Category: Classroom

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Classroom

Teacher as Writer

I have been doing a lot of reading lately, for work and for fun (although I think reading “school stuff” is fun …).  All of this reading has me bursting to talk about the books, to tell someone about the great idea I just read about, the beautiful sentence that brought tears to my eyes, or the educational writer who makes everything sound so easy…so many things to say and very little time to actually sit down and say them.  So I decided I would write them, of course, use my writer’s notebook that I talk about so much.  The same writer’s notebook I tell kids and teachers alike to write in.  Of course, writing in the notebook would solve my problem of so much to say, I would get it all on paper, process my thinking and feel great.

Well, things are never that simple.  I sat down to read the other night with my notebook at my side, ready to write every thought that came to mind and nothing.  It must just be the night I thought, so I tried again another night, no luck.  The next day I decided to try during lunch, no luck.  Why couldn’t I think of a thing to write when I felt like I had so many things to say?

This led me to think of those kids who look at writer’s notebooks and claim nothing to say.  A lightbulb went off…talk…it is talk that I am missing.  I had so many things I wanted to talk about but when it came to writing them they disappeared.  I wanted to tell someone my thoughts and get immediate feedback, to see their face when I shared my ideas.  The notebook would not give me the interaction I needed to sort out all of my thoughts.  Many of our kids need that talk too.  There are so many things bouncing around in their heads when it comes time to write they have the same problem I did…too many ideas to even realize they had one worthy of writing.  These students need to talk first, get feedback from another person and sort out their thinking aloud before they begin to write.  Try it out, instead of writing time, try some “talk time”.

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Classroom Professional

Teacher Love

The past week there has not been a lot of love passing around the halls, classrooms, and offices of the school.  The countdown to PSSA is on and as lists are being made, tests are being labeled, and pencils are being counted I haven’t felt like I had a lot of love to pass around. 

Then, as I was feeling completely loveless three things happened that brought the teacher love pouring back into my heart…

First, my fifth grader came home and when asked what they did in language arts today she replied, “well, we worked on some generating strategies for persuasive writing in our writer’s notebooks.”    The look of delight on my previously drab face must have given her a cue to continue…” Yeah, we made lists of things that make us mad, things that make us happy, and things we talk to our friends about a lot.  I have a lot of great ideas that I want to try now, it was awesome!”  I have always loved her language arts teacher but this brought the love flowing out!

The next also involves my fifth grader and her great teachers.  Her parent letter for student-led conferences, usually a rather drab piece of writing, brought tears to my eyes.  Obviously her class worked on not just writing letters but crafting letters.  Her voice came shining through and we learned things about her experiences in school that we didn’t know.  To top it off, she pointed out in the letter where she “played with” using short sentences like the ones in the mentor text her teacher shared with them.  The love was overflowing!!

Finally, as I was walking the halls with a brighter smile on my face due to the love of the past 24 hours, a teacher said to me “we are working on snap shots today if you want to come in and watch.”  I rearranged plans in my head and ran to the room.  What I saw made me forget all about PSSA pencils, calculators, and highlighters.  The teachers used a short paragraph from Little House on the Prairie as a mentor text and then actually used a picture to demonstrate taking a close up snap shot.  The kids were captivated and the images in the picture, being brought closer and closer helped them make the connection.  When I heard a boy say, “It’s like making an inference in reading”  I knew the love was back to stay.

Teacher love…it feels good!

Categories
Classroom Writing

a time to pause

One thing I learned from years of being around Benchmark teachers is that in order for learning to be most effective you have to save time for reflection. It’s a simple concept, but one that can easily be forgotten with all the pressure to learn more content.

That’s why even though I have had my student’s feature articles printed for a week I didn’t tell them they were ready. I promised myself that if I didn’t have time to reflect with them, I wouldn’t hand them back.

On Monday we had the reveal of the papers; printed in color ink with graphics and cool fonts, just simply handing them out to the kids was a celebration in itself.  Ooos and Ahhs were heard around the classroom as writing partners and friends looked around at everyone’s finished product. Before we did anything else, I had the kids read their own article, you could have heard a pin drop in the room as every kid read through the words they had so carefully chosen.

Here’s where I switched it up. I’ve been reflecting with these kids since September now, which means I’ve been asking them questions about their writing and they’ve been thinking hard and answering. This time all I said was, “It’s time to reflect. What’s going through your head?” Then I got my marker out and wrote out their questions as fast as I could.

  1. Does it make sense?
  2. Are all the sections in the right order?
  3. Do I see editing mistakes I could have fixed?
  4. Did I pick the right colors?
  5. Is there too much open space?
  6. Is the font too big/ too small?
  7. Would someone other than my mom want to read this?
  8. Did I have the right audience in mind when I was writing?
  9. Is my information accurate?
  10. Is anything missing?
  11. Does everything belong in this article?

And my personal favorite . . .

12. Am I proud?

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I was proud. Proud of them for jumping into a new genre of reading/writing. Proud of them for going through countless revisions and edits. Proud of them for internalizing the process and knowing what questions to ask in reflecting. I am proud.

Categories
Classroom Grammar Reading Writing

reading-and-writing classroom

I’ve got a group of students who are suddenly waking up and becoming more aware of the way sentences are formed. I’m so excited for them; I want to tell them the answers, but I am holding back, knowing meaning is more valuable if you find it on your own.

And so we found ourselves in a quandary on chapter two of Jerry Spinelli’s Loser, when he describes the town they live in as a “brick-and-hoagie town”. First we discussed the meaning, why would Spinelli call a town that? Were there Hoagie shops on every corner or were bricks crumbling and the town starting to fall apart? Is it close to a city? Does everyone know what a hoagie is or is the story taking place somewhere near us in Pennsylvania? We discussed, we argued, we stepped back and described our town.

Then somewhere in the middle of all of it Kyle says, “hey guys do you see those things there after brick and before hoagie?”

“It’s called a dash,” one of the girls says quickly and inquisitively, recognizing that Kyle might be on to something.

“Yeah, well I mean why are they there? Maybe the author is trying to tell us something? He doesn’t need them, does he?”

The conversation went on, and I let it; it didn’t matter that we had only covered the first sentence in chapter two. The kids decided that this was a town where bricks and hoagies went together. They compared the town to Detroit saying if the author wanted the setting to have been in Detroit he would have said, “highway-and-Coney city.”

After our discussion, the kids wrote the words “brick-and-hoagie town” in their language log and promised to be on the lookout for more cool ways Jerry Spinelli was playing with words.

After our discussion, I went to my journal and copied down “brick-and-hoagie town” & “highway-and-Coney city,” after it I wrote, the dash draws me in and connects me, reminds me that one without the other just isn’t right.

Categories
Classroom Writing

Boys with a lot to say…

I know that I have a great job, especially around those times that are super high stress for classroom teachers.  With conferences coming up next week this is one of those high stress times!  Although I do not miss the stress of parent conferences, I do miss the opportunity to conference with kids about their writing on a daily basis.  This week I had the opportunity to spend time in classrooms conferencing with writers and I loved it.

When I think back on all of the conferences I was part of this week three really stand out to me.  Three different boys read their work to me and three boys almost brought me to tears.  Each of these boys have probably brought many teachers to tears before, and not for good reasons, so I was a little nervous about what they would bring to me…What I saw demonstrated the power of writing, and what can happen when children are encouraged to find their voice and use it.

The boys were reflecting on their school year so far, describing strengths , goals, and positive experiences.  Wow! These boys were able to put on paper what they have not been able to say to the adults around them…I am so fortunate to have heard these pieces read by the authors, I was given a chance to celebrate what they can do as writers…

Even when time is tight, make time to have writing conferences, you are sure to be blown away by what your writers can do.

Categories
Hidden Gems Book Talk Writing

kid love

“Because when I’m able to read past all those surface problems, what I find in young people’s writing is passionate, surprising, and endearing enough to convince me that I have the best job on earth.”  -Katherine Bomer

I have to admit for the past couple of weeks I’ve been stressing about all kinds of issues in my kid’s writing. What I should also tell you is that for the past couple of weeks I haven’t had time to sit down and read my kid’s journals either. Between the flu, snow days, and my attempts to organize Student Lead Conferences, I was crossing my fingers hoping my kids were still writing at all.

Then last night I finally had a chance to curl up in my big green chair with a stack of journals. My roommate and my neighbor were talking on the couch, but I was captivated. More than once, I found myself squealing with delight and forcing my friends to listen as I read to them fragrant snippets from my kid’s journals. Let me share some kid love with you…

“The air screams, I am almost done. Pizza.”

“As the doughy bread filled my mouth, it left an Italian impression.”

“Someday, I want to give someone flowers, just to cheer them up.”

Categories
Classroom Writing

Audience Matters

In our school the traditional parent-teacher conferences have been replaced by student-led conferences. All students share with their parents a portfolio of their work from all of their classes.  The first piece in their binder is the SLC letter, a letter from the student to their parent thanking them for coming and setting up what the parent should expect from the conference.  In theory the letter may sound like a nice idea, a message regarding the conference from the student to their parent and a writing sample all in one.  In reality the letter is one of the most dreaded pieces of writing students and teachers face during the year.  Language arts teachers who encourage student writers throughout the year with excellent mentor text and powerful feedback become task masters…”Get the letter done! Now!”rings through the halls.  The results are what you may expect drab, lifeless, form letters that no one feels good about.

As the season for beginning the “letter” rolled around I was preparing to avoid any classroom during letter writing time, I just couldn’t be part of it.  One day, by accident, I found myself in a fifth grade classroom and the teacher said they were going to begin working on the “letter”…AHHH! I wanted to run, but she was still smiling so I decided to stick it out and see what she had up her sleeve. 

Audience…that was it.  As the class began the discussion about the letter the teacher took the conversation to audience.  Who is the audience?  What do they expect from this letter?  A simple concept, one we talk about often when writing, changed the whole perspective of this letter.  Instead of following a form and writing what the teacher and the SLC guidelines expected, the kids began thinking about their parents and what they want to know.  The results were some of the most touching and honest letters I have ever read.  One word, one concept. the effect that one word can have on writers is amazing. 

So as you push forward in writing this week think about one word that may challenge and change your writers…it may be audience.

Categories
Classroom Reading

NYC & Good Things

Anyone who knows me, knows in order to get my full attention quickly all you have to do is say the words, “New York City.” Needless to say when I was in Barnes and Noble this Friday after school I went home with three new books, all of which tie into New York City in one way or another.

Book 1:  The Misfits by James Howe. It’s a book I’ve been meaning to pick up since this past summer. James Howe was one of the keynote speakers at Columbia University’s Writing Project that I attended in August. Not only was he AmAzInG at Columbia, James Howe’s Bunnicula was one of my personal favorites as a fifth grader, so I’ve been itching to get my hands on this book for awhile to see if I could use it with my kids. I’m only fifty pages into the book, but I’m already in love with the quirky misfits Howe created in this book.

Book 2: Hip Hop Speaks to Children edited by Nikki Giovanni. On the New York Times best seller list and featuring poetry written by both Langston Hughes and Kanye West, I’ve had my eye on this one for a long time. It is a picture book that comes with a CD of the poets reading their work. This book of poetry can be used for a variety of ages and purposes. Certainly some of the pages cater to a younger crowd with poems titled, Ham ‘N’ Eggs and The Girls in the Circle but there are plenty of places to stop and reflect with older kids as well. I can’t wait to use it in the classroom and see what my kids have to say about calling some of their favorite musicians poets (Jay-Z minus the curse words = poetic genius).

Book 3 (and maybe the one I’m most excited about): Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court edited by Marc Aronson & Charles R. Smith. Always on the lookout for a book that will capture the boys in my room, this anthology looks amazing. It’s a collection of short stories that form a novel when put together. The short stories are written by: Walter Dean Myers, Bruce Brooks, Willie Perdomo, Sharon G. Flake, Robert Burleigh, Rita Williams-Garcia, Joseph Bruchac, Adam Rapp, and Robert Lipsyte. It’s a lineup of all-stars if ever there was one. I haven’t had time yet this weekend to start reading this one for fear I wouldn’t be able to put it down. I’ll let you know what the boys think when I show them on Tuesday.

As a side note I wouldn’t have even picked up book three except for the fact that a kid next to me was flipping through it and I saw a photograph of the West 4th Street-Washington Square subway stop— otherwise known as my run from the A train to the F.  New York City, you always bring such good things.

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Classroom Grammar Writing

Writing in Math class

Last week I finally broke out of the Language Arts, Social Studies world and ventured into a math class. I have been trying to talk top math teachers about the important role they play in teaching students to write in math. I received a lot of skeptical looks in return, over time the skeptical looks turned to more of a patronizing nod. That is until we began to administer benchmark math assessments to our fifth grade that included two multi-step problems requiring written explanations. As a team we sat down to score the explanations and it became very obvious that although our students had made a lot of progress in their writing in general, they did not know how to write a clear, consice math explanation. These explanations were filled with opinions, vague language, and even some attempts at humor (math teachers do not really appreciate math humor on an assessment!). After the last scoring session one brave math teacher took me up on my weekly offer to come into math class and talk about how to write in math.

I knew I had one chance to show the teachers how important this was and it really worked. I did a mini-lesson showing the students a recipe written as a recipe and the same recipe written as a narrative, with very literary, discriptive language. They could see right away why math writing needs to look more like the recipe. Give the reader what they need to know, the process used to solve the problem, nothing more, nothing less.

After a great discussion the students got to work practicing and giving each other feedback. Suddenly I felt right at home in a math class, we were talking the talk that I am so familiar with.

By the time I made it back to my office that afternoon I had three more e-mails from other math teachers wanting to set up writing lessons. Kids need to know that writing is part of understanding in every content area…we are now on our way at our middle school.

Phys. ed. may be next……

Categories
Classroom Grammar Writing

a workshop interruption

In the middle of workshop time last week I noticed that a group was beginning to form in the back of the room.  I was conferring with a student in the front of the room so I hoped the group would quickly dismantle on their own. Soon I realized that I would need to intervene if I had any hope of progress for the 23 students not sitting directly in front of me. Just as I was about to break up the party, the party came running to me.

“Miss Smith, you’ve got to read what Emily wrote!” comes a boy running with Emily’s writer’s notebook. Emily, whose color now matched the pink shirt she wore, was slowly making her way to the front of the room claiming her piece wasn’t good enough for all the fuss.

Quickly, I made a choice to seize the moment and asked Emily if she would share.  Emily took the notebook, without much hesitation, and read aloud a poem she had written the day before. Her peers and I were gathered around her listening intently. She read with voice, and with pride. She knew she was on to something, even if she didn’t want to admit it. When she finished reading her peers and I erupted into cheers and clapping.  Kids were talking about their favorite lines and how the ending had surprised them.

“This is what it means to be a part of a community of writers,” I told the kids. It happens every year, these moments when a class is more a family than a group of kids. I’m just thankful that they let their teacher in on the beauty of the moment.