RPI - Day 5 - Planning a reading programme

This was definitely a well-timed session, with Term 3 fatigue kicking in. I'm not sure my brain would have managed previous sessions today! With lots of listening and time to explore, I appreciated that for sure. 

Today has given me a lot to think about and reflect on. What I am doing well, what needs some minor tweaking, and what needs changing up. 

In the Teacher Timetabling session, I appreciated the examples of the trackers. I have used a variety of trackers in the past, although not consistently. I know I need to give the students more choices. While they have a choice in what order they complete tasks, they don't necessarily have a choice, at least not consistently, as in a must-do/can-do scenario. So I will be looking at reintroducing this. I used this system in Lockdown, and as someone brought up, it can create issues in rushing through the must-dos to get to the can-dos.  The statement that stuck with me from this session was that independent activities should provide collaborative tasks/have choice/empowerment. 

Digital reading Apps - I really enjoyed having time to browse through the suggested apps. I looked at Literacy Planet as I was unfamiliar with this one, and as well as having time to set up my class, I was able to have a look around the sight. 

Read like a writer, write like a reader.

I found this session to be very enlightening. I was quite impressed with my own writing (no I did not want to share it) which was simply formed from a series of prompts. The prompts made it very easy to visualise the scene, I found, and I liked there was a structure to fall back on if I needed it. Again, a wonderful set of resources to provide guidance with our planning and teaching, as well as for our learners. 

Skill Builder: Inferring

Again very helpful resources and discussion. Fair to say I will be using most of them!

I am looking forward to the homework. I know what I need to do, and look forward to implementing these changes and trying out new strategies.

 RPI - Day 4: Guided Reading

I have been really looking forward to today's session on guided reading, to check that I am following best practices in my own programme.

To start the day we were shown the Guided Reading Model, which I have not seen before. I appreciate the structure that the model gives, and how the learning we experienced today followed around the steps involved. 

In terms of my own learning, I need a skills session on Google Sheets! I intend to get on to this tomorrow as I need to keep up with the tasks assigned to us, filling in the workbook, without struggling with the technology. So that is my goal before the next RPI day, to upskill myself and complete all that is meant to be completed in my workbook. 

I got a lot out of today's session, but my biggest takeaways are:

1. The Guided Reading model and of course all the information to accompany this.

2. Observations. Access to the varied observation templates available, especially the fluency rubric. Fabulous.

3. Teaching blocks (5 minute blocks) Did I get that right?? That will be a big change in approach for me.

4. The Skill Builder session as well as the Consolidation and Independent follow-up - access to these recourses makes my day :) There are some very clever teachers out there, who I am very grateful to for sharing resources. 

Thank you, ladies. I found this very worthwhile.