Facing the muddiness of march with a mid-year reading survey
March in the Northeast means one thing…mud season! Give or take a late snowstorm, March is a time of transition between winter and spring. Snow melts and rain falls leaving the ground wet and mushy priming it for new growth in April.
March is a muddy month for curriculum too. At least that is how it felt to me when I stepped into my classroom this morning. There is a lot on our plates right.
our current curriculum items
Podcasting
We are in between book clubs and writing projects. In fact, students completed their drafts of their third podcast episodes on their book club books. We are anxiously awaiting feedback from some pre-service teachers at Skidmore College (more on this amazing collaboration coming soon). My students will use the PSTs feedback to revise and edit next week.
New ELA Curriculum
We just started a new reading unit from the curriculum my district adopted this year. Although I have a sense of the unit’s goals, I am sorting through the weeds of literacy skills and the social studies content knowledge students need to apply those skills one lesson at a time.
Standardized Testing
The New York State tests are just around the corner so that means devoting some time to test practice as well as reviewing key literacy concepts such as genre knowledge, poetic devices, text structures, and author’s craft to name a few.
Setting this list aside
I could go on but you get the idea. There is a lot to fit in right now and I felt the weight of it this morning. So, I decided to set all those curriculum items aside, push the muddiness away and create a learning experience that offers clarity and focus on my individual readers. Transitional times are great for reflection so I took my end of year reading survey (I created it as a Google Form) and modified it to read “Mid-year Reading Survey”. I want to see how students are feeling about themselves as readers at this point in the year. We still have nearly four months together so I intend to use this information to modify and shape our curriculum as we move into spring.
A little added bonus: I asked for feedback on our read aloud and book club texts this year so I can determine what to order for next year’s budget (my supply order is due in a few weeks).
Here is a sample of the survey questions
On a scale of 1-5 (1 being not at all, and 5 being a definite yes), do you enjoy reading for fun?
Estimate how much time you spend reading on an average week (combine school and home reading- both online and print).
Estimate how many books you have read so far this school year.
Book clubs: Check off the book you read. (I provided a list of each book). Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?
What was the best book you read so far this year?
What are your reading goals for the rest of the year?
The Process
I have not read the students’ responses yet, but the process of filling out the form was refreshing and informative in and of itself. This was not a silent activity where students sat quietly and filled out the form. They talked to one another and reminisced about the books we’ve read. They went back to the cupboards to look through books. They considered their past reading goals and how they identified as readers now. They celebrated how much they have read this year.
I left work today feeling clear-headed and ready to jump into next week’s plans. That is, of course, after I get some much needed rest this weekend!
