DIY Literacy Ch. 3-4 Reflection #CyberPD

"We find that students need support, time, and repetition to make learning stick." pg 39

This week, reading Chapters 3 & 4 of DIY Literacy by Kate Roberts & Maggie Beattie Roberts really hit home with some of the struggles I have with my students every year. Getting students to remember what I've taught and helping them reach a level of rigor in their independent work are constant struggles I have with some of my students.

In recent years, our school district's poverty level has more than double from less than 30% free or reduced lunch to roughly 65%. Although I know many district's live with these levels year after year or are in situations with higher levels than we have, it has still been a culture shift for us. What once worked to motivate students simply does not any longer. Most of our students live in homes that value entertainment and fun over buckling down to achieve academic success. With this change, memory and motivation are now key struggles for our district as a whole, and these chapters fit perfectly with the PD within our districts.

I love how Kate & Maggie show, through explicit examples, how each of the tools they describe can be used to help improve student memory, rigor, and independence. The How to Set Goals and Narrow Our Focus section on page 43 was especially helpful. Keeping in mind our list of ideas and goals, students get a sense of ownership when co-creating the tools, but we as teachers are still able to ensure the best quality teaching goes onto the tools. Such great tips!

"Watching the process of something being made increases the likelihood that students can replicate the process on their own, which is critical to their independence." pg 68

I'm also starting to get really excited about the idea of using micro-progressions in full-force within my classroom. In the past I have used something similar but rather infrequently. I have liked how it worked but I still knew it was not as successful as it could have been. The tips and ideas from these chapters are what I needed to really implement good quality micro-progressions.

"The point is that you keep trying, and work hard, not that it works perfectly for you right away." pg 64

Further Questions I Have:

1. As many others have asked, how many demonstration notebooks would be the most beneficial? Would having separate reading and writing notebooks be best, or would it be better to keep them together as one since much of reading and writing overlaps?
2. I have seen many examples from middle school grades, but as my new coaching position will take me into classrooms ranging from K-6th, I would like to look more into ideas for a demonstration notebook for the younger grades, for those students who are still learning how to read.