Blocking out a block

Each beginning school year, I put a lot of thought and effort into planning and structure.  Especially switching  from 60 minute periods to 90 min blocks, I played a lot of trial and error over the years.   This past school year, I feel like I implemented a plan that works and is worth sharing.  I spent a lot of time exploring options and compiling resources with my professor and friend, Emily.  She challenged to do what I know works with kids and trust my instincts.  I believe it is important for every educator (& professional for that matter!) to have a person who does this for you.  Find someone to talk through ideas, flesh out your creativity, and challenge your thinking. 

The end result looked something like this:

90 minute block Reading-LA (grades 6-8)

20 min SSR (silent sustained reading) students read silently and completed varied forms of accountability). I conducted individual reading conferences or circulated the room asking questions or asking students to read to me.

15 min warm up- alternate vocab/ grammar or combination 

I used Caught Ya Grammar: Giggles in the Middle, I also like Everyday Edits

5 mini TCAP review-1 daily grade & subj specific multiple choice question to review test taking strategies... Gradual release from teacher led to student led

50 min mini lesson- content specific mini lessons

This portion of the day varied depending on our classroom goals. 

Typically, a week looked something like this-

Day 1- hook- guiding questions to peak interest, and/or digital hook 

Intro vocab... (Vocab pulled from text to be read hat week and/or greek/latin roots) Discuss students' prior understandings of word meanings prior to exploring meaning, flashing images/videos for students to develop a definition as a class, students create a chart or table to record word, meaning, image/symbol, related words/ideas. (Revisit vocab daily during warm up or ad we encounter these words in the text)

Day 2 & 3-  introduce text to be read that week, preview length of text, genre, images 

Develop a purpose for reading, it could to explore, for entertainment, to gather and sort info, etc. this purpose ties into the objective and standard being taught. 

Begin by modeling. Usually, I would read the first paragraph of the shared text and demonstrate how I would sort and record the information I found. Then, students may join in reading and together we would practice the skill. Finally, students try this in partners or groups. 

We continue this structure with checkpoints as we go.

Day 3 & 4- putting it all together. I assign students a project- based task.  Usually, this was a writing task or a chart with textual evidence. It may have been a group project or research skills.  Either way, I introduce the task on day 3, providing a checklist or a rubric. Students continue reading the assigned text and complete the task by day 5. Day 4 would act as a working day, I would meet with groups to checkpoint their progress/ address questions/ clear misconceptions.  

Day 5- rotating small groups/assessment/complete weekly task(s) depending on what needed to be done. I usually created my assessment based on the vocab from the text, grammar skill, and reading skill taught that week.  Once finished, students could have time to complete, or fix, any weekly tasks with my input.  

While there  is much more to each part, this became my bare boned structure each week.  The routine itself became second nature and my students were the ones who kept me on track and on time.  I would vary the genre and try to blend fiction & non-fiction.  Challenging students with tasks that crossed over texts and genres blended well with Common Core.  Because of this structure, I noticed an increase in student time on task, more work placed on the students, and I was less burned out come Friday.  I would use this same structure again in a heartbeat.  I encourage other teachers to try and shift pieces of a class structure around until it fits your teaching style and the needs of your students. Flexibility and innovation are key!