It's been a crazy first 2 weeks of school, but I have survived, and ready for some more action. My next challenge will not come easy; I am starting to organize my reading groups and math groups. Last year, I only worked with the students who I saw were struggling, but this year, my aim is to work with all students according to their reading and comprehension levels: the group that has the struggling or below level readers will meet with me 3 days a week; the students who are average will meet with me 2 days a week, and the students who are above average will meet with me one day a week. I have that all set as far as who is in which group.
The one struggle I am having though is not with reading but with writing. Last year, I didn't differentiate writing AT ALL! Every student was given the same task and I used the same rubric on every student. This year, though, I want to create some kind of tiered weekly writing activities. However, I am not sure how to start. A few of my students are finding it difficult to focus on even writing down a date and title in writing, and I can't seem to motivate them to write more than just that. Some of the students tell me it is because their hands don't want to move faster; it makes me laugh because they're only in second grade and are already coming up with excuses. In fact, even when the students are asked to draw a picture about what was their favorite part of the story, the same students cannot even complete this task. If they are not writing, I cannot assess their abilities. It's so bad that even when they're told to write down their homework (copy it from the board), it takes them too long to do that. Any ideas of how to speed them up? It's unfair to say the students don't do any work; actually only one of my students is not completing her class work. I think it may be time to contact home.
This year will be challenging, especially as I experiment with new differentiated tools. <Sigh> Wish me luck!
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