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Friday, June 22, 2012

Daily 5 book study: Chapter 2

The Daily 5 is a book written by the "2 Sisters", Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  These are my thoughts and opinions about the chapter.  

Questions to think about while reading Chapter 2:
1. What goals do you have for your classroom as you work to implement the principles and foundations of the Daily 5 discussed in Chapter 2? What support do you need to do this?
Looking back at my classroom during the short time I was using Daily 5, I realize that I did not completely implement every foundational principle. I trusted most, but not all of my students. I allowed choice in seating, but not for order of the Daily 5 (or in my case, 4). My students did not have a good sense of community. They did NOT like to share books. Only some of them had a true sense of urgency. We did build stamina, but only because I chose to ignore behaviors from 2 or 3 students. I really need to trust in the D5 structure and not force it to come together before students are ready. A big part of my only partially implementing these principles was due to it being started in the last quarter of the school year. My goal is to completely implement all of these principles. I don't think I need support, but I definitely need a way to monitor myself. Any suggestions?

2. What stands out as the most significant aspects of this chapter?
One thing that really stood out to me was in the stamina section. How when given praise, the students weren't really independent.  I had many students who were independent, but a few that were not. (Remember my students I said I ignored in order for everyone else to build stamina?) I need to really work on that to ensure all students are independent.

3. How do the foundational principles of the Daily 5 structure (trust, choice, community, sense of urgency, and stamina) align with your beliefs that support your teaching strategies and the decisions that you make about student learning?
I am not sure there was an alignment. I would say it was more like a whole new way of thinking about student learning. The Daily 5 has really made sense to me. It seems so simple, it makes me wonder how I never thought of it before. I am really glad that I was curious enough to order the book. You could read every blog post about D5 or pin every D5 chart, poster, station idea, etc. that you can find, but you MUST read the book in order to really understand and change your thinking and teaching of reading.


1 comment:

  1. I agree...I think truly trusting the students and giving it over is going to be hard. When I first learned about the Daily 5, I also implemented only parts here and there. I didn't read ALL the book :) I think this book study is going to help me reflect better and gain some new ideas...and finish the whole book!
    Cheers,
    Terri

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