Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of Literature Unit 4: Short Stories!
As a result of teaching this unit, you as the teacher have:
- Helped your scholars fall in love with reading and analyzing short stories.
- Built your scholars’ ability to articulate their understanding of texts both orally and in writing.
Your scholars can:
- Notice how character motivations and choices develop and support the big idea.
- Write and revise arguments of 200 words to demonstrate their understanding of texts.
Celebrate your scholars’ successes by acknowledging what they can now do as readers as a result of their work during this unit. Invite scholars to share how much fun they had analyzing short stories.
Reflect on your successes and stretches, as well as those of your scholars. Look at your Fountas & Pinnell results. Have your scholars grown as readers over the last month? During this unit, your scholars should move from a Level U to a Level V. This is always a tricky jump for scholars and they can easily get stuck, making little to no growth. In order to move to a Level V, scholars will encounter more abstract forms of literature, like satire, and require use of skill in interpreting symbolism. Enlist parents to help get scholars over this hump!
Scholars must read at home, as well as in school. Do you have 100% of your scholars reading nightly at home? Make sure at-home reading is happening, and meet with families who are falling short to recommit them to this team effort.
Do you have 100% of your scholars reading fluently? Using all of the tools at their disposal to figure out the meaning of what they are reading?
Do you have 100% of your scholars doing their literacy homework? You must insist that 100% of scholars are completing their homework nightly.
Going into the next unit, make specific reading goals for yourself. Set a percentage goal for how many scholars you will move. Set a goal for scholars who are not reading at home. Who will you get to consistently read at home? Set a goal for moving any scholars stuck at level T or below. Why are they stuck? Do they read fluently? Do they understand what they’re reading? Do they understand the big idea? How will you partner with parents to support their growth?
If you are having trouble meeting your goals, do not wait until you have NOT succeeded. Consult your colleagues. Consult your leaders. ASK FOR HELP so you can meet your goals!