#CyberPD2017 Week Two

     This summer I am participating in my second #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero. This summer, we are reading and discussing Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading by the incomparable Vicki Vinton. 

This week we read chapters 5 and 6 in section two of Vinton's book. Both chapters gave a glimpse into how a problem-based reading session might unfold. Although, both chapters were thought-provoking, chapter 5 spoke to me a bit more.

File Under Duh, Why Didn't I think of That?
Right from the beginning, Vinton was blowing my teacher mind by suggesting things that, until now, seemed counterintuitive. She suggests instead of activating background knowledge or preteaching tricky vocabulary in a text, have the students read the text and underline the words they DO know instead of those they do not know. This, she says, "...builds their confidence, sense of agency and identity as readers." (58). 

I Do This, But I Didn't Know I Did This
Feedback strategy: Noticing and naming. As I read this section (pgs 73-74) I was pleased to find that this might be something I actually do, but didn't realize I was doing it and didn't have a name for it. Now I have filed it away to definitely have available in my questioning/feedback toolbox. The idea is simple, notice what students are doing to attempt to solve problems and name what they did. There is a nice list on page 74. 

Quote Worthy
"While the ability to argue with evidence is certainly an important skill, we might better serve our students as readers if we think of that as a by-product, not the real purpose of reading." Unfortunately text-dependent questions and "proving" accuracy by quoting the text has become the goal in may classrooms thanks to the Common Core's emphasis on it. 

Steer the Ship
I absolutely LOVE the "Steering the Ship" charts where Vinton summarizes the essence of the chapter. I have each one marked with a sticky flag and feel like they would be great to revisit for reminders and inspiration. 

Confession
I-we-you has been a hallmark of my instruction for some time. I love it when my thinking is "disrupted" to coin a phrase from Beers and Probst. Why not let them grapple first and then decide if/when/how to help?

#CyberPD2017 Post Week 1-Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading

     This summer I am participating in my second #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero.  This group started in 2011 and has grown every year. This summer, we are reading and discussing Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading by the incomparable Vicki Vinton. 

This week we read chapters 1-4 and boy were they chocked FULL of ideas! My head is swimming! 

Reflection

As I thumb through my book, now covered in highlights and sticky notes, I will attempt to reflect on my reading. Rather than summarize or reflect on each chapter, I will reflect on a few quotes that really spoke to me.  

"Too often though, what passes as productive struggle in reading is asking students to persevere through an exceedingly hard text to find a particular answer or to give the teacher what she-or the program she is using-is looking for, which only captures on piece, not the more complex whole, of what's meant by productive struggle." (13)

"It [Common Core] does not suggest that teachers should choose a different text, only that they should continue to scaffold until a students get it. This means that too often teachers are doing the heavy lifting, nudging and prodding students toward whatever it is that they are supposed to get-and if that fails, simply telling them." (19)

Both of these quotes are centered around using too much scaffolding. Vinton discusses how Common Core and commercial programs are pressuring us to scaffold like crazy to "get through" a text, even though it may be far too difficult. She suggests, rather than slogging through a text that is too difficult, finding a more accessible text to help the student apply problem-solving skills to be able to read more independently. Seems like a no-brainer, but I think teachers often feel tied to the texts in a program and feel that they are helping students by nudging (or dragging) them through a tough text in the name of "rigor". 

Questions I am Pondering:

How much (if any) scaffolding is beneficial?

How can I make sure my students are exposed to the right types of texts to help them problem solve and become more independent?

Am I doing all the heavy lifting?

"...in our rush to get answers or have students make claims, we rarely give them enough time to truly engage in critical thinking." (32)

"What's important is how deeply they come to understand and consider what the author might be trying to show them-in other words, what they think the text means at the literal, figurative and thematic levels. Of course the question then becomes how to achieve this outcome without all those prescribed steps and scaffolding. I believe the answer is to bring that complex mix of creative and critical thinking into classrooms by setting students up to wonder, generate questions and form hypotheses, then to test out these hypotheses using reasoning and logic, to arrive at a final judgement or claim." (37) 

"Close reading is a noun, while reading closely is a verb; one's a thing and the other's and action." (39)

This set of quotes involve critical thinking and reading closely. Vinton points out that "close reading" is one of those educational terms that can mean different things to different people. To many, close reading is a scaffolded procedure meant to guide students in digging deeper into the reading with multiple readings for different purposes. I really like Vinton's suggestion that close reading should be an outcome, not a procedure. She, and Harvard's, "How to Do a Close Reading" suggest having students read the text first for, "anything that strikes you as surprising, or significant, or that raises questions". Then they reflect and interpret which will likely lead to them back to the text. This seems a more natural way to look at reading closely where the student decides what work is required as the transact with the text. 

Questions I am Pondering:

What might critical thinking and reading closely look like at different grade levels? 

How can we ensure that students get ample time to think critically about texts?

I am eager to read the next section where Vinton shows us what her approach might look like in the classroom. 

As a last thought, I'll just leave these little nuggets of wisdom.

"The thing that really matters in feedback is the relationship between the student and the teacher."

(Dylan Williams, 2014) pg. 52

"...rigor doesn't have to be the opposite of pleasure." (pg. 51)

"..there is, in fact, no teaching without learning". 

(44, quote from Paulo Freire, 1998) pg. 44

Summer #CyberPD Reflection Weeks 2 and 3

This summer I am participating in my first #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero.  This group started in 2011 and has grown every year. This summer, we are reading and discussing DIY Literacy: Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and Independence. 

This post serves as my reflection for weeks 2 and 3 since I never got to it last week. 

Reflection 

For me, chapters 3-5 were the really the "heart" of the book for me. It hit upon all of the reasons I need to use these tools:

*To help students remember what I have taught them.

*To help motivate students.

*To tailor my teaching to meet the needs of all of my students. 

Of all of these reasons, helping my students remember what I have taught them is probably one of my biggest issues in the classroom. On page 38 Kate and Maggie list all of the things our students must try to learn and attend to on a given day. No wonder our students can't remember what we teach them. 

I really love the idea of using anchor and repertoire charts and bookmarks for this purpose. I also like the list on page 42 of the ways to keep charts alive. I am very guilty of creating a chart and expecting the students to remember to refer to it. These tips such as interrupting the students' reading or writing during workshop to remind them to check a chart for a certain strategy for example are excellent ways to help students remember to use the tools. 

A Couple of Takeaways

*Just because I taught it, doesn't mean they learned it. It they actually learned something, they would remember it. So I already knew this but it is always a good reminder. 

*Tools can motivate students and give them confidence by providing them with a place to turn when they need help. It also helps with independence because the teacher can always refer the student to the tool before intervening.  

Now I Wonder...

*How can I let go of the fact that my handwriting looks like I wrote while riding a roller coaster? I know Kate and Maggie said it's ok, but I still hate my charts. 

*How can I share what I have learned with other staff members?

*Will I really be able to organize all the tools effectively? 

I have enjoyed participating in this #CyberPD summer session. I hope we can all continue to extend our learning as we apply what we have learned in the classroom. 

A BIG Thank you to Cathy, Laura and Michelle for hosting! 

Summer #CyberPD Week One

This summer I am participating in my first #CyberPD session. This virtual book club is organized and facilitated by educators, Cathy Mere, Laura Komos and Michelle Nero.  This group started in 2011 and has grown every year. This summer, we are reading and discussing DIY Literacy: Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and Independence. 

I was fortunate to participate in a mini online book club using this book in late spring. However, I am excited to read it a second time when I am not so busy with school and I have more mental energy to process it. 

The focus of DIY Literacy is on how tools can be created and used with students in the classroom allowing them to access, remember and extend their learning. This week we read chapters 1, 2 and the "Bonus chapter". 

Reflection 

These first chapters are very exciting. They lay the foundation of how, when and why to use four "tools" in the classroom. Using repertoire/process charts, demonstration notebooks, micro-progressions and bookmarks can help solve a variety of problems teachers face in the classroom. 

I enjoyed the section on page 5 about making our teaching clear and the fact that, oftentimes, we teach too many strategies completely made sense to me. I feel like I need to narrow things down for my students and help them to really learn and use fewer strategies more effectively. 

The Tools

Is it too geeky that the tools look super-fun to make? Even though it is summer, I wanted to grab a rainbow of sharpies, colored stickies and start going to town with drafts in my notebook. 

Kate and Maggie present the tools in such a way that makes me think, "Yeah, I could do that!" I was familiar with charts and demo notebooks to some degree, but using micro progressions and bookmarks to help students monitor, remember and extend learning were new strategies for me. 

The whole time I was reading chapters 1 and 2, I was thinking about where I might find strategies for the tools. Then came the "bonus" chapter. I like the ideas for places to go to find strategies (books, colleagues, online). I also added too many new professional texts to my TBR list after looking at the appendix. 

My Big BIG Aha

I reread the section on "Making Learning Stick" several times. This is one of the most difficult things for me personally. I teach fourth grade and they need repetition, repetition, repetition and then even more. I feel that these tools can help me to give them something visual and concrete to use if they forget a strategy or concept and give them a better chance of actually owning the skill. 

Little "Nuggets" I want to post around my school.

"True learning happens when students get the instruction that fits their needs, have the agency and motivation to work hard, and remember and recycle what they've learned." DIY Literacy pg. 2

"...often we get trapped in the hamster wheel of breadth--of being sure we have gotten to everything--rather than centering our work on depth." DIY Literacy pg. 3

"One key to joy is working hard and seeing that hard work pay off." DIY Literacy pg. 9

"We want to tether our skills and strategies to a strong sense of purpose. This helps students (and ourselves) buy into the work, know when to do the work, and see the bigger meaning of the work." DIY Literacy pg. 32

Now I Wonder...
~Will I really have time to make all the tools I want/need to make? 
~How can I make sure students will use the tools? 
~Will I be able to find strategies to help with particular problems?
~Is there a place where others are posting examples of tools they have developed?