RPI: Adjustment Reflections

As a result of our last PRI session around planning a programme, we were asked to implement some timetable changes and focus on high expectation independent activities. 

Timetabling

With having a Year 3 and 4 group of learners I have a big range of Reading abilities from Level 9/Blue right through to a group of very capable students reading at the beginning of Curriculum Level 3.  With a Junior teaching background I always see my most needy students every single day as they have the greatest needs.  We have an 75 minutes timetabled for our Reading session with the first 15 minutes being our Read & Feed time where I read our class novel.  I have 4 Reading groups and I see 3 groups each day.  Sometimes I might be fortunate to have a teacher aide or student teacher on placement which means I can get them to take my fourth group.  Each fortnight I also visit the school library with my Reading class and on that day I only see my lowest Reading group.  My learners are in very good routines and know the expectations that I have for them in Reading time.  They follow the rotation of activities on their group slideshow and know that I will be checking in with them and checking up that any independent tasks have been completed to the standard expected.

Reading Apps

Since beginning RPI I have removed my 'Can Do' activities from my group slideshows and put them separately on my Reading site.  With a Year 3 and 4 group of learners I have both iPads and chromebooks so use a mixture of different independent activities on devices.  We use Epic, Studyladder (with tasks set to meet group focus areas), Word Chain as our main apps.

Turn It In Sheet

At the start of Term 2 I tried using a paper version of a Mahi Tracker with an A3 printed spreadsheet.  The reason I opted for a paper tracker was because I have some students on iPads and some on chromebooks.  I found the Mahi Tracker didn't work as well as I had hoped.  Some students couldn't track along from their name and down from the day of the week (or task) and would tick another student's box on the spreadsheet.  I was still needing to chase the students up to fill it in.  I used it for 4 weeks before giving up!