The school schedule: the holy grail of school life. Without the school schedule . . . nothing happens. It is planned to the minute, and following it becomes a teacher’s obsession. And let’s face it: On top of all that the schedule demands of us, not one clock in the school is set to the right time. As teachers, we must make time to listen to our readers. Listening to the readers in our classrooms can have a big effect on our Tier 1 instruction and give more information about students who are in need of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. With time not on our side, how do we as teachers make time to listen to our readers?
Surveys
By giving students reading surveys, you are listening “on paper” to what they like to read. You can use the survey information to organize and build your classroom library. Surveys also help you help students with book choice, which can keep students interested in reading more and for longer periods of time to build reading stamina.
Digital Apps
Technology has provided new opportunities for time management. It lets you have students record themselves reading on apps like Running Record Assistant and then listen to them later when you have time to analyze their reading. Other digital apps like Flipgrid and Padlet can help you gather responses to reading to measure comprehension.
Conferring
Listening to readers and giving immediate feedback through the conferring process is the cornerstone of any reading workshop. During conferring, a student has the opportunity to share what he or she has read individually or with a small group. This process gives the student and the teacher time to set and document reading goals. As the teacher, you can take this opportunity to use the conference notes as formative assessment data to be used for the next conference or for an intervention meeting. Conferring is a time of reflection and engagement between you and a student that can have a powerful effect on improving that student’s reading skills.
Assessment
During reading assessments, listening to your students is more than just making sure they read all of the words correctly. Running records and assessing for oral reading fluency measures progress on reading fluency goals. On-grade-level comprehension assessments can gauge if a student is below, on, or beyond grade level. Anecdotal teacher notes on student reading can be used to talk to parents about student progress and at intervention meetings when you need to decide if an intervention is working or needs to be changed.
Share Time
The end of a reading workshop is a crucial piece of the learning process, but teachers often leave sharing time out because of time constraints. You must tell your students the teaching point when you send them to read independently. During conferencing time you should select students who are prepared to share during share time. By listening to students’ responses to the teaching point, you can gain a lot of insight into their ability to read and process the information they are reading.
The information gained from each area puts together a complete snapshot of the reader for you. This investment actually saves you time when you are called upon to discuss a student’s reading needs during a team collaboration time or a student intervention meeting. When you are prepared at these meetings, the team of expert colleagues can help you analyze the information and suggest enrichment and intervention adjustments to help the student’s reading skills grow or keep growing. Time spent “listening” to your students during the reading workshop is an investment in your students’ reading future.
