"Learning About" vs. Assessing

"Every time I talk to the children I am learning about them. I like the words 'learning about' much more than I like 'assessing.' I learn about my children. I get to know them. I want to know what they know. I want to know how they know. Isn't that what assessment is all about- learning what children know?"- Jill Ostrow, A Room With a Different View (1995)

When I read this I began thinking immediately about my notebook. The one I started my very first year of teaching. Just like most new educators, I was determined to be the "super teacher." I wanted to be different from others, I wanted to know my students so well that I could teach them in exactly the way they needed to be taught. I knew it was a lofty goal but, as usual, I was determined and  organized. I had purchased a notebook for anecdotal records and carefully labeled each page. The goal was to make notes (especially in the first days) of little things I noticed about my students. Everything from interests to friendships, fears to silly quotes. I imagined this book of observations to inform my teaching, aid in conversations with families and give me ammo when I was trying to curb out of line behaviors.

The idea came about in one of my undergrad classes on observation, I was sure it would set me a part. The notebook served its purpose for a time, I kept it neat and tidy, and within arms reach. I even did a fairly good job of writing in it regularly, for a while. But before I knew it the daily grind of answering emails, returning parent phone calls, eating 2 bites of lunch at the copy machine, searching for lost mittens... and of course teaching, got in the way of the routine of actually writing. What I developed was a mental notebook, where I still kept a "page" for each of my learners. I tuned into how they talked with their classmates, when or if they shared in class, the kind of books they were drawn to, and most of all what made them smile. I began weaving these bits of knowledge in with how I observed them performing academic tasks and quickly the "notebook pages" became like chapters in are larger reference type library I had built.

I found that when I knew what it was that they were good at, where their knowledge started and stopped and what I could do to keep each of them motivated, it transformed the culture of my classroom and my students' achievement. It wasn't really until my 3rd year in the classroom that I had a clean mental system for learning and applying all I could gather about the little humans in my classroom.

I would encourage you to ponder this as we head towards reading assessment windows and a dense time of learning in the year. I'm not telling you to start a notebook, but you can if it helps. Try to just gather information through conversation, observation and maybe even asking your students to write you letters. Allow what you learn to inform your instruction and guide the way you teach. Doing this will also help you understand their work better and support them in their learning.

Text Sets By Grade Level from F&P

Visit the Shared Documents tab up top and scroll down to find F&P Text Sets By Grade Level to find some book suggestions. They are broken down by style and genre as well as by some author studies. 

Book Lists

Follow this link to see book list suggestions from Lucy Calkins and The Reading & Writing Project. Some are by genre and topic, others are by grade level. As you write your units of study and order books to be used during your whole group interactive read alouds, this is a good place to look for suggestions. Also consider these titles when choosing books to add to your classroom library.

The image below gives you a glimpse of what you will find on the site...there are other great resources as well, dig around the rest of the site a little!

Observe, Think, Question

OBSERVE...THINK...QUESTION

I'm going to share one of my all-time favorite inquiry-based teaching strategies today. I loved it so much in fact, that I incorporated prompts for it permanently in my classroom. The strategy is called Observe, Think, Question. If you would have walked into my classroom you would have quickly seen a large Eye (observe), a Brain (think), and a questions mark (questions) hanging from the ceiling.
This strategy can be used in any content area using only a photograph, text, or even a video clip. It very simple, and once your students learn it, they can participate pretty seamlessly at any point in your day, in any subject area.
FIRST: the teacher displays an artifact, text, photograph or video clip and the students write (either on a pre-made graphic organizer or a notebook page they have chosen) about what they notice. It takes some practice, but they get good at just "stating the obvious." This stage of the strategy anchors them in the reality without letting them jump ahead to application or prediction. For example, if I displayed this book cover to my students

They might write observations like:

* I see that it is a boy

* I notice he has only one eye

* I notice that there is no nose or mouth

NEXT: The students can verbally share, or record on their paper thoughts they have, and predictions. For the above book cover they may say:

* I think this boy must be the main character

* I think his eye is important

* I think he might wonder a lot because of the title Wonder

LASTLY: Students ask questions about the artifact, text, photo or video clip. I usually have them record their questions first and then pair up to share and generate a few more. 

By the end of the exercise, you can imagine that a lot of interest, background knowledge and predicting has been done. It is a helpful strategy that I found replaced KWL charts in my classroom very quickly. Revisiting the OTQ work after learning has occurred allows for reflection as well. Think about how you might do this....

display a map with no title or legend in geography....

show a video clip like this without sound in your biology class....

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Reader's Notebook Examples from the Reading & Writing Project

The Reading & Writing Project is the collective work of Lucy Calkins and Teachers College at Columbia University. Their site is full of examples and info that always reminds me of whats possible. Today I want to show you some examples of what can be done in a student reading notebook, its fun to see pages like this;

And once you teach the students how, they can create these response pages with little support!

Look here for more Student Reading Notebook Examples

Five Child-Centered Principles to Guide Your Teaching- from Sharon Taberski

1. It's better to do fewer things well than many things superficially

2. Balanced Literacy is a menu, not a checklist

3. The parts of our balanced literacy system should work together as a system

4. We learn through multiple exposures over time

5. Our practices should be developmentally appropriate

Comprehension from  the Ground Up, Heinemann 2011

Hint cards...

Blueprints

Questioning Texts

A great example of how teaching students to question texts fosters deeper comprehension

Jeff Wilhelm talks about Inquiry in the Secondary Classroom

Book Recommendations

On her blog www.allaboutcomprehension.blogspot.com, Heinemann author Sharon Taberski has listed some recommended books for different instructional purposes and reader interests, here they are as of today, but check back there as she adds to the lists often:

Short and Sweet Chapter Books: Older Elementary-Grade Readers

• Joey Pigza series by Jack Gantos
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
• The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
• Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Picture Books to Help Kids Infer

• The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli
• The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting
• Charlie Anderson by Barbara Ambercrombie
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
• Elephant and Piggy books by Mo Willems
• Hurricane by David Weisner
• Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
• Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen

Books to Help Kids Visualize

• The Eyes of Gray Wolf by Jonathan London
• Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman
• A Quiet Place by Douglas Wood
• Atlantic by G. Brian Karas
• In November by Cynthia Rylant
• Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher
• Hurricane! by Jonathan London
• The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Patricia Harrington
• Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack
• The Five-Dog Night by Eileen Christelow
• Down the Road by Alice Schertle
• Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor

Books That Give Kids Something to Think and Talk About

• The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli
• Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne
• Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy
• The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy
• 14 Cow for America by Carmen Agra Deedy
• How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham
• Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
• The Three Questions by Jon Muth

A word about working with WORDS

If you have not yet seen it, I would highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, & Christopher Lehman.

The truth is, somehow in the course of the last few years, most classroom educators have lost track of the movement around Common Core. Most of us in MN were initially told that we were not adopting the CCS for ELA, but as you know that has changed, we have. From my perspective, many of us have found ourselves responsible for teaching these standards with very little professional learning about their stark difference to the old standards we used. This book helps to answer the questions you are too embarrassed to ask and provides you answers you can discuss with colleagues and families.
Anyway, one of the most helpful chapters for me has been Chapter 10: Overview of the Speaking, Listening and Language Standards,  because one of the major shifts that comes with these new standards is the way we approach teaching conventions, knowledge of language and vocabulary acquisition. These 3 points are the most meaningful to ponder in light of the actual day to day instruction in all grade levels:

1. "Students need immersion in rich oral and written language, meaning they need to read a lot and be involved in literate conversations in literacy-rich classrooms"
2. "Students do need some words to be specifically taught, but teachers should select words that cross many content areas and will be current and visible in students' experience. This is because, for these explicitly taught words to stick, a students must experience them across contexts at least twelve to fifteen times on average. This means words of the week will not have lasting power unless they are attended to in reading, writing and listening across the day as well as across the year."
3. "Students need to learn how words work and gain the sense that words can be formed from other words and that words with similar spellings often-though not always- can have meanings derived from one another. This means that vocabulary instruction should not just be centered on word lists but should teach students to be active word solvers."

I am not sharing this to dismiss the teaching of sight or content specific vocabulary. I share it to prompt thinking about why we spend as much time as we do on individual words, their structure and meaning when the reality is, students can often find the meaning and have the spelling corrected as they type it faster than they can access the background knowledge we hoped to build. Instead, these new standards want is to focus on guiding them to be meaning makers and word solvers. 

Writing Units- Review before your writing day!

Disciplinary Literacy- 7-12

"How can adolescents think and learn like mathematicians, historians, or biologists if we do not teach them how to read, comprehend, and think deeply about the texts of each discipline?"
TIMOTHY SHANAHAN & CYNTHIA SHANAHAN

This year we have focused on content area literacy in our Professional Learning as 7-12 teachers. This topic is essential to our view of ourselves as teachers of reading and our desire for students to truly understand and internalize the content from their classes. So when I stumbled onto this article by Timothy and Cynthia Shanhahan, I was delighted to read about the work that was done with content area teachers, content experts and reading specialists to create a cohesive approach to disciplinary literacy instruction. Disciplinary literacy refers to the ability to recognize the purpose and strategies best used in each of the disciplines and apply them so as you more successfully read like an expert of that subject would. The article summarizes the a research project that strategically gathered groups of people to discuss, analyze, reflect and focus on reading purposes and strategies in individual content areas in order to better prepare students for the types of reading they will encounter in their various courses.

The article begins with the explanation of the difference between the literacy instruction received prior to middle school, and the increased need for more specified literacy instruction in grades 7-12. The following figure is provided as an explanation of the literacy grow and stages at Shanahan sees it. 

Shanhan explains that the project "has challenged us to rethink the basic curriculum of adolescents literacy instruction, particularly with regard to reading comprehension strategy instruction within the disciplines." This seems to be the most logical way to approach instructing our students. Rather than asking students to make the jump from a Basic to Intermediate Literacy and then tossing them into the world of very complex content text to "figure it out", the results of this project support the need for explicit instruction of reading strategies specific to content and purpose. 

Teachers, disciplinary experts and reading specialists gathered to look at the textbooks being used, record their own think-alouds as they themselves read portions of the text, and then identified the most important strategies for readers to master and apply when reading science, history, and math texts. The representatives in each team were able to synthesize what they knew about the topic, curriculum, and reading to create frameworks for instruction that were aimed at providing students what they needed to be successful in the top portion of the pyramid. 

The following article sites this project and more simply explains what is necessary to consider in the topic of Disciplinary Literacy. Additionally, this author includes some questions that could be used in a PLC conversation or in collaboration with your site's reading specialist. 

Eyes on Disciplinary Literacy

"If we are knowledgeable about the distinct differences among content areas why are we using generic literacy strategies across the content areas?"

PLC Discussion Questions

Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content- Area Literacy

Vicky Zygouris-Coe, Reading Today Online

A look at the Reading Workshop in action- 5th Grade

ELA Schedule Explained

If you are still trying to get a handle on how your literacy block might look, here is an explained example for you to look at. If you would like to see some other options, visit the
K-6 page!

As a classroom teacher I not only planned when my groups met, but I planned what my other students were going to do during those times. Knowing how essential it was for them to Read to Self every day and write about their reading, those were my priorities. I also tried to build in as much time to partner read and talk about their reading as possible. After all, oral language and vocabulary development are directly tied to how much time a student has to talk to others. Here is what the days would look like based on the schedule above.

Rigorous Reading

Small Group Lessons

If you are ready to jump right in and plan small group instruction but are unsure of what should be included, feel free to use these resources.

The first, are some pages from the K-8 Continuum about Guided Reading. The second page of this pair is a framework for what can be included in small group instruction.

The second resource is a template that can be used to plan small groups in reading, it looks like this;

but you can find a blank one HERE.
Please note that there are many options built into this plan, you would never be expected to do everything in the sequence column, but they are reminders of appropriate lesson components that you may consider including. Notice it is very short, and since your "I can " statement would be copied from your

The 4 Questions for students

I've just begun reading Formative Assessment in Practice: A process of inquiry and action by Margaret Heritage and in the first 10 pages I can see connections to our work here! When I stumbled onto this quote:
"As the lesson develops, students use the learning goal and success criteria to reflect on their own learning, to evaluate their learning progresses and to think about where they need to go next."
I immediately thought of the 4 questions that guide our PLC work. And then I thought, what a great idea for a classroom poster or bulletin board, the 4 questions every student should be able to answer:

What am I supposed to know/be able to do?

How will I know when I know it?

What will I do if I don't know it?

What will I do next when I do know it?

Consider the power of teaching your students to reflect, plan and respond to their own learning!

Dyad Reading of ANY text

This strategy can be used in most grade levels and in all content areas. It comes from Nancy Lee Cecil's book The Art of Inquiry. Here is the description and the steps to making this happen in your classroom.
       Dyad Reading is a form of reciprocal oral reading that has the added dimension of increasing important critical thinking skills through summarizing and questioning. You can teach the strategy using the following format:
1. Select two students to work together (students who read at generally the same level would be best) and have one read a paragraph or selected section of text out loud.
2. As that child reads, have the other child listen and then summarize (oral or written) what was read. 
3. Have the reader ask the listener critical thinking questions
4. Encourage the children to discuss the answers and, where there is disagreement, have them refer to the text.
5. Repeat the process, alternating roles

 Obviously, this technique would need to be modeled and taught in order for students to generate quality questions and internalize the routine and expectations. But once mastered, this strategy could be a great pre-reading or re-reading activity to deepen students understanding of a text. Once agin, regardless of if the text is from a textbook, novel, article or other source, students reading, listening, summarizing and questioning causes them  to be intentional and in tune with their own comprehension. Go ahead and give it a try!

21st Century Approaches to Teaching

21st CENTURY APPROACHES to 
LEARNING & TEACHING include:
(follow the links and please be patient as the videos load!)

STUDENT VOICE & CHOICE
Differentiating with learning menus

A FOCUS ON QUESTIONS & CONCEPTS

COLLABORATIVE WORK

STRATEGIC THINKING

STUDENTS AS KNOWLEDGE CREATORS

INCREASED INTERACTIONS & TALKING
Twitter in the classroom

USING MULTIPLE SOURCES FOR INFORMATION
Literacy in Physics: Reading a Primary Source

INCREASING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Engage motivation2012 from jenniferplucker

Reading Conference Binder....It's time, trust me

So now that you have several assessment forms for each of your students and your are beginning to imagine how you might help make each one make progress this year, I believe its time to introduce you to one of the best things you will do this year.....make yourself a Reading Conference Binder. If you start now, it will actually be very easy to maintain and use.
Here is mine from last year:
           
You can see that it is LARGE, about 3 inches thick, it may not be full right away, but trust me it will fill throughout the year and you want to be certain you have enough room for that growth. The next thing you will notice is that it has many colorful tabs, one for every student in my class. I used really heavy duty dividers and they lasted me over 4 years, so it was worth it. I think these are the ones I ordered.

In the front I stored class charts and a calendar for marking down when I met with each student, obviously I was seeing some more than others. 

Once I started assessing, each student's assessment forms went into their section, then as I met with them to do more running records and confer with them I used various forms to guide and remember my time with them.

HERE ARE SOME FORMS I MIGHT USE AND PUT INTO MY BINDER IF I WERE YOU :)

 There was so much power in being able to open up this binder in conversation with parents and collaborating specialists, it allowed me to be an expert on each student because I had so much data! I would encourage you to find a summary form for each student to use at the beginning of their section. I used it to keep track of changes in level and important growth points.

 Happy Reading Conferences!

Beautiful and Diverse Text

I heard about this site while listening to a presentation Cris Tovani gave on reading engagement. The site is called informationisbeautiful.net and what you find there is just that, beautiful information. Weather you are a content area teacher or just looking to spice up your student's reading material, there are many great choices here.
You could address place value, percentages and musicians rights using this info graphic:

Or you could use this to spark a class discussion in physical science

or perhaps you would assign your health class to read and respond to this chart in small groups...

lots of interesting info and interesting text!

Questioning Circle- Anyone can do it!

From Engaging Readers & Writers Through Inquiry By Jeff Wilhelm

Text Complexity

Regardless of the grade level or subject area you teach, students come face to face with text almost constantly. In their book Leveled Books (2006), Fountas & Pinnell outline some important considerations for us as we aim to inspire EACH student EVERY day:

"When students are reading a book they can read with success, they are able to use many different sources of information in a smoothly operating processing system."
Did you catch that? Reading is a smoothly operating processing system. Reading is not finishing pages or paragraphs. The purpose of reading is making meaning, if you aren't able to run through the processing system enough to make meaning, you aren't reading, you're calling out words.

"If they are struggling, they cannot use what they know in efficient  strategic ways. In fact, forcing students to read-too hard texts has devastating results."
Did you hear THAT? Devastating. It can't just be someone else's problem that your 3rd, 8th or 12th grade student can't read your textbook, it has to be yours. It has to be mine.

So what are you supposed to do? You have a textbook, actually you have a class set of textbooks, access to texts online...but how do you choose? And how will you make them accessible to your students?

1) The first strategy I would suggest is modeling. Yes, even you EPHS teachers :) The way you approach a text is intentional as an experienced reader (even when you're not trying to be intentional.) Open up the textbook, or the text you are expecting them to read, and talk through how YOU would read it and why. Do you read all the headings first? Do you look at diagrams and maps as you go or before you start? Why do you do it that way? What is your response to bold words? What is the narrative in your mind as you read the novel? Do you take notes about questions or observations? You are the expert reader in your classroom. If we don't make the internal process of reading external for them, they won't ever gain the skills and strategies they will need to read complex texts. (Cris Tovani's I Read it, But I Don't Understand it!)

2) The other strategy is to find several passages about the topic you are teaching, at various levels. One of the passages should be from your textbook or class text. Distributing these to students in a packet, or electronic folder allows them to view and choose the ones they can most easily interact without having to publicly choose the easiest. After reading 2 of the passages from the selected group. You can guide small groups through a discussion of similarities in order to building background knowledge about the topic. You can use newspaper articles, copy and paste text from Time for Kids articles from other grade levels or even other grade level textbooks. Doing this before tackling the larger text or concept allows students to get grounded in the content at their own level, propelling them to be more engaged in a difficult text.

Best Practice

"Being a professional carries with it the implication that our behavior is based on the latest and best knowledge available at any given point in time." (Eaker & Keating, 2012)

F&P Benchmark data into small groups

Here is a demonstration of how you might make your initial groupings for small group instruction after collecting your benchmark assessment data.

Practical examples for your reading workshop!

The Continuum of Literacy Learning

Regardless of the version you have (PreK-8, K-2, or 3-8) this resource is sure to become endlessly helpful to you, IF you learn how to use it! I am excited to see some of you really digging into the sections as you write your units of study, evaluate Benchmark assessment results and plan for small group instruction. I know it contains a lot of information, and it can be overwhelming, but I personally have not found another resource to be so valuable in my classroom teaching. There are seven Curriculum Components covered in the each version of the Continuum, but the layout of the book is different in the different versions. If you have the large PreK-8 continuum, you will find these 7 as the tabs that divide the book, with each grade level having pages within the tab. If you have the orange (K-2) or purple (3-8) versions, your tabs are organized mostly by grade level with the 7 components covered in each. Here are the 7 components:

* Interactive Read Aloud & Literature Discussions- here you will find a year-by-year list of specific behaviors to support and teach to the whole class

* Shared & Performance Reading- here you will find a year-by-year list of specific behaviors to support in whole group readings and guided small group readings

*Writing About Reading- a description of genres, and evidences of thinking within, beyond and about text for each grade level

*Writing- As we move in the direction of incorporating writing into our literacy blocks strategically, this section can begin to help you imagine which units of study can help you deliver instruction on various writing skills and genres. 

*Oral, Visual & Technological Communication- Year-by-year understandings and behaviors to support

* Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study- This is an overview of phonics skills to be covered at each grade level. Synthesizing this with your standards and (if possible) the Detailed Phonics Continuum in the back of the PreK-8 version, will give you a well rounded idea of how to embed phonics instruction. If your team has the F&P Phonics set, you will be able to get all of the information you need for scope & sequence from that. 

* Guided Reading- If you ask me, this is one of the MOST important parts of the Continuum. As we grow in our knowledge about text complexity and levels of readers in our classrooms, this resource provides everything you need to know about certain kinds of books and the sequencing of skills in order to expedite growth towards and beyond grade level expectations. If you are interested in learning more about how to use this section to inform your instruction, please contact me and I can come join you at a team meeting or prep to talk you through it.

Beyond "Turn & Talk"

I'm really excited about these. More can be found at THIS SITE, but I'm going to put a few up here as well. The biggest thing to note is that you will need to teach these procedures to your students just like you teach lining up, hand raising and a other classroom routines. Once they know them, you can reference them quickly by flipping back to an anchor chart or poster you create as a class about the sharing procedure.

Reader's Notebook

Many of you are starting to teach your students how to write in notebooks in response to your whole group, small group and independent reading times. I found this other blog, that has great examples of what you might have students do with their notebooks. Take a look and start talking with your collaborative team about which ones would best fit in your units of study! Here is her list of what might be in an intermediate notebook.

Partner Cards

As I've been out there modeling lessons, I've used these cards a few times in some of your classrooms. I had a few requests for where I got them, so here is the link to the FREE TpT product! Enjoy !

Writing About Reading

"Writing down what they think about what they've read allows readers to clarify their thinking. It is an opportunity to reflect. Readers better understand their reading when they have written about it. The writing may be a summary or a response. Sometimes just jotting down a few notes will clarify meaning."- Cris Tovani

As your students become more comfortable with your expectations of them as a reader, you should begin to introduce them to what you expect of them as a writer. The best way to do this is to use a reader's response notebook, folder or procedure. Just like with all your other literacy activities, the expectations should be delivered through modeling and scaffolded instruction. Unlike book reports and other "product" tasks, writing about reading should naturally flow through the thinking process of a reader. It should be about creating an authentic way to record a reader's thoughts, feelings, wonderings and analysis of texts they are reading. According to Fountas & Pinnell (2001) there are multiple appropriate and engaging ways for students to write about their reading, including:

                             * Recording comments on sticky notes

                             * A paragraph or page reflection on what has been read 

                             * A letter to a friend or teacher about what has been read

                             * A web, chart or list 

But, students need to be taught how to do these things, they need direction and modeling. There are simple and more involved ways of responding, but F&P provide some great starting places and graphic organizers that can be used as you teach students what their options are. You can find a folder of those PDFs HERE for your classroom use. Be creative, look at your standards, try to allow your students to have as many opportunities as possible to write about the meaning they create when they read! 

Reading Workshop

We're a few weeks in now. Many of you have spent your days wading through the first unit of study your team wrote back in June. You're quickly finding out what works and what doesn't. Your team is tweaking your plans and changing how you plan for the following units of study. Many of you have students deep in books, some even with overflowing book boxes, and it is a wonderful thing!

So take a minute with me to reflect....

 I love this video. I have watched it several times at different points in this journey and I am always grateful to be reminded of the impact a well-designed, well-run reading workshop. There are a few things that stick out to me from the video, I've noted them and connected them to our work below:

"Outgrow yourselves, over and over and over"

This process of crafting units of study, assessing and collaborating is an opportunity for increased student learning, but it also provides job embedded professional development as well. Don't pass up the opportunity to grow as a teacher, growing pains aren't always easy to handle, but its worth it!

"The reading workshop works, not because its based on market research but on reading research."

I love the way Calkins directly addresses the issue of "teacher-proof" curricula. There are some intelligent people that have written some great resources, but the simple fact that they have never been to EP, or met an EP child, should mean that we approach with caution. In effort to be sure we "cover" all the standards, we often seek an external source to tell us what to do. I believe that familiarizing ourselves with research and standards, tuning into our students, and collaborating with our professional learning teams, we can deliver high quality instruction to EVERY student. 

"Explicit and direct instruction through demonstrating and scaffolding."

This is the real purpose of large and small group instruction. The expectation is not that our students would learn everything they need to know in those times with us, but rather that they would see high quality examples of what to do, be guided in how to do it and then given time to practice doing it. If we're the only ones talking, we're the only ones learning and working. 

"Time to talk about books" 

Notice Calkins was talking about kids talking about books, not adults. I have already seen some great examples of students in our schools who are learning what it means to have meaningful conversations about their reading with their peers, keep up the good work!

"Access to a variety of texts"

This is essential. It does not matter how old or young the student is, how much they like Volcanoes or the Harry Potter series, it is our job to expose and explore many different kinds of texts with our students. It is also our job to create an environment where they want to branch out of their comfort zones. 

"Consistent and predictable environment so that students can carry on and teachers can teach."

If  you're having trouble with this as you begin your second unit, go back. Take a day to address it and revisit your anchor charts. Your reading workshop will only be effective if your students gain independence in reading and writing about reading. 

"Teaching our hearts out, so no child gets left behind."

You do this, the best you can. I just like hearing her say it.

"It's not ok to have 80% of our kids at reading proficiently." 

Overwhelming, yet profound and so very true. Especially when we are aiming to inspire each student every day!

Teach so it matters...

In his book Engaging Readers & Writers With Inquiry Jeff Wilhelm states that one of the first actions steps to take towards building a culture of inquiry is to 

       

"Reconceptualize your role and that of your students as members of an inquiring community that shares a common vocabulary and set of conceptual tools and strategic practices to solve open problems in a discipline."

Sounds easy, right?!? Not so much. These things are essential first steps, and because of the that I believe they deserve some discussion. As we look at the elements of common vocabulary, conceptual tools, and strategic practices, I will give you some practical thoughts about how to try and maybe even fully implement them for the benefit of your students. 

Developing a common language or vocabulary is something all educators should be aiming for. Not just for the purpose of test taking or spewing definitions, but to enrich the understanding of the content and its themes. This can be done by 

• Most importantly, this includes the conversational language you expect and use in your classroom discussions. How do expect them to agree with you, one another or a guest? What should they say if they disagree? What does a response to a question sound like? How can students have clarifying conversations when they misunderstand or disagree? When these "norms" are established and students know the boundaries and expectations for communication, they will be more likely to engage in classroom conversation and discussion than if they think you are only looking for thoughtless compliance. 
• Creating a visual support for important vocabualry words in your classroom. A bulletin board, poster or even notecards on the wall should be in a place where you and your students can access it. The purpose being that you will use them more, your students will see them more, and the meanings will be reinforced. Consider having students create illustrations or symbols to further support the vocab as their understanding develops. 

Teaching a set of conceptual tools means giving students options for how to deepen their understanding of a concept when there is a defect  As with other elements of inquiry learning, independence is built from repeated modeling and guided practice. 

• One way to do this is by presenting graphic organizers that cause students to record what they know, questions they have and provide an emphasis on connections. If students can see connections between knew knowledge and something they already understand, their conceptual understanding will be stronger. 
• If students are building knowledge through reading a text, teach them how to find key words, identify root words or note similar vocabulary.