressing and IR), we can prioritize time more meaningfully!
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