Show Me

your visual visionary, Suzanne

I learned how to change the hubcap on my car from an eleven-year-old boy on YouTube.  It doesn't stop there, I've learned how to better apply my eye make-up (don't look closely), tone my arms (again, don't look closely), and more efficiently fold laundry all thanks to the wonders of YouTube.  I'm the kinda girl where I need you to show me how to do something and then I've got it.  

Last Friday, we had a visitor at school, Dr. Marcia Tate of Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites notoriety.  Get this- she came to teach a lesson...to our students...in our classrooms! *Insert instant street cred.*  A group of teachers and I watched her teach a 30 minute mini-lesson to 4th graders, and then we met to discuss.  Her model came from her experience teaching in Singapore.  There teachers regularly get together to watch, reflect, and improve the lesson cycle.  After a lesson, teachers answer the following four questions:
1.  What did you notice in the lesson? (practices and strategies)
2.  What were the lesson's strengths?
3.  What were the lesson's weaknesses? Or how could it be improved?
4.  Questions and Answers

I love this!  Our job is 90% marketing.  When I attend a training or conference, I notice not only the strategies that are used.  Many times I think or say aloud to myself, "I like the way she said that!"  I might also pick up on the sequencing or pacing of the lesson.  The bottom line: I'm gaining so much more than if someone were merely telling me about the practice.

What an impact this practice would have on our own PLCs and learning communities!  I offer you this challenge- make modeling a regularly part of your planning.  Even better, invite team members into your classroom to see strategies in action.  I learn more when you show me.

Trending

brought to you by Lori

Thanks, TEA! Texas friends, TEA recently released our 2014 expository scoring guide. So now that we're a few years in, what's new and what's staying the same? Here are some trends that I noticed while perusing through the scoring guide. I focused mostly on the 2s because those are our kids that we have to move forward. Students who are consistently writing 2s in your classroom are less likely to be successful on their EOC in the spring.

Listen to these interesting tidbits taken directly from the scoring guide from score point 2 essays:

Score Point 2--Logical Progression of Thought:

• wordiness and weak sentence-to-sentence connections cause minor disruptions in the flow of the essay

• the writing becomes “jumpy” because the writer moves from the Mandela quotation to the athlete example without clearly threading the ideas together

[Jumpy, TEA?? Is that a technical term??]

• three unrelated examples

• Without meaningful connections between ideas, it is not clear how these ideas relate to one another. The ideas remain in three separate clusters, causing the development to be superficial and limiting the thoughtfulness of the essay

Score Point 2--Structure:

• The writer uses a formulaic five-paragraph structure as the basis for writing the essay
• the writer’s presentation of ideas is somewhat formulaic in that each paragraph 
• consists of three sentences.

[Oh...my...word.]

Here are the take-aways...NO FORMULA. It's almost like TEA can smell it from a mile away. Not only are they are seeking papers with specific examples, but they are also looking for careful connections made between those examples. This does not mean perfunctory or formulaic transitions. Instead, students have to find ways to join examples together (if they choose to use two examples...they could choose to use one).

So...lots to think about today, friends. But don't worry! You're Curly friends are on it, and we're here to help with strategies and skills to grow better writers.

Check out the scoring guide and let us know what you see!

Show Us Your Curly Classroom

by you, the star of our show

I showed you around my classroom on Thursday.  Now it's your turn.  Link your blog tour here:

Not a blogger, no problem!  Share your pics on Facebook.  Mention us in your caption, and the pictures should show up on our page.  You can also tweet your pictures will #curlystyle.  Make sure you've grabbed our "Proud to be a Curly Classroom" freebie to start your tour.  We can't wait to see your space!

Show Us Your Classrooms: Room 27 Edition

the captain of my curly classroom, Suzanne

Soooo...this post is a little late.  Likely, your students have already torn up your first round of decorations.  Or if your like me, you just put up your last decoration so that you could blog about it. :)  Either way, I want to see your space!

I haven't talked about this on the blog, but I made quite a change this year.  I moved from 10th grade STAAR-based ELAR to 4th grade self-contained.  (Yes, please stop and say a silent prayer for me now.)   Let me start by answering the obvious question- WHY?!?!?!

To preface- I loved teaching my "hybrid" English classes.  We took chances.  We sang, drew, and hopped our way toward success.  And believe me, we grew.  But what about when growth still doesn't get you to 3750 (or whatever passing rate might be your threshold)?  It's heartbreaking!  Let's face it, without strong reading and writing skills, school is hard, all the way through- elementary, secondary, college...  I'm trying to fix it early.  I want my 17 kids (yep, you read that right- holla!) to be strong readers and writers. I want school to be enjoyable.  I want college to be a reality.  
(steps off of soap box)

Welcome to Room 27!

As soon as you walk in the door, you'll find my classroom library.  Titles are organized by genre and students are encouraged to "shop" during the weeks when we don't go to the school library.  *Side note: I love these baskets!  I seriously wanted some locker baskets but was unwilling to pay the hefty price online and have no space for them at home.  I justified the purchase when I found these at Kirkland's and told myself I needed them at school.  I love some good justifying!*

When the students aren't there, these boxes line our back shelf.  Each morning, they are the first thing they grab and take to their desks.  These are their book boxes.  I totally got the idea from The Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller.  Inside, students keep 3-5 self-selected titles.  They are encouraged to try different genres, but it's not something I'm pushing heavily yet.  This is a great remedy for your "shopaholic"- that kid that somehow spends all of independent reading time searching for just the right book.  This way, they have variety and waste no time if they decide to abandon a book and start another.

This is not a thrilling picture, but I thought I'd share.  This is how I organize my teacher notebook for each subject/class.  I can also keep my copy of a text we're working with.  It's right at my fingertips and ready to be popped under the document camera.

I like to post my credentials- for students, parents, and myself.  We are professional educators.  Not only that, but you spend nights, weekends, and summers finding new resources and researching most effective methods.  My dentist and hairdresser post their credentials.  Why shouldn't I display the product of my learning?

Because it's elementary- you've got to have a theme.  We are WILD Readers!  In fact, you can follow our class cuteness on Twitter.  Based on Donalyn's book, Reading in the Wild, we are celebrating and developing life-long reading habits.   

I know what you're thinking! "I want to show off my curly classroom and where can I get that fabulous 'Proud to be a Curly Classroom' printable?!!"  See, I told you I get you!  

Click here for your own "Proud to be..." printable.  They are two to a page, so share with a curly friend.  Proudly display it outside your classroom and take us on a tour.  We will start a link up next TUESDAY!  Link up your blog post with us then.  Not a blogger, no problem!  Share your pics on Facebook.  Mention us in your caption, and the pictures should show up on our page.  You can also tweet your pictures will #curlystyle.  We can't wait to see your space!

Stop Talking

Lori here...sharing an old favorite

I think everyone knows how I feel about math. I get a little nervous just thinking about it. However, one of my favorite research-based articles of all time is actually written by a math teacher. Imagine my shock. 

Steven C. Reinhart, a middle school math teacher, did what all good teachers do. He committed to making his instruction better. But since he is a math teacher, he had to be all methodical about it. Luckily for us, all of that crazy methodology resulted in a lovely article published in 2000 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics entitled "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say." Essentially, the article discusses the merits of student-centered instruction versus teacher-driven lecture. While I really do encourage you to read the article on your own, let me highlight my favorite parts and then share some implications for the ELA classroom. But seriously, you have to read this. It has the potential to be a game changer for you.

The Fundamental Flaw: Reinhart talks about being a major rock star. You know the type...really knows his content. Smart as a whip. Can talk intelligently about a topic for hours (or 50 minutes). And therein lies the problem! Over time, he noticed he was learning a ton from explaining his content and working the problems. His students, however, had learned very little. He realized that if his students were going to learn, then they would have to be the ones explaining and working--not the other way around. Simple. Genius.

So how do we turn the tables? How do we move into more of a facilitator-type role? It's all in the types of questions we ask and the types of responses we require.

Quality Questions:

• Never say anything a kid can say. "Every time I am tempted to tell students something, I try to ask a question instead." 
• Ask good questions. "A student should be able to learn from answering my question."
• Use more process questions than product questions. "Process questions require students to think at much higher levels."
• Replace lectures with sets of questions. "What percent of my students will actually be listening to me."
• Be patient. Wait time is critical. It can feel awkward for teachers to wait on a response but that quiet time is thinking time. From a different perspective, shifting your instruction from you to them also takes time and requires patience.

Think through your own lessons. How many times do you do the work when your students should be the ones doing it? For example, I watched a beautiful little 7th grade lesson today from a great teacher. She showed a wonderful video clip that showed examples of metaphors, and then she provided a definition of a metaphor. But that was a perfect opportunity to hand it to the kids and say--take 60 seconds and jot down what you think is a good definition of a metaphor. Now compare your definition with a friend and make any changes that you want. It would have been a simple twist, but that moment would have had staying power. The kids would have owned that moment.

I think we're so afraid that if we don't give it to them, then they'll never own it. The problem is, they'll never own it because we constantly give it to them. 

I'm going to let Steven Reinhart close us out today. This is what it means to engage kids, to hand them their own learning, and to have high expectations.

"To help students engage in real learning, I must ask good questions, allow students to struggle, and place the responsibility for learning directly on their shoulders."

Audio Books

by Suzanne because reading aloud makes me happy

Note: I am not advocating that you pass out your novel set, cue up Sissy Spacek's rendition of To Kill a Mockingbird ("Maaacooomb waaaas aaa tiiiirreeed oooold tooooowwnnn"), and bid your students adieu for approximately seven weeks.

We all know what happens in this setting...naps, doodling, and misbehavior.  Students are not going stay engaged for the Sissy's slow, southern drawl, but you know who they will listen to? YOU!  No matter the size of the student, our kids love to be read too.  And face it, nothing makes our teacher hearts happier than reading aloud.

Hopefully, read-alouds have always been alive and well in your classroom, but in case they haven't, let's look at some tips and tricks to make them an effective practice in your classroom.

Benefits of Read-Alouds:
from Donalyn Miller's book Reading in the Wild

• They build community. Donalyn Miller writes, "Our classroom year includes countless stories both on and off the page.  Every book we read and share connects us to each other." 
• They expose children to books, authors, or genres they might not discover on their own. When choosing a read aloud, select titles that lead to further reading- popular authors with many titles under their belts, the first book in a series.  Students will feel more confidence when they recognize authors and titles as they peruse the library.  Choose a variety of genres so that students have some familiarity and are willing to delve in to diverse reading experiences.
• They support developing readers. Miller contends that the more developing readers we have, the more often we should read aloud to them.  Reading aloud provides natural opportunities for modeling comprehension and response strategies.  This is also a prime time to expand experiences by reading books that are on a higher reading level than the student could read alone.
• They reinforce that reading is enjoyable. For most students, their earliest reading experiences occurred in the lap of a parent or caregiver.  Others who grew up without these experiences come to school with little appreciation of and experience with reading.  "For students who lack positive reading experiences, read-alouds are a marvelous way to introduce them to reading for pleasures."

You know that young adult fiction you've been waiting to read?  Wait no longer.  Amazon that bad boy, and in two days, start reading with your class.  If you want to increase accountability while you read, post these sentence stems from the Say Something strategy by Kylene Beers and offer a minute or two of partner talk afterward.  

What titles are you reading or planning to read in your classroom this year?

Elasticity

Brought To You By Lori

I thought about this post the other day while I was planning a lesson. It was an odd lesson because I would only be working with 4--count them 1,2,3,4--students. When I considered all of my activities and the grouping format that I needed my lesson to have, the obvious choice was to sit in a circle and engage in an informal (yet tightly structured) lesson. 

That's what got me thinking...that particular scenario was an easy one. It's easy to make a whole-group format effective when the whole group fits in the palm of your hand. However, I think that all too often teachers default to that same format even when their classrooms are spilling over. 

Grouping should be elastic--moving from whole group to small group maybe to pairs and then back out to whole group and then individual practice. This helps to engage all kids, bell to bell.

All of this can be accomplished in a single lesson! Let's think about how this could work. Think about an upcoming lesson. Maybe you'll be working with a persuasive article and you want to target author's argument and details for support. 

Whole Group--Begin with Likert Scale descriptions on each of your four walls: Strongly Disagree; Disagree; Strongly Agree; Agree. Without mentioning today's reading, provide students with a polarizing statement related to the argument in the upcoming article. Ask them to silently move to the poster that best describes their position. 

Small Group--Once students are happily situated, have them buddy up with the two or three people closest to them and discuss their choice. 

Whole Group--Keep everyone standing right where they are. As the teacher, you now step in and facilitate a discussion, asking certain students to share their choices. Because you were moving around during small group discussion time, you already know who to call on to keep discussion precise and dynamic. Have students return to their seats. Explain that you'll be reading a persuasive essay dealing with a controversial issue and you want students to determine where the author stands and how they know.

Individual--Distribute the day's reading. You could already have a targeted passage outlined that relates to recent discussion. Instruct students to read that short piece to themselves.

Whole Group--Read a portion of the article aloud to students (1 or 2 paragraphs). Model thinking: what does the author think and how do I know that?

Individual--Allow time for students to read individually (depending on the length of the piece).

Small Group--Students come back together to complete an activity to determine the author's argument and supporting details. Individual students within the small groups have a role so that everyone is accountable for a task.

Individual--Exit ticket.

This is a typical lesson style in a Curly Classroom. The grouping format has shifted about 5 or 6 different times and each shift is intentional and purposeful. The ever-changing structure keeps all students accountable for their work and does not allow anyone to lay low in the back row. 

We LOVE hearing from our readers! Leave a comment and let me know how you were able to play with your grouping formats this week. If you want grouping tips, search the tags on the right for some great ideas. 

Beyond Popcorn and Popsicle Sticks

selected by Lori

Our regular readers know how much we love a good excerpt. They're perfect for targeted teaching and are powerful tools for annotation, close reading, and even vocabulary development. However, we also realize there is much to be said for sustained reading of longer pieces. Sometimes a short excerpt won't cut it, but how do you ensure that everyone reads the three page short story or the two page article? How do you make sure each kid reads it and understands it well enough to dig deeper and work with it?

Down time makes teachers nervous--and rightfully so. All too often, reading turns into student-sanctioned down time where heads are down or eyes are wandering. Some teachers have found accountability measures in popcorn reading where students are called on to read aloud and many use the popsicle stick method to ensure that students are called on at random. 

I get it. You want accountability and you don't want down time, but the problem with this strategy is two-fold. When it comes to reading, I am never a fan of asking a kid to read something out loud that he hasn't had the chance to first practice. It is a "gotcha" and can be detrimental to the student-teacher relationship. Second, when a student is reading aloud, comprehension generally suffers and other kids tune it out anyway. Let's find ways to engage in sustained reading with some useful strategies that are rigorous and hold all students accountable for their own reading. These simple strategies offer support to struggling readers and opportunities for stronger readers to dig deeper. 

• Paragraph for Paragraph—Alternate reading paragraphs aloud to students and letting them read independently.

• Page for Page—Same as paragraph for paragraph, but with extended chunks of text.

• Say Something—Assign a targeted passage with a specific purpose. Tell students they are responsible for saying something to someone else after reading. You don’t have to be specific about the expectation until after they read. That puts the pressure on them! Once reading time is ended, students stand to find a partner and you give them their discussion task. 

• Group Read—Give small groups or pairs a chunk to read and allow an appropriate time. They can decide how to spend that time.
• They could switch readers.
• One student could read aloud while one annotates.
• Students could read independently and recap to annotate together.
• 
  
• Targeted Passage—Box a targeted passage of the text you are working with before you make copies. Begin by reading the targeted passage aloud to your class first and then they read the remainder of the text. This is a great strategy for specific and targeted teaching. For example, if you want your lesson to focus on figurative language, then draw your kids into a cool sentence before they read the entire text. Then, their reading purpose for the rest of the text is to determine how that piece of figurative language impacts the rest of the piece.

• Paired Reading—This is a great strategy for struggling readers. It takes a bit of work to establish, but the payoff is nice.

     Remember to mix and match these strategies to keep your instruction interesting for your kids. It's a great idea to tell students what the reading expectation is. Kids always feel safer and more comfortable when they know what the expectation is and what they'll be required to do. As a student, if I know that I'll be expected to read every other paragraph or every other page, then that feels manageable and I feel like my teacher is going to help me.

     If we can move beyond popcorn and popsicle sticks, then students will be held accountable for much more than a random risk of being called to read aloud. 

Wild Reading

by safari Suzanne

I read Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild this summer, and it set my focus for the school.  In our classrooms, we teach reading.  I mean we really teach reading- pre-reading, using context clues, and inferencing.  But what happens when those students walk out of your classroom?  What happens when they are at home, in the car, or on the soccer field?  Do they read then?  Donalyn writes, "We are note creating resilient, self-possessed readers who can travel on the the next school year, and the next, and into adulthood with reading behaviors and a love of reading that will serve them throughout their lives."  

So how do we develop wild readers?  We become wild readers ourselves.  If you follow Donalyn on Twitter (@donalynbooks), it is easy to see that she and avid reader.  She writes, "I model what a reading life looks like and show my students how reading enriches my life and can enrich theirs, too."  

Secondly, we should make reading a celebrated norm.  "Reading shouldn't be an extraordinary act performed by a bookish few who stand outside of mainstream culture."  One of my favorite ideas was identifying and preparing for "reading emergencies".  You know when your trapped somewhere for longer than expected- the dentist, basketball practice, shopping?  These are your reading emergencies- opportunities when having a book at your fingertips can save the day!  

What are your favorite ways to cultivate a community of readers?