Thursday is the day that we dedicate to technology. Twitter is a resource I use all of the time to connect with other educators and share ideas.
Last night, I participated in a twitter chat about workshop instruction and the Common Core State Standards. Kellee Moye and Mindi Rench facilitate the monthly reading and writing workshop twitter chat every first Wednesday at 9pm ET. If you're not on twitter, this might be worth taking the plunge.
Kellee and Mindi posed questions throughout the hour and I am sharing the questions and some of the answers. If you want to read more about it, you can visit the archive at http://rwworkshop.wikispaces.com/. I had never visited this wikispace until tonight and believe me, a person could spend A LOT of time there--enter at your own risk!
Question: How do we keep the love of literature/reading while still being as rigorous as the standards?
Here, the conversation emphasized and re-tweeted Kate Roberts' comment:
Kate Roberts @teachkate@iChrisLehman A2 First step: Love what we do, what we show to kids and the work they produce. Our <3 shld get as big as the rigor #rwworkshop
We also talked about data and the importance of using data to inform instruction. Christopher Lehman was the special guest of the night and one of my favorite tweets was from him:
@MelanieMeehan1 YES! "DATA" is not a monster out of a computer print out. It's what we gather, live, every day in workshop
I think that we all agreed that workshop instruction involves constant and continuous assessment so that we differentiate our lessons, conferences, and small group instruction. Assessment is not exclusively for accountability; it is to also to check for understanding and guide instruction.
Question: What part will poetry play in #rwworkshop as we transition to #CCSS?
@kelleemoye Poetry is great way 2 explore the deeper, critical reading CCSS is looking for. Short pieces lend to rereading #rwworkshop
was one of my favorite tweets of the conversation. Another common belief is that poetry offers pathways to the common core because poetry can be within any of the three genres--informational, narrative, or persuasive. Poetry also offers strong opportunities to teach students about figures of speech, skills that are embedded in the standards and it offers struggling readers opportunities to read and re-read, increasing and improving fluency.
Tech does need to be more than just a fancy add on. Let's use it to let kids collaborate, create & share! That's college ready! #rwworkshop
Q5: Tech can provide important means for authentic writing and teach critical reading skills. #rwworkshop
Technology is a way to engage students to the learning of the future. #rwworkshop
These were only three of the many tweets about technology and the CCSS. Many of the others reflected the belief that educators should be embedding technology into our daily practices and facilitating students’ explorations of it whenever possible. These practices will increase the rigor in classrooms and serve as clear pathways for students to meet the expectations of the CCSS.
Conversations about the reading and writing workshop continue throughout the month because people use the hashtag. #rwworkshop. Anyone is welcome to "listen" or "chat." Comments and tweets are always welcome!
Thanks for for highlighting that poetry can be woven into any of the three types of writing (e.g., argument, informational, or narrative) to enhance those genres. That's something important that I think needs to be repeated over and over again!
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