Teaching with the Daily 3

I have adapted the Daily 5 structure for my 4th/5th grade language arts class from five to three. I also read aloud almost every day to my classes, so they do listen to reading as well.

A few reasons I LOVE Daily 3:

• Modeling- I followed the careful plan outlined in the book for creating anchor charts with students and modeling the correct and incorrect ways of doing each component. Normally, because time is such an issue, I find myself skipping steps. I expect things of students that I may not have carefully modeled. The modeling for Daily 3 takes time, but it is time well-spent. Everyone knows what to do and they quickly settle into productive activities. 
• Choice- I believe in giving students choice, as much as possible. Freedom within form works. Some students need more guidance with their choices, so I help with that. Other students have the maturity to manage their time and are able to be highly independent. 
• Personal Learning-This goes with choice. Motivation happens when we are fueled by our own interests and pushed to grow in accordance with our own abilities. It is a lot of work to be a coach and guide, to retain the flexibility and responsiveness to push each student. Despite the challenge, I can't imagine that one size fits all would do the job. 
• Authentic Literacy- This word "authentic" is starting to sound buzzwordy to me. I understand that we all have different definitions of what this means.  Authentic is the opposite of schooly. I am willing to bet that when offered the challenge of choosing five books for a desert island, it is a very rare individual who would choose a basal reader. Where the notion ever originated that canning and condensing the art of children's literature was a good idea could only have been from those who were poised to profit. However, I am amazed by the number of teachers who believe that they can't properly teach without the guidance provided by the accompanying materials. To those teachers I say, "read."

Daily 3 from Andrea Hernandez on Vimeo.