The WHY
April 30, 2009
We’ve been conducting and participating professional development sessions as final projects for my reading specialist class. My classmates have put together excellent presentations on a broad span of topics. In our discussions about the content of our presentations and the reactions of participants, it struck me that the most effective professional development addresses what I can only label the WHY. I think the WHY is what is most often missing from the PD we participate in our schools and at conferences. To explain:
- In a word study presentation, many teachers had some experience with word study activities. But it was the developmental spelling stages that had the greatest impact. Having a deep understanding of these stages is essential to choosing the right activities to use with students.
- One classmate presented to her teammates about the relationships and differences between Lexile Scores, DRA levels, and the Fountas & Pinnell reading levels. She reported that, even though these teachers used these systems regularly, they never knew how the levels were determined. They were all so appreciative to know the WHY behind this tiered system.
- Yesterday’s session focused on kindergarten comprehension. I haven’t taught that young of an age for a long time, but this topic has new interest for me as my daughter gets closer to kindergarten. In discussing ways to teach comprehension at this young age, we were all challenged by the simplicity of the kindergarten texts. And I kept asking myself, “Why is sequencing important to a 4 year old? What does it teach her when she’s reading or hearing a story?”
I guess my point is that because we are overwhelmed by the monumental task of teaching all we have to teach, we can become too focused on the WHAT rather than the WHY. While in reality, if we really understand the WHY – the end goal, the focus of our pursuits – then finding/creating activities to address that focus will become much easier. I find myself hoarding teaching materials so often – “Oh that’s great! Let me get a copy of that!” But if I focus my pursuits on the WHY of what my students need at this point, I won’t have to hoard everything I come into contact. I’ll be able to make focused, clear decisions and choose activities more wisely.
Good Books for Playing with Language
April 22, 2009
The April/May issue of Reading Today has a nice list of Children’s Book Reviews by Susan Dove Lempke that highlight great books for playing with language. I just added these titles to my wishlist…
- Llama Llama Misses Mama
by Anna Dewdney
- Peter and the Wolf
by Chris Raschka
- The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems From Beyond the Solar System
by Jack Prelutsky
Notetaking
April 19, 2009
I really like this description of notetaking described on The Stenhouse Blog’s Quick Tip Tuesday. It helps to be so explicit with students when describing how to take notes – I don’t think I’ve been super successful with it in the past.\
At the end of the minilesson, the students create a list of what they learned about notetaking:
Ideas for Taking Notes When Reading Nonfiction
■ Make sure you read the text at least twice so that you really understand what the author has said.
■ Write down key words or phrases that you think are important on a retelling web.
■ Put the text away.
■ Using only the retelling web, try to retell the information.
■ If you have problems retelling, look at the text again and see what extra words you need to include to help you remember.
via Quick Tip Tuesday: How to model note taking – The Stenhouse Blog.
I think I’ll add Tony Stead’s book, Reality Checks: Teaching Reading Comprehension with Non-Fiction K-5 to my list of books to read!
Puzzle Party
April 19, 2009
I am having a lot of fun with Winston Breen’s Puzzle Party this week. It’s a great idea. Each day, a different blog posts one of the author’s puzzles, and one successful solver gets a free copy of the latest book, The Potato Chip Puzzles. I haven’t won a book yet, but I’m taking solace in the hope that my chances will be better for the final prize – every single one of G.P. Putnam’s Sons Spring 2009 children’s and YA books, plus advance reading copies of numerous Fall 2009 books. Gotta love that!
The format of this contest would be great for using with students when blogging as well. If multiple classrooms in a school have blogs, then you could have individual classrooms post puzzles on different days. Or if you are using student blogs in your classroom, you could create a scavenger hunt of sorts scattered amongst the different blogs. This would be a great way to generate traffic to and excitement around your online presence. Food for thought for later!
Practicing What I Preach…
April 15, 2009
Last week, I gave a presentation in my “Role of the Reading Specialist” class about 21st century literacies, how they will play a more important role for us as language arts professionals in the future, and how becoming a reader of educational blogs can help those of us who are unfamiliar with the social networking space get better aclimated to this style of communication. I think we, as teachers, can’t even begin to think about how to prepare students for reading in the online environment until we are regular users ourselves. With that in mind, I presented a smorgasboard of blogs that I have found useful and introduced Google Reader as a way of keeping up with them.
Well I couldn’t do all that talking without a little action myself, so I moved the old blog that I had started tinkering with this winter to this new space with the intention of more regularly chronicling my learning about literacy. (Keeping in mind that I am nine months pregnant and soon will have only 1/2 a brain cell to contribute to this endeavor. Perhaps this is “online” nesting?) Hopefully this will be a space I can use to help me remember all of the great ideas I am encountering through my courses and online.
Here is the PowerPoint I used during the presentation which highlights blogs I find useful: Getting Ready for New Literacies
Poetry for Lincoln’s Birthday
February 13, 2009
It'd be a nice challenge to read this poem with older elementary readers:
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up–for you the flag is flung–for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths–for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will.
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass
Still Blogging Reading Teacher Dec 2008/Jan 2009
January 5, 2009
An Effective Framework for Primary Grade Guided Writing Instruction by Sharan A. Gibson (subscription required)
This article described a missing component of my writing instruction: guided writing. Similar to guided reading, guided writing is when a small group of students who have similar instructional needs meet with the teacher for an intensive session of instruction. In order for this time to be worthwhile, teachers must assess regularly enough to have an accurate understanding of students' instructional needs, target specific ways to address those needs, and then reassess afterwards to plan for future instruction. Work and time-intensive to be sure, but definitely worthwhile.
The author uses the phrase "leaning in" to describe how the teacher can intervene at the moment of hesitation by a frustrated student. I think this has great implications for that student in every classroom who doesn't know what to write, or how to go on. Being there to provide instant "feed forward" that keeps such kids going can help turn around negative attitudes towards writing.
Another nice idea presented in this article is the use of cue cards in these lessons that students could then return to later as resources. I envision students completing small writing exercises in their writers' notebooks and then carrying these lessons with them in their independent writing later on.
For more ideas on how guided writing would work in a primary classroom, see this lesson at ReadWriteThink.org: Four Simple Steps to Small-Group Guided Writing.
Blogging The Reading Teacher – Dec 2008/Jan 2009
January 1, 2009
Reading Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies by Diane Barone and Todd E. Wright (subscription required), I came across lots of great technology resources.
Todd Wright's Classroom, at Fernley Elementary School in Fernley, Nevada incorporates technology through laptops provided for each student that they can use both in school and at home. Some sites the authors suggest in the article:
Flashcard Exchange – This site is a little unpolished, but it is a quick and useful resource for creating flashcards, rote memorization, and self-quizzing. Teachers can set up the flashcards for students to access.
Gaggle.Net – A nice site that provides email for student use. Teachers can block & monitor all student communication.
KidBiz3000 – While this is a service that a district would need to paid for, it does seem to be a good resource. Students are paired with ability-specific non-fiction articles. First they receive an email that provides a background knowledge prompt, then after reading they participate in polls, respond to multiple-choice questions, and open-ended response questions that would be good preparation for standardized tests.
Nettrekker – A search engine that prescreens web sites, rates them by reading level, and provides a student-friendly search environment.
QuizStar – Also subscription-based, this site enables teachers to create quizzes, attach media files, and manage your class's scores.
United Streaming – Another subscription-based site. They have thousands of educational videos for online streaming.
The Writing Fix – Wow this site has lots of stuff on it! It will take time to sift through it all. So far I see loads of writing prompts, mentor text lessons specific to the 6+1 writing traits, and numerous opportunities for writing across the curriculum. A must see site.
