Collaborative Writing Responses: A Structure For Writing Paragraphs As A Group

Some of my best ideas come from other teachers on Instagram. After seeing a post from an elementary teacher about using a collaborative process for solving word problems as a group in math class, I was inspired to create a structure for writing paragraphs as a group in my English language arts class.

I use this collaborative group framework to allow students to practice selecting relevant text evidence, engage students in structured academic conversation, and increase the amount of writing students do in my class.

9 Strategies to Try to Minimize Fake Reading

Students who “fake” read may do so for a variety of reasons. Maybe they don’t really like their book, but have trouble finding one they do like. Maybe they have difficulty with sitting quietly and sustaining focus, even for just the five, ten, or fifteen minutes you are asking. Maybe they are not a confident reader, and their struggles to read outweigh their desire to read. Whatever the reason for the “fake” reading, here’s 9 things you can try to help combat the issue.

5 Things You Can Do When Students Can’t Find An Independent Reading Book

Right from the start of the school year, I work to create a culture of reading. I am fortunate that the sixth graders coming to me have had independent reading as a part of their reading instruction since kindergarten, so I usually don’t how much work to do in convincing them of the importance of independent reading or in establishing expectations for behavior during this period of class.

But there are usually a handful of students each year that just aren’t into reading and need to be won over. These are the students that can’t find a book they are interested in, even after you’ve already talked with them and tried to help them find books. These are the students who are constantly browsing the bookshelf for a new book when they should be reading. 

Here's five things you can do when students say they can't find a book they want to read. Or better yet, five things you can do to prevent students from ever saying that they can't find a book for independent reading.

What Small Groups Look Like During Independent Reading In My Classroom

This year I wanted to add more small group time to my classroom routines. I often use rotations, including a teacher-led station, but not every day or week. I thought about how I could incorporate a weekly check-in with each student. I decided to use independent reading time because it already happens daily. 

In past years, I've had to add small groups to my classroom routine part way through the year to target underperforming students (my school reviews our MAP data each trimester and sets goals focused on students in the lowest quintiles).⁠

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It was always a hassle to figure out how and where to add groups, and the change in routine meant some students felt singled out while other students thought that if I was talking with a group, that meant they could be talking at their seats.⁠

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This year I decided to start with small groups during independent reading time right from the get go. I had already created a schedule for who got to read on our classroom rug on what days, so it was easy to add my groups into that rotation. With 24-25 students in each of my classes, 4-5 are sitting on the rug each day and 4-5 are meeting with me at my small group table.

What Fluency Looks Like In My Middle School ELA Classroom

Over the summer I took a professional development course focused on improving reading for older students, which was something I'd had my eye on for a while. ⁠Since I was trained as a secondary English teacher (my original certification is in grades 7-12), I didn't really have any background in actually teaching students to read.⁠ 

One of the key ideas I took away from the course was fluency practice. If you teach middle or high school students, you might be wondering why it is so important, even for older readers.⁠

What Independent Reading Looks Like In My Middle School ELA Classroom

Hands down, my favorite part of class is our independent reading time. ⁠We read at the end of our class period (doing it at the start of class just never worked for me) for 10 minutes daily, and there's just so many things I love about it.⁠

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I love helping students select a book that's just right for them. ⁠I love watching students become totally engrossed in what they are reading and not want to pack up to go to their next class. ⁠I love hearing students share about what happening to the character in their book. ⁠I love seeing a student pick up a new book based on a peer's recommendation. I love letting students have a break from the noise of learning and just sit in quiet.⁠ I love the chance for the students (and for myself) to turn off for a few minutes. I love getting to model a love of reading for students by reading right alongside them.⁠ 

Teaching Using The Station Rotation Model

One year I had a particularly chatty group with a handful of students that were frequently interrupting instruction, mostly immature boys who could not help but make a comment about everything or made constant annoying  noises. I was following my usual procedure of issuing warnings, assigning behavior reflections, and making phone calls home, which would lead to temporary improvements, but I was still frustrated by the lost instruction time, so I decided something had to change.

I was still pretty new to teaching middle school at that point (I had taught high school for six years and then worked as a middle school reading intervention teacher, which is not the same as trying to command a room full of preteens), but I had had some success with using small groups when I taught math the previous (and only) year. I decided to try it out in my ELA classes, but knew I needed more structure to the class than just adding small groups to the mix, so I decided to try out the stations rotation model.

How I Structure My Middle School English Language Arts Class

I have a 90 minute period of English Language Arts daily with my sixth grade students. And before I break down what the structure of that period looks like, I want to acknowledge that seeing my students for 90 minutes daily all year long is something most ELA teachers can only dream of. Most middle school ELA teachers are working with 45-60 minutes, some even less. Some schools are on block schedules where teachers see students every other day or for only half of the year. And there's schools where reading and writing are broken up into two separate classes. 

While I don't know the pain of trying to jam it all into a 38 minute period, I have taught class periods of shorter lengths and could offer ideas about how to make things work with less time. But that is for another blog post. This one is just about what works for me in my current situation. I'll start with the parts of class that are always the same, the beginning and end of class.