Note Taking Reflections

It is almost December!  How does the year fly by so quickly?  Today I found myself in a mess of papers.  It was all for good reason.  Or at least I hope so.

My OCD comes out in many ways...reflections is one of those ways.  I am probably too hard on myself in many cases, but this has also led to a lot of personal growth. 

Today was no exception.  Last year I wrote a post about my need for better note taking with my LLI prompting.  It looked something like this...

I still love the concept behind this because I was trying to look for overall patterns that would guide my instruction.  And it has.  But what I am missing is the big picture.  How are my students reading when compared to the literacy continuum?  Are they exhibiting the reading behaviors that are appropriate for them and how can I push them to grow?

So this led to a mess: the emptying of my binder, new dividers, more labels, and a continuum checklist.

 I believe this will help me as I continue to intervene with my young readers.  But if I had not reflected on how my note taking process was going, I would have continued on the path I was on.  And it was not a bad path.  But I am hoping for a more effective and responsive system.

This is what teaching is all about.  Learning right along side our little learners.

Em