Implementing a Literacy Note Taking System

Literacy Note Taking System Reflection April 5, 2023

Early in the year, I met with Kusumam to devise a conferring note taking system for reading and writing. She shared a system that had been successful for her in the past. She shared a weekly tracking sheet which gave an overview of which students we had met with during each week allowing us to see which students we still needed to meet with.

We used on sheet each week for reading and another sheet for writing. I found this to be extremely helpful in making sure we circulated and met with all students on a regular basis.

The next tool Kusumam shared was a note taking sheet that we would use for each student which featured a spot for the teaching point, a glow, and a next step.

I also found this sheet to be extremely helpful. It was useful to review what I had previously discussed with each child and to consider whether or not they had followed their suggested next steps. The teaching point was often connected to the day's lesson, and/or a previous next step. For some students, the teaching point was a reminder to keep working on trying to improve a weakness like fixing run on sentences, using capital letters, or including action, thoughts and feelings when writing a story.

Consistency

Overall throughout the year, I feel that I was fairly consistent and stuck with our system as much as possible. Kusumam tended to often meet with her World Language students in groups or individually so she didn't use the system as consistently or perhaps used some separate notes. I would occasionally check in with her students and she would sometimes check in with non-WLE students.

Although, I met with students and took conferring students most days of the year, there were obstacles that would prevent me from conferring and taking notes. Sometimes classroom management issues would arise that would need to be tended to that would distract me from meeting and conferring. One of the biggest diversions was kids who would often approach Kusumam and/or I to ask clarifying questions about directions and what they needed to do. Read aloud days would also detract from the amount of time left to confer with students. During some reading blocks there would only be time for the lesson and a read aloud. Book clubs, and group/partner research also made it harder to record conversations. I would often meet with a few students, or a group to offer support but fail to have to time record discussions on each individual's conferring sheet. Some weeks were filled with debates, presentations, publishing, celebrations, or other unusual disruptions that made conferring difficult.

Next Steps

I think that for next year, I would like to increase the frequency that I meet with the world language students. This can be a challenge when they are receiving extra support, but during those days and times when they are working independently, I would like to spend more time connecting with them and offering my support. I would also like to check in with Kusumam to see if there's anything we can do to improve our system. I tended to stick to the system much more regularly while she found it to be a challenge to use. We would often discuss students and their progress, but for the most part, I was the only one using the weekly tracking sheet and conferring sheets.

I would also like to decrease those obstacles that sometimes prevent me from conferring and taking notes. I plan to train students to use anchor charts and post clear directions more often to decrease the amount of students who approach us after lessons seeking support. The "see 3 before me" strategy may also help cut down on students tendency to seek help right away. In past years, I had taught students some of these strategies and they knew not to disturb me when I was conferring with a student. I would like to return to practices I've used in the past.

In past years, I also left students sticky notes with a glow and a grow(which they would sometimes lose). I would love to return to leaving them with the words of encouragement, and the reminder of what to do next. I just found it difficult to write the sticky AND also record our meeting. Overall this year's system worked well. I really loved the weekly tracking sheet which made it clear who still needed a meeting.