Successful Personalisation

As I watched my class on Friday during their Reading lesson I reflected on how far we have come this year.

The Student Teacher who is on full control for her final practicum was being observed by her University lecturer and all children were fully engaged in their learning.

In previous years the reading groups would have been told what they would be doing, and when, on the reading rotation.  There would have been some choice as to which activity they chose out of the box and I would still have been puzzled as to how to get a more personalised programme operating, with all children knowing their next step and how to get there. 

Every year I would start with great intentions and never was I able to put it into action.

This year from the very first day I have implemented the Daily 5 and Cafe programmes by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  The difference is incredible.

Now the children arrive at school and make their choice about what activities they will do at Reading time and in which order.  They know what they are to learn to reach their next level and they often practise this in their own time.  They are able to say how they are progressing and all of this is shared with their family through their Reading Log.

Term one was difficult as I tried to put the routines into place.  My low decile class with several learning and behaviour issue children took a long time to come to grips with the concept of stamina - applying yourself for a length of time to the activity.  There were, and probably still are, sceptics on the staff but Friday showed me that it has been worth the effort.  

End of term data showed better progress than expected and I anticipate that our next set of data will continue this trend.  I have taken the principles and started to apply them to the writing and maths programmes as well.  Personalisation is possible with young, low decile children and Daily 5 showed me how.

Sometimes we need a programme which we can use to kick start our next step.