Nicole Lalonde's Professional Portfolio
-Intro. to Shared Reading
Introduction to Shared Reading for the Junior Division
Over the last 3 years, our primary division has been implementing new literacy initiatives (Guided Reading, Shared Reading, Independent Reading, bookroom) and has created an excellent literacy program that is consistent throughout the division. With the assistance of the Ministry of Education (allocation of funds and professional development), our school administrators, literacy coaches, board facilitators, lead teachers, the program (the teachers and the students) is enjoying a tremendous amount of success. It has been mentioned that the junior and intermediate divisions may want to follow suit, however, sadly there has been no formal initiative put into place to guide teachers towards change. I would like to lead our division in taking a small step towards achieving a successful divisional literacy program. I have already begun to set in motion the steps to creating a centralized location for our resources (bookroom). As far as professional development is concerned, I would like to begin by introducing shared reading to the junior division teachers, and help each one successfully implement this style of teaching in their classrooms.
The workshop for Shared Reading in the junior division will take place in the library, where there is air conditioning, as well as relatively comfortable seating, a projection screen, computers for all those that will be attending the workshop and extra tables for food and beverages.
Introduction (10 minutes):
I will:
- Begin by asking my colleagues to create a tableau of "Success" in groups of 3 or 4. This will help to engage them in what is to come, but will also help them to access their prior knowledge and to make connections. (2 minutes)
- Conduct a shared reading from the overhead a poem by Felix Lugo entitled . There Is No Rest for Success ( 2 minutes)
- During the reading, model visualization, and I will ask my colleagues to join me in reading out loud.
- When the reading is done, ask the participants to quickly draw an image or jot down some words or thoughts on the reverse side of their handouts. (1 minute)
- Introduce some research that supports the introduction of Shared Reading to the classroom, and make this research readily available to the teachers after the workshop. (5 minutes). We will discuss that Shared Reading helps to improve vocabulary, and sight word recognition, gives students a chance to revisit on more than one occasion, and allows them to see the teacher model correct reading strategies. All of these factors enable students to enhance their reading skills.
Activities (35 minutes):
- We will be spending a large majority of the time for this workshop exploring the Shared Reading section of the literacy modules on the eworkshop website. I will begin the exploration by projecting the site onto our projection screen and covering a few key topics such as What is Shared Reading, and the Components of Shared Reading (including Assessment, Planning and Instruction) that can both be found in the Overview section. (8 minutes)
- We will then Skip to the Show Me section of the module and review before, during and after the reading of an informational text, so that teachers may see what a shared reading lesson will look like. (10 minutes)
- Teachers will then be asked to move to their own computer and to locate and open the eworkshop website to the Shared Reading module that we have been using. Those that have been using shared reading in their classrooms will be asked to work through one of the sections of Let Me Try It, and those that are not familiar with shared reading will be asked to complete one of the sections of Tell Me. (12 minutes)
Questions (5 minutes):
Teachers will be able to raise questions and help to address questions of their colleagues surrounding the shared reading process.
Conclusion (10 minutes):
- Teachers will be asked to work through the entire Overview section of eworkshop before our next meeting.
- Now that teachers have been introduced to the idea of Shared Reading and have been able to experience what a Shared Reading lesson will look like through eworkshop, we will set long term, as well as short term goals in relation to this reading initiative. (ie, each teacher will have taught at least one Shared Reading lesson for each genre ? informational text, electronic text and poetry- prior to our next meeting and we will all be using Shared Reading on a regular and ongoing basis in 3 months).
Resources:
Fountas, Irene and Pinnell, Gay Su. (2001) Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6, Teaching Comprehension, Genre and Content Literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
The Ontario Curriculum (Revised), Grades 1-8, Language.
A Guide to Effective Instruction to Reading Kindergarten to Grade 3
http://www.pnglanguages.org/lingualinks/literacy/implementaliteracyprogram/UsingSharedReading.htm
Allington, R. L. & Cunningham, P. M. (2007). Schools That Work: Where All Children Read and Write.
Boston MA : Allyn and Bacon. Chapter 8, Professional Development: The Key to Change, pages 188-219
Handout:
Teachers will receive a handout that contains the agenda for our meeting, resources related to Shared Reading,
the steps to accessing the Shared Reading section of eworkshop, as well as space for them to make notes during the session.
Parent communication:
All junior teachers will receive a newsletter for parents giving a brief description of Shared Reading and highlighting its importance at home. The newsletter will go home with all junior students in their agendas.
Our school hosts a literacy night in mid October. At this literacy night, we will offer a workshop to parents about Shared Reading. It is my hope that we can have short monthly meetings with parents after school where they can ask questions and receive further information about things that they can work on with their children at home.
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