Somehow, even though more and more schools are moving to block schedules, official curriculums seem to all still assume a 5 day schedule. Which might be workable if the curriculum was designed for real students and a 50 minute block, but that hasn’t exactly been my experience.
So instead, I use a consistent shell, that I can plug whatever curriculum my district has said we’re using this year alongside what is most important in ELA, the things I know my students need.
This shell has some non-negotiable ELA routines that make up every week in my classroom. . .
The Non-Negotiable Weekly Elements of my ELA Class
1. Consistent Daily Do Now
I don’t just have a do-now everyday, I have the same do now every week for two out of three days.
The second day I see students (whether thats Tuesday or Wednesday), my ELA students respond to a writing prompt that is always on the board as they walk in. Their writing is recorded on their weekly stamp sheet.
The last day (Thursday or Friday), ELA students will read quietly and record a powerful quote from their reading on their stamp sheets. Sometimes it’s choice reading, sometimes it is reading a text we will be working with in class that day, but it is always silent, and they always have to record the quote.
2. Independent Reading Time
Research has consistently shown that students need time to read books of their choosing and that if the time is left up to their time at home the results will be more aligned to their economic status rather than their personal commitment.
So it’s on us as educators to make that time available. I’m really thankful that my old school had a longer advisory period so that independent reading could be a part of that curriculum rather than just a part of the ELA block.
This year I’m trying to work with grade level colleagues to make sure students have time in other classes since I only see them three days a week. Our start of class reading is wonderful.
Silent reading is also a great way to end class- it means that students have all their other materials away and are just reading until the bell. Even ten minutes develops the culture of literacy of our classroom. Some students even find themselves lingering to finish a page or chapter and yes, I absolutely write that late pass.
3. Independent Writing Time
At least once a week, students are working on writing with stamina. At the beginning of the year, 12 minutes may be as much as most of them can manage, and that’s fine. But over time, we stretch it. I get them to twenty quickly, then ease up to thirty. At that point, some weeks it’s 25, other weeks student spend almost the whole class period drafting a full piece of work.
4. Language Work
One of the most important productive struggles our students engage with is making meaning from text. They cannot possibly succeed without explicit instruction and lots of time to practice. What is often referred to as “word work” in the elementary grades expands to include connotation, figurative language, greek and latin roots, and both academic and domain vocabulary in middle school.
5. Targeted Small Groups
If I’m being honest, working with small groups is one of my favorite parts about teaching. I love the growth you see in students up close and personal and quickly with targeted interventions. Some weeks I’m able to build in more group time, but there are two slots that I always make space for:
First, I always pick one of the do-nows for the week to replace for a small group of kids.
Second, I always make use of that independent writing time.
My next post will be about the list that makes this list possible, my not-to-do list, which is just as important in making sure I get to the things above. See you then!
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