The Amazing Read: A New Kind of Reality Show

Don't tell anyone, but I've become somewhat of a reality show junky.  Whether it's a man vs. the wild, an around the world race, a brigade of aspiring chefs, or a group hopeless romantics, I find myself getting caught up in their journeys.  I root for some and curse others.  Even out loud.  I know, don't judge me.  

I guess as far as vices go, this one isn't that bad.  In fact, maybe there's something we can learn form them.  For beneath all of the silly antics and overproduced challenges, participants solve problems, navigate relationships, and apply learning in new and unfamiliar terrain.  Along the way, they reflect on their experiences and often walk away with greater understanding and appreciation for themselves and others.

So what does this have to do with us?  No, we're not going to vote each other out of the classroom or offer a million dollars.  Instead, we could consider one aspect of reality shows that might transform our readers:  the confessional.  

You know those video clips where contestants give a behind-the-scenes look into experiences, perspectives, and surprises along the way?  Well, what if we used this "genre" to highlight some of the thinking we do as readers during our journey. Of course our journey isn't around the world, it's across a book.

So instead of The Amazing Race, maybe it's...

When we ask our readers to respond to a text and reflect on their reading, we often wonder if we're assessing the reading or the writing about the reading. With short "confessional videos" readers can share what they're working on as readers and explain how that thinking is leading them to deeper thinking. It's a way for them to share the story behind the story.  It's a way for them to make the invisible visible.  It's a way for them to highlight their growth as readers.  And who knows, what they come up with might just be a little amazing itself.

Book Trailer: Sisters

Thank you, Raina Telgemeier, for your latest and greatest.  I know this one will fly off the shelves.  Not only that, it's a fantastic mentor text for memoir.

The Class and I

Close Reading--Up Close and Personal

Recently, a group of us gathered to take a look at Close Reading. Leaning on Chris Lehman and Kate Robert's ideas from Falling in Love with Close Reading, we explored the process firsthand and discussed possible ways to role it out in our classrooms (click here to view the Google Presentation).


Close Reading Part 1:

Close Reading Part 2:

Join this discussion by adding your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or resources that will make Close Reading come to life in our classrooms.

Battle of the Text Bands 2013

The Power of Partnerships

Everything I Know about Teaching, I Learned from Julie Andrews

Designing a Complete Curriculum

The crowd hushed while the orchestra pit came to life this past Thursday at Radio City Music Hall.  In no time at all, actors and dancers hit the stage to perform their vignettes.  It seemed like another typical day in the life of this iconic theatre, but this time the song and dance wasn't the most recent interpretation of an old musical.  Instead it was the launch of Samsung's new answer to the iPhone, the Galaxy 4S.

It's odd that a company would go to such lengths to announce a product to the world, but why shouldn't it?  After all, it has designed something amazing worth celebrating.  Tired of swiping your smartphone with your finger?  Well now you can use your eye.

You're probably wondering how this is relevant to teaching RLA.  Here's the thing. We're so busy teaching and assessing academic, discipline-based standards, we're forgetting one key component that enables the people at Samsung or any other innovative company to work their magic.  Design.  

There are lots of reasons why we should add design standards to our curriculum and teach to them more directly in our classes.  Here are just a few:

"Design" and "Create" are at Level Four on the DOK

• There's a lot more to design than meets the eye.  Steve Jobs, one of the most famous designers of all time, said, "Design is a not just what it looks like and feels like.  Design is how it works." His definition isn't just limited to the IKEA desk or iPhone.  It applies to meaning and understanding as well.  When we teach design and offer our students to use it when expressing their ideas, their learning is much deeper as a result.

• To design is to create.  When we create, we think across disciplines and take all of the learning into consideration before we put paint to canvas.

• By engaging in design, we practice and enhance other essential skills.  According to Frank Nuovo, former Vice President and Chief of Design at Nokia, design is about solving problems and creating solutions.  Not only that, good designers don't work in isolation.  Relying on sound interpersonal skills, designers collaborate with others which leads them to even better ideas.  

Quiz:  Match the Font

• Design is more crucial now than ever before.  As Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, puts it, there has been a "democratization of design." What was once reserved only for the financial elite or the highly skilled, design tools are now readily used by a larger population.  Just take a look at laptops, digital SLRs, smartphones, and the growing list of software and applications that run them.  Still not convinced?  Try out the quiz that Pink put out to his readers.  He claims that twenty-five years ago only the experts would've been right.  Now, most of us are (scroll down for the answers). As a result, the marketplace is increasingly more competitive, and design elements have become a game changer.

• Design elements enable us to communicate in ways that go well beyond words alone.  Sure, as RLA teachers, we focus on words as our medium, but in today's world, we understand the power of images.  But there are additional elements in design tools that enhance communication such as color, fonts, music, and layout.   

Simply put, if we choose not to include design in our teaching, we're missing the boat.  And when we miss the boat, our students are stranded as well.  With that in mind, here are some possibilities for our classrooms:

• Teach a design mini-lesson:  Take a design element and see how it might fit as a teaching point for a mini-lesson.  For example, as a reading response students can use color and shapes instead of words to capture the mood of a chapter.  They may also sketch objects from the text to represent symbols. 

• Evaluate real world design samples:  Have students become design critics when viewing a youtube clip, a trailer, a visual ad, Blog themes,  etc.  Students can explain what works and what doesn't work in terms of design elements.

• Use design-based tools with fixed templates:  Many tools offer preset templates that include effective design elements such as iMovie trailers, Prezis, Blogs, Pic Collage, Glogster, Keynote, even Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.  When students select templates have them explain their choices based on how the design elements enhance the meaning they are trying to convey.

• Teach toward design-based extension projects:  When students complete a Literature Circle book, extend their learning with projects that require purposefully-chosen design elements.  It could be a bumper sticker, a commemorative stamp, a monument, a theme quilt patch, you name (click here for a list of great ones).  Again have students explain their choices in terms of design as well as literary analysis.

Before you get started though, I have to warn you.  Many of our students have lost their innate willingness to design.  Gordon MacKenzie, a former creative director at Hallmark Cards, tells of his countless school visits where he asks students, "How many artists are there in the room?"  The responses are nearly always the same.  The kindergartners all raise their hands while by sixth grade, not a single student raises his hand.  

Here's why.  To design means to risk, and along with risk comes failure.  Many students are more concerned with "getting it right" than "trying it out."  It's not entirely their fault.  That's the way we've taught them. 

So why don't we model it by taking a risk and trying out some of these design ideas in our classrooms?  Who knows, we may be surprised with what we and our students create.  Whatever it'll be, it'll certainly be cause for celebration.  In the meantime, I'll check for availability at Radio City Music Hall.

Answers to the quiz:  1. b, 2. c, 3. a

Checking the Pulse--A Vital Practice

You know those doctor shows that take place in a hospital's emergency room with doors bursting open and paramedics shouting out vital signs? I'm always amazed at how quickly they give the information and how seamlessly doctors take it all in before even reaching the operating table.  Nothing is overlooked, the patient's weight, ethnic background, blood pressure, or even how he was found.  With all of that information in hand, the doctor then makes the best decision she can to help that patient.

Teaching is no different.  Before we act, we need to consider our students' vitals in terms of reading and writing.  We need to understand where they've come from, what their strengths are and what they struggle with.  
Sure, our situation may not be as dire as in an emergency room, but it still begs the question, "What are we doing to check the pulse of our readers and writers?"

Like emergency room doctors, we need efficient techniques to find out this vital information.  Here are some possibilities that I've witnessed in our RLA classrooms.

• On Demands:  At the beginning of a reading or writing unit, students produce a sample writing piece or demonstrate reading skills before any lessons are taught.  The teacher can then confirm and/or adjust a logical set of mini-lessons based on the results.

• Partner Talk:  By talking with their reading or writing partner, students explain their prior knowledge for a given lesson or try out a new technique during a read-aloud.  The teacher, circulating around and listening in, gauges where students are and what they are thinking.

• Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down:   With this less verbal technique, students answer a question with a thumb up or a thumb down (i.e. yes or no), and the teacher can adjust her plan based on the results.

• Fist of Five:  Students answer a question by voting with their fingers (i.e. five fingers is the most and one finger is the least).  This option allows students to process the question deeper by having to rank their feelings or experience across a range.

• End of the Lesson Share:  To wrap up a mini-lesson, the teacher can call on a student or two to share the work they have done. Hopefully it will show progress towards the lesson's teaching point.  If not, the teacher knows she'll have to readjust her plan. 

Google Form Results

• Exit Tickets:  At the end of a lesson or small group conference, students write down their take-aways or lingering questions about the teaching point.  The teacher can then sift through them and make groups for follow up teaching.

• Google Forms:  Students answer a Google Form survey.  Their answers are generated in a spreadsheet that is easy to read and rearrange.

Of course by implementing these and other vital techniques, we can make better informed decisions for our next teaching moves, but there are additional benefits as well.  By using these strategies, we are engaging our students more by accessing prior learning, working as readers and writers in real time, and synthesizing and reflecting on meaningful learning.

Not only that, as teachers we can focus on what our students are taking away from our lessons instead of what we're doing in the classroom.  I don't know about you, but when I share how lessons went with my colleagues or ask them about theirs, I often just talk about the moves I made as a teacher.  Many times, I'm assuming that my students learned better as a result of them.  With these techniques though, I can ground my assumptions in actual tell-tale signs that my teaching was effective.

So the next time you're heading into your classroom, be sure you've got a tool or two ready to check your students' vitals. In the meantime, if you have another great strategy for checking the pulse on your students, leave a comment.


Images from:

• www.1-800-translate.com

Teaching 21st Century "Genres"

"Just as we would rarely [teach] a unit or a lesson in any subject 

without incorporating some reading, we should also rarely do anything in school 

without incorporating technology—used powerfully and not trivially. 

If we do not do this, our kids will not be getting what they need from our education.”

--Marc Prensky

Blogs, tweets, text messages, status updates, Skype, Youtube, let's face it, people today are communicating in ways that were unimaginable only a few years ago. In fact, we'd be hard-pressed to find another time in human history when there was such an explosion of new communication tools, and it doesn't seem like it will let up any time soon.

While many experts refer to these as Web 2.0 or 21st century "tools," I like to think of them as 21st century "genres." Like the more traditional genres we know and love, these genres have specific features, characteristics and rules that authors know and use to make their ideas stand out. As teachers of reading and writing, we must consider teaching to these genres in our classrooms. After all, our students are far more likely to become avid authors in these genres than they are in the traditional ones. 

With a quick Google search, you can find tons of "tools" out there that can help jazz up an idea or message (just check out the magic 8 ball message or the "cool links" geogreeting and the ninja message below), but these aren't really genres. According to Merriam-Webster, a genre is a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.


One genre that some of us are currently using with our students is the blog. With mini-lessons on commenting, adding videos and images, labeling posts, and ensuring that everything we publish passes through the POST Filter (Purpose, Offer new insight, Skillful writing, and The Core Values), we've added it to our Personal Essay unit in Grade 6.

With that model of teaching into a 21st century genre in mind, some of us recently sought out other genres that require students to apply effective conventions and communication techniques that emulate real-world 21st century genres. We didn't need to look far as our counterparts in the Intermediate School have used Fakebook, and we came across others like fake Twitter feeds, iPhone chats and Google stories. They were just what we were looking for as we asked our students to respond to their Greek mythology reading.

                                                     *              *              *              *              *

Many of us use Facebook to connect with friends and family both near and far and share what's going on in our lives. And while students need to wait to create their own accounts, they can become familiar with the genre through Fakebook, a site where students can create a fake profile, friend list and string of status updates.

When we asked our students to pick a Greek mythology character and retell the myth from his/her point of view, we were impressed with what they came up with. Check out Bryanna E.'s sample on Pandora (click View Full Screen to remove the ads):

View Fullscreen | Create your own

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Twitter is another genre that has taken the world by storm. I have to admit that I'm more of a novice with this one, but every loyal user I know swears by it. Through Twitter, users are able to follow others (i.e. experts in their field) as they tweet out messages and announcements in 140 characters or less. There are also specific features with user names and hashtags that help users manage their tweets.

While the fake Twitter feed seemed to be a bit trickier than Fakebook, it worked for Claire R.:

                                                     *              *              *              *              *

If you don't think students need to learn Twitter quite yet, how about iPhone chats? Chances are if they don't own an iPhone, they may know someone who does.

By focusing on how to write succinct messages with the abbreviated text language, they learn how this genre is unique from the rest (and how these conventions don't work in other forms of communication).

Here is AJ K's chat from Perseus to Persephone:

                                                     *              *              *              *              *

Finally, with Google Story Builder, students can capture a group of characters' collaboration on a Google Doc.  Our students found this option to be the trickiest, but it is also one that leaves a lasting impression.  Here's my sample: 

Prometheus' Plan

I'm sure we'll come across more genres like this in the future, but for now, I know one thing is for sure: when our students sat down to try them out, they were engaging with the content like never before. Not only did they enjoy taking on the voices of the mythical characters, they knew the skills they were practicing would be useful to them. In short, the learning was relevant, purposeful, and, according to them, "fun."

So, consider trying one of these out. Add it to the possible repertoire of reader responses. Alternatively, if you know of another genre/site, leave a comment. One word of caution though. As with any technological project, be prepared for some unexpected hiccups along the way. Whatever you do, try it out yourself beforehand, and be sure to have a tech guru on speed dial. Thanks, Heather!

Common Craft Explanations
Web Tools 4U2 Use
Cool Tools for Schools
The Daring Librarian









Images from:

• http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/
• http://www.abcnews.go.com
• http://www.pressplay.co.ke/
• http://www.tusconsentinel.com
• http://www.geogreeting.com/
• http://www.fodey.com/generators/animated/ninjatext.asp

Without Any Hiccups At All

Imagine my surprise the other night at the dinner table when Isabelle told me she wrote a Personal Essay in class.  "Really?" I asked, looking up from my plate.  Of course as a parent I was interested in what my 4th grader was working on as a writer, but as a teacher, I was also keen to hear what was happening in the elementary grades, especially since our grade level is currently working through the same unit.

"Yeah," Isabelle went on to say.  "My essay is on hiccups.  You see, I got the hiccups in class, and I was so annoyed, I just had to write about it."  I smiled and nodded my head.  I knew exactly what she meant. "So I used 'boxes and bullets' to organize my thoughts, and I came up with three reasons why hiccups are so annoying."  I looked back down at my plate.  That's the exact same lesson I taught to my 6th graders just days before.

As teachers, our initial reaction to situations like this is "How could they do that?" or "Don't they know that's our lesson?"  I admit it, I felt those reactions bubble up immediately.  It's as if we teachers stake claims to lessons and ideas, and we don't want anyone else to encroach upon our territory.  In this case, how could 4th grade be doing our business of boxes and bullets?

Before we all go berserk, I've come to realize that a "problem" like this is actually a good thing.  Here's why.  Isn't it good that readers and writers are being taught effective skills and frameworks as soon as they begin studying the genre?  In fact, their eventual prior learning  will allow us to push them even further when they do get to our classrooms.  

Not only that, just because a student learns some of these skills and frameworks, by no means is she an expert at applying them fully.  You could argue that continued application of  the skill will ensure mastery over a longer period of time.  That's one of the major benefits of a cyclical curriculum anyways.  And as far as studying a genre again and again is concerned, no way does a writer become an expert just by writing a piece in that genre once, twice or even five times.  Authors spend their lives writing through a single genre, and they still find new twists and turns along the way. 

Another consideration is that with our transient student population, invariably there will be new students who are unfamiliar with workshop and some of these skills and frameworks.  And for all students, new to SAS or not, they continue to use the genres and skills that are dear to them to make meaning of new experiences as they grow older.

Having said all that, it's clear the days of closing our doors and doing our own thing in our classrooms are gone.  And they should be.  According to the 2009 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, one reason why US schools rate lower than their developed nation counterparts is because US teachers spend 93% of their time working in isolation. A related study done by McKinsey and Co. in 2010 found that one common characteristic of schools demonstrating continual improvement in student learning is teachers share and work on their practice together by becoming "learners of their own teaching" (see "Building Capacity to Transform Literacy Learning," NCLE).  In addition, Lucy Calkins contends that you can rate the quality of a school by the amount of meaningful conversations that teachers have about moving their students forward.  

Simply put, we must seek every opportunity to step out of our classrooms and grade levels to engage in meaningful conversations with our colleagues.  Now that our school has worked to implement the Reading and Writing Workshops, the initial years of every teacher trying out the generating ideas lessons or basic craft lessons of a genre have passed.  Our readers and writers are coming up with more skills and experience.  It's as if we were all learning to ride bikes at the same time, and now that the training wheels are coming off, those lessons just won't cut it anymore.  It's time to work on jumps, wheelies, and hard core racing.  In other words, maybe 4th grade should cover boxes and bullets whereas 6th grade can focus on ordering the bullets for effect.

So how do we do this?  

• Instead of thinking how can I teach "my students" in "my classroom,"  think how can we teach "our students" in "our school."
• Be active members in PLCs by asking questions not only of the units in our grade levels, but of what is happening in the surrounding grade levels.
• When planning units, use the Common Core as a resource for writing teaching points.  With its more precise articulation at each grade level, we can ensure a steady progression of rigor as our readers and writers pass up through the grades.
• Use pre-unit assessments to gauge where the students are in terms of the work each genre requires.  Then modify and adjust teaching points accordingly
• In mini-lessons, continually call on students to apply previously learned skills and frameworks to their current work.
• Continue to read and write so that we can better inform our teaching.  By actually doing the work of readers and writers, we can teach from true experience and develop teaching points that come from the heart.

And finally,

• Don't leave it up to a 4th grader to find out what is happening in other classrooms and grade levels.

If we take on just some of these ideas collectively, we'll continue to grow as a school and provide an exemplary program in RLA without any hiccups at all.




Images from:

• Some rights reserved by admiller
• Some rights reserved by Digo_Souza
• All rights reserved by outtram

The Power of Partnerships

Somedays I get so caught up in my teaching that I forget something important: I'm not the only teacher in the room. No, I'm not talking about Nicole, my trusted Resource teacher without whom I just wouldn't make it. I'm talking about the other 20 readers and writers in the room who all have thoughts to share and tips to offer. That's why I've found partnerships to be such an essential component of my workshops.

There's absolutely no way I can get around to every reader and writer, even with the best of intentions following a two week cycle.  With partners, however, I can be sure that every reader and writer gets some attention each day. By listening in to their talk whether it is during a turn and talk for a read aloud or at the end of an independent writing session, I can quickly gauge where my students are at individually and collectively, and I can adjust my teaching accordingly. 

Teachable Moments that Matter

Of course good partnerships don't just happen naturally. Based on what I'm noticing from my partnerships, I can teach lessons such as how to ask for specific feedback, how to give constructive feedback, and how to keep a conversation going. Over time, my students will learn to do these skills naturally and carry them into their other classes.

Partnerships Teach a Whole Lot More

Not only do partners benefit from the talk about reading and writing, they also learn how important it is to advocate for themselves and to honor what others do for them.  Before I have students think about who they want as a partner, I have them write down what kind of reader and writer they are, and what they are looking for in a partner. Instantly, their thinking changes from, "I want to work with _______," to "I need a partner who will help me with __________." During this lesson, I then have students get up and "interview" possible partners. 

Another idea I picked up at a workshop is to have partners thank each other at the end of a partnership cycle. By making a bookmark, writing a note, or finding a quote or poem as a "thank you", partners honor their time together and the contributions they make to each other.  As a result, relationships grow stronger, and whole community becomes closer.

When certain partnerships work, I've found that they'll do anything to keep the partnership together.  And if they are thriving as readers and writers, why not?  I don't make it easy for them though.  I tell them to persuade me (with specific examples) why they should stay as a team.  Nine times out of ten, they do.

Holding Each Other Accountable

An added benefit to having partnerships is that I'm not the only one holding my readers and writers accountable. They now have to answer to their partners.  This certainly comes to play when you have partnerships read multiple copies of the same book. In Matt's class, he recently booktalked some titles for the character unit, and partners will decide on a title and set a reading calendar. Together, they will work through the text, trying out some of the strategies that Matt will demonstrate in his read aloud.

The Possibility of Triads

When we think of partnerships we often think of twos, but a variation of this is the triad. Erin and Scott T. like triads because there is still a partnership intact when students are absent. I also like triads for my special needs students as they are given an instant model of how other students work together and think as readers and writers.



Final Considerations

When I began using partnerships, I didn't have all the answers. I just jumped in and figured things out as they came. But boy, am I glad I did. The thing is, I'm still grappling with questions like:  

• How often should I change partners?
• What should I do if a partnership isn't work?
• Should I make partnerships of students with the same or mixed ability?

Maybe I'll never figure partnerships out totally, but one thing is for sure, partnerships are a powerful addition to my workshops.

Keeping Track of Readers

"You're not going to believe it," Jackie said as she came into my classroom after one of her first classes of the year.  "Seven of my kids have already read Wonder!"  I have to admit, I was a bit deflated.  I'd read Wonder (see trailer above), a powerful first novel by R.J. Palacio, over the summer and couldn't wait to showcase it in my class.  You know that feeling you get when read a great book and have to share it with others?  Well, it turns out even though Wonder was just released in spring, a bunch of our readers had already devoured it.

If your students are anything like mine or Jackie's, they're amazing readers.  This is good news.  They come to us knowing what genres grab them and which authors work for them.  Not only that, they keep up to date with the latest and greatest new releases.  That's why now more than ever before, we have to be on top of our game in the classroom when it comes to keeping track of our readers.

When I think of keeping track of my readers, I keep the following in mind:  volume, reading rate, and books they're reading.  At the same time, I'm always looking for seamless systems that make these things visible and easily accessible.  

Volume:

For volume (how much each reader reads), I'd been using Reading Records in the back of students' readers' notebooks where students record the books they've read.  Although good in principle, students seemed to forget about it, and I had to collect all of their notebooks to check them out.  

This year, I'm trying something new.  I've adapted an idea that I got from Jackie where I've posted a Reading Record pocket chart in the back of the room.  In it, each student has a card where they write down the title, start and finish dates, and genre of the books they read.  When I introduced it, I likened it to a factory where workers check in and check out by punching a card.  Hopefully that's what they'll do as readers with this system.  

What I like is that I can already see how many books they are reading, how fast they are reading them, and what genres they are trying out.  I can also use them during conferences as an additional talking point.

Reading Rate:

Let's face it.  Knowing a reader's reading rate is important, but it's not the end all be all.  I used to have students fill out countless Reading Logs noting the pages they read and how long it took them.  They hated it, and I don't blame them.  When I tried it out, I hated it too.  And the worst part was, I never really referred to them as their teacher.


So I've modified it.  Now I use them with a purpose.  I have students complete a Reading Log for a given week only.  Then we can analyze that information and figure out the reading rate (words/minute).  As long as I know that students continue to read chunks of text on a regular basis, I don't need to know every single page number and minute read.

Recently, I picked up an idea from Crystal while working with her in her classroom.  She does a snapshot of a log by having students record the pages they read in one sitting on a sticky note.  She then collects them, and instantly, she's got valuable data and can plan meeting with certain kids immediately.

Of course the things I look for are high and low reading rates.  Some readers are blasting through books.  They're plot junkies, and they need to slow it down.  Others are extremely slow.  They might be in a challenging book, they might be distracted, or they might be reading a new genre (i.e. nonfiction).

While I don't consider it an exact science, it's certainly something to think about.  If you're interested in suggested reading rates per grade level generated by Teacher's College, click on this link.

Books They're Reading:

I believe that one of our most important jobs is to match every reader with the right book at the right time.  Like you, I use surveys and one-on-one conferences to make suggestions and give mini-book talks on the spot.  In the back of my mind, I also keep in mind the concept of Reading Ladders from Teri Lesesne.  Her idea is that readers can move through a progression of books based on increasing difficulty in a given genre or theme.

I also try to showcase my library whenever I can.  Years ago, Betsy gave me the idea of having Book Bag Mondays.  For twenty minutes or so, she pulls books out of her beloved bag and gives book talks on them.  Very often they are new releases or must reads, and it's amazing how quickly they fly off the shelf.

These are just a few of the many great ideas that are happening in our classrooms to promote reading.  If you have another idea you think others would benefit from, please leave a comment or have me come and check it out in person.  We'd love to learn from you!