From Striving to Thriving - My Action Plan

I just finished reading a tremendous book From Striving to Thriving: How to Grow Confident, Capable Readers by Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward. I cannot say enough great things about this book; I think it would be good for all teachers, whether you teach reading or not.

I think I put a sticky note on almost every other page!

So much of this book spoke directly to the heart of what I try to do every day - cultivate the reading lives of my students. With so much happening in education, it's easy to lose sight of what is important, and this was one of those professional development books that helps make the goal clear again.

As a result, these are the steps I am planning to take to improve my practices and the outcomes for my students.

Tomorrow

1. Share the comprehension continuum with all of the ELA teachers at my school. I think this document will help everyone think about how our questions can help students move to deeper levels of comprehension of a text.
2. Start a "Wonder Wall." To cultivate a culture of curiosity, I am planning to implement a space for students to record their wonderings. Each student will have a mini-wonder wall (a piece of paper) in their folder where they can record all of their wonders. We will discuss and record our group wonderings on sticky notes that will be kept on a piece of chart paper hung in the room.

This Week

1. Do the Areas of Speciality practice with all of my students. As we work together to set goals (see the During March list) for the end of the year, it will be nice to draw on these Areas of Speciality for inspiration.
2. Start daily book talks - and keep a list of them for each group.
3. Use the ARR three steps to collect full-spectrum data on each striver.

During March

1. Start all groups with independent reading time. This is something I did last year but got away from for various reasons. Having each group for only 23 minutes, it's difficult to prioritize this; however, I will be able to confer 1:1 with students during this time. We will still do skill instruction during the remaining time. 
2. We will discuss the ARR full spectrum data and work together to set goals and create a  reading plan to guide their end of the year reading. I plan to reach out to each ELA teacher to coordinate this with any activities they have planned around choice and independent reading. 
3. Review the fix-up strategies and being to promote them during independent reading conferences.
4. Reach out to our district librarian to connect and seek her expertise to find books for kids as needed. Collaborate with ELA teachers to meet those same goals.

Throughout the end of the school year

1. Continue daily reading time and conferring with readers. 
2. Continue collaboration with ELA teachers to support our students and the development of their reading lives.
3. Connect with families about each student's reading plan and goals for the end of the year.
4. Support students with direct instruction in the comprehension areas they need.
5. Use the wonder wall to encourage students in the search for their next book and for topics for our comprehension strategy lessons.
6. Advocate for choice and independent reading in my school and district. There are a lot of great resources for research in the book. 

I'll try to update on how this goes for the rest of this school year!

How have you implemented ideas from From Striving to Thriving? Leave a comment or connect on Twitter!

Just a Teacher

A few days ago, I was given the incredible opportunity to attend ASCD's Leader to Leader (#ASCDL2L) conference as part of the Emerging Leader Class of 2017.

The Emerging Leaders are an incredible, inspiring group of people. Each person I met was as accomplished and successful as the next. I just kept thinking - how do I fit in here? I'm just a teacher, just regular old me!

Part of the weekend involved creating an action plan for your work in the next year. People were coming up with incredible ideas - write a book, design a website, develop a business, create a new program. I was at a loss. I'm just a teacher, what can I do?

Now, there was nothing these amazing individuals did to make me feel less. This narrative was created entirely inside of my own head, a feeling like what I've contributed is not as valuable as what someone else has contributed. Although I'm still not sure exactly what the future holds for me professionally, I've realized that whatever I decide to do - the change has to start with me.

There seems to be a dark and diminishing political smog surrounding teaching and public schools, and I have allowed it to impact how I see myself and my work. I've bought into a narrative that is simply not true.

Words matter - I am not just a teacher. I am a teacher! It's time to reclaim the narrative. My journey is starting with what I tell myself about what I do, and how I portray it to the world. 

As teachers, we are our own best advocates, and we need to feel empowered, as individuals, to do the work required to write our own story. 

Yes, I am a teacher, I love it, and I can't wait to tell you more.

'Twas the Night Before Expo

Tomorrow is my students' Genius Hour Expo. The day we've been talking about since we returned to school in January has arrived.

After our first round of Genius Hour last semester, I realized something needed to change. My students spent a lot of time and energy on something that only I saw. The "share out" element of the Genius Hour process was clearly missing. Unsure I could manage filming videos to post online and unclear of how blogs might work for us, I decided to create the Genius Hour Expo.

In my initial vision, students would be presenting something related to their projects to other students at our school. I wanted them to research something that could "change the world" and share outside of our classroom walls.

Since we launched in January, students have written argumentative research papers related to their topics, and then later decided how to take their project forward.

For many students, this just meant preparing a tri-fold poster with the information they already researched for their papers. Others did additional research to add information or pictures to what they were sharing out.

Some students created projects that they implemented prior to Expo day. I had two students sell raffle tickets to raise money for an animal shelter. Another student documented random acts of kindness she did around town. Another student created a mini softball camp for students in our life skills class.

Others have created videos to embed in their projects; some have created interactive components, like surveys, to their Expo presentations. I was purposely vague in my expectations because I didn't want to limit them. For some, that was a challenge - for others it became an opportunity.

So now, Expo day is here. Some students were not as prepared as I would have liked when they left class today.

All students at our school will have the opportunity to attend at least one of the Expo presentations. A schedule has been created, but I still have a lot of unknowns. How exactly will we set up in the library? Should I have gotten some additional tables? Will I get to everyone's stations during our class times? Is there enough time for the visiting classes to see enough of the presentations?

I have asked my students to work through adversity and deal with challenges during this project, so I have to expect the same from myself.

If nothing else, I had a student say to me today, "I am so excited for Expo tomorrow. Like, I have never been this excited for something at school before."

And that makes it all worth it.

One School, One World, One Teacher's Reflection #1S1W

Earlier this week I had a conversation about #1S1W with my 8th grade language arts students.

I was inspired by Pernille Ripp's post HERE  after she reflected on the day with her students. I also adapted the discussion questions (and used the classrooms around the world and Detriot, MI article links) from Ms. Korver HERE.

First we looked through the pictures from the Twitter feed. Many students expressed disappointment in what these classrooms have that we don't. I asked students to write about what similarities and differences they noticed between the classrooms we were seeing and ours, and if they noticed any "voices" missing from the conversation. I explained that this project was designed to be a snapshot of classrooms across the country and around the world. Did it seem like that is what happened?

We then looked at some photos from classrooms around the world (from the link shared by Ms. Korver above) and some of the pictures from the Detriot school's suit. I asked them to think about why more schools like this weren't part of the #1S1W project on Twitter.

They had lots of valuable things to say, but a few things have remained with me now that we are a few days away from the conversation.

1. They recognized that people choose to share parts of their school that they were proud of on the #1S1W Twitter feed. They suggested letting students and/or parents choose what to photograph to maybe get a different view of the school.

2. As we were looking at the Twitter feed, one student said, "Where are the black kids?" 8th graders aren't known for their tact; however, that student was right. For a nation that's quickly becoming a majority minority, there wasn't a whole lot of diversity in the photographs we saw.

3. They were very astute in recognizing that teachers could get in trouble for posting pictures of their school if it were seen in a negative light. I'm not sure that I realized so many of them would understand this.

And finally, this is the one that is staying with me most of all...

4. One of the students, in the best way, (I so wish I could remember the words used exactly) explained that perhaps this is making kids who are in schools that are less that desirable feel bad. "Isn't it like we're bragging? or just putting them down to make ourselves look good?"

And so, this is where I am today. I feel so grateful to teach in a school that is safe where we have the things we need. As we talked about this week, do we have everything we want to have? No. But, we have a lot to be thankful for. I want to help my students recognize this fact. I want to continually remind myself of this fact. But how can you look at everything you have, without seeing what others do not have? And how can you look at what others are so lucky to have, without feeling badly that you do not have those things?

Now, I am looking for ways to continue this conversation - to keep thinking and learning from the wisdom of 8th graders.

Literature Circles - Updated for Middle School

For our January novel study, I wanted to test out a new type of literature circle activity. For 8th graders, the "jobs" version of literature circles never worked quite as well as I would have liked it to. Plus, it's a lot of work to set up, and the kids never seemed to know what they were supposed to do when.

After hearing Kelly Gallagher speak this summer, I tested out a new version of literature circles. I think that this would work well with all ages of middle school and up through high school. I don't have much experience with elementary, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for them too.

To begin, I sorted through the books available to me through my school's library. I selected eight that had themes loosely around the topic of prejudice.

After finding this super valuable resource from Daniels and Stieneke on literature circle mini-lessons, I used the "Book Pass" activity to have students select the books they were interested in. Essentially, they read all 8 options for 2 minutes, then selected the two or three books they would like to continue reading. There were no first or second choices, only choices they would read.

I then sifted through the options grouping students according to their selections, my understanding of their reading levels and group dynamics. We ended up with six different novel choices.

Students then got together to divide their book and decide which pages they would read for each meeting. Kelly Gallagher suggested that students should be able to read a book over the course of four weeks, but in retrospect, I should have gone with five or six for my students.

Students then completed "reading notebook" activities for each meeting. Based loosely off of this handout from Kelly Gallagher, students were supposed to track their thinking over time. With the goal of getting to the author's big idea(s). I assessed each reading notebook on five criteria:
1. They used one of the three "track your thinking" stems
2. They included their thinking about the book.
3. They included how their thinking had changed over time.
4. They included a "lit circle moment" that they wanted to share at the meeting. Something that was funny, interesting, confusing etc.
5. They included details in a way that showed they read the assigned pages.

I didn't require any specific amount of writing, and students completed their journals in a variety of ways. I had some students included sketches, but mot students wrote in sentences.

When the students met in their lit circle groups, they shared their "moments" as well as analyzed the character development through their novel.

In the last few meetings, they also used the "Save the Last Word for Me" strategy from the Daniels and Stieneke book. That was really successful in ensuring they had an actual conversation about the moments and didn't just take turns reading from their notebooks. Check it out if your students are struggling with this part of literary discussions!

In the end, students did a theme analysis activity for their novels. They analyzed the central conflicts to determine any possible messages the author might be trying to get across, and selected one that they could support its development throughout their novel with text evidence. They then had to create a symbolic representation of this theme to take the message beyond the pages of their novel. Students gave short presentations to share their themes with the class.

These presentations enabled students to see the shared themes between the novels. Many of the books had similar theme statements in the end, and we'll be able to come back to these during our Holocaust unit study later this year. I would have liked to have students record the themes of their classmates, then decide if this theme could also apply to their novel, but I didn't get that part off the ground. There's always next year!

All in all, it was a successful implementation of literature circles.

Next time, I will have students practice the reading notebook technique with a short story before we begin the lit circles.

In the end, I did have several students tell me they really enjoyed their books - so that in itself is a success!

The books we read were
A Wrinkle in Time
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Across Five Aprils
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Dragonwings

Please share any ideas or questions you have about literature circles!

EdCamp Leadership in Sketchnote

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about women in in Ed Leadership, combining some thoughts I had about women in ed tech leadership with thoughts about educational leadership in general..

I promised myself (and the Internet I suppose) that I was going to show up. I was going to do what I could to get my voice into the conversation.

So, I stepped out of my comfort zone and went to EdCamp Leadership. I hadn't ever attended an EdCamp, am new-ish to Twitter, blogs, PLN, etc, and am just now working on identifying myself as a leader. I was excited to have this networking experience and stick my toe into the leadership waters.

I thought that the team from ConnectedEd did a great job organizing the day in St. Louis. I felt like they framed the day in a way that even people new to EdCamp (like me)  had the information needed to be engaged in the process. Going to an even like this without anyone that I know is really branching out for me, and I felt comfortable to contribute.

I really hoped I would have some sort of wonderful statement to make, but I don't. I keep thinking about it, reviewing my notes, and hoping that something will come to my mind that will make a great blog post - but it's not happening!

So, I made my first official sketchnote.

What I learned about sketchnoting -

• I should have made a different note for each session
• It would be easier to make as the session is going along
• I'm a natural doodler, so I'm loving the idea of sketchnoting!

I have a few PD opportunities left this summer, so I'm hoping to get in  a few more sketchnotes. 

Overall, I had a great time at EdCamp; I will definitely try to go again. It seems to be an experience that gets better with practice. After years of "sit and get" PD, it's challenging to really be in charge of your own learning experience.

As I'm going to try to be moving to a more student-led, student empowered environment in my classroom this year, I need to remember that feeling. Perhaps, that is my biggest take-away of all.

I'm going to show up.

This is a little rambling, but it's my first post in a while. Forgive me!


So, this year I was #notatiste. I was fortunate to be sent to ISTE in 2011 in what was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thankfully, there's a great and very active community of people who engage in ISTE style learning from their homes during the annual conference. I was right in the midst of a graduate course this year, so I was a little late to the game. I did participate in some Twitter chats and joined the Voxer group - which led me to this post -

http://msmayersmessage.blogspot.com/2015/07/how-did-majority-become-minority.html


This, has struck a cord.

First of all, I have lately been really having a feeling like I have something to give to the conversation. I haven't been sure how to get my toe in the water, for lack of a better analogy. I feel stuck. I have things to say, but I it hasn't yet formed into a concrete message. And how do you even get started?

Second, her points here really make me think about a conversation I had with the professor of the course I took this summer. I'm applying for admittance to an Educational Leadership program. This now, in the state of Illinois, requires the creation of a portfolio along with various other requirements to be reviewed by committee prior to acceptance into the program. After acceptance you have to options "principal" or "teacher leader".

While I haven't yet been official accepted, I am very confident in my application portfolio. However, I am paralyzed by this decision. Right now, I do not see myself as a principal. Leader - yes. Building principal - no.  It's not necessarily what I want to do now, but who's to say it won't be what I want in a few years? I was talking with the professor about this inner conflict I've been having, and she suggested that she has seen this pattern with women.

She said that in talking with women in particular, they seem to not see themselves as principals - but then end up becoming one once they've earned the degree.

So, I'm wondering if somehow this is related to the lack of women presenters at ISTE. Do women, in general, struggle to see themselves outside of the roll in their classroom? Do we get so focused on what we're doing day to day and the connections we're making with students, that it's difficult to think beyond those walls?

For me, imagining doing something other than teaching is almost impossible. I love what I do. Would I be happy doing something else? Can I find a space in the universe to keep teaching but also share my voice?

I don't know.

But, I'm going to explore it. I'm going to put myself out there, try to get into the conversations, and share what I'm doing with the world.

There is value in what I have to say, but I have to be in a place where others can hear me.

I'm going to show up.

My Epic Nonfiction Project

One of my goals this summer was to completely align my lessons and activities with the Common Core Standards. It's been quite an undertaking, and I don't think I'll get everything done I wanted to.

As part of that, I made the orgnizational tool I posted about earlier.

I've been busy adding in lessons and activities and slowly but surely becoming overwhelmed with the amount of standards I'm going to have to be responsible for this year.

As a result, I'm going to try to get my teammates on board helping with some of the nonfiction instruction. That was certainly the intent when the standards were written, but I think in practice - it's not quite happening yet.

To make this a little less scary (and work) for them, I'm making template like worksheets that can be used with almost any nonfiction article. My hope is that they'll actually use them, and the students will get exposure to the nonfiction standards outside of my language arts classroom.

My goal is to have something for each of the standards, but I'm not realizing that that is going to take quite some time to produce. I was going to create a bundle, but I'm just going to release them one standard at a time.

So, here's the sheet for CC RI 8.1.

My idea with this lesson is that you would come up with two or three articles about the same topic. The articles would need to present different viewpoints or just contain different facts. You could easily modify this by using one article or make the articles longer or more difficult.

So, as an example - I went to CNN.com to look for a current event. Just for fun, I selected the one about the giant tuna that capsized a boat.

I then went to my friend Google and entered "nonfiction article about tuna".

I found this article from Scholastic Scope magazine. The article is really about dolphins, but does contain a section about tuna. Something like this would be good to show how to decide what information is really important to your argument.

I also found this article from Discovery News  about over-fishing of tuna.

If I were doing this activity in my class, I would also use one of the databases my library has access to like EBSCO or NetTrekker to find another article. I would probably look for something to present the other side of the dolphin story, rather than focus on tuna.

There is a short interview at the end of the article with the marine park association. I would look for a longer article to present the benefits of the dolphin interactive programs.

I would then pose a question like "Using information presented in the articles for support, do you think interactive dolphin programs are a good idea?" or "Using information presented for support, would you participate in an interactive dolphin program?" It's important to make sure that there is adequate information to support either side of the argument before you ask the question.

Students can then be guided through the activity using the Text Support worksheet.

After they come up with three examples of textual evidence and explain them, I would probably create a mini-debate situation. I would have students pair up with someone who is on the same side of the argument as then. I would put those pairs with pairs from the other side. They would then take turns reading their text examples and explanations.

After everyone has shared, I would have the pairs go back to find a fourth piece of evidence to counter one of the arguments presented by the other side. Their explanation should have a direct reference to how this counters the argument.

At the conclusion of this activity, students would have met the standard for sure, as well as several others in the reading and speaking/listening standards.

I'm looking forward to using this activity this year! Or at least helping my teammates make use of it!

If you'd like to purchase the text support worksheet - please check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Citing-Textual-Evidence-783648

8th Grade ELA Common Core Planning

So, one of my major undertakings this summer has been to prepare myself to teach the Common Core standards. I don't want to completely re-invent the wheel, but I also want to make sure that I'm teaching everything I'm supposed to.

As a result, I've created this planning document!

One of my goals for the upcoming year is to post a stated objective using the "I can" format given by the Common Core. So, what I've done here is pretty simple (but was sort of time consuming to set up).

I just listed out each 'I Can' statement with space underneath to list out what lessons and activities I plan to use to meet each area. I hoping that I can create a balanced curriculum devoting as even as time as possible across the standards.

I just want to make sure that I teach everything at least once!

Check out the document at my TpT store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/8th-Grade-Common-Core-I-Can-Statements-ELA-Planning-Guide-767447