(This week we have a guest post from Emily Darby, Reading Specialist at Main Street Elementary School in Exeter, NH. In this post, Emily shares her methods for guiding very young readers towards goal-setting in a reading intervention.)In my role as a Reading Specialist, I am lucky to work with K-2 kiddos, teachers, administrators and families. Each time I meet with one of these groups, I plan a purpose, a goal: an agenda for a meeting; a point to get across; a point of view I want to convey; a skill I want to teach. As I have gone along in my teaching, my perspective has evolved, though. Now I want to hear more and more from the others' point of view- especially the kids I work with. What are their thoughts, their goals, their purpose?
One way I do this is by generating goals with my students when we begin our intervention cycles together. We begin by defining what "reading" means to them, and I facilitate sorting these ideas into decoding, comprehension, fluency, and reading habits. From there, I ask each child to pick a goal from one of these areas and we collaboratively find a way to track and build skills around these goals. For some, it is as easy as assessing how many sight words they know from time to time and graphing them. Others might self-monitor whether or not they 'read more' by tracking reading on calendars. For still others, assessment is more about metacognition- they might reflect on how well they knew the story or read with expression.
I have found this practice (of having students identify goals, monitor growth and circle back to them after 6-8 weeks of intervention) to be motivating and empowering to kids, even at the young age that I work with. Each little reader inevitably sees that yes, they are learning, and growing, and yes indeed, they are reading! Egocentrically, this practice has also forced me to become more metacognitive in my teaching. I have used one-on-one assessments and progress monitoring data to plan and revise my instruction for a while now. I have also aligned my instruction with the Common Core and later, with the New Hampshire ELA Competencies. But this little piece of my practice makes me reflect on how I am tailoring my instruction- to not only meet students' literacy needs, but to meet their needs as people- to insure they feel heard, and that their opinion matters. I have always included some element of choice in my teaching, but by having each reader hone in on one specific target, I can insure that my little readers feel like they are part of the planning, not just a product if it.
(Emily Darby is a Reading Specialist of Main Street Elementary School in Exeter, NH. When she is not planning adventures with her husband and two sons, she happily volunteers her time at the CLC and Literacy Specialist Forum at UNH. )
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