It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs. Some of my very best reading recommendations come from this pathway!

I actually read several books this week--my daughter had a meeting at the library and I sat and read while I waited for her. However, I am not going to share any of those books because there was one that I loved way too much to water it down.

Several months ago, The Cello of Mr. O. by Jane Cutler was mentioned in a post--I'm so sorry that I can't remember whose! I immediately put it into my Amazon cart, but did not buy it because it is rare, out of print, and expensive. When I saw it in a bookshelf of one of the classrooms I visited this week, I asked to borrow it. What an incredible book!

The story focuses on a girl who is living in a war zone. Because of the date of publication, we can assume that she lives in Sarajevo, but the hardships that she faces could be in many places in today's world. Reading this book reminds us of the impact of bombs and strikes on children and civilians. We see pictures in the papers and on the news, but I'm not sure that many of us think beyond the initial strike that is featured in the story. What about their food, their water, their plumbing, their school, their entertainment, their daily fear? "I am angry almost all the time," the narrator relays.

There incredible messages and themes woven throughout this book. The challenges of life in nations at war are integrated into a beautiful story, reminding us all of what all humans value and cherish with powerful language and incredible craft.  The cello is a powerful symbol of peace: "People all over the world had to cooperate to make the cello of Mr. O," the narrator's father explained to her when he told her where all of the parts had come from. *** Spoiler alert*** When the cello is destroyed, the power of music is emphasized, as Mr. O. finds away to continue to provide music to the people.

As I write this post and revisit the text, I am overwhelmed at how much there is to talk about as so many strong emotions weave their way in and out of the pages--anger, guilt, love, fear, respect... And then there are the human characteristics that we all value that appear, as well--loyalty, resilience, hope, courage, resourcefulness, empathy, morality...they all live in this powerful picture book.

If you are fortunate enough to own a copy of The Cello of Mr. O., treasure it and share it. If you can find one, read it--you won't be disappointed.

Happy Reading,

Strategies for Argument Based Read Aloud from Mary Ehrenworth

Last week, I had the privilege of going to a full day workshop at TCRWP to hear Kylene Beers speak about close reading and rigor! Stay tuned to hear about that this week.  Prior to Kylene Beers speaking, Mary Ehrenworth shared strategies for argument based read alouds in the classroom.  In our district, we are currently in our Short Text/Literary Essay unit and our next unit is Nonfiction Research/Research Based Argument Essay so I was excited to hear what her focus was for her time with us.  

Below are some of my notes and take-aways about argument based read alouds in the classroom.   

Purpose of Argument Based Read Alouds: 

• Increase the intensity and engagement of partner talk 
• Increase skills of using text evidence
• Hone into skills for evidence based arguments 

During an argument based read aloud, you are reading aloud the text like you normally would without the students having the text in front of them and having the students stop and jot/turn and talk about the text.  However, in this type of read aloud, you have rounds of conversation that focus on a particular type of skill.  For example the focus for the rounds of conversation may focus on character attributes, theme, or author's craft.  Also, the partnership has decided who will be partner 1 and who will be partner 2 because each partner will have a specific focus during each round and will need to collect evidence to support their claim for their argument.  Prior to reading aloud, you will need to plan to figure out which parts of the text to stop at and what the focus will be for each partner.  You also will need to tell the students what their focus is so they can take notes on text evidence that supports their position.  When it is their turn to share their position with their partner, they will state their claim first and then their collected evidence along with their evaluation of the evidence.  For example, they should rank their evidence from most important to least important or vice versa, use quotes from the text instead of only plot, and use thinking stems to evaluate the evidence.  

Mary Ehrenworth had us try this out as partners as she read aloud Stray by Cynthia Rylant from Every Living Thing.  It was so powerful and beneficial to try this out as the students to see what their role is like in this type of read aloud and to get a clear visual of how this will look in our classroom with students.  She had us decide who was going to be partner A and partner B and told us that Partner A will work to prove that the main character is weak and partner B will try to prove she is strong.  As she read aloud the beginning of the story, we each took notes to support our position about the type of person the character is in the story.  She paused and gave us a minute to rehearse our claim and evidence in our minds before sharing with partner.  Then she had partner A share first and then had partner B share.  Mary said that instead of just allowing students time to rehearse their argument in their mind before the conversation, partner A can find a partner A to compare evidence and rehearse as well a partner B finding a partner B to do this work.   

We continued this work through a 2nd round that had a thematic focus. Partner A had to collect evidence for how the family struggles with communication and partner B focused on how poverty is an issue for the family.  We went through the same process of collecting evidence while she read aloud and then had our conversations with partner to support our claims.  The 3rd round focused on author's craft and partner A collected evidence to support how weather is used in important ways and partner B focused on how the author uses the dog as a symbol in the story.  

I am excited to try this out with my 5th graders this week and am already planning other stories to use besides Stray by Cynthia Rylant.  This is a strategy we can use in our classrooms with any type of fiction or nonfiction text as long as we plan where to stop and what the positions will be for each partner.  This is an engaging way to have students practice conversation skills, collect important and relevant text evidence, and strengthen their argument skills.  It also teaches students about perspective and how we can read the same text, but see characters, objects, themes, etc. in more than one way.  

If you try this out in your classroom or have already done this with your students, please share! :)

Spreading Sunshine on a Rainy Saturday

I will admit how good the sunshine felt that Catherine Flynn of readingtothecore.wordpress.com sent my way when she nominated me for some during this VERY cold Connecticut week. I always look forward to her posts, and it was reassuring, validating, motivating and even inspiring to hear that she appreciates mine. Sometimes, in this somewhat virtual world (I say somewhat because I am getting to personally know more and more of the bloggers I follow), I am not always sure that people are listening. I send a big shout-out to whoever started the Sunshine Awards. 

The specifics are:

1.  Acknowledge the nominating blogger(s).

2.  Share 11 random facts about yourself.

3.  Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created for you.

4.  List 11 bloggers who inspire you.

5.  Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they’ve been nominated.  Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

So, eleven random facts about me...

1. I married my childhood crush when he finally realized I was alive. (I was 25 and he was 30 when we started dating. It’s understandable that a 15 year-old would pay no attention to a 10-year old.)
2. When I decided that three girls would be enough, I was pregnant with my fourth. I can not imagine my life without her.
3. I weighed more when I graduated from college than when I delivered my first child. Beer and cookies add up, I guess. 
4. To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book, but I can quote many lines from The Great Gatsby, which is a close second.
5. I taught aerobics for several years. It was reassuring to know that adults would do, or try to do, ANYTHING I asked them to when I was teaching emotionally disturbed children and they would do almost NOTHING I asked them to do.
6. My best friend is a dermatologist. Sometimes, she helps me be wrinkle-free.
7. I have a managed obsession with hearts. I LOVE that game!
8. I’ve written two novels, but I could only take a finite number of rejection notes. Someday, I’ll try again...
9. I wish I had been a better daughter-in-law. Life was too busy, but it was too short, also.
10. I just completed eight years on the Board of Education. I recommend serving on a BOE to anyone who is passionate about education.
11. I stayed home for ten years because I could, went back to work because I had to, and have stayed working because I love to.

Catherine asked some easy questions, but also some really hard ones 

1.What book would you want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island? Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. I could study that book for favorite lines and author craft moves for many hours, stranded or not.

2. What did you learn from your mother? How to bake from scratch, check before going when a light turns green, appreciate the writers of the New York Times, compartmentalize people to find their best selves, and think optimistically.

3. Where do you find joy in your classroom or work? I do a lot of curriculum development and I find joy in watching it come to life in classrooms. I love to incorporate , coordinate, and share the different spins and strategies that some of our amazing teachers add to the learning plans that engage students and spread the word that learning is fun.

4. What’s your favorite quote? Why? “Whether you think you or you think you can’t--you’re right.” Henry Ford. I am always trying to teach my daughters the power of their belief in themselves. It’s such a simple, powerful statement. 

5. If you had a weekend (and money was no object), what would you do? Who would be with you? Does it have to be just a weekend? I’d spend it with my family on Block Island--some of my very favorite places in the world are there and it is so close.

6. What book are you reading right now? Like Catherine, I usually have a few books going at the same time. I am reading A Tale of Two Cities because my daughter is, and I don’t remember it at all. My girls keep talking about it and I feel left out of the conversation. I’m also reading How Children Succeed by Paul Tough which I highly recommend, and I just started Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.

7. What’s your most favorite children’s book ever? Baby  by Patricia MacLachlan. My daughter, Larkin, is named from that book. It has inspired me to write my own books, as well as read every book that Patricia MacLachlan writes, usually several times.

8. What is your favorite young adult novel? That’s harder. I loved The Fault in Our Stars,  but I also loved Counting by Sevens and The Book Thief.

9. How do you prefer to read books, paper or electronic? I love books. 

10. Name one guilty pleasure. On-line hearts. I don’t feel guilty about chocolate, but I can waste a lot of time playing cards.

11. What motivated you to start blogging? I kept reading about how much people were learning from blogging and I wanted to try it out. Melanie Swider and I launched our blog together, and I recommend starting off with a supportive friend. We keep each other going and help each other out of ruts.

12. What is your next challenge? I thought there were just eleven questions.?.?.?  I would like to become a principal in the foreseeable future, but remain an instructional coach and leader.

Eleven Bloggers Who Inspire Me:

1. Melanie Swider, my blogging partner on tworeflectiveteachers.blogspot.com. I would not blog without her
2. Sarah Broa of http://littlebitofliteracy.blogspot.com/. She’s a busy mom so she doesn’t write as often as she used to, but when she does, it’s important.
3. Katherine Sokolowski of http://readwriteandreflect.blogspot.com/. I love the kindness that always seaps out of Katherine’s posts. I wish she lived closer.
4. Tony Sinanis of http://leadingmotivatedlearners.blogspot.com/. When I am a principal, I hope I can be like him. He combines silliness and humor with a relentless commitment to reflection, personal growth, and opportunities for every student in his school.
5. Jessica Johnson of http://www.principalj.net/. The consummate lead learner. I sometimes miss her posts, but I almost always make to #educoach on twitter Wednesday nights at 10. Truly, Jessica is an inspirational leader and learner.
6. Stacey Shubitz, along with the rest of the bloggers of twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. She is honest, reflective, incredibly articulate, inspirational, inclusive...I could keep going. What an incredible impact she has had on writing teachers everywhere.
7. Tara Smith, who is also one of the bloggers on twowritingteachers.wordpress.com, but also keeps her own blog at http://ateachinglifedotcom.wordpress.com
8. Carrie Gelsen of http://thereisabookforthat.com/ If you want a good book for any age, consult Carrie’s blog. She has amazing recommendations.
9. Linda Baie of http://www.teacherdance.org/. She is one of the most optimistic people that she inspires from miles and miles away!
10. Kate Roberts of kateandmaggie.wordpress.com. I’m sure that she has been given a lot of sunshine, but she deserves every last ray.
11. Vicki Vinton of http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/. I am always happy when a new post comes across my feed from Vicki--her posts are guaranteed to make me wonder, reflect, learn, and smile.

And my eleven questions:

1. If you were going to write a book, what would it be about?
2. What is your most vivid memory from elementary school?
3. What is your favorite question to ask during an interview?
4. When you are busy--too busy--what is the first aspect of your life that suffers?
5. What is your favorite store?
6. If you could go anywhere on vacation, all expenses paid, where would you go and why?
7. At the end of the day, what are you most likely to say to yourself?
8. When something goes really well at work, who are you most likely to tell and why?
9. Same question as 8, but when something goes really badly?
10. What is your favorite poem?
11. Who was your favorite teacher up until college and why?

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you! Spreading sunshine took a lot of thinking and deciding. Thank you again to Catherine, as it was wonderful to receive and just as much so, to pass along!

A Student Recommendation That Was a Pleasure to Write

Last week, I received an email from a parent of a former student. She asked me if I would consider writing a letter of recommendation for M.  who is in the process of applying to some top-notch prep schools. This was an unusual request for me because, before I became the district's Writing and Social Studies Coordinator, I was a special education teacher. Most of my students with disabilities do not see their pathways leading to the doors of prestigious admission offices.

For me, this young man represents all that I want to see in our students. When I began working with him as a fifth-grader, he could barely read and is writing was legible only if you waded through multiple spelling and syntax errors. I wish that M. could explain what happened so that it would be easier to replicate for other students, but in around October, he began to make tremendous growth. He went from reading his nonfiction books about birds to reading and LOVING My Side of the Mountain. I kept questioning his comprehension because his oral fluency was so low, but he was getting it, so I let him read it. At the same time, his oral reading fluency was taking off. I had set goals for him and I showed him the graph of his progress. He wanted to know how fast he had to read to be "normal." I tried to engage him in a conversation about "normal", but he would have none of that. Instead, he set his own goals, much higher than I was initially thinking. "I can do it, Mrs. Meehan," he said. And he more than did!

At night, M. practiced his Wilson words, he kept his own list of spelling words, and he practiced his fluency, sometimes even recording himself. As the slope of his progress line increased, so did his motivation. By the end of sixth-grade, he was reading on grade level, writing without supports, and functioning independently in the classroom. We sent him to middle school with support on an as-needed basis and he has since been dismissed from special education. I look for his name on the honor roll and I almost always find it on the high honors list.

When I listen to lectures about grit and mindset, M. comes to mind. He learned at a young age that hard work leads to achievement and this work ethic has transferred into other areas of his life. He is accomplished musician, as well as a high level soccer player. And the comments that I hear repeatedly about him reference his discipline, work ethic, and resilience.

So much is written and tweeted about the concept that success comes from failure. M. is such proof of that! It was my pleasure and my honor to write his recommendation. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for him.

Enjoy the upcoming weekend,

My 2014 Resolution? Just One Word...

As always, I am grateful to the community that exists within Twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. They motivate, teach and inspire ALL the time. Please feel free to join the slicing community by posting or commenting. Everyone is welcome!

The beginning of a new year has always been a time for me to think about all that I wish I were doing of more/better/differently/less. And yes, I have been a person to make resolutions that I have not completed. I have resolved to exercise more, cook differently, get to local theater productions, see every best-picture nominee on the big screen, be more organized, take more pictures, read more, write more, complain less... I'm sure that I could rattle off others.

I love the concept of using just one word as a resolution. My word for 2013 was PRESENT and my commitment to one word stayed with me throughout the year in all aspects of my life. I can't say that I never multi-tasked. There were times when I was trying to check my email when I was helping my daughter with her fractions and there were times when I was composing a post in my head during a meeting--but I worked hard at being aware of those times and I probably refocused sooner than I would have if my 2013 word did not resonate somewhere in my conscience.

I am sad to leave my word--it made be a better person for 2013. (And yes, I do realize that no one is hovering over me and telling me that I can't still think ab

out the importance of being present.) However, I am ready to take on a new word for the upcoming year. After some nominations, debates and discussion, I have settled on KINDNESS for 2014. Living in Connecticut, we still think about the tragic events of Sandy Hook all the time and as I drove past the Newtown exit last weekend, I remembered the quote from Dawn Hochsprung about being nice.

At the time, I was still going back and forth between balance and kindness, but that memory sealed the victory for KINDNESS.   My daughters have fully endorsed my word for 2014, and I have to say that it is in their best interest for the year to have me focus on kindness. In fact, they have offered to help me with my resolution, giving me cues for any perceived unkindnesses. (For the record, they did agree that asking for help with the dinner dishes did not break my KINDNESS resolution.) Sometimes in the rush and pressures of daily life, I do forget that kindness is a daily gift that is available to dole out to the people around me. I'm sure that there will be days when I yell or when I respond more abruptly than I'd want to admit. But, as PRESENT focused me on the here and now, I'm looking forward to KINDNESS focusing me on the importance of being nice to each other.

Here's to 2014,

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs. Some of my very best reading recommendations come from this pathway!




I didn't read any children's books that wowed me this week--I started three that I abandoned. (I guess it could have been me and not the book, so I may give them another chance.) However, I have been reading How Children Succeed by Paul Tough and it is excellent. There are many anecdotes and references throughout the book and I have been actually taking the time to check them out. I had not heard of Angela Lee Duckworth until reading this book and I have a new idol. To see her Tedtalk about grit, click here. It is only six minutes and completely worth every second of that! She has developed a 12 item grit scale that I also recommend taking a look at. I don't know that I do as much as I should to inject the development of grit into the curriculum, instruction and daily lives of the children around me...something to think about for 2014.


I also read Reflections and Confessions of an Educational Leader by Mark Cohan. Mark was my professor and advisor while I completed my  Educational Leadership Sixth-Year, and remains my mentor. When he told me that he had published the book he had been working on, I bought it right away. This book is a personal journal, documenting the events of his year as an experienced superintendent, weaving his current personal and professional experiences with his reflections about his career as an educator. The recurring message of "Never underestimate a student. Never assume that we fully understand the potential of any human being, including our students! Never, ever, ever!!" (p.102) reminds me of so many of the in-person and virtual conversations that I have had with other educators about mindset. His stories and reflections remind us all of the power of our words and interactions with young people looking for guidance, support, and validation on their road to citizenship.

Happy reading,

Revisiting Class Expectations for the New Year

Last week, I was inspired by Pernille Ripp's blog post titled, "Back to School - January Edition." 
In this post, Pernille lists multiple ideas teachers can try out in their classrooms after getting back to school from the winter break.  I loved the first idea to reassess classroom rules.  I always had the intention in September to revisit the class expectations that we create, but each year the time slips away and I never end up doing it. After reading her post, I decided to write it into my plans for the first day back to school after the New Year and I am so glad that I did! It was a powerful lesson and the students showed me how much they have grown as part of our classroom community and as learners.

I began the discussion, by taking down the chart created in September that listed the two expectations students thought were most important for our classroom community: Be Kind; Be Responsible.  I reminded them that these were chosen in September and now that we have been together for about 4 months and know each other as individuals, we may want to revise them.  I first gave them thinking time to reflect on the two expectations and if they felt they needed to be reworded, replaced, or added to.  After giving them a few minutes to think independently, I had them discuss with their table groups to share their thinking.  Then each table shared their thinking and I wrote their opinions on a chart for all to see during this decision making process.  Once we had some ideas listed, I repeated the process with thinking time and group discussion.  The class decided that we should have a class motto: Always try your best! Then listed below the motto, they wanted a list of examples of what we should always try our best to do in class and out of class.

So far, this is what they came up with:

Always try your best!

• Be responsible.
• Be kind
• Put in 100% effort into all work
• Have a growth mindset

This is a work in progress and it was disrupted by a snow day the following day so we will return to this reflective process on Monday.  I was so excited to see that the concept of growth mindset was brought up by the students and they felt it was important enough to add to our expectations chart! I also love that they value the power of effort and the importance to always try your personal best! This process was not only beneficial for the students but was powerful for me to watch and see how they have grown as learners and individuals so far this year.  

If you have revisited your classroom expectations or decide to try this out, please share!

Stay tuned to hear how we also set new goals for the New Year in our classroom. :)

Happy New Year! 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs. Some of my very best reading recommendations come from this pathway!

It's a busy time of year and I have not been able to sit down and read a book that requires sustained attention. However, I have a few books and articles to share.

I picked up several nonfiction books at the Scholastic Books Warehouse sale a couple of weeks ago. I had read about How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg a while ago and I thought that it sounded funny. It's not only funny, but you can learn A LOT from this book. There are many mini-history lessons throughout this book, as it tells about the deaths of various people from Cleopatra to Darwin to Columbus to Beethoven. Some of the morbid descriptions of death might inspire middle-schoolers to research more about the eras or the people, as there are many historical and scientific references and facts woven into the end-of-life stories. For example, I had no idea that Darwin was afraid of people, obsessive about lists and record-keeping, and married to his first cousin. Did anyone else know that of his ten children, only three were able to reproduce and two died as babies? Sort of ironic given his scientific specialty of genetic survival of the fittest...

Because the CCSS are big on students writing introductions and conclusions to informational pieces, I am always on the lookout for nonfiction books that contain these elements and can serve as mentors for students. I have been consistently impressed with National Geographic's nonfiction books and so I bought Everything Rocks and Mineral by Steve Tomecek at the book sale, as well. This book has an introduction and a conclusion, as well as several text features that I don't always see. There is an interactive glossary, several referenced websites for further research, an index, and many narrative elements woven throughout the pages. It really is a great nonfiction mentor text!


Within my reading life, I have to give a shout-out to twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. What an incredible collection of posts these teachers/writers/amazing thinkers put out each week! While I have always loved this blog and Ruth and Stacey have always been inspirational to me, there are now five writers for this blog and every single post is a session of professional development. Thank you to each one of them: Stacey Shubitz, Tara Smith, Elizabeth Moore, Betsy Hubbard, Dana Murphy and Anna Cockerille. This is an incredible source of learning.

Happy reading,

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Jen Vincent and Kellee Moye cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to check out their blogs Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. 

One of my students recommended Maggie and Oliver or a Bone of One's Own by Valerie Hobbs to me and I am so glad she did! Maggie is an 11 year old orphan who finds herself on the street having to find a way to survive on her own.  Oliver becomes a homeless dog when his owner passes away so he must also find a way to survive out on the streets just like Maggie.  The book tells both Maggie and Oliver's story and connects the two stories at the end.  I read this book in one sitting and loved how it reminded me of Annie too! I highly recommend this book! 

I have been doing a lot of reading and work around the concept of growth mindset vs. fixed mindset for the past couple of years so I was excited to see the new book, Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci. I started reading this book last week and had time on the train this weekend on my way to NYC to finish it - I loved it! I highly recommend educators to read this professional book and share it with their colleagues.  It would also be a great choice for a faculty book club to read and discuss at faculty meetings.  There are many beneficial strategies, charts, descriptions, quotes, etc. that help educators build a growth mindset culture in their classrooms and schools.

I am very fortunate and grateful that my principal shares professional books and articles from ASCD with me - thank you Grace! The latest book that she let me borrow was The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching by Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell. This professional book discusses the CCSS, how to use checklists with students and teachers in beneficial ways, how to give feedback that fosters a growth mindset, and how to align the standards to our teaching while challenging students to expect more of themselves in the process.

Some of my favorite lines that I marked with post-its are:

• "As you develop lessons, you should use standards both as a rearview mirror to look back on the knowledge and skills students should have acquired prior to reaching your classroom and as a windshield to help you anticipate the knowledge and skills teachers in later grades are counting on you to teach your students." (page 12)
• "Teachers should use standards to structure student learning and the curriculum while using their own creativity to develop lessons and unit plans that are lively, intriguing, and motivating to students. " (page 13)
• "Teachers can inadvertently diminish student motivation and achievement by praising for ability instead of effort.  That's why it is important to guard against praising for ability and ensure that all comments to students reinforce the importance of their effort and its link to their achievement." (page 96)

Enjoy reading this week! :)

No More Erasing!

I loved Elizabeth Moore's post about using pens in writing workshops. Since I read that post a month ago, I have shared it with as many teachers as I could, trying to spread the idea of using pens in writing workshop. I have also been trying to spread the idea of teaching students to "cross off and keep going" as part of the writing process. I have actually made this a teaching point for some students, demonstrating to them how I draw a quick line through a mistake in my writing so that I can keep writing and remember what I was planning to say. I have been paying a lot of attention to how students use erasers in classrooms and I am developing some reasons why I believe in a moratorium on erasers during writing workshops:

• I am a special education teacher by training and whenever I am in classrooms, I gravitate to the struggling writers. Almost without exception, they are the students who have erased and erased their work. If the paper is still intact, the writing may be difficult to read because it is on top of so many other versions. There are a few issues that worry me when I see this. First, these struggling students spent more time erasing than writing. If we believe that we get better at writing by writing, then valuable time is wasted because erasing actually takes a fair amount of time and effort. Additionally, they have made already challenging-to-read writing more challenging to read. It's almost like you can hear them subconsciously saying, "if I make it so hard for others to read, then they won't try hard enough to read it, and others won't realize that I'm not so good at writing." I'm not saying that students really mean to say this, but I think that erasing becomes a way to hide for many struggling writers.

• As a teacher, I want to see the tracks of student thinking. If you had access to the revisions that I have made on this post, you would see my thinking and my understanding of the revision process (as well as my my keyboarding mistakes!). You could see how I have changed my thinking, re-wrote a phrase to incorporate parallel structure, changed a word to make the writing flow better. If I were a student, those changes might be coming after a mini-lesson or teaching moment, and you could see the evidence of instruction. Erasures hide that evidence, whereas a single line cross-out may reveal the development and progression of new skills.

• We want to send a message to students that writing is a process and we value the process. When students erase and erase and we support them, I worry that the message that they are receiving is that the work has to be perfect. Another recent post at Twowritingteachers.wordpress.com by Elizabeth Moore asks whether published has to be perfect. This is another wonderful post, reminding us that writing is a process, that even published writing is not perfect, and that there are ways to showcase and honor the development of writers.

• Another issue with writers who continually delete their work with pink erasers is not one that I have seen or hear much writing or talking about. Our young writers are on an increasingly fast pace to the use of digital tools. Many of our fifth-graders are now composing with keyboards. Once they learn to compose on computers, then how will the chronic erasers fare? Will the backspace and delete buttons be the first to wear out on keyboards? I had one student who was always deleting his work, and was obsessed with the red lines that appeared underneath his digital words as he wrote. We had to spend a lot of energy on the concept of "just keep going--come back to it later." Now, more than ever, young writers need to learn how to capture their thoughts on paper and on a screen, but what will happen to the students who struggle with spelling and fluency and also struggle with keyboarding skills? I worry that fluency will be even more difficult for these students to achieve.

I remember loving a brand new pink pearl eraser. I remember loving the smell and the smoothness of a fresh eraser. Now, however, I see little purpose for these tools except for in the land of crossword puzzles. I'd love to hear the thoughts of others about erasers, especially as we think about the technology that students are learning to use? I love google drive and I am sure that there are other apps and programs that allow us to see all of the deletions and revisions that writers make along the way, but how do we teach students to embrace the process, to accept and share imperfections, and to spend their time in writing workshop writing? 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsburg at Unleashing Readers cohost It's Monday! What Are You Reading weekly on their blogs.   To see what others are reading and recommending each Monday, or to participate, be sure to head over to these blogs. Some of my very best reading recommendations come from this pathway!

I read Georgia Heard's Finding the Heart of Nonfiction about a month ago, and I have been planning to write a Monday post really detailing some of the important points of this book. However, I shared it with one of my teachers who has been reading it as she is teaching our informational writing unit. Per teachers' requests, I have ordered copies for each school and I keep hearing from teachers about how much they are enjoying and using it as they are teaching nonfiction writing units. I love that my teachers don't want to give up their copies of this book, but I don't want to wait longer on this post because I know so many people have moved into teaching nonfiction writing by this time of the year.

Without getting too specific, Finding the Heart of Nonfiction moves writers away from encyclopedia-like informational writing to more, for lack of better word right now, artistic informational writing. For example, Georgia Heard points out that you can learn about a tarantula from an encyclopedia article or from a narrative paragraph such as one that Jean Craighead George would have written; the narrative would be much more likely to have impact and be remembered. 

Finding the Heart of Nonfiction is full of specific lessons designed for workshop instruction and full of specific references and incredible mentor texts. I can't imagine that any elementary or middle school teacher wouldn't be inspired by Georgia Heard!

Along much sillier lines, I picked up a copy of The Klutz Book of Brilliantly Ridiculous Inventions by John Cassidy and Brendan Boyle at the Scholastic warehouse sale. I was thinking that I would give it to one of my nephews for Christmas because he is always making stuff, but my whole family has been previewing it. We have had a lot of laughter and conversations inspired by some of the inventions. How about "Beeping Back-up Shoes?" Or, "The Double Barreled Peanut Butter Jar"--who hasn't gotten peanut butter on their knuckles trying to get to the last of the peanut butter? I love that this book has my youngest daughter reading out loud to us and getting us all to notice our world harder, thinking about inventions that could make our daily lives easier. It's a great book for creating and inspiring innovators!

Happy reading!

Kindergarten Students Using Book Creator

Last year, I wrote a post about Book Creator. Mel and I had used it for our poetry celebration and the students loved typing their poems, selecting pictures to go with them, and then recording themselves reading the poems. I also used this app with some of my students with special needs so that they could dictate stories across the pages. When I worked in the classroom, I was always using my iPad with my students and I was always impressed at how intuitive this technology was for them--they always could figure out more than I could. This week, I was reminded of this when I went to visit a kindergarten class.

The teacher had been asking me to come during learning centers for about a week. I was a little surprised because usually I go to classrooms during workshop. "You won't believe what they are doing independently," she said. I am so glad that I made it to the opposite end of the building because she was not exaggerating. The students are in the middle of their Looking Closely unit. They have collections of various natural items--leaves, rocks, twigs, acorns--and during writing workshop, they have been writing about what they notice when they look closely at these objects--it's a great integration of science and writing! However, during learning centers, three students worked on iPads, using Book Creator to make digital books.

I sat and watched these children turn on the iPad, open the app, create a new book, and get to work. One of the girls was clearly the table expert. "How do you do the recording?" a writer asked. "Here, I'll show you." She tapped on an icon and created a recording. Then, she deleted the recording and instructed her classmate to go ahead and try it herself. Success followed, and both girls continued their work. How is that for collaboration and independence?

The stick is long.

Since the app offers the choice of writing with a finger or using a keyboard, I watched one student write his words with his finger. He took a picture of the stick that he was observing, and then got right to work crafting the words that would go with his observations. His only struggle was having the iPad upside down and making the cover swing awkwardly. As soon as his teacher reminded him to keep the cover on the down-side, he was independent. This same child worked for a little while without the iPad while I was watching and I took a picture of his digital work sample, as well as his written sample.

The stick is short.

I definitely found myself wondering why he remembered to space his words on the iPad, but not on the paper. I think that there is a tremendous opportunity for transfer here, as this could definitely be pointed out to him.




I loved watching the girls work on their book, as well. In the fifteen minutes that I watched, the resident expert Book Creator wrote four pages about her observations of an acorn. Each page had not only the typed words, but also the recording of her reading the words. The app does indicate misspellings and I was so glad to see her ignore the red lines underneath her words, or I wouldn't get to share my favorite page that she wrote:

It has three swirls on it.

 Again, I have to reiterate, all I was doing was sitting and watching the children work. They took pictures, typed or wrote, and recorded anywhere between two and four pages. "You should see some of the other books some of the kids have done," the teacher said to me before I left, and she showed me the digital shelf of books that students had written on other days. Amazing work in a kindergarten classroom.

Enjoy the weekend,