Raising Readers and Writers

I just know that our technology teacher loves to get an email from me in her inbox! It usually goes like this…It’s late at night, I’m reading a book or looking at a website and I get an idea that uses technology, but I don’t know how to do it. So, I shoot an email to Kathy and say, “This is what I want to do. When can we meet so that we can plan it out?” She is always more than accommodating. Our latest project is creating an iMovie with my first graders using their personal narratives. I told them that they were the youngest class to create their own iMovies at our school, so they think they are pretty special (which they are!). (Thanks to Troy Hicks and The Digital Writing Workshop for the idea).

Kathy and I met this week to discuss the possibilities for my after school writing group of 4th and 5th graders. It always helps me to talk with Kathy to clarify my thinking. She takes my muddled ideas and shows me how we can make it work. She suggested that we use Glogster as the vehicle for the kids’ project. That way we can embed iMovie, a slide show, Wordle, etc. right into their digital scrapbook. She introduced me to a new site called Classtools.net that has several Web 2.0 applications that we can put into the glog. The animated book looks interesting to me. She also suggested Voki, which allows the user to create a speaking avatar that can also be used in the glog.  The kids won’t do all of these things, but they will be able to look at the different options and decide which ones best meet their purposes.

What I do know is that I want the kids to have choice in their projects. I want them to explore some different genres as well as make choices about the visual and audio components of their piece. So, my homework is to explore these sites and solidify my plans for the final project. I’m not quite sure yet where it will take us, but it’s sure to be exciting!

As I mentioned in a previous post, our teacher writing group had the assignment to take a risk in our writing instruction. My goal was to publish some writing digitally. I have taken the podcast class twice (so I should have a little knowledge) and created some podcasts with the help of our technology teacher, but I have not done it all independently. I have been putting it off for a couple of reasons. First, I wasn’t sure how to manage the rest of the class while I recorded the kids’ voices and the biggest reason…time! Where do I find the time to take their pictures, record their voices, and put the podcast together? Well, as always, when I have a goal, I find a way to make it happen.

I decided to record their voices while they worked on illustrating their personal narratives (which we will be publishing using iMovie next month!). After explaining the importance of working quietly when they heard my signal, I got started. The kids did a great job! Each time I announced, “Recording,” the class quieted down and we were able to get most of the class done. The art teacher was kind enough to let me pull the rest of them out a couple at a time to finish up.

I went back to the directions I received in my podcast class, Googled for more information, and went to work. OK..I was at work pretty late that night and the next day, the technology teacher told me that I made a major mistake in putting the kids’ names in the chapter titles, but I did it! I fixed the chapter titles and republished it yesterday.

What did I learn? I learned to give myself permission to make mistakes (don’t we remind our students all the time that it’s OK to make mistakes?) and to be patient with myself as I learned a new skill. Plus, I am gaining confidence in myself in trying new things with technology. Google has become my best friend! Taking a chance with this project has stretched me and I’m ready to do it again. Next time, it will be even easier. Take a look at the wonderful research work being done by a great group of first graders.

A few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with an old friend. We’ve known each other since our girls (who are now 22 years old) were in kindergarten and we decided to take on the role of Girl Scout leaders. She is a gifted teacher and someone I enjoy spending time with. We share the same passion for literacy and can commiserate about our children. She’s contemplating starting a blog and is worried about having enough to say. As we talked that morning, I came up with about 4 different topics that she could blog about. I told her that as things happen in your classroom or even your life, you  automatically think about how you could write about that on your blog.  She laughed and said, “It’s Blog Curse, you know, like Math Curse!”

Well, I was afflicted with “Blog Curse” yesterday at the Dublin Literacy Conference. As I listened to Dr. Tim Tyson and the other speakers, I thought of a million things I could write about. As Dr. Tyson talked about the possibilities with technology, he kept coming back to the point of teachers as leaders. He said, “School can be anything you imagine. The hard part is not plugging in the interactive white board. The hard part is envisioning the possibilities.”

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about the possibilities for my 4th and 5th grade after school writing club. We finished writing scripts for the drama club and are ready to start something new. I want each of them to choose a topic that is important to them and makes them feel passionate. I want them to think about what means to much to them that they want the world to hear their voices. And I want them to know that their voices matter. Our final project will be a multi-modal, multi-genre display. I sent an email with my rambling ideas to our technology teacher and we are going to meet this week to discuss the possibilities. (I think she’s afraid to open any emails from me!)

I’ve also been reading The Digital Writing Workshop and Teaching The New Writing to get some ideas of where to go. Since I meet with my writing club tomorrow, I wanted to get started on something.

To begin with, I want the students to create a page that tells about themselves. I am going to read Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Meyers. I read Karen’s review and bought it right away (thanks to one-click shopping). I think the kids will love the vibrant illustrations and jazzy language. (I looked in the mirror and what did I see?  A real handsome dude looking just like me.  He put out his fist.  I gave it a bam!  He said, “Jeremy!  I said, “That’s who I am.”) I’m going to use it as a springboard for the students to think about the different roles they play in their lives. Then I’m going to have them create a page that shows who they are using Glogster. I just recently heard about Glogster and I took some time to explore it tonight (which means I’ll be up really late tonight finishing up my lesson plans). Here’s my attempt at introducing myself. I’d love to spend more time with it, but I do have to get more school work done tonight!

Kevin Hodgson commented on yesterday’s post how attending conferences like these energize us. I so agree with him. I can’t wait to get to school tomorrow and see my little ones and my writing clubbers. I have so much to share with them!

This was the 21st year for the Dublin Literacy Conference and the theme was 21st Century Literacies. I have to say that this was one of the best conferences. I had a difficult time deciding which sessions to attend. I love being surrounded with like-minded people who share a passion for literacy and exploring new ideas. My mind is spinning with all of the possibilities for my first graders as well as my after school writing club (both teachers and kids) groups. As I took notes (yes, the old-fashioned way…I used a pen and a notepad), I came up with several ideas for my blog posts. It also got me thinking more about Dr. Bloome’s risk taking assignment and how important it is to take risks in our teaching so that we don’t become stagnant. We truly are on the cusp of new and exciting work. I’ll be writing more about the great thinking that happened today.

I’ve been wanting to expand my blogging in some ways and I decided that I would participate in Nonfiction Mondays. I always get so many good ideas from other blogs!

I went to the library today in search of some books on nutrition. Two OSU dietetic students will be visiting us this Thursday to talk about the food pyramid and making healthy food choices, so I wanted to build some background knowledge for the kids. I found several books and one that I liked was The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day by Loreen Leedy. This book, considered a hybrid informational text was originally published in 1994 as a Reading Rainbow book. It was updated in 2007 to reflect the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly redesigned food pyramid. I think my students will enjoy the simple (and sometimes humorous) text and soft, colorful illustrations.

In this book, a cat, dressed in a tuxedo, welcomes all the animals to the grand opening of the Edible Pyramid Restaurant. The frog hopes the flies are fresh and the pelican hopes they have seafood. The pyramid menu helps the customers plan healthy meals. The cat, starting at the left hand side of the pyramid, explains each of the food groups. Lots of examples are given in each food group and the illustrations are luscious looking! I know that some of my kids have not tried some of these foods, so we’ll have fun trying some new things (beets, rye crackers, kiwi, to name a few). I even learned something new. The steps at the side of the pyramid remind us to be active every day. There are many pictures that show ways kids can be active…swimming, hula hooping (is that a word?), biking, skating, and dancing.

I’m looking forward to sharing this book and the others I checked out with my students. We’ll tie math and technology into our study as I ask the kids to keep track of how many fruits and vegetables they eat during a week’s time. We’ll tally their results and create graphs on the computer with the technology teacher. Maybe we’ll even create a podcast about the importance of eating healthy foods.

You can see the round up of other nonfiction books here.

I’ve been watching the Olympic coverage tonight and saw the premiere of the new We Are the World to support Haiti. It brings chills to me as I see the world come together for one purpose. We celebrate our best athletes as the Olympics become a symbol of peace throughout the world. In the same way, musical artists of all different genres come together to aid a country in dire need.

I’ve been thinking about my post for quite awhile. Tonight’s Olympics and the airing of We Are the World brought it all together for me. It’s that time of year when I am very worried about my struggling young learners. Will they learn all the skills they need before their time with me ends? How can I best help them make the most gains between now and the end of the school year? I know that I can’t do it alone. It’s imperative that there is open communication between classroom teachers, the support staff that also works with my students, and parents. We all need to be on the same page working for the same goals. If we don’t collaborate, our kids are pulled in different directions and the adults are busy running around trying to solve the problem by themselves. It makes no sense. Unfortunately, it is our reality at times.

Choice Literacy had an article about what makes a good teacher in last week’s Big Fresh. Although there was a lot to take away from the article, one thing in particular clicked with me. Resonating among all great teachers was their mind-set. They refused to accept failures from bureaucracy, poverty, and lack of funding. They constantly reevaluated what was happening in their classrooms. There’s no denying that I’m reflective, but I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been “pouting” because I haven’t been able to meet with the other teachers who work with my kids like I want to. After reading the article, I realized that I’m not helping my kids by lamenting on what I don’t have. It’s time to reevaluate!

I have a renewed sense of purpose again! It’s up to me to make the changes that I need to make in my classroom so that I can better meet the needs of my most struggling learners while they are with me. I will continue to invite conversations with the other teachers, because I still believe that if we are going to make the most progress we need to work together as much as we can. However, if the conversations don’t happen, I will find other ways to move forward.

In the same way that all the musical artists came together for one goal, so must we teachers open our doors and invite others in so that we can best meet the needs of our shared students. It is through this important collaboration that we can most efficiently raise the achievement of all of our students and help them be the best they can be. If we all believe it is important, we will find a way to make it happen.

On Friday morning, K asked me if she could read her book to the class. Of course, I said, “Yes!” right away. I was thrilled that she would want to take the risk to read in front of her peers. K has worked so hard this year in reading and writing. I had noticed that she was reading this book a lot during our literacy block, but I never guessed that she was practicing to read to us (maybe she didn’t realize it either!). She’s even asked me to get another copy for her reading buddy. So, when I told the class that we had a guest reader, everyone wondered who it would be. Imagine their surprise that it was one of their own classmates. K sat proudly in the author’s chair and read her book. I was so proud of her. One of the kids interrupted her saying, “Mrs. Johnson, K has really good fluency like you.” K beamed!! I’ve never seen her be so excited about reading!

I am so proud of her. Reading in front of the class was a real risk for her, but she decided that it was something she wanted to do and she took the initiative to ask me if she could. Can you guess how many guest readers we have for next week? If you guessed that everyone wants to be a guest reader, you’d be correct! So we’ve started a “Guest Reader” list. It’ll take us about 4 weeks to cycle through the class. The best part is that they now have an authentic reason to reread favorite books and practice fluency. K taught us all a lesson on Friday. When we take risks, we grow and can lead others to grow too! Thanks K!!

In a previous post, I explained the new task presented to the teacher writing group. My friend, Sara, popped her head in today and said, “I was you today.” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not. She told me that she began Writing Workshop today and it ended up taking her whole morning. She didn’t get to anything else.

You see, last year, Sara (who is one of our ELL teachers), did inclusion in my room for the literacy block. We were a well-oiled machine, and we both loved working together. However, it never failed, when she would come in after lunch, I was not where I was supposed to be in our schedule. I think I probably drove her a little crazy. So, today, Sara had one of those days. It happens to the best of us!

Today, Sara took her risk with a group of 17 ELL kindergartners. She wanted each of her students to write in the style of an author of their own choosing. Below is her description of her day. I wish I could have been there.

It was the first day, first lesson of letting children choose their own craft and/or mentor text. At 3:30 in the morning, this seems to be when I do by best thinking, I was already feeling a sense of panic, as I knew it would be nearly impossible to have all of the texts I needed for conferences at the tip of my fingertips, but it was a risk I promised my colleagues I would take.
Oral Story Telling- child one wanted to write a text on dinosaurs, non-fiction. We discussed a few facts he knew and off he went. Not exactly the type of text I had in mind but, oh well, he’s writing. Child two, three and four….not so sure yet where they wanted to go, many still looking through the texts. “Who wants to write like John Butler” I stated, and of course many hands went up. I began to feel secure again, as now I could guide my children together, using only one or two mentor texts…but just I was getting ready to model and read “Who Says Woof” out loud, Child Two raises her hand. “Remember Mrs. Kennedy, you said we could choose anyone. Today I am choosing Mo Williams, I am going to write a story like that pigeon except I want make-up” and off she went to write.

Oh to be five again. From there, I stepped back (refrained from hugging her tightly) and realized that today she had taught me, instead of me teaching her. Taking risks also takes time, and what we learn or try the first time, won’t be as strong or significant as what we might try with more practice and time and explorations. And by the way, I didn’t have that Mo Williams book with me today, but she knew it well enough, it didn’t matter, and tomorrow it will be on her desk waiting for her as she arrives!

Please welcome Cathy Mere as she begins her new blogging journey! Cathy was one of the first grade teachers that I aspired to be like when I found out I was moving to first grade. Check out her blog. I already love it! http://reflectandrefine.blogspot.com/

A colleague stopped in tonight as I was finishing up with my after school writing club (4th and 5th graders writing scripts for the drama club). She had read my article in Choice Literacy about the teacher writing group and shared that she had an “aha” moment. She explained that she hadn’t come to our January meeting because she was feeling poorly about her writing that we did in December. After reading the article and realizing that she wants and needs that writing community, she realized that many of her students must feel the same way. You know the ones…they have to go to the bathroom 2 minutes after writing workshop begins or they wander around the classroom library for way too many minutes looking for a “just right” book when they should be reading (or writing, or doing math…it doesn’t matter. If it’s hard, they want/need a break). It gave her a whole new perspective on many of her students.

That’s one of the best parts of the teacher writing group. We are learning, without realizing it, the frustration as well as the joys our students go through each and every day in our classrooms. I believe it is this knowledge that makes us better teachers. We are also there to support each other through the ups and downs in this crazy, yet wonderful profession. Learning together and leaning on each other is what it’s all about. My friend said that the article gave her just what she needed today. She’ll be back for the next meeting, ready to go!

So, the next time one of your little (or not so little) guys has to leave the room when the work gets to be a bit much, it might just be that he needs a little break to regroup. And that’s OK! We all need that sometimes!