…an educator's blog
Thanks to the suggestion from my online colleague Jasmine Dwyer, – @jasminedwyer – I revisited my Philosophy of Teaching and Learning to see if it needed an update. The world has changed. Does my Philosophy reflect that? Jasmine suggested I use a “I used to think…but now I think…” framework for the comparison. I have […]
Read More MY PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING – REVISITEDIn blogposts and via Twitter some teachers report that the Daily Five routine is often ‘tweaked’ to suit their classroom constraints. Less apparent is the ‘tweaking’ that is done to match a teacher’s pedagogy, their beliefs about how learners learn and how teaching works. If you believe that the eye and ear work best together […]
Read More INTERROGATING THE DAILY FIVE – PART 2In my Grade Two classroom over the last two years I have utilised the Daily Five, a literacy learning system created by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Although this system has worked its magic with my students, I am never complacent about anything going on in my classroom and have continually questioned the Daily Five […]
Read More INTERROGATING THE DAILY FIVE – PART 1Sometimes we come together in groups to learn more about reading. In the Victorian Early Years Literacy system, this is known as GUIDED READING. In the Sisters’ CAFE model, this is known as STRATEGY GROUPS. I believe that the best reading teaching happens when I work one-on-one with a student. I believe that guided reading/strategy […]
Read More READING GROUPSIn my first years as a teacher I felt that the way I taught spelling and word study was disconnected. I could design fun activities, however I was not sure these word searches and blends worksheets actually helped students to move on. I wished that my spelling and word study programme was more connected with […]
Read More THE DAILY FIVE – WORD WORKTHE ‘GOOD FIT BOX’ One aspect of the daily Five that instantly attracted me was the setting up of individual personal book collections for students. Instead of insisting that students borrow one book per night from the boxes of basal readers, they are taught how to select a handful of books from a variety of […]
Read More A YEAR IN ‘THE DAILY FIVE’ – ‘THE GOOD FIT BOX’INTRODUCTION TO THE ‘DAILY FIVE’ The ‘Daily Five’ and ‘CAFE Model’ literacy systems have been designed by the two sisters, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey. I first found out about the Daily Five through my friend Kerry Ely, who has taught in international schools in Singapore. My friend and work colleague, Robyn Fox, was directly […]
Read More A YEAR IN THE DALY FIVE – INTRODUCTION