Anyone new to this group – don’t be bewildered. Just click on the categories listed below and read there to start and you will stay sane. Those categories are the best and most important practical classroom ideas we have had this year, and they work really well in classrooms, in my opinion better than stories.
You are also advised to go to the TPRS Resources page here on this site and click on Workshop Handouts and read about all those things we do to start a school year.
Thirdly, read randomly here and ask questions of the group. You have over a hundred experienced teachers in comprehension based instruction and many of them are really good about answering questions – they put a lot of thought into their responses. No question is too stupid, and though that is a cliché, we mean it nonetheless.
Here, along with the Workshop Handouts link mentioned above, is where I recommend you start – just click on these categories:
- jGR
- Weekly Schedule – new Bi-Weekly Schedule 2013
- L & D
- R & D
- Y & D (new)
One very important point: we are working on building some templates which are going to be in the form of flow charts that you can click to open on this page at any time during a class. It will give you instant order to what can seem, but isn’t, disorder in your fledgling comprehension based instruction.
The flow charts will be of immense help to you in the beginning moments of teaching in this new way. Slowly, you will see the order and brilliance inherent in comprehension based instruction, because of these flow charts.
Soon, you will choose only those flow charts that you personally resonate with and which work best for you as an individual teaching artist, and you will develop your own classroom routine based on what is offered here as the days go by and the awesome people in this group continue each day to share what they are learning and what is going well and what isn’t and, importantly, asking for help when needed.
Comprehension based instruction no longer seems to be just about stories and PQA, both of which have intimidated a lot of teachers over the years. There is now a lot of new stuff that offers options to stories and PQA, which makes things a lot easier for us in our overall transistion from teaching in the old way to teaching in the new way, so that we can be fully aligned with standards and best practices as our careers move forward.
It’s crazy, but it’s a good kind of crazy! Bon courage!
