A Peek at the Nonfiction Work in our Classroom: Part 1

This month, we began our nonfiction unit in reading workshop and have been learning new skills and strategies as nonfiction readers.  This is the first post in a series of posts I will be writing about nonfiction.  Below are two of my charts that identify the teaching points of my minilessons so far in this unit.  Each day, I add the teaching point onto the chart and give examples from my demonstration and the students' examples from their turn and talks/stop and jots.  I then hang up the charts above our meeting area so we can consistently refer to what we have learned and how we are building onto our learning.  I do this type of charting for each unit of study.  

Last week, we worked on first determining a main idea of a text  and supporting it with specific details from the text and then moved into determining multiple main ideas for one text.  The students have enjoyed delving deeper into nonfiction texts by asking, What is another big idea this text is teaching me? What's another possiblility for what this text might be saying? 

This week, we have been working on choosing a form of note-taking that best matches the text structure and will best organize the information we are learning.  For example, when reading a text that is comparing two topics, we can use a t-chart or venn diagram; when reading a text that is describing one topic, we can use boxes and bullets or a web; when reading a text with sequence structure, we can create a timeline; and so on.

I have also created pages in my sketchbook that I use for mini lessons, conferring, and small groups, that support this important note-taking work we are doing as nonfiction readers.  Below are some examples from my sketchbook.

      

                             

In our classroom, we have created a bulletin board that is dedicated to highlighting student examples of note-taking while reading nonfiction texts.  Our bulletin board is divided into sections based on various text structures and note-taking forms.  Students post their examples for their classmates to use as mentors as they explore and try out using different forms of note-taking.

Happy Nonfiction Reading and Note-Taking! :)

Thursday is Technology Day! Pinterest

I hesitated to explore Pinterest for various reasons. I didn't understand it. (Disclaimer: I still don't understand parts of it.) I was spending enough time on Flipboard reading posts and twitter feeds. I had a pile of books that I wanted to read. Jessica Johnson, who is one my favorite people to follow, wrote a post about Pinterest over the summer and I put it on my mental to-do list, but I really didn't explore it until a few weeks ago. I waited too long.

As an instructional coach, I am always looking for ideas to share with teachers and there are infinite ideas for sharing on Pinterest. People create "boards" out of pictures or images from the internet and the boards can be of any topic. You can search by topic, by person, or by subject to find pins; one great pin leads to another leads to another leads to a great new blog leads to a great new website. You can find "pinners" who you especially like and follow them.

For me, I have been using it to organize the charts that I create and see so that I can use them as coaching tools. I have started boards for various grades for specific units and genres. While I keep a traditional  paper notebook of charts, Pinterest lets me manage and develop a digital chart collection. I'm trying to manage my Pinterest fetish so for now, I am limiting myself to only literacy boards, but I'm sure that in due time, I will expand my board topics into other areas of my life. If you haven't dabbled in Pinterest, I highly recommend it as a limitless way to find inspiring lessons and ideas for your classrooms and any other aspect of life that you want to explore.

It's Monday! What are You Reading? Nonfiction Texts by Melissa Stewart

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 :)

Last week, we began our nonfiction unit in reading workshop so a lot of my reading lately has been focused on nonfiction - I love finding new nonfiction titles to add to my classroom library!  I love finding nonfiction texts that will engage my students through the text features, structure, photos, layout, and of course an interesting topic!  Some of my many favorite nonfiction authors are Seymour Simon, Nicola Davies, Steven Jenkins, and Bobbie Kalman.   One of my favorites, Melissa Stewart, is going to be presenting at a local workshop in CT this week!  If you live near the Hartford area, click here for information about the upcoming event.   Since Melissa Stewart's workshop is this week, I read many of her books this weekend and began looking for new ones to purchase.  Some of my favorites from this week are: 

Shark or Dolphin? How Do You Know? by Melissa Stewart 

This is one of the many titles in her "How Do You Know?" series that includes topics such as: Butterfly or Moth?; Frog or Toad?; Insect or Spider?; and so on.  This series is perfect for teaching students how to read nonfiction texts written in a "Comparison Structure."  They are also great texts to model note-taking strategies, such as a T-chart or venn diagram, when reading a text that compares two different topics.  

National Geographic Readers: Deadliest Animals by Melissa Stewart

This book engages the reader right from the introduction by surprising the reader that the African Lion is not actually the deadliest animal after all and there are many surprising deadly animals.  Each page focuses on a different animal which lends itself perfectly to teaching students how to identify a main idea and support it with details.  Students are definitely going to love listening to the amazing facts about these deadly animals and looking at the detailed photos.  

National Geographic Readers: Dolphins by Melissa Stewart 

I have always loved the National Geographic Readers and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Melissa Stewart is the author of a few books in the series.  Dolphins is a high interest book with great text features.  There is not a lot of print on each page and the print is large so it is easy to read.  The National Geographic Readers series has books on a variety of topics, levels, and written by different authors.  

Happy Reading! :)

CCSS and #rwworkshop on Twitter

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:

Christopher Lehman ‏@iChrisLehman

@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?

Teresa Bunner ‏@RdngTeach

@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.

Question: How will technology play a role in workshop and #CCSS?

Tony Sinanis ‏@Cantiague_Lead

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

Joan Cansdale ‏@joancansdale

Q5: Tech can provide important means for authentic writing and teach critical reading skills. #rwworkshop

Kate Roberts ‏@teachkate

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!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

So many of my book recommendations have been from the weekly shares on teachmentortexts.com. Thank you to Jen and Kellee for hosting and thank you to all who contribute their reading lists! To see what others are reading, head on over to the website and link into all of the reading recommendations.

Over the weekend, I was preparing for our district's professional development day tomorrow. Since I will be facilitating the new Opinion Unit for our second-grade teachers, my eight-year old nephew and I read several books and worked on finding places where we could make evidence-based statements. We had fun! These books are not new books for me, but the thinking and pushing for evidence with a second-grader was new to me.

We read Harriet, My Darling Child, You'll Drive Me Wild by Mem Fox to debate whether Harriet's mother over-reacted. (Jack didn't think so, but I did!) If you missed Harriet when she was first published, I highly recommend this book for teaching focus and for encouraging debate.


We also read Poppleton in Winter by Cynthia Rylant and debated whether Cherry Sue was self-serving or a good friend. Who knew there would be so much text evidence to support either theory??? We also created a chart of supporting and refuting text evidence for the statement that Poppleton was a creative pig.

I went through some of the other books that we use as mentor texts to develop more statements that could lend themselves to opinion writing. Here's a chart that I am working on:

Book	Statement to Debate
When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang	Sophie dealt with her anger responsibly
The Chalk Doll by Charlotte Pomerantz	The mother had an unhappier childhood than the daughter.
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein	The boy was a good enough friend to the tree.
Koala Lou by Mem Fox	Koala Lou should not have participated in the olympics.

I'm looking forward to continuing this thinking with our teachers tomorrow and if anyone has more to contribute, by all means! Happy reading!

What is This Really, REALLY About?

This week, we have been writing a lot about the sessions that we attended at the TCRWP Saturday Reunion on October 27th, 2012. With the impending hurricane, I almost did not go and I am so glad I did. The reunions are free and full of informative and inspiring sessions. If you ever have a chance to be in New York for a reunion, they are incredibly worth the time! The next one is on March 9th, 2013.

One of the sessions that I attended was Christy Curran's Making Sure the Writing Notebook Lives in Your Writing Workshop Every Day, Not Just for Generating Ideas. The pressures to have students produce final products, as well as the pressures of standardized testing have the potential to impact how much we have students work in notebooks, but this remains such a powerful learning tool for students. Some of the important take-aways from Christy's session were:

• The writing process is circular, not linear. Revision should occur throughout the process and not just at the end. Sometimes a draft may inspire another idea that could send us back to our notebooks.

• The writing process consists of generating, developing and drafting. We often do not spend enough time in the developing stage in order to explore the question of what is this piece really, really, REALLY about. Could it be? Could it be?? Could it be???

• What does it really mean to develop? Some questions to get students to ask themselves during this part of the process are
• What do I really want the reader to know?
• What do I want my readers to think and feel?
• What is this moment teaching me about me or others or the world?
• Where is the significance in the story?
• Where is the discovery for me in the story?

• Students are reading much deeper books than most of the writing that they are doing. Imagine the writing that they would be doing if they were creating works reflective of what they are reading.

• Students should be using their notebooks for exploring revision moves. They could be returning to their notebooks to work on stretching out moments or trying out new strategies.

• Craft and confidence go hand in hand and we must develop both simultaneously in order to see higher quality writing in our classrooms.

• Choice gives students power and freedom in their writing. While we have a set curriculum to follow within the school day, Christy suggested independent projects to offer choice to student writers. Cookbooks, journals, fantasy stories, and reporting were some of her suggestions.

During the session, Christy used her own notebook to show how entries could morph into important, meaningful writing pieces across various genres, depending on her answers to what the entry is really, really, REALLY about. This is a question that I will definitely use as I work with student writers, as well as think about during my own writing. Thank you, Christy, for focusing me on what this is all REALLY about!

Using Digital Texts and Pop Culture in Mini-lessons

This past summer, I posted about my new learning from Kate Roberts' session on Using Pop Culture, Media, and Technology in Writing Workshop at the TCRWP Summer Writing Institute (click here to read my post about this session).  This past Saturday, I was excited to see that Maggie Beattie Roberts was offering a session on Teaching Writing using Digital Texts at the TCRWP Reunion.  One of my goals this year is to incorporate digital texts and pop culture into my reading and writing mini-lessons so each time I have the opportunity to attend a session on it, I jump at the chance.  In both sessions, I learned ways to include short video clips in purposeful ways to teach the qualities of writing and literacy skills in our mini-lessons.  Both Kate and Maggie shared how our students are immersed in pop culture in their daily lives so we need to think about how we can tap into that and use it in our classroom instruction.  

After attending these sessions, I learned that in writing workshop, we can use videoclips as a demonstration text to show how writers use a particular skill or strategy.  For example, to show how writers use backstory in narratives we can show a video clip and have students pay attention to the dialogue and how people act to help them gather information about the backstory.  In argumentative or persuasive writing, we can show a videoclip and have students pay attention to the character's claim and reasons and then chart them with boxes and bullets.  In informational writing, we can view a video clip to learn ways to include elaboration.  For example, while viewing, we can identify when we hear/see: problems, geography/location, statistics, comparison, facts, cause/effect, features, point of view, and so on.  

After this summer, I created a YouTube account and created folders to begin saving video clips I come across that may be good to use as mentor texts and demonstrations texts in our reading and writing workshop.  For example, I created a folder for book trailers that I can show to recommend books for independent reading and for our read alouds too.  I also created a folder for video clips I can use during reading workshop and writing workshop mini-lessons.  For example, today I showed a short 3 minute YouTube video clip from the movie, Akeelah and the Bee during my mini-lesson to have kids synthesize the skills we learned during our character unit. Students turned and talked to their partner mid-way through the clip and then again at the end to share their thinking about the character's relationship as well as a theory they can develop based on the characters' actions and decisions in the scene we watched.  The students loved watching the clip and applying their literacy skills to a different form of media. 

 I am excited to continue to work on my goal of including digital texts in my mini-lessons in meaningful and purposeful ways.  I would love to hear how you are including pop culture and digital texts into your mini-lesson instruction so please share any and all ideas you have! :) 

A Few of My Favorite Lines from TCRWP

Over the weekend, I attended TCRWP Saturday Reunion and attended several workshops. I'm sure that our next few posts will have to do with our learning from this great event since I was there with Mel Swider and a few other teachers from our district. If you ever have a chance to attend a TCRWP Reunion, I highly recommend it, as there are many inspiring and informative sessions and great keynote speakers. March 9th is the next one!

The first workshop that I attended was Christine Holley's Ten Kinds of Small Group Work that Can Support Your Writing Workshop. Rather than list the small group ideas, I am going to list some of my favorite lines that she uses with students from her presentation. Christine's workshop was for K-2 teachers, but some of the strategies apply to older students, as well. So, here they come: these are a few of my favorite lines...

"Say a lot about it."

Christine uses this line after she has children plan their stories. She gets them to plan across pages, whether they are using pictures, words, or sentences. Then, their work becomes writing a lot about their plan.

"I'm going to put this away, but it gave me inspiration for my next book."

This is a line that she models for students to show them a way to think when it comes to re-doing a piece. Many times, students' writing has a clear "best" part and  that part might want to appear in other works. Christine has blank booklets as part of her toolbox when she is meeting with students and she gives them out, not so that students copy their stories, but so that they know it's okay to move on, taking what they have learned as writers and applying it to their next piece. If they want to use a part from a previous work, that's okay and they can do that in a new book. Sometimes, this is an easier way for students to apply new learning.

"Whoops, this doesn't seem to work. Can I tear this apart and re-work it?"

Christine again uses this strategy with her own work, modeling for students that sometimes you can have a great middle, and an ending that doesn't seem to go. It's okay to remove the ending and try again to create a different one. It is also sometimes helpful for children to see their work laid out in front of them, without having to turn the pages.

"Your job is to label five words." (or six or seven or eight...)

Sometimes students like numbers. Some of her more hesitant writers have responded to a number in order to get them started.

"Does yours look like this?"

This is a line that Christine used during our workshop when she was talking about using mentor sentences. I loved the idea of a mentor sentence in a classroom to help students remember their capital letters and end punctuation marks. I can see it feeling so manageable to students as they begin to write sentences. This line could also work when students are learning about paragraphs and dialogue.

"Here are three booklets that are yours for the week."

While this strategy is not for all students, Christine has found that sometimes giving a finite and defined task to less productive writers gets them producing. Volume is important for young writers and Christine spent time talking to us about the importance of knowing WHY. Paper choice? Risk taking in spelling? Finding ideas? This line is for students who respond to defined tasks but they may still need teaching that addresses their other "whys".

"Are you doing this?"

This is a great line to get students to reflect on their writing and set goals for themselves. By using classroom charts or even smaller charts that travel with you to conferences and small group instruction, you can make your charts so purposeful for students!

Christine Holley's word choices and lines made the hard work of learning to write so achievable for young children. Again, if you have the chance to come to New York in March or in future years, try to attend!

Take-aways from Tony Wagner's Speech at TCRWP

On Saturday, I attended the TCRWP Saturday Reunion and had the honor of listening to Tony Wagner speak during the Keynote.  I have read and loved The Global Achievement Gap and am currently reading his new book, Creating Innovators, so I was thrilled to hear that he was giving the keynote.  If you haven't read The Global Achievement Gap or Creating Innovators, I highly recommend that you add those titles to your TBR stacks! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Below are some of my take-aways from his speech as well as specific lines/parts that resonated with me.  

Some important thoughts Tony Wagner shared:

•          Thinking critically is ability to ask really good questions. 
•          We need to teach and model a deep appreciation of differences and the importance of empathy 

Some skills Tony Wagner refers to as “survival skills” that students need:

•       to have experiences to collaborate
•       to learn from influence of peers,
•       to learn from mistakes instead of being penalized
•       to know how to write with voice in order to be truly persuasive
•       to access and analyze information
•      to be curious and use their imagination 

Some lines/parts of Tony Wagner’s speech that resonated with me:

•             Hold us accountable for what matters most 
•             An Innovator is a creative problem solver
•             Innovation is a team sport so we need accountable team work in our classrooms
•             Innovation is all about approaching problems from different disciplines 
•            Classrooms that create innovators are all about creating, not consuming 
•       Innovation is all about taking risks and making mistakes - can't be an innovator without trial and error    
•       Some educators rely way too much on extrinsic motivations - need to be intrinsic! 

Happy Innovating! :)

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

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 :)

This past Saturday, I attended the TCRWP Saturday Reunion which I look forward to attending every October and March.  If you haven't attended one before, I highly recommend that you attend the March Reunion.  It is all free and offers a ton of workshops to choose from on a variety of topics and grade levels.  By the end of the day, you are able to attend four different sessions of your choice and will walk away inspired, with new learning! 

One of the workshop sessions that I always attend is on "new books" by Rob Ross.  Rob Ross shares my love for children's books (yes, we are both addicted to purchasing children's books and proud of it!).   Here are some of the many books he shared during this session:  

Sophia's War: A Tale of the Revolution by Avi 

This is a historical fiction text that I can't wait to purchase for our historical fiction book club unit.  I am also excited because we study the American Revolution in Social Studies so it will also support our content area learning.  

Kizzy Ann Stamps by Jeri Watts 

This is another historical fiction text that I plan on purchasing for our historical fiction book club unit.  It is set in 1963, when schools are beginning to integrate.  Kizzy Ann is preparing for her first year as a student in an integrated school and is worried about how she will be treated by others because of her skin color.  Based on the reviews, this sounds like an inspiring book that is filled with a sense of hope and courage.  

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. and Kadir Nelson 

This text includes the entire speech in print and on the audio CD that accompanies the text.  This will be a perfect text to share with students to show them the importance of words and phrases as they are used in a text.  It will also be powerful to share the entire speech with them as well as listen to the speech.  

Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed the Seas by Molly Bang and Penny Chrisholm 

In this informational text, Molly Bang uses her beautiful poetic language and illustrations to teach us about the food chain in our oceans and its importance on life cycles.  

Elephants by David Henry Wilson and Steve Bloom 

This informational text on elephants, includes 80 full color photographs. I know the students will love looking at the photographs to help them read the text and learn about elephants.  

Talk, Talk, Squawk: A Human's Guide to Animal Communication by Nicola Davies 

I love all of Nicola Davies' books so I can't wait to get my hands on this one to share with my students! 

Happy Reading! :)

Writing Partner Conversation Table

This summer, I wrote a post about A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers by Chris Lehman and shared some ideas that I wanted to implement in my classroom this year.  One of the many ideas I have tried so far is creating a "Partner Conversation Table".  This is a designated spot where writing partners can meet to talk during writing workshop while others are writing.  In chapter 3 of the book, Chris Lehman shares ways to set up this routine and area in your classroom as well as a recording sheet partnerships can fill out if they use the partner spot during writing workshop. 

 In my classroom, writing partners have always met at the end of writing workshop to share and talk with one another, but they sometimes wanted to talk during writing workshop too.  So I had writing partners sit near one another while writing in case they needed advice or had a question for their partner.  However, some writing partnerships took advantage of this privilege and did more chatting than writing.  Some writers who needed a quiet space to write, were distracted by nearby conversations.  So when I read the idea that Chris Lehman shared about having a specific spot in the classroom for writing partners to meet while writing, I loved it. 

So this summer, I went on a hunt for the "perfect" partner conversation table and stools and found them at Ikea (I love that store by the way for classroom furniture!).  I set up the table, stools, clipboard with recording sheet, a timer, and sign that says "partner conversation table".  So now, in writing workshop, if a partnership wants to confer with one another, they go to this partner spot to have brief five minute conversation.  They set the timer for five minutes and begin their conversation.  Before leaving the "partner conversation table", they complete the recording sheet on the clipboard where they write their name, date, purpose of conversation, and where I can see benefits of the conversation.  This recording sheet holds the students accountable for their conference and also helps me form small groups and/or plan for conferences based on similar needs students have.  This "partner conversation table" has cut down on the chattiness throughout the room during writing workshop when students are independently writing, reinforces the purpose of a partner conference, helps students who need a quiet space to write, and holds partnerships accountable for purposeful talk.  The students love using this table to talk with their writing partners and feel "grown-up" when they ask their partner if they can confer with them at the table.  They also love using the table at other times during the day, other than writing workshop to work with partners.  

Partner Conversation Table 

Recording Sheet at Partner Conversation Table

Happy Writing and Conferring! :)