Garfield Reading Attitude Survey

Yesterday I began my small reading group time by giving the Garfield Reading Attitude Survey with my focus group. I explained to them that it is very important to be honest about how they feel about reading and reassured them that no one would get in trouble for how they answer. To make sure they didn't see what their neighbor was choosing, we got out our "offices" so they could have some privacy. I read each question aloud and explained what it meant, since most of my students in this group are ESL students and need paraphrasing to help them comprehend. I sat down last night with them and added up their scores and was very surprised at the results. One student has been absent this week so I don't have his results, but three out of the four I scored were above average, which means they enjoy reading more than the average student. One student scored in the 45th percentile, which meant that he enjoyed reading less than the average student. I was surprised because I figured since they struggle with reading, that they wouldn't enjoy it very much. My conclusion is that they are not aware of how to look of themselves as readers. Do they know they aren't reading at the level of most of their peers? I am hoping that their attitude about reading stays positive because it will be easier to motivate them and teach them strategies that will help them become better readers.

Catch-Up Time!

Friday was a lovely surprise, but now I have some cathing up to do! Not to mention I was already a day behind on my timeline. It didn't take me long to get behind. :) Oh well, tomorow I hope my students bring back their consent forms so I can officially begin. Tomorrow I will also be giving my students their reading interest surveys and begin teaching them their first multisensory activity! I think they are really going to love it. They will be using wikki stix, which I have alwasy heard about, and my kids have gotten them at resaurants to play with at the table, but I never really knew how I could use them in my reading instruction. My plan is to look at each student's word list from the Literacy First Assessment, and take a small group of words (about 5) they haven't learned yet and write them on half sheets of card stock (I really needed the big index cards, but didn't have any at the moment). They will use the wikki stix to make the word on the half sheet of cardstock. I am a little nervous about making sure I write down and collect quality qualitative data. I am excited to get started!