This month, our class CARES focus is on Responsibility. The beginning of the month was also the first time I started to see some of my students getting really off task during Reader's Workshop. Because I am now meeting with small groups and conferring more regularly, some of them seemed to think they could get away with "tricky" behaviors. I decided to tie responsibility into Reader's Workshop in a tangible way.
I gave each student a November calendar titled "Reading Responsibility Calendar." We reviewed what responsibility looks like during Reader's Workshop (reading the whole time, staying in one place, completing any journal entries, etc). These responsibilities are listed at the top of the calendar. Each day as they fill out their reading logs, I walk around the room and put a star on the calendar if that student was responsible during Reader's Workshop that day. If not, we have a quick conversation about what aspect was missing, and what s/he can do to be more responsible the next day.
Initially, the kids wanted to know how many stars they needed to get or what prize there would be at the end. I explained that there is no reward or consequence associated with the calendar. It is simply a way for the kids to be more aware of their choices and to be held accountable for those choices.
Helping them to be aware of these things has made a huge difference. At the beginning of the month, some students were consistently sitting by people they wanted to chat with, choosing not to complete their assignments, or constantly getting up to get drinks. Within just two weeks, these behaviors have almost disappeared from the room. My hope is that we can eventually show this same responsibility without the calendar to document their choices.
