Modeling Books

This year I have started using modelling books slightly differently in my classroom. I have always used them for both literacy and numeracy what is different now is that they are now an observation record as well as a modelling book. What I started doing is always bringing my post.it notes to the mat area with me. As I'm teaching I make notes on who is doing what. It can be anything from who found what difficult to who was able to figure something with ease.
I found that in a very busy classroom it is difficult to remember who did what, when and where. This has helped keep my observations in one place. I also have dated evidence of what I saw. This has also been a very useful strategy to use with my Teacher Aide. She makes notes on how her group went so I know exactly what I need to catch up on and vice versa. This helps with my end of day or end of week reflections. I know where my students need to head next. I also include a CLOZE plan for reading at the back of the book. I keep some writing progressions in the writing book and stage appropriate profile sheet in the maths books.
Here are some examples of what you would see in my class:

 Reading with WALT, SC and observation notes.

 Reading level on the inside cover of each modelling book.

 Reading modelling books

 Writing: Looking at instructional writing.

 Writing instructions together.

 Writing books including targeted writing group.

 Maths books

Feedback

Last week we had a teachers Techie Brekkie. We arrived at school a little bit earlier than normal (for some it was earlier for others not so much) and worked on some of our online tools. While some were creating buttons for their wikis, others had started a discussion about blogging and how they should be managed.
I'm not going to discuss just blogging this time though. I think it is really important to remember how our children respond to each other's work.
This is a skill that needs to be specifically taught to our students. We need to take the time to teach them about how they communicate on the internet and the foot prints they leave behind. We give feedback verbally during class sessions to practice giving constructive feedback in a positive manner. This gives me a chance to instantly respond to what the children say. I generally teach my students the "tick and a wish" strategy that I learned from a Neil MacKay workshop I attended. Generally the children give their buddy some positive feedback followed by something to work on (I think you have used some great adjectives in your story but I wish you had used more fullstops.) We talk about the wish needing to link to our Learning Intention or to our Success Criteria. This isn'e something that comes easily to everyone and does need constant practice. I was recently really impressed by how my children have been responding to each other during our speech practices. They were great at looking at the criteria of a good speech and relating everything they said to these criteria.
It's great when you can see your students using the skills you taught them :)