An Interesting Lesson!

So, today was my reading day with my little fifth graders.  If you follow my blog at all, you know that they aren’t the most astute group and don’t ‘love’ reading.  So to go every week, I have just as much enthusiasm as they do!  And I can tell this when I walk in the room and they see me and their shoulders drop…..

Can’t say I blame them as I have threatened them, complained to them (that they haven’t done their homework) and even told on them to their teacher!  I question why I go every week other than I promised the teacher I would be there!!!

Now, in the past I have sat with them during our time; made them read and let them ‘finish’ on their own.  Which is where the problem is.  They don’t WANT to finish on their own.

Surprisingly, we finished our first book. It was a series of stories that were a bit ridiculous, if you ask me!  The main character was always bigger than life and usually died at the end of the story!  I didn’t choose the book; just read what I was given (and managed to lose my copy!)

Last week, we decided to start on a new book.  I quickly grabbed “Around the World in 80 days”.  It sounded like a fun book and I am pretty sure there is even a movie about it.

We started reading it last week and I let them go about halfway through the chapter with the instruction to finish the rest on their own.  I came home and set the book aside.

This morning, I was going to quickly read the chapter so I was informed enough to discuss it.  But when I started reading the book – not only did I not care for the way it was written; it had me a bit lost with the way it jumped around.  And this was only chapter ONE!!!

I made a decision on the way in; I asked the teacher if we could change the book.  If I was having issues with it; then there is NO doubt that my reading group is going to as well.  But when I walked in to the room; they quietly got up and grabbed their book and walked over to me.  When I told them we were changing our book I heard a quiet, yet confident “YES!” come out of one of their mouths…..  My suspicions were confirmed.

These poor kids can’t stand the extra reading they have to do on top of their already busy schedules  So to ask them to read something that is overly trying to them is just asking for more issues.

As we walked over to the bookshelf we collectively chose a new book.  I read the first page and it was much more suited for my little group of non-loving readers.

When we went to the conference room to read; I decided to take a different approach.  I let one of the kids read and then I quickly stopped him.  I then re-read the book as it was meant to be read and I could tell that the kids were more interested from the get go.

Instead of making the kids read in a circle; we each read a paragraph and discussed the words that stumped them (which was a lot).  As we took our time going through the chapter and explaining the basis of the book and the time period it was written, I could see the kids engaging more.  They asked more questions and shared more stories.  Instead of me assigning the worksheets, they started assigning themselves based on how they felt.  The Connector is the hardest worksheet to hand out, because the student has to take the story and somehow connect to it on some level.  Within minutes, the boy in our group jumped on that task.  He easily found parallels that would fit in the worksheet.  Another girl asked if she could be Word Wizard – which is to write down the words that you don’t understand.  I told her that I want her to write down EVERY word she finds that is confusing.

The other tasks were easy to assign as well.  The kids were really into this book.

And instead of reading part and letting them finish the rest; we finished the part and they will go back and do the paperwork as the homework.  Which means they will only have to revisit what we have already read.

This was a great day, because I realized that approach is everything.  In the past, I fought them and threatened them and nearly shamed them for not finishing their work.  But today, I worked with them to create a happy medium.

I admit; I’m not a teacher.  So I’m not surprised that I didn’t hit it out of the park right off the bat.  But I’m glad that I’ve come to a place where maybe they won’t hang their head when they see me walk in.

The best part of this mornings reading group was when we were walking back to the class and the boy in the group said to me, “I wonder if the boy is going to catch one of the guys!”

I looked at him and said, “I don’t know.  But the fact that you are actually wondering about it makes me very happy!”

Happy Wednesday