Blog Post #6 Lyndsey Elliott's Routman Chapter 12: You Only Have So Much Time

Today was the perfect day to read Routman's Chapter 12, You Only Have So Much Time! The first day after spring break and I come into school hoping to be rejuvenated and I'm immediately bombarded with to do list, emails, field trips, and all of the extras that go along with teaching. Even though this chapter doesn't specifically discuss in detail all of the "extras" that teachers have to deal with on a daily basis outside of planning, teaching, and assessing it perfectly explained the importance of making every minute count.
"Our students will not become better readers because we create fabulous projects and centers, give them lots of paperwork, and grade lots of papers. They will become better readers if they receive excellent instruction and have lots of time to read and talk about books." If I would have read this a year ago, I'm not quite sure if I would have understood the importance of this statement by Reggie Routman. After implementing the daily 5, reading workshop model in my classroom I have learned the true importance of allowing students  time to read and talk about books.  Allowing my students choice in reading has made a world of difference in their interest this year. Combine student interest and time and they grow in ways that I didn't know was possible. I have been teaching 10 years and this is the first time I feel great about student learning in my classroom. Now don't get me wrong I have lots to learn but I have went from direct instruction programs to what I call "real" reading that will create lifelong readers that enjoy reading. I still find planning somewhat difficult because I teach three mini lessons per day during my ELA block not including writing.  They are only 10 minutes long so and I know that each lesson needs to be excellent and catered to student needs. Student needs is the area I want to work on next year. I am still learning the importance of trusting my own knowledge, judgment, and experiences, which according to Routman is very important. I believe Daily 5 has really helped me keep my students work meaningful from guided reading to word work. I feel like I reflect more than I realize on a daily basis. I found myself wanting to change word work recently.  The Daily 5 framework for word work recommends keeping  the same activities and changing the words out weekly. This saves time and allows the  things you have students doing during word work to be meaningful. I wanted to add some new stations but after thinking about them, I don't think the new ones would be any more beneficial to my students than the ones my students' are currently using. Routman discusses the importance of keeping work simple in this chapter and I couldn't agree with him more. I already feel like I use most of my time with students to teach and assess. I do want to work on my individual conferences. I feel like when things come up during the day I choose my two guiding reading groups over individual conferences. Individual conferences are very important to my ongoing assessment, and planning for students.
When thinking about time, I have to be reminded to keep a lively pace. Routman says that research indicates we have kids' attention for less than 10 minutes before they need a "cognitive rest". Yes, I do believe this is true and that's why I choose to do 10 minute mini lessons and then 20 minutes work rotations (read to self, word work, read to someone, listen to reading, and writing). Sometimes I catch myself going over my ten minutes when I am in the  moment so I have to set a timer.
The one thing that I am going to do after reading this chapter is to eliminate morning work. Routman's section,  make work done while waiting for the bell to ring sensible and pleasurable really made me reflect on what my students are doing in the morning, which happens to be busy work. Well not completely busy work because it's a spiral math review that helps with skill practice but students could be with books at their desk, in the floor, with a friend, or reading charts in the room. I have been thinking of a way to give my students more opportunities to refer back to or read the charts we create during shared reading and mini lessons. This would be perfect and it takes some of the work off me, which is always a nice incentive. Reading this chapter has given me new ideas and the ability to understand that less is more in all aspects of teaching and learning.