Olivia Boykin Blog Post #7 Routman Chapter 10: Examine Guided Reading

Olivia Boykin Blog Post #7 Routman Chapter 10:  Examine Guided Reading

        I chose to read this chapter for my last blog post because I can best relate to it due to the “grouping,” “management,” and “centers” topics discussed within the chapter.  Right off the bat I loved that it reads, “Students need ample demonstrations and support before we “hand over” most of the learning responsibility to them.  When students have not had enough demonstrations and guided demonstrations, we wind up spending too much time on word work, concepts, and strategies in guided reading – work that could easily have been taught in guided demonstrations.” (p. 152)  I sometimes find myself trying to rush the demonstration and directions but normally find that I then spend more time having to re-explain which then takes more time away from learning than it would have taken to do it right from the beginning. 

As a side note, I don’t know that I agree with Routman on the ability grouping issue, though, but I’m still “on the fence.”  As a parent, I like that my daughter is now with a group of students who excel academically and care about their learning.  I believe this is the reason there are very few disruptions due to behavior issues or someone not “getting” a concept because he/she is a grade level or more “behind.”  As a teacher, I think there would be some pros to teaching that class but I think I’d choose to teach the “lowest” class.  I seem to be able to reach those students best.  On the flip side, I think the “lowest” students need to be in a smaller class because there is more “one-on-one” needed with a class where essential skills have been missed along the way.  Also, generally speaking, the “low” class is where we find most of the “behavior issues” so the low numbers would be a benefit in that area, as well.  On the flip side, I find that there are times when I ask one of my “higher” students to work with one of my “lower” students and that something clicks for the person who is struggling that hasn’t clicked when I’ve said or done the same thing.  Peer tutoring is one of my “go-to” strategies and if I group the students correctly I find that it is highly beneficial. 

That leads me to the real reason I chose this chapter:  grouping.  When I have students move from one math station to another I find that homogeneous grouping works best when they move to the “teacher station” but heterogeneous grouping works best for stations in which they are playing a “game” or explaining a process to one another.  Also, I try to make sure the students in each group get along (as much as possible) so as to prevent unnecessary issues arising while I’m working with groups.  I really need to work on this aspect of my station planning because it also affects my classroom seating charts.  This is a “gift” my previous “partner-in-crime” had and we played to our strengths and that saved me so much time and more gray hair.  Now that I am switching up groups weekly (and sometimes daily) according to which skill is causing certain students grief, I’m having to focus on one of my weakest areas so I’m getting better at grouping because of all the practice I’m getting.  (It still takes me way too long and I think I covered “lack of time” in a previous blog.) 

I do love that management has also been a strength of mine (until recently) so I felt good about managing my groups.  In years past I didn’t have to worry about what my students were doing in their groups because I did trust them and knew that we had spent the needed time discussing and demonstrating how the stations should look and sound.  Now, though, times they are a-changing and I don’t feel that my stations are as effective as they were in previous years.  I’m hoping that this year is just a fluke in regards to this and that next year we can get back on track with group learning and stations.