time to start again

I've taken a break from blogging about my class, but it's time to start again. This term I'm hoping to accomplish two things with one strategy. The strategy? Using small groups for some intentional reading lessons. The accomplishments? First, to improve the reading levels, particularly in fluency and comprehension of my "middle of the road" readers, and secondly, to improve the behaviour in this class. Both are rather lofty goals, I realize, but I need to do it. I have the reputation in my school for having one of the most challenging classes, and they are only in grade 1! A full half, 10 out of 20 students, are a behavioural concern. Unfortunately, I often feel that I'm so busy dealing with those behaviours that the other students' education gets neglected. One of the biggest challenges in this strategy will be being able to concentrate on a small group and having the other students focused enough to stay out of trouble. I have been working on it for a few weeks already and they are slowly getting used to the concept.

Reading and learning to read is a passion of mine. Grade 1 is the best year for this passion to emerge, as every week it seems like a different child is at a breakthrough stage and there is absolutely nothing in teaching that can compare to watching a child's eyes grow big as they realize that it's working! They are really reading for themselves! Gives me the shivers every time.

I have the district early language specialist coming into my class twice a week and working with my advanced readers, which includes 4 of those behavioural concerns children! While she has those children, I have split the other children into 3 groups. Because the group that is finding academics the hardest already has daily intervention in Learning Assistance, I am choosing to concentrate on the middle two groups. I often feel like those are the ones left to their devices the most often, so I want to be intentional about reaching them. With them, I feel like I am not trying to overcome a learning disability, as in the case wth the other children. These kids can learn, but need to have intentional teaching time at their level. So here I am! :)

What are some strategies you have used? Have you been able to incorporate technology? I am hoping to use i-pods for self-recording and some websites for listening to reading. Any other ideas or websites I should check out? A friend is using "Daily 5" and highly recommends it. What do you think? Guided reading?

Let me know. I look forward to hearing from teachers out there who have been able to implement a variant of this plan. What are things to watch out for? What data/documentation should I be collecting?

Thanks!