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Final Thoughts - Where do we go from here?

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Final Thoughts - Where do we go from here?

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Looking back on my week of training, I have to say we are very lucky to have the opportunity to work with such brilliant individuals.  Individuals that have the time to research, develop, and implement best teaching practices in education today.  As teachers we don't have this luxury, but I completely trust those that are saying, "You might want to try it this way."

One thing that I can't stop thinking about is this: Irene shared on Monday that since writing her books, her thinking has changed, grown, and evolved. She said, "If you ever decide that you're done learning, then you're in trouble.  We are never done learning and still have a lot of learning to do.  You need to check that attitude at the door." The only constant that we can depend on is that things are going to change.

Please let me know if I sparked any curiosity in your next steps...I would love to discuss any of these points further.  Do I know it all?  Absolutely not.  Am I willing to join you in the journey?  Definitely.

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Our final day was spent with Cindy Townend on reading mini-lessons at the primary level.  Mini-lessons are the backbone of the intermediate framework and haven't been used as much at the primary level in the readers' workshop.  This thinking is changing as more research on teacher effectiveness comes out.  This is not completely new thinking (see pages 353-354 in TEACHING FOR COMP AND FLUE) and I really think it can help to put more "meat" into our workboards and centers.  This also supports the theory of "I do, we do, you do" and the gradual release of responsibility.  It starts with a well-planned interactive read aloud with other supporting activities during workboard and then weaved into guided reading.  I really love how this ties everything together and helps to bring isolated activities back into the whole of learning.  Is this something that you are interested in digging into further?  I know I am!

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Another fantastic day!  We spent the morning with Diane Powell studying Close Reading/Close Analysis.  Close Reading is a popular buzzword right now because it is mentioned in the CCRR standards for reading:  1.  Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it, cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.  We dug into these main ideas:

What is close reading?

How can close reading help students to think deeply about texts through analyzing and critiquing?

How does close analysis support thinking within, beyond, and about the text for deeper understanding?

How does this fit into our framework in the primary grades?

My take-away from today is that close reading is:  thinking closely about text beginning in preK, reading with careful eyes, thinking about what the author is telling the reader, and listening to that inner voice from within.  This deep thinking must be strategically planned for and precise language must be used to not confuse the learner.  Level A readers can begin to think closely about their texts, but much, much modeling and scaffolding must take place first.  Genre studies are the best places in the primary level to begin using close reading/analysis.  This can be done by sequencing read alouds (creating text sets) and higher level comprehension questions.  Many of us have the book GENRE STUDY and I know that I haven't had much time to really dig into this book.  This could also be another book study option.  Check chapter 14 in GENRE STUDY for a taste of what this book may offer you.  Please let me know if this is something you would like to investigate further.

Our afternoon was spent with Irene.  She presented on Writing About Reading in the primary grades and the importance of building this at the primary level.  Here are some of my take-aways:

The level that our kids must get to at the immediate and middle school level make it clear that this foundation must be started in the primary level.   Irene talked about using readers' notebooks to support a reading life at the K-2 level.

These notebooks can be used by readers as tools to collect information, remember important information, and to look back and reflect upon growth.

This work is all based off of a child's oral language.  Students can talk about their thinking and write about their thinking.  What we see in their writing is a reflection not only of what we have taught them about writing, but also what we have taught them about reading.  If we can increase the talk, there will be more thinking.  If there is more thinking, there is more learning.

The only way to get better at talking, is to talk.  Of course, this talk must be focused, scaffolded talk.  When we engage kids in talking about texts, we will get a richer discussion moving out of Tier One Vocabulary into Tier Two and Tier Three Vocabularies.  What readers talk about will support what they write about.

Question for you:  In the past, we haven't purchased readers' notebooks for our 2nd grade students because the idea was to save these notebooks for 3rd grade.  We may want to re-think this because of the importance of laying this foundation earlier.  What are your thoughts on this?  Also, there is a readers' notebook that is available for kindergarten and 1st grade students.  Here is the link:  https://www.heinemann.com/products/E05361.aspx  I do have one of these that I was given as a sample.  Please let me know if you are interested in taking a peek at it.

I had a great day today and hope you did too!  Until tomorrow!

Here's a picture with me, Irene, and Dawn (another Wisconsinite from Hortonville)

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We had an adjusted schedule today because of a huge snowstorm that hit early this morning. 10-12 inches of fresh, new snow. How nice! The focus today was on Peter Johnston's book OPENING MINDS: USING LANGUAGE TO CHANGE LIVES. This quick read emphasizes the importance of how our language can make or break a learning moment. Here are a few a my favorite pieces:

On the power of language: "Introducing a spelling test to a student by saying, 'Let's see how many words you know,' is different from saying, 'Let's see how many words you know already.' It is only one word, but the 'already' suggests that any words the child knows are ahead of expectation and, most important, that there is nothing permanent about what is known and not known."

On the importance of stability: "The expectation of change is very important, but in order to manage the idea of constant change, children also need to have a sense of stability, a sense of what they can count on. In productive classrooms there are routines and rituals that give a sense of stability and control.

On feedback: There are two different types of feedback: Process and Person feedback. When giving feedback, focus on the process (examples 'You tried really hard' and 'You found a good way to do that. Can you think of another way that might also work?') and not the person ('You're a good boy' and 'I'm proud of you.')

Many of us use the phrase "I like how you..." Unfortunately, studies show this phrase is not very effective. There are better ways to use language to praise children. Interested in finding out more? Let's do a book study on this book and learn all about it together! This would make an excellent book for a book study and could be counted towards your 38 hours (similar to what the high school is doing). Please let me know if you are interested in this.

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What an amazing day! After today, I can't help but think, "How did I ever get so lucky to be here, working side-by-side with some of the most brilliant educators of our time?" I will attempt to put into words what some of my take-aways from the day are:

Do we have a common philosophy or understanding of what best practice is in literacy? Are we assuming that we all have the same expectations? Does every person in every building (prek-12) understand what is expected from him/her in order to ensure that all kids succeed as a reader and writer? If not, what can we do to get on the same page? We all need to be going in the same direction in order us to be successful...Are we?

Community Involvement - We all know how important it is to have a shared vision among staff, but are we taking the time to share and involve the community in this vision? Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop and Word Study is hard work and teachers must have the expertise to make teaching moves on the spot. Education does not look the way it did 20 years ago, 10 years ago, even 5 years ago...Are we keeping the community involved in these changes? What can we do in Rice Lake to help the community see this work? How can we show the importance and need for continuous professional development? As professionals, we need to keep learning and growing in order to keep our students learning and growing.

CCSS - The common core standards force us to teach in a way that we have never taught before. Love them or hate them, the common core is here. The CCSS tell us what needs to be taught, but not how to get there. We dug into the 7 Capacities of Literate Individuals (who are career ready). Here is a quote that really made me stop and think: "We are already seeing at work a process I call 'mystification' - taking a practice that was once viewed within the normal competence of a teacher and making it seem so technical and advanced." Thoughts? Are you interested in going deeper into the CCSS?

One more thing...Cheers!

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You'll have to read the e-mail I just sent about my takeaways from the presentation Irene gave to our Ongoing PD on the same topic. She is definitely amazing to listen to and brings up such valid points about teamwork and school vision.

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Irene Fountas started our day with the topic, "Assuring all Teachers are Achieving Continuous Professional Learning. This is the first time that I have heard Irene speak and she is truly amazing. She's passionate, knowledgeable (duh), and completely down to earth. She speaks in such a way that leaving there today I am ready to come home and get to work! Here are some statements from her discussion of improving learning for all:

"As teachers, coaches, and administrators we must strive for coherence for the sake of our students and their success. It's one thing to develop coherence and it's another to sustain it. How will you sustain it?"

"In districts, we have to be able to say that every child has the same opportunities in every classroom in every school. Instruction must build upon instruction from the year before"

"We need to judge how well we are doing by looking at the lowest 50% of students. The upper 50% will learn in spite of what we do."

"Precision observation of students, precision planning of lessons, and precision teaching will shift our learners. This is not easy and that is why continuous professional learning must be the norm, not the exception. It all comes back to teacher expertise."

One point that we spent much time discussing was the idea of a team. We (school, grade level, etc) must be working together on behalf of our children. No one can do this alone, nor be expected to. Norms need to be established. Teams need to discuss and make plans, but actions are what will define what your team truly understands or believes.  Is everyone around the table the needs to be around the table? Are we making best decisions for kids? How do we know this? More eyes, more talk, more people to see, hear, know what's going on is what makes a team. A team holds each other together when you're turning over stones and shaking out the dust bunnies. An administrator shared this quote, "Expectations are what you let others get away with."

The end of our day was a session on hard data vs. soft data. Wendy Vaulton is the Director of Research at Lesley. She showed us how we can use soft data to plan SLO's and PLCs. Soft data would be items such as readers and writers notebooks, progress notes, anecdotal records, meeting minutes, lesson plans, etc. Teachers can use soft data to drive their instruction. One example of using soft data would be "How can I use readers notebooks to promote thinking about and beyond the text?" Wendy and Irene both stressed the idea that we need to ensure that assessment is happening every moment, every day. Not just 3 times a year. Soft data can be used to ensure the next most appropriate shift needed by students is precisely observed, precisely planned for by the teacher, and precisely taught.

Wow. What a great day. Exhausting, but so well worth it. See you tomorrow!

Katie, Mel, Kasey, and Betty - Thanks for visiting...Isn't this cool? Hope to hear from all of you soon!

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We'll have to talk when you return. There is a lot of discussion at this conference (RRCNA in Columbus) about the common core. An interesting exercise we did was watch the writing portion of a Reading Recovery lesson and mark the CCSS for 1st grade that were touched on. The statistic was that portion of the lesson aligned to 91% of the first grade standards, including comprehension and phonics.

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So excited to read about what you're learning this week, Jess! Great idea. I just learned about close reading too at the intermediate/middle school level last week, so it will be interesting to compare notes when you get back!

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I love this!  I'll be interested to hear about the Reader's Notebooks AND getting families more involved with literacy happenings in the classroom.

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I have used this before in class!  Great idea!  Can't wait to see what you're doing out there!

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Some of the items that we will be digging into this week include:

Demands of the CCSS and how they are embedded in the work we do

Developing units of study around the CCSS and instructional shifts in ELA

Readers Notebooks at the primary level

Readers Workshop and reading mini-lessons

Close reading (analysis) at the primary level

Dynamic and fixed stances toward learning and how our language can impact an individual's learning stance

Using language to change lives (OPENING MINDS by Johnston)

Family Involvement

And much, much more...Whew!