Non-Aikido Events

Our school district has a new reading adoption this year that includes a guided reading component. Having taught grades 3,4, and 5, our district, and the principals I've worked for have never required me to include guided reading in my classroom. The closest I've come was working at the high poverty school. There was an emphasis on centers, small reading groups, and testing; lots and lots of testing. The biggest problem I had was that the Reading Coordinator wanted all the teachers to stick to the teachers manual to the letter. I thought that was an astoundingly dumb idea. It left me no room to tailor to individual needs.

I am not at that school any more, but I am told by The District that I (all) have to do GR. So I am taking a class (good for one continuing ed credit), to understand guided reading as it relates to this program. Since both the reading adoption and the guided reading component are new to me, I am feeling overwhelmed. I have always used chapter books to teach reading, because I feel it is a far more authentic type of reading than opening up a basil and reading horrid stories. I know my grade level Standards & Benchmarks, and I study the list of reading skills I would be expected to teach were I to use the basil. I can teach any and all reading skills with the chapter books far better than with a basil. Chapter books also lead to much better classroom conversations.

I was discussing all this and more with my instructor who works at the district level now. Then we started to talk about my clasroom focus on Social Studies and how I unleash the creative side of my students with project based learning. I showed her my classroom web site, and the photos of last year's class' projects. She looked at me, waved her hand and said, "Oh, you don't need to be doing guided reading, you need to keep doing what you're doing." Then this gleam came to her eye, and she started talking to me about getting in contact with District-level people about what I'm doing, and how they need to know about me, and what a great resource I'd be to the District people who are trying to push project based learning.

I am not sure I need this sort of attention.