Book Club-Read Aloud

If I had to pick one aspect of Book Club to try out in my classroom, it would be the Read Aloud time. However, we already actually have a Read Aloud time! The great thing is that I chose to do Read Aloud time for my Guided Lead teaching, so in a way I will still be able to work in some of the Read Aloud ideas from Book Club. Right now in our classroom Read Aloud happens right after lunch and all of the students join me on the carpet for a book. My CT also uses this time to work in some of the social studies content into our day. Usually the books we choose to read are focused around the 1st grade social studies topic for that trimester such as bullies, citizenship, or families. I have been o-teaching Read Alouds for a few weeks now because my CT thought it was not only a great opportunity for the students to get used to seeing me in front of the classroom, but also for me to be somewhat creative and incorporate my own ideas into the weekly lesson planning we do together. I have been able to choose books on my own that I thought fit the content and that the students would enjoy. I really enjoyed the few times that I was able to do that and therefore am really enthusiastic about being able to do it for 2 whole weeks on my own!
The literary focus of Read Aloud time is comprehension. The students are simply expected to sit quietly and listen to the story and then partake in a short discussion after the book is finished. Sometimes we also stop to talk about certain ideas in the middle of the book or to draw attention to a particular concept. I have found that personally I find discussing as we go much easier because I can use scaffolding questions and the like such as “why do you think that happened?” or “lets predict what might come next?” Having the main discussion at the end poses certain difficulties because often the students have trouble remembering all the way back to the beginning of the book, or they are antsy to get up out of their seats because they have been sitting so long listening. One of my biggest challenges has been thinking that a student is going to share an exciting idea and then all they ask is “can I go to the bathroom now?” I really hope to implement new ideas about comprehension discussions from both the Book Club and other helpful resources because comprehension is so important.

Transforming old into new (book club that is)

Just as the management of book clue plus suggests that much thought go in to creating groups for book club that takes into consideration the different personalities of the students so also there was much thought that went into planning table groups. We talked to all of the kindergarten teachers to get a feel for the students personalities and what combinations to avoid. We also looked at assessments from last year to see if a student was generally high or low academically. We even looked on the demographics part of the roster to make sure there were a variety of ethnicities present at each table.


For Guided reading we have a Fountas and Pinnell leveling system and once we find out what reading level each child is at we will be able to start guided reading instruction groups. Those groups will be mainly created based on what reading level they are at. My CT said that once the students reach level G/H or higher she places them into “book clubs.” What she calls book club sounds primarily like student guided reading time with weekly check-ins to see if students comprehend the material. This Guided reading time and eventually “book club” time will occur in conjunction with our Daily 5 class time. During this time one group of students will be pulled over to the teaching table while the rest of the class will read to self, write in journals, read to someone or do word work.

We do have read aloud each day but I would not confident in calling it a book club. The teacher is the only one who has a book. She reads it to the class and then the class has a brief conversation about some element of it. I could see giving students additional access to these books by previewing it in some of the guided reading groups.

The Book also talked about the importance of having a theme to center books and discussions around. Our literacy piece definitely has a theme and it is also suppose to tie into the social studies theme. In our writers’ workshop however it seems there really is no theme so our curriculum often seems fragmented. I hope to connect at least a few more of the pieces as I plan my unit, though this may be hard since the writers’ workshop piece is very scripted.

In order to do this I will need the support of the other First grade teacher
s since all the classrooms try to collaborate to have similar curriculum. I will also need to find guided reading books that relate to the theme being covered and get enough copies for each of the students.

book clubs in my class

One idea I like in relation to management of book clubs is the idea of giving the students ownership of their learning. I think it is a great skill to start to build in my first grade class and it is a great way for the students to monitor their own learning and take responsibility for themselves in their groups. For math this week as part of their first test there is a page that lets the kids check boxes depending on their feeling of certain areas of math and the teacher encouraged them to fill out the box they really thought they were at. I was surprised because I thought everyone would have just checked the “I can do this all by myself ” box and not the “I need a little help sometimes” box just because they want the teacher to think they understand or because of what their neighbor checked but the students really thought about these questions and I think that was a great way for them to really think about and evaluate their learning and the same ideas could be applied to literacy and having them take ownership and evaluate themselves.

Another aspect I liked about the management is the inclusion of the read aloud book. I believe I have mentioned this in a previous blog post but I have been doing read aloud recently in the class and it seems to be a time where students do as they please. Some will listen but since it is right after recess the students go get drinks and go the bathroom and some just sit at their desks, and it was like this while my CT was doing read aloud and it has continued to be the same and the kids already seem to be used to knowing that its read aloud and “I can do what I want now”. I have been in classes where the read aloud is integrated more into classroom discussions or lessons and then some classrooms where read aloud is a relax time for the students and they kind of do what they want. So I like how the book club plan uses the read aloud and since it would be a more structures time most students will listen and not be distracted by as they are in my class right now during read aloud and they will get more benefit from it. For example some students from the class that do sit and listen when I do read aloud they have drawn on the story, which is “Charlotte’s Web” and they have related it to our Farm Animals unit we are doing in science.

If I were going to try out book club...

If I was going to try out book club in my future classroom there are many things that I would need to make sure I had in order. For me, I think the first thing I would need support in is the assessment portion of book club. While I don't think assessment is the most important thing in the classroom, I think it is important to have a reason why you are doing something, as well as making sure your students are growing and developing from what you are teaching them. Like it says in chapter 6, " student's literacy performance levels are the focus of both politicians and the media and continue to be of fundamental concern to primary teachers," (page 82). I think it would be important to make sure you had age appropriate materials, have a clear goal in mind, and make it fun. It says in the book that teachers should have clear goals, both teacher and students should have a clear sense of their curricular goals and both teacher and student should have ownership of the assessment process (page 82). I think it is important to keep all of these in mind while creating your curriculum. I think you would need support in making sure all of the materials are lined up with the benchmarks and standards, but more importantly for me I think it is important to find resources that the kids can relate too and things they are interested. I am a big believer that kids go a lot farther with information if it is something they can relate too. I am not saying that everytime every single kid is going to personally relate to the subject, but if you try to get a general variety of subjects you are most likely going to hit everyone.

The good thing is I see this going on in my CT's classroom today. She is always encouraging kids to be themselves and be proud of the things they like. My CT and I are always walking around talking to the kids asking them what they did on the weekend, what types of books they like to read, etc. Anything we can do to get to know our students better.

Book Club Plus

The Daily 5 literacy program that we use in my classroom is very similar to Book Club Plus. Just as Book Club focuses on writers’ workshop, teacher read aloud, shared reading and independent reading, the 5 components of the Daily 5 include read to self, read to someone, listening to reading, journal writing, and word work. Later as the students build their stamina and are more able to work independently, a teacher conferencing and guided reading group time is also worked into the Daily 5 rotation to target specific areas of need for specific students. Overall the main objective of the Daily 5 curriculum is to foster independence so that students continue to have productive experiences with literacy outside of the classroom and beyond the reach of the teacher’s constant instruction. The Book Club also seems to realize the importance of not just teaching children how to read and write, but establishing a foundation for how to make the right literacy choices for their individual situation. The Daily 5 gets as specific as how to sit when you are reading and how to choose a book and models everything for the students.

Besides the hour of Daily 5 a day, in my classroom we also have 55 minutes of Lucy Calkins writer’s workshop during which the students observe mini lessons about brainstorming and even the different genres of writing, and then are let loose to their seats to become authors. The motto is “when you think you are done, you’ve just begun.” During this time we walk around and have conferences with individual children about their writing and are able to get a pretty accurate informal assessment of where most of the students are with their writing abilities.

Throughout the remainder of the day we also have Read Aloud, Word Study, and Interactive Writing times. Read Aloud time’s focus is comprehension. The students listen to a story read aloud and then answer questions and discuss as a class. During Word Study we often work on spelling and pronouncing sight words that will be added to our word wall. Interactive Writing then comes at the end of the day as a “news time” where the students are asked to share a piece of “news” with the class that we will all work together to write on the board. Some students come up to the board and write a word, others spell/sound them out verbally, until we have one or two sentences of news and then we all read it as a class.

Overall, my students spend almost 4 hours a day on literacy. In my opinion the combination of the multiple reading and writing curriculums as well as the additional reading and word study my CT integrates into our daily routine covers pretty much all of the reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills as Book Club Plus.

Book Club

In my classroom we will begin using the Reading Street literacy program the first week of October. It is a brand new program and so far my CT and I have just been reading the manuals trying to get a feel for it but there are not very many similarities with the program and book clubs. At first I thought book clubs were aimed more towards to higher grades but after reading the book club book and thinking about the students in my class I would love to see a book club type program in place in my classroom. It would be nice for students to use books that are interesting to them as a book club book and then there still is the freedom for choosing a silent reading book and the teacher would have a read aloud book, by having that every student will be interested in one of the books even if their group book club book is not something they would normally choose. The program my class is using has small group sets of books of about 5 or 6 of each book and they are meant to be used for small group instruction that will occur during the “flip stations” or as time similar to centers. I know these books are made geared for specific components of literacy especially since they are first graders some of the “below level” and “on level” readers are focused on short “a” sounds or certain letter blends. The program refers to these books as “decodable readers” I wish that the program used “real” children books in the program, there are so many great books with great illustrations that I would think the students could get the same benefit from.

I also like in the book club model how the teacher read aloud is included with the program. We do a teacher read aloud and it is just something for fun and a time for the kids to relax after recess. I have been in classrooms where the teacher read aloud book plays more of a role and I also like that aspect of the book club model. The program my class is using is extremely scripted and there is not a lot of time placed in the program for small groups besides the centers which I believe will be more individual activities. I think that first graders could have good conversations about a book club book and it would be beneficial for them to talk to each other and make predictions or discuss characters. The literacy program includes all the different focus areas: journal writing, whole group discussions, individual student books for each unit, a lot of pictures and illustrations, there are always sections for oral practice, listening comprehension and spelling tests. So the students have a lot of opportunities to read and write but it is all there for them where as right now in the class since we have not started the program the kids are choosing books from their book boxes to read and the teacher and I walk around and have some students read aloud to us and they also have been able to choose their own writing topics which has allowed me to really interact and get to learn more about the students. All the teachers seem anxious as to how the new program will work out and I know my CT will not be using a lot of the same activities she has done in the past as a result of there not being enough time.

Book Club Plus

As I read about the fundamental features of Book club, it seemed like I was reading the manual for our Daily 5 curriculum. Just as Book club includes a literacy block, writers workshop, teacher read aloud, shared reading and independent reading, our daily 5 time includes read to self, read to someone, journal writing, word work and teacher conference time( where teachers give each student individual reading support.) Our class also implements the Lucy Calkins Writer’s workshop curriculum.
In reading some of the research behind Book Club I found it interesting to look at the three “essential features of effective teaching.” According to the research teacher’s should require complex reasoning, use a coaching style to help students apply needed reading and writing skill and give students more independent reading time (p.5). The way “Book Club Plus” lays out the three basic principles of literacy I was reminded of our previous class readings that focused on Literacy being a social experience and not just an independent activity. I find this consistence with the way my placement views literacy but very different from the way my school taught literacy to me throughout my education. Writing, reading, phonics and spelling were very segregated and very performance. I am hopeful to learn more effective strategies for teaching literacy. It will also be interesting to see the similarities and differences between the Book club approach to creating literate learners and the Daily 5 approach. From what I have read so far the Book club plus approach seems more cohesive as it seems to combine the Writers workshop concepts, with Daily 5 strategies and literacy pieces that in my placement’s current curriculum has in fragments.
One of my hesitations with Book Club at this point is the involvement and the time it will take to esstablish effectively.

Literacy in multiple forms

What I am seeing in my classroom is very similar to the book club model. The literacy seen in my classroom includes shared reading, independent reading, teacher read aloud, and writer’s workshop. The children in my class have 2 different notebooks. One is their “word study” notebook and the other is their “writing journal”. The school that I am at started doing a new literacy curriculum called the Daily 5. This program teaches children how to read independently, write independently, do partner work, doing word work and/or listening to reading. ”All teachers know how crucial comprehension is to successful reading. While reading or listening to texts, readers of all ages and abilities use a wide variety of comprehension techniques” (pg 28). Each day we teach them something new about the program. Right now we are working on independent reading and writing and we are about to introduce working with peers. Each day we practice independent reading and writing. The first day these were introduced to the students we laid out rules and criteria for how they are expected to act and what independent reading/ writing should look like. They were all given their own book boxes with a number of books in it that may or may not have been at their reading level. After about a week and a half we taught the students how to choose “good fit books”. This means the students could trade books from their book boxes that they may have already finished reading or that may have been too hard for them. The books that they choose should be within their interests and close to their reading level. We do the daily 5 every day. Along with this we do shared reading. During this time the teacher has a big book in front of the class and she reads it once through and then goes back and has them read it with her. We use the same book throughout the week. Every time we read it we introduce something new, such as rhyming words, punctuation, or capital versus lower case letters. After snack/recess we have writing/word study time. During word study is when we introduce new words to the word wall. We introduce the words to the students on Monday in an informal manner. Over the course of the next few days we do spelling games and repeat them numerous times. On Friday we have the students write the words twice in their word study notebook. On the following Monday we review the words one more time and add them to the word wall. A new set of words is then given to the students for that week. For writing we follow the Lucy Caulkins curriculum. They are placed into specific writing groups according to their abilities. This allows for us to be able to help multiple students with the same issue. It is also helpful because when we are helping one student the other students at the table will benefit from being able to hear us. Right now we are having them write small moments. The lower students are working on labeling right now. Some of them aren’t familiar with all of the letters and sounds that they make so we are just working on trying to help them hear beginning and/or ending sounds. The students at the higher tables and also in between are working on stretching their words and using spaces. Before they begin a new piece of writing they are taught to try to: 1. Add to their picture, or 2. Add to their words. During the read aloud part of the day (which I have been conducting) I read them a book and make meaning out of it. For example we read a book that was called “How to Lose All Your Friends”. After I read the book to them two times we made a class book called “How to Make Friends”. The student compiled a list of things that they do in order to make new friends. They then were paired with another student and they drew a picture together about one of the ways to make a friend. We also do interactive writing in the afternoon. My CT asks the students if someone has a piece of news they would like to share. She then calls on students to write one word each and they come and write it on the easel in front of the class. The other students can help if they need it or they can choose to write their word on their own. All of these activities are very important in creating growth in literacy.

When we launch the Daily 5 and are fully using it, the students will be able to write about different books that they have read. Right now they are instructed to write on a topic of their choosing. We are stressing writing words because a lot of them are only drawing pictures but as their writing skills improve they will be expected to write more words than drawing pictures.

Jen Glazier- Book Club Plus

The book club model is very similar to the literacy instruction that is happening in my classroom context. The book club model according to the book is defined as “independent reading, shared reading, teacher read aloud, and writer’s workshop”. These are all found within my classroom context. Since the second day of school my CT and I have been introducing the concept of independent reading. We explained to the students the criteria for independent reading which is to sit by yourself, read the whole time, do not talk to others, and stay in one spot. These are all important for students to be successful in independent reading. We have increased the amount of time we want our students to read independently, and our goal for the classroom right now is 20. Students have their own bins where we place books for them to read, later in the semester children will be able to pick their own books according to the level they are at. We have not started shared reading in our classroom yet, but students will have the opportunity to share their work with other students in the class. Everyday in our classroom we have children work on writers workshop. My CT has a specific formula that she follows to teach the children how to write. This week we have been working on making detail, stretching out words, and writing about what we know. The way my CT does this is she gathers the children to the rug and tells them the focus for the day. Then she models it on a large sheet of paper. While she is modeling she asks questions and gets the students involved into the lecture. In my classroom we are very focused on making sure the teacher reads aloud to the students. Like it says in the book “students learn fundamental concepts about print, such as directionality and word-picture relationships,” (page 18). While reading my CT and I often asks our students to predict what is going to happen next. This is important because “good readers also realize that reading should make sense as they progress through a text. Predicting helps students make sense as they read, rather than waiting until the story is finished to see if it made sense,” (page 35). We have at least 2 read alouds a day. Usually during the spelling unit we will have a book that correlates with the unit. Last week we read books that had –at words in them because out spelling word family were the –at words. We also try to read a book before lunch, and before dismissal at the end of the day. My CT also has a audio book that plays during snack time. According to the book “In Book Club students are encouraged to interact with text and other students through writing and conversation to explore important themes that emerge from age-appropriate books,” (page 6). Even though these are not the exact ways these are done in the Book Club Plus book we still incorporate most things in out classroom everyday. I think the same message of that from Book Club is still being brought into my classroom.

In my classroom I see reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing everyday in our program. During out spelling unit we don’t just go over the words but we write them on posters. For example for the –at family we had a cat poster and wrote all the –at words on them, with the first letter one color and the –at a different color. Students also have the opportunity to create the words by using a pocket chart. This gives them a chance to create it themselves and then say it to the class. We also have various songs and chants that incorporate listening, speaking, and literacy. I think my CT does a good job of incorporating all of these types of literacy in the general literacy program.

Students in my classroom have a lot of opportunities to write through text. During their writing workshop in the morning they can write about books they know, books the like, or books they have seen. Students have a lot of opportunities to write about, from, and through the text they read in the classroom.

a community full of literacy

1. I have decided to visit the People’s Church, Tim Horton’s, and the Hannah community center. I chose to go to the People’s Church because when talking to my students and their families I learned that several of the students attended the Peoples Church Preschool prior to coming to Pinecrest. Tim Horton’s was chosen because one of the children referenced to how he often went there with his dad in his writing journal. I chose the Hannah Community Center because of its location, and because the activities that they offer are ones that the students routinely tell me they enjoy.

2. I expect to see several college students, and senior citizens as the primary customers of the Tim Horton’s. Some biases may be that the senior citizens would be common customers because they have nothing better to do then casually drink some coffee while enjoying a doughnut. Another bias would be that students come in for coffee so they can stay up late studying. The fact that one of my students enjoyed going there actually surprised me.

At the People’s Church Preschool I expected to encounter parents dropping off kids and hurrying to work. Some community biases might be that the kids go to preschool so they can be better prepared for Kindergarten or because the parents have to work and need someone to watch their child.

I’m not quite sure as to what I will see in the community center because I've never been in one before. The fact that the parking lot is always full when I drive by signals to me that it is a popular place.

3. An outsider would definitely see the places in the community differently than member. At all three locations however, I will be an outsider as I do not frequent any of the locations I have chosen. It will be interesting to observe what the atmosphere at Tim Horton’s; whether people go to just eat, or socialize or study.
At the community center it will be interesting to see if it is more like a welcome center with resources about the community activities or if the building is actually the center meeting place for community events.
At the Peoples church preschool I expect only to be an outsider in the sense that I will not be going for to enroll a child. If someone were to go without an education background, I’m sure he or she would have lots more questions about the set-up of the program then I expect to have.

4. There are many types of interconnections among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies that could contribute to communication in the setting I have chosen to look in to. In regards to the community center,a parent might read a flier advertising some social group meeting at the community center. She might call the number on the bottom and talk to the group’s coordinator to get more information. The parent might then visit the community center to fill a club membership form before participating in the club’s events. If the parent was unable to read, write or communicate orally in an effective way she would not have learned about the club or how to join. If the information were posted on a website the parent would also need to be computer literate as well. The same kinds of connections should be present as someone reads a menu and communicates their order to the cashier. Writing might also be included when writing a check or signing off for a credit card payment. At the preschool there will certainly be paper work that the parents will need to read and fill out before the child can attend. Oral communication between the parents and teachers will also be essential to a successful program.

5. Connections can be made between contexts such as the school, classroom and the community. Literacy can also have connections between places in the community. Students can use literacy to write an invitation, or make a phone call, to invite friends from school to a community activity. Families who have kids of similar ages can read enrollment ads in the paper and recommend preschools to each other by phone or email.


After Experience

When I visited the People's Church Preschool, I was pleasantly surprised at the presence of literacy there. Since several of my students have attended that preschool, it gives me a good idea of the materials those students have already been exposed to. At the Community center I was surprised at the organization of the facility and the number and variety of act ivies they offered. They even had their own senior center on site.

Although I learned a lot about families when I had parents write down community places that are important to them and tell why; I relize I have learned even more by accually visiting the place. I have learned that most families really value their child's education but also education in general.

As far as literacy was not surprised by the types of literacy I found, although I tried to look for examples of nontraditional literacies as well. I actually found it slightly easier to pick out the different uses of literacy at Tim Horton's then at the Community center. I think this was mainly due to the time of day at which I visited.

Through visiting different places and colaborating with other interns at my school, I learned about several places I had never been to before. Having this new knowledge has already helped me connect to students during our writing workshop time. By knowing about the places my students care about, I can give productive input when those places show up in their stories.

~Donnalee

Task 2 In the community

1. Where/what will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

The places I chose to visit were a direct result after my interactions and conversations with my students as well as with my CT. One place I visited was Funtyme located in Okemos. Funtyme is a popular place for children, teenagers and families to go to have fun or celebrate special occasions such as birthdays or team parties. Two girls in my class have done writing pieces about their birthday parties at Funtyme. It seems like a place where a lot of children make memories and I thought it would be a good place to visit since it is a popular place in Okemos.

I also chose to visit a local dance school located near Okemos High school. From the parents I have met and from talking to the students many of them are involved in extracurricular activities and sports and a three girls that I know of in my class attend dance classes. Okemos is a very family oriented city and as a result of parent involvement and a higher economic status(the median income is around 69,000) the kids have more opportunities to participate and enroll in extracurricular activities.

Another important site to the Okemos community is the Meridian mall. In my opinion and from my experience this seems to be a pretty central part to Okemos as a result of all the various businesses in the mall and the surrounding area. Especially in the last few weeks of summer I saw many families doing their back to school shopping in the mall and in stores nearby such as target and Meijers. Although I am with first graders and they may not be doing the shopping they do identify the mall as a landmark and a place they frequently visit with parents or older siblings.

2. What do you expect to see?

From my previous experiences in the Okemos area I would expect to see a lot of families and kids and teenagers, especially at the locations I chose to visit. Also since it is very close to MSU I would also expect to see a lot of MSU students at the mall and in the surrounding area and restaurants. I also think that I expect to see so many people out and shopping or spending money at funtyme since Okemos overall has a fairly high median income compared to the surrounding cities, perhaps these families have more money to spend on luxuries.

3. What do you think an “outsider” would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?

I think depending on a few different factors, what an “outsider” might see will differ from my expectations. I think an outsider might notice the historical aspects of Okemos, I know that when I first started driving to my elementary school I noticed historical signs relating to the origin of the city. I also think they would notice and probably pass some of the schools while driving through Okemos and seeing schools will probably make a connection that there are a lot of families in the area. There are a lot of shopping places and restaurants and it becomes a pretty busy area near the mall and I think that would be noticed as well. If an outsider coming to Okemos is from a very racially diverse city they might notice the lack of racial diversity in Okemos, although there is a pretty large Asian population I think Caucasian middle class families would be the most dominant group that an outsider would see.

4. As a result of all the various extracurricular activities that occur in Okemos I believe that students will acquire a wide range of literacies depending on what they are interested in. For example, students that attend dance classes will most likely use “dance language” and know certain vocabulary words that other students not in dance will not know. This also goes for students playing football and understanding the football language and being able to read football playbooks and students playing a musical instrument and reading and maybe even writing music and being able to talk about music. There also is a lot of reading, speaking and writing when it comes to going to the mall and reading signs and price tags, communicating with the employees in the store and possibly writing checks or writing a signature or filling out email contact information in stores. My other location, Funtyme is filled with signs and pictures and names of games and prices. There is also a need to communicate especially when playing games like putt-putt and writing down scores.

All of these activities are social activities so I conclude Okemos to be a very active social town and there is an interconnectedness with reading, writing and oral speaking in such a family oriented active city.

Task 4

For the most part the expectations of what i thought i would see were true. Especially from visiting the mall, I think of Okemos as being a white middle class family oriented community and from going to the mall and that surrounding retail and restaurant area that is not really the demographic that stands out the most. In my opinion the MSU students do stand out the most. I expected to see a lot of families at the locations such as Funtyme and there were. This project help me to see what Okemos actually consists of, some of these locations I think i just thought of as East Lansing and I never really saw Okemos as a whole separate community. Even after this project there was nothing that really surprised me, I am originally from a community very similar to Okemos and from living in Lansing the last few years i think I have had a lot of interactions in the Okemos community perhaps without really realizing it. This was extremely helpful because i saw the historical side of Okemos which I believe can be one of the most beneficial aspects of this community in relation to incorporating it into the community. Some of these places I visited and my other group members visited I had heard about from my students or read it in their writing pieces so it was beneficial for me to have some experience with these places as well.

I have already used places and activities in Okemos to talk to students and to help them think about writing topics when they have free choice. Although having freedom to choose a writing topic is great for some students my CT still models the thinking process and thinking of a few different ideas and then narrowing them down. One of my main tasks during writers workshop has been to go around to students who are struggling just to think of a topic and help them by prompting ideas such as; "did you have soccer practice last night?" "Did you go watch the high school football game?" etc. Also by getting to know individual students interests has been great to incorporate in books whether kids in a book are playing soccer or trying to relate math questions and problems to the students as well.

Carolyn