Half~Way Through

My students and I had a week of reflection.  

Each student received a reading progress report that tracks their reading progress for the first semester on a line graph.  I also updated our reading race chart and our "Reading Olympics" board.  Visuals help us all get a sense of where we are and where we need to be. Many students had smiles and deep breaths of satisfaction.  Others had wide eyes and the lowering of the side of their mouths.  

Students whose reading levels increase want to shout it out from the mountain tops. 

 Students whose reading levels remain the same, or decrease, get upset and don't want to talk about it.  One of the most challenging tasks of my job is motivating students who either do not like to read or have never really read for real, to commit to breaking ground and going for it.  If I could accomplish this, I have done my job.  An authentic committment on the part of the student makes all the difference.  Once they have chosen to turn off cell phones, computers, video games, TV's, and everything else that competes for their attention, and dive into doing whatever it takes to understand the text, they have won.

 Our greatest moments in the class is when a struggling reader passes a comprehension quiz. 

 Everyone celebrates. A passing score of 70% or higer grants the reader an 

"I Finished Reading A Book" Award.  Struggling readers get very impatient for their award when they finally earn one, and they don't allow me any delay.
Once that first quiz is passed, others follow.  

My focus this semester is to continue to plow and till the soil.  

My hope is that I will be able to influence and challenge my kids to expect more from themselves and to resist the tendency to just give up.  It gets wearisome sometimes, and the reading assessments don't always mirror the work we're all doing.  However, one day, it may not even be a day I will ever witness, the lessons learned will reap a harvest.