(In light of today's sorrowful situation, Saturday Sayings has come a little early. This quote is borrowed from a previous Saturday Sayings about teaching to the heart found here.)
It's just hard to focus my thoughts on academics when there's a school that's missing beautiful children much like the ones in my care and missing loving adults much like the ones I work with in a community much like the one I teach in. In the midst of this unthinkable tragedy, I'm reminded of how I live in a day and age when teaching to the head is not nearly enough. For one reason or another, too many young hearts are in need of an astounding amount of nurturing. These hearts will influence our future world one way or another. It's a difficult thing to digest that the young man responsible for this evil act could have been one of my first graders only fourteen years ago. It leaves me with this question. Who will the little people in my room grow up to be fourteen years from now?
(Thank you God for running our way when we even but whisper your name. I know You are in the midst of that community.)
I like to see my kids' names on the board but only for the best of reasons. Last week we learned how to use certain words to create suspense in our realistic fiction stories, so after the mini-lesson I attached the list to the whiteboard and told the writers to make sure and sign their name around it if they tried any of the words. It's amazing how the simple signing of a name can heighten awareness of a mini-lesson strategy.
Here's page one of a piece that was written that day. This little writer was definitely in the zone. It's possible the incentive to write on the board helped just a little.
One morning Ava was walking to school. All of a sudden it started to hail. She said, "Oh my heavens."
We don't write our names on the board every day, but it's a nice little trick to pull out of the bag every so often. Look here for other ways I've used this tool during writing workshop.
Have you heard about Lucy Calkins' Curricular Plans for grades K-8? (Read here about them.) Lucy never ceases to stretch my thinking. In this document of hers, I learned about on-demand writing assessments. Here's what Lucy says about this. "At the beginning of the year, and prior to beginning any unit, we encourage you to do an on-demand piece of writing, and use this data as a way to plan your minilessons for your children. If this is really going to be a true assessment, we cannot stress enough that you cannot scaffold kids' work during this assessment. Do not remind children of any examples, do not confer with kids, and do not give any spelling tips." This is what she recommends a first grade teacher would say at the beginning of the year before starting a Small Moments unit study. "Before we get started on this new year, I would love to see what you can do as writers of Small Moment stories, of true stories. Today, I'm going to give you a booklet that you'll use to draw and then write a story on one particular thing that you did. Make this an example of the best true story writing you can do. I hope your writing shows me what you can do as a writer. I'm not going to be helping you today - instead I'll just be observing you so that I can get to know you better as writers." Then at the end of the unit, after publishing and celebrating, repeat the process. I did this for my small moments unit and was able to share both pieces with parents at conference time. They were so very impressed, and so was I. Even if a writer didn't conquer the idea of writing a developed small moment, their growth was too obvious to overlook and very much worth celebrating. In a few days I'll be finishing a realistic fiction unit. I can't wait to compare their on-demand piece at the beginning of the unit with the one at the end. I'm sure I'll be amazed at their progress as well as informed about how I can improve my instruction next year when I teach this unit again. Thanks again Lucy.
Simply put, reading + risking + reflecting = meaningful change. I suppose we could call them the 3 R's of teaching. Is this equation evident in our schools or better yet, in our own classrooms?
Reading - I don't believe Regie's referring to reading a teacher's manual. (That's most likely not the kind of reading that results in meaningful change.) She's fully aware of how busy we teachers are, but she also knows that books provide a valuable kind of professional development that should find its way into our lives. The professional books on my shelves and the piles still needing my attention on my living room floor are significant contributors to my teaching pedagogy. They've helped shape me into the teacher I am today and the one I'll be ten years from now as well.
Risking - This piece of the equation is so important. On a personal level, I'm not a risk-taker. I don't enjoy putting myself into the unknown. As a teacher though, I've learned that playing it safe is detrimental to my professional development as well as the growth of the learners in my care. When I take risks, I give myself permission to not have all the answers before I try something new. If I wait for all the answers, I'll waste a lot of time and probably never try anyway. The only way to find them is to jump right in and do. When I take risks, I also typically discover that my kids can handle a whole lot more than I ever gave them credit for. They benefit from my risk-taking.
Reflecting - I'm guessing this is the part of the equation that most teachers are comfortable doing already. I believe that it's made all the more powerful when reading and risking are involved as well though.
Meaningful Change - We've probably all experienced unmeaningful change. (Yep, I made up that word.) How often have you found yourself asking, "Now, why are we doing this?" Maybe the CCSS fits in that category for some. Maybe a district or state mandate has created change that was not meaningful. Those things are at times out of our hands. For me, most often meaningful change happens when I take professional development into my own hands. I'm not satisfied with the teacher I am today, but I'm the only one who can change that. I read. I risk. I reflect. If Regie's right, and I think she is, that means I'm bound to change in meaningful ways.
Regie Routman says, "I have never worked in a school or classroom where the expectations for students are too high." Of course if Regie says it, I must agree, and from doing my own classroom research, I know she's right. Year after year, I find that kids can do more than I ever thought they could. Sometimes the only way to find out what they're capable of is to jump right into the deep end and know that most will happily follow me in. I've found this to be true and over and over, especially in the area of writing.
(Click on the picture to purchase Lucy's PDF.)
I recently posted about Lucy Calkins and her recommended units of study for first grade writers. (See here.) Based on her annually updated curricular plan which you see above, I recently started teaching a unit on realistic fiction. (I love that her thinking shifts and changes just like the rest of us.) This genre of writing is new for me as well as the kids. Honestly, it can be a bit scary jumping into something foreign, but it would be quite unfair for my inhibitions to get in the way of their growth. Amazingly enough, after only four days of instruction, they impressed me with how they were catching on. They've got a ways to go, but the following pieces are proof that they just needed someone to invite them into the water so to speak.
Sally was walking to the library to retake a book back. When she got there it was closed. She did not know what to do. Then she knew what to do. She put it in the box.
One day alex was going to ride his bike. He was practicing for a contest. He messed up the bike. It broke in pieces. Alex said, "But someone can fix it." So somebody fixed it up. He really appreciated that.
One day Emily was getting ready for music practice, but she couldn't find her song book. She looked under her bed. No music book. She looked in her music cupboard. No music book. She finally looked in her closet. She found it, and she went to music practice.
Thanks again Lucy for pushing me into the deep end. My writers and I thank you.
My name is Laurie Roberts, and I am Tammy's cousin. I have hacked into Tammy's amazing blog to reveal something that many of you probably don't know. If you are a regular reader, then you already know, as I do, that Tammy is one of the world's best teachers. Seriously, I am constantly amazed at her innovation, her tireless pursuit of excellence, and her sincere, brilliant insights. I read and reflect on every post, and I even try out some of her ideas with my seniors in AP Literature.
However, Tammy's talents are hardly limited to the classroom. Ever since she was a wee young lass Tammy has been the best singer I know. We have collaborated on three independent CDs, and in the words of our first producer, her voice is "pure driven snow." I can't begin to tell you how many people have been profoundly moved by her incredible voice. She truly has a special gift.
Here she is singing a song from our Christmas CD "Tidings," singing a song she wrote, with the traditional "First Noel" tagged onto the end:
And here is our spin on the classic Christmas hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day":
Tammy is much too classy to promote herself, but on her behalf, I thank you for listening, and I hope these songs blessed you.
Laurie
P.S. I'm not too classy to tell you our Christmas album "Tidings" can be downloaded at Itunes and various other sites that sell digital music.
About ten years ago I decided to make my first quilt. For someone who had never even turned on a sewing machine, this was not a walk-in-the-park undertaking. I didn't learn to quilt by doing little sewing exercises on the side though. I learned to quilt by quilting. I was immersed in the process from day one and became a quilter the moment I took on the project.
Of course, sewing and literacy are different beasts, but the premise of learning a new craft is the same. As the quote says, kids learn to read by reading, and they learn to write by writing. It's easy to get caught up in the "more", which can take on many different faces. More activities, more games, more centers, more glorified worksheets, etc....basically more stuff. All the stuff can so quickly push time for simply reading and simply writing right out the door. If there's anything that we can give our students that will make the most difference in their literacy, it's time to be readers and writers. The "more" isn't necessary.
