Slice #20 of 31- Helping Students Transfer What They Know

For the month of March, I am participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by the community of writers at Two Writing Teachers. Many of my slices are at my personal blog, Just Write, Melanie, but ones that deal specifically with education appear here. All are welcome to join the slicing party by reading and commenting. People write amazing posts.

I have a love/hate relationship going with the Common Core State Standards, and this relationship is complicated by the SBAC...more on that perhaps next week, when the testing begins. 

In the meantime, one of the aspects of the CCSS that I appreciate is the fact that I see absolutely no way for students to meet the standards at any grade level unless they are transferring what they know and are able to do across units. Therefore, some of my coaching work has centered on working with teachers to create visible learning pathways for students to see how what they already know helps them learn what they need to know. 

In a third-grade classroom, we co-created this chart with the students:

We filled this chart out as an inquiry lesson, so the students' names are after their contribution to the chart. They were thrilled to see that they already knew so much about opinion writing before they even started. In the couple of weeks they have been in the opinion unit, their writing has been strong. Their classroom teacher and I agree that part of the reason for their success has been the confidence gained from this chart. 

I created a similar chart for a fourth-grade class as they headed into an opinion unit, adding a column for narrative and creating categories for structure and elaboration. The class generated the features of opinion on the first day of the unit and will continue to add to this chart throughout the unit. Again, there is something very reassuring about using what you know in order to learn new information, no matter what you are doing!

 Happy Slicing,

Is Listening the Lost Standard?

Last week, I attended the Connecticut Forum to listen to Charles Blow, Karl Rove and Doris Kearns Goodwin debate and discuss what is wrong with our current political system. They were supposed to, according to the program, discuss how to fix it, but most of the agreement was only on the fact that our political system is broken. 

I came away from the night worried about the political future that my daughters face, and believing that one of the most important standards in the Common Core is the one that has to do with listening. Really listening. Not waiting to have a turn to talk, but engaging in conversation that strengthens or weakens previously held beliefs. Digging into the speaking and listening standards, the one that I'm not sure that Charles Blow and Karl Rove have mastered is the first anchor standard for Speaking and Listening: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. They seemed much more interested in listening to each other in order to gather ammunition and discount the other, as opposed to listening to each other in order to build on ideas. 

To master this anchor standard, the skills build as follows: 

By the end of third grade, students should be able to explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

By the end of eighth grade, they should be able to acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.

And, by the time they graduate, students should be able to respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when possible; and determine what additional information or research is required to deepen the investigation or complete the task.

I wonder, do we teach these skills? While I have pinned, shared, and developed several anchor charts about our responsibilities as partners and even some about what listeners do, some of which I am sharing here,

 I am working on some thinking stems that emphasize the integration of opposing ideas. 

• I listened to you and your comments have made me change my original opinion because...
• Before I listened to you I thought... but now I think...
• Having listened to you, I feel more strongly because you said...
• Having listened to you, I feel less strongly because you said...
• I listened to you and I learned...
• I listened to you and you have inspired me to learn more about...

I may also add books that emphasize listening skills to classroom libraries, but books that go beyond sitting and crossing legs, and into the integration of ideas and knowledge. I'd love some suggestions!

As a parent and as an educator, I believe in democracy and the importance of it. I want my children to grow up into a country where leaders listen and learn from each other. 

Here's to listening!

Day 4 #SOLC2014: Welcome to the Mix-Master: Thoughts on Blending the Writing Standards

Throughout the month of March, I am participating in the Slice of Life Challenge, hosted by twowritingteachers.wordpress.com. All participants aim to write a post every day for the month of March. When my posts relate to education, you will find them here. Otherwise, find my SOLC posts at justwritemelanie.blogspot.com.

I think that corn belongs in silos. Looking for a picture of a silo, I learned that coal, sawdust, and woodchips also belong in silos. These structures are incredibly useful in that they maximize volume and minimize oxygen. 

Minimize oxygen. I do not thrive in an environment that minimizes oxygen. Life does not thrive in an environment that has minimized oxygen. 

Maybe it’s the minimizing of oxygen that I react to when I think about the types of writing living in silos, because that’s what I think that the CCSS does to the types. Or maybe, I’m beginning to think that the CCSS should have a fourth silo--one that pumps in oxygen and blends all three types of writing. That’s right--dump them all together and stir them around...

I think that it’s helpful for people new to writing to think about the different types of writing. Why do we write?  What an incredibly important question to think and talk about!  

We write to entertain--hence the third CCSS Anchor Standard:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

We also write to inform, which leads to the second Anchor Standard:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

And, we can write to express opinions and set up arguments:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Really good writers, the ones who have elaboration down and the ones who have voice shining through, blend the types. Yes, they know their purpose, but they also know that man won’t read one type of writing alone. Think about it. Who would not rather learn about history from a book with characters and a plot than from an encyclopedia article. The narrative elements intrigue us, but they are woven together with information, facts, and details. Additionally, most historical fiction contains a bias, a subtle hint of argument that is sifted throughout the pages. In fact, most informational texts also contain a bias, some more subtle than others.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most effective arguers I have read. Why? Because he injects stories and real people into his arguments. He hooks us with narratives, complete with characters, settings, and plots, and then he spins his argument. He even injects information into his arguments--of course he does, because isn’t the strongest evidence inextricably bound to information? Yes, it is information presented with a twist, but with the “effective selection, organization, and analysis of content” that the CCSS list within the information standard. 

One of the reasons (and there are many reasons) that I love the new Writing Units of Study from Lucy Calkins and her colleagues at Teachers College is because, even though each unit focuses on a particular type of writing, they weave together the types wherever possible. For example, within the fourth grade information unit, there is the suggestion of having students write narrative letters and of having students write opinion essays that analyze a moment in history. These pieces of writing are incorporated into the overall informational book, adding variation and offering opportunities for students’ voices to ring loud and clear through their written words. They also remind us as teachers, and teach students as learners, that writing genres do not live in silos!

As I write this morning, I am aware of the fact that I am writing to learn--my writing is leading me to more questions than answers right now, as I am really not sure of how to handle the writing silos. Do we:

• Introduce students to the silos one at a time--this is the silo of narrative, this is the information silo, you’re now entering the silo where we store opinion/argument...?
• Blend the three, but in controlled measures--we are in the silo of narrative, but you’re allowed this much information in it, as well as this much opinion...?
• Allow for the blending of only two at a time until demonstrated mastery--we are really staying within the silo of narrative, but you can filter in some information, just no opinion until we are sure and solid with the blending of the two...

I think that teaching writing is an art and blending grain is a science, so I’m not really in favor of the bullets above, although I do wonder about explicit instruction for the complex practice of becoming a mix-master. I also wish that there eleven anchor standards, and I would propose that Anchor Standard 4 should be inserted and involve blending the three types of writing, because isn’t that what really great writers do?

I don't think that I am finished thinking and blogging about this topic, but I can't wait to hear other people's thoughts!

Thinking About the Language Standards

On Tuesdays, Stacey at twowritingteachers.wordpress hosts the Slice of Life. Today, I am coming in at the buzzer with a slice about the Common Core language standards.

I have to admit that I have spent most of my Common Core getting to know the reading and writing standards. I have not spent as much time studying and trying to make sense of the language standards, until just recently. On the Smarter Balanced website, there is a link where the truly adventurous can go take a practice test. (Feel free to follow the link!) Over the weekend, I went re-visiting this site, paying close attention to the questions that assess students' editing and revising skills. I have copied one of the questions from the Grade 6 ELA test:

A student is writing an explanatory essay for a world language class. Read a paragraph from the essay and the directions that follow.

What is the best way to learn another language? Some people say that only living in a country where the language is spoken really works. However, for them that do not have the time or money to move to a different country there are many other options. Listening to music and watching movies in a different language with subtitles can really help, for example.

One sentence in the paragraph above contains a grammar usage and a punctuation error. Type the incorrect sentence below, correcting the two errors.

Type your answer in the space provided.

Out of curiosity, I asked my sixth-grade daughter to tell me how she would answer this question. My daughter loves to write and has done well on our state's test, so far. She is not flawless in her knowledge of punctuation, but she is above average. Additionally, we talk a lot in our house and we make sure to use correct grammar in our conversation. I share this because, even with these strengths and advantages, she struggled with this task. For almost 10 minutes, she worked to figure out the answer and I watched her, realizing all of the skills that the task required:

• She had to read closely, because the directions said that there were two mistakes in ONE sentence. She spent a fair amount of time looking for two mistakes in the paragraph.
• She had to accept that the last sentence was correct, even though it sounds awkward. Who ever ends a sentence with for example???  We teach children to BEGIN a sentence with this phrase!
• She did not like the second sentence, finding it hard to understand. I'd love to speak to the author of this sentence since I'd like to teach him/her about the importance of the active voice. Ultimately, the standards want students to write in the active voice (I think this appears in 9th or 10th grade), so why are we assessing students in the passive voice?
• She was sure that the comma was missing in the third sentence, but she still wanted to correct the last sentence. She spent time reading and re-reading the last sentence to try to find a second error, before I finally directed her to the third sentence, reminding her that it was missing a comma. "Could they have put one mistake in one sentence and two mistakes in another sentence?" she asked me. I think that, based on the directions, they could have. 
• If she were really going to complete the task, she would have had to type the answer. Before she got to the typing, she had spent 8 1/2 minutes on this question.

The almost 10 minutes that I spent with Cecily watching her try to answer this one question really worried me, as the new testing comes barreling at us. While I feel like we are making strides to prepare students for three types of writing, and I have been impressed with some of the sample items I have seen to assess these writing skills, I definitely need to think about how we will prepare students for the questions about language, punctuation, and grammar. I would love to hear other bloggers' thoughts about the language standards and sample questions, as well as how other districts are teaching these skills to students.

Happy slicing,

Some Thoughts About Common Core Writing Skills

This morning, the Hartford Courant has a  feature article titled Common Core Standards to Change State's Education Landscape. The timing for me was perfect, because just yesterday, I called a good friend of mine who teaches in a neighboring district to talk about how much teachers really know and are talking about the Common Core State Standards. With a front page article in the local paper, teachers will want to pay attention because parents will be paying attention.

I am admittedly overly-consumed with the writing standards, but my job is coordinating our district's writing and social studies curriculum. Here's what I hope teachers know about the writing standards, not just because students will be tested on these concepts (and educators will be evaluated on their students' performance), but also because these standards require students to write and develop their understanding of language.

• There are three types of writing that the new testing will assess--narrative, informational, and opinion. Once students hit sixth-grade, the opinion writing shifts to argument writing because at that age students should be writing about debatable topics. (If you want some great ideas for debatable topics, check out procon.org.) All three writing types can take different forms--I had a teacher ask me if students could present their research in the form of a powerpoint or feature article instead of a report. Yes, but the standards involved in informational writing remain in place, regardless of the format. 

• Students should be writing a lot. Students should have opportunities to do quick research, as well as longer sustained research. The more that students can understand and appreciate that writing is an important way to communicate ideas and knowledge, the more success they will have on all of the pilot tests that I have seen, and, more importantly, the easier it will be to write up the quick email to a work colleague, the job application, the request for a day off, or the annual report.

• Students should be writing on a keyboard. Yes, composing drafts and even generating ideas on the keyboard whenever possible. If you are in a district that is fortunate to have computers (that work and don't take ten minutes to boot up in order to work for eleven minutes before the battery dies), then students should be using those computers in writing whenever possible. Even third-graders will be taking the new assessments on-line and they will need to keyboard their responses. 

• Language and grammar do not live in the writing standards but they flourish in the language standards, another sub-section of the Common Core. By the time that students are fifth-graders, they should be dashes, parentheses, correct pronouns, and correct spelling. (That's in addition to commas wherever they are supposed to be!) This means that all of the other skills have to be mastered in earlier grades, as they are enumerated by the language standards. 

We are no longer getting ready for the Common Core in schools across the nation. The Common Core is here.  This spring, many districts will be administering pilot tests and the more that we educators understand the CCSS, the better for all of our students. If other readers or bloggers have additions to make about what we should know about the writing standards, please share!

Mentor Texts and Interactive Charts

Mentor texts are extremely important tools for writers of every age and stage. While my last few posts have been about increasing the volume of student writing since I feel strongly that writers improve their writing by writing, writers also improve their writing by reading. Therefore, the more that we can inspire our students to read like writers and study the craft of whatever they are reading, the more skills will develop.

Last week, I taught a kindergarten class. The teacher had asked me to try to change the routine of ending stories away from just going home or going to bed. The class had been reading a Joy Cowley big book and I read just the last few pages, asking the children how Joy had ended her book. (I purposely referred to the author as Joy, an idea I learned from a recent Teachers' College visit from Christine Holley. I love that this subtle but important wording brings the status of writer down for the children and makes being a writer more tangible for them.) We started a chart, the prototype, I am sharing here:

One of the students was quick to realize that Joy had ended her story with talking, so we added this technique to our chart. Next, I read them Molly Bang's When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry, challenging them to not only pay attention to the story, but also to study how Molly would end her book. The students turned and talked and we were able to add feelings to our chart. When I sent the writers back to their seats, their challenge was to try out different ways of ending their stories, whether the stories were the ones they were working on or the ones that they had already written. Then, as they tried these new strategies, they could add their names to the chart, alongside and in the company of Joy Cowley and Molly Bang. There was a lot of experimentation and enthusiasm, as you can see in the real-life chart below:

The classroom teacher and I circulated and all of the signees had definitely tried out dialogue or feelings as strategies for ending stories. At one point, we had to suggest that students keep writing and come to the chart when there wasn't a line! One boy got to sign twice for one story since he had written: I said, I feel happy.

One of the Common Core standards is that kindergartners "respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed." (W.K.5) Using this sort of an interactive chart not only inspires young writers to return to their previously written pieces, but also to begin to read as writers, an important step in the development of close reading of text. Think about K.RL.10 which states that kindergarten students will "actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding."

I can't wait to hear about what this class adds to the chart, since I left room for them to add other ways that writers can end stories as they continue to read new books. Mentor texts and interactive charts combine in any grade for powerful experimentation and learning!

Happy Reading and Writing (and shoveling, if you live anywhere near me!)

Melanie

The Purpose of Our Writing

My last post was about the importance of audience for all writers and when I thought about this post, I struggled to separate my thoughts about audience and my thoughts about purpose. Melanie's recent post shared some of the work that students have been doing to present their non-fiction research and she taught them about the reasons for writing. It's so important that students understand that we can write to entertain, to persuade, and to inform.

One of the reasons that I like the Common Core State Standards for writing is because the Standards so clearly address three types of writing. Within the writing component of the CCSS, here are the first three anchor standards:

Text Types and Purposes¹

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

These standards are consistent throughout grades K-12, clearly establishing writing purpose for American classrooms.

When we help students understand the big questions of why are we learning this and why is what we are learning important, these purposes provide answers for them. When we are teaching a narrative unit, we are teaching students to entertain with their writing. Regardless of who the audience is, the responsibility of the writer is to entertain. Perhaps, our young writers will choose to include a moral or lesson in to their narrative and perhaps they will filter in some information. However, the main reason for narrative writing is entertainment. We can certainly remind students of all of the books that we read because we enjoy a good story. Another purpose for writing is to inform. Sometimes we read to learn about something and sometimes we write in order to teach about something. Finally, the Standards emphasize the importance of writing to persuade. When we think about what we read, some of the most powerful writing we read falls into this category. How important for students to realize that they can change how others think with their writing! I think that the more that we can empower them with the understanding of this purpose, the more effective our instruction can be.

Happy writing.

It's Monday! What are You Reading? Professional Books

Thank you Jen and Kellee for hosting this weekly!  To see what others are reading and recommending, or to participate, be sure to check out their blog Teach Mentor Texts :)

I loved reading Common Core English Language Arts in a PLC at Work Grades 3-5 by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey and I highly recommend it! It is a fairly easy read and provides you with a deeper understanding of the CCSS in English language arts as well as practical ways to discuss and process the standards with your colleagues during PLC.  The text is structured in a reader-friendly format and each chapter hones in on a specific strand addressed in the CCSS.  I also loved the guiding questions  embedded throughout the text, that we can ask ourselves during PLC's, as we roll up our sleeves and deepen our understanding of the standards.  

Over the weekend, I also read Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst.  This week, we are starting our Short Text and Literary Essay unit in reading and writing workshop so was excited to see this newly published text on close reading that was just published this month.  Throughout the text, Kylene Beers and Robert Probst share six "signposts" they model and teach students to help them deepen their understanding and thinking while closely reading texts.  The six signposts are significant moments in the text that cause the reader to pause, notice, and reflect on thinking.  

The six signposts in the text are: 

• Contrast and Contradictions - places where the character acts "out of character" or in a way we don't expect them to act.  
• Aha moments - places where the character has a realization 
• Tough Questions - places where the character asks tough questions about themselves/situation
• Words of the Wiser - places where the character receives advice and/or words of wisdom 
• Again and Again - places where something is repeated, whether it is an object, word, phrase
• Memory Moment - places where the character has a flashback and remembers something or a time

Kylene Beers and Robert Probst share that the six signposts and anchor questions in the text can be reworded by the teacher and/or class.  In the text, they share sample lessons and strategies to teach students to help them internalize these signposts and strengthen their comprehension and close reading skills.  According to Beers and Probst, the more students noticed these signposts, the more they were using the comprehension skills: visualizing, predicting, summarizing, questioning, inferring, and making connections (p.69).  

During our upcoming unit on close reading, I am going to introduce, model, and teach these signposts but will most likely tweak the wording a little to make it our own in our classroom.  

Happy Reading! :)

Thoughts on Punctuation

The Common Core includes specific expectations about students' use of conventions in their writing. The fifth-grade language standard is:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2a Use punctuation to separate items in a series.*
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2b Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2c Use a comma to set off the words yes and no (e.g., Yes, thank you), to set off a tag question from the rest of the sentence (e.g., It’s true, isn’t it?), and to indicate direct address (e.g., Is that you, Steve?).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2d Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to indicate titles of works.

While I’m sure that there are several ways to teach end punctuation, I have been reading Janet Angelillo’s  A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation and loving the concept of teaching punctuation through an inquiry-based approach. Additionally, one of the teachers I visited this week had created a chart for her students about end punctuation. She created the chart during a mini-lesson, but used it as a reference tool to remind her students of their responsibility to include periods, question marks, and exclamation points. Her students recognize the chart as an important resource for them.

 I love Angelillo's statement that it is “better to display sentences from books and ask them (the students) to discuss why each sentence works.” (p. 55) As the district’s writing coordinator, I do not have access to my own classroom to use as a lab, but I do have four daughters and several nephews. Last weekend, we looked at I Want My Hat Back by Jan Classan and debated why there is no question mark used as end punctuation when the author writes “Why would you ask me that.” How could there be no question mark? Isn’t there a rule that when a sentence starts with why, it should have a question mark? How does it change the meaning of what the character is saying because of the end punctuation? Could I use this trick in my own writing and if I do, what would that look like? Such simple text inspired some pretty heavy thinking! “I had no idea this book could be so complicated,” my ten year-old said.

I'm looking for ways that others are integrating punctuation and grammar into their daily practices and writing workshops. Please feel free to share in the comments! (Exclamation point intended!)

Thursday is App Day- Commoncore

Yesterday our district held a technology conference, so many of us had a chance to share apps, programs, and other instructional strategies. I have so many new apps to buy and install! One of my surprises was that not everyone had heard of the Commoncore app. If you have an iPad and you don't already have it, I highly recommend this free app. While it's not interactive, it is an informational app and it lists all of the Common Core Standards from kindergarten through high school for Math and Language Arts. It also contains a "more resources" component that delineates standards for practice, how a to read the standards, and key design considerations. I already mentioned that it's free! Commoncore is an incredibly useful resource to have at your fingertips. 

Takeaways from Instructional Rounds

Our school hosted instructional rounds this week and for the first time, in our district, a few teacher leaders were invited to participate in the process.  As a teacher leader, I was excited about this learning opportunity and knew that I was going to have many important takeaways that would extend my thinking as a teacher, literacy coach, and leader. 

As Melanie Meehan shared in our previous post The Power of Videos in Instructional Rounds, we have many new teachers so we focused our ‘Question of Practice’ on our new teachers by looking at specific standards: planning, learning environment, instruction, and collaboration.  I was a participant in the ‘Instruction Group’ and we visited classrooms varying from 1^st grade all the way to 6^th grade. In each of the five classrooms that we visited, we observed reading workshop.  As a teacher who writes and revises the reading curriculum in our district and coaches new teachers in literacy, I loved being able to see the current progression across grade levels in reading instruction.  Visiting these classrooms during reading workshop, I was able to observe and think about the level of vocabulary used during mini-lessons, the level of student independence, the level of student talk with classmates, and the quantity/quality of writing about their reading on post-its or in reader’s notebooks. 

Although students are practicing similar reading skills in all grade levels such as inferring, predicting, synthesizing, questioning, and interpreting, we want the skills to become more complex as the grades progress.  For the most part, I did see a progression, but there is always room for improvement in this area of complexity and rigor.  The Common Core State Standards emphasize text complexity, skill progression, and rigor so I am looking closely at our reading curriculum with this lens to make sure we are increasing the level of skills and level of rigor in our classrooms in each grade level for our students. 

One way that we can help to identify, reflect, and implement more rigor in our teaching is to observe across grade levels to see firsthand what students are learning and doing independently in the previous grades.  I also think coaches and school leaders will benefit from observing reading workshop (and other subjects) across grade levels, focusing on one skill at a time.  For example, they should visit classrooms from 1^st grade to 6^th grade with the lens focused on inferring, developing theories about characters, etc. so they can see the skill progression that is currently in place and evaluate whether there are too many overlaps. Pathways to the Common Core , which I wrote about in a recent post, recommends shared walk-throughs with colleagues to focus on the ways second graders through sixth graders grow theories about characters (pg. 19).  By doing this, we will see if strategies are being recycled each year or if the progression is developmentally appropriate and is rigorous enough for our students.  By observing across all grade levels using the same lens, we will be able to identify and reflect on the skill progressions as well as make necessary revisions that foster a rigorous curriculum for our students each year.  

Participating in Instructional Rounds extended my thinking as a teacher leader and literacy coach in many ways.  I would love to hear about your own experiences with instructional rounds, the takeaways you have, and the impact it has on your teaching and coaching.  

It's Monday! What are you Reading? Pathways to the Common Core

For anyone who knows me, they know that I am passionate about teaching reading and writing workshop, reading as many professional books as I can, and staying up-to-date with the latest thinking from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.  Ever since I heard that Lucy Calkins was working on writing the Pathways to the Common Core last year, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book.  The day finally came on Friday when it arrived in my mailbox.  I have read and reread it already over the weekend and know that I will continue to reread parts over and over again.  It is a well-written professional resource that helps to unpack the Common Core State Standards for educators.  Every teacher, literacy coach, and instructional leader should have a copy of this book in their hands to read and discuss together as they begin to embrace the Common Core. 

Pathways to the Common Core is organized so you can choose to read it cover to cover at one time or read individual chapters that focus on the reading, writing, or speaking/listening and language standards.  I chose to read the book in its entirety because I always like to see the big picture first and then reread chapters to strengthen my understanding and focus.  Now that I have read the entire text, I can see how the parts of the Common Core connect to one another and how the skills build upon each other for students. 

I love that we are reminded in the introduction that we have the choice to either view the standards in a negative or a positive manner.  This statement directly relates to the growth and fixed mindsets that we have been talking about so much lately as educators.  We can either choose to complain and gripe about the standards OR we can choose to embrace the standards and use them as an opportunity to lift the level of our instruction in the best interest of students. I choose to embrace the standards and view them as an opportunity to strengthen teaching and learning. 

If you haven't purchased Pathways to the Common Core yet, I highly recommend that you make a visit soon to Amazon or Heinemann!  I'd love to hear your thoughts about this amazing professional resource we now have to help us unpack and embrace the Common Core Standards.

Happy Reading! :)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Mindset by Carol Dweck

On Friday I went to a Common Core Conference and the speaker, Dr. Cathy Lassiter, repeatedly referred to the professional book, Mindset by Carol Dweck .  She emphasized that we need to address the mindsets of teachers and students if we are going to have rigor in the curriculum.  Carol Dweck believes in two mindsets: fixed and growth.  Teachers with a growth mindset look at students as clay, believing that they are malleable and will learn anything you teach them.  Teachers with a fixed mindset aren’t as persistent in their teaching and think that certain students either are equipped with what they need to learn or don’t have what it takes.  Students with a fixed mindset are more likely to give up because they think they can’t do it, while students with a growth mindset will persevere and keep trying while enjoying the challenge. 

I listened to this explanation of mindsets, and I was thankful to my grandfather for instilling the growth mindset into me at an early age.  I can still hear his words, “You can do anything you put your mind to” and “Your knowledge is yours to keep forever; no one can ever take it away.” I always welcome challenges, take risks as a learner, and expand my comfort zone to extend my learning to higher levels.  Thank you Papa Joe for helping me become a lifelong learner like you! In addition to being thankful to my grandfather, I immediately had pictures in my mind of students who repeatedly say, “I can’t do this” or “I will never be able to…” and knew I had to read this book to learn more about the fixed mindset that these students have.  I immediately texted Melanie Meehan and asked if I could borrow the book to read this weekend.  

Some of the highlights from Mindset by Carol Dweck are:

People with a Growth Mindset:

·        thrive on a challenge

·        persevere

·        thrive when they are stretching themselves

·        say, “I don’t know how to do that yet”, and

·        are determined.

People with a Fixed Mindset:

·        lose interest when things get too challenging

·        stay interested only when they do well right away, and

·        say, “I can’t do that”.

I am going to share these highlights with my students this week and make them more aware of what kind of mindset they currently have, and how they can make changes if they have a fixed mindset.  I agree with Dr. Lassiter that we can’t have rigor in our curriculum until we address the mindset issues, but I also believe that these are lifelong skills that we need to teach students so they can expand their dreams. 


Happy Reading! :)

Power of Whole Class Conversations in Read Aloud

A ritual in our classroom is to have a whole class conversation after every read aloud whether it is a picture book or chapter book.  These whole class conversations are powerful in so many ways!  The night before our whole class conversation, the students’ homework is to either write a “Last Impression” response (explains the impression and impact the book had on them as a person) or they put asterisks next to key ideas they want to focus the whole class conversation on.  This not only requires students to synthesize the text, but also to analyze their ideas and reflect upon which ideas will spark the deepest conversation with their classmates.  

During the whole class conversation, students sit in a circle with their notebooks and decide as a class what the top 4 or 5 ideas are that they would like to focus the conversation on.  Then we combine the ideas into one or two overarching ideas and begin the conversation focusing on those ideas. 

This is a “real” conversation where students take turns sharing their thinking, building onto their classmates’ ideas, and deepen their thinking to higher levels.  One student starts the conversation and then students continue to build onto the idea without raising their hands (yes, you definitely need to do a lot of modeling on this or it could turn into a nightmare of students talking over one another!). 

As the students are talking, I transcribe what they are saying using a wireless keyboard to display the whole conversation transcript on the Smart Board for students to see, with their names! :)  This helps model how to synthesize and build upon ideas to extend thinking.  Once one idea is talked out, I prompt them with, “So far, we have talked about ….now I’m going to push your thinking even higher and I’d like you to think about….”  I have students turn and talk first to begin thinking in the direction I am pushing their thinking and then another student begins the second bend of the conversation. 

   
      

Having whole class conversations really help improve partnership and book club conversations so they are completely worth the time!  They also foster critical thinking as well as provide opportunities for our students to be reflective learners and build a sense of community. 

Happy Reading and Talking! :)