Once Upon a Reader's Workshop - ProTeacher Community

Once Upon a Reader's Workshop

"Great literature, if we read it well, opens us up to the world and makes us more sensitive to it, as if we acquired eyes that could see through things and ears that could hear smaller sounds." -Donald Hall

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	Talk Backs (3rd Time's a Charm!) by: BookMuncher, 11-04-2009 Today one of my colleagues and I were planning ahead for our Honing our Craft unit. We’re planning to (yet again) attempt to introduce the Talk Back journals. Last year, I totally skipped it, disappointed with how they had gone in previous years. You can scroll back to two and three years ago and read all my struggles with Talk Back journals. Kids would write about strategies, but it was always obvious that it was only for the sake of the assignment. I felt like I was eternally fishing for something. Then this summer, I read Aimee Buckner’s Notebook Connections. I enjoyed it, but there were a lot of strategies in it that I either didn’t like for 2nd grade or I didn’t like for use in a Talk Back journal. Her basic ideas though- that children are buzzing with organic ideas directly after a conversation and that it’s OK to prompt them- are ones that I bought into. Using those two basic principles, I’ve made a list of prompts for a Talk Back (see attached). I want my kids to grab their journals when an idea pops into their heads—not because I assigned it but because it is an ingrained, useful tool. I want new ideas to come from writing, the same way that new ideas arise for me when I blog. For that to be a reality, I think that children will need to always talk first. Whether it’s a full group conversation, a partner talk, or a small group book club, talk should be the starting place for new ideas. Also notice that these prompts for writing don’t have to do with the comprehension strategies. That’s not to say that the strategies won’t work their way into some of the kid’s writing- I hope that it does. But they are no longer the centerpiece of the journal. I suppose this is just the way my thinking about writing has naturally grown over the years. A couple years ago, it was natural for me to ask children to write about the strategies when I was really just learning them myself, because when I was immersed in them, and it seemed that they were everything. Then, I started to experience dissonance when I realized that they weren’t everything and that I wanted them to write something more important. At the time, I didn’t know what… I just knew that what they were doing had no relevance to me or them. These prompts are meant to take children to that place I’ve been wishing they could go, but didn’t know how to get them there. I didn’t really make this document for kids (although it kind of seems like it). I made it to guide me and others when trying to model and explain these ways to write about books. Obviously, I can add to it, but it’s a good starting point. I think I might only model and introduce the first three in December and model the others as the year goes on. I’d love to get your feedback on these. How do you have kids respond to texts? If you read Aimee’s book, are you using her prompts or did you make others that you could share? Talk back! (I promise I won’t tell you what to write or how to write it!) 4 Comments
	Levels of Visualization by: BookMuncher, 11-03-2009 This month’s unit is called Climb Inside a Book. Last year, I called it Making Meaning, but the name didn’t stick. For beginning of the year 2nd graders, that title just wasn’t concrete enough to understand or talk about. However, Climb Inside a Book was immediately accessible to them. Imagining ourselves right there inside the book with our favorite characters is fun and motivating. Every minilesson has a new buy in: Today I’m going to teach you another way to get inside of your book, so hold onto your hats! This month in reading, I am introducing them to three strategies (or three ways to climb inside a book): making a sensory image, connecting a book to your schema, and asking questions as you read. This week, we worked on sensory images. From Aimee Buckner’s Notebook Connections, I stole the idea of levels of visualization (page 39). She names them Still Pictures, At the Movies, and Experience the Story. I had to tweak them because our district has decided to call visualizing “making a sensory image.” But children went through previous years learning “make a mental image.” So to transition between the language, my layers are: Make a mental image, Make your mental image into a movie, Make a sensory image. I taught the children one layer each day, building their anticipation each day as I began my minilessons by telling them I had another way to make their images even clearer, so that soon, they would be lost inside their books. At the top of my “pyramid” (the visual that just naturally came from these lessons) is a heart. To our class, the heart represents the tip-top level. If a reader has climbed the entire way to the top of the pyramid- if a reader is now hearing, smelling, and experiencing the story just as the character’s are, then the reader can also understand what is in the character’s heart and mind. What are they thinking? What will they do? What must that feel like? (Which naturally, will lead us into connections next week.) View the visual I used with my kids here: http://mrsmoffatt.edu.glogster.com/sensoryimage/ In writing, we are always asking ourselves, “How can we make our books ones that invite our readers to climb inside?” It makes my minilessons on thoughts, dialogue, small actions, and sensory details all more relevant. Using this new phrase is motivating all of my readers to try the strategies I’m teaching as a way to “get lost”… or as a way to pretend they don’t hear the signal at the end of workshop. J If it’s because they are deep in a book, it’s OK with me! 7 Comments
	The Reason for Ritual by: BookMuncher, 10-06-2009 A common quote about reader’s workshop comes from Lucy Calkins, where she basically says that the places in life where the most creativity can happen are the most predictable of environments (the artist’s studio, the scientist’s lab). Those of us who use reader’s and writer’s workshops know that within that predictable structure, what we once may have thought impossible, is possible. I often tell teachers who are just starting workshop that simply by providing the minilesson, independent work, share structure every day without fail, they will be giving their students a gift. Even though there is so much more to workshop, the structure and predictability of the workshop environment is the first and most important place to start. If children know they will write and read for extended periods every day, they will plan for it. It’s sometimes as if the extraordinary happens between workshops- in the anticipation and preparation for the day or days to come. The magic happens when a child plans to finish this story and then write the story of the moment before and after. Or when a group of children plan to use their partner time to compare a stack of books by their favorite author. All of the above, we know. As a new school year begins, I am naturally paying close attention to why and how we do every little thing during our school day. And in attending to those details, it’s got me thinking about ritual. First of all, I love the word. Ritual. It’s so much better than “routine.” Routine sounds like programmed, going-through-the-motions steps. Oh, but calling it ritual makes me feel as though every time a thing is done in the same way as before, it brings our class closer as a community. Ritual is interwoven with class culture and our history and our future. Reader’s and writer’s workshop are just the start. If children respond well to those classroom rituals, I think we should take a look at other parts of our day. In what ways do we start the day that invite children to come together as a learning community? If we gather together in a cozy, but intense way to start reading and writing, how are we gathering for math? How does that differ from how we gather for science? I’m not simply talking about the “routine”, or step-by-step directions for how children come to the carpet—the directions that we would leave for a substitute. No: what I mean is “what is the meaning behind those actions?” If readers and writers gather surrounded by books, how to mathematicians and scientists gather? And besides gathering, what poems, phrases, or songs to children utter every day? And why those poems, phrases, or songs? How are children honored by you and their peers? How does the class celebrate? Here are some of our classroom rituals (and reasons). Post yours! Ritual: Greeting each student at the door Reason: “Seeing” each student every morning, saying every students name at least once before the bell, eye contact, teacher-student bond Ritual: Morning Song Reason: setting the tone of the day, smoothing the transition, inviting all children to feel connected by knowing the words to the same songs, reminiscing and revisiting “old” songs as evidence of shared history Ritual: Morning Greeting (student to student) Reason: Having each student’s name said one more time early in the morning, eye contact, peer bonds Ritual: Reading of a certain text over the course of a school year (This year we’re reading the book All in a Day about three times a week) Reason: Children eventually memorize parts and text becomes part of shared history, words/phrases slip into other parts of the day to explain frustrating events or used during transitions, influences craft of writing in writer’s workshop, functions as shared reading (word rec. and interpretation) Ritual: Reading and writing meeting in the library (minilessons) Reason: Sitting in the library signals to children that soon we’ll spread out to read, all library meetings are literacy-based (either reading, writing, or read alouds) so sitting there sets the tone, children begin to act a certain way when meeting in the library because they know reading and writing meetings are time to listen and turn and talk- hand raising and calling out become less and less Ritual: Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop Reason: From the first day of school, children understand that we’ll never skip reader’s or writer’s workshop. Having personal bookshelves and taking home books from our class library enable children to read one or two texts over a number of days without feeling the need to rush or skip ahead in case there is no time to read the next day. Having writing folders with on-going pieces and no “turning in” or deadlines does the same. Stamina and focus are automatically increased during workshop. Ritual: Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop share Reason: spreads good ideas in a kid-run forum, reinforces the child who originated the idea, makes the whole workshop more organic Ritual: Novel Read Aloud and Picture Book Read Aloud at the same time and place every day Reason: meeting surrounded by books communicates a love for reading and requires a level of seriousness, children know that the novel read aloud is more relaxed with less teaching and that the picture book read aloud is time for turn and talks and teaching, the same way RW and WW builds stamina for reading and writing, read alouds begin to build conversation stamina Ritual: Free Choice Time Reason: children know they will have a time when they can extend their reading or writing thinking, or when they can read or write things above or below their just right levels Ritual: Math Warm-Up Reason: math begins with immediate independent thinking and problem solving, pencils and math journals in hand, the math period starts with sharing of problem solving strategies- ensuring that mathematical talk happens every day, regardless of the lesson Ritual: Rainy Day reading (when our days are dark and rainy, we snuggle up and build in extra reading with quiet music) Reason: nurturing reading identities and reading lives, having a kind of “inside joke” Ritual: Fridays playing “When I Was Interrupted” (On Fridays, instead of regular RW sharing, we go around the circle and say, “When I was interrupted, I was with Jack in the Amazon Rain Forest/ or at the foot of an erupting volcano/ or in Junie B’s bedroom) Reason: growing the idea that to stop reading is to be truly “interrupted” and plucked from a faraway place—the idea that if you are truly lost in a book, it is hard to come back to the “real world.” Ritual: Unit Celebrations Reason: to bring closure to one particular line of thinking and to build excitement for a new line of thinking, to periodically add some spice to the predictability of workshop Close up, small rituals add a rhythmic texture to the fabric of our days. But take a step back, because the resulting design is anything but routine! 13 Comments
	Video Tour of My Room by: BookMuncher, 11-15-2009 Hi everyone! (Long time, no blog!) I've been up to the same thing as all of you- preparing my classroom for the new school year. This year, you'll find that I didn't re-create the wheel. My theme and arrangement worked so well for me last year, that I decided to leave well enough alone... with only a few tweaks, of course. I've posted my classroom in video format on Glogster. 2009-2010 Changes: 1. Improved Traffic Flow: Last year, I went book nook crazy. This year, I tried to keep all the same book nooks, but clear the clutter away in places where the tables were always shifting or kids were always squeezing. 2. Book Organization: I found that, as 2nd graders typically do, my picture books were being ignored and the chapter books being read. But even more disturbingly, in conferences, I could tell that there were a lot of children who would read picture books- they understood that they could try their thinking strategies out on picture books easier than on chapter books. But they didn't really know where to start looking. As a result, I've rearranged my library so that it is entirely sorted by genre, regardless of whether it's a chapter or picture book. So my main library area is fiction: fantasy fiction on the right and realistic fiction on the left. In the back of the room is still nonfiction. In the front of the room, there are still some "other" bins-- like songs and rhymes. I'm hoping that this might help children see: If I like these animal fantasy chapter books, here is the animal fantasy picture books. 3. Timeline of Learning: Surprise! I couldn't possibly do this the same way two years in a row. This is my fourth year making a timeline, and the fourth way I've done it! This time (you'll see it in the back of the room above the computers), I've precut tall paper strips to fit my back board. For each month, I'm going to take that strip down, bring it to our minilesson area and use it to record the main teaching points of that unit (reading and writing). So really, it's a teaching point timeline. Above each month, I still have room for pictures of special events, science, and math. Take the tour! 29 Comments
	Make a Conferring Toolkit! by: BookMuncher, 09-04-2009 On another link, we were discussing the idea of having a conferring toolkit that follows you as you confer with children in writing and reading. I list writing first, because the idea came out of the TC Writing Institute (colleagues from my school attended last year and brought this idea back with them). Reading is a natural extension, especially if we are already integrating reading and writing. What's in a conferring toolkit, you ask? Read (and watch) on! The main purpose of a conferring toolkit (at least as I see it) is to raise the level of your teaching. I've never met anyone who is super proud and confident in his/her ability to confer well consistently. It's just plain hard. One reason why it's so hard is because conferences can quickly turn into us teaching at the child and our words traveling in one ear and out the other. The conferring toolkit arms a teacher with all the materials in one place that we might need to SHOW, not TELL. In our minilessons, we work really hard to show, not tell. We usually have some kind of material that we will model with or demonstrate on in front of the class. And conferences, really- are just mini-minilessons. Instead of a connect, they often have more of a "research", but they have a teaching point and a definite time for a teaching demonstration and they should have an active engagement and link. But too often, we give the teaching point and pad it on all sides with words, words, words. But we don't demonstrate it and/or we don't let the child have a go. That's where the toolkit comes in. I see it as a growing resource, into which I'll be constantly adding. Because I learned about it first in relation to writing, that's what most of my materials are for right now. But I'm going to add things as the year goes on for my reading conferences too. My awesome colleagues that shared this idea at a writing class we recently took, showed us their toolkits (instead of just telling us). I figured you'd appreciate the same thing, so here is a video of me - well, my hands- going through my conferring toolkit in its beginning stages. This is NOT the be all, end all. In fact, I think it's quite lacking right now. But every new idea has to start somewhere, right? PS: Sorry my voice sounds like it's underwater. http://storyteller.glogster.com/toolkit/ 26 Comments
	TC: Day Five by: BookMuncher, 08-26-2009 Keynote: Nikki Giovanni Nikki was such a treat to listen to! If you’ve ever read any of her poetry, you can probably imagine that she is spit-fire! She talked about a number of things, shared her political views, and spoke here and there to what it is to be a teacher. I would describe her speech as a shoebox full of beautiful buttons, collected over a vibrant life. Since I didn’t detect an overarching theme (jbkz- did you?), I wrote down some wise things she said: “The longest way ‘round is the shortest way home.” Teachers jobs are to teach children to think and to dream. We can’t teach dreamers if we don’t dream. “Every teacher should be required to go around the world ‘cause how can you dream if all you ever saw was Albany?” and Fear has no place in human life. If we live that as teachers, we’ll pass it on to children. If we can’t walk into class and be brave for our students, how can they learn from us? Digging Under and Jazzing Up Minilessons, by Kathy Collins For most of the class this morning, we revisited a minilesson that we turned in on Monday. The minilesson had been written first thing and then sealed away so that we could look at it with new eyes today. Thursday night, I was thinking to myself, I don’t know what I’ll change about mine. Not that I didn’t learn anything (!!), but I just hadn’t quite synthesized all my learning from the week. So when I got my minilesson back and started reading it, I was so excited to realize that EVERYTHING needed to be revised! Yay! I’m not going to get into the gory details, except that to say that these are things I revised: ·Scrapped connection for a “share the wealth” story, since my first connection did nothing but state what we had just learned and the problem I was noticing for the day’s lesson. My new connection had way more relevance and a clearly stated purpose for why a reader would care to learn my teaching point (Which was: Readers have interesting conversations by bouncing an idea back and forth until they run out of interesting things to say about it.) ·Expanded my metaphor. My original metaphor had been of the game where two people keep a balloon in the air without letting it hit the ground. I expanded that metaphor by also explaining how a boring conversation (and balloon game) is when one person tosses it to the other and it hits the ground. The other person picks it up, tosses it at the other, and it again hits the ground, etc… ·In my teaching demonstration, I was originally thinking I could only demo. it if I was one of the partners and a child was the other. But someone helping me with my lesson said that it could probably work with two students demonstrating, because I could coach in to their talk. So even if they did go a little off topic, I could coach them saying, “Did you notice what just happened? That happens to everyone. etc…” So I took myself out of the demo in order to free up my voice to be that of coach instead of partner. ·I kept my active engagement mostly the same, but changed the assignment to be closer to something they would actually do. So instead of talking about any conversation element they wanted (which I had thought they’d have more schema for/ an easier time doing), they now will talk about one idea from the novel read aloud we are reading. ·I added subliminal seduction into my link. Amazing, right? It’s obvious that I internalized a lot from this week. I minilesson that I thought was good, was just mediocre. I now have so much more in my minilesson toolbox! I hope you do too. Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension, by Kathy Collins We zoomed back out from all the nitty gritty ways of teaching kids deep comprehension (partnerships, clubs, modeling habits). We looked at the structures within reader’s workshop and how you might utilize that time to teach for deep comprehension. In Whole Group Instruction (Minilessons, Mid-Workshop Teaching, Teaching Share Time) ·Always use a variety of materials and texts- Honor the books your kids are reading. Even if only four to six kids are still reading out of little beginning readers, let them see themselves in the books you use to model. You have to work to model deep comprehension and talk through little level A or B readers, but it’s possible. (We went through a B level book and talked about what partnerships might say or what we might coach them to say about all the different understanding strategies… so it is possible!) ·Pass out readers or texts that are on the kids’ levels during active engagements In Small Group Instruction (Guided Reading, Strategy Lessons, Other Small Group Work) ·If you are doing a guided reading group and it’s going to be about comprehension, then don’t sit there with the kids as they read. Sitting beside them and listening in is for surface level structures- print work. If it’s about comprehension, get them started. Then send them back to their book nooks to read and check in with them 10 or 15 minutes later to have a wrap up conversation about the strategy. ·If you are running a guided reading group and your group is ready to move up to the next level, you might point out to them two or three challenges of the next level. In this way, you are validating them. You’re saying “this will be hard,” so that when they come across those hard parts, they will speak openly that way too. Another student in the class shared that a different TC staff developer told them that if you are introducing a group to a new level in guided reading and the group is a level J or up, you might switch from introducing a book (like in regular guided reading), to simply introducing the whole basket. As children move into more chapter books, you could spend some time with them on those transitional days to flip through their new basket and show them the kinds of things they will encounter with those new texts. In Conferences (One-on-one conferences, Partner conferences) ·Try to keep a set of texts with you when you’re conferring that you’ve prepared ahead. You can use these as models. Text sets would probably change with the unit, because depending on what you are working on, you’ll want to carry different texts with you that address those skills. Carry a variety of levels and some regular, familiar picture books. ·Become the “perfect partner.” As you are conferring with partners, enter the conversation as another 6 year old partner, to raise the level of talk. ·Or, play the puppet master. As you are conferring with partners, whisper in one partner’s ear, feeding him/her good things to say to raise the level of talk. Finally, we spent a bit of time with interactive read aloud. After all, this is where most of your comprehension strategies are first modeled AND practiced. Like we’ve talked about before, Kathy denoted between the two types of read aloud: bedtime reading and Read Aloud with Accountable Talk (Accountable meaning that they are accountable to each other and accountable to the book). The latter is synonymous with interactive read aloud. The Bedtime read aloud: ·Mirrors the way a parent might read to a child in bed. ·For pleasure ·To fill up time (in a glorious way, of course!) ·To be still Read Aloud with Accountable Talk ·We plan for two things: The think alouds we’ll do and the turn and talks. Even though that’s the case, Kathy definitely felt that this could be over planned. She thought that it was best done with only a little planning, so as not to drown it in post-its and fake talking. ·Here are the two new things to me: Kathy said that you should never keep your thinking aloud to only one strategy per read aloud, because that is never how adults read. Secondly, she said that we shouldn’t be modeling or expecting children to use the strategy names in their thinking. She says that it’s robotic and inauthentic to think that people think to themselves to that way. As for me, I am still thinking about both of these ideas with an open mind. I’m pondering what that would mean for transferability and metacognition. I feel like the notes of this week have flown out of my fingers without me knowing what I was typing. I certainly wasn’t thinking by the time I flopped down on the couch to blog each night. So I’ve got some soaking in to do now! Maybe finally reading some comments from the other days will get me started. Thanks for joining me on this amazing journey! 26 Comments
	TC- Day Four by: BookMuncher, 07-13-2009 Keynote: David Booth I Am the Book Another brilliant title!! David Booth started our morning painting rich pictures of books changing people. Books pull from us stuff we didn’t know we had in us. We find ourselves in the book; We are in the book. He argued that it is what we are reading (not how- i.e. via a blog or a Kindle) that is important. Technology will continue to advance whether we like it or not- we must read our world, and we must teach children to read their world. He said “when we’re in doubt of what to do, the children will fill our classroom with voices and stories and poems. When we don’t know what to do, we have to listen to them. When David was a kid, there was real life and then there were books. He could not find himself in Dick and Jane. Today, life is in the book. We must help children find themselves. Digging Under and Jazzing Up Minilessons, by Kathy Collins Today we zoomed out a bit from the individual minilesson and looked at lesson cohesiveness. I loved talking about this because big-picture planning is something that really resonates with me. I like my monthly units and bends in the road, you know? Anyways, Kathy has been thinking about her bends in the roads as “chapters” in a story, which is also a nice analogy. She says it makes sense to her because just like chapters in a story, the chapters of a unit build upon one another to the final page. When a unit is cohesive, it means that the minilessons within a chapter flow and the chapters build upon one another in terms of the skills and strategies introduced. We spent the rest of the time designing some chapters for a unit of our choice. Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension, by Kathy Collins Reading Clubs A reading club is two kids (or two partnerships if you’d rather), reading, talking, writing, and/or drawing about a small collection of texts that go together in some way. The teacher might begin by pulling together reading club baskets for partnerships to choose from. If you hold reading clubs for 2 or 3 weeks, then at the end of the study, the kids might take ownership of pulling some new high interest baskets together. Usually, partners are ability based so that they can choose a basket of books that would be at or near their reading level. You might have genre based reading clubs (like ABC books, nonfiction, mystery, biography, poetry, fairy/folktales) or “reading power reading clubs” (like character study, author study, series study, or theme study) or healthy reading habits clubs (like reading goals or reading projects). Reading clubs are not every day of the year, rather, they pop in and out as appropriate. You can integrate them into key units where you think they might need a little bit of enhancing/reenergizing talk. Also, some units lend themselves to reading clubs. If you were doing a nonfiction unit, two or three weeks of nonfiction reading clubs would allow for the deep talk necessary to unlocking some big ideas about the genre. (Kathy usually let her first graders change reading clubs after one week, especially in a nonfiction or character study. But for second graders, you would want to give them longer than that to hold a series club, because they would need to read a number of books to talk about them well.) Usually, the healthy reading habits clubs work the best in May or June. Reading clubs take the place of regular partner talk time. The beauty of reading clubs is that kids can have ongoing discussions about one thing over a series of days instead of talking about one thing one day and another the next (as in partnerships). In reading clubs, a partnership studying fairy tales may realize, for example, that a lot of mothers are bad in fairytales. Instead of dropping that idea after one day, the teacher might tell everyone to put a “talkmark” (instead of bookmark) in their conversation so that tomorrow the kids can pick up where they left off. If deep conversation with growing stamina is what we are going for, reading clubs support that very thing. It allows kids to form theories and test them, instead of having fleeting ideas and dropping them. Revisiting a book or idea over days deepens thinking for all levels of readers. Kathy suggests two ways of organizing your reader’s workshop on the days that you have reading clubs: Option 1: Minilesson that supports the reading club Reading Club Share Independent Reading Option 2: Abbreviated minilesson Independent Reading Minilesson that supports the reading club Reading Clubs Share I know I’m not being thorough with Reading Clubs. I’m sorry! You can post questions if you want or look in Reading for Real, since that’s the focus of that whole book. 14 Comments
	TC- Day Three by: BookMuncher, 07-11-2009 TC: Day 3 Keynote: BecomingReadingBecoming by Katherine Bomer Isn’t that an awesome title? She did the no spaces thing on purpose. (hearts!) Another inspiring speech by another inspiring former TC staffer. I wish I could encapsulate it, but since it was mostly stories, I will give you the big idea of her speech: We teach children to affect the rest of their lives. (Not the rest of their year with us- the rest of their lives.) She started the speech by asking us to list all the different roles we’ve “read ourselves into.” Teacher, cook, hiker, rock music fan, etc… Her big point was that reading changes us. In fact, Gary Paulsen, who had a very hard childhood, is quoted as saying “Books saved my life.” Reading can shape who we become. We read ourselves into all kinds of roles in our lives. We can reach our “heart’s desires” through books. Katherine believes that test scores and print strategies and book levels are all very important and necessary, but that our heart’s desires should supersede all of that. This is why we have to encourage children to hold on to those books that aren’t quite “just right” for them, but that hold their dearest dreams for their lives. Her speech closed with a list she created that she believes will help with their “becoming.” 1. Know your students- like really know them. Knowing things about them that have absolutely nothing to do with reading will make them better readers because now you can match them. 2. Bring in your lifetime of learning- use the list that you created at the beginning of this speech to share with children how books have unlocked parts of yourselves. 3. Invite children to bring in their lifetimes of learning. 4. Give time for reading their “heart’s desires.” 5. Document this “becoming reading” as the year goes on. As for you- What passions and heart’s desires will YOU feed with your reading? Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension, by Kathy Collins Another “big idea” on partnerships: We cannot simply introduce partnerships at the beginning of the year and then expect them to go well all year. We have to nurture partners all year long. Every unit needs to have some partnership minilessons woven into it. As the year goes along, the partnership minilessons will change. Kathy separates it into Cooperation, Conversation, and Collaboration. You can read more about those phases of partner talk in Reading for Real, but here is a breakdown of what some teaching points might be at different times of the year: Beginning of the Year- Cooperation ·P’s talk about parts that matter ·P’s have strong reactions and share them ·P’s talk about connections ·P’s talk about hard or confusing parts ·P’s talk about interesting illustrations ·P’s talk about what they’ve learned about a character ·P’s talk about ideas we could put in own life ·P’s talk about lessons they were taught ·P’s talk about opinions ·REMEMBER to celebrate inventions that partners make and share them with the rest of the class. Your minilessons are just suggestions for talk- never mandates. ·ALSO, Kathy said that she wouldn’t teach all of those. She would just pick a few and maybe group a couple together as one. Later in the year- Conversation ·Disagreeing with civility ·Negotiating dead ends ·Getting a conversation started ·Putting a “talkmark” in your thoughts so you can pick up the conversation tomorrow where you left off. ·Find a way to marry two different ideas. ·Many more… Later in the year- Collaboration ·Collaboration can sometimes be hard for kids to reach and for teachers to catch them doing it. (And just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean that it’s not happening.) ·How to revise ideas ·Make new ideas or theories ·Collaboratively search for evidence ·Stay with one idea ·Get yourself out of a dead end ·Know when to change the subject Rhythm of Conferences with Across a Week (This is assuming that you have your kids shop on Monday and return books on Friday, which I don’t. If you do this, kids have the same books all week and so your conferences will begin when they are more unfamiliar with the books and end when they have the words down, but maybe aren’t deep into the meaning. I felt like she was talking more about kids reading before chapter book levels- the kids who re-read the same books all week.) Monday and Tuesday- Conferences orient kids to books, are usually more word-based Wednesday and Thursday- Probably more fluency and digging into comprehension Friday- Breathe! Maybe have kids spread all books out and reflect in different ways, like which book mattered most? or sort your books from this week in different ways, or what did you work really hard on this week? Talk to you tomorrow! 8 Comments
	TC- Day Two by: BookMuncher, 08-01-2009 TC: Day 2 Keynote: Lucy Calkins Lucy’s take home message today was that we, as teachers, have the power to create a culture of passionate literacy in our classroom. We have the power to see to it that every single child loves loves loves leading a literate life. She shared studies where a child who receives three years of quality literacy instruction in a row increase their scores by 40%. But the reason she found this study so interesting is because she knew that the implications of any child receiving quality instruction three years in a row would not happen by chance. In schools like that, she said, the child was probably surrounded by a passionately literate community where the school team worked seamlessly together to provide the best possible literacy instruction across the day. This kind of instruction is happening in schools- it is possible. She asked us to think about when in our lives was the learning curve the highest. She figured that it probably wasn’t when someone had given us an assignment or said something smart to you. It was when you were totally and utterly lost in a new idea or subject of your own choosing. We must create this kind of atmosphere in our classrooms. Not a culture of everyday routine going-through-the-motions, but a culture of passionate literacy and seeking. (By the way, a lot of things in her speech really reminded me of To Understand by Ellin Keene.) I apologize right here because I am really not giving justice to the stunning beauty and eloquence of Lucy’s words. I’m not even thinking about my writing right now—just trying to get words on paper. Sorry if it’s torture! Anyways- she went on to give more specific examples of classrooms with a passionate attitude towards literacy and her point was that we can teach that. We can’t just think- “oh, it’s in that kid’s DNA- that’s why she’s like that. I wish they all were.” It is all in our hands. Great teachers RALLY children to learn to love reading. Digging Under and Jazzing Up Minilessons: Kathy Collins* Because our notes on this subject bled into Day 3, I’m combining them here. We zoomed in on minilesson architecture. In the connection of our minilesson, there are multiple ways we can begin. The connection is supposed to situate today’s lesson in the grand scheme of things. She gave some different ways to think about starting. First, she said you could start with a quick review, probably referring to a chart of teaching points or strategies that this new teaching point will accumulate with (like a list of print strategies you are working on). She included a reminder to NEVER ask children to share or prompt them to repeat what they’ve learned in any part of the minilesson. A second way we could connect would be something she calls “subliminal seduction”. This is a strategy I had really associated more with the link before. It’s where you say something like, “Yesterday when I was reading in bed (Do you do that when your parents think you are sleeping? Don’t worry… I won’t tell! etc….) Subliminal seduction is meant to quietly infuse small- but powerful- implicit ideas about reading and being a reader. The third way is by “sharing the wealth”(in other words, sharing stories of kids in your classroom doing the same thing.) At the end of the teaching point, we state the teaching point, coupled with a “how-to.” Which, I suppose, could also be referred to as the skill and strategy. (See TC notes from two years ago for lots lots more about skills and strategies.) In the teaching part of the minilesson, we talked about three ways to deliver the idea: demonstration, share/show an example, or explain. Even though all are possible, we worked through talking about the pros and cons of each and kind of came the group decision that demonstration is always the best, especially in primary. We couldn’t really think of a time when the other two would be better. Share/show an example could go with demonstration, and of course, there are always times when we aren’t really prepared to do a demonstration and a share or explanation will have to do! In the active engagement portion, there are multiple things we can do to ensure that kids get to try the thing they just saw us model. Kathy says this creates a bit of muscle memory so that even if they really aren’t quite ready to do it at workshop today, they will have a memory of at least trying it. She pointed out that about half the kids or more will be ready to try it (maybe not today but at some point), and then a few others will be beyond it but use the minilesson as a reminder and then yet a few others will just be getting exposure. A lot of us in the class (including myself) have a hard time always coming up with active engagements. So if that’s you too, you’re not alone!! Here’s a list (some generated by her, some generated by the class): · Try it with whole class text · Try it with teacher-supplied text (individually or with partner) · Try it with your own just right text · Observe, notice, and name · Make plans for how you’ll use the strategy (verbal or written) · Go off and try/return and report · Watch teacher and decide on a rating with partner, give evidence · Watch recordings (video or audio) of other students and observe, notice, name · Utilize the current whole-class novel read aloud The last thing we talked about today was the “rhythm of the mini-lessons across a unit of study.” I love that wording, don’t you? After all, minilessons definitely have a kind of rhythm they always follow as they are situated in the big picture of a unit. On the first day of a unit of study, your minilesson has less of the regular architecture because it’s important to spend your time rallying the kids. (Lucy’s keynote was about this too.) It’s OK to spend that first day quickly reflecting on the good work you just finished and then moving on to enthusiastically explain the purpose of our new unit. Within the unit, most of the minis will likely follow the architecture. But here and there, depending on the unit, your mini might take more of an inquiry feel. (BTW- I’m so glad she said this, because I’ve found this with my units and sometimes felt like on those days I wasn’t giving them something they needed.) Say you were studying how readers are flexible with their print strategies when they come to a word they don’t know. Maybe up to this point you’ve only taught each strategy one at a time. You might have a minilesson that requires children to think about the strategies they currently use and to pay attention to how they currently handle problems with really tricky words. You aren’t modeling or giving an active engagement because you want the kids to discover for themselves some things they can do, before directly teaching it. And then of course, the last couple of days of a unit could and should be spent in reflection. We should help children think about what they were and what they have become. More on that later… Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension, by Kathy Collins Again, Days 2 and 3 are smushed together here. We spent most of the last two days on partnerships, because Kathy believes that having good partnerships is the root of having successful conversations in clubs or whole class conversations. She also believes that partnerships aren’t always happening in every classroom in a way that is helpful to kids or conversations. SO… Partnerships: · In partnerships, children talk about unprompted, child-like talk EVERY DAY · Meet 10-15 minutes all year, and while the quantity of time stays the same, the quality is what changes throughout the year. · Partners need to be at our near the same level. · For hard to partner kids, she suggested groups of 4 (I had said 3 before). She said 4 because with three someone always feels left out. I guess with four, that third person always has someone to turn to- either the hard to partner child or the group of two. She said you could try talking stems for the child, depending on his/her needs, and that sometimes “long term partnerships” for some difficult classes might have to mean 2 or 3 weeks so that no one is with those difficult children for weeks and weeks on end. · Depending on the reading level of the children, partner talk will look different. (See below) For children reading a level A through F/Hish, their partner talk might go like this:* First: They decide whose book we’ll start with. One book is in only in play at a time, meaning that for the child whose book is NOT being read, that book should be somewhere off to the side. Kathy referred to it as being “on deck.” Second: Children make a plan for reading the book- whoever owns it is in charge. Kathy advises against the “I-read-the-left-pages-you-read-the-right” because no matter what, each child is only reading half of the book. She suggested echo read, or choral read, or I read it to you and you post-it parts to talk about or help with tricky words or some other job. Third: Read it. Fourth: Talk. (more on what kind of talk later) For children reading a level I and up, their partner talk might go like this: The ideal way: Partners shop for the same book (double copy) on the same shopping day, then they would make plans for how much to read day by day so that they can have conversations. They can also decide if the book they chose will be read for homework or for reader’s workshop (although everyday at reader’s workshop would be the ideal). 2nd best way: Partners shop for a book out of the same series (so two Junie B’s, but not the same exact one). They decide how much to read. Then, they talk. Now this kind of talk will be a mix of retell, comparing the characters, and making other theories about the books. After they are finished reading both books, they might decide to switch books the next week and read the other book at home. 3rd best way- but the common way: Partners shop for totally different books. Partners who do this option know they will have to do some hard work to pull off good conversations. Children won’t plan for how much they read, because chapter books in one series don’t have the same number of pages per chapter as another. The talk in this situation is tricky and very hard to teach. Kathy says to teach the kids that the student whose book is being talked about is the “host” of the book. They have to show the other one around just as you might show someone around your house for a play date. After each has read their own book, if they can be persuaded to switched, it would be very supportive. If you’re wondering about that 3rd option and how it works with the talk, don’t ask me. This is an area I still have questions about- I’m going to try to ask her tomorrow if I can. 15 Comments
	TC- Day One by: BookMuncher, 07-12-2009 TC: Day 1 Greetings from the Big Apple! I don’t have wireless here and no plug, so I’ll get right to it! Keynote: Maurice Sykes The Courage to Teach; The Joy of Teaching I won’t retype my notes from this speech, because it was your typical rally call speech. Very motivational, but hard to retell. I had never heard Maurice talk before, but he was extremely eloquent, especially about the important jobs we have as teachers. I’ll list his final Acts of Courage: 1. Dare to Dream 2. Accept the current reality 3. Courage to confront 4. Courage to be confronted 5. Courage to learn and grow 6. Courage to be vulnerable to love 7. The courage to ACT Digging Under and Jazzing Up Minilessons: Kathy Collins Today we started off by simply reflecting on our own delivery of minilessons. We reflected on three different aspects of preparing for minilesson. We wrote post-it answers for each of these, and then put them up anonymously so that we could see that others shared our strengths and weaknesses. Why don’t you join in? Warning- I included my answers, but it might want to skip them until you write your own. Respond with your thoughts: 1. Name one or two things (from very simple to complex) that you know for sure about minilesson. My answer: The teaching point needs to be stated the same way multiple times so that it will stick. AND Saying the teaching point 6 times in one minilesson is a lot harder in practice than in theory. AND Good active engagements are the most time intensive to plan for, but ultimately the most important for minilesson “stickiness.” 2. What are your minilesson strengths? My answer: I almost always can keep it short and limited to one teaching point. 3. What are your minilesson weaknesses? My answer: I rely too much on the same types of active engagements- like turn and talk or “imagine.” After reflecting on these questions, we wrote our own totally scripted, full blown minilessons – privately. I guess at the end of the week we are going to refer back to them to see how we have changed and how we will do things differently. Kathy says that scripting minilessons takes too much intensity and room in our brains to do for every minilesson every day. As a group, we came to consensus that it’s good to script out a minilesson every few weeks or so, to hone our craft and keep us on track. But separate from that, it’s OK to stick to bare bones (teaching point, active engagement, and materials) and devote our brain power to other things. As she put it, “Throw math a bone!” I can’t wait for the rest of the week- Kathy is hinting that during the rest of the week, we will learn how to spice up our minilessons so that they don’t sound like they could all come out of our colleague’s mouths, but that they have our own unique flair. I’d be relieved to learn that there is a little wiggle room in the minilesson format that I so carefully typed two summers ago! Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension, by Kathy Collins We started out this session thinking about some helpful and unhelpful habits that we, as teachers, can engage in that either create or destroy conversations and a “culture of comprehension” across the entire school day. Helpful Habits: · Respect inappropriate/off-base comments/connections from kids and use them as teachable moments. Respect the child by not glazing over their unconnected comment, but digging deeper, asking clarifying questions like: “how does that connect with…” or “what made you think of that?” · Attribute praise to internal, controllable factors in the child- this will be much more easily replicated in the long run. (i.e. The way you connected that character’s actions to your own life is a strategy that will really help you understand! is much better than That was so smart of you!) · Let students rehearse (orally or in writing) before production. (Turn and talk or jot thinking) · As the teacher, sneak out of the conversation as much as possible. A good way to do this is to take notes on what the kids are saying or act like you are taking notes. · Model how to obtain understanding when you don’t have it. “I don’t quite understand what you are trying to say…” · Model how to collect evidence. “Can you tell me what part made you think that?” · Model how to rephrase/ask for clarification. “What I heard you say was…” · Have kids look at speaker · Teach the characteristics of good listeners and good speakers Then, we talked about the responsibilities and expectations for speakers and listeners. Expectations for Listeners: · clarifies, repeats · asks questions · nodding/leaning in · inserting comments · puts themselves in speaker’s shoes · doesn’t steam roller and make listeners’ ideas into their own · really listens instead of just waiting for their turn to talk · has thoughts about what the speaker is saying Expectations of Speakers: · voice is loud and clear enough · sticks with idea · recognizes listener and makes space for thoughts · invites participation from listener · builds on or changes other’s thinking · clear and concise In regards to the theme of today (Creating a Culture of Comprehension), we talked a lot about taking it S-L-O-W Revisiting conversations Revisiting writing Revisiting products Revisiting science notebooks Rethinking and rereading with a different point of view Rethinking and rereading to find out if evidence exists to support our thinking Rethinking and rereading later in the year I know we’ve talked a lot about rereading especially on this blog, but I love her ideas about really- covering a little less, more deeply. So often we talk about the rereading, but not the revisiting and rethinking. It’s hard to put more time into bringing back old ideas, but it’s worth it! She quoted a line from a poem, “You have to go slow to grow!” Kathy suggests putting aside one novel read aloud and a small pile of picture books at the beginning of the year that you know you’ll reread for different purposes or just for pure enjoyment. The last topic we talked about in this session today was what Kathy called “Free range thinking opportunities.” She proposed taking wonderings to musings. Wonderings are fleeting- children spout them all day. But how often do we allow them to actually ponder the answers? Kathy contends that the real comprehension happens in that change over from wondering to musing. Creating a Culture of Literacy by Mary Ehrenworth I LOVED this Closing Workshop, and I LOVED the presenter, Mary Ehrenworth. I think I liked it because she kept it so simple. She wanted to teach us how to create a culture in schools where literacy just oozed from every corner, so she simply named real, concrete ways to do this: Creating a Culture of Literacy: 1. Adults that talk passionately about books: You have to read the book and not give it away and note take forever to talk about, carry them, and talk about them. 2. That reading has to be VISIBLE! 3. Embed your reading community within others- like on the website www.goodreads.com 4. Teach children to seek books- the classroom library is only an introduction to book seeking- where do you find books in your life? · another classroom · school library · public library- teach how to use inter-library loan (try worldcat.org) · book stores- as places not just to buy, but to inhabit 5. Read across the Times and Places of Your Life- take a field trip to read on the bus, then the train, then the museum steps, then the park, etc… 6. Make committees to “test” books · made up of students, or teenagers, or administrators, or teachers 7. Social clubs around and through reading Examples: · for girls whose parents are divorced · around social issues · “sports books” club · new book book club · principal led book club · security guard/lunch lady led book club · book club led (one) by each staff member 8. Parent workshops/outreach Gotta go! See you tomorrow! 20 Comments
	Roll Call- mini institute by: BookMuncher, 07-07-2009 TC, here I come! (again) Only 5 days and counting until I head to Teacher’s College for five days of the July Reading institute. You didn’t think I’d leave you behind, did you? Mark your calendars for a Mini Institute of your own, July 6th- 10th. I'll share what I learn right here on Once Upon a Reader' sWorkshop! Once you attend TC once, you get to choose from advanced sessions. I got to choose one session in the morning and one in the afternoon. (Both will stretch all week.) I’m attending: · Jazzing Up and Digging Under Minilessons with Kathy Collins · Use the Social Fabric of the Classroom to Support Comprehension: Clubs, Partnerships, and Classroom Culture with Kathy Collins So I guess I’ll be seeing a lot of Kathy Collins! (Which is more than fine by me- I hear she’s a riot.) My sister is getting married on Saturday, and I’m heading into town tomorrow. Of course that means that I’ll be running back to Philly to repack Sunday and leaving around 4:00am Monday morning. So today’s my real last full day before Day One of the institute. Like the last time, I will have to see what kind of internet conditions there are once I get there. I don’t know if I’ll have daily access to WiFi, so I’ll blog every day, but I may not get to post every day. Worst case scenario- if I can’t post at all, when I return I’ll publish 5 blogs- one for each day. Roll Call! Please post here if you’ll be attending the Once Upon a Reader’s Workshop Mini Institute July 6th-10th (in case of no WiFi, July 11th) I hope people will comment and engage in as great of a discussion as we had two years ago! Please remember though, that I might not always be able to reply, as the nights are short and there’s only so much time to blog, sleep, and enjoy NYC. J All TC posts will be in this blue font. (To find notes from my first time at TC, scroll down until you find the big clump of other blue posts.) Talk to you soon, fellow travelers! 53 Comments
	I have something to say. by: BookMuncher, 08-09-2009 I have something to say. It’s a something that I’ve had to say for a while, but I was afraid I’d sound too preachy or brash or insensitive. I decided to not say this something while I learned more, read more, and watched everything unfold. But things are unfolding quickly: lots and lots of schools are looking at reader’s and writer’s workshop and lots and lots of teachers are either dabbling in or permanently ditching their beloved basals to bravely enter unchartered territories, sometimes totally on their own. And now my something-I-have-to-say is clawing at the inside of my brain, screaming to be let free. Today I let it out… into the wild… where it belongs. You can take it or leave it, but here it comes… Reader’s Workshop is NOT a program. It’s not a program. It’s not a program. It’s not a program. That feels better. Now that I’ve said it, I think I can try to lay out my opinion logically. What Reader’s Workshop Is NOT Reader’s Workshop is not a program. It is not our reading series reincarnated. It is not a day by day plan that can be used for any third grader from Vermont to Washington. It’s not a pre-packaged, I’m-going-to-buy-this-one-book-and-follow-it-from-beginning-to-end-amen solution. It’s not an excuse to do a whole class novel unit. It’s not centers. It’s not guided reading. In short, Reader’s Workshop is not a program. What Reader’s Workshop IS Reader’s Workshop IS an approach. If you don’t like that term, call it a structure. Call it a framework. Call it a philosophy. It is an organic method for ushering children into the world of books and reading by modeling, guiding, and then releasing. It is, in almost every way, the antithesis of a basal reading series. Reader’s Workshop is a container into which individual communities of learners can exist together every day, reading, talking, and growing. In Defense of My Thinking I can already hear your “but’s”, and they are justified. But don’t we plan units ahead of time? But don’t we plan minilesson before we’ve met our kids? But don’t we use guided reading as a tool to teach reading? Yes, yes, and yes. But a “program” that lays all these out ahead of time and provides us with the materials and questions and even words to say with no teacher contemplation or intervention is absolutely no different than what it is we struggled against for so long. I love my set of Units of Study for Primary Writing, but I don’t use them straight from the package. I learn from them as I would learn from a master teacher, I filter them, and make them my own. I think other programs such as The Comprehension Tool Kit are fabulous too, but only if they are used the way their name implies- as a tool kit. Something to draw from based on our own professional judgment. I fear we are letting ourselves be lead down the wrong path. For so long we wanted something rigorous and thoughtful and full of passion. Text book companies and school districts have heard us loud and clear, and they’ve latched onto this latest wave the same way they’ve done in the past- by throwing money at it and producing DVD’s and teacher guides and colorful strategy posters and all the rest. Listen: I’m not saying that any of it is bad. It’s almost all based on the same research and has good intentions at its roots. But hand that stuff to a teacher who doesn’t have a literacy passion, and it is all lost in translation. To them, it’s simply a day by day program- a series to get through. Reader’s Workshop was never meant to be like that. The Following is NOT A Reader’s Workshop Classroom: NOT a Reader’s Workshop classroom would look and sound like this: the teacher delivers the day one minilesson. The children listen, turn and talk, and are given their charge for the day. In an orderly fashion, they retrieve their books and read. To make this nightmare worse, in a NOT Reader’s Workshop classroom, when reading is over for the day, reading is over. No reading leaks into their conversations or thoughts. They will revisit it tomorrow. They read because that is their job, not because there is some mystery to be solved or discovery to be made. No ideas are theirs alone, and that should scare the pants off of all of us. Because a classroom that only teaches strategy use with no passion or critical reading skills is creating a whole army of future citizens who can comprehend but cannot- will not- care or act. These readers will understand, but they will not view reading and writing as things you do to participate in democracy and change the world. The Following IS a Reader’s Workshop Classroom: A Reader’s Workshop classroom is supposed to look and sound like a beehive of activity. Books from wall to wall, kid’s thinking plastering the space, cushions, lamps, and flexible seating. It’s to be more like a home library than a classroom. When reading is over for the day, it’s only over according to the schedule. Because in a workshop that is piloted by the children, reading seeps into every moment and every subject of every day. And because of this, teachers are constantly planning and replanning, scratching and rewriting. With 20 little minds firing off questions and connections and hypotheses all day, they MUST adjust. Yes, they have an overall direction, but they are also artful listeners, ready to steer a little to the left or right in response to the children’s interests and natural inquiries. For those of you who never thought it was possible, we CAN have our cake and eat it too. We CAN have planned structure and organic inquiry. But not with a canned program. I Swear I’m Not the Only One Who Thinks This In Ellin Keene’s book, To Understand, she writes about observing many different reader’s workshops around the country only to find that “In classroom after classroom, there was a detachment on the part of the children that was chilling. Why weren’t they engaged and invigorated by this obviously well-crafted learning environment?” She goes on to explain how in classroom after classroom, teachers and children- all acting under the guise of reader’s workshop- went through the motions. They followed rigid timelines, moving from the minilesson to obedient reading to sharing, but “with limited passion, little engagement, no fervency.” She says that it wasn’t until she had visited several schools like this she realized that “We need to move away from prescribing activities and groupings that may or may not meet students’ needs, and move toward maximizing the time students have to be apprentices to more proficient readers and writers, to practice their skills and strategies, and to receive individualized guidance in their learning. Workshop components aren’t doing the teacher—teachers are!” Likewise, in Mike Schmoker’s book, Results Now, he laments that “anything can be done in the name of reader’s workshop.” And Another Thing! I guess it turns out that the something-I-have-to-say is really more than “reader’s workshop is not a program.” As happens to me so often, what I really want to say is only revealed through writing. What I really want to convey is an emotion. It’s kind of a scared, out of control kind of feeling. Like we are this great army who just won battle after battle, fighting with the love of literacy on our side, only to lose the whole war because the other guys slipped through our ranks, dressed as the real thing and welcomed by us- when really, they were impostures. They held up a flag and proclaimed, “In the name of reader’s workshop, let’s make peace.” And we fell for it. There are impostures everywhere. From now on, we are going to have to constantly ask ourselves: “Does this new idea/book/structure/tool work with what I know about best practice in literacy?” WWDD? WWKD? WWLD? (What would Debbie/Kathy/Lucy do?) If the answer is that they wouldn’t – we’d better think twice, three times, four times. Do not get me wrong: I have my own opinions. I’m not a clone of some other author. But I am a result of all I have read. We need to adopt new tools for better reasons than because it would change things up or it would look good. One of the reasons workshop has resonated with me so deeply is that in study after study, the core elements of workshop (focused minilesson, choice, sustained reading, small group and one-on-one teaching) are revealed to be what really matters. I would be extremely suspicious of any one book that made me want to toss everything and start fresh. Flanked by my entire professional library- the voices of Debbie and Kathy and Lucy and others all agreeing with me and one another- makes me feel even stronger. An organic workshop is orchestrated by a mentor reader, a literacy lover, and a passionate learner: the teacher. The magic isn’t in the plans, teacher’s guide, or book. It’s in us, and it’s in our students. Until we embrace that fact, all we will have are replicas of the old-fashioned classrooms where we grew up. The cycle will continue and there will be no one to blame but ourselves. That is all I have to say. 39 Comments
	Teaching is an act of love. by: BookMuncher, 07-11-2009 Another year, another journey. For those of you who thought my depressing posts at the end of last year were only a result of looping, I’m here to tell you that it’s not them- it’s me. Apparently, no matter what challenges a class tosses my way, no matter how glad I will be to start with a clean slate, I still grieve their graduation. It’s like a heart-wrenching loss each time my baby birds fly away. And I had to go and make it worse this year, when I decided that “wouldn’t it be symbolic to end the year with the finale of Edward Tulane’s journey?” and “wouldn’t it be powerful to close the book as the last bell rang?” The answers of course are yes and yes, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. We read Edward Tulane at the beginning of the year. It’s the book that sparked my group’s passion for books and stories and talk. As Edward was saved by Abilene and Nellie and Lawrence and Bull and Lucy and Bryce and Sara Ruth and finally Abilene again, so my class was saved by Edward (and Despeareaux and Wanda and Charlotte and Jack and Pia and Enzio and finally Edward again). It’s the first time I’ve ever read a novel twice, and it was fitting. The book is about a journey, and my class seemed to connect with that aspect of it. It’s no surprise, since they took a journey of their own. The beginning of the year was rough for them; they resisted my initial efforts to beckon them into the world of books. But as their hearts opened to it, they sprouted, grew, and blossomed. Soon, they were devouring books and talking up a storm, but more than anything- they could write. Every class seems to have their own “Way-In” to the literary world. Last year’s class blew me away with their talk. They could talk circles around me and they found their identity as a group in their conversations. This year, my class found their Way-In through writing. Time after time, they identified crafting moves by novelists and poets and then artfully imitated them. One child wrote a Someday poem at the end of the year. It was all about how she will travel all over the world someday. In one part of the poem, she wrote “I will travel any place, anytime, anywhere…” A few weeks after reading it aloud to the class, we were reading Edward Tulane, and I came to a line that said, “So it was that when Bull and Lucy stepped up to a campfire in another town, another state, another place entirely…” A child raised his hand and said, that line reminds me of S’s poem. So that line, written by the fantastically gifted Kate DiCamillo, reminded him of S’s poem? A few things struck me about this: First, there was the fact that S’s poem- read aloud once- made such an impact on him that the very rhythm of it was still in his ears. Second, there was the idea that maybe Kate was influenced by S, instead of the other way around. Of course, the fact of the matter was that S had read and re-read Edward Tulane a couple times since the first time I had read it. So she had indeed internalized Kate’s cadences and subconsciously copied them in her own writing. But that other student’s suppositions about S’s poem speak volumes to the power of the reader’s and writer’s workshop. It is not The Great Kate DiCamillo… and then our class. It is our class, with an invisible Kate whispering in the ears of one table, while Sharon Creech whispers to another, and E.B. White to still others. It is all of us together, steering our ship. That’s how it happened. We started off in rough waters and gradually, with the help of Edward and others, steered our way to calmer, sunnier seas. All of this was going through my mind as I read aloud the final chapters of Edward’s journey (read: our journey) today- the last day of school. I read as I held back tears, trying to squelch the part of me that wanted to cry tears of both joy and sorrow. But then, miracles of miracles, the old doll in Chapter 26 spoke directly to me. It was now just Kate and me, and she was whispering in my ear. This is what she said: “If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.” Of course. Teaching is an act of love. Denying that undercuts every action, every word, every decision I made this school year. I teach for a reason. I teach for peace and passion and love. And so… as I read the final words, I took Kate’s advice and let the tears flow. 11 Comments
	Our Strategies Rainbow by: BookMuncher, 06-21-2009 In a rainbow, there's not one color that can be left out in order to get the full effect. That's why it made a good metaphor for our reading strategies. This year, after I had taught each of the strategies, I paired them each with a color and we started again, studying them in depth... together. After all- isn't that how it happens in real life? I've been talking with some of you over PM's about integrating the strategies, so I thought I'd post the photo of our culminating chart, in which we asked ourselves what each strategy was and when we should use it. It's not that exciting to look at, but here it is: 13 Comments
	Our Reading and Writing Units, abridged by: BookMuncher, 06-08-2009 A few people have asked me to write about units that marry reading and writing. I planned this year’s units as I went, and below is a summary of the 8 units my class and I lived this year. For the first time in 6 years, I actually think I might keep things (almost) the same for next year. Through these 8 units, I feel that my students have gained a strong sense of genre and purpose. They can think flexibly about reading from the point of view of the writer and writing from the point of view of the reader. Because the connections between reading and writing were so transparent, my students were freed up to notice other connections. They carried skills from unit to unit, genre to genre. Here is a peek into our 08-09 literacy year: September: We are Readers and Writers (habits of readers and writers, daily routines) In September, I did most of the work, modeling my own reading life, gushing over their writing, affirming their budding literacy identities. In this first month together, what and how they read or wrote did not matter as much as how they looked and sounded when they read and wrote. I had to ratchet up my skills as an actress, and as they mirrored my passion for literacy, they hardly noticed that by the end of the month, they weren’t acting anymore. They were readers and writers. September was the month of identity. October: Making Meaning (asking questions, using schema to make connections, beginning narrative writing strategies) In October, we looked at what it is to make meaning. Before spending time on the nuts and bolts, nitty-gritty decoding and fluency side of reading, we gave top priority to the idea that Reading Is Thinking. In Reader’s Workshop, we dug into interactive read alouds in which we could connect to our existing schema. Instead of waiting until later in the year, we explored how asking questions can illuminate ideas that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. In writing, we continued writing small moments, but instead of only passionately writing page after page with no acknowledgement of an audience, we thought about meaning. We asked ourselves, “How can I make my purpose clearer? How can I plan the piece in a way that make sense? How can I write details that others will understand?” October was the month of meaning. November & December: Honing Our Craft (decoding strategies, fluency, authors as mentors: taking small moments to a new level by looking at mentor authors) In November and December, we honed our craft. On the very first day of this unit, we studied all the kinds of people who hone their craft: dancers, carpenters, basketball players. We defined “honing” as making a skill the best it can be, especially when it’s already really good, usually by studying a more expert model. In reading, we turned up the heat on mechanics. From decoding strategies to word parts to accuracy to fluency, it was clear that reading is a process that happens not only in the reader, but with the text. As we came to the realization that texts were meant to be read in certain ways, we began to look at what our writing said to our audience. We learned strategies for making our pieces readable, including spelling and punctuation. It was in this unit that we learned the word “monitor.” Using a heart monitor as a metaphor, children were constantly reminded to always monitor their reading and writing- not after, but as they read and wrote. We studied more expert author models- our mentor authors. We learned how to notice crafting decisions and how to imitate them to hone our crafts. Our writing soared to new levels. November and December were the months of mentors. January: Imagining the Possibilities (inferring, revision) In January, we imagined what was possible beyond the written text. To kick off the unit, we imagined three jars of play dough as something more than what they were. I showed pictures of ordinary sand dunes, pillars of steel, and large rocks, followed by extraordinary sand sculptures, the Eiffel Tower, and magnificent statues. The message: you can only achieve what you can envision. In reading, we had to dig deeper to find what the author did not state directly in the text. In short, we learned how to infer. We spent the whole month on this strategy, inferring character’s personalities, what would happen next, unknown words, the author’s message, and theme. In writing, we revised. We re-envisioned our October through December pieces as works of art. We identified what we wished they would be and how we hoped they would make our reader feel, and we molded them according to that vision. In our first big parent event of the year, we hosted a Meet the Author book signing event in our classroom. Run like their first grade Revision Museum, the young authors walked their “fans” through their revisions and explained their decisions. What they had first imagined for their pieces, was made real. January was the month of possibility. February: Read to Learn, Write to Teach (taking questioning deeper, determining importance in nonfiction, nonfiction conventions, writing how-to’s and All About books) In February, we explored nonfiction in reading and writing. After spending half the year writing and reading mostly narrative, February was our first departure into other genres. Reader’s Workshop was run as an inquiry into text structure. We spent a few weeks making individual charts of conventions we noticed, complete with examples and how they help us as readers. Each child chose a big question and took two weeks studying it, using conventions to guide them. In writing, we split our time between how-to writing and All About books. At the end of the month, we held a Teaching and Learning Festival. To represent Read to Learn, each child shared their big question, as well as the learning journey they traveled to find the answer. To represent Write to Teach, they shared their All About books. February was the month of knowledge. March: Power of the Pen (synthesizing, integrating all strategies to synthesize, writing persuasive book reviews, letters, blogs, songs, etc…) In March, we tested out the power in our pens. After all we had learned about books this year, I don’t think it had yet occurred to my young authors just how much power was in their pens. They were fascinated in reading when they could start identifying books as “power of the pen” books. Never before had they realized that authors have the ability to change the world through writing. As we studied these books, we wove in the strategy of synthesizing. Every strategy was assigned a color of the rainbow and we tracked our thinking as we read, always synthesizing, always growing our thinking. We realized that our thinking could change across a book, but it could also change the way we live and the way we think. Books—authors, actually—have the awesome power to affect change. In writer’s workshop, we wrote in several genres including reviews, letters, blogs, songs, poems, articles, and flyers. Instead of publishing one piece at the end of the unit, we published every piece (as they were shorter and more manageable to revise, edit, and rewrite) and sent them to the appropriate parties. We received responses from the recess aides, another second grade class, The American Girl Company, and Legos… We are still patiently waiting on the President. March was the month of change. April: Small Poems, Big Ideas (sensory images, monitoring understanding, integrating all strategies to understand, writing free verse poetry) In April, we lived and breathed poetry. In reading, we immersed ourselves in the free verse poetry of Langston Hughes, Myra Cohn Livingston, Valerie Worth, Eloise Greenfield, Karla Kuskin, and others. A new poem greeted us each morning and we started by honing in on the strategy of making sensory images. Next, we collected poems we love in our poetry notebooks and wrote in the margins, using all of our understanding strategies (again, color-coded) to infer deeper meanings. In writer’s workshop, we began by cranking out poems. But that was short-lived, because using the above poets as our mentors, our daily minilessons convinced us that less is more. The music, we discovered, is why we love poems. We looked for parts of our poems where the “energy leaked out” and we were unapologetic in our slashings. This unit unexpectedly took revision to new heights. The month ended with a well-attended Poetry in the Park event. Children read both poems they wrote, as well as famous poetry that they had memorized during our unit. April was the month of words. May & June: Readers and Writers for Life (weekly book clubs, “turning up the volume” on particular strategies, discussing books and comprehension strategies, revisiting small moments to integrate writing strategies from every unit, reflecting on writing and reading journey to make a year-long anthology) In May and June, we came full circle. These two months were about packing our suitcases to include everything we’ve learned as readers and writers. For the first time since I started teaching the Units of Study, I had time to revisit small moments. And- WOW- was it worth it! For every day in May, we reviewed a teaching point from earlier in the year and added it to a huge chart on the wall of our room. I chose the most important teaching points from Honing our Craft, Imagining the Possibilities, Small Poems Big Ideas, and others. The take home point: no matter what the genre, our year was spent learning about how to write well. It is all applicable. In reader’s workshop, leveled book clubs chose a just right book each Monday. They filled out a Book Club planning sheet where they planned for which chapters they would read on each day. I met with each group to help them think about the genre and series. Together, we picked one strategy to focus on. We called it “turning up the volume” on that strategy (not turning the others off, just turning one up). I also helped the groups decide on a specific way that they would keep track of that thinking – post-it notes or their notebook or a handmade chart on a large piece of paper. On Book Club Fridays, grasping books that look like they had just survived heavy post-it note attacks, they met to talk. It’s now June. We will continue book clubs and we will work on making anthologies that include 15 reading and writing artifacts from our year together. May and June were the months of reflection. Identity, meaning, mentors, possibility, knowledge, change, words, reflection. We have come a long way: from building basic text understanding and mechanics, to usingwords as agents of change, portals to knowledge, vessels of music. Because we moved from building to using, I hope that my students have been changed. As they synthesized, their lives were revisioned. Moving onto other classrooms and eventually other places, I hope that they take this new view with them: that words and text is not just something to be passionate about, but something to be passionate with. They are tools to be used in whatever in whatever direction they are aimed. I hope my students have been utterly changed. So I think I’ll call this: The Year of Transformation. 17 Comments
	Progress: Determining Importance by: BookMuncher, 05-30-2009 Today at a collaboration meeting with my amazing and inspiring colleagues, I pulled them into my determining importance conundrum. What is it? How do we teach it? How do we know if kids are actually determining importance or "determining interest"? We had a great discussion, and it lead me to a new way of looking at determining importance! I think I now have a plan for teaching it... Our discussion centered around all the ways people determine importance. All of them were ones that we've talked about before on PT and are written in Reading with Meaning and others. But we came up with a good way to separate two important components. What I realized about my teaching, was that I wasn't making it clear to kids that there are two kinds of importance: the kind that comes from the author and the kind that comes from the reader. I was being muddled and vague as we had discussions about how our schema affect importance and the conventions affects importance. But when you think about it-- a reader's schema and questions often CONTRADICT the conventions. You might find the answer to your question and determine a small little detail to be important, while the author highlights a chapter or section on something you don't find important at all. What we realized is that we must teach determining importance in two parts: determining what's important to the author in fiction and nonfiction AND determining what's important to the reader in fiction and nonfiction. I know this probably won't seem like any kind of breakthrough to anyone else. It's nothing new, I know. But when I teach a strategy, I have to have kind of a visual picture of it in my head. Like, for inferring, I can picture schema + text evidence = inference. And for envisioning, I can explain it with sensory schema (sight, sound, hearing, smell, and feel) combined with an author's description, makes a sensory images. For questioning, it makes sense for kids to understand what kinds of questions come before, during, and after reading. Likewise, with determining importance, I now can picture a T-Chart in my mind, with "What the author thinks is important" on one side and "What the reader thinks is important" on the other. It doesn't feel as willy nilly today, as it did yesterday- and THAT'S progress! And because I was so inspired, and because I am a total dork, I made this ode to determining importance: http://storyteller.glogster.com/importance/ Check it out for more specific details on how the author's importance and the reader's importance manifest themselves in fiction and nonfiction. I used the song, Seasons of Love, in the background. The lyrics seemed to match my thinking about how we determine importance based on our schema: 525,600 minutes/ 525,000 moments so dear/ 525,600 minutes/How do you measure, measure a year?/In daylights/ in sunsets /in midnights /in cups of coffee?/ in inches /in miles /in laughter/ in strife?/In 525, 600 minutes/ how do you measure a year in the life?/ How about love? 34 Comments
	OBP: Determining Importance by: BookMuncher, 02-25-2009 Shall we dive into the black hole that is determining importance? Anyone? Have to wash down the kitchen walls? Cut your dog’s toenails? Find a neighbor’s dog whose toenails need cutting? Having a deep discussion about determining importance is a good way to clear a room! From my experience, not too many will be interested in diving with me- it is one of those strategies that gets skipped or conveniently compacted or taught through a questioning unit or through one genre—anything to get through it! Those words could only be written by someone who has experienced them all. I’m guilty as charged. Every year, I teach determining importance differently and while I think it gets slightly better every year, I’ve not yet felt that I’ve taught to the core of the strategy. But remember, these Open Brain Project blogs are not about teaching the strategies. They are about how we use them ourselves. Personally, I think we talk too much about how to teach determining importance and not enough about what it actually is. We hide behind the pedagogy(after all, that’s what we’re good at)and it shields us from really answering what it looks like and sounds like when a reader is really, really good at determining importance. If we know how we determine importance, we will find a way to make it transparent for kids. After all, who are kids if not simply fellow readers—only shorter? J Every day, every minute, I determine importance. At 7:00 in the morning, I rush from the front of the classroom to the back, moving, cleaning, resetting. As I walk, tasks are prioritizing in my head. Often seeing one task, reminds me that I need to bump that priority further to the front of the queuing things-to-do line. I have my own strategies, as we all do, including To-Do lists and to-do piles and post-it notes and black ink scrawled on my palms. (When both palms have writing on them, you know not to come near me—I’m really busy AND out of paper.) I determine importance between many tiny tasks and few large ones. But there’s more. Determining importance is more than a decision making strategy. It means making a conscious (or subconscious) decision that says, “this is too much: my schema can only hold so much in one day, so here is what I will take with me.” At a teacher inservice, if I’m learning a lot of new jargon- let’s say in relation to special education laws- and my schema on which I’m attaching this new information is scant, I must determine what information is most important to me. Because of my personal circumstances (who is in my class this year), feelings I have (a certain new law angers me), a question I had prior to the inservice, or my existing schema on a topic, I determine what’s important. I’m thinking that if I’m not good at this strategy, I may sometimes remember things I don’t really need or that won’t serve me well later. Take the role of emotion, for example. Maybe I don’t really need to remember the law that angers me as much as I need to remember some other small nuances—but since I have a prior bridge or connection, I remember the information I least need. You see, I’m thinking that determining importance could be a little less intuitive and take a lot more brain power than inferring. As I write, I’m thinking that when we make decisions (like in my morning example), that’s only part of determining importance—the easy part. If decision making is hard for you, then beware! Because once the decision is made or the information is sorted and prioritized- once a judgment has been made, our brains must *remember.* I’ve gone back and forth about this. This blog has been written over the course of this week, and during times when I find my mind wandering, I’ve changed my mind a few times. I wondered if maybe the remembering part belonged to synthesis. That could be possible because it has to do with owning the knowledge- making it yours. But I think after a week’s deliberation, I’ve decided that for me, synthesis has to involve more personal opinions and changes in thinking. I think that remembering the main ideas that are important to us as readers is a little more basic and belongs to determining importance. And so, I’m thinking that determining importance has as much to do with locating the essential as it does with remembering. I’ll use that new idea to think about myself as a reader. When our brain has a connection- be it fiction or nonfiction- determining importance is a snap. I could tell you so many minute details of the Harry Potter books, because I have connected emotionally to every character. Heck, I feel as though I’ve walked the halls of Hogwarts. I’ve made those emotional and sensory connections and I’ve had deep and winding conversations about the books with other readers. Because of those connections, it is easy for me to take a lot with me. I take away not only the memory of the main events, settings, details, main and secondary characters, but the themes that weave themselves through every book- the idea of friendship, bravery, and true sacrifice. Because my Harry Potter schema is so broad, I find that the decision-making piece of it is not so hard. I don’t have to pick and choose what I remember- I can remember a lot, and what’s not important to remember, my brain automatically throws out. When I have a lot of schema for a topic, it’s like a have a larger suitcase in which to pack it away. That helps me in two ways. First, I don’t have to make as many decisions between important and unimportant because much more can fit. When I do have to make a decision, it’s easy for me. I know so much about the content I’m stuffing my suitcase with, that’s it’s like I intuitively know what’s essential and what’s nonessential. Please don’t ask me how I know—I just know I know. Secondly, once I’ve decided what can fit into my suitcase, it is so much less work to remember it. Probably because of all my schema, my connections, my mental images, my questions, I don’t need to work very hard at all to remember. It is part of me almost the second I read it. Now, when I read a book that I have little to no schema for, it’s an entirely different story. I’ll use my college history text book as an example here, since it’s a book that was technically within my reach (I did understand all or most of the words), but I still struggled to understand it. When I read my history text book, I had little or no schema on which to attach all the new facts that were coming at me. When faced with a long chunk of text, my eyes glazed over and I could not have told you what sentences were important, nor could I have made some general summarizing statements about the passage. It’s like my brain didn’t know where to start. Like I was sliding down a wet cliff and couldn’t get my fingers around anything. With nothing to hang onto, and no existing schema to be a foothold, I just continued to slide. By the end, I had nothing to take away with me. It’s like I never even read the book—dismal. Contrary to Harry Potter, reading my history book was as if I was told I was traveling to somewhere I’ve never even heard of for months and I could only carry all my possessions in a zip lock bag. What do I take? Even if I knew some things to take, which ones should I take? How do I compact everything? I had that terrible feeling that I was going to end up in Russia with 5 pairs of socks and a hat. I’m exaggerating of course, but you have to admit—it’s a frightfully disorienting feeling. We’ve all had it. Those two examples highlight how easy or hard determining importance can be for a reader. Now on to some solutions; all of them, solutions that came to me after college. (Why is that, by the way? My whole school career I felt incompetent, but when I was simply left alone- I figured it out for myself! I suppose that’s a whole other blog!) In grad school, I had to read some terribly difficult philosophical papers by terribly confusing theorists. There’s no doubt in my mind these texts were more difficult than my history textbook, yet- I figured them out. Please know that they had nothing to do with teaching, so I had no existing schema. How could I do with those philosophy articles what I couldn’t with the history text? First, I figured out that conventions were there for a reason. My whole life, teachers had been forcing outlines on me and telling me to preview the headings of a text before reading it. But no one EVER told me why or how. Now, I do skim the table of contents and try to piece together a view of the big picture. In each chapter, I skim the headings to understand how that chapter will fit into the book as a whole- like one of those nesting dolls. I took notice of those key words that teachers had been yapping at me about all my life. When I saw first, I circled it knowing that (duh!) that means I needed to watch for second and third. Doing all of this told me what is important to the author. Next, I thought about how the book or article fit in the context of what I needed from it as a reader. So if it was a text for a class, I kept the assignment in mind or I would go back to the course objectives to see what I was supposed to eventually understand. But if it were a personal read, I would think about my questions or my areas of interest. Doing all this told me what is important to me, the reader. Finally- and most important of all- is that I threw out my highlighters. After close to 20 years in school, I only just realized that all a highlighter does is confuse my brain. How can one sentence be highlighted when it contains a main idea according to the author and another be highlighted because it answers a question I had and another be highlighted because it had something I never knew and that I wanted to share with others? All three of those are distinctly different reasons to highlight. A highlighter doesn’t sort important and unimportant because it gives the same priority to everything. When I finally learned to read with a pen in hand, I learned how to use writing to help me think. Surely, some of my notes in the margins bleed over into the synthesis category. But what’s important, is that I was helping myself make meaning through a hierarchical mix of sorting, summary, and synthesis. That’s determining importance. And now, that feeling that I get after reading a text—the one where I feel confident I could fairly and accurately do the article justice if I were to tell a friend about it; the one where I remember the main points of the article a year later; the one where I connect to the text when reading some other text—that’s a feeling I get a lot. It’s so much better than the horrible slippery cliff feeling! And what’s more, I can determine importance in other types of texts too. I know that in an instruction manual, there is usually an overview that gets my brain ready for the rest of it. Furthermore, there are some sections of game instructions that I read (how to win) and those I never read (other ways to play.) I know that in a math problem, most of the words don’t carry as much weight as the essential pieces of information and the question. Determining importance isn’t just for nonfiction either. I think we do it an injustice when we teach it that way. In the Harry Potter example I gave, I picked out important ideas because I was motivated and I loved the book. I had so much schema that the connections were everywhere. I don’t think it’s the same for everyone. I love symbolism- my husband hates it. I have a much easier time spotting small symbolic actions a character makes than he does. Those symbolic acts point to important themes and since he doesn’t notice them, there’s a good chance he misses a lot. He still enjoys the books; he still understands them. But his understanding is often more mechanical and detailed than mine. If we are both remembering the same book, he’ll remember it as, “the book where such and such a character battles some evil empire during an eclipse on top of a mountain.” I remember feelings. I remember how much I adored or despised a certain character. I remember the way the book made me live my life just a little bit differently. I don’t believe that either of us is not determining importance- we’re just doing it differently. So to stick with the theme—what’s important, is to realize that every word, every sentence, every idea in a text is not created equally. What’s important is to understand that importance changes with the reason we read and the schema we have in place before we begin. What’s important is to realize that if we want to carry a part of every book with us, we can’t possibly take it all—or we’ll soon find we have nothing. It takes extraordinary thoughtfulness to determine importance as a reader. Imagine what that means for teaching it. 7 Comments
	Between the Pages by: BookMuncher, 03-02-2009 Enjoy this eloquent excerpt from Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart: “Isn’t it odd how much fatter a book gets when you’ve read it several times?” Mo had said when, on Meggie’s last birthday, they were looking at all her dear old books again. “As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells… and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower… both strange and familiar.” 9 Comments
	Celebrating Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by: BookMuncher, 05-30-2009 Ok- so part of the reason for this blog is that I found this really cool website where you can make graphic blogs. I wanted to try it, so I used it to show the pictures for this post. But the second, more relevant reason, is because I haven't yet posted an update on my revision of my Timeline of Learning. This year, I designed my timeline to be more of a collage. My thinking was that we would display different things different months, depending on our learning. So far, it hasn't quite worked out that way. I thought it would be cool to stick on post it notes from kids that held some of our most pivotal learning statements and such. We haven't done that yet. Still, by designing it in a less linear way, I feel it has given us more flexibility in what we post and how. I hope to add some different "artifacts" during the second half of the year. Celebrations shouldn't come just once per month (or less). Every day we celebrate our accomplishments by looking back at what we've achieved. Posting our shared history helps the whole community feel included as an integral piece of the puzzle. It helps each of us feel as though we are, indeed, moving. It confirms that we are not spinning our wheels-- that we have covered ground. That's looking back. Don't forget to look forward, though! How can we create momentum and a sense of purpose if we forget the integral role of a shared vision? I use our classroom calendar as a carrot, a guide, and as a celebration of our accomplishments (i.e.- when we finish ___, we will be ready to move on to ___). Children constantly look at it, spreading the good news of future events to their friends. That's looking forward. Now for the fun part! Check out my Glog! Don't forget to press the play button to hear the music! http://storyteller.glogster.com/Cele...day-Tomorrow-/ 20 Comments
	OBP: Inferring by: BookMuncher, 02-07-2009 For my first Open Brain Project post, I’m going to start with inferences. I picked it because 1.) I just finished teaching it, 2.) It’s one of the easiest for me to understand (I think!) and 3.) it’s an innate human behavior. When we infer, we use evidence—what we can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste—and combine it with what we know about the world. By pairing the two, we make an inference- that which is not really there, except within us. Herein lies the reason why some of us agree with Obama’s economic stimulus package and others of us don’t. We’re all looking at the same evidence (the package), but we’re looking at it through a different lens. Our experiences, (our individual schema) lead us to form unique opinions. I don’t think we realize just how much we infer throughout our day. Rarely is any event or interaction there for us in black and white. Especially in a job such as ours; we are forced to infer the reason for students’ actions, what they know/what they don’t know, their motivation, and more. To add to that: almost every interaction with our colleagues involves some kind of inference. We infer based on their body language, phrasing of words, and (especially us women) the very slightest nuances in their voices. But for none of the above does my brain say to me, “Because her final word went up slightly in pitch, I’m inferring she’s anxious.” Inferring is so natural, that my brain travels that thinking bridge in a fraction of a second, so that when I’ve made the inference, I don’t even know I’ve done so. I think one of the keys to understanding inferring, then, is to FIRST understand that it is on some level a subconscious human behavior. Because it is subconscious, it’s a useful exercise to begin noticing when we infer. It’s easy to confuse facts with inferences, as Mr. Peabody’s Apples teaches us. Types of inferences… Predictions: It was my friend and colleague—she knows who she is!!—who first helped me understand the fundamental difference between inferences and predictions. When we make a prediction, we are using evidence (dark clouds) and pairing it with what we know about the word (when the clouds get dark, it usually rains) to make a prediction. The only difference is that when we predict, our prediction is usually confirmed or not. When we make an inference, we do not get that confirmation. We cannot predict that someone is feeling sad today, unless we are sure that the person is going to tell us. (not normal human behavior) We infer that the person is feeling sad, and go with that inference, unless the evidence changes. We use the word “predict” when we are quite sure that we will soon find out whether we were right or wrong. Generalizations: When we generalize we think to ourselves, “I’ve seen something like that before. I recognize that pattern.” We rely on our schema and we test that against the new evidence we observe. We arrive at an inference. The typical example is the child who generalizes the cow as a dog, since it has four legs and a tail. He used his schema for four legged creatures, as well as the new evidence (this creature also has four legs), to make an inference. Drawing Conclusions/Concluding: I’ve always wondered what the difference between drawing conclusions (which we see in every basal reading series) and inferring was. I’m thinking now that they are basically the same thing. Except, perhaps when we draw conclusions, our inference is more cemented—more based on fact than schema. Perhaps five people in a room are more likely to come to the same conclusion when a person walks into the room with a wet umbrella, so the word “conclusion” would be more fitting than “inference” in that case. OR—in the same vein—perhaps, after making many inferences that point in the same direction, we cement our thinking by drawing a conclusion. Although- these are both just a hypotheses. Hypotheses: Although this word is more common in the science field, it is still (I think) a form of inference. When we form a hypothesis, we rely on evidence and our schema to make an educated guess. I suppose that scientists do lean much more on evidence, but doesn’t there have to be some schema involved? Otherwise, wouldn’t all scientists interpret the evidence the exact same way, coming to the exact same hypothesis? Judgments: We can only judge the actions of another person or institution (evidence), if we weigh it against our own schema (opinions, morals). I suppose judgments are a type of inference that lean heavier on a person’s moral and ethical schema. Estimations: Used often in math, estimations are based on facts and schema. The media first estimated that 3-4 million people would attend the inauguration festivities, but when they realized how frigid the temperatures would be and also factored in the fact that people had heard their huge original estimation and been scared off, they changed their estimation to 2-3 million. The solid evidence they used were the numbers from previous inaugurations and those former president’s popularity. Inferring in Fiction: When I read fiction, I make a lot of those subconscious inferences that I was talking about above. I base them on the evidence the author leaves for me—the character’s thoughts, dialogue, and small actions allow me to infer their motivation and they allow me to predict what they’ll do next. I draw conclusions (more solid, less subjective inferences?) when she has left me so many clues about a particular character, that I can no longer simply infer that a character is a certain way, but I know it must be true. When I first read Edward Tulane, I began inferring that Edward was spoiled. But the farther I read, and the more I got to hear what he was thinking about Abilene, I drew the conclusion that he was spoiled (and more!). Inferring in Poetry: In both fiction and poetry, there is a deeper kind of inference that I can make. The kinds of inferences I was talking about in the fiction section were more on a sentence level or a chapter level. But there are bigger inferences I make in fiction and poetry, when I stop, put the book down, and think about the poem or book as a whole. I ask myself, based on the poet’s words, what is he or she really saying? What is the underlying message? What could the poem stand for? Is there a symbol that could mean something more? Inferring in Nonfiction: This one’s trickier. If inferring is the pairing of schema and facts, nonfiction texts challenge that definition a little bit. (I’m realizing as I type!) Based on all that I’ve written above, we infer what’s not really there. We make meaning somewhere between the book and our brain or between the situation and our brain. But what if we’re dealing with cold, hard facts? Does it leave us room to infer? Fiction authors and poets PURPOSELY leave room to infer. Then know that their readers will come to different conclusions—more than that: they HOPE their readers will come to different conclusions. What do nonfiction authors believe will happen when readers interact with their text, I wonder? Certainly, when we read a nonfiction text, we add to our schema. More schema means more ability to infer. So maybe the more schema we have, the greater the chance is that we will infer in nonfiction. Again- this is my hypothesis (I’d love to hear what you think!). I’m thinking this because of my own reading life. I’m beginning to read this book about the disappearance of honey bees. I only have minimal schema for honey bees or the reasons for their disappearance. So far, I’ve been taking in the book. There’s no schema to replace or toss out, because there wasn’t much in there to start with. I have taken on the author’s words as “truth” because there is nothing in my schema to challenge it. And it used to be like that with books about teaching reading. Everything I read was new. Everything I read got added to my schema. But now that I have a lot of schema for teaching reading, I’m being more judgmental. As I read, I accept or reject ideas- I judge, draw conclusions, and make new hypotheses of my own. I infer the motives of the author. I infer or predict how my own children would react if I tried the same things. I have enough schema that I can do all this. Inferring in math: In math, we sometimes are given all the facts and we can simply solve a problem. But often, there are gaps that call for our schema. When that is the case, inferring comes into play. Any time we must sprinkle in some judgment to come up with a solution, we are using our inferring abilities. Both word problems and real life problem solving leave plenty of room for judgment. Interestingly, two people could come to the same conclusion or solution via separate inferences, based on different schema. Inferring in science and social studies: As I discussed above, scientists infer when they make a hypothesis, a prediction or an estimate. As they watch an experiment unfold, they are no doubt making inference after tiny inference. For as data-based as science is, it is impossible to take out the necessity of human inference. Social studies, on the other hand is the story of humanity. Not only is social studies based on inferences made by people who lived before us, but as we interpret it, we base it on the way we live now. We infer why people acted the way they did, and we predict how people will act in the future. To have a deep understanding of history, economics, and geography, we must integrate our schema of all three. Based on our knowledge of geography, we can make inferences about historical events. It behooves us to remember that no historical or current event is coming through a pure filter. All media is told through and viewed through different people’s schema. For now, that’s what’s in my brain. I’m hoping though, that there will be readers who will bravely make it through this ENTIRE blog, and lend their own brain to me. Please argue, add, and subtract. Do you agree, disagree? Where are the overlaps with other strategies? What about math, science, and social studies? I’m sure there’s more to add there. Please… lend me your schema! 13 Comments
	The Open Brain Project by: BookMuncher, 02-20-2009 This post holds the rationalization for a new 7 part blog series I’m calling The Open Brain Project. Not all 7 blogs will be completed back to back. They may not even be completed until the summer. But eventually, I’ll do the work of opening my brain and thinking through each of the 7 comprehension strategies cited in the proficient reader research. For broader purposes, I’m going to call them “thinking strategies” (more on that later). The more I talk to teachers, the more I realize that we—myself included—leave a lot up to chance. Seemingly simple terms for comprehension strategies (that we all claim are important and many of us teach in-depth) have vastly different meanings to different people. In fact, there are some strategies that even as teachers, we hem and haw while trying to give a straight definition. Or, we can define it narrowly- in the area of reading. But to widen our lens and describe how the strategy can be used to think about math, science, social studies, and other daily problems is a stretch. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel I have any business teaching kids how to do something that I haven’t explored myself. Notice that I’m not saying I have to have mastered it; I’m okay with learning alongside my children (in fact, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing these past 5 years!). But I cannot mold minilessons and guide readers in conferences, if I am not simultaneously reflecting on the authenticity of the skills I am attempting to impart to the reader. Is what I’m teaching useful? real? transferable? meaningful? ‘Cause it’s not going to stick past their 2nd grade year if the answer is ‘no.’ I’m not training children to be successful in my classroom. I’m helping future citizens be successful in life. Therefore, I am in search of the answer to this question: How do I use each of these strategies in my own life— not just in reading, but in understanding my world throughout the day? I’m writing these blogs to clarify the use of each strategy, not for kids, but for myself. In other words, as a writer, I’m selfishly writing this series to help me grow my thinking about my own personal strategy use. As a reader of this blog, if you want to also know the answer to my question, I suggest writing some reflections of your own. Or, if that’s not your thing, read Mosaic of Thought (2nd ed.) by Keene and Zimmerman, because they have already answered it more thoroughly and more eloquently than I EVER could. Meanwhile, I’m going to attempt to open my brain, the same way that we do when we model for kids. The difference is that when we model for kids, we typically try to know what we’re doing! I plan on not really knowing that- I’m just going to lay it all out there. Feel free to peek at my thoughts and join in the discussion. We could really delve into each thinking strategy if we build on each other’s schema. The thinking strategies I will explore, although not necessarily in this order, are: Using Schema to Make Connections, Asking Questions, Making sensory images, Making inferences, Determining Importance, Synthesizing, Monitoring and Fixing Understanding My district is going with these terms, so I’m going to explore them as they stand, since the meaning changes a little depending on what you call it. If you want to have all 7 blogs in one place, but you are afraid you might miss some, I will try to link each new blog to this main introduction page. Kind of like a table of contents. If you bookmark this page, you’ll eventually be able to have all 7 when the below links become active. Using Schema to Make Connections Asking Questions Making Sensory Images Make Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Monitoring and Fixing Understanding I hope you’ll join me on this “intellectual journey”... After all, it's not that often that we open our brains for the whole world to see! 13 Comments*
	Times They Are A-Changin' by: BookMuncher, 01-20-2009 Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'. Listen to the song for free on Bob Dylan’s website. Happy Inauguration Eve! Peace! 2 Comments
	The Power of Possibility by: BookMuncher, 02-04-2009 Usually, I’m pretty good about sticking to the month-by-month units I plan before the school year starts. My major tweakings come within each unit, but the units themselves are usually chosen ahead because I know the big ideas I want kids to learn in second grade. However, with the movement of our district towards the Calkin’s Units of Study, colleagues are beginning to pilot and write their own unit order. I’ve been using the units for a couple of years, but I find myself wanting to support those who are starting out by following along with the order of units they have laid out. Because of that, I’ve had to do some major relooking at my path. I won’t give up on my belief that reading and writing need to be tightly intertwined. What’s changing is that I’m now having to work from writing (it’s more fixed than it used to be) to reading. That brings me to my January unit. I’ve named it Imagining the Possibilities. In Writer’s Workshop (which is really a ramped up Revision Unit), the major teaching points are: · Writers imagine how they want their piece to be in the end, and find ways to revise their piece to reach that goal. · Writers take out parts that repeat, don’t sound right, don’t make sense, or go out of the moment. · Writers revise their pieces to add mental images, show not tell, new leads and endings. · Writers find parts they love from favorite authors and books and then think about how they could revise their piece to try the same crafting moves. (We’ve already done authors as mentors, so they know how to identify and imitate, we’re just applying it to revision here.) · Writers prepare to talk clearly about specific revisions and the authors that have inspired them. (For our celebration) In Reader’s Workshop (which is really a unit on inferring), the major teaching points are: · Readers infer the meanings of unknown words by using text clues and their schema. · Readers infer a character’s personality or feelings by using text clues and their schema. · Readers infer, or predict, what will happen next by relying heavily on text clues and adding their schema to it. · Readers infer the author’s message and theme by identifying the important part and the character change. To kick off the unit, we talked all about what “Imagining the Possibilities” means. On one day, I showed them pictures on the smartboard—first of a rock. Then of all the beautiful and inspiring things people have done with a rock, because they could imagine new possibilities for it. I showed sand, then fabulous sand sculptures. I showed steel, then the Eiffel Tower. Another day, I posted Arthur Ward’s quote: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” I changed all the revision buckets so that on the front of them, a sign reads “IMAGINE NEW POSSIBILITIES.” On yet another day, I put three cans of play dough in the middle of the carpet and asked them to imagine the possibilities for those cans. They came up with everything from stacking them to opening them and creating a spaceship. Later, each child wrote on an index card a new possibility for something in their life that already exists. For example, “Where there is now my messy unorganized bedroom, I imagine a decorated, neat bedroom.” After all that, I hope they really get it: Nothing amazing can be created without a vision. The first writing teaching point is at the heart of our unit: Writers imagine how they want their piece to be in the end, and find ways to revise their piece to reach that goal. It dovetails with all the work I did with them to understand the power of possibility, and I’m not glazing over it. It’s actually inspired by the book Wondrous Words, by Katie Wood Ray. She spends a great deal of time in her book talking about how a good piece of writing is all in the planning. She says that writing a really strong, meaningful piece has absolutely everything to do with envisioning how we wish it will be in the end. And I don’t think she is talking organization via graphic organizers. I interpret her words to mean that writers have to think about how they want their reader to feel, what they wish their reader might think or do in response to reading the piece. I have asked each child to write what they imagine for their piece and stick it with a post-it note on the front of their work. Every single day we revisit those yellow post-its and ask ourselves, “Am I revising in ways that will get me here?” One child’s post it says, “I imagine my reader will feel terrified and ‘shooken’.” One’s says, “I imagine my reader will say, ‘I know just how you feel.’” This is nothing fancy. What’s new to me is that we’re doing it at all. We didn’t just write our imaginings and forget about them. We’ve held them up to be the golden standard. We’ve physically held them high in the air to show how high we will have to reach. Keeping our yellow post-its in the forefront of our minds has also forced children to locate the heart of their story. For it is there that they can truly get the most bang for their buck. I think they understand that if they can milk the heart of the story, their reader will be left breathless. Some of their important parts span three pages. And that’s not including the story’s beginning and lead up! We have been revising with flaps since September. I introduced the revising buckets early, because most of the children had participated in a revision museum in first grade, and I wanted them to be moving forward in second grade. Those who had not participated, latched on quickly because they wanted to touch the tape. J Could I actually still have a whole unit on revision without being redundant? I probably wouldn’t have done it had I not been following along with my colleagues new plan. I was so wrong! My kids are now embracing revision as a project- much like re-building a block tower. They have all but started over in some cases. I asked them to never throw away pages or parts in the trash can—I want the parents to see the way they have objectively parted with entire pages. THEY are teaching ME how to be relentless with my own writing. As for reading… the children are using writing as an anchor this month. Because of all our revision work, they have learned about inferring through the eyes of the writer. Think about it: Instead of writing, “Clara was terrified,” the author writes, “Clara’s heart thumped and her palms became clammy.” My 8 year old authors are saying, “The author showed, not told that Clara was scared. The author is making me INFER that Clara is scared.” My readers are realizing that it is the writer who sets up the reader to infer. The more thoughts, dialogue, and small actions the writer includes, the more opportunity there is for the reader to infer. The more thoughts, dialogue, and small action the author includes, the more mental images the reader can make. The terms, “Thoughts, dialogue, and small actions” have been our most recited WRITING terms since September. But now we are using them in reading more and more. This week, we made a chart. I wrote, “Readers infer a character’s personality and feelings by paying attention to their thoughts, dialogue, and small actions.” Kids found either a thought, a piece of dialogue, or a small action in their book and stuck it on the chart. They wrote what they are inferring because of that clue the author left for them. My readers are imagining what is below the surface. They are taking the clues the author leaves for them and imagining more. So basically, this month is about drawing out the invisible. It’s about having a vision beyond the here and now. I hope that some of the imagining they do today, will transfer to parts of their life beyond literacy tomorrow. That’s my vision. And if I can imagine it, I can make it be so! 12 Comments
	Lessons from a Pinecone by: BookMuncher, 01-12-2009 The other day when I went out to get the newspaper, there was a perfectly shaped pinecone lying with it at the foot of my driveway, even though there aren’t any trees within dropping distance. I brought it in the house as if it, too, were part of the daily news, and I put it on a ledge where I could see it. Just a few minutes ago, as I was half-planning, half-doodling, I looked at it and because it was rotated 90 degrees, I saw it for the first time from the bottom. Have you ever looked at an open pinecone from the bottom? Did you know that from the bottom, a brittle pinecone—a symbol for winter and the halt of growth-- actually looks like a blooming, wooden flower? What a timely, reenergizing discovery! Lesson One: Where there’s a winter, there must be a spring. January and February are dark, sometimes static months in the classroom. The kids (and teachers) have to readjust to a daily routine, but now, they must do it without the glitz and sparkle of the holiday, pushing back the darkness. I always find myself a little down in January for that reason. I can tolerate the darkness when it’s merrily lit and used not as a black blanket, but as a backdrop to show off the lights of the season. But the pinecone reminds me that there’s a flipside to everything. Look at it from an ordinary view, and it symbolizes winter. But turn it over and nature promises a spring. It reminds me that where there’s dark, there’s light, where there’s winter, there’s spring—simply because one cannot exist without the other. It must be so. Lesson Two: There is beauty in dark places. To find beauty in something so brown and brittle, is a welcome surprise. It reminds me of tough days as a teacher. How many small, beautiful comments kids speak or write on particularly trying days have gone unnoticed by me? Just as one cannot label winter as dark and ugly when there are pinecones to be found, one cannot—although we do it all the time—label an entire day as dark and ugly when there are pockets of light everywhere we look. The pinecone reminds me that on some days, I simply must look harder to find beauty. Whether I find it or not is directly related to how hard I look. I have a choice in what I see and what I don’t see. Lesson Three: What’s important is entirely up to me. Perhaps the greatest lesson of all comes not really from the pinecone itself, but from its position on the ground. This pinecone--who started its days in a tall pine tree in eastern Pennsylvania and lived through sun, sleet, snow, rain, and wind, and watched cars and people pass up and down our tiny street, and heard squirrels chittering in its branches—this pinecone had a life cycle and a purpose, however small. And at the end of its days, it lay right directly next to a fat newspaper stuffed with the stories of people from Philadelphia to Finland who lived through the same sun, sleet, snow, rain, and wind, who pass through good and bad times, and chitter about matters of importance and triviality. The two were sitting right directly next to each other, but still, I picked them both up. Picking up the pinecone and the newspaper, I waved it in the air at my husband and eagerly shoved it in his face. He nodded and smiled. He’s used to me collecting and displaying small things around the house. (My best find was a tiny blue robin’s egg- just cracked!) But if my husband had been the one to pick up the paper that day, he surely would have left the pinecone behind. Because honestly, what use is a pinecone? If you know about music, you’ll know that a dissonant chord is supposed to feel uncomfortable and unresolved. That’s kind of what it was like with the pinecone and the newspaper. In their awkward juxtaposition their mismatched partnership can remind us of so much. The quiet pinecone, whose farthest journey was from the tree on the side of my yard to the foot of the driveway and the noisy, raucous newspaper squawking about every misstep and fashion faux pas committed by people of “importance.” They existed in a funny way next to each other for a time. Laying there on the ground, I could have chosen to pick up both, one, or neither. Why is one more important than the other? How do I decide? It makes me wonder what is really—I mean, really—important. And why should the small, seemingly insignificant things in our lives be the ones that we routinely push out? Why should we decide to pick up the paper, but not the pinecone? Why do we assign importance to events and objects and tasks that others deem valuable? Why should we not be the ones to choose the way we balance our classrooms? After all, a day in the life of the teacher is full to the brim with small, seemingly insignificant moments. Perhaps there is no job blessed with as many precious small moments. But day after day, teachers choose to place importance on things that administration and parents have told them is important, when jeweled moment after moment slip by- wasted. Of all people, kids have an inherent ability to separate important from unimportant. Would a child have picked up the pinecone? You bet! We’ve got 20 teachers in our classroom who can teach us how to live better, if we’d only slow down, watch, and listen. I’m going to keep the pinecone. It doesn’t take up much room. I like that it hides a secret. And it’s a pretty good teacher. PS: Here's a silly picture of me and my pinecone (view from the bottom, of course). 21 Comments
	And so. by: BookMuncher, 03-27-2009 “And so.” “And so what?” said Abilene. “What happened then?” The bittersweet story called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane has woven itself in and out of our days for the last few weeks. The book has transformed a group of children who previously had an “every child for himself” stance to one who is ever so slightly more thoughtful about the position of another. We’re not quite finished reading it, and I’m happy for that. I wish it could go on and on. As it is, we read and reread. We’ve reread Chapter 4 three times. When the music of the words surrounds us, all arguments and off-task behaviors are suspended. (Do you blame me, then, for wanting it to never end?) Wisely, my children are seeing past the simple journey motif that works as a container for the deeper story, or inside story, as we’re calling it. They’ve realized that with each change Edward undergoes, he changes. They’ve also added that with each new person who loves him, he adds an emotion to his heart—sadness, anger, despair, empathy. But the irony of it is this: with each change Edward undergoes, my children are changing. It’s really remarkable. At first I was feeding it to them. Rereading the parts that pointed to Edward’s metamorphosis. Now, they are noticing things I haven’t, and they are making powerful text to world connections that I believe have the potential to alter the way they live. And so. And so what? The “so what” is that once again, it’s story—not my hours of planning, nor my carefully chosen words, nor our daily literacy routine—but pure, artfully sung story, that is wrapping its arms around my class and beckoning them to turn towards one another. Story is the one constant in my classroom that will always be the glue- no matter what curveballs I’m thrown. It’s the reason last year’s group experienced so many joyful moments together. (It’s the reason I haven’t changed that quote at the top of my blog!) You’d think I couldn’t come up with one more blog about story. You’d think that. But even if the world only had enough room for one story, it would still change with each new listener. And that would give me enough magical moments to marvel over every single time. And so. “And so he listened. And in his listening, his heart opened wide and then wider still.” 20 Comments
	Great Expectations by: BookMuncher, 11-13-2008 It has been The Month of Great Expectations. After a rocky start, our October unit, Making Meaning, came to a close on Friday. My plans were lofty and my expectations were high. I aimed to teach two comprehension strategies in reading, while also cementing their independence during conferences. In writer’s workshop, I planned to raise the quality of their small moments by focusing on identifying the important part and stretching it out, and adding small actions, dialogues, and thoughts. You might remember that my class is a challenging mixture of behaviors and special needs. With their uniqueness in mind, I made a conscious decision at the beginning of October, that I would do some purposeful overlooking. While it would be easy for me to make excuses for how the kids are presently (“My class just isn’t ready for deep conversations,” or “We’re still working on September routines,” or “This group needs something ‘different’”), it’s much harder to view the class as I wish them to be. But that’s how October was… Pretending it was May, I pushed forward. I asked the hard questions. I let them lead the discussions. I held them accountable at every conference. And I think most importantly, I did a thing I learned from Lucy Calkins. At every bend, I pretended as though the children themselves had set our compass and led the class down a certain road and as though they could surely do it independently, as well as teach the rest of the class. Like if Michael was reading a Magic Tree House and said something to me like, “I noticed this book started the same way as the last one- in the tree house in Frog Creek,” I’d respond with, “Are you saying that you discovered the story structure for Magic Tree House?!” A befuddled Michael would answer an unsure, “Yes.” And then I’d continue on, teaching him about story structure. With a post it note message to find the story structure of other books and a request to teach that to the rest of the class at sharing, I’d successfully convinced him that he was the sole founder and spokesperson for story structure in our classroom. Did Michael know what it was or what he was saying when he shared that innocuous detail? Of course not! Does it really matter whose idea it was? Of course it does. If I teach it, it’s mine. If Michael teaches it, it’s his. If Mackenzie adds on the next day by noticing that Mouse Soup has a story-within-a-story-structure, she now owns part of it. If Garret realizes a week later that a reader’s schema for certain structures can help them in his reading, he owns part of it. And really, just from being included in the pinnacle moment when Michael and Mackenzie and Garret proclaim their new-found knowledge to the group, don’t all the children own part of it? I know that I personally feel a part of the recent political scene, and I was thousands of miles from Grant Park on November 4th. But in a way, I’ve traveled the road- I’ve listened. I’ve pondered. I’ve felt. I believe that even though I’m in no way directly involved, I am a part of this new path our country is taking. The knowledge in our classroom is kind of like that. It is socially-constructed and therefore, more intricately woven. I think also, that the parts of it that belonged to the class collectively were stronger and more solid. If I deliver a message through a minilesson teaching point, it doesn’t have the same kind of evocative link as when it was built by the children over several weeks. Intimately tied to my pretending this month, was the children’s ability to converse. While all of the above was going on (I should get an Emmy), I was simultaneously attempting to mold their talk. On the first week in September, I introduced the four conversation stems: “So are you saying…”, “Can you say more about…”, “I agree or disagree because…” and “What do you mean by…” I had practically forced these phrases into the classroom’s daily vocabulary by posting the four statements and requiring partner #1 or #2 to begin with one of the phrases. At the beginning of October then, they were using those phrases daily in their partner talk, as well as in math and science. They were ready for whole group discussions. As you know from my other blogs on conversation, I believe it is one of (and I’m beginning to think ‘the’) most important factor in building a workshop classroom where the knowledge is socially constructed. Therefore, I started our whole group discussions in the reader’s workshop share portion of the day. In this month of Great Expectations, children shared their big discoveries and in an attempt to teach the rest of the class, their classmates responded by asking (sometimes relentlessly) for clarification. Meaning was made as listeners asked, “So are you saying that…” and the speaker responded, “No. I’m saying…” I was working tirelessly in the wings to do all the acting I mentioned before, but talk was sort of the soundtrack on our journey. It was what brought all my efforts to life. Without it, their vibrant ideas would have wilted away in silence. So when I think of October, I think of Great Expectations. Not so much Great Achievement. Of course I want my children to achieve, and I think they did achieve. But the difference between those two—Great Expectations vs. Great Achievement—is vast. Achievement places the onus on the children. Expectation is totally in my control. Had I waited for the children to lead; had I waited for them to achieve, I would have been letting them down. Of no fault of their own, they would have risen to exactly the level I expected them to. Who knew that part of having Great Expectations is pretending? I’ve never thought about it that way before… until now. After all, to expect truly great things, we must suspend reality. To expect is to look forward. To hope. And in order to convince children that they are worthy of great things, we have to treat them as if they are now, who we wish for them to be in the end. The phrase “living up to expectations” never held the same weight as it did for me in October of 2008. Old Blogs about Conversation: And they were better for having talked. Teach Towards June Through Forever TC: Growing Ideas through TALK Yak yak yak- structures for talking in class 3 Comments
	Cutting it Close by: BookMuncher, 10-14-2008 When I originally made my month by month plans for this year, September was set aside for reading and writing identities, routines, independence, and stamina. As it turned out, I spent the whole month doing these things, but most of my time and energy went into convincing these kids that they were readers and writers. In reality, every day was taught with a sense of urgency that went way beyond whether or not they could read quietly or cycle through the writing process independently. In reality, there were more days than not that I worried whether this group would ever truly love reading and writing. Usually, convincing children of their own innate literate selves is easy for me. Only after a few of my own anecdotes and a handful of read alouds, sprinkled with some suspense surrounding the classroom library- I’ve got them reeled in. Maybe this group knew that about me, and maybe they knew I needed a reality check. Because, boy—did they cut it close! Week after week, their attitude was indifferent. Everyone can bring in their Forever Books!! --- “Is it like, homework?” Nonfiction opening tomorrow? ---- “Oh.” Book nook time next week!! ---- “When’s lunch?” Sure, I had two or three kids that would give the conciliatory, “Hooray!”… but it almost made it worse. I wanted the whole class to cheer; I wanted everyone to beg for a basket to open. It wasn’t until the very end of this unit that I started to relax a little. I can’t pinpoint the turning point; maybe there wasn’t one. But without a discernable change, the mood in my classroom during reading and writing began to swing the other direction. Nothing drastic, mind you. But at least it was something. By the time we got to Friday, our first Reading and Writing Celebration, there was a buzz. With Strauss playing the background, each child came up to receive his or her bookshelf, and the rest of the group clapped with genuine enthusiasm. During our shoeless workshop, almost everyone was actually reading. And in writing, they excitedly picked out a short excerpt they were proud of, and practiced it for our symphony of voices. The seed notebooks that I presented to them were the biggest hit of the day. They proudly wore them around their necks, imitating my own writer’s notebook by sketching and making lists of possible small moments. I’m ready to leave that nail-biting month behind me. I know they are ready to move on too. I am so eager to get into some meaty teaching- I think that when we really start to shine a more focused spotlight on comprehension, it will improve the quality of their reading and talk. October’s unit is called “Making Meaning.” As you might remember from this summer, I’m going to experiment with teaching the comprehension strategies in a more spiraled way. So they will be introduced a little sooner, and then I’ve planned when and how they will be revisited and deepened after the holidays. In October, I choose three bends in the road that I believe will have a large impact on their understanding of text. You’ll notice that the last one is not a strategy per say, but a concept that I believe is fundamental to discussing books. Bend in the Road 1: Readers make meaning by asking questions before, during, and after reading. Bend in the Road 2: Readers make meaning by using their schema to make connections to the text. Bend in the Road 3: Readers make meaning by noticing how the characters think, act, and feel. In writing, our unit is also called Making Meaning. But this unit centers around how writers can craft their small moments to convey meaning. September was spent on writing small moments also, but they aren’t strong pieces of writing yet. I feel good about what was accomplished; I think I raised the bar more than I did last year. With this group, I’ve already explicitly taught them how to choose a small moment, begin the story close to the moment, tell it over their fingers, sketch the pictures, and stretch out the story over all three pages. We also are revising with flaps and tape and colored pens. About half of my kids went through a writer’s workshop last year. I decided to trust that they would lead the way (especially in the revision) and they did. I feel good about the group’s independence and knowledge of the writing process. But I’ve got tons of ramblers and a handful of perfectionists. We’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of focus and style. So our three bends in the road for September are: Bend in the Road 1: Writers make meaning by making their words match the movie in their minds. Bend in the Road 2: Writers make meaning by streeeeetching out one small moment. Bend in the Road 3: Writers make meaning by revising through the eyes of a reader. I’ve attached my “big picture” plans to this blog if you want to see some of the minilessons I’m planning on doing underneath each reading and writing bend in the road. The first page of the document is added on for you, just so that you can see what “prerequisites” are needed (in my opinion). The last page shows a quick snapshot of just some of the small group needs my particular class is already demonstrating. (I've also replied to this blog with some pictures of our room now that it's got some student work hanging.) Today, I’m off to find some Wonder Boxes. I want my class to be immediately immersed in deep thinking, and Wonder Boxes are a nice way to set the mood. I predict a month filled with the children’s questions and unique voices… but you know me. I won’t hold back: stay tuned for a brutally honest recount of our October Unit. Wish me luck! 13 Comments
	No miracles yet by: BookMuncher, 11-09-2008 Teachers are miracle workers, not magicians. I suppose the difference is that miracles require hope and desire and some human intervention. Magic requires a wand and a flick of the wrist. How I wish teachers were magicians! It’s been three weeks since that fateful day when the reset button was pressed. Beginning at the beginning, my class and I have been taking things slowly—very slowly. We’ve accomplished lots of things, but I still wish we were further along. So far, the kids have enough stamina to read for about 18 minutes at their desks. They aren’t yet reading just right books, so that number will probably go up or down with that introduction. This week, the book nooks were opened for reader’s workshop, but just a little at a time. First, they read for 15 minutes at their desks and 5 minutes at their book nooks. Then, it was 10 minutes/10 minutes, and 5 minutes/15 minutes. On Monday, we’ll try the whole workshop at their book nooks. The group leans heavily towards nonfiction, which is a challenge since their levels lean heavily towards easy. I have some easy nonfiction, but certainly not enough to sustain them. One of my little guys with special needs will only read nonfiction- or he wanders (physically, not mentally). For him, we’ll probably have to pull a lot from the school library. Another child shows oppositionally defiant behavior, so once she’s decided something’s more interesting than her book, there’s not much moving her. A few others display rather serious (but normal) attentional issues, so I’m thinking they may need more structure than the book nooks can provide. I’ll give them a chance, but at the rate we’re moving, I’m not willing to sacrifice even a few days of distraction. On top of all this, I am being pulled from my classroom like buttered movie popcorn pulled from a bag—frequently. I missed Thursday for an all day data meeting and Friday morning to do Dibels testing. (That’s two reading workshops.) I’ll be there Monday to rally the troops, and then I’ll be out Tuesday for a literacy committee meeting. Friday for a personal day. (That’s four if you’re counting.) After that, the next Wednesday is ANOTHER literacy committee meeting. And one week after that, I have another school sanctioned event to attend across the state. (A grand total of 6 days in 4 weeks.) !!!! How am I supposed to teach??!! If you haven’t inferred it yet—this group needs uber-structure and they don’t take nicely to change. So- with those challenges in mind, I have no choice but to move forward. Next week, we’ll spend the whole week (what I have of it) on just right books. Since I’ll be in and out, I think we’ll save choosing our first pile of books for the following week. Layered on top of our regular workshop minilessons have been- and will continue to be- discussions about our reading lives. Having already stretched out conversations on our forever books and our reading memories, we are now beginning to talk about our reading identities. I shared my bag of books I’m reading (and going to read) with them the other day, and it was surprisingly well received. They enjoyed seeing how I had left a hole in the middle of Philadelphia Inquirer where I’d cut out an article and then tried to convince my husband to take a bus to NYC. They loved the “fat” fiction books I am currently reading because one of them was the very same book pictured in my reading memory. They loved to hear me list all the places that I always carry a book, and how I pulled my husband across Europe searching for the 3rd book in my series. Building on this success, I asked all the special area teachers to share their piles of reading with their students next week. And, during a time other than workshop, the kids are going to make little book people next week (body is a folded book, with a head, legs, and arms) that have information about their reading lives inside them. My goals from now till the end of September are: · Readers grow their reading muscles by reading just right books. · Readers finish one book before moving on to another book. One way they do that is to carry it with them and read it wherever they are. (i.e. The book you take home should probably be the book you are reading at workshop.) · Readers always have a plan for their reading. (i.e. In your bookshelf, you should always have a book you will read next.) · Readers have a wide reading life. (i.e. Genres in your bookshelf should be varied and for different purposes.) · Readers choose books by thinking about BOTH whether the book is just right and whether it fits into their reading life. I wish I were a little more gung-ho. I think I’m at that point where I just need and want to get them in groups and do some real teaching. I have a million teaching points brewing for most of them—I’ve only been doing short observation conferences for the purpose of getting to know them. I feel like there are so many things I could teach them that would move them forward. But this really isn’t the time—not yet. Pulling a group would mean that I trust the other 14 of them to not only stay in their book nooks (a feat in itself)—but to actually do meaningful reading. It’s not enough that they are quiet when we are conferencing. All of this is for naught if the only meaningful time kids get is when the teacher is hovering over them. They must be unquestionably and irrefutably independent before I can begin. No minute of our short workshop will be wasted. I’ve got hope and desire and I’m trying my darnedest to intervene. But no miracles yet. Just a bunch of kids and one teacher, trying to figure each other out. 16 Comments
	Somebody Hit the Reset Button by: BookMuncher, 09-16-2008 I apologize if you’ve tried to contact me in the last few weeks. I’ve been preoccupied and subsequently missed out on Proteacher, O Magazine, both party’s national conventions, and my other favorite forms of entertainment. You see, I was minding my own business, playing let’s-plan-for-school like always. When, out of nowhere… somebody hit the reset button. Somebody hit the reset button and everything that I’d earned in my last two years of play, went up in a poof of smoke! My new class thinks having a conversation is about saying your piece, then rolling on your back. Some tell me they like to read; many say they are “luke warm.” Read aloud is a really opportune time to tie their sneakers together or pick mulch out of the treads of their shoes. They all love writing, but a request for a preliminary small moment, yields stories about seeing nighttime constellations that morph into trips to the moon to plant a flag and I-like-pokemon, followed by I-like-baseball and I-like-school and I-like-whatever-I can-see-from-my-desk-right-now. Other small moments read like eerie, ominous captions, “The lizard did not notice the rattlesnake. The end.” See—it turns out that the reset button isn’t actually pressed on the last day of school. Summer is spent in a blissful state of achievement and pride. Sure, you’re not playing the game. But your progress is safely being stored on your hard drive. If you wanted to pull it up, all those precious memories and a-ha moments could be refreshed. Because up until the day my new bunch of little enigmas walked in the door, I was feeling pretty confident. (I did have information saved on my hard drive, after all.) Alas, the button has been pressed. So now: I’m really, really busy. I have to start on the very first board—and I don’t even have fire power on my side yet. Everything has to be re-earned. And so often, I find myself deep in thought. First, how to hook them? Then, how to teach them? And finally, how to make it stick? Through it all, they’re going to need to move and groove. (Shouldn’t be a problem since many of them dance at random times anyways.) But please, no pep talks or “I’m sorry’s” or “It must be difficult after looping’s”. Don’t worry about me. Because here’s my stance: Teaching is infinitely better than a video game. When you reset a video game, you can replay it and know just where to get fire power and mushrooms, and you might even be able to take hidden shortcuts. There’s a guarantee that with enough practice, you will prevail over the game. Teaching, though, is an eternal, vast puzzle- an intellectual test. There’s no “winning”, and there’s certainly no shortcuts. How cliché it sounds… but for me, it’s at the heart of what I love about the profession. Every new class offers a new set of challenges- some offer more than others. It’s as if this year’s game is the same in concept (same title: 2nd grade, same task: teach the kids), but entirely different in practice (do it again, but standing on your head). The scenery has changed, the mood has changed, even some of my goals have changed. I can’t grab my joystick and run surely through board number one, hopping over each bad guy and pit fall that I’ve memorized from years past. Everything is new. So you might not see me around too often. ‘Cause I was playing this game and somebody— fortuitously, thankfully, *splendidly* -- hit the reset button. 20 Comments
	Photo Share, Part 2 by: BookMuncher, 08-01-2009 Designing a classroom learning environment is a seriously under-rated part of being a teacher. Not many people realize how much creativity, flexibility, and pedagogical research goes into setting up a classroom in which children can learn to the best of their abilities. It has to be just the right mix of teacher organization and child-centered access, independent, small group, and full group working areas, wide-open spaces and cozy nooks and crannies. Every year I adopt a couple new tricks that help me balance everything at once. This year was no different. Wanna see? Come in! Click here to view my classroom. (Let me know if you can't view it, and I'll send you another option.) New to my room and courtesy of Proteacher’s very own liketeaching1, is the dining room table arrangement. I am so excited to see if this arrangement works for me all year. You can see in the whole-room pictures on the slide show that instead of four or five groups, I have 3 larger groups of 6 or 7. They have a desk in the middle. This really helps me because we have flip top desks that require the children to move (or shove) the community supply tub onto their neighbor’s desks. I also like this new arrangement because it simply gives the kids more work space. I can collect items in the middle desk and they can share items there too. I might try keeping the kid’s writing from throughout the year inside that middle desk. If my district won’t buy me tables, I’ll make my own. So thanks, liketeaching! I was able to create quite a few extra book nooks this year that I didn’t have before. It worked out because I kept two desks that I had from when Buggy4books was student teaching with me, and I split them apart to form two book nooks with room for books on top. It’s a great way to form nooks because desks can be pushed into lots of random spots in a classroom where other pieces of furniture won’t fit. And don’t forget—they don’t have to go up against a wall. They can be built out from other furniture, creating yet another nook simply by being angled perpendicularly. You get a lot of bang for your buck because they leave room on top for books and room underneath for kids. (Not to mention the extra storage space you get from putting stuff on the inside.) Beside the theme of “Reader’s Clubhouse” I think this year’s classroom also has a bit of a fabric theme going. None of it matches, because all of it was CHEAP! I like all of it separately. Together, it leaves a little to be desired, but I figure- what the heck. It does give the room a warm, cozy feel. All of it was purchased in the clearance section of Walmart’s fabric department for either one or two dollars per yard. Stay tuned! Part 3 will come in several days. I want to post our new Learning Map (I’m tired of the timeline) and a few other things that aren’t prepared yet. Happy decorating! 57 Comments
	Photo Share, Part 1 by: BookMuncher, 08-15-2008 After a full week of jumping up and down off my wobbly stool, trying to affix trees to the ceiling so they looked like they grew there (because felt trees are oh-so realistic), I finally finished the entrance to the library and our clubhouse door. I thought I’d share just a few pictures now… (Click on comments to view the pictures.) Picture one is our clubhouse door. Not much to say about this except that it was very difficult to get up and I hope it’s still there on Monday! The “Reader’s Clubhouse” sign at the top doesn’t show up too well because it’s red paint on brown “wood.” Picture two is a close up of one of the kid’s favorite features—the spy holes. There are three and I put colored cling wrap behind them, so one is blue, one is green, and the other is pink tinted. Picture three is a picture of our tree proscenium. It’s not done, but seeing as how I worked on it so long, I thought I’d post it so far. It still needs a “wood” sign hanging in the middle to make it look more clubhouse-y. I’m excited to open our blinds (we’re trying to keep it cool right now) because the lighter green leaves in the very back are see-through, so they should catch the light. That’s all for now! Watch for more pictures next week! 19 Comments
	Think BIG: 1+1=3 by: BookMuncher, 08-15-2008 We are so conditioned to teach in neat side-by-side boxes—reading, writing, math, etc… Whether we do it because that’s how we were taught, or because we have so many standards to cover in such little time, or simply because we struggle to envision something different, I think it’s time to face the fact that we could be doing more (but don’t worry because as you’ll see, in the end, it may amount to doing less, better). Meshing reading and writing instruction, in my opinion, isn’t just “another thing to add to our already crowded plates.” On the contrary, it’s a great simplifier—a mighty fork come to sweep some of the excess junk out of our swelling instructional diets. To me, once we can “see” an entire year of reading curriculum and an entire year of writing curriculum separately, it is time to “see” an entire year of literacy curriculum. Thinking BIG- that is, envisioning the major literacy goals we have for the children who will soon go out into this world- serves both teacher and child. It sparks efficient, meaningful, and rich instruction. Our goals may be lofty; but with a little imagination, we can afford to dream big. Why Think BIG? By integrating our reading and writing curriculums, we can deliver efficient, meaningful, and rich instruction: Efficient: We all feel the crunch. We have so many books to read, so little time. So many authors and genres and series to expose the children to, so many skills and strategies to scaffold, so many celebrations to hold. Even though efficiency is the least important reason on my list, it cannot be minimalized. By packaging reading and writing as one combined curriculum, we are bound to gain time for deeper conversations, longer thinking time, wider reading and writing opportunities. The time we gain can be put, not towards cramming more in, but towards digging deeper. Meaningful: We are teaching children to be literate, intelligent, thinking individuals. If we wish to nurture children who do not simply excel at filling in worksheets and answering end of the chapter questions, our instruction has to match the desired outcome. The desired outcome is a student who autonomously wonders, connects, envisions, infers, synthesizes. It’s going to take some powerfully authentic, deeply thought-out instruction to achieve an outcome like that in just one year. Fortunately for us, we know that in excellent teaching (no matter the subject), the most retention, application, and extension happens when children make connections. Why make it difficult on them? Why teach them to infer what the author does not explicitly say one month, and then in a separate time and place, ask them to be the writer who shows, not tells? If we don’t find the connections ourselves first, the children won’t find them either. And if they do find them, it won’t be to their maximum benefit; it’ll be more of Keene’s “happy accidents.” We want to squeeze every last bit of teaching time we can muster from our hectic days. Connecting reading and writing isn’t the same as 1+1=2, because when they are combined, the impact they make as one entity is a force unto itself ... therefore, 1 + 1 = 3. (This isn’t math we’re talking about, so I’m taking creative license.) You think you saw lightbulbs going off at the beginning of your reading and writing workshop journey? Wait until you see what larger literacy themes kids will construct if only given the chance. Rich: Talk about creating a literary history together. The Relatives Came becomes the centerpiece for a reading and writing unit as children feel the power that comes only by making a real and relevant text to self connection and then, with hardly a second thought, examine the book as a writer, striving to write a piece that, like Rylant’s work, is so purely and honestly crafted that surely any reader can and will connect with it. Owl Moon conjures mental images so cold, that the children can feel the wet warmth of the scarves over their own mouths and, again with hardly a second thought, write poetry that solicits the same effect in their readers. Teaching reading and writing as if they always have been and always will be two sides of the same coin, conditions children to apply their learning from one to the other with hardly a second thought. Weaving reading and writing together by letting our language slip with smooth familiarity between the two, communicates to children that they are one, infinitely rich process—to even attempt to tease them apart, compartmentalizing them in neat boxes, is a futile act. How to Think BIG: Sure- we know it would be nice if we could merge our reading and writing, but how? It’s not as easy as it seems. For more information on the topic, read Leah Mermelstein’s K-2 Reading and Writing Connections. It was her book that helped me stretch my thinking in this area. Other than that, here are some suggestions: Think big. Think in terms of the bigger literacy concepts first, then lay out the strategies and skills that fall under them. Just for fun, see what would happen if you didn’t structure your reading unit around only one skill. In writing, we don’t tend to structure the whole unit around only one skill, but in reading we do. Try naming your units as genres or even authors or story parts (like character study). You may still be able to keep your reading strategies in tact, but naming the unit something bigger will allow you to tie that reading strategy with the writing ones. Make a model. If you’re a concrete person, physically lay out the skills and/or units you want to teach. On blue index cards, write strategies and skills you want to cover in reading. Besides the big six strategies, cards might also read: retelling, fluency strategies, or character study. On yellow index cards, write your writing units. Really, you should write the skills and strategies for writing, just as we do for reading—we tend to think in units because many of us use Lucy Calkins. But you’ll want to break the strategies out on the cards because it could help you with matching later. For example, on the Writing for Readers card, you might bullet the main skills of spelling strategies and punctuation (and later that will help you match spelling to decoding strategies). Finally, play the matching game! Use green cards to title matches. Again: Not as easy as it seems. Sometimes- when you’re lucky- a writing unit could become the title of the entire unit. Sometimes, you’ll put two things together but have to marry them by a genre or author. Keep in mind that you’re matching r & w strategies and skills that are sometimes sort of inverted. Like encoding vs. decoding, making mental images vs. writing imagery, inferring vs. showing, not telling, synthesis vs. revision. So actually, the title of the unit becomes pretty important because it is the link. It makes the connections between reading and writing transparent for the kids. Don’t get hung up on matching every single r & w skill because even though reading and writing are two sides of the same coin, they are not the same, and some of the processes are different. Leah Mermelstein has a chapter in her book that breaks down where reading and writing are the same, but also where they differ. Be sure not to cut something out because it doesn’t have a match. Work flexibly from reading to writing OR from writing to reading. In other words, don’t worry if in some months, the writing drives the reading while in other months, it’s the other way around. When I did my first integrated plans last year, I found that writing drove the reading in quite a few months because I had the Units of Study and I wanted to keep some of them. So, Writing for Readers would naturally call for a conventions/accuracy unit in reading. Renaming the whole thing “Accuracy” logically ties in with the goals of both reading and writing. On the other hand, a reading nonfiction unit might be the driving factor for a writing nonfiction unit. Frontload with specific texts and authors. Knowing your units ahead of time will allow you to systematically introduce kids to authors and key books much earlier than the unit comes up. If you know that you’ll study Langston Hughes when you teach kids how to infer in poetry, you can spend earlier months reveling in his word choices. If you know that Voices in the Park will be used later to discuss perspective, you can let the kids puzzle through how the book actually works in your earlier questioning unit. Going to study Cynthia Rylant later? Use The Relatives Came heavily in Small Moments so that when you introduce her as a mentor, all the kids have a feeling of “I know her, and she’s going to be a good teacher!” Ask yourself “What kind of reading skills or strategies does writing such as this require?” OR “What reading strategy requires the same kind of work as this writing strategy?” when trying to move from a writing unit to a reading unit. Don’t forget—we’re not just matching writing unit titles to reading strategies. Go deeper than that. If you’ve written the basic skills or strategies that go with each writing unit on the card, you can ask yourself the above questions. For example, when children revise, they are changing and rewriting their original thoughts to more accurately and effectively reflect their goals. In the same way, when children synthesize in reading, they are changing and revising their thinking to make something new. Those two units could go together. Synthesis could also pair up with a student-led research writing unit because synthesis is a necessary strategy that writers use when they are determining what to include. (To figure out those two options, I asked myself the second question.) Another example: if you are working with a nonfiction writing unit in which you expect children to create all-about books, ask yourself the first question. The answer: in order to read a book that is organized by subtitles and chapters, a reader must determine importance. Actually more important is that as a writer, the children are determining importance as they decide what will go in every chapter and section. I hope you can see that it’s more than simply matching up the nonfiction writing unit with the “nonfiction reading strategy” of determining importance. You need to think through why and how they go together by exploring what lies under these concepts. Give yourself a break if this is your first year teaching either reader’s or writer’s workshop the whole way through. It’s pretty necessary that you concentrate on teaching either reading or writing well before trying to imagine how they can jigsaw. Surely there are many ways to think about marrying our reading and writing instruction. But I hope that these tips will guide you if you’re in the beginning stages of this work, as I am. Even if you’re not ready to make the full leap of reorganizing your whole curriculum, pausing to think about the underpinnings of these processes we so faithfully teach, will come out in your daily interactions with children… and they will be better for it! 36 Comments
	08-09 Literacy Units by: BookMuncher, 07-09-2009 Thought I'd share... I've put the final touches on my Reading and Writing plans for this coming school year. No day-to-day teaching points; I can't predict what my kids will need. But this document includes: Literacy Unit Titles Reader's Workshop Skills and Strategies Writer's Workshop Skills and Strategies Author Genre Life and Learning Mentor Celebration Anchor Read Alouds * See the key on this document for more information on each category. If anyone wants to talk reading and writing integration or strategy integration... post a reply! 55 Comments
	Matching Room Set-Up with Literacy Goals by: BookMuncher, 08-12-2008 I have to admit- I really like August. Even though it means gearing up for another high-paced school year and saying good-bye to summer, August also means room set-up! Maybe I was an interior decorator in a former life, because I love envisioning fresh ways to create new areas, gain extra floor space, or give the room a different feel. But as much as I love to jump in head first, I always have detailed plans and sketches. This year is no different; take a look at my ultimate goals for this year’s classroom. Attached is a tentative sketch of my set up for this year. (blue = books, pink = carpet,yellow = lamp) I made it after trying several other sketches. But I wasn’t just moving things to move them. I had some academic (mostly literacy) goals in my mind, and for each one, I reflected upon how my room set-up could facilitate or even undermine that goal. The goals and their resulting room changes are below. You may recognize some of them from my earlier summer blog, A Shiny New Vision. Goal: To intimately weave together reading and writing Room Set-Up: As the years have passed, my books have spilled further and further into other areas of the classroom. Due to the sheer size of my library, the books need to be spread out. So this year, I’m going to embrace that fact and spread the books strategically around the room- nonfiction in front of my desk, chapter books in the back, picture books in the actual library, poetry on the side, spotlights in the front. Spaces to write are not going to be grouped in one place either; they are more interwoven than usual, with one table breaking up the desk area. The idea is that the whole space is literate- reading and writing spaces cover every surface. Goal: To teach math, social studies, and science in a workshop setting Room Set-Up: The desk arrangement I have sketched here is something new for me, and I don’t know if it’s going to work. I’m attempting to make the room feel more like a scientist’s laboratory, a writer’s workshop, or an artist’s studio. In a perfect world, the desks in my classroom would blend in- not be clumped together in the best real-estate in the room. I never instruct kids from their desks. Since I genuinely try to teach in a workshop style, my children are only seated at their desks for writer’s workshop and a few other independent times. Once I actually get into my classroom and see the actual proportions of furniture, I will be able to see if I can further separate the table groups or if my sketch will even work. Goal: To increase the efficiency of reading conferences (conference management, supplies, meeting location) Room Set-Up: I’ve moved my low kidney table to the very edge of our large group meeting area. It’s a more central location for me to hold conferences: last year I used the floor because a table wasn’t convenient enough. Goal: To build a strong literate history through read-alouds, conversation, and book clubs Room Set-Up: The most prized spot in the classroom is our library/meeting area. This year, that area will be reserved only for picture books. I have really struggled with whether I should spotlight chapter books or picture books for second graders. In the second year of my loop, it made sense to spotlight chapter books because 1.) I knew that all my readers were ready and able to read some type of chapter book 2.) it was a way to reorganize the library to reflect growth 3.) they had already read so many of my picture books that it risked getting old. But now that I have a new group, I want to downplay the chapter books, especially at first. Children will always find them because 2nd graders are chapter book-magnets. So to build a literate history, I want our mentor authors to be close at hand every day as we meet as readers and writers. Maybe bloggin’ about my plans will hold me over until I can actually go into my classroom! As usual, I’ll post pictures a few weeks into August. 37 Comments
	Teach toward June through Forever by: BookMuncher, 07-29-2008 In my last blog, I suggested that we adopt a way of thinking about our role as teachers that extends beyond a list of skills, beyond our beloved reading strategies even. I called for a greater attention to nurturing the art of the conversation as a good place to begin. If we are to have a hand in a future peace, we must not teach to only transform children’s way of being right now when they are under our care, but we must always teach towards June through Forever- when they have long since passed for the last time through our classroom doors and into the world. Plan for Forever? Affect what children do, not only on the weekends, but how they handle themselves at a corporate meeting? That’s a tall bill- I can hear you saying it. We’re used to planning for next week, next month. Some of us plan on a yearly scale. But how do we plan for Forever, so that what we teach isn’t just a teeny blip on a child’s life radar? These are some key words we can test against our teaching points, teacher/child interactions, and daily methodology. They all translate to longevity. · Transparency- do children easily see why we are doing this? · Relevance- how will this help children outside the walls of this classroom? · Applicability- is how I’m teaching this idea going to apply to later life in a meaningful, useful way? Teaching children to talk well fits all of the above descriptions. I emphasize “teaching” because it is not enough to just provide time for talk, as I believe my last summer’s talk blog communicated. I emphasize “well” because it is not enough to teach them to have conversations that never touch their hearts or that do not open their mind to other ways of thinking and feeling. I’d like to describe a construct that we can use in our classrooms every day. As important as independent reading, conferencing, and reading aloud, I hope you can make room in your schedule for the conversation circle. Before I outline the conversation circle, let me try to divide up who the credit belongs to, because it certainly isn’t me! Pieces of the conversation circle come from the idea of the interactive read aloud or read aloud with accountable talk. The IRA is commonly studied and written about at Teacher’s College and in their many books, as well as all over the country. It’s hard to know who to give the credit to for that part of it. The idea of holding a student-run book conversation (not quite a book club, though) was introduced to me by a workshop at our district, which was basically a snapshot of an entire course at a local college called Teaching Readers to Think. The conversation circle is really just a discussion that follows after a regular interactive read aloud. It is a totally student-run conversation about the book and its bigger themes and implications. The course at our local college calls this conversation part of the read aloud “Symphony of Talk” because all voices meld together. Although I think that name is beautiful, I did not wish to begin calling things by different names after all my hard work to do the opposite, so for my class, I call it simply a “conversation circle.” Although the workshop advocated running it in a pretty predictable routine (below), I think that however you can make time for talk, you should. For example, a conversation circle could be held after a Debbie-Miller-type strategy read aloud (as long as you don’t expect the conversation to be about the strategy). Or the conversation could be held at a different time, not directly after the book to satisfy time restraints. Since conversations take time, they may not happen every day, but obviously the more, the better. According to the workshop presenter the entire routine would go like this: Read Aloud with modeling Teacher reads aloud the book, stopping at pre-planned spots to model a specific strategy in a “think aloud” manner. Read Aloud with partner talk Teacher continues reading aloud, but after modeling in two or three spots, now releases some of the responsibility by asking reading partners to turn and talk in 2 or 3 pre-planned spots. In this way, they can attempt the same strategy that was just modeled in a controlled environment—the teacher has chosen a place where success is probable, the students get to hear another person’s thoughts, and they are not yet left to deciding when to use the strategy. Conversation Circle When the book is finished, the teacher asks children to take their places in the conversation circle. I find that it is helpful to have assigned spots because our space is tight and because quiet children are more likely to not offer up ideas if they are surrounded by others who are doing the same thing. Once the children are in the circle, my ritual is to say, “Who would like to start?” I usually choose a child who tends to listen more than talk. That child starts, and then here comes the fun part- you just let ‘em fly! That’s right—no interrupting! I’ve found that it’s pretty hard to not interrupt at all. So I try my very hardest to contribute to the conversation as much as my fair share allows. If I were a kid in the class, how much would it be fair for me to add in my thoughts? (It usually amounts to me getting to say about 1 – 3 short comments.) That’s as much air space as I get to have—just what everyone else has. When I do talk, I go along with their topics. I don’t offer up anything about the conversation itself. You’re probably wondering—what do they talk about? The book, of course! There’s no need to prompt them more than that. Trust me, they have thoughts about the book and they’ve had many conversations in their lives. Unknowingly, you have already taught them what to talk about when you modeled your thinking and they practiced on each other in the interactive read aloud portion. You’ve also already taught them how to talk enthusiastically about books if you talk enthusiastically about books every day. Any time you say, “I just read the best book because the author somehow was able to surprise me!”—you are modeling the kinds of things to talk about in conversation circle. Don’t expect them to strategy-speak. If they do that, you might want to worry a little—do they honestly think real readers talk like that? Sure, the strategies play their part. A child here and there will surely mention that they had such a good mental image when… or they inferred something because…, but they are more likely to say “I could really picture it when,” and “I thought that because.” Because this is about getting caught up in authentic talk. It’s a time reserved not for teacher talk- we get to talk a whole lot during the day. Children quickly realize that the conversation circle is theirs. OK. So you did the first part—you let ‘em fly. And Michael talked and then Rosie added something and then Michael talked and then Cara brought up something really controversial and Ernie said, “But…”, and then Michael cleared up the misunderstanding. And it goes on like this until you can’t bear to listen anymore. Surely this warrants an interruption? Nope. The conversation circle is theirs. Transparency, relevance, applicability. Why have a time for student talk if the teacher is going to—like every other minute of the school day—take up the baton and lead the orchestra? This isn’t our show, it’s theirs. Certainly this first conversation (and I guarantee the same goes for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc…) doesn’t sound like a world-changing peace mission. But a first grade reader on the first day of school also doesn’t sound like a first grade reader on the 100th day of school. This is part of their learning, and the negotiation is EVERYTHING. The negotiation between voices is everything—I think it bears repeating. If we are teaching with June through Forever in mind, then we need to let them struggle. We need to let them feel what an unsatisfying conversation feels like. We need to let the listeners observe while the leaders say everything they were going to say—but not the one really important idea that only they are thinking the whole time. We need to let the conversation end with a big, fat period and some silent reflection time. We need to cheerily say, “Well? How’d it go?” And let them consider that question. Reflection So here’s the part we love as teachers. Here’s where you can put in your two cents- a little bit. This reflection is about 3-5 minutes of wrap up after the book conversation for children to discuss how the conversation itself went and what a good goal would be for the next conversation. I only really have one rule for this time, and that’s “no names.” Because if so, poor Michael. In this reflection time, I do take on a bit more of a heavy hand. I allow them to lead in terms of listing things that went well and things that did not. But when it comes to choosing a goal, I want to be sure that the group is moving in a direction that is both attainable and helpful. Usually, it’s pretty obvious. And often, it’s the same goal- day after day after day. Below are some goals, but I would imagine that it would really depend on the chemistry of your class which ones are “popular” with a given group. You can tell what the chemistry of my group was just by reading them. · Leaving a space between comments to ensure the speaker is finished (we called these bubbles) · Dropping out if more than one person is trying to speak and you’ve already had a chance (we called that being a hero) · Dropping out if more than one person is trying to speak and you are a common contributor- even if you haven’t talked yet this session · Dropping out if more than one person is trying to speak and the other person is a “listener” (we distinguished between listeners and leaders) · Using your body language or an intake of breath to show you want to talk, especially if you’re a listener · Watching out for listeners who look like they might want to say something · Limiting your overall number of talking “turns” (Note: they wanted to make a number rule to solve this problem, but I vetoed that decision, using the excuse that grown-ups don’t have a number of times they can talk.) · Sticking with an idea until it is well-explored · Choosing bigger ideas over littler ideas to lead to a satisfying conversation (one time they spent 7 painful minutes debating something about the publish date) · Rephrasing other’s thoughts in your own words, so that you and others can better understand (we used the frame, “So are you saying…?”) · Disagreeing in a way that recognizes the other party · Having something at least slightly new to add · Avoiding “monologuing” (we used an observation of an adult book club to attempt this one- we noticed that they “ping-ponged” very fast… no one even got so bored they rolled on their backs!) -------------------------------------- Before the workshop that introduced me to the “symphony”, I was having luke-warm success with no-hand-raising conversations, mostly during the share part of reader’s workshop. For a few years, I was pretty proud of how our conversations operated. The kids ran it, they questioned each other when they didn’t understand, and they asked presenters to tell more. But except for every once in a while (what Ellin Keene calls a “happy accident”), those conversations weren’t the kind of conversation that no one in the circle wanted to walk away from because it was so mesmerizing. Surely you’ve been a part of a conversation like that? Everyone loves to be a part of a conversation that engages them- whether they are participating actively through talk or listening. But those kinds of conversations were really the exception, rather than the rule in our room. Like Keene says, “if they can do it some days, why not every day?” And I had that exact experience with student-run conversations before trying the book conversation circle. They could do it some days, but it didn’t satisfy me because all the days in between they ran through the motions, impressing whatever adult popped in my room- but not fooling me. But that was B.C.C. And this is A.C.C. (after conversation circle) Almost as soon as we started, I could tell that these conversations were different. Yes- they weren’t world changing. But the kid’s faces were riveted. They didn’t want the conversation to stop. Why? I can’t believe I didn’t see it before! B.C.C., what motivation does a non-sharer have to clarify, add on, and question? Maybe they don’t really care that Jill had a table of contents revelation. They weren’t there; they didn’t have the revelation. But now- A.C.C., what motivation do they have to clarify, add on, and question? Well, every motivation! The conversation now is unquestionably everyone’s conversation. The ideas are everyone’s ideas. Even the most brilliant idea—well, now it’s not Jill’s. It’s part Jill’s, part Ernie’s, part Cara’s, and even though we wish he’d shut up long enough to hear his month click shut, part Michael’s. Once they’d learned how good it feels to be a part of a satisfying conversation, guess what? Again, I can’t believe I didn’t see this before! Our reader’s workshop share sessions magically improved. A social studies reflection circle had a few children in tears of empathy (and no one punched them). Science experiment discussions deepened. I began keeping my mouth shut any time I sensed they could do a better job than me, which was most of the time. Virtually every other part of our day was enhanced in a really big way. So here’s my take away point; it’s one that I am just learning myself: The peace mission isn’t only realized in the actual ideas children have about the book. Yes, it’s true that good books provide for us a just right setting (our classroom) and cast of characters (the kids) for important ideas about life to flourish. Yes, their words are significant: they are wrestling with ideas about humanity. But, there’s something more elusive and more world-changing than the content of the conversation. And it’s this: The future of our world shifts ever so slightly toward peace every time we teach a child how to exist in the delicate balance between deference and assertiveness, leading and listening, give and take. We’ll surpass the original skills and strategies we set out to teach; we’ll blow them out of the water. And… we get to save the world at the same time. Not a bad deal. 15 Comments
	And they were better for having talked. by: BookMuncher, 07-25-2008 Regardless of your political or religious affiliation, cultural background, gender, or moral views, you cannot dispute that we live in volatile times. Across the globe, humans struggle with hunger, war, and disease on a daily basis. Some of it will touch us in America and some of it is only a quiet, unread newspaper headline. While all of this happens, each new generation of children is educated, graduates, and takes their place among the leaders of our country, while their teachers either capitalize upon or neglect opportunities to affect the future of this earth. Although teachers cannot teach their students everything there is to know about the economic reasons for food shortage, the underlying tensions that begin modern day wars, and the insidious disparities that leave some countries ravaged by disease, they can do something exponentially more important. They can teach children how to care, to listen, and to act. More powerful than teaching an impossibly infinite list of facts, teachers can mold the way our future leaders meditate on conflicts, converse diplomatically, and solve destructive problems. This blog, while it is about Reader’ Workshop, it’s so much bigger than that. Last summer, I wrote a blog about talk in classrooms (Yak Yak Yak: Structures for talking in class). At that time, I approached the important issue of talk as an avenue to learning and growing ideas. It is still all of that. But due to lots of factors- my thesis work, my looping experience, and especially the state of our world- I now see it much differently. Katie Wood Ray, in her book Wondrous Words, talks about helping children develop “habits of the mind.” By this, she means that rather teach children a litany of different crafting moves authors make, how to recognize them, and how to apply them, we teach children how to automatically look for them. One of her key ideas is that it is much more effective to teach children how to read like a writer- a habit of the mind- than it is to teach a list of crafting moves. I’d like to borrow her notion of habits of the mind to discuss talk in the classroom. Like I said in the opening, we are living in volatile times. As a primary teacher, I am constantly asking myself how what I do everyday affects the future. As my philosophy slowly grows along with me, I realize that my goals for teaching must be even more than I previously had allowed for. More than reading for meaning, more for writing with purpose, more than authentic experiences even—because what is authenticity and “real world” learning if it does not positively affect our “real world” once students step foot into it?? The truth is that we are not just preparing children to go out the world and do OK for themselves. We are not just helping children to be lifelong readers, lifelong learners. I think we have a higher purpose. The other day, I was at Barnes and Nobles (where else?) working on my thesis, tapping endlessly and rather directionlessly away at my keyboard. I love to work there. I find that without my internet connection, with a table, and of course- with a latte, I can get more accomplished in 2 hours than I can at home in 6 hours. There’s only one problem. I’m drawn to other people’s conversations like a moth to a flame. I swear: I’m not TRYING to eavesdrop. It’s just that, when they are sitting only a few feet away from me, their conversations are considerably more interesting than the words on my screen. So on this day, after I had been working for a while, an unlikely pair seated themselves at a table close to the window. One was an older man- I’d say around 60 or so, distinguished, with a swarthy complexion and a pot belly. The other was a young, t-shirted, spiked haired kid- I couldn’t tell if he was of college age, or maybe even high school. I could infer that they had met each other there and their body language suggested that they weren’t related- maybe they didn’t even know each other that well. They were far enough away that I (sadly) couldn’t hear what they were talking about- just that it was very animated. It seemed like for both them, there was no one else in the room. The expression on their faces was as though they had been waiting weeks- maybe months- to say the words they were saying. Not just when they were talking did they look joyful, but when they were listening. I needed a break. I got a cup of coffee and played around on my internet-less computer. I glanced up. Tried to lip read, but couldn’t make it out. (A blog is a place to be honest, right?) Then I realized, when in their excitement their conversation volume was turned up- they were speaking Italian! But it wasn’t without some English and lots and lots of gestures. From my inferences, the older man was coaching the young man on his Italian. Here and there, the young man would frantically gesture, the older man would give him the Italian word and with a bright grin stretching over his face, the learner would dive back into the conversation, for this was not only a lesson. It was the meaning that counted; whatever the subject was, both of them were on the receiving end. They probably had been holding in these words for months. One needed the other equally. And then came the part that I found to be so poetic and beautiful. Conversation drawing to a close on a happy, boisterous note, the young guy rather abruptly stood up and walked away from the table. I doubt that either of them saw the next part (as I was the only spy). The look on the young kid’s face as he walked away looked like he had just satisfied a gnawing hunger. The smile on his lips was so real and so happy. And the older man? He was sitting at the table lightly chuckling to himself. He didn’t get up immediately. In fact, he was so much in a reverie that he didn’t notice as his pupil walked past the window to his car- still visibly smiling to himself. Finally, the teacher, grin not leaving his face, heaved himself up and wandered out the door. And they were better for having talked. Conversation is so simple, but oh so powerful. Besides eating and sleeping, it is probably one of the most human acts. We need to talk, just as we need to eat and sleep. Asides from just satisfying a personal need though, conversation is the great unifier. It is conversation that has smoothed over border disputes, solved political conflicts, inspired solutions for peace. Through talk, people not only can transform themselves, but they can transform and transcend their circumstances: they can bring others along with them. I believe I witnessed transformation in a simple conversation over coffee. We have a higher purpose as teachers, and teaching the art of conversation should not- cannot- be minimized. So how can we teach children to talk well- not just about trivial likes and dislikes and what they’re doing on the weekend? And if we can teach them to talk about bigger things than these, how can we teach the others to listen and respond well? I’m arguing for making room in our curriculum to let children talk. I’m arguing for giving children the time they need to develop a habit of the mind, because won’t that serve them, and in effect serve society- more steadfastly outside the walls of our classroom? We can easily eat up all our time making children hungry for books and purposeful and strategic in their reading and it is worth every second we devote to it. But I wish to send more than readers into the world. I wish to send out changers, feelers, thinkers, listeners. For those are the ones who, in just 20 years, will sit around a conference table with the future of thousands- maybe millions- in their hands. Whether they can effectively collaborate is more life or death than if they can talk about a mental image they made in their latest novel. Saving the world is no easy task. The ratio of teachers to students is not in our favor, and neither is time. Each of us has approximately 180 days to change the way 20-30 children exist in this world. Given those restraints, would you rather begin at the top of a list of skills and facts and hope you can “finish” them by the end of the year (you won’t suceed- knowledge is infinite), or would you rather affect the way in which those 20-30 future citizens reason through a social situation, the way they express a dissenting opinion, the way they listen to new ideas and make room for them in their minds? I know which one I’d choose. So, stay tuned. In my next blog, I’d like to suggest how we might nurture the art of conversation in our own classrooms. Don’t jump all over me yet: I’m not in any way reneging on all the work so many of us have done to improve our reading instruction. My point is that the strategies are nothing by themselves. Sometimes I feel that we get caught up in believing that they are the end, the goal. Comprehension strategies are ways to think. With good comprehension instruction, children can channel their ideas in more strategic, intelligent ways. But it’s really no good to them if they can only hold one opinion in their heads at a time. If they cannot grapple with big ideas and understand point of view and make their ideas stronger through talk, then what have we left them with? Proficient test scores, the ability to be strategic, a love of reading—all noble, but solitary outcomes. Let’s not have children wait until college to experience the exhilaration of a rigorous, passionate discussion. Let’s make room in our classrooms to see that children make room in their hearts and minds. That’s what living together on this spinning ball is all about! 15 Comments
	A Shiny New Vision by: BookMuncher, 07-24-2008 My last two blogs found me nostalgic and weepy-- no curriculum decisions to be penned or instructional moves to be reflected upon. Between preparing for my babies to fly the coop and actually sending them off, I was pedagogically useless. But now, here I am. I believe that I’m recovered enough to begin picking up the pieces and looking forward. (I hear you all saying “It’s about time!") My plans for next year have, of course, been ruminating in my head since March or April of this year, but were put on temporary hold. I stress the word temporary. With an upcoming trip to Europe and my master’s paper still hanging over my head, I don’t know that these will be finalized until August. Still, here’s my shiny new vision for next year: Big goals: · To again weave reading and writing intimately together into complete literacy units. I did it successfully last year, but it’s a new challenge with a non-looping group. · To teach units that communicate a need/purpose/goal of a literate person, instead of simply “mental images” (since mental images are only a means to end, but not an end in themselves). I hope that this goal gives my students a sense of direction and purpose. · To teach social studies, science, and math in a workshop format as much as possible. I loved math workshop this year, and did a number of social studies units in a workshop format. I’d like to refine my content area teaching even more by being more concise in my minilessons and weaving more literacy strategies throughout. (On my reading list this summer is: Comprehending Math, a book which I hope will teach me how to use the language of reading – especially the comprehension strategies- in math) So far, here’s a very rough sketch of what I’m picturing for literacy Units: September: Living the Life of a Reader and Writer Reading- identity, habits, and building our literacy community – with visits from other school readers (kids from last year, parents, and staff) Writing- identity, habits, and building our literacy community, writer’s notebooks- loopers share summer notebooks (Launching) Celebration: Clubhouse Reading and Writing Welcome Ceremony (with signing of clubhouse wall) October: Making Meaning Reading- Ways to lose yourself in a book and make meaning of an author's words- one week of questioning, one week of character study preview, two weeks of schema and connections Writing- Ways to write to convey meaning, to place your reader in the moment (Small Moments) Celebration: Compliment Carnival-- Writing share celebration with typed, audio recorded, or publically performed compliments from audience November: Accuracy Reading- Decoding strategies, fluency strategies, retelling Writing- Conventions (2nd grade version of Writing for Readers) Celebration- Special Feature: Accuracy Theater- scan accurate page of student work onto SMARTboard, include short clip of them reading with accuracy. Frame SMARTboard with curtains and have popcorn for the special showing. December: Poetry Reading- Reading poetry using two new strategies: inferring and mental images Writing- Writing poetry with a focus on purpose, audience, and imagery Celebration- Self-Portrait Anthology Exhibit (use music stands to display anthologies in a “fancy” way) Anthologies could be holiday gifts. Maybe correspond with Snow Day so that parents can attend. January: Wondrous Words Reading- developing questioning, mental images, inferring, and connections through a mentor author’s text. Focus on rereading and digging deeper/integrating strategies. Writing- Using mentor texts as our writing teachers (Authors as Mentors) Celebration- Wondrous Words Winter Picnic (kids and their mentor text sit around picnic blankets and munch on the wondrous words of their peers) February: Reading to Learn, Writing to Teach Reading- reading nonfiction with a spotlight on the strategies of questioning and determining importance. Emphasis on why we read. Writing- writing nonfiction, how-tos and all abouts. Emphasis on why we write. Celebration: Question Fest- big questions represented and answered on tri-folds. Visitors can roam from question to question. March: Once Upon a Time… Reading- One week on story shape- rising and falling action, climax, flashbacks, different story structures/ Three weeks of Character study (traits, motivation, change & development, impact) Writing- Realistic writing with a focus on character depth and writing short story “scenes” Celebration: 2-D Character Parade- parade through hallways with character representations of ourselves (representations include our own character traits, which characters have most changed our hearts and actions, and points of view) April: Reading Our World Reading- reading our world (broad definition of "reading") with a critical eye and synthesizing underlying meanings and big themes Writing- writing pseudo-persuasive pieces that allow students to write for change and act on causes they are passionate about Celebration: March for Change (make rally signs for causes we wrote about- march to office to mail letters) May: Life-Long Learners Reading- 2 weeks of fiction personal choice- student-run book clubs, pursuing important questions about characters and authors/ 2 weeks of nonfiction- student inquiry projects Writing- Personal choice writing/ end of month writing time spend preparing for share fair Celebration: Reading Share Fair- presentations of both fiction and nonfiction inquiries/ parents invited 43 Comments
	Once, oh marvelous, once... by: BookMuncher, 06-28-2008 “You gotta love what you got while you got it.” K’s unique, 8 year old writing scrawled that Because of Winn-Dixie quote in a wavy line on the outside envelope of her end-of-the-year letter to me. Could she have known that those were just the words I needed to hear on this, the last day of the year and the end of our 360 days together? Did she remember what the character, Gloria Dump, said just before that line? “You can’t hold onto anything that wants to go”? Whether she wrote it because she knows I love that line or because she knew I’d be in pain today… it helped. Knowing how to pick the perfect literary line for the perfect occasion is something my group is gifted with. Last week, when the soon-to-be-second graders came rumbling and screaming down the hall, I made a face (mostly just for my student’s benefit to show them how “mature” and above that kind of behavior they are now). I said, “They cannot enter this classroom with those manners. What will I do with them?” And-- fittingly-- they picked a punishment from Sideways Stories from Wayside School, they said “You’ll wiggle your ears and turn them into apples!” These are the voices of the children I had to part with today. In her end-of-the-year card, I at first didn’t notice anything on M’s cards but nice words. Then again, at the time, I was struggling to hold back the tears while reading it in front of her. Reading it more slowly on my couch at home, I immediately realized it had a specific cadence. It said, “You have done a lot- a whole lot of things. Like- you come over to help me read and you are a good sport.” Recognize the beginning? “Honey, I love a lot of things- a whole lot of things. Like…” That is the voice of a child I had to part with today. Choosing a color of yarn for a project we were making the other day, K chose green over the other more girly colors that were there. I smiled and commented, “That’s perfect for you- green is a symbol of life.” We had been studying symbols and they were really getting it. You know- flying usually symbolizes freedom, sunrise/new day, flowers/growth, etc… Instead of simply agreeing though, K said, “Oh, because S and I were talking and he said that white was the symbol of life.” After she and I engaged in a conversation about how and why white could be also be a symbol for life, she skipped back to her seat. That’s when I realized—what on earth kind of conversation were she and S having where, in passing, they had discussed what color symbolized life? These are the voices of the children I had to part with today. My class knows that I cry easily. I’ve tried really hard with this group to not hide my tears and let them know it’s the right thing to be who you are, even when it’s hard. I still have more room to grow in this department, but I’m working on it. Knowing I’d be a teary mess today, G wrote me a letter: “You are the best teacher in the world. You are so good that your 2nd grade class will love you to death with joy each and every day. So congrats to have us loop. and we love you Mrs. Moffatt. (etc… about looping to 3rd) But remember we always love you O.K.” Hear that “O.K.?” I can just sense the reassurance in her voice. The letter sounds like it’s trying to soothe my tears. That is a voice of a child I had to part with today. I finished the end of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane yesterday. We saved it for last, since it was a journey book and we, too, had such a splendid journey together. It got just the reaction I was hoping for- the cheer that went up on the last page vibrated with joy and sent a chill up my spine. If you’ve never read that book aloud, it is positively musical. And, it has the most heart-wrenchingly beautiful ending. “Once, oh marvelous once, there was a rabbit who found his way home.” “Once, oh marvelous, once.” Does it get any better than that? To end with a beginning? It is the most hopeful conclusion one could ask for. Our story swelled to an end in the same bitter-sweet way as the book. The phrase signifies beginnings; it signifies endings; it signifies a history. And we will walk forward with our shared history, the memory of our shared miraculous journey, and it will become part of our own stories. 27 Comments
	A Future So Bright You'll Need Shades by: BookMuncher, 06-13-2008 In honor of June-- graduation, completion, celebration, moving up, moving on, and moving out month-- enjoy these “Someday” poems! I thought that even though these poems don’t have to do with Reader’s Workshop, I’d share them with you. After reading Eileen Spinelli’s new book, Someday, my soon-to-be third graders wrote their own Somedays. Possibly because it was a novel experience for them to write to a prompt, or possibly because they simply had something to say, these turned out beautifully. It reminded me to see my angels not just for who they are today, but who they’ll surely become. There is no doubt: I believe every word they wrote. Someday I will be a teacher. In front of the class saying: “Good morning boys and girls My name is Miss. B.” Teaching everything I know from when I was a little kid. I will wear a long skirt with a pink top. Writing all their names on the board so I won’t forget their names. Putting up the schedule for today. For the next day. For all the days in the school year. Someday… Someday I will go to the beach. I will dig the deepest hole and make an underground city. It will be dark and hot and some people will think it’s a hole but they are wrong. It is much more than a hole. It is a tunnel, a city, and it is ruled by me. Someday… Someday There will be a new baby. And the first time he or she sees me we will be good friends. The laughter will be strong The talking will be loud The wind will blow in my face as we spin around holding hands. Then fall. The bumps will be bumpier as I ride my shiny bike in the crisp wind. When fall comes we will swim in leaves, have leaves in our hair. And bam kick a ball across the street and watch it roll down the hill. Then chase after it And the laughter will be strong. Someday. Someday I will be a author in my early 19’s and write thousands of books, with my illustrator, Suzie doing beautiful pictures. I will travel with my illustrator and we will travel to Paris, Rome, California, and we will get inspired by all the things we see. Someday… Someday I will be a author and all the creatures in my imagination transfer to the paper with words with description and the kids will look up to me and in a flash they will be an author. Someday… 16 Comments
	Forging a Literary History by: BookMuncher, 06-06-2008 As we near 360 days of living and learning together, it is becoming apparent that the children in my classroom practically speak their own literary language. They complete each other’s sentences: “Oh this reminds me of that one called…” “The princess and the pea?” “Yeah!” They notice elements in each other’s writing that we’ve studied in reading. “Hey, A’s story is circular!” They critique parts of the curriculum that I was hoping to move through and be on to something else. “William Penn reminds me of Christopher Columbus, and I don’t think he was respectful to the Indians.” They know each other’s reading lives intimately, like… T loved Eric Carle in first grade, and even though he’s almost in third, Eric is still his favorite. The whole class knows and loves that about him- you could say he’s kind of famous for it. And like…K found a relatively unknown book in first grade, hidden in a little-visited place in our library, and read it so many times that by the end of first grade, most children had read it. This year, K picked it as a book that changed her life. And like…During daily poem readings when members of our reading community are able to choose any poem to read aloud to the class, the most popular choices are always “class favorites” as they call them. Each child loves to begin reading and then dramatically pause as he or she looks up to invite the audience’s participation. And like… if they were reading this blog, and they saw me write “like…” they would probably chime in with “My cousin comes to visit and you know he’s from the south/cause every word he says just kind of slides out of his mouth.” (from Honey, I Love) Even a slight cadence of the voice evokes a literary memory when we’re within the walls of our classroom. It seems as though every book we pick up, someone can make a meaningful text to text connection with- someone can find a similarity in author’s craft- someone can spot a genre pattern or familiar motif. Who would ever notice that so many fairy tales and folktales have last sentences beginning with the word, “And...” or that it’s usually the littlest or weakest one who saves the day in Dr. Seuss books? They have noticed, and once they have a theory, they don’t forget about it. They build on it and build on it. So if you haven’t figured it out yet: wanna know what I’m going to miss the very most about this group of children who will be leaving me in just 3.5 weeks? (Besides the kids, themselves of course.) It’s our literary history. It’s our stunningly-towering mountain of books we’ve read, shared, and critiqued. In just 3.5 weeks, that tower will be knocked down for me and I’ll be left to raise it up from the ground-level with a fresh sea of faces. Whether or not I ever stay with another group for two years, I’m pretty confident that I’ll always be able to create a community of learners, engage them in higher-level thinking, and plant the seed for a life of reading. But I know that I’ll never ever be able to build such a magnificent literary history with a group of children in only one year, as I was blessed with the opportunity to do in these two years. Seeing as how this has meant absolutely EVERYTHING to what they’ve become, it’s making me reevaluate how I might tackle such a task with a one-year group. Because I got to feel what it was like to have it with this group, I’m declaring September as all read aloud, all the time. If you want to have a history, you have to have a rich base. So next September, I am going to take every single minute I can beg, borrow, and steal and pour it into read aloud. If I thought I was doing well last year when I read three times a day, I’ll double that! Since September is not for curriculum, but for community, books will be our unifier. Before then, I’ll make a list of all the books I want to form a strong base. What books would make our literary mountain unmovable? A hearty dose of fairytales, a dash of The Giving Tree, a sprinkle of Owl Moon, Roller Coaster, and My Mama Had a Dancing Heart. A splash of Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden, with more nonfiction, novels, and fantasy to taste. Poppycock to having to save all the good books for strategies. If we want to build a base, there has to be a sense that we are revisiting old friends. And how can revisit them if we save them for February? Revisiting gives children a sense of “we’ve been here before… together.” I’ll be with next year’s group for no more than a year. But my looping experience has given me a glorious glimpse at what-it-should-be-like. I think it’s worth it to make an attempt to step it up and see if I can do more with less time. Of course, for my current group of children, the tower is not really knocked down. For them, these books and authors and far-off places have already become a part of them. And the bond that was forged with every new book we opened is one that will always be unbreakable. They’ll carry all this with them like a precious wrapped bundle slung over their shoulders. Hopefully, they’ll remember Molly Lou Melon when someone diminishes their gifts and Cassie from Tar Beach when someone is experiencing injustice and the boy from Love that Dog when someone is hurting and in pain and Charlotte when they’re searching for a friend. But the difference between them and me is that I’ll be like The Stonecutter- chipping slowly and tediously away at an untouched part of the mountain, in an effort to forge a new and always different literary history with a brand new class. Listen to my kids talk about what characters have impacted their lives. 13 Comments
	Create an entrance to your library! by: BookMuncher, 07-10-2009 All you need is a way to hang things from the ceiling, long fabric or paper, and no stringent fire codes! (check out the picture attached) This happened by an accident, and I wanted to share it with you. To make a long story short, my sister came to visit my classroom. She's a set designer and she helped my kids craft this big "proscenium" (that's stage-speak for the part that goes around the actual stage, framing it out) out of felt and 3-D painted flowers. It is simply three rectangular pieces of felt- the sides are called the "legs" and the middle is the "border." They are shoved into the dropped ceiling with some binder clips for good measure. The proscenium's purpose was going to be to hang around the risers at our end of the year 2nd Grade Send Off. But I couldn't store that monstrosity in the front of my room until June, so we temporarily hung it outside of the classroom library. Voila! A grand entrance to the library, that sectioned off the book area as a new space in our classroom. The one we've made for the Send Off is cheery and adorable but the 3-D flower won't last, so I have plans to make a more permanent one for next year. Using more felt, I think I may staple two tall trees that bend inward on either side of the library and then construct some kind of middle section to look like a club house. While my student teacher taught yesterday, I whipped another one up for a kindergarten kingdom theme- her two legs are turrets and the border is the typical castle wall. This is the best, most easy way I've ever seen to make my library special! It doesn't take up extra room and sets the library apart! If you have other ideas for how this could be used, post them here! (I'll try to get a picture of the castle proscenium and post it later.) Happy building! 49 Comments
	Rewriting a Life by: BookMuncher, 05-01-2008 "Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life feel free, significant and interesting." (Aldous Huxley) Or, said differently, learning to read is literally liberating and life-changing. I would further that statement by saying that what is truly freeing is learning to read your world, recognizing that words have power, and moving from unconsciousness to literate awareness. These ideas serve as the backdrop for my May/June instructional choices. How? Read on… Exit: normal school year daily grind Enter: annual “Oh-my-goodness-it’s-May!” meltdown Although most of you probably have already had this meltdown, mine is just beginning since our last day of school isn’t until June 19th. Between my up-coming character study unit and all the special events, I have time for just about one more meaningful unit. I keep asking myself, “What do I want to leave this group with?” I don’t want to choose a unit that is so intense that it’s not celebratory, but I don’t want to choose a unit that’s not big-picture. Every year I think long and hard about how to bring our symphony to a grand finish- ending with a note that will resonate in all of our ears through summer and beyond. But with this group, it’s even more important to me. Being with them for two years makes our last unit almost sacred. Our journey has been life-altering for all of us, myself included. The idea that our journey has been life-altering has got me thinking a little. Day-to-day life in a workshop classroom and close-knit community, whether it be for one year or two, literally rewrites a person. At least this is what I’m telling myself: that gathering around stories and listening deeply to the voices of people who are not only within the walls of our classroom, but also whispering to us from worlds away, changes a person. And that coming together around sweet, singing words nearly every day changes a person. Because I pour my soul into this job, I have to know that my personal promise to expose children to this literate environment without interruption, without discrepancy- it actually worth something. I think it is right around this time of year that we either knowingly or unknowingly try to prove that to ourselves. I don’t think it’s just me. Whether we’re asking children for memories, or furiously recording their kid-like renderings of the year’s concepts, or sending letters into the future, as humans, we need to feel an end and we need to feel that what we did mattered. This blog is not an end- it’s a beginning. With thoughts as swirly as these, I’ll be lucky if I can snatch enough pieces to put something together in time. But whatever it is, I hope it will in some way be a metaphor for our journey- eloquent and telling. In our collective journey, I was only a guide. These children took responsibility for their learning and rewrote their literate selves- present and future. 1 Comments
	A little light for you... by: BookMuncher, 04-24-2008 “Literature is an instrument of freedom, lightness, imagination, and yes, reason. It is our only hope against the long gray night.” Jerome Bruner 2 Comments
	Seeking Your Personal Truth by: BookMuncher, 04-23-2008 On the first day of Education 101. Posed expectantly by an interviewer. In bold, menacing letters on a job application. We've all cringed as we've been asked The Question before: "What is your philosophy of teaching?" I wish that someone would have taught me back then that a philosophy of teaching is not simply a document that needs to be between 250 and 500 words, double spaced, justified, with one inch margins. One of the definitions for philosophy in the dictionary is: a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs. "A system of guidance"- this means that having a philosophy acts as our compass, always pointing north no matter what the question, barrier, or change in plan. It's no magic 8 ball. A good, solid philosophy will keep us on the path we originally set out upon every time. "Practical affairs" refers to everyday, nose-to-the-grindstone, real-life stuff. In college, we look at philosophy as the most theoretical, abstract level. This definition is revealing the opposite! A philosophy may be theoretical in that it consists of intangible beliefs, but if those beliefs are explicitly stated and supported, then they can translate quite easily to "practical affairs." Working with teachers at my school and on this board, as well as a student teacher, has caused me to evaluate exactly how important it is to have a well-stated and passionately held list of beliefs. Whether we write those beliefs in a 250-500 word essay with double spaced, justified, one inch margins, in a poem, on a napkin, as words to a song, or painted on a wall (shhhh- don't tell my husband my new brainstorm!)- those words of personal truth need to be written down. Don't worry- they can be revised and tweaked eternally! If we can capture in words exactly what it is we believe about teaching and learning, then our jobs will be eased just a little and streamlined more than just a little. Instead of a moving target, we now have created an anchor for ourselves. Now, every decision we make can be tested against our personally-stated philosophy. Decisions like these are all anchored in our philosophy: -- possible changes in schedule (What would happen to my reading block if recess were 10 minutes earlier?), -- outside barriers (You want to take my most needy kids when?), -- inside barriers (You're choosing to use the bathroom during the minilesson for the 14th day in a row?), -- instructional decisions (Should I teach this kindergartener how to hold the book right side up or to "act like a reader"?), --planning choices (What needs to be cut so that the bus drivers can visit our class to show their annual Winnie the Pooh video?) -- curriculum priorities (If I have to teach with a spelling list, how can I integrate it meaningfully and seamlessly into my other literacy activities?) Your gut can only take you so far. For as many times on Proteacher as I've probably written "follow your heart" or "it's common sense," I'll now ammend that: "Philosophy is the high card. It trumps instinct and gut and common sense." All of the latter are important, and enough can't be said about their role in the profession of teaching. In fact, I know from working with my student teacher that when it comes to judgement and thinking on her toes, she just naturally has it. I didn't teach her that- she's had it since she played "pretend school" as a kid. But what I want her to leave my classroom with is something that, unlike instinct, can actually be taught: Know what you believe and wear it proudly. As proud as you are of it, revise it freely. Refer to it daily. Share your philosophy with parents, teachers, and kids in everything you do and say. I'm not trying to give us all more work. I'm not trying to pile on more to think about this summer. On the contrary, I'm asserting that if you go slow, you can go fast. Take a little time with your thoughts and make them concrete (not permanent, just visible). And be specific. We all know that most undergraduate philosophies read something like, "I've wanted to be a teacher since I was little because I want to help each child succeed. I think that every child should be held to high expectations and I'm prepared to do that. I think the classroom should be orderly and inviting. Yadda, yadda, yadda..." It's not that you have to be a good writer to write an effective philosophy- no one will see it but yourself. But you have to target exactly what you envision, because how could a philosophy like above possibly help help a real teacher in her day-to-day "practical affairs"? Try this: -- write how you envision, in the perfect world, your classroom should run-- the buzz, the level of independence, the kinds of things children say to each other. -- write how you believe children and you personally, best learn. Children learn when ____ (under what conditions?) -- write about what you ultimately want for children exiting your class. Specifically- what kind of people will they be? How will they view themselves? How will they exist in our world? Answer those questions and add other information that defines your classroom as it is now and/or as you wish for it to be. Who cares if it reads like the typical philosophy statement? It's your private and public creed; it's your intimate- yet broadcasted- reasons for coming to work each day. The final dictionary entry for the word philosophy speaks to the power of establishing a personal philosophy. It reads, "a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the presence of troubles or annoyances." Isn't that what we all seek? Dear Buggy4Books (my student teacher likes PT too), In three weeks you'll be on your own, and it's possible that the community you teach in and the colleagues you teach with will drastically change. Eventually, literacy practices will change and better ideas will come along. Even your philosophy will change. There's not much permanent I can leave you with-- but I can throw you one last rope. And that's to say that when you are searching for "composure and calm" grab ahold of your philosophy and cling to it in times of trouble. If that philosophy is solidly established, it will anchor you and be your compass. I can think of at least 4 more metaphors, but I'll stop now. If all else fails, you know where to find me! Love, Bookmuncher 16 Comments
	Responses Revisited by: BookMuncher, 04-07-2008 Wasn't it this time last year I posted a similar blog, called What makes a good reading response? It must be that talk backs start out strong and full of energy, but as they go on, that energy drains a little. One of my biggest barriers seems to be finding different ways to breathe new life into our weekly talk backs. Do I expect too much? I'm starting to think so. Read some of these 2nd grade responses and see what you think: I've put the below responses into categories (Excellent, Medicore, Off Track) because I need your help! Am I being too tough? Is there something more I could be doing to help my students' brilliant ideas match their writing? So far, what I've tried is: modeling talk backs by writing back and forth with the teacher down the hall/ first half of year on-going modeling talk backs by writing in a journal at the same time as the kids write in their own (my student teacher and instructional aide also write in one). Kids write back or we just read them to see the kinds of things grown-ups write and think. ongoing made a list in the classroom of reasons we write about our reading. "status of the class" kind of thing where one workshop, we captured all of the kids thinking in one snapshot and listed them in a long list; to show that readers are constantly having important conversations in their heads. sharing circle where we think of ways readers could write about their reading and make a concrete list. hanging up 5 kids' "big ideas" of the week, reading them aloud, and discussing what the writer did. ongoing writing talk backs directly following an animated read aloud conversation circle when I think a lot of kids will have opinions. taught a seed analogy. We refer to the most basic idea as the seed and then we brainstormed questions we could ask ourselves to grow that idea. (visual is on a flower) Here are some Talk Backs: Outstanding Dear Mrs. M. Remember when you read Love You Forever? But when you read it, remember when we were talking about how the boy knew the song? So I think I might know the answer to the question. I think the answer is he is related to his mom and that love from his mom was so strong that he heared it in his heart. And so I learned from that book that love is a very strong word and a very powerful word. Love, A.H. Dear Miss V. I'm reading this book called Don't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown and if I were her I wouldn't let birds fly on my head. It might hurt to have birds land on my head but Amber Brown doesn't care. I wonder why? Aunt P. didn't care that she might get a disease. I don't think her Aunt cares about her. I don't even think Amber cares about herself. Amber is a weird girl. Love, K Why I placed these here: A.H.'s talk back has the big idea and the evidence and a wrap up that rephrases her learning. And also- I know this is intangible, but I like it because I can feel her passion. K's entry may not be outstanding in your eyes- I put it here because although it's not perhaps as linear as I model (idea, evidence or theories, plan), it seems to me that K used her talk back to actually authentically explore her ideas. She starts out by putting herself in the character's shoes and then by doing that, it leads her to look more closely at Amber's over all character and relationships. Mediocore Dear Miss V. In Disasters I read a chapter called Meteors. I had a question. When will the next meteor hit? The book said in 3000 years but I think it will come sooner. When do you think one will come? Answer _____. Love, C Dear Mrs. M. I just finished The Littles Give a Party and I inferred through the whole book is Granny Little going to live? At the end Granny Little was... ALIVE. I was so surprised. I thought Granny Little was going to die because in every book if everyone thinks the person is going to live, they die. Please right back. Love, D Dear Miss V. We read Horton Hears a Who and it reminds me so much about Green Eggs and Ham that Sam-I-Am was really little but he changed the person in the inside not the outside. He changed that he did not like green eggs and ham and Whoville are little but they still made a big noise. Love, G Why I placed these here: C's has a big idea (a question), but I was disappointed that he didn't offer any evidence at all for why he was disagreeing with the book- which he does a lot, by the way. I love that about him, but I need more proof. D's talk back isn't bad, but he writes the same kind of ideas every week. This week, because of him a few others, I outlawed prediction talk backs temporarily. But in this talk back, I believe that he has managed to disguise a prediction/confirmation in order to stick to what he knows. Finally, I thought G was on a really good track and I could also see this talk back as outstanding (especially for G). But her reasoning is flawed-- the class discussed how in Dr. Seuss books, the little characters always make the biggest difference. Instead of writing about times when that is so, (like in the Grinch) she went with a bit of a stretch. Off Track Dear Mrs. M. I am so happy! Because I am almost ready to start The Boxcar Children or Little House on the Praire. Also in the Spiderwick Chronicles I think that Jared is going to finish the riddle. I also like how the chapters say (In which). Well that's all for now. Ciao. From, D Dear Miss V. I just finished The Littles and the Terrible Tiny Kid. I'm inferring that the theme is: teamwork. Why I think that is because in the book they do a lot of teamwork. bye! Love, B Dear Mrs. M. I'm surprised at how much I'm learning about the Titanic! I did learn some stuff that I did not know. Maybe you can try that! Love, B Why I placed these here: Even though I think they speak for themselves, I'll explain. D is all over the place, never really settling on any idea in particular. B had a good idea, but the evidence is SO scant that I can hardly even retype it here without cringing. And B's other talk back is more of the same. Just because the last two talk backs are by the same child, doesn't mean that more kids don't struggle. It just so happens that I only have half the class, and his talk backs show why I'm so frustrated. My student teacher and I split up the talk backs and write back each week. Right now, I'm looking at a pile that is kind of heavy on my weaker writers. I could have added lots more "off track" ones, but in this pile, I didn't have a whole lot of other "outstandings". As I typed these up, I did notice that one simple thing I might do that would raise some of the mediocore entries to a higher level would be to explicitly model how we cite specific evidence. Some of those ideas in the middle category could be good if they would have grown the idea. The entries in the off track category, however, are mostly down there because they are scattered, lack any evidence at all, or are devoid of a big idea. Any comments? I can take the criticism. 18 Comments
	Debbie Miller: Can I get an AMEN? by: BookMuncher, 04-14-2008 It's been 4 years since I first embarked on my Reader's Workshop journey. Like so many of you, I originally set out with enthusiasm and confidence because of Debbie Miller's important book, Reading with Meaning. Since then, I've studied several other authors and much of the work of Calkin's Teacher's College. All of them offer a different perspective and guide me as I teach each day. Where once only Debbie sat on my shoulder whispering advice, now a crowded bunch of authors and teachers recline- sometimes in harmony and sometimes in conflict. But I still think it's safe to say that there is no other book written about teaching that so passionately exudes a warm invitation into a master teacher's classroom than Reading with Meaning. Open to any page in Miller's book, and you'll instantly feel that you're there on the sunlit carpet with Debbie's kids, learning from them, and marveling at each of a genius teacher's instructional moves. SO: You can probably imagine my excitement today during our rainy two hour car ride to Newark, New Jersey. Knowing that Debbie's presentations around the country have received mixed reviews here on PT, I wasn't so much looking forward to the actual content of her speech as much as I was looking forward to seeing one of my heros in the flesh. It turns out-- I got both! Unlike Teacher's College, Miller's talk did take a windy path at times. The entire speech did not fit neatly into an organized structure. I would have expected that from her, just as I would expect T.C. to be more efficient. For both Miller and T.C., the way they teach other teachers mirrors the way they teach children. There were times when Debbie certainly taught us pieces that were in her book-- there was information about the importance of gradual release and background on the minilesson/interactive read aloud, independent reading, and share. But before, between, and after that information, Debbie absolutely shone in her ability to convey the depth and enormity of what we are asking children to do. In 8 pages of notes, I found some definite themes: Unifying Themes Building Agency: Choice Words too! You should see how marked up her copy is. She talked about this book a whole lot today and even when she wasn't talking about Johnson's work, she was weaving his ideas into her own. But back to agency...> Similar (somewhat ironically) to Lucy Calkin's T.C. opening keynote address, Debbie's message was largely about how teachers give or don't give children a sense of agency in their learning. We want kids who believe that they are "the kind of kids that figure things out." But to do this: we must trust children. She said that we have to step back and remember that it's not all about us! What it's about, she argued, is releasing responsibility in a way that eventually leads to independence. Throughout the day, Debbie talked a lot about written responses and she shared some that weren't in her book. In relation to personal agency, she said that responses should be yet another way for children to ask themselves "What do I know about myself as a reader? What will help me?" After asking themselves those questions, the most meaningful thing for them to do would be to create their own response form or reflect upon the way that they are currently responding. Teachers tend to make these forms up like we're a two-column note factory. Very infrequently do we ask for children's input or complete revamps on the papers that are soon to hold their precious thinking. She shared an article from Education Leadership that deliniated between two kinds of kids: the kind who believe their intelligence is fixed and the kind who believe their intelligence is malliable. The article contends that by actually going as far as teaching children how the brain works (that it's a muscle that can be exercised, that new bridges can be built between neurons, etc...), we can change their opinions of themselves and their achievement. Overall, Debbie's message was clear: we're not "teachers with a capital T." We need to model and teach explicitly, but then step aside so that children can begin to test the waters. If we don't give appropriate and supported opportunities for guided and then independent practice, then they won't develop into the readers we know they can be. It's easy to say all this and it's commonplace for teachers to think their classroom already nudges children towards a sense of "I can do it myself". But Debbie was adamant-- it is the child's classroom and the child's experience within it. We need to let them take the lead so that the teaching can naturally grow from their experiences. Being Present: "We can't necessarily plan how conversations will go or always know exactly where will be the right place to stop in a read aloud, but we can plan to be present." Connected closely with the above idea of making each and every child feel as though they are a reader, is this idea of being present as a careful listener and teacher. Debbie said that "when we dismiss a child's thinking, we dismiss the child." We need to think of ways to elevate children in front of everyone, and every single time they raise their hand to talk, they are giving us a chance to do that. A colleague and she even helped themselves with this personal goal by moving one of ten pennies to their opposite pocket each time during they day they said something that did not, in their view, move a child forward. It's not a matter of picking on your own teaching and putting it under a microscrope: but it is (coming back to Choice Words!) all about language. Language has power, and if we don't acknowledge that, we do children a disservice. "While we have a lot to teach kids, they have a lot to teach us." Creating a Culture of Thinking: This is an idea that definitely threaded its way through each part of the day. If we are to create a culture of thinking, every part of our language arts block must be intentionally planned and predictable. Here, Debbie spoke a little about how seat work and centers don't typically help us create this culture. For children who can already do the work, the worksheets and other activities do not move them forward. For the kids who can't do the work, they are not helped either. She pointed out that worksheets are a form of assessment, not teaching in themselves- just as guided reading is a tool, but not a program either. She spoke a bit about how it worries her to see people taking Fountas and Pinnell's guided reading to an extreme and she said that F&P never said that we needed to meet with every group, every day. She said that all too often, we group children too soon at the beginning of the year and when we do that, we tend to group by level, when there are many other factors that may put children in a group. Instead, Debbie felt that we should hold off on grouping and be more flexible (basically, she was describing using a combination of strategy groups and guided reading). She definitely felt that guided reading was an indespensible tool-- as are word work and word strategy lessons-- but she just thinks they should be a piece to use as needed. And it's not just about when the kids are in the room with us that we should pay attention. When, as a teacher, are you setting aside time each day to reflect and get away from the frantic pace of life? Because if we are frantic, our classrooms become frantic. We already are forced to teach to the clock, but adding a layer of hurriedness on top of that will create barriers when we most want children to be focused and settled. So yes, Debbie did repeat ideas from her book. But that's what speakers do when they present. She didn't give any particularly new tips or immediately usable ideas. But that's not what I came for. What left me feeling re-energized was that she spoke with such overwhelming conviction and compelling purpose (despite her quiet, sweet demeanor) that I just wanted to stand up and shout, "AMEN!" Don't worry- I composed myself. But we NEED more teachers- famous or not- to stand up at a podium or on cardboard box or at a staff meeting or during a tupperware party or parent event or even blog site... to speak on behalf of children. To speak to the fact that they are deep and smart and wise. To speak to the fact that they will rise only as high as the ceiling we built above them. It's as ordinary and simple as that. There need not be anything complicated or frilly about what you say. Debbie knew that. And it made her message extraordinary. __________________________________ Bloggin' about Books Corner: Good news for all your D.M. groupies: Debbie's new book is called Teaching with Intention (I believe she said it would be out this summer, but don't take my word for it.) and- while we're at it: Kathy Collin's new book is called Reading for Real: Teach Children to Read with Power, Intention, and Joy in K-3 Classrooms out in June of 08 and- just because I know you want to know if you haven't seen it already Elin Keene's new book is already out, called: To Understand Ok- just one more i promise! Have you seen Regie Routman's new book called Teaching Essentials?? I flipped through it and it looks SOOOO worth it! PS: I have none of these books, so I can't speak to their quality although- I'm sure I'll buy them all. Sight unseen. We have a lot to talk about this summer!! 41 Comments
	Pandora's Box by: BookMuncher, 03-20-2008 "I think it's cool to be princess. You get to get saved. You don't have to do the hard work." ~ M. Looping with my class this year has given me a chance to step back a little and think about what I am leaving children with at the end of our time together. The good news is that I've realized I'm not doing enough. The bad news is that I've realized I'm not doing enough. Most of us are still grappling with how to teach children to think deeply about literature and we're working furiously to squeeze all of it into one year. So if you want to know what's in the new Pandora's box I've opened, read on. But I'm warning you- once it's out- it's out. And this blog may leave you feeling the same way I am feeling: just a little bit guilty and a lot overwhelmed. With the coming of March, my class is wrapping up our determining importance unit in nonfiction and moving onto an experiment of mine- critical literacy. My Masters Paper is focusing specifically on critical reading with young children. So I decided to take some cues from all the professional reading and course work I've been doing lately, and I began with Sleeping Beauty. Day One: After reading it, we considered these questions: Who has the power? Who is the hero, and what does the author want us to think about the hero's actions? Who is left out or pushed aside? What are the author's assumptions? The idea that the author has ideas that are implicit and separate from an author's message and that those ideas are not always pretty, confounded my kids-- kids who I thought were already fairly critical. We learned what the word "assumption" means and that assumptions are usually hidden. Sometimes the author knows she has them, sometimes she isn't aware. Sometimes the author hides them, sometimes the author does not. In the case of Sleeping Beauty, the prince was revealed as having the most power. My kids immediately said that the author wanted us to think he was brave, helpful, kind, the "saviour" (their words), dashing. They recognized that the princess was pushed aside- not talking, not making choices, having no control. All that was OK with them. When I asked about assumptions, they shook their heads vigorously when I suggested that she might think that "girls can't rescue themselves... they need a man to do it." They had a really hard time understanding that 1.) authors send hidden messages through character's actions and that 2.) these messages reflect the author's most basic beliefs about the world-- because even when other children started identifying more assumptions (rich people have to marry rich people, you have to be beautiful to be rich or royal), they continued shaking their heads. I think that what they were doing was disagreeing with those statements, and since they disagreed with them, they were almost denying they were in the book at all. They are used to author's messages being good and happy: Be yourself. It's Ok to make mistakes. Never give up. The fact that a grown up could have ideas that are "wrong" in their eyes, was foreign. And the fact that books in general (fiction in particular) are any thing but right and true- is unbelievable to them. By the end of the 40 minute conversation, we took a vote. MOST girls thought it was admirable to be saved by a boy and that they should "wait" for their prince. Most of the boys felt that boys could use weapons better than girls so they should be the rescuers. What did I think? That I was going to undo assumptions that have been ingrained in these kids since they were old enough to watch a Disney version of a fairy tale? It's laughable- but at the time I could feel my face getting flushed with incredulity. (My student teacher can attest to that!!) Day one of this unit was quite a wake up call for me. Day Two: We left Sleeping Beauty- we read Puss in Boots, and listed assumptions about being rich and gaining wealth through any means. Day Three: The next day though, I diverted from our fairy tale path. I was seeking a story that would rile them up- I needed something that would shake them out of this daze. Maybe they didn't see fairy tales as serious enough to do any harm. After picture walking through a couple very traditional Christopher Columbus books, I read Jane Yolen's Encounter. Besides helping them understand some of the nuances of the book, I stayed out of it: I let them talk amongst themselves in a conversation circle. Because our kindergarteners at our school go through this "rite of passage" Kindergarten Thanksgiving Pageant, this book created some dissonance. They talked to each other in terms of "hero." Some argued that Columbus was still a hero to some people because he made a great discovery. Others argued that he destroyed lives and was a monster. But notice the language: a hero to some people. I could care less about their opinion in this case, as long as their discourse was beginning to change. "To some people" shows an appreciation for point of view. It's a start... Later in their journals, they wrote about shifts in thinking. One child wrote something along the lines of, "I don't think they should teach us something very young because it makes you think it when you grow up too." And another ended her journal entry with the words, "So much for kindergarten!" I laughed at her spunk, but this also isn't my goal. I have no interest in polarizing their ideas any further. While I understand that polarizing is what young children do, I want them to see the shades of gray. Discounting all of kindergarten because you learn a piece of it was an untruth will not serve them well. Day Four: Because my students were still trying hard to fit books into distinct categories and were not yet seeing multiple viewpoints, I lined up the three Columbus book covers on the easel for the last minilesson of the week. "Look at the covers," I said. "Really look at them. You can see what the author/illustrator's assumptions are about Columbus simply by looking at the way he is portrayed." Now this-- they got. In one of the traditional books, his face is in the middle of the compass and one student explained it as "He's at the center of everything." This illustration says- he's a decision maker, in charge, and in power. In the other traditional book, Columbus is depicted in a "thinker pose", sitting at the edge of the sea, head in hands. The kids noticed that "He's drawn small like he can't really hurt anyone." and "He's dressed in green to show he loves the earth." and "He looks lonely." As for Encounter, Columbus's body fills the cover, imposing and extremely menacing. Storm clouds rise behind him and his hair and cape blow in the wind. He looks down on a young Taino boy who is raising his hand to him, as if Columbus is his saviour. The kids noticed the movement of wind in the picture and his size relative to the cover and the boy. They noticed his powerful facial expression and his clothing. Maybe they don't yet understand how the author can manipulate what we think, but they certainly understand it in pictures. Why didn't I think to start there? Our Columbus discussion touched off a whole lesson in illustration. As a child noticed some power codes in our Columbus discussion, I taught them a new one. In all I taught: Color code: Colors can be manipulated to mean something. For instance, red can often mean power, but not always. It other books, it might mean warmth. In Owl Moon, blue means cold and peace. In workshop kids found examples of color code in: There are Monsters Everywhere (Mercer Mayer)- Red means power-- very obvious example. The Paper Boy- red is warmth of the bed, blue is cold of outside/night. Size code: The larger the character, the more important they often are. The size of things in a picture, relative to other things is always important. When an author wants to make the reader feel small, they might draw the character or object so large, that it spills off the page. In Owl Moon, the trees grow off the page and the people are tiny, making them and the reader feel small. In workshop, kids found examples of size code in: Toot and Puddle- Puddle's borders usually are smaller, showing that he is a home-body in a small part of the world, while Toot's border almost bleeds to the edges of the opposite pages. The Polar Express- the part where the wolves are running beside the train. The trees are so tall that you can't even see their branches. The wolves feel like they are very close to the reader. The only warmth is in the windows of the train (color code). Night of the Moon Jellies- the boat is small compared to the large sea. Where the Wild Things Are- Max's borders grow and grow and grow with his power, until there is a full double page spread with no room for words- the heighth of his power, then it shrinks as he returns. Point of View Code: This refers to how the reader is positioned and involved in the book. Are you looking from above (like you're out of the action, floating?), below, from behind trees, in the water? In Encounter, there's an extremely close up picture of a Spaniard's gloved hand- pasty and white. It makes the reader feel as if you actually are the little boy, touching it. In workshop, the kids found point of view code in: The Lotus Seed- on the part that grandma gets to the big city, instead of the reader being down with the ant-like people, we float way up high- the picture is a double page spread. Making us feel small and scared and alone. The Lost Hat- to make the reader feel as if he will never find one hat in the thousands of others, he is positioned in the pile with the character. Light and Dark: This refers to the overall feeling of the book. Polar Express is a very, very dark book. Wilfred Gordon is light. Related to this (which I haven't taught yet) is Saturated/unsaturated. How solid or transparant the paint or medium is can affect the reader. In workshop, the kids found: There Are Monsters Everywhere- the monsters are dark (always in shadow), while the house is light. Polar Express- most of the book is dark, while the end is lighter. After our discussion, they all agreed that they felt more powerful as readers. No illustrator is going to pull one over on them- they now know that the illustrator has a certain kind of power over how they think and feel as they read. It's that knowing that I find so empowering and so critical. You could make the argument, as many do, that they need to be allowed to be kids- let them be naive, let them live in fairy land. But I would argue right back: As a teacher, I am only telling one side of the story if I neglect to teach them how to read critically. The side I'm telling is the reader's side. It's the reader's side I'm telling when I teach children how to read for meaning and grasp the soul of words and uncover the author's message. But in doing that, I am inadvertently teaching them to believe what they read, to succumb to the writer. If it's written, it must be true. Aidan Chambers, famous for reader-response theory writes that, "It takes two to say a thing." We have to teach children that reading is a conversation between an author's voice and a reader's voice. The reader should not be only saying things like, "I have a connection to that," and "I can picture that," and "I'm inferring that..." The reader's job is also to critically question and as brutal as the word sounds: interrogate. I've only just completed Day Four of Critical Literacy. I'm glad we're tackling it together, but I wish I would have started earlier. I wish I would have purposely woven it into each unit of study. It's just the beginning though- everything has a beginning! Now that my workshop is more established, I think I have a new realm to explore. Reader's Workshop is the perfect labratory for my tinkering. It'll be an exploration perhaps bigger than management of workshop and structures of independent reading; because in this new journey, I'm doing much more than teaching children to read books. I'm teaching them to read their world. Stay tuned... PS: I've attached the beginning of the unit survey I gave my kids. I needed a baseline for their current attitudes in the area of critical literacy. 13 Comments
	How the Universe (and Cakes) are Made: by: BookMuncher, 02-22-2008 Dear Miss. V., While I was sick I found some more interesting records. Did you know that Switzerland is the country that eats the most chocolate and Italy is the country that drinks the most bottled water? Aren’t those good facts? Also, can you teach me to bake? If you can that would be great, then I can teach my mom to stop making my birthday cake hard. From: D. That letter (this year's talk back format) was sent to my student teacher from a student who had been out sick for a couple days and who also doesn't usually know what to write in talk backs. I love the way a passion for learning was spilled onto the page. There's an implicit message: Reading is not only entertainment for me, but I can now wager it like currency to entertain others and to get what I want. Deep in the winter of their second reader's workshop year, I am seeing evidence that children no longer see reading primarily as entertainment. It is a means to an end, and for every child, it is a deeply personal and self-actualizing kind of journey. For the last few weeks, our classroom has been buzzing with nonfiction facts and figures. We've been learning together about how readers determine importance in a nonfiction text. To teach children how, one way readers determine importance (skill ) is by paying attention to information that fits their purpose (strategy), we broke out the Wonder Boxes. Breathing new life into them, children spent a few days adding questions. I worried at first that maybe their move to 2nd grade would stifle those spontaneous and authentic questions. But I had nothing to worry about because the kids' questions were fresher than ever. Pretty soon, each child had chosen one question each. Everything from "Why are there clouds?" to "How are hurricanes formed?" to "How do lightbulbs work?" to "Why do we live in a circle?" (which means- how do we not walk off the curved earth?) were pulled out as their most burning questions. We took a special trip to the library and came out with books, books, and more books. For days in reader's workshop, the kids read with their purposes in mind. They jotted down any notes that hinted at a possible answer. I would have left it there if their energy wasn't so unexpectedly high. On the last day of our research, I thought I'd wrap it up by swinging around the circle so that each child could report out on one really cool thing they found. I was surprised when we were half way around and there were no wiggles, no hand figeting. Everyone truly was interested in what their friends had found. They were ooohing and aaahing and asking each other clarifying questions. If, I thought to myself, that the researchers were passionate enough to talk this confidently and if the listeners were interested enough to follow their lines of thinking (however flawed), then maybe this activity needed to be extended. Later, I gave every child a large piece of cardstock folded in threes to stand up like a science fair trifold. They wrote their questions at the top and then spent an hour or two of class time attempting to answer their question using a combination of text and nonfiction conventions. We invited all the other 2nd grade classes to our Question Fest and stood back as the experts did their thing. There was a lot of talking with hands and pointing and questioning. The actual science behind some of their answers was a bit simplified and sometimes plain wrong, but their explanations revealed a deep sense that they owned the process of searching for information. (Click here to hear some in-the-moment sound bytes of them explaining their answers at the Question Fest.) One little boy, in explaining how the universe was formed began with the words, "I think," his voice rising on that last word (a scary start for a big question), and went on "that there were gases and that the gravity pulled it together. And I'm inferring that it popped. etc..." And while it may sound like a weak explanation, isn't he joining the ranks of centuries upon centuries of people who have inferred about the origin of our universe? Another little boy settled on quite an opposite question: "If God made everything, who made God?" When he found out that that question was best worked out with an outside source (like his mom!), he changed it to: "Do aliens plans things?" "Might you want to broaden your question to 'do aliens exist?" we asked. "Well, I know they exist," he answered. These are kids on a mission. They have not just learned the answers (or pseudo-answers) to some very good questions. They have learned that from now on, if they want to know something, then they can go get it. They have learned that reading unlocks knowledge previously reserved for "other." They have learned that they are on equal ground with every other reader who reads to know. And their teacher has learned some stuff too... She has learned that children crave more than a good story and a happy ending. She has learned that the phrase, "knowledge is power" never had so much meaning as it does now. She has learned that reading is knowledge, knowledge is power, and power is freeing. 9 Comments
	Watch this! by: BookMuncher, 02-02-2008 Here are some government PSA's worth watching: OZ Public Service Announcement Narnia Public Service Announcement Camelot Public Service Announcement I caught the OZ PSA on TV one afternoon and I won't lie- I loved it! I looked up all of the rest of them on youtube and checked out literacy.gov. But- as most things in life- it's too good to be true. Because then I couldn't stop thinking: 1.) Who made those commercials? & 2.) What are they implying? I would submit that the answers are: 1.) A group of politicians, business people, film producers & 2.) That children in America should be inspired to read widely and with passion. Why am I complaining then? It's true that as teachers, we share that same vision. But what a blatant disconnect between what they want children to become (that is, voracious, critical readers), and how they want us to accomplish that in our classrooms (cookie-cutter, controlled reading programs). There is nothing wrong with making a committment to teach and reach each and every child. But to then to make it difficult for teachers to use their best professional knowledge of reading, by forcing on us"scientifically- based" programs, reveals deep ignorance. Cause one thing's for sure-- no scientist, executive, or politician can throw money and programs at our national reading problems and expect to get the kind of readers depicted in those commercials. Those kinds of readers will emerge when they are inspired. And they will be inspired when our teachers are given some respect. 2 Comments
	The Essence of Text by: BookMuncher, 03-25-2008 Hiding somewhere between our consistently successful questioning units and steadily improving synthesis units is this strategy called determining importance. It's no secret that many of us have glazed over this forgottetn strategy since beginning on our Reader's Workshop journeys. If you're one of us, read on. Add your thoughts! I'm hoping that between blogging about my thinking and discussing it with you, we can make sense of a intangible, yet imperative skill. The Mosaic chapter on determining importance is called "The Essence of Text." In the new edition of that book, Keene writes that she believes the strategy of determining importance is much more necessary now, in the age of new media, than even when she and Zimmerman wrote the first Mosaic. So if determining importance is so... well- important, then why don't people talk about it or share plans? Why do people instead talk about nonfiction conventions as if they are the strategy, in and of themselves? Or beyond conventions, if we're wanting to dig a little deeper, we'll talk about the predictable structures of fiction. While I realize the reason for this is probably the lack of lessons out there for young children (Reading with Meaning focuses mostly on conventions and mentions fiction story structure in passing; Growing Readers doesn't offer much at all; and Mosaic is good but a little vague), I have a hunch that determining importance is about way more than structure and conventions. After all- I can read the headings, look at the photos, read the captions- and still not understand what is important about the text itself. So the question is, how can we teach young children to attend to what's important? Even though sometimes I find the titles in Mosaic of Thought to be a bit flowery (call it what it is, already!!), I think that for once their chapter on determining importance is aptly named. The Essence of Text is what we want all children to be able to obtain independently. When it comes to fiction, I know that I work on that with my class through every unit of study. From our work with connections, where our camaraderie with the character's plight heightens our awareness of what's important to the author, to synthesis where we are literally piecing together the big ideas of the story, all of our fiction work involves finding the essence of story. But when it comes to nonfiction, our work is not so consuming. Nonfiction texts are extremely dense and their non-narrative structures are a second language for children. Then again, it's still a second language for many of us! It took me until college to even begin determining importance and even then, I doubt that I knew that I was doing it. It was pure, blind luck paired with a lot of reading- everything except being strategic- that lead me through those dark college textbook days. Again thinking about my own reading, there are usually certain phrases and sentences that stick out for me as I read. Keene and Zimmerman tell us that words that carry meaning are called "contentives" and the words the connect them "functors." Certainly words stick out to me, but they are usually in the context of a phrase that I deem as oh-so-true or very indicative of my own experience or surprising/something I've never thought of. To rephrase that last part in reading terms, the pieces of my reading that I underline, highlight, or tell my friends about, are those that square with my own schema-- schema that includes not just all I know, but all that I am and all that I believe. The other parts that present themselves as important are not surprisingly those pieces of new information that I am adding to my schema. Like you, once I've read so many books on teaching reading and writing, a fair amount of text repeats itself. The jewels among those texts are the sentences or paragraphs or sections that explain something new to me or teach me in a way I haven't thought of before. That's why the first book I ever read on Reader's Workshop is vastly more marked up than the most recent ones. But the above doesn't consider texts I read that are on a generally unknown subject to me. In texts like that, I am more likely to highlight the "textbook" topic sentences and possibly a few supporting details. My copy of the text, of course, will have starkly different marked phrases from someone who has more schema in the area. Perhaps the best resource I've found for my dilema is Strategies That Work. (I have the old edition.) It has its limitations, though, because 1/3 of the lessons are on conventions and the other 2/3's are good, but definately geared towards around 5th grade and up. Still, it gives me something to work with since the activities can be adapted or I can steal the teaching points and make my own series of practices for them. The "purposes", as Harvey calls them (I rewrote them into teaching points) are: Readers determine importance by noticing new information on familiar and unfamiliar topics. (The idea that readers with lots of schema on a topic will pick out different important ideas than readers with little schema.) Readers determine importance by understanding that there are often several important ideas in a piece of text. Readers determine importance by reading with a specific purpose in mind. Readers determine importance by discriminating between key topics and supporting details. Readers determine importance by reading persuasive material carefully to make an informed judgement. Readers determine importance by using questioning and inferring to determine the essence of the text. I'm working on breaking each of these out into some lessons geared more towards primary aged kids. This isn't a finished project, but it's a start. Notice that I didn't include any convention lessons, since that's well detailed in Debbie Miller (and also because my group doesn't need it again this year). Readers determine importance by noticing new information on familiar and unfamiliar topics. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: Model with another adult, each using a book that is on a familiar topic to us. Mark a few important parts, teaching that they were marked because they were places that added to our schema. Then, using another color marker, switch books and code it for important parts again. Show children how the marked parts are different and why. Repeat in a guided situation. Children choose books on topics they have a lot of schema for. Continue exploring how we determine importance in familiar and unfamiliar books, moving to independence. Possibly tie in here with all-about book writing. Readers determine importance by understanding that there are often several important ideas in a piece of text. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: Model reading a high-interest, relatively unfamiliar nonfiction passage on the overhead. Be explicit about reading the passage a few times before making a decision about the important ideas. Underline the important ideas in three different colors. Model a few more times, being sure to show passages with more or less then three "main ideas." Practice this skill with controlled passages (maybe also other genres-- School Newsletter?) -- I don't think it would be successful with any self-selected text. Readers determine importance by reading with a specific purpose in mind. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: Model jotting question on a text before reading and marking parts that could answer the question. Be sure to model both "right there" answers and "inference" answers. Use questions from Wonder Boxes for guided and independent practice. Readers determine importance by discriminating between key topics and supporting details. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: Hold off-- I think this one is more appropriate for intermediate. Readers determine importance by reading persuasive material carefully to make an informed judgement. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: Save for Critical Literacy Unit. Readers determine importance by using questioning and inferring to determine the essence of the text. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: I think this teaching point is covered above. In Strategies that Work, the lesson's objective is to take a complex text and talk through it, asking questions and inferring the answers. It's the kind of discussions we have during interactive read alouds all of the time. Perhaps I should use our regular read alouds to call the kid's attention to the fact that they are determining importance as they negotiate meaning together. However, as a lesson, I don't think it is concrete enough, nor is it really something a reader can do independent of others. ALSO: Readers determine importance by noticing cue words signal importance. 1st/2nd Grade Lesson: For model, revisit familiar text(s) to draw children's attention to cue words (such as "as a result" and "first" and "however"). Begin a running list. Possibly carry this teaching point and the list throughout the unit. For guided and independent practice, use pre-chosen passages with cue words present. ... So what's important in all of this? What's important is that children first learn that not all ideas in a text should be weighed equally. And secondly, that all children are able to strategically determine importance independently. What's important is that whether reading a fairy tale, poisonous animal book, Weekly Reader, or game board instructions, children can grasp what's essential and hold on to it. 19 Comments
	Poetry is good. by: BookMuncher, 04-30-2008 Our classroom family got a boost in community spirit this week and last, as we came together around poetry. The unit, perfect for a short 2-3 week time frame, was almost all taken from Georgia Heard's Awakening the Heart. My objective: For students to feel inspired to seek out poetry that fits their needs, and for them to write poetry from the heart. I planned and prepped and had my objectives, but once again, my students taught me... I kicked off this unit with a clear message to my children, who had participated in a month-long Units of Study poetry study in first grade. The message was this: While poetry craft is important, the soul of a poem is greater. There were many wonderful elements of the Calkins poetry unit-- my favorite one is that it truly teaches children to look at the world through different eyes. But following that unit led my kids down a rutted path that I couldn't seem to divert. Poetry, to them, was mostly about observing the world. Try as I might to shift their focus last year, I could not help them write poetry that stirred emotion. So we took a 6 month break and tried again! We started at the end of the first week listing places where poetry hides for us. By the end of that workshop, each child had a looooong list of people, places, feelings, and things, as well as a new poetry folder. This week, I introduced Georgia Heard's "doors"- one per day. I modeled and found examples of poetry written from behind all five doors: the heart door, the memory door, the concerns about the world door, the wonder door, and the observation door. Meanwhile, in reader's workshop, our minilessons were devoted to understanding poetry by jotting questions all around them and then inferring the answer using their schema or mental images. But our actual reading time was devoted to something more important-- the children were reading and marking poems that they might include in their Self-Portrait Anthologies that they are making. Everyday, we added one poem to our anthologies. I hope that they are learning that they can use poems like a mirror- not just because they can find topics and things-they-like-to-do-too in them, but because poetry can show them that others feel and believe the same things they do. For the first couple days, despite my modeling around picking poems that reflect us on the inside, the children just couldn't get past the topics. One chose a poem about dogs because it remind him of his dog and another chose one about jumproping because she liked to do that too. Georgia Heard specifically writes that this will happen, but not to give up-- to keep modeling. By the end of this week, their choices were getting better. I held my breath as a little girl shared that she had chosen a poem about a butterfly. But when she explained it was because the poet described flying as such a free thing and that sometimes she wanted to fly, I exhaled. I think they're getting it! On Monday, one of my students had a death in her family. When she came to school, she was out of sorts and after a suggestion that she write a poem, she turned out a few of them, all with the same morbid words and pictures of the body, her and her brother crying crocodile tears. The next day, she came to school with a book called Family Poems. She found a poem called Missing Mama and shared with the class that even though her Mama hadn't died, she could connect with the poem and it could help her feel a little better. But it wasn't until today (Friday) that she decided to share the death with the class-- unbeknownst to me. During Rise and Shine Poetry, she shared the poem she wrote on Monday and it was met with silence. One little boy raised his hand during the part where the kids are supposed to share the "words that sounded good in their ears" and asked, "When you said 'stopped breathing,' did you mean that poeticly?" It opened up a wonderfully deep and caring conversation around the little girl's saddness. The other part of this week where the kids and teacher traded position was in a small, unplanned transition. One boy told me that he had memorized this certain poem that he had been reading for a few days in a row. Given that the poem was about 5 verses long, not rhyming, and actually pretty deep- I was surprised to say the least! I had no idea that was what he was up to. I asked him to share it with the class, in hopes that it would inspire them to dig into a poem they love and do the same thing. He recited it and, to my surprise, was met with lots of waving hands- all with poems other kids had memorized. We started sharing and I realized that these were all poems they had read in reader's workshop! One of those rare "teacher moments" came when one girl came to the front and started reciting Langston Hughes' Dreams (Hold fast to your dreams/for if dreams die/life is a broken-winged bird/that cannot fly. Hold fast to your dreams/for when dreams go/life is a barren field/covered with snow). She recited the first one or two lines and then paused, trying to remember. Before I knew it, everyone was helping her and coaching her with the words! By the end, the class was saying it in unison. (Sniff.) So again- I had my objectives. But they were far exceeded by the children's realization (my persuasion unnecessary) that poetry is good. PS: Here's a picture to make you wish for snow. We made our room into a winter wonderland. It doesn't feel as chilly unless you're standing in it, but still- enjoy! 19 Comments
	Pretty Packages by: BookMuncher, 01-18-2008 Early this week, we wrapped up our November unit, Standing on the Shoulders of Great authors. Every unit ends neatly packaged with a bow on top- this one ended with 35 adults swarming around the "famous authors" in our school library: the authors talking about what other authors influenced their work, giving autographs, posing for pictures. It always takes me a few days before I can reflect back on the actual learning and teaching. As usual, it's not all roses, as the celebration would make one think. We all know that the final fancy package, although a reflection of all the work that happened during the month, actually hides the messy ups and downs, highs and lows of that month's journey. Meet the Author Event (Pretty Packaging): Let's actually work backwards (from the perspective of a celebration visitor on Tuesday). When parents and relatives walked into the library, they were greeted with a 6.5 foot chart that the kids and I constructed together (pic. attached). The first half of sentence strips were in my handwriting and were labeled to explain that I had taught them those teaching points by using books from famous authors. But the rest were written in their writing and had a sign explaining that the children found those teaching points on their own and taught them to the rest of the class. Basically, the chart blocking their way through the door was the center and sum of our learning for a month. Almost every visitor walked right past it. (I'm not bitter , just disappointed because most of them missed the point that the kids were not parroting things I had taught them, but actually using teaching points that other children had located AND taught to each other.) But what was important to our adoring fans was the pretty packaging. They thought the kids looked adorable in their dress clothes (some wearing gold tinsel like boas), signing their autographs with light-up pens and asking "Who can I make this out to?" They oohed and aahed as the children pointed out the spots in their pieces that were influenced by other authors. Who can blame them for thinking they're cute? They were cute and they are their kids! November's Standing on the Shoulders of Great Authors Unit (The messy insides) I won't repeat everything we did in November (you can read about that a couple blogs ago). But I will say that I felt slightly lost at times. I was surprised at how much I need/like teaching one strategy. Without that strategy as a guide, there are days in a row where I just keep asking myself, "Am I teaching them something???" The part where we learned about using the strategies all together started out slow but picked up momentum when I handed them the reigns. Each child studied one of three authors and each partnership needed to read three books by that author. As they read, they imitated what they watched me do with Angela Johnson's The Leaving Morning. With a large piece of newprint and a color marker for each understanding strategy, they kept track of their thinking and changes in thinking. After each day of working like that, I gave the partners feedback. Things like, "I notice you only synthesized once at the beginning but never synthesized again to think how your thinking changed." or "If you ask a question, you need to come back to it in some way." The color coding kept them engaged, but MUCH more importantly, it provided a window into their thinking and gave them a visual for what complex work this stuff is! Like the reading, writing had its ups and downs too. The downs first: I felt a little like the teaching points I was giving them were sometimes more for the sake of connecting them to an author, but didn't really flow with where we had left off. I was mostly doing my own minilessons, but even in the Units it seemed to skip around: from how Angela Johnson picks a topic, to how she uses parenthesis. If I were to do this unit again, I think I'd know better how to make the whole thing seamless. I think I might actually not feel so tied into one author. Instead, I'd study three, all for the purpose of focusing our writing into tiny topics. Instead of letting one author drive what I can teach, I'd let what skill I want to teach (probably zooming in closer) drive which authors I use. The part of writing that I liked happened after the children finished studying one of three authors in reader's workshop. After watching me model how I learn about writing from Angela Johnson all month, I asked them to work together to come up with three teaching points that they could teach to the class from their author. I scaffolded them a little by drawing group's attention to how their authors describe things or start/end their stories. Once they each had their teaching points, they were ready to think about teaching it to the class. As it happened, I ended up teaching them how to do a minilesson! (Not planned, but my favorite moment of the unit!) I told them to think about the words I always use: "Today I'm going to teach you that _____________ For instance, in this book __________________. Did you notice how ___________? So today in your writing, maybe you could try _____________." I didn't require that format or write it down for them, but everyone internalized the structure and taught the 9 minilessons "the TC way" . One started by saying "Writer's workshop lost and found" and a few even ended by saying "Happy Writing!" It's enough to make a teacher do a dance. The teaching points they found were: Writers sometimes give a little hint and later describe it in lots of detail. (Ezra Jack Keats) Writers use stronger words than said, like yelled, mumbled, or asked. (Tomie dePaola) Writers make mental images of parts by telling many details (Ezra Jack Keats) Writers sometimes end their stories in the way they started it, but changed. (Donald Crews) Writers sometimes start their stories by introducing the main character right away. (Tomie dePaola) Writers don't always start their stories with "one day." (Ezra Jack Keats) Writers sometimes write very short sentences to get their readers attention. (Donald Crews) Writers sometimes end their stories like there is more to come. (Tomie dePaola) Writers describe the setting. (Donald Crews) We taped all the teaching points together, with the ones I had taught previously from Angela Johnson. The children referred to them in order to revise a piece of writing, adding post it notes where they took the advice of an author. So I guess, actually- I can't complain that the parents don't want to listen to me explain our journey-- because I'm not interested in sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the end, it's my favorite moments, the frustrating days, the kid breakthroughs, the directionless feelings, the mistakes, and bullseyes that come together to make our learning our own. I should be happy that our celebrations offer a neat, pretty, packaged, happily ever after. Because with one happily ever after per month... I can do this job! 7 Comments
	Growth Snapshot by: BookMuncher, 12-08-2007 On my mind right now: assessment tools. Not particularly my favorite topic, but parent-teacher conferences are this week and I'm always looking for ways that I can concisely communicate each child's strengths and needs, while at the same time not wasting my time on something that I won't use myself. With that in mind, I created a new "snapshot" tool for parents (attached) that I think will also help me move instruction forward for each child. I've shared another tool on Proteacher that is more of a rubric, where the same language arts indicators are listed under "almost always, usually, sometimes, rarely, and never." That tool allowed me to look at many more discrete skills, but it took me hours to fill out for the whole class. Also, I questioned myself a lot on different skills because they were so small and I didn't have evidence to back each one up. This new version looks at much larger components of reading, writing, and math. This way, it's a little easier for me to consider that child in each area. At the same time, having 5 different levels can assist me when I look at these forms to set goals for children or guide my grouping. I stuck with the metaphor of the flower, because I still think that it's a beautiful way to show the unique growth patterns of each child. I hope someone else out there will benefit from this tool as well! (Click on comments to view it.) PS: If you want, you can type right in the form and print them out for each child. The selection area is already set to Wingdings 2, so if you type in a capital "P", a check mark will pop up. 16 Comments
	Bravery: A New Prerequisite for Teaching by: BookMuncher, 11-19-2007 "It is simply not enough to reproduce the way things are." During my grad. school reading this evening, I underlined it, highlighted it, and retyped it to my blog. Why? It's such a simple statement-- probably just a variation of one that we've heard many times before. But it speaks to every interaction we have with a child, each passing conversation we have in the hall with a colleague, and every minute we spend planning and reflecting. I feel these words coursing through my blood as I sit in meetings to discuss the future of our school. As teachers, we are constantly fighting against a strong and well-established current of complacency. How easy it would be to slip backwards and let it carry us back to how-we-always-do-it. We force our way upstream when we share new research and findings with other professionals. We struggle against it when we seek to educate and inspire parents. We gasp for air as we balance mandates of all different levels and types with what we know is right for kids, and we do it every minute of every day. If you think about it, it's surprisingly complex-- certainly more complex than simply deciding to change things. Monday through Friday, our classrooms contain one teacher and a group of children. If only that's all they held! If only there were no invisible hands of the state, scribbling new test items that place more stressors on instructional time. If only there were no invisible eyes of adminstrators looking for children to be experiencing the same thing in every classroom, regardless of the gifts and talents of individual teachers. If only there were no invisible ears of parents, listening for echos of their own grade school teachers. If only teaching was actually as simple as we envisioned it to be when we all dreamed of having our own classrooms. With all these invisibles contributing to a persistent, entrenched current, it turns out that "not reproducing the way things are" is one of the most counterintuitive-- and brave-- things a teacher can set about doing. 4 Comments
	Where we've been and where we're going... by: BookMuncher, 11-18-2007 It seems like an appropriate time to post an update blog. After all, the trick-or-treaters are only knocking on my door infrequently, but it's frequent enough that I can't concentrate on my course work. In our fall Reader's Workshop, here's where we've been and where we're going: Where We've Been We just finished our Accuracy Unit. The kids celebrated with a sharing of their published books and a reading of their favorite excerpts from a beloved book. Hearing snippets of stories from first grade made me sentimental. Those soundbytes meshed together and were music to a teacher's ears! They not only chose great literature from which to read (Knuffle Bunny, George's Marvelous Medicine, The Lotus Seed, Owl Moon, The Relatives Came), but they chose really poignant excerpts. Their voices melded together like a tight knit reading community. Where We're Going This week, we started our new unit, Standing on the Shoulders of Great Authors. We're basing this unit on a metaphor of how a child sits on her dad's shoulders to reach something that she couldn't reach on her own or to see something that is taller than herself. We are likening reading and writing to processes that we have a lot to learn about, but with the help of great authors, we can reach higher heights and discover new ways of thinking and writing. In this unit of study, I hope that my students learn: Readers use more than one reading strategy at a time to make meaning and form big ideas about a text Readers know the purpose of each reading strategy and can talk about times and/or types of text where they would be most useful Readers apply the integrated reading strategies to the study of an author Readers develop ideas about authors and uncover patterns between books Writers find and stretch small moments like our mentor author Writers make observations about our mentor author and try to emmulate her in their own writing Writers turn to different authors for different kinds of writing help * I'm planning for the last two weeks of our unit in both reading and writing to be an integrated author study. Children will study an author in reading and learn about writer's craft from him/her in writing. For our celebration, I'm thinking about holding a Meet the Author luncheon or signing. I haven't quite decided yet... Day to Day Workshop Update: As you know, I was previously struggling a bit with the "buzz" in my workshop. Some of that seems to have worked itself out a bit. It's not perfect, but we're working towards a happy balance. For this unit, we're going to really focus on picture books and partner talk. Right now, I'm modeling how I think aloud and jot down my thinking in three different colors for different strategies. It's not that I'm necessarily wanting them to juggle that writing work, but I think they need the visual of how readers do so much at once. If you really break down what a proficient reader does as they read, it's quite harrowing. I mean, it's one thing for us to model to kids how we make mental images the entire way through a text, but to actually explicitly teach them that a reader might make a connection, which leads to a mental image, which maybe answers a previous question-- is difficult, to say the least! I'm going very slowly- doing a few pages a day. I don't expect them to recreate what I'm doing, but I do expect them to eventually try a second grade version of it. Hopefully, our shift to picture books and an emphasis on partner talk will help. Coming up... we'll break out the Talk Back journals- which I've been deliberating hiding until our spotlight on comprehension. I'd like to do two or three weeks of "2nd grade modeling" and up the anty on what a meaningful entry might be. I'll be sure to share how that goes! Small Groups My small groups and conferences have been a high point for me. So far, I have met with just about every student in a conference and in a group each week. One thing that is happening with my small groups that I didn't anticipate, is that the groups are usually reconvening the next week instead of me planning new ones. Although I have planned a few new groups here and there, I've felt with most of the groups that they need two or three meetings on the same topic before they can master the skill. Plus, I usually give them something to jot down or track with post-its and I feel that I need to meet with them again to assess 1) if they did it at all and 2) if they understand. Overall, I feel really in touch with what everyone's reading and what each child needs at this point in time. I'm pretty sure that for any child, I could name a teaching point that I could teach tomorrow and a strategy that I could use to teach them. Periodically, I remember back to Lucy Calkins standing in front of us this summer asking all of us to picture a child who struggled with making mental images. She asked us to think in our heads of all the strategies we taught that child to help him, of how we kept track of his progress, and of the actual progress/change he made. I felt horribly guilty that summer morning to know that the child I was thinking of was still poor at making mental images. That example of Lucy's comes back to me often as I'm conferencing with a child who displays and obvious gap. I want to hold myself much more accountable than I have been in the past. I want to be the kind of teacher who knows my students' needs well enough that I'm confident with my teaching points. It's taking a whole lot of committment and thought, but I can already see a difference in my instruction! 21 Comments*
	Accuracy in Reading and Writing by: BookMuncher, 10-28-2007 I opened our October unit with the metaphor of a bulls-eye. We imagined an archer shooting all around the target, and then finally hitting it perfectly in the center. Accuracy, I told them, comes with practice. At first, you'll hit all around the target, but with some practice- and some strategies- you can hit the target again and again. Our unit, Accuracy in Reading and Writing, has raised my 2nd grader's awareness of themselves as conventional readers and writers. My placement of this unit early in the year is purposeful. I want to send the message that, from this day forward, we are writing for our readers and we are reading the writing of other authors- just as they wrote it. It's not my favorite thing to teach, but for children who are almost ready to make the bridge from learning to reading to reading to learn, it's an all-important one. Here's a little of what we did during this unit: Bend in the Road 1: Readers read tricky words by using their word-reading strategies flexibly. Writers spell words accurately by using a variety of tools. Bend in the Road 2: Readers infer the meaning of unknown words by using words around the unknown word, reading back farther/thinking about the gist of the story, and/or using smaller meaning chunks. Writers choose precise words that mean just what they want to say (introduction). Bend in the Road 3: Readers "read" punctuation (.!?",) as the author intended it. Writers make their pieces accurate by using appropriate punctuation. Bend in the Road 4: Readers monitor their comprehension constantly to ensure they are understanding and staying in the story.* Writers make their writing readable and clear by revising and editing. * I didn't originally plan to bring comprehension into this unit at all. But the more I thought about it, it seemed that I had covered all my other bases but still had kids here and there (especially during group conversations) thinking that at times, anything goes when it comes to building ideas about books. Also, with more and more children reading long books that are hard for me to monitor, I want children to know that, to some extent, there are things a reader should be able to keep track of in the story. While some parts of comprehension are left to personal interpretation, others are not. I haven't decided on a good way to celebrate our newly revived accuracy yet. Probably something with publishing an edited piece and/or reading a special excerpt from a book?? I don't know yet though. Any ideas? 9 Comments
	Somewhere in the middle by: BookMuncher, 10-02-2007 September has come and gone with its typical summer tales, unwelcome hot days that make for sweaty kids, and endless testing and other assorted interuptions. And although I feel like we're dragging our feet through muddy waters, simply trying to find some dry land on which we can run, we have accomplished some things. We have easily slipped back into our reading and writing routines, and the kids seem up to the challenges that second grade will bring. We just finished our storybuilding reading and writing unit. My storytellers told their stories at the festival with expression (sometimes exaggerated) and energy (in every way, real). I've been using the workshop model in social studies and math, and I feel that it's drastically changed our learning efficiency and engagement. All of these are going well, but of course, there's always that "thing" tugging at the corner of my mind. If it weren't for that thing, I'd never have to write blogs or rethink my teaching. But- alas! It's always there. The "thing" I'm struggling with currently is a feeling I'm having that my workshops don't have enough life to them. This tricky workshop environment balance is one that I think I may have written about before. That's because this isn't the first time I've felt a distinct disconnect. The last time I felt the same way was around October or November of last year. It was the first year I had used Growing Readers, and I had used it pretty much exclusively to get the ball rolling. It worked like a charm: the kids knew what to do, when, why, and how. The room truly did operate like clockwork. But there was something missing, just as there's something missing now. Actually, that "missing" feeling I have is so intangible that it's hard to blog about. Plus, it probably won't help too many readers, because I think it's very personal. We all have different teaching styles, and for the second year in a row, I'm learning that mine suffers when I tie it up too tightly in a secure knot of minilessons and teaching points. Now don't get me wrong... I'm not saying there's something wrong with either one. Both are necessary daily. But the buzz that takes place in a workshop when children are handed the reigns feeds an insatiable-- and much more powerful-- kind of learning. We have to know our own strengths as teachers-- and not just the ones we can put into words for a resume. I know I need structure as much as the kids-- without it, I'm as random as they come. I know I am capable of teaching responsively, but I can easily loose track of who's on first if I don't have a long term plan. I know that I feed off of my kids (and visa versa) when there is an energy in our room around new discoveries. I know that almost every good idea I've ever had came, not during planning, but in mid-sentence standing in front of the class. I know that there is no year where I've ever studied the same authors, made the same projects, read and reread the same books. So the question becomes, "How can I keep my days both predictable and planned, while at the same time being utterly open to the next amazing thing a child will say?" "How can I follow a unit of study, while at the same time following my students' units of study?" "How can I give them both what they need, and what they crave?" "How can I 'up the anty' in 2nd grade and move children toward reading more and with more stamina, but still see children talking and pointing and questioning?" There's really not enough time in my small workshop chunk to have everything I want. Our time was cut this year, leaving me with a mere 50 minutes for all of reader's workshop, and 40 for writer's workshop. I want my 2nd graders to read a just right book without stopping to talk or switching books for a large chunk of the 50 minutes. Then again, I want them to stop and talk. I want them to read a balance of books. I want it all! Can't we just read all day? Right now, during workshop, my class is doing what I've taught them. They are reading quietly for about 25 minutes and partner reading for 10. I'm holding conferences. The rest of the minutes are split between the minilesson, share, and writing on our reading logs. The next day- we repeat. I realize I'm making it sound really boring. I think it hasn't rubbed off on the kids yet (thank goodness!), but it will soon. If I'm bored, they're going to be bored. I know it's just September, but I'm at the point where I need to make some October plans, and I want them to sparkle with promise for what they'll become, not what they are. Isn't that what our planning should be? A map that leads us to the place, but what's in that place is not entirely clear, and what we'll pass on the way is not predetermined. Of course we have goals and objectives-- I'm of the opinion that you aren't teaching effectively if you don't. But it's those unexpected kid-agenda items for which our plans have to make room. Our plans have to be skeletal enough, sketchy enough, or written in pencil, so that we remain open to possibilities. Not just the kind of changes that happen when there's a fire drill and you have to move a minilesson, but the kind of possibilities that turn your path slightly to the side, still delivering you to your destiny-- with a little different scenery. And probably- it was necessary for me to teach in a less flexible way in September. My children needed a reminder of the structures and new 2nd grade expectations. I don't think I can stay on the straight and narrow much longer, though. I'm ready to begin planning. Before I do that, I think I'll close my eyes and try to envision my dream reader's workshop. I'll watch what the kids do and say and how I react. Then I'll open my eyes and bring those plans back to earth (almost). Not pie in the sky, not held hostage by lessons and teaching points. I think I know myself, and I know that I live somewhere in the middle. 16 Comments