Literacy Instruction Archives - Page 7 of 9

msnatashatheodora Literacy Instruction

There’s No Such Thing as a Baby Book

*Please read the title in Uncle Vernon’s voice if you didn’t the first time. Just imagine how he’s feeling as he screams to Harry that there is NO SUCH THING as magic!*

The Unfortunate Event

Let me paint this picture for you. It was the day of the elementary book fair. Our kids had their zloty ready to go. Their parents had sent them with money that was burning holes in their pockets all day long. It was finally time! We walked down to our library and we listened to directions. If you didn’t have money you could get a sheet of paper and create a wishlist. If you did have money the cost was listed in pounds on the back of the book and you had to come and look at the sign to see what it would be in zloty. You know, a real easy task for first grade. When you were ready to check out you could find the lady and she would check you out. Any questions? Nope! My kids take off with such excitement to peruse some new books.

All around I hear calls of joy. “Oh my gosh look at this!” “Woah! Come here!” “Ms. Natasha! Ms. Natasha!” Suddenly the whole class is summoning me over to a little corner with shouts of, “look what we found!” I walk as fast as I can over to where the kids are standing to see that they have stumbled upon a book series we know and love. One of my favorite animals is an otter and we have a little, stuffed otter named Ruby. When I was in London I went into a bookstore (if you live in a non-English speaking country and visit an English speaking country you must stop in a bookstore) saw this story about otters and bought it immediately.

The kids were so excited when I shared it with them and because a lot of my kids started the year far below grade level they could read the words of this book! It was so amazing to share this story together- no matter how simple the text was. So, here we are at the book fair and they see this!

They were all so excited! They knew we had to tell the other first-grade teacher about the squirrel one because she had a squirrel named Pearl. The kids who had wishlists hustled over and started writing them down. The excitement of the book fair was at an all-time high! I walked away to allow the kids more room in that area. The librarian asked me a question when suddenly I heard, “GET AWAY FROM THE BABY BOOKS! You’re in grade 1! Look at the real books.” The book fair lady had stacked up this entire series and banned my kids from going back to that table. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!!!

Their little spirits were crushed. They felt insulted and betrayed. Hurt little ones came walking over. I reminded them that they brought their money and they could look at any book they wanted. Something that seemed like a fair rule to me but not to the lady selling the books. (Later when kids tried to buy books she denied it to several and told them to pick new books or picked new books for them because she didn’t deem them appropriate. We went head to head but I wasn’t the one selling books and my class had to play by her rules.)

WE MUST STOP THIS NONSENSE!!

You know what? Every time I pick up a book to read I don’t choose one that is my instructional level. For example, I love reading Buzzfeed articles. Do you think those are written at my reading level? Are the fashion blogs I read at my reading level? Are the young adult literature books I love so much at my level? NO! They are far below it. That doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter what I read it should matter that I read and I love reading. I love reading so much that I am always sharing what I read, no matter what it is, with my friends.

We need to stop trying to tell kids what to read and start encouraging all forms of reading! Stop it! So what a kid wants to read a book that is deemed too easy for them. So what that this kid only wants to read Elephant and Piggie but you have decided they are too easy for them. Don’t extinguish a burning love of reading by shaming what a child is reading. If a kid wants to read a graphic novel but you decide graphic novels aren’t books it sounds like you’re the one with the problem, not the kid!

There is no such thing as a baby book. It just doesn’t exist. If you are a reader you can read any book. ANY BOOK!

Truths About Reading

Different books in different cultures

I know that part of this is cultural. Children’s books in Polish aren’t written as children’s books in English are. Right now my kids are reading heavy chapter books with no pictures in Polish. It isn’t because they don’t need the picture support when they read it is because in those books pictures are an “extra” They weren’t added to help the reader gain an understanding of the text. When we talk about picture support that entire skill doesn’t exist in their native language texts. So, yeah it can be tricky to understand why the books they’re reading in English look more childish the books are just designed differently in each language.

Our school has a lot of work to do to explain this to teachers and parents and guests and administrators and children but this struggle doesn’t just happen at my school. Our librarian frequently denies books to children because she thinks they shouldn’t read them. Assistant teachers frequently rip books out of kids hands and tell them not to read them. Parents tell their kids to stop looking at the pictures and “read the book.” I know this might be happening at your school too.

Tell me your stories in the comments below and let’s band together to shift a damaging mindset about reading to a more inclusive and positive one!

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The (Reading or Writing) Workshop Essentials

Welcome back to our balanced literacy series! Today the focus is on the essentials of workshop model teaching. This post is meant to build a collective understanding of the workshop model used for readers and writers workshop. If you haven’t read the first two posts of the series, take a minute right now to read about the framework and the components. Don’t forget to stop by every Tuesday to gain a better insight on using a balanced literacy framework within your classroom!

Workshop Shifts In Understandings

One of the major shifts in moving to a balanced literacy framework is the role the teacher plays and the role the student plays. The role of the teacher used to be to have all the knowledge and dispense that knowledge to students. The teacher was the expert in the room and the students trained to catch as much of that expert knowledge as they could. This is style of teaching is often referred to as a sage on the stage. If you were to peek into a classroom often we would see students sitting around a teacher probably at their desks and the teacher standing in front of the classroom for the majority of class time. The focus was on the teacher giving information to the students. This teaching style doesn’t match best practices anymore and it doesn’t work for developing 21st century learners.

In a workshop model the teacher is often seen sitting one on one with kids thinking about all that this child knows and pushing their thinking slightly further in one area or another. Think back to the zone of proximal development post. A teacher knows where each child is in the continuum of learning to read or write. She can then analyze student errors, miscues or self corrects (in reading) and then guide the child with teaching directly targeting a skill in their zone of proximal development. A teacher in this model is a guide on the side. Instead of having children spend the majority of their time listening to the teacher dispense knowledge they spend the majority of the time practicing skills that their teacher had taught them. In a workshop model the teacher only gives whole class direct instruction for 10 minutes. Then the role of the teacher shifts to coach as she walks around and guides each student individually or in small groups.

This shift in how time is spent in the classroom allows students time to practice their craft. What good does it do if one day I teach you all the ways to decode multisyllabic words and then I give you 5 minutes to practice it at the end of class through a worksheet? It doesn’t help you at all. What if I teach you two ways to decode multisyllabic words and then give you 35 minutes to read a book and try it there? Not only letting you try it on your own but I spend a few minutes with you listening in and then coaching your specific need. That sounds like it is extremely beneficial for students. I can tell you from experience that it is. The workshop model allows students more time to practice skills through authentic situations.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered differentiating using this model of teaching is extremely easy. First of all, each child will be reading or writing on their own at their own level. Then the teacher is pushing in and coaching 1:1 or in small groups to target the ZPD of each student. Each student is getting exactly what they need. It doesn’t matter if in your third grade class you have a child reading at a fourth grade level and one at a first. Both students are receiving the instruction they need to move forward as a reader.

The workshop model also promotes independent problem solving in students. The role of the teacher is not to provide right answers but to guide students to right answers. Through workshop I teach my students many independent life skills. My little gems are taught how to staple in writer’s workshop. What do I do if my pencil breaks? What if I finish reading all of my books? These are situations where students traditionally might come and ask a teacher what they should do or sometimes as for permission to do things. In a balanced literacy framework a lot of responsibility falls on the students. This is a good thing! It helps to create independent thinkers. Kids in your class don’t need to ask you for permission to do everything. Supplies should be accessible to them. They should know how to problem solve on their own! We want our students to be independent thinkers and doers. Workshop helps to foster those skills.

Structure

The workshop model is designed to use one hour of instructional time. This means that if you are teaching reading and writing workshop you would need two hours of time. Now, I don’t have this amount of time in my classroom and I only ever have had it once. At one school they had enough time in the schedule carved out to implement workshop with fidelity. I’m going to explain the ideal circumstances here and then let’s talk real world.

Workshop begins with all students called to the gathering area for a mini-lesson. This means that you’ll want to create a gathering area in your classroom if you don’t have one there already. At my first grade gathering area kids sit at the carpet. When I taught third grade kids were allowed to drag chairs with them but they had to be sitting at the same level as their reading/writing partner. Teachers do this in different ways to meet the different needs of their students. I will say that kids should be gathered close and in one area. Kids sitting around the room at desks doesn’t create the atmosphere desired for workshop.

Once the class has gathered the teacher begins a 10 minute mini-lesson. Here she goes through a format that is predictable to both the teacher and the students. During the mini-lesson a teacher has one teaching point. Only one! She models how to do the teaching point, she has students try out the methods on their own and then she says the magic words, “off you go!” Once these words are said all students get up off of the carpet and go off to work. There aren’t a million questions asked. The teacher doesn’t start giving a million reminders. It is quiet and calm as readers and writers go off to try new things and grow into even better readers and writers.

After the words off you go, I currently go off to read or write for the first three minutes myself. I started this practice when I was teaching third grade in the States. I began one day sitting next to a reader who typically would try his best to avoid books during workshop. I say next to him for 5 minutes reading before going off to confer. In those five minutes he didn’t pick up a book but he watched me as a reader. He said things like, your face is smiling right now or why do you look confused? He started picking up on my facial expressions. When he tried to interrupt I simply stated, “I’m working on my reading right now and you should be too.” I started doing this again in my grade 1 writing classroom. I have some students who can come up with a million questions they want to ask right after I send them off. Now I get my writing folder and find a spot to write. During the three minutes I might move around the room, calming kids with my presence and encouraging that they write. If someone attempts to interrupt I calmly state, “I am working on my writing right now and you should be too.” Then once I go off to start conferring the kids are already working independently.

After the magic words off you go, a teacher gets to work on meeting with students one on one or in small groups depending on student need. During this time the students are working independently. While conferring the teacher is studying the student and watching to find what they can do, what they are almost doing and what they can’t do yet. The teacher then makes a powerful choice and teaches the reader/writer one skill or strategy that fits within their zone of proximal development. The students continue working even if the teacher doesn’t meet with them. If they encounter a problem, they solve it on their own. The students are trying out all of the various strategies that the teacher has taught. The teacher continues the important task of coaching in and guiding each student forward on their journey.

After about 40-45 minutes work time it is time for share. Share is sometimes the most neglected piece of the workshop model but it is very important. The students gather again in the gathering area of the classroom. Sometimes they bring something with them as prompted by the teacher. The students then share out what they are trying, what they are succeeding in, and what they are struggling with. The community of readers or writers comes together to give advice, compliments and ask questions. The share is carefully planned by the teacher. Sometimes share might be a quick turn and talk. Share ties the lesson together and brings it to a close. During share the teacher will reference the teaching point again and now ask for student voices to share what happened when they tried things out.

What do I need to Get Started?

Here’s a list of things you may want before diving into the workshop model.

A gathering area within your classroom
An easel to hang things on
An organizational system for tracking student notes and records
Assessments of your students as readers and writers. Do you have a general idea of where kids are in your classroom?
Books for kids to read during reader’s workshop and paper for them to write on during writer’s workshop
Start to look at your schedule and your language arts time blocks. Do you have 1 hour to carve out for reading and 1 hour for writing? If you don’t, do not panic. Next week we’ll be talking about scheduling and what to do if you don’t have the perfect amounts of time.
Write all of your questions, comments, concerns in the comments of this post so I can help you out along this journey.

What's Next?

We’re going to stay with workshop a while so we can really get into all of the pieces together. Hopefully you’re starting to feel like taking on workshop and balanced literacy won’t be such a large task. We’re going to break it down into manageable chunks. Start to shift around things in your classroom to prepare for workshop. Let me know all of your questions too so I can help you out.

Each Tuesday a new post will appear giving you more insight into the life of a balanced literacy teacher! Next week our post will center around scheduling. Maybe you’re realizing that you don’t have enough time in the day for this, neither do I. We’ll talk all about what to do about this next week.

Use the comments section to ask any lingering questions or leave any comments so I can better help you on this journey to implementing a balanced literacy framework within your classroom.

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Books I Read This Week

"When a teacher reads aloud, it is a bonding between the teacher, the children, the books, and the act of reading." -Lester Laminack

The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors

I saw so many teachers post about this story on Instagram and I wanted to read this tale so badly. Finally, one of my students checked it out from the library, came back and said I hd to read it to the whole class. I was so glad I did!

This is the hilarious legend of how the game rock, paper, scissors came to be. The kids loved the story and the illustrations. It also helped us review our own rock, paper, scissors rules. Sometimes we just need a reminder that we shouldn’t be hitting each other super hard.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Battle Bunny

I love this story. Birthday Bunny is the original title of this story but, as you can see, it has gone through a bit of editing. The story is no longer about a birthday bunny, oh, no, it is about a bunny that is ready to take over through battle. Will he be stopped? Will the other animals allow this?

Now, I will admit that it was a little tough to read with all the crossing outs and changing of words. Perhaps I should have reread it again closer to the day I read it aloud, but life doesn’t always work that way. I had to model rereading a lot with this one for both fluency and understanding. It’s always good to model these skills to young readers. No reader is a perfect reader.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Owl Babies

This week we had a celebration of writing. We invited in parents and read them our published stories that we had worked on for so long. After our celebration so many of my little gems were feeling sad because they missed their moms and dads. What’s a teacher to do when the kids are feeling sad? Read to them, of course!

Owl Babies is a great story about three baby owls. One night mom leaves and they worry that she might never get back. While one little owl just cries for mom the whole time, the other two show bravery and faith that mom will return. I don’t want to spoil the ending… but, guess who returns in the end? It’s a good tale to remember that moms and dads come back and even if you aren’t together now, you will be soon.

Added Bonus: I had the British version of this text so every time I said Mommy I was told it was actually pronounced Mummy… oh kids! I love how they pay attention to every detail. You can’t get away with anything!

Amazon UK
Amazon US

George and Martha One Fine Day

My first grade teacher Ms. Schultz read us George and Martha. Plus there was a mural of George and Martha on the public library walls. It was one of my favorites. While I was in the States over Winter Break I saw this book at Half Price Books and I just had to buy it.

My kids absolutely loved it. They loved the way it told the story in five short parts. They loved George and they loved Martha. There is just something about these two. They may not be the most popular but they certainly stand the test of time. My little gems were so sad when the story ended that some of them decided to continue the story on their own. Gosh! I just love when books inspire young minds.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

This Is How We Do It

This year we started a cultural book project at our school. Click here to read more about it. This was a story that the grade 5 teacher shared with our class. This book is so cool and it afforded a really amazing opportunity for us to discuss our different cultures. This book tells a day in the life of seven different children all over the world. It talks about where they live, what they eat, what school looks like and so much more!

Our grade 5 friends created their own versions of this story about their own cultures. We got to hear about life all over the world and compare and contrast them to our own. It was really neat to see the kids comparing cultures. They came to their own conclusions that differences aren’t always bad; instead, they are interesting and they are what makes all of us unique.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

My Current Teacher Read

Conferring with Readers

It had been a while since I had reread this goodie so I decided I needed to again. If you teach using the workshop model but haven’t read this, I highly recommend that you do. This text written by Jennifer Serravallo and Gravity Goldberg goes over the art of conferring. I love the structure of this book and the readability.

I currently have two teachers in my classroom during reading that I am mentoring through conferring. While conferring comes naturally to some teachers for others it is a real struggle. This text lays out the path to conferring so beautifully. It is truly helping us take on conferring and helping us get over some of the hurdles that teachers face when switching up their practice.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

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A Cultural Book Project

The Problem

When I taught grade 3 in the States my students asked if they could take a look at our classroom library after seeing the hashtag #weneeddiversebooks. We dumped out all of our books on the floor and separated them into categories. Books with animals as the characters, books with white characters, books with black main characters and so on. The kids were horrified to realize that we had more books about animals than any minority. We had no books about Native Americans- a fact that crushed my student’s hearts. Educators all over should recognize this problem. We need diverse books in the classroom that reflect the backgrounds of students in the our classroom. As an International teacher the same problem persists. This time the cultures are different but there is a lack of representation within my classroom library.

Why Representation Matters

Children learn about the world through literature. They learn about friendships through the ups and downs of their favorite characters. They learn about the lives of others when they pick up biographies. Children learn about families and love. They learn values like respect, compassion, and responsibility through books. Stories help children make meaning of the world. When students don’t see themselves represented in texts it doesn’t help them find their place in the world. When they continually see families, children, or friends that don’t reflect their own lives they begin to understand that they might not have a place in the world. They start to see themselves as different and other instead of the important members of society that they are. When we don’t expose our majority students to characters and people who are different from them we are also doing them a disservice. We are teaching them that everyone in the world is just like them. This doesn’t prepare them to function in a society with many cultures.

Windows and Mirrors

I try to teach my students that books are a mirror, reflecting their own lives, and a window, giving them a peek into someone else’s. -Donalyn Miller

Mirrors

Mirrors offer the opportunity for a child to see themselves reflected through the plot and characters.

Kids who physically look like them
Families who are have a similar structure to their own
People who love the same way they do

The list can go on. Students should be able to find books within the classroom that reflect their own lifestyles and interests. They need to see these texts to find their place in the world. They need these to know that they belong, they are valued, they belong and they will do great things.

Windows

Windows offer the opportunity for a child to see different lifestyles reflected through the plot and characters.

Kids who look differently than they do
Families with different structures than their own
People who love differently than they do

Windows are equally as important as mirrors within the classroom. Children need to be able to pick up a book and learn that people are different than themselves. Differences do not divide people. People who are different than what we know are not bad or scary. They have lives that are similar to our own and differences should not set us apart.

Our Project

I’m currently teaching grade 1 in Poland. While we have different cultures reflected in our classroom than in the States, I believe that this project could be recreated anywhere.

At the start of the year we invited parents to come into our classroom to share books about their culture in order to begin to grow the mirror books (and for some the windows) within our classroom. First we requested that parents find a book, preferably in English, that reflects some aspect of their culture.

Culture is a loose term and it can be defined in many different ways. In the international setting it can also be a difficult thing to pin down. Many students have parents from different cultures and grow up living in cultures other than their own. Letting families identify their own culture is extremely important. Having parents select books about their culture also ensures that the text represents the culture accurately. As a teacher, choosing texts about cultures other than your own can be difficult. You might not pick up on inaccuracies or biases that present themselves in the text.

We asked that parents bring two copies of their book if possible. One intended for our classroom library and one for our school library. Once families found their text they could sign up for a time slot through a Google Sheet. Parents listed the culture they would be representing and the topic they would be discussing. When families came they introduced their culture, shared their story, and answered any questions that students had. These presentations built up a community celebrating differences and working to understand each other.

We had families come in and share about sports, holidays, legends, and so many more interesting things. I shared a story about cheese because I am from Wisconsin and it is a big part of our lives! The stories are now kept in a special gold basket in our classroom. Here they can read their own story and many other stories to learn about each other.

How to recreate this project

Recognize the need to add more diverse texts to your classroom library.
Create a block of time for parents to come in and share cultural stories with the class. We used social studies time once a week to do so.
Explain the project to parents. Instruct them to choose texts that represent their culture. These texts can be fiction or nonfiction about any aspect of their culture.
Have parents sign up for times to come in and read.
Parents will come in and read. Make sure that parents feel comfortable within your classroom. For some parents reading in front of kids can be intimidating. Help them feel welcome and at ease within the classroom.
Find a cool basket to put these books in. Kids in my classroom love going to the gold bin and choosing their book or someone else’s book and reading it together.

This project helped to create such a strong culture of readers and a family like aspect to my classroom. Kids love when parents come in and share. They are so proud to share a little bit about their culture. Kids love to listen and learn about each other and it allows them windows and mirrors through stories.

If you try this project out in your classroom, please let me know! I would love to hear about it!

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Changing Our Thinking: Stop Waiting For All The Kids

There are many practices from long ago that we need to rethink as teachers. This series looks to bring up those practices and offer alternate ideas that are more relevant in today’s classroom. Today we’re discussing waiting for all kids to be finished.

Why we wait

As teachers, we spend a lot of time waiting. We wait for our whole class to line up before taking them to specials. We wait for the whole class to sit on the carpet before beginning a lesson. We wait for all kids to finish eating snack before we move on. We wait patiently for all partners to finish before we bring the class back together. We wait for so many things and we wait for many reasons. One reason is so that all students feel like they had enough time to finish what they were doing or saying. We also wait so that we don’t have to repeat directions over and over again. We wait so that all kids are ready. But when we wait it starts to cause issues even if we don’t notice them right away.

What happens when we wait

When we always wait for kids we create a culture of waiting in the classroom. Kids know that we are going to wait for all kids to get to the carpet so they take their time. When they know that we are going to wait there is less of a sense of urgency. Kids losing their sense of urgency is one the worst things that can happen in your classroom. It happened in mine last year and I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Another teacher would take my students to specials every day. Every day I would leave my classroom at this time to avoid being in the classroom for the chaos that was created by waiting. Natasha, why didn’t you stay and help? I will admit that I tried but this teacher was so convinced that we needed to wait for all students to be ready before leaving that I could do nothing. Within a few days, I found kids slowly dragging themselves to the carpet. They came slow as can be to reading groups. They moved at a snail’s pace because their time was never respected. Their on-time behavior was never rewarded. They saw no reason to do things quickly and on time because they would always have to wait for someone else.

This teacher once waited for 16 minutes before leaving. SIXTEEN! Kids can’t lose 16 minutes of instruction time! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Repeating yourself over and over doesn’t help the kids. You might think the longer you wait the more kids will be ready. WRONG! I can tell you from experience, the longer you wait the fewer kids are ready! Threatening with empty threats also does nothing. Do you know what does do something? What motivates those friends to get a move on? Leaving them behind and making them catch up. Creating a sense of urgency deep inside their little hearts.

Urgency in the Classroom

Teachers would all pretty much agree that there aren’t enough hours in the school day to accomplish the job we have been tasked to do. Every moment my students are with me is a precious moment for teaching. We don’t have any minutes to lose! If you visit my classroom you’ll find that I frequently send kids off using the phrase “Hurry! We have no time to lose!” Soon kids start using this phrase to others and our class has a sense of urgency. My kids know (because I tell them over and over) that we don’t waste time on things that aren’t important. If we are doing something it is one of the most important things in the world. Kids know that they will be left behind if they don’t hop in line for library. Kids know that when I say turn and talk they have to start talking immediately or they won’t get their chance. They know that snack is over we go to specials and we leave kids behind.

Waiting is your frienemy

Waiting might seem tempting. It might seem like you want to wait for the class to be ready. Guess what? Waiting is your frenemy. It isn’t your friend. It doesn’t have your best interests at heart. It is going to suck you in and tear you down. In the past, we’ve rationalized waiting with things like:
Kids will feel left out if we leave them behind.
Kids need to finish what they’re saying in a turn and talk.
We don’t want them to feel rushed.

While each of these statements does carry some truth, kids don’t feel these things when we teach with a sense of urgency. Maybe kids feel left out the first time they get left behind as the class walks to PE. The next time the class leaves that child will be right in line with everyone. Kids who have too much time for a turn and talk lose focus and get bored. If they know they only have a small moment they have to share quickly and there is no time for being off task. We don’t want to create anxiety in kids by teaching with urgency but instead show them that we have no precious moments of learning to waste. None.

Students in my class understand that their time won’t be wasted. Due to this, we are able to follow directions immediately. We have a collective understanding that every moment we are together is a good moment for learning. What we’re doing in the classroom matters and we won’t waste time for kids who aren’t with us.

Changing Our Thinking

I hope this small shift in thinking is helpful in your classroom tomorrow. Try it out. Don’t wait for all of your kids. Of course, you will be met with some complaints but soon your kids will be following your directions right away instead of in a few minutes.

Leave a comment below about your shift in thinking, any questions you might have, and how this is working for you within the classroom.