Juli Kendall's Weekly
Reading Workshop Journal
A MiddleWeb Listserv Project
Self-selected members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List are joining
together to explore the Reading Workshop and other ideas about supporting
young adolescent readers. Juli Kendall, a reading teacher/coach in Long
Beach, California, is helping moderate the discussion. Juli is also keeping
a weekly journal of her own Reading Workshop initiative. Find out more about
our project at our Reading Workshop homepage.
You'll find Juli's background article here.
Links to many of the tools created by Juli and her colleagues are embedded
in these journals. Most often, when you click on them, a PDF file will begin
to download. You'll find a list of the downloads here.
Week #21
Forget Flying a White Flag:
This Will Be a Fight to the Finish
My emotions are on a roller coaster ride.
I was disappointed when I realized it was February; only five months to
go before the end of the year. Decisions about whether students will be
retained are coming sooner than I wish. They're making great progress in
Reading Workshop, but will it be enough?
I'm not kidding. Are we doing enough "to make sure that every student
receives the support needed to 'meet standards' for grade promotion?"
Forget flying a white flag. This will be a fight to the finish to help our
students make it to middle school. Anne Wheelock addressed this issue in
"EVERYBODY HAS TO GET IT: Extra Help and Support to 'Meet Standards'
and Prevent Grade Retention." (Read it here.)
Schools that are developing a "culture of high standards"
work hard to make sure that every student receives the support needed to
"meet standards" for grade promotion. Educators in such schools
do not wish to pass unprepared students on to the next grade, but they also
know that grade retention undermines achievement and is a poor substitute
for good teaching and learning. As an alternative to either of these actions,
such schools offer every student effective help early and often during the
school year, before rather than after students fail. Moreover, they see
academic failure as evidence that they themselves have failed to provide
students with the support they need to do better work.
At our school it begins with Student Study Team Intervention meetings
(SSTs). First up? Fifteen students who were retained last year in 5th grade
because their reading levels did not meet the minimum district standard
(end of third grade equivalent) for going on to middle school.
While I was out sick, the decision was made to go ahead and hold the SST
meetings. I wasn't really surprised by the team's conclusion that they didn't
need me to be present. I had predicted that decision after they appeared
to kick off the retention process without advance notification of some participants.
But I was let down because I like showing off data that validates student
growth and was looking forward to the opportunity to gather everything together
to demonstrate students' progress.
Fortunately, my collaborating teacher was healthy and ready for the task
at hand. "The best SST meetings ever!" was what I heard when I
returned. "What a great set of data. It really shows what is being
done in class to support student growth in reading." They couldn't
stop raving about the great job my collaborating teacher had done at the
meetings. She'd gathered together students' Reading Assessment books, Reading
Journals, Writing Workshop folders and Student Planners to use for documentation.
At the meetings, she spoke confidently about the progress our students are
making in reading and writing, and backed up her comments with lots of data
from their work.
An unexpected compliment, coming from the top, is plenty good, let me tell
you. And positive results designed to show growth for students in the retention
process are something extra special.
Even so, Anne Wheelock's analysis of what it takes to "get the job
done" doesn't let us off the hook.
Schools that help students "meet standards" understand
that the "quality response" to low achievement is to "do
it right" the first time around. These schools anticipate that students
will need extra help to achieve, and they offer it as a regular part of
the school day. In this commitment, teachers take responsibility for the
success of every student. This commitment reflects Sizer's observation (1996:35)
that "the new assumption, which has emerged in the past fifteen years,
is that if a kid does not get it in the usual way, the school should try
to help him to get it in another way. Everybody has to get it. No one can
be sorted out."
As we head into the second half of the year, I am haunted by Ellis Cose's
words, adapted in Newsweek from his new book, The Envy of the World.
"It is never too late to accomplish something in life," Cose
says. "But lost ground can be very hard to make up."
Leti's Update
Juli has reported regularly on the progress of a selected student
in her classroom. Here's the latest news about "Leti."
Several weeks ago during Reading Workshop, Leti turned to me and said,
"I didn't used to like reading and now I love it!" When I asked
why, she told me "Because I understand what it is about." Leti's
student work demonstrates growth over time like that shared at the SST meetings.
Reading Assessment book p; Leti is reading at level Q in Tales
of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. She began the year at level
J (end of 2nd grade). Her running record accuracy rate on leveled text is
97-100%, and she answers benchmark question stems with about 70% accuracy.
(This is obviously a continuing area of concern.)
Reading Journal p; Her Journal contains writing in response to
reading incorporating the strategies she is learning. In addition, it also
includes flow maps used for retelling. She has questions about her own reading
and uses sticky notes and t-charts to organize those. Making connections
independently (t-s, t-t and t-w) and with her reading partners, she records
this information in her Journal. During 45 minutes of Independent Reading,
she currently reads from 25-30 pages a day and keeps a list of the books
she reads. She scores herself daily using the Independent Reading Rubric.
Student Planner p; This includes a nightly record of her Reading
At Home. She lists the book she is reading, how long she reads and how many
pages she finishes each night. The goal is to read for at least 30 minutes
and to try to read as many pages at home as at school. Each evening, her
mother or grandfather sign to verify the work.
Most remarkable, she is always searching for someone to help her understand
words and phrases that are new to her. Genuinely working to improve her
understanding of vocabulary in context, she constantly asks questions and
tries to connect to what she already knows.
See Juli's February curriculum map
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Read Juli's previous journal entry
Read Juli's backgrounder about her work
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