Passage Picker

Name: Jessica Medina

Date: November 20, 2017

Book/Text: The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy

Independence in the Elementary Grades

Mission: As you journey through the text, it is your task to choose passages that jumped
out at you and caught your attention to share with your fellow adventurers. Your
discoveries may be confusing, crazy, funny, interesting, or any discovery you feel is
important information your group of explorers need to know. Be sure to chart your
explorations by writing down the page number, passage, and your own personal response.
Your task also includes deciding how you want to share your findings.

Explorers (Group Members): Kelsey, Lyndsey, and Ashley

Page #: 142

Discovery (Passage):
Barometer child is a term we lovingly give to the child or children who dictate the
weather in the classroom (see page 48).
It is important not only for the individual barometer child or children but also for the
whole classroom community that the teacher finds effective ways to support the
barometer child. We absolutely trust and believe that with appropriate support from us as
the teachers, the barometer children will be successful in our classrooms. It is a self-
fulfilling prophecy; children will rise to the expectations we set for them.
When first launching the Daily 5, if the same student or students are responsible for the
break in stamina for three to five days in a row, we move into action, putting a series of
one to four levels of support into place as needed (Figure 9.1).

How can my fellow explorers benefit from this discovery?

My fellow explorers can benefit from this passage because they will get an understanding
of what a barometer child is. Also, this passage allows them to understand that those
children can be successful in a classroom and how there are actually four levels of
support that can be put into place to help those students.
Page #: 142

Discovery (Passage):
The first and most important level of support for barometer students is our own
reflection. Its very easy to blame our students for a lack of stamina, but if we have
skipped any of the 10 Steps to Independence, then the failure is more rightfully placed on
our shoulders. We may have been tempted to skip the most-desirable and least-desirable
modeling portions of the 10 Steps, yet upon reflection we may realize that students did
indeed need to see the expectations clearly modeled. We may also discover upon
reflection that we have been engaging with the barometer child instead of staying out of
the way. These students often find attention for negative behavior as desirable as attention
for positive.

How can my fellow explorers benefit from this discovery?

My fellow explorers can benefit from this passage because it is discussing the most
important level of support for the barometer student. Having the knowledge that we need
to reflect is necessary in order to help out that student. Reflection upon what we are doing
in the classroom gives us the opportunity to see what we need to do or change in order to
help out all of our students including the barometer child/children.

Page #: 151

Discovery (Passage):
We love the children whom we teach. We strive to make each moment with them
meaningful, worthwhile, and productive. We also want their time with a guest teacher to
be as valuable. Handing off the teaching to someone else is time consuming at best;
writing lesson plans that are detailed enough that learning continues at a high level,
explaining the schedules and the nuances for each child, accounting for the behaviors that
may change in our absenceall require a great deal of effort. Yet addressing the needs of
our students and setting the stage for everyones success is rooted in maintaining a
schedule to which the students are accustomed.

How can my fellow explorers benefit from this discovery?

I believed that this was an important passage because it discusses about having a guest
teacher in the classroom. We know from our own experiences that sometimes guest
teachers are just left to give busy work but thats not what we want to do according to the
Daily 5. We want that time with the guest teacher to be used and have as much value as if
the actual teacher was there. It is important to leave behind good lesson plans in order for
higher level learning to continue.

Page #: 155

Discovery (Passage):
Sometimes the changes we make to the environment or the curriculum can be difficult for
parents. Teaching is one of the few professions in which everyone has experience to draw
on, because we all went to school. We help our parents transition to a way of doing
school that doesnt match their experience by educating them about what we are doing.
Parents have a right to know what their children will be learning and how they will be
spending their time, and we want to assure them of our vast teaching knowledge and the
care we have for their children. Since a structure such as the Daily 5 may look vastly
different from their own schooling, a letter at the beginning of the year can help answer
questions, dispel fears, and start the open communication we want with our parents.

How can my fellow explorers benefit from this discovery?

I liked this passage because it included the parents. We have learned in many of our
classes that parent involvement is very important so it is great that we can also include
them in knowing how the Daily 5 works. Giving the parents insight about the Daily 5 will
give some of those parents a sense of relief and stand by your side on things if they learn
that each moment in your classroom is valuable learning time.