Finding the Positives

Today I sat on the floor. There were a variety of reasons for my position. I was tired, the room was warm, the floor seemed cooler. The main reason was that I was sitting with a student. Most teachers know this position – hip to hip, side to side. I sat with him, he read about a train at the top of the world. (Hello, Fountas and Pinnell tests.) As he read to me, I felt myself relax.

The first weeks of school are just crazy. I’ve learned over the years to hold on, take a few breaths, and wait it out. Soon enough everything will begin running like clockwork. For now, I wait.

Today I went to school with a specific purpose. I already like these kids, a lot. And I knew I was feeling a bit frazzled. I wasn’t getting through enough of my plans. One group is extremely chatty during writing workshop. I hadn’t had a conference with each of my students yet. Adding this to heat indexes of 98-102 this week in a non air-conditioned room and you might have a sense of where I was coming from. With that in mind, today I chose to focus on what was working with this new group of students. Here’s what I noticed.

They love learning. These kids are excited when we talk about lessons – on any topic. What is reading stamina? They have tons of ideas. Why would students choose to “fake read”? They fall over themselves to share. Favorite authors or books? Forget about it, we’d be here for hours listening.

They are creative. Whether it is drawings, stories, singing, or dancing, they amaze me. Many love video games. I love to talk to them about their favorites. These might be the next designers of those games. Their ideas are incredible!

My homeroom LOVES to write. Last year I was so sad that so many students still weren’t embracing writing and one goal I had this year was to change that. This group doesn’t need that goal. They LOVE writing. My main “chatty” class is my homeroom, especially in writing workshop. Why are they so chatty? Many of them want to collaborate. They are writing stories together. The dialogue is non-stop. I can’t fault them for their amazing ideas, just trying to bring the level down a bit. They beg to write everyday. With the heat we’ve been getting out early, which shortens some writing blocks. I have several that were not happy about that.

They love reading. This makes my heart sing. Kids are flying through books, sharing titles, and sharing favorites. We’ve started our first read aloud, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. I love this time together as we root for Kyle and cheered when he secured a spot at the library lock-in.

So the fact that we haven’t really started blogging, Twitter, conferences, etc. will have to be ok for now. In the past eight days we have began a community. I’ve received enough hugs and pictures to brighten my days for some time to come. And today? Sitting there, listening to a child read about a train that runs on permafrost, I looked up and saw this. Yep, we’re back into the school year and it feels great.  

Lessons on Conferring

Sometimes inspiration strikes you when you least expect it. I tell my students about this. How writers live their lives with their eyes wide open – paying attention – waiting for inspiration to strike. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes it comes when you are sitting wrapped in a loosely draped sheet in a doctor’s office.

Yesterday was my annual skin check. I have a great uncle who died from skin cancer. Chris has an aunt who passed away from it far too young as well. Not one to take this lightly, every year I trek to see my dermatologist and have an all body check. There are a lot of freckles on my short frame, so it’s important to get the all clear.

As my doctor came in, talked to me, and asked questions, I was struck with how very similar this interaction was to a conference with my students. When I talk to teachers about conferring, they are often intimidated, nervous even. They ask if I have a list of questions, a list of teaching points. I don’t think they believe me when I say I just listen to the kids, but that is indeed what I do.

My doctor came in the office and greeted me, asking how I was doing. I said something about the summer speeding to a close. He laughed and said he often sees teachers in this last week as they rush to check off their “to do” list before returning to school.

He proceeded to scan my body while I asked a few questions, pointed out some concerns. Although this is a speedy doctor – my appointment was at 7:30 a.m., I arrived at 7:15 and was walking back to my car by 7:30 – I never felt rushed. He made eye contact, would ask follow-up questions to ensure he understood my worry, and give me an answer. His focus was on me the entire time and by the time I left, I felt lighter.

My reading and writing conferences are so similar to this – I greet the kids, often asking how they are doing. There is a quiet give and take. They need to lead the conference, just as I led the appointment. I listen to their questions/concerns/comments and reply as needed. If I see an issue, we will discuss further. They should leave the conference feeling lighter as well – on track to read their book or work on a piece of writing.

My doctor left the room, scribbling a few notes. I smiled as I prepared to go, thinking of my own hastily written notes after conferring with students. Using my iPhone and the Evernote app, I record our discussion and anything I’m wondering about or concerned with. I assume what he wrote was very similar to that.

In just thirteen days I will meet a new group of kids. The numbers this year are, I fear, going to be much higher than I’m used to. I plan on keeping my doctor in mind – to make each child feel like I have all the time in the world for them, that I am there to listen, and that there is no place I’d rather be. I’m grateful for my doctor; he gave me just the reminder I needed. I can’t wait for my first conference this year.

How Do You Know They Are Reading?

Yesterday I read Teri Lesesne’s blog on student engagement (HERE) shortly before heading to the local pool. I was intrigued by the article she links in the beginning – a teacher explaining why they used reading logs one year and why they gave them up after that. Teri goes on to discuss the question many teachers ask – without reading logs, how will they hold the students accountable? How will they make sure they read? The answer, I believe, is that you can’t.

Students can “fake” read with reading logs or without. To me, the logs just encourage that. A strong reader will read with or without the logs. Typically they will resent having to fill them out – or their parents will. The student who does not enjoy reading is not going to magically become a reader because they need to fill out a grid detailing what they read the previous night. More work? No thanks.

The question that begs to be asked, then, is how will you know they read if you don’t use reading logs. Conferences. By conferring with my students I know if they are reading or if they aren’t. Do some kids still try and fake it? You bet. Can you catch them? Absolutely. But really, it isn’t about “catching” them – or, it shouldn’t be. What conditions can be put in place to make kids want to read? That’s the question I’m interested in. Because I can confer, book talk, and fill the room with books all I want, but until the students decided they want to join our reading community, it won’t work.

Engagement. I’m fascinated by it. Each year I watch kids and wonder –what made them decide to do the work? Why do some kids “check-in” in my class, but not in another? I was pondering this idea when my student, Josh, came up to see me at the pool. Actually, to be more accurate, I was reading when I heard, “Mrs. S, watch this!” shouted to me from the diving boards.

Josh came over to my chair after his crazy flip off of the high dive and quickly told me he finished Last Olympian. He had borrowed the last two in that series from my son. We quickly fell into a discussion over what made that book a great conclusion for the series and what parts surprised you. I told him that I had to flip back into previous volumes to check on a certain character I had ignored. He told me how impressed he was with Luke’s actions at the end. We had a quick discussion regarding the next series and what his reading plans were for the rest of the summer. (Heroes of Olympus and Maze Runner)

I quickly asked if I could snap a photo of him for my blog, he assented and asked what the topic was. I said I felt like I needed to talk about reading logs and why I didn’t feel they were necessary. He gave me a look and I asked his opinion on them, should I have used one this year? His response, “No way, I hate those things.” Amen, Josh.

This is the face of a reader – a reader I happen to adore. How do I know he’s a reader? I talk to him. I read the same books he reads. We converse –not as teacher-student, but as peers. Josh can teach me just as I can teach him. I don’t think a reading log would ever have given me the insights I have into his reading habits, and I don’t think it would have caused him to become an engaged student. Quite the opposite, I’m afraid. Thanks for the reminder. 

Edited to add...
After writing the above post on Wednesday night as I put Liam to bed, Josh's mom texted me. They were dropping the books he borrowed on the porch. After Liam finally went to sleep, I went down to find the books. Tucked in with the books were some warm chocolate chip cookies and this note. 

Thank you, Josh. 

And, in the spirit of this post, I will note that no reading log created any of this. Relationships did. 

Slice of Life - A Visit from Brenda

Slice of Life is sponsored every Tuesday by Stacey and Ruth from Two Writing Teachers

Last Wednesday I was thrilled to welcome Brenda Power to my classroom. I’ve written for Brenda’s website, Choice Literacy, for almost a year now. My students laughed at the idea that I adored Brenda, considered her a friend, but had never met her in “real life.” Such a crazy age we live in.

Many people have visited my classroom over the years; Brenda amazed me in that I truly forgot she was there quickly after beginning our day. It was a wonderful way to spend my morning; made even more special when she sent me an email with hundreds of photos she had taken that day. I loved looking them over, it was truly a slice of my day.

I’ve added a selection of the photos into an Animoto video below. The photos span two classes, reading workshop and writing workshop. In reading the students followed along in the chapter Last Kiss from Ralph Fletcher’s Marshfield Dreams. We were using a six box graphic organizer that day to locate signposts from Notice & Note. I showed in the mini-lesson how I found these signposts in this one chapter. This was a culminating activity after studying all six signposts over the past two weeks.

In writing we were taking about Marianne Malone’s book, Sixty-Eight Rooms. Marianne is visiting my class in two weeks and we are doing a writing project before she comes. The students were using the iPads to study the Thorne Rooms and decide which room they’d like to shrink down and enter like Jack and Ruthie do in the book. They then filled out an organizer to capture their thinking on that room and we’ll return to it and write out a story soon.

Enjoy the video below! Feedly users - you might have to click over to see it. 

Sharing my reading life

I have Nancie Atwell and Donalyn Miller to thank for two huge changes in my relationships with my students over the past few years. Six years ago I saw Nancie Atwell speak at a conference. She talked about how she shared her life with her students – that they knew so much about her, they even knew her favorite candy. Two years ago I saw Donalyn Miller for the first time. She explained that we needed to share our reading lives with our students. We needed to explicitly teach our reading habits to help our students develop their own reading lives independent of us.

So, what am I doing with that information? Well, as a result my students know a lot about me. They know the basics – who my husband is. The fact that he is six foot seven and I am five foot two – it makes for an interesting photo. J They know about my boys and my dog. They know my “favorites”, for example the know my favorite spot to eat by myself in Champaign is Café Kopi (I can read there.) They know my favorite store is Barnes and Noble. They know I REALLY like M&M’s. They know I drink Coke Zero. They know that if the room is messy, especially my desk, I can’t concentrate. They know I am a huge fan of Apple products. They know I love to read and write. They know my dream is to write a book that would help teachers.

As a reader they know where I like to read – Café Kopi or my favorite reading chair at home. They know that I always have a reading plan and they have seen pictures of my “to read” shelf in my bedroom. They know that I try and read for a certain amount of time each day. They know I am trying to read all of the Newbery winners in order. They know I have friends that are readers just like me. They know I plan for reading when we go on a break like the past two weeks. And they know I make a goal for every year related to reading.

So, why are these shared items important? I am a big believer in relationships. In fact, almost every paper I wrote in grad school had some element of the importance of relationships with your students in it. Once the relationship is built, you can get your students to really grow because of that relationship. It goes without saying, just as I let my students know me, I work hard to really know them.

Knowing all of this I came away from this Christmas Break with three items I want to share with my students on Monday. Three new realizations about reading that I think will help them in their own reading lives.

One I have already touched on – the Book Gap Challenge. Realizing I have avoided reading “the classics.” I already have a list of books I want to tackle this year as a result. This will be important because I am teaching a non-fiction unit in January. I will be asking them each to read non-fiction books. This is a gap for about 90-95% of my students. We will discuss why recognizing our gaps and trying to fill them is important. 

My stack a few days ago. I had read the ones on the right.

Another item I want to share with them is something I realized as I read so many books over break, the first 50 pages or so are tough for me. I read really fast, but only when I’m “hooked.” Most books take me at least 50 pages to get hooked, to really understand the characters. For the first 50 pages I put the book down a lot, check Twitter, bake cookies, etc. This is when most of my students tend to abandon books, so I think this is something they will identify with. I will talk about how I do abandon books, but only have I have gone past the first 50 or so. This does not mean I will tell them they can’t abandon before page 50, just that I know myself and that’s what works for me, they need to discover what works for them.

Finally, I was reminded again last night of the importance of having friends that read. I was finishing The Raven Boys and I knew I had a friend who had read it. The book had hooked me – after the first 50 pages, of course – and I kept questioning what was going on. Because my friend is also a reader, we proceeded to text on and off as I finished the book – over the next four hours we exchanged over fifty texts. They began with questions about a character from the book and how sad I was that something had just happened. The texts then extended to symbolism in the books, connections to characters from other books, and more. I need to share this with my students so they can see why having friends who read AND discussing books with them would be beneficial.

Come Monday morning these three realizations will be shared with my students during our mini-lesson. I hope they will help my students continue to reflect on their reading lives and what their own habits are. I can’t wait to be back in the classroom and discussing books with the kids.