For years, I’ve tried to assist teachers with setting up Independent Work Time in their classrooms. Independent Work Time goes by many names—workshop, universal access time, centers, small-group time. IWT is simply a time of day when teachers allow students to work independently while the teacher has a chance to meet with small groups to …
Category: Independent Work Time
Independent Work Time: My Students Refuse to Work Independently
I enjoy fielding questions about Independent Work Time. This one comes from a teacher whose students “refuse to work” (cue scary music): …I still haven’t been able to have an effective IWT time. The children just refuse to work independently. I can’t work small group with children in need of extra support. I have 24 …
Digital Storytelling Educational Technology Fluency Independent Work Time Reading Comprehension Reading Fluency Video in the Classroom Workshops Upcoming
RTI (Response to Intervention) A Complete Apple Workflow
Thank you to those of you who attended my workshop, “RTI: A Complete Apple Workflow” at the CUE conference this weekend. I spoke about using Apple Software to address your Response to Intervention program. This post contains the links, resources, and ideas that I shared. Rather than simply posting the keynote file (which is …
Questions About Independent Work Time
Independent Work Time, a time when students are working on their own while the teacher works with small groups. It’s an official part of our reading curriculum but should really be a part of every teacher’s day in some form or other since it is one of the few times you can differentiate your teaching. …
Educational Technology Fluency Independent Work Time Macintosh Tips Open Court Reading Reading Fluency
What To Do With Student Data
To paraphrase Chris Lehman in his five minute Ignite Philly speech on the Schools We Need: Good data costs more than we want to spend in this country and the best data is the data that teachers collect every day. The best data is the work kids do every single day. I agree with this …
A Strategy for Meeting With Small Groups
Here’s a visual of a strategy for working with small groups during Independent Work Time at the elementary level. This works if you have at least a 20-40 minute block of time to work with students and can spend at least 10 minutes with two groups each day. The idea is that you meet briefly …
What Do I Do During Independent Work Time?
I received this question by e-mail today: Hello Mr. Needleman, I was wondering if there was an Internet source or a book that gives ideas for Workshop? My school is a “Ditto” and “Worksheet” IWT kind of school and I am scrambling for ideas. I am starting IWT over today and am hoping for ideas …
“My Students Just Can’t Work Independently This Year”
Now is about the time that you begin to hear grumblings in the teachers’ lounge about the lot we’ve been given and their ability to work independently. One of the things that makes me cringe is to hear that a particular class of students will not be doing independent work time this year because “these …
NPR Article: Children’s Play Co-opted
NPR reports on the commercialization of children’s play which has shifted in the second half of the twentieth century from an emphasis on activities towards and emphasis on specific toys and rules. “(in the first half of the century) [Children] improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules…but in …
Differentiate This! Part Three: When?
Also see Part One: Why? and Part Two: How? If all this has seemed good to you, you may still be wondering how we fit this in when teachers are already pressed to the limit in terms of time management. Direct Instruction There will be times in every classroom when the teacher needs to address …