June 4, 2010
By Nicole Provo
It was about this time last year when I realized I was a lone wolf at my school. I was implementing Daily 5 in my classroom and I was feeling lonely. I knew there were many other teachers around the state and country implementing Daily 5, but I wanted people in my building to share and collaborate with. Based on conversations with the teachers in my building, I knew that many of them were not satisfied with the current structure of the literacy block. Some were doing reader's workshop and some were doing centers. I knew I had to do something. If you are howling the Lone Wolf Blues, here are some suggestions to get you started on your journey to find your pack.
The first thing I did was talk to my grade level team. They were willing to try it out and experienced success. However, for me a pack of three was not enough!
The next thing I did was invite my principal in to see it in action. When my principal came in and saw how engaged my students were in their tasks she got REALLY excited. She agreed that Daily 5 was something that would be great for all of our students and asked me to share what I was doing at a staff meeting. Administrative support is vital for any school-wide implementation.
I then provided a 2 hour after school workshop for interested teachers and my principal purchased books for those who were interested. I kept running out of books and had to order more! Almost everyone wanted one!
After the initial workshop I had with the teachers there were MANY questions. I formed a voluntary study group and focused the content based on the questions teachers were asking. I used the website to look for videos or articles that related to the questions teachers were asking. I would show them videos or share an article. We would discuss and then there would be more questions which provided me with the content for our next session!
Based on interest, our reading committee decided that we would implement Daily 5, and CAFE, school-wide the following year. It became a part of our school improvement plan.
My WONDERFUL principal supported us every step of the way. She purchased The Daily 5 and CAFE books, pensieve supplies, book boxes for every child, and even purchased a subscription to the website for our teachers. Each teacher also received a budget for books to enhance our classroom libraries. She also provided time at grade level meetings and staff meetings to discuss The Daily 5 and CAFE. I am no longer a lone wolf and as I sit here and reflect on this past year, I am amazed at how far we have come. Our staff and students grew and learned together. We are all excited to start a new year with more confidence in our ability to implement the Daily 5.