We have just finished Among the Hidden in my class. I have to say it was an overwhelming positive experience.

THE GOOD User-Friendly- For both me and my students. I was worried that some of the graphic organizers would look too "babyish" for my kids (some of whom are in gangs, have been arrested, etc)- but it did not come up once. For struggling readers, they can approach the graphic organizers without the intimidation/dread they normally feel with traditional handouts (or the dreaded worksheet). Utilizing the word sort throughout the book. It was great to see the kids interact with the sort up until the last day of reading! (See my other post to see how I used it and hope to improve it for other core novels.) Did all the kids learn all the words? No. Did many kids begin to look at challenging words differently and attempt to grapple with vocabulary that they would normally skip over? Yes. Connections- My students were able to make several connections with the texts. Utilizing Read Alouds will improve this even more. Engagement- My students were very engaged in the book (especially after Chapter 8). It was fantastic to see kids who professed to dislike reading throw tiny fits when I turned the audio off. I think there will be a level of trust now when I introduce other novels.

THE BAD- Most of this revolves around my instruction. Connections- My students and I had a lack of faith that they could make connections to a book set in the future about "farmers and white rich people." Our fantastic discovery was that they made many connections as we read. The connections were deeper than expected and genuine. Vocabulary- I need to work on utilizing other ways to work with the vocabulary. I did not do a great job of reinforcing how to use context clues. The kids did a pretty good job of it despite me. When they took the Multiple choice assessment, they tended to miss the same vocab questions. However, I passed them back and they overwhelming got those questions right the second time around. Also, (this is actually a "good")because I did not do a good job of teaching the context handout and point of view, I allowed the kids to keep those handouts while they took the assessment. The kids who used them did a good job on those questions. We will keep those handouts and refer to them throughout our reading until the kids no longer need them. Engagement- This is good/bad. The kids are so engaged, and I was so excited about that, I didn't focus enough on some of the strategies. Hello! This is the point- especially with the core novels, especially at the beginning of the year. As Angie put it today, we have to remember the goal of using audio and the program as a whole. On the flip side, I had a few kids who were not all that engaged in the book. Should I have them read another book independently? How do I work with them more so that they will be more engaged? How do we help the kids who tune out at first but then get into the book as time goes on? I have some ideas, but I would love to hear how other deal with these problems.

THE UGLY- I did not do enough front-loading for myself. I think really focusing on the needs of my students before we begin, and then adapting and adjusting my instruction as we go (the breakdown in the teacher's handbook is fantastic for stopping and reflecting) will take care of any difficulties that I am having. The beauty of the program is that the graphic organizers are tools. The problem is that as teachers we are sometimes afraid to use new tools and therefor take risks and more risks and try again when we do make mistakes. Being open with students about my learning curve as I go is invaluabe. If I am going to ask my students to take academic risks, I have to be honest (and model) how I work through my own.

http://teacherplaces.com/missyh/weblog/44.html

It was interesting to read Lee's post because I had a very similar experience with my students. Some of my students were not "feeling" the book (as one outspoken student put it)until the end of chapter eight. When I stopped the CD a chorus of protests erupted in the room. The same thing happened at the end of chapter 15! The majority of my students are now definitely "feeling" the book. The only downside is that they want to hurry through the assignments to get back to the story. This is not a problem I am too upset about- wanting to read more! The Y charts are working especially well for all levels of my students. Our word sort has been interesting as well. I posted the words and student selected categories on the wall. Almost every day we interact with the words to either reorganize or move our unknown words into pre-existing or new categories. I will take a picture and try to post when I am done with my roll of film (I know- I need a digital!).

Something else that has been going well is my students are making connection with the text. Because of my students' socio-economic status, there is special attention to how the government treats the commoners vs. the barons. Also, there is a link that could connect well online today about America reaching 300 million people. I believe the link is through the Today show. Here is an attempt to add the link: [Click to view link] rats! I don't think it is working. It is on msn- there is a message board about if we should worry about the pop growth and related articles about the environment and the economy. My students don't have regular access to computers, so I think I am going to incorporate it through homework or extra credit. Hope this helps!

I am Anne Cobb and I work with Recorded Books.

Missy raised a point last week that I want to mention to everyone.  When she posted a comment to one of Lee's posts, she asked how Lee would know about it if she didn't specifically check.  I think that answer is, she wouldn't.  Therefore, I am going to suggest that we use the community blog for posting issues and ideas that we want to make sure get discussed.  You can find the community blog by clicking through to it via your own main page, or you can find it directly at:

Click HERE to reach the Plugged-in community blog.

I think we should post ideas AND comments as posts (not using the largely hidden "comment" field) and just let the posts run in order.  And if everyone remembers to TAG their posts, they will be easy to find with the search function.

We can discuss how to use the personal blogs as we go forward. Thanks again for you intrepid spirit in working with this new idea of the learning community for Plugged-in To Reading.

http://teacherplaces.com/leec/weblog/36.html

The first novel is going well.  I'm doing this one with the 9th graders.  Friday we finished at the end of chapter 8 and the kids were literally begging me to read another chapter.  Unfortunately, we were at the end of class so that wasn't possible.  But it's always nice when we're that into the book.

We did the admit slip and possible sentences before we started and both of those were great.  We had some interesting predictions and questions before we even started reading. 

Honestly, at the beginning, when we started using the CD, I was worried.  It seemed to be going pretty slowly - some of the students didn't like the reader's voice and some thought the CD was great.  It's the usual dilemma - you can't make everyone happy.  But we're past that stage now and everyone is into the book, even students who have read it before.

I loved that the kids almost immediately made the connection to China and were asking questions about their population law.  We used the two articles in the Nonfiction Reader to do mini-research.  We started by listing their questions.  Then I asked students to choose three questions for their papers.  I read one article aloud and they listened for answers to their questions.  We talked about answers we heard, unanswered questions and new questions.  Then I gave them one of the articles to read on their own.  It went pretty well.  (Thanks, Lynette, for this idea from this summer.  Its a nice intro to research and a good first step.)

So, Monday the students will begin keeping the chapter map and the visualizing. 

 

 

 

 

http://www.teacherplaces.com/leec/weblog/36.html

The first novel is going well.  I'm doing this one with the 9th graders.  Friday we finished at the end of chapter 8 and the kids were literally begging me to read another chapter.  Unfortunately, we were at the end of class so that wasn't possible.  But it's always nice when we're that into the book.

We did the admit slip and possible sentences before we started and both of those were great.  We had some interesting predictions and questions before we even started reading. 

Honestly, at the beginning, when we started using the CD, I was worried.  It seemed to be going pretty slowly - some of the students didn't like the reader's voice and some thought the CD was great.  It's the usual dilemma - you can't make everyone happy.  But we're past that stage now and everyone is into the book, even students who have read it before.

I loved that the kids almost immediately made the connection to China and were asking questions about their population law.  We used the two articles in the Nonfiction Reader to do mini-research.  We started by listing their questions.  Then I asked students to choose three questions for their papers.  I read one article aloud and they listened for answers to their questions.  We talked about answers we heard, unanswered questions and new questions.  Then I gave them one of the articles to read on their own.  It went pretty well.  (Thanks, Lynette, for this idea from this summer.  Its a nice intro to research and a good first step.)

So, Monday the students will begin keeping the chapter map and the visualizing. 

 

 

 

 

http://www.teacherplaces.com/willd/weblog/25.html

I have set it up so that this post in my blog should be fed into the community blog.  Let's see if it works!

If you take a minute to tag your posts (and maybe even set the access at "public"), your input will be easier to find.

Here are the tags that I have put in for the Plugged-in to Reading community:

equipment, graphic organizer, guide, independent reading, janet allen, literature circle, plugged-in, storage, tampa, management, resource binder, matrices 

Let me know your suggestions and I will add them to the community profile.   You can put your own tags in your own profile and then when someone looks for folks with that particular interest, they will find you.

;-) 

If you click here, you can get a daily notification of any postings tagged "plugged-in" at the site by inserting an email address with FeedBlitz.

 This only works on posts that folks tag with "plugged-in" and (I believe) set as "public" in the access restrictions drop-down.

Missy Hughes and Lee Corey have been trading ideas about storage of players in Missy's blog.  I am posting this picture of the shoe organizer I found at Amazon for everyone's reference.  The ones I saw in Tampa had clear plastic holders rather than the canvas here.