SOLSC 2/31 #sol16

Family

One word that means so much to me. 

One word to define my being.

One word to showcase what I have accomplished.

One word that brings me so much joy.

One word that I do not take for granted.

One word that I work so hard for.

One word that I am so proud of.

One word I would die for.

One word.

SOLSC 1/31 #sol16

My first try at a new "streak".  I have completed a couple streaks over the years. I have participated in three years of the Runner's World Holiday Run Streak and I have done a holiday picture book streak with my class. I have always enjoyed the streaks I have participated in. I like having a set goal, a timeline and a community to share it with. 

I am nervous setting out on this new adventure. I used to write much more as a classroom teacher. I loved sharing the experience with my students. Now that I am a reading specialist and coach, my writing has taken a backseat. I look forward to seeing how I progress as a writer and how I make time for it in my life once again.

I am a voracious reader, so I hope to use this quote from one of my favorite writers to inspire my writing.

Chalk Talk-Writing Workshop

We recently had our monthly staff meeting around Lucy Calkins and writing workshop.  The reading department decided it would be beneficial to do a chalk talk around three questions regarding writing workshop.  A Chalk Talk is a silent way to do reflection, generate ideas, check on learning, develop projects of solve problems. It can be used productively with any group-students, faculty, workshop participants, committees. Because it is done completely in silence, it gives groups a change of pace and encourages thoughtful contemplation. It can be an unforgetable experience.

http://www.nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/chalk_talk_0.pdf

We began our meeting by explaining the chalk talk process and then dividing the staff into a K-2 group and a 3-5 group.  

Our questions were:

• What are essential elements within a writing workshop?
• What barriers get in the way from making writing time effective?
• What types of supports are needed to guide your teaching of writing?

Below are the charts for 3-5.

This is the three completed charts for K-2.

After the chalk talk activity, we got back into our grade level teams and reflected on this process and the questions that were asked. Many times the theme of "time" was repeated over and over. This had to do with lack of time: to plan, to write, to collaborate, to conference, to watch models of writing, etc. 

The reading team discussed this at length and will be coaching some of the teachers through this area of struggle to brainstorm ways we can get past this deficit of time and how to move our students forward as writers in a way that is positive.

Notice and Note: Nonfiction

I began this week's common planning time with 4th and 5th grade by asking the teachers to listen to the following quote from Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst's new book Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note, Stances, Signposts, and Strategies.

"When we rely on lectures and our own explanations, instead of having students read, we imply that someone else knows and all students have to do is listen.  This disenfranchises them and leaves them vulnerable. It suggests they should let others tell them what to know. It doesn’t raise students who think independently...when they encounter a difficult text in their adult lives, they will again look up and say, “I don’t get it,” and wait for someone else to tell them what they should know."

The majority of their comments included: "That makes sense."  From here I passed around the following survey:

Let’s Talk about it Survey

I asked them to notice if they see any patterns in their answers and if there is anything they would like to change.  Here are some of the responses:

• I am large, and in charge.
• This sounds like what we are trying to do with personalized learning.
• This seems like a lot of student talk, not much teacher talk.
• This goes along with our book study, Learn Like a Pirate.
  
  
  
  
  

 Then I moved into teaching the first big question, What surprised me?

The following came from page 83 of Reading Nonfiction: Notice and Note.

“We suspect that at some point you’ve talked with a friend and heard that friend say something that you just can’t believe is true.  The comment was so surprising that you find yourself saying “Really?” and you want to know more.  

Or you’ve been riding in a car and something catches your attention and makes you say to others, “Wow!  Look at that!”  You notice things that are meaningful to you. And once you notice what you found to be surprising information, that’s probably what you most want to discuss with others.  And if you found nothing surprising, you would consider it a dull conversation or a boring ride.

In a similar way, an entire ball game with nothing surprising would probably leave you complaining about how dull it had been. The same is true of nonfiction we read. If we finish the text and nothing has caught our attention, nothing has made us say, “Really?” or “I didn’t know that!” then we probably think what we’ve just read was dull. If, though, as we read we notice some fact that surprises us-maybe just a little or perhaps a great deal-what we’re reading will be more meaningful.

So when you read nonfiction, you should read with that expectation of surprise.  A stance that says, “I will be surprised” will help you see information as more than just facts; you will see it as information that is new to you.  Remember-if you want to find a surprise, you actually must look for one.  If you decide to stay alert for those passages that make you say, “Really?” we suspect you will be pleased with what you discover.

We then watched a video of 6th graders in action using this first Big Question.

Video:
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/iplayer.aspx?id=c439wjt06t&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_source=readnf2

We concluded by discussing what this discussion looked like and sounded like, and thinking about the student conversations that are happening in the classroom. Is this what it looks like/sounds like in our classroom?

Middle School Professional Development Part 2

This is a continuation of my previous blog post, which used this slide show to lead teachers into thinking about the kinds of reading they were asking their students to do.  You can read it here.

We began by passing out this article , Why Being Good at Language Arts Means That You Can Do Math. The article had two purposes. The first was to show the link between math and reading.  The second was to give the teachers an article to practice close reading with.  We asked the teachers to read the article through one time.  Then we had them get into groups and choose a paragraph to reread and closely look for patterns that they see, maybe evidence, data, or words/phrases.  They were to "make careful observations and then interpret those observations with their colleagues.  Then we had them share out.

Lastly we asked teachers to think about the following close reading chart and how it can be used with the piece of reading they brought along. The reading was to be something they were going to ask their students to read in class during the next two weeks.  We gave them some time to process this and encouraged them to lean on any of us with questions or thoughts they had.

We received positive feedback from teachers on being able to grow professionally instead of discussing student behavior or day-to-day logistics of the school during their staff meeting.  I have had follow-up discussions with teachers about reading in their classrooms and look forward to seeing  the level of reading instruction across our building continue to grow.

Middle School Reading Professional Development

This past week, the Middle School ELA team and I were tasked with providing some professional development around the area of reading.  We attended a work shop on Adolescent Readers at CESA #9, led by Casey Gretzinger.  It was great for the four of us to attend some professional learning together and then have time to process how to share this information with staff.

Our middle school schedule allows for common planning time 1st hour.  This week we met as a school and began the professional development at this time, to be further carried out after school during the staff meeting.

We began by having the staff think about these three questions:

1. What types of texts do you ask kids to read?
2. What do you know about close reading?
3. In what ways do you accommodate struggling readers in your class?

Staff wrote their answers on post-its and placed them on the chart paper. 

Then we passed out the following paragraph.  We gave no background information and asked staff to read it and tell us what it was about.

The procedure is actually quite simple.  First your arrange things into different group.  Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do.  If you have to go somewhere else due to the lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set.  It is important not to overdo things.  That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many.  In the short run this may not seem important but complications can easily arise.  A mistake can be expensive as well.  At first the whole procedure will seem complicated.  soon however, it will become just another facet of life.  It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity of this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell.  After procedure is completed one arranges the materials into different groups again.  Then they can be put into their appropriate places.  Eventually they will be used once more and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated.  However, that is a part of life.  (Brandsford and McCarrell 1974)

After, we had staff share how this experience made them feel.  Here are some of the responses:

• "I gave up, because I didn't get it."
• "I kept reading and rereading hoping to find the right answer, because I had to get it right."
• "I was very nervous that you were going to call on me to tell what it was about, and I was afraid I would get it wrong."

These are responses we would expect to hear from our students!  Then we asked them what would have helped them understand it, and to imagine how this makes their students feel.

We shared this quote from Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst to close our sharing:

When we use lecture and explanation as our primary way of sharing information in the classroom, we imply that someone else knows, and all students have to do is listen.  This disenfranchises them and leaves them vulnerable...They will have little practice learning how to learn.

For our afternoon staff meeting we asked staff to think about a piece of text they were going to having their students read in class within the next two weeks.  They were to bring this to the after school  meeting to make a plan on how to help their students understand the text.

I will post more on this in my next post.

Post Conference

Modeling, observation and feedback are essential elements for learning and we see this with our students.  This is why this process also works for teachers. Many teachers who have been a part of Jim Knight's work in Topeka comment that coaches who modeled have helped them "teach with fidelity to research-based practices, increased their confidence about new practices, made it easier to implement new practices, and provided an opportunity for them to learn other teaching practices," (2007, Instructional Coaching).


Last week I modeled in the 4th grade classroom for four days, while the three 4th grade teachers observed.  They wanted to see what introducing literature discussion groups looked like. I tweaked a unit I had used as a classroom teacher, based on what I had learned about best practice in literature discussion groups.  I blogged a bit about it in this post.

Post-conferencing is a crucial part of the modeling/coaching process and it is necessary to schedule this.  If I do not set this time aside, I find I rarely get back to those teachers to reflect on the learning that took place.  It is also a time for me to learn from the teachers whom I am working with.  I expect to hear things they liked, didn't like or things that were unclear.  

During our monthly common planning time, I asked the fourth grade team to reflect on the modeling and learning that took place.  I use this form to guide me.  I got this form off of Jim Knight's website and I found it applied perfectly to this situation.

From our discussion the teachers noted that:

•  It was great to see their students being taught by another teacher.
• They liked that they could get in and listen to their students as they were pair-sharing during the guided practice portion of the lesson.
• The realized they need more student led discussions; less teacher talk.
• They liked that their students could see videos of other literature discussion groups in action as a model prior to being asked to do it themselves.

It was great to get our post conference in and then to further our learning, as question on types of text, choice, and time were brought up. This was my first experience modeling for an entire grade level and it was a great experience. I am fortunate to work with a great team of teachers who are excited about learning and willing to take risks and try new things.