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We use students' progress in Reading A to Z (RAZ) as one element in formative grading. Students from grades 3-6 are expected to read aloud books of their choice and record and submit them. I log in to check their activity just after each monthly exam and listen to recordings. I assign a grade from 0-5 to each reading. Each student gets an average of these scores converted to 100-point scale which becomes part of their formative grade. The RAZ reading element of the curriculum is expected to help students develop a sense of responsibility for their own learning and become self-directed.
One day out of the week is RAZ reading day where all the students come to class with iPads ready. I give them a teacher-fronted lesson for 30-35 minutes, and the remainder of the time is independent reading time. I will lurk, roam, patrol to make sure that they are not playing games or watching Youtube. If I also notice that students are not submitting recordings, but only opening books to "read" (quickly flip through pages) or listen, I will show students their own records in the system and show them that I know they are NOT fulfilling requirements.
Results so far suggest 3 types of learners:
1) Performance-avoidant
They do not submit recordings and are content to receive a 0. They tentatively engage with the RAZ platform by looking at books, listening to books, and sometimes doing quizzes to get stars to modify their avatar and spaceship, but they won't go so far as to record their read-alouds.
2) Point-focused
They actively engage with the RAZ platform in order to accrue stars, and they collect a lot! They deck out their spaceships, and their avatars can make quite the fashion statement. They also do recordings because they know it impacts their grades, but recordings are a secondary consideration. They may have dozens of log-ins and dozens of "read" books and completed quizzes, while just enough recordings to keep me busy. The scores on these recordings range between 50- 70. The tone of voice in the recordings range from shy, hesitant to very nonchalant. There are also loud, confident, but very haphazard students who just read through very quickly without any thought about correct pronunciation.
3) Mastery-oriented
They are genuinely concerned with learning how to read well. They have a lower number of log-ins than point-focused learners, but the activity is well balanced among reading/listening/ and recording. Sometimes they have dozens of recordings which keep me very busy and stressed about completing grades in time because it just takes so long to listen to them all. Another indication of mastery orientation is the rehearsal of the recordings. I will see time logs showing 2 or more recordings of a particular book title on the same day at consecutive times. They also attempt books beyond their ability, either to probe their ability or explore their interest, and then balance out those challenges with some easy books that are well within their level. In the end their grades range from 70 to 90.
As stated earlier, the bulk of the lesson is teacher-fronted, because seriously, you can't let elementary kids have iPads in their hands for a whole 40 minutes. I use the teacher fronted time to model strategy use (guessing from pictures, inference: AKA pre-reading process), then practice reading together, explain incidental grammar if necessary, and check comprehension of new vocabulary if the illustrations are not self-explanatory. The students are reading from level aa to C, so they can typically finish at least 2 books in 5 minutes if they stay focused.
As stated earlier, the bulk of the lesson is teacher-fronted, because seriously, you can't let elementary kids have iPads in their hands for a whole 40 minutes. I use the teacher fronted time to model strategy use (guessing from pictures, inference: AKA pre-reading process), then practice reading together, explain incidental grammar if necessary, and check comprehension of new vocabulary if the illustrations are not self-explanatory. The students are reading from level aa to C, so they can typically finish at least 2 books in 5 minutes if they stay focused.
Last year the English teachers at my school were asked to create a revised version of the English passports since our supply of old ones was about to be used up. English passports are small printed books full of vocabulary or phrases which the students have to learn by rote usually. When they feel ready, they will find one of us and read off the words they have memorized. We sign on the page for each correct reading. When the students complete a book they can exchange it for a prize. The old passports simply had pages of words and their Chinese meanings, and you can see why this design is inadequate for learning vocabulary. We took this opportunity to reformulate the concept of English passport into a reading passport. We intended to reinforce the task of RAZ reading by converting some books into printed form, and then assessing learning of the vocabulary that was in the story collection. We wanted to do this because the mastery-oriented group above is always the smallest group, and we felt that all the students need more pushing. After all, the expectation that a 3rd grade boy would become a self-directed learner in only 1 semester or 1 year is a very idealistic. We had to keep injecting realism whenever possible, which means never letting them escape from the obligation to read. The plan for the new set of passports is available here. Ours have not gone to print yet, because we still haven't exhausted our supply of old passports, but if you are up for the challenge, here they are.
Last year the English teachers at my school were asked to create a revised version of the English passports since our supply of old ones was about to be used up. English passports are small printed books full of vocabulary or phrases which the students have to learn by rote usually. When they feel ready, they will find one of us and read off the words they have memorized. We sign on the page for each correct reading. When the students complete a book they can exchange it for a prize. The old passports simply had pages of words and their Chinese meanings, and you can see why this design is inadequate for learning vocabulary. We took this opportunity to reformulate the concept of English passport into a reading passport. We intended to reinforce the task of RAZ reading by converting some books into printed form, and then assessing learning of the vocabulary that was in the story collection. We wanted to do this because the mastery-oriented group above is always the smallest group, and we felt that all the students need more pushing. After all, the expectation that a 3rd grade boy would become a self-directed learner in only 1 semester or 1 year is a very idealistic. We had to keep injecting realism whenever possible, which means never letting them escape from the obligation to read. The plan for the new set of passports is available here. Ours have not gone to print yet, because we still haven't exhausted our supply of old passports, but if you are up for the challenge, here they are.
Reading strategies in the RAZ teacher-fronted lessons
Reading strategies in the RAZ teacher-fronted lessons
Here is a PPT outlining the way a RAZ teacher-fronted lesson incorporates the teaching of strategies and cultivates self-directed learning. This presentation was prepared for a professional development workshop held by Taitung County. My teacher's reflection of the lesson documented in the PPT is here.
RAZ Lesson Supplements (below)
RAZ Lesson Supplements (below)
Our recent class of 3rd-4th graders appear lacking in growth mindset and emotional maturity. They exhibit symptoms of fixed mindset and fear of failure such as procrastination, slow-walking their student-directed learning responsibilities, reluctance to record or do oral reading individually and/or overall passivity. (These new kids keep falling in the performance-avoidant category above.) However, during teacher-fronted portions of lessons they routinely participate with normal energy-as long as they can be hidden in the crowd of students. Therefore, it's difficult to assess how much particular individuals comprehend because the reason for their reluctance to speak out is hard to pin down. But, they also remain addicted to Kahoot and team competitions. This means that my old RAZ lesson structure needs to change. I have started making RAZ Kahoot games to add a comprehension and discussion question session to the teacher-fronted lesson in way that keeps their affective filter down. These Kahoot games are meant to follow-up on particular RAZ titles and open up a safe way to get a bead on individual students' comprehension, while also teaching/reviewing incidental concepts and vocab.
Read RAZ Firefly (Level B) together with students. Then open up and play this Kahoot to review vocab and expand on vocab/concepts. Dampen the competitive giddiness by stopping between each question and discussing answer options for multi-select questions, and why answers are correct for multiple choice items. The final question is a discussion (poll) question. Call on students to share why they chose a particular answer. Play again without pausing for discussion to get the kids more hyped. Then open the RAZ reader again to read aloud in turns. Save the final 5 minutes of class for independent reading as usual.
A collection of Kahoot games designed to consolidate and expand on vocabulary and concepts in RAZ readers. Recommended to insert in between teacher-fronted (initial reading) and shared reading/ read aloud practice.
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