A Teacher's Ruminations

Character Traits

2012-01-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, maybe more, I read The Complete Four by Pam Allyn. See it here http://amzn.to/zpRRWl I appreciated the concept of integrating reading and writing lessons so that what you do in reading workshop directly impacts what you do in writing workshop. Here's what the authors say about "the complete year": "Organized around the Complete 4 components (Process, Genre, Strategy and Conventions) and four unit stages (Immersion, Identification, Guided Practice, and Commitment), each book in the Complete Year series features a year's worth of integrated reading and writing curriculum. Because we honor your professional decision-making, you will find the Complete Year provides a flexible framework, easily adapted to your state standards and to the needs and goals of your community, your students, and your teaching style." I particularly like the last sentence of the above description of the "complete year", and that is why I've put the quote in italics and bold, as well as underlined it for the sake of emphasis.

Although this is not a new idea, subsequent grade level books fleshed this out even more and I went ahead and purchased the grade 2 book, The Complete Year in Reading and Writing by Patty Vitale-Reily and Pam Allyn which I am just getting into right now. You can view the grade 2 book here http://amzn.to/yIxNjX I didn't start at the beginning of the calendar year (the book is divided by seasons - early fall, late fall, winter, and spring) but I went smack to the middle of the book to the section entitled The Second Grader as Researcher, which includes lessons on recognizing strong characters in reading and applying these understandings in writing.

Yesterday I started reading workshop by talking about different ways that an author lets us know what his or her character is like - telling us, through the character's actions, or by what the character says. Then I read Jessica by Kevin Henkes and we briefly discussed the main character, who is not named Jessica by the way, and what we could say about what she's like from her actions. The discussion was not easy but the children were engaged and there were hints of potential gems in some of their comments. To be fair, we didn't have enough time for a full disclosure type of conversation; we'll get back to that today.

The biggest stumbling block, however, was when we started listing "character traits". I have found that although it seems like children should know about character traits, they don't. (Of course, should is the absolutely wrong word to use here but I won't edit it out for the moment as it exemplifies my thinking in this particular process. I recognized that I rarely talk about this when we discuss books during read alouds. That's a change I am going to make immediately.) Nevertheless, I plunged ahead and we created a list of character traits after I explained that a trait is more about what a character is like inside, rather than on the outside (in their heart and mind). This wasn't an easy process. Some children used words like sad, happy, nice, good, and bad until I said that we needed to think of other words besides nice, good, and bad. (Sad and happy are for another character traits discussion.) After a few words had been on the list they started coming up with opposites which will allow for further discussion. When we started our discussion of the main character of Kevin Henkes's book, a few children suggested that we could use our list to talk about what the character is like.

Our final list included the following words: honesty; dishonesty; responsible; irresponsible; smart, etc. I can't wait to get back to this discussion later today. I will write more on this as it develops. My big question to readers is: how do you teach character traits in an early childhood classroom? What are some books with strong characters for doing this? What do you do prior to identifying the traits of a particular character? Why do this in the first place anyway? How do you get children as young as 6 or 7 to think about characters in a more robust way? I look forward to reading your comments.

Writers' Notebooks and More

2012-01-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

As I walked around the room during writing workshop, I noticed most of the children had no sense of what they were writing about and why they were writing about that topic. In fact, many of them seemed aimless in their writing with little energy and interest to write. Instead, they were drawing or cutting or coloring. Had this been going on for a while and I hadn't noticed? Was this due to the fact that we'd had to adjust our schedule over the last couple of weeks and we'd missed our regular writing time? Was it because I had not spent enough time, including occasional revisits, on how to find and choose good writing topics? Were had I been that I hadn't noticed what was happening in the classroom?

So, right then and there I decided to pull out the extra set of notebooks on the shelf and institute writers notebooks in my grade 2 classroom.

I called the children to the carpet and told them what I had observed. I did a quick introduction - maybe not the best way to bring writers' notebooks into the classroom but I felt desperate - about writers' notebooks telling them that all writers keep a notebook where they try out writing ideas, or keep lists of topics, or jot down thoughts that come up that they might want to use in a piece of writing later. I told them that we would be doing this at the beginning of every writing workshop for a while. Then, I told them to make a list of up to ten things that they are good at. This was challenging for some. I told the children that it was OK if they only came up with one or two things on their list for right now; they could always add to it later. Some misunderstood my directions and wrote what they were good at as a writer, which was fine and will be useful information for me later, but many wrote the typical list of what they're good at - swimming, riding a bike, writing stories (surprisingly this one appeared often), etc. They had three minutes to make their list. Then, I told them to circle one thing on their list that stood out for them that day and write about that on a clean page for about seven minutes. We did this the next day as well with the children adding to their list for a few minutes first and then continuing their writing from the day before or starting a new piece about something else on their list.

I had a chance to read their entries yesterday and I was impressed by what they wrote though some children wrote very little and some wrote more than is customary for them. I can now go back and do small groups or confer individually with each child on things I noticed that would help them improve as a writer. For example, when I said to write on one of the topics on their list, some children had no idea how to start. Even though I had suggested they could start by saying, "Swimming is..." or "I like to swim because...."some children had trouble expanding on that, and so I will be conferring with these children in the coming days.

In the past, I have done writers' notebooks using suggestions from Aimee Buckner's, Notebook Know-How. I have sometimes wondered if grade 2 is too young to start writers' notebooks but now that I haven't done it this year until recently I can see a difference in the kind of writing my students are doing. I am also noticing that in the past I gave the children the choice of writing during reading workshop a la Daily 5 and this year I decided not to do that because I wanted reading workshop to be solely focused on reading with a once a week time for writing a response in readers' notebooks. So, that means that the children are actually having less writing time this year than in the past. Also, previous classes had the choice to write and read during the Spanish portion of our day. This year, I am more directed during this time because I've felt I needed to in order to stay closer to what the other teachers are doing. Not working either. There is a transference about the process of reading and writing from one language to another that happens naturally if this is given space and time. I am going to reconsider writing as an option during writing workshop and reinstitute wider choices during our Spanish language arts time.

Lesson learned: trust my expertise and knowledge as a teacher and use that to impact my students' learning rather than doing things because I feel pressured to conform.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my ruminations today. Please leave your comments below.

Writing Club

2012-01-17T06:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterdaywe had a meeting of the children interested in writing club. There were about 70 children present fromgrade one through grade four. Although Ishouldn’t have been surprised, I was. This year we’re starting late. Normally, we start in October but the start of2011 was fraught with atypical personal and professional challenges. So, here weare, it's mid-January and just getting ready to start. Yet, despite the late start, there were lotsof children interested.

Of course, it’sencouraging that so many children want to stay once a week during theirlunchtime to write because they love it. However, there are only two us sponsoring writing club so we needed toset some parameters so that the children who finally end up staying would do sobecause (1) they love to write, (2) they are willing to spend a lunch period writing, (3) they are fairly independent when it comes to writing - they won’t need much supervision(a concern in the past with some playful grade one boys) and will use the timethey have in a productive manner, (4) they won’t quit in the middle of the semester(we go until May) because another more enticing club has come along. In other words, writing is theirpassion.

We’re startingon Thursday this week and I, for one, can’t wait! I plan to spend a few minutes at thebeginning of every writing club time doing my own writing, as well. I’verecently come to call myself a writer who can write well. Therefore, I need to make a habit of writing in order to become a better writer. So, I’ve started a commitment to writing every morning for about an hourwhen I wake up. Since I've started doing this I find my days go more smoothly and I feel calmer. This last result is not something I was expecting. In NewOrleans, where I lived for four years, we call this lagniappe!

Writing from My Soul

2012-01-10T12:34:00.002-07:00

First, let me say that publishing one's writing can be a soul changing experience that exposes the writer to harsh criticism and/or lavish praise. At least, that is how it is for me as a writer. Whether you are a teacher blogger or a contemporary novel writer, the act of going public is about bearing your soul to others. Writing in a public way such as this makes you vulnerable.

But there's a lot to be said for not going public, and just writing for yourself. The kind of writing I'm referring to here is the kind most often found in journals. Although I've always kept a journal of one kind or another, I'm rediscovering this kind of cathartic writing to help see me through difficult personal and professional situations. You could say it has become my main morning ritual. It cleanses my soul and allows me to go deeper than I might when I publish a post; the private writing is just for me and I can say anything I want to without feeling judged.

So, thanks to Stacey's post about a site called 750 words, on her blog (Two Writing Teachers http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/750-words/), I am now on a 14-day streak! That means that I have been writing a minimum of 750 words for the 14th day in a row. It feels good to be doing this every morning when I first wake up. It's my brain dump for the day. At first, I found that I was writing in a stream of consciousness style only but over time I've discovered that this kind of writing allows me to solve problems on paper that had been bothering me when I went to sleep and were still nudging at me when I woke up. I feel so much better at the end of my 750 words. I often write over 800 and I could probably keep going but I have to set a time limit otherwise I might be late for work every morning!

Sometimes, I've had to write my 750 words by hand and then typed them into the website later because I'm on a daily writing challenge this month.

So far, so good.

So far, so good that I'm writing every day about whatever comes into my mind at the moment.

So far, so good that I'm working out thorny problems through my writing.

So far, so good that I'm not censoring myself and no one else is censoring me either.

So far, so good that I have challenged myself to keep going whether or not I want to.

So far, so good that I've seen the positive effects that writing things down as they surface in my head, first thing in the morning, has on the rest of my day.

A Slice of Life Story: Wishin' and Hopin', A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb

2012-01-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

I normally only write about teaching related issues on this blog. But, I've decided to make some changes in the New Year. One change I am making is to start posting book reviews, or posts prompted by books I'm reading, that are in some way connected to teaching, learning, schooling, or education in general. I aim to broaden the scope of my blog so that I don't find myself frantically searching for a topic to post about every week; this has stopped me from posting on a regular basis. The purpose of making this change isn't to proliferate my blog with trivial posts, but rather to allow myself a broader scope from which to ruminate about learning in the broadest sense of the word.

Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin', A Christmas Story is a great read and not just at Christmas time. Lamb was able to take a one-time fictitious event - the 1964 Christmas play production by the students at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School - and build a story around it that touches on current events of the time with parochial school culture as the backdrop. Most of the action takes place in and around Felix Funicello's 5th grade classroom. (Yes, he's a distant cousin of Annette's and she does play a part in the development of the story!) As the events unfold, we get a taste of how the social mores of the time coupled with petty jealousies, and a strong sense of good vs. bad, inform (not always accurately) Felix's particular point of view. Lamb manages to write a story that is both funny and endearing, but like all good stories, Wishin' and Hopin' pushed me to reflect about myself in the context of the story: what was it like to grow up in the mid-60's in the US?

My family emigrated to New York from Cuba in 1966 so a lot of the cultural and political events in the book resonated with my own memories of the time. Even the character of the new Russian student, Zhenya, who joins Felix's class right before the school gears up for its annual Christmas pageant and whose feisty personality gives the class goodie two shoes (Rosalie) a run for her money, brought back memories of my Russian playmate, Lucy, the daughter of the Russian supers in our building. From Lucy I learned a few Russian words, how to summon spirits on the Ouija board, and how to play some of the NY signature street games of the time. Lucy was instrumental in my acculturation into life in the US during the five years I lived in that building, though I didn't know it at the time. It wasn't until I started writing this post that these memories, scant as they are, came flooding back.

So, what is this post about really? Wally Lamb's book or my memory of starting life in the US? Does it really matter?

I go back to the introduction to this post and revise it somewhat: I am expanding my blog topics as a way of understanding myself better through books or events that have impacted me and have pushed me to reflect, revise, and retell my own life story. Sometimes I will ruminate on how these experiences have impacted me as a teacher.

That is the learning in this piece.

Little Words

2011-12-27T20:57:00.001-07:00

In a recent post, Stacey at Two Writing Teachers, wrote about choosing one word to live by during the coming year and challenged her readers to consider one word for themselves, as well. Go to http://bit.ly/tkIFle to read her post and to add a comment. I wrote that my little word for the coming year was presence even though I had also been thinking about health as my little word. Then, this afternoon as I was thinking about what my Slice of Life would be for today I started rethinking my little word and presence somehow morphed into no. I know that sounds very negative - little words should be positive, shouldn't they? But then I thought about it some more and for me no is positive and fits in with presence and even health. Can you have two or more little words to live the year by? In any case, I have decided to choose no as my little word for the coming year to remind me that I don't need to say yes to everything nor do I want to. In fact, I need to learn how to say no more often, especially to things that take me away from my family and other activities that I enjoy and give me energy. It has taken me a long time to recognize that I have not been present to the things in my life that matter. But now that I have seen the light, so to speak, I am more determined than ever to keep what's important at the forefront of everything I do. And, saying no more often will help me stay true to myself and what's truly important. And, so it is.

The KISS Principle

2011-12-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

I know all about the KISS Principle. I know that it's best to keep things simple at first so that you can go deeper later on. I know that kids need time to play around with ideas long enough to figure things out on their own. I know all of this and yet...I forget or I plod ahead without thinking. So, yesterday and today I ran an experiment of sorts. I decided to go slow in math. I decided to talk through an activity carefully with the kids.I then asked them to repeat the instructions before I sent them off to work. I also started asking them a simple question: what materials are you going to need to do your work? What I'm finding out is that more children are being successful with their learning and are completing more of their work than before. It was a small change that has given huge results. Stay tuned. I plan to keep blogging about this in the future.

Brain Dump

2011-12-05T23:09:00.001-07:00

Over the years I have observed that the Monday morning transition from home to school can be difficult for some children. Heck, it is difficult for me, too! I find I need a few minutes to myself after the children have come in to clear my head and make space for being back at school. This is true no matter how early I come in to school on any given Monday. It isn't only that we're in a different physical space than the one we've been in all weekend but it's also about the different expectations at school and at home. As much as I strive to make my classroom a place where students make choices and decisions about how they're going to work, what they're going to do, and where they can sit, it is still a space restricted by boundaries and regulations and, let's face it, four walls. Recently, the concept of "brain dump" surfaced from two unlikely places - a spiritual advisor and Stacey at TwoWritingTeachers http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/mission-complete/ - and I decided to give it a try with my students. A brain dump is a piece written in a stream of consciousness style so that whatever comes to your head is written down "as is" without being censored. The idea behind this is to dump your thoughts on the page as a way to release their hold on you. After writing your brain dump you then throw it out without rereading it. I told my students to aim for a page of writing in ten minutes. They could write without regard to punctuation and spelling as long as they wrote whatever came to their mind as they were writing. I also told them that alternatively they could draw a picture detailing all of the thoughts in their head as they happened. The room was as quiet as it ever gets when we're doing silent writing at the beginning of writing workshop. Everyone was writing. At the end of ten minutes, a quick glance confirmed that many children had a lot of writing on their papers. Some children didn't quite believe me the first time when I said that they could throw out what they had written after writing it and they tentatively asked for confirmation at the end of the writing time. One boy told me he had shred his paper into strips before throwing it out. Another child told me he was going to save his brain dump because he might want to share it with the class later. I was the first to throw mine away. I'm not sure if this activity actually helped the children focus their attention back at school or not but I think it gave them permission to put down on paper what was going through their heads. And isn't that the same thing anyway? Today the children wrote after they had started their morning routines. My goal is for them to come in and write before doing anything else. Then, I'll be able to tell if this activity is helping or not in the transition from home to school. Either way, it's worth a try.

Commitments

2011-11-29T06:14:00.001-07:00

I reflect on my teaching practices in order to make new commitments to improve these so that they are better aligned with my belief system and not someone else's. Alternatively, I recommit to continuing or extending a routine or habit that has worked well or that I know is beneficial to learning. This recommitment issue is the one I want to address in this post, particularly as it refers to my personal growth as a writer, a blogger, and a learner.I have lately become aware of the true meaning of doing what's necessary before doing what's pleasurable. Not that I want to be all about business and nothing about play. Quite the contrary; it's about recognizing priorities and what's important to do for one's growth, both emotional and intellectual. So, as often as I have in the past committed to writing every day, much in the same way that I read every day, I have just as often given it up for lack of time, lack of paper, lack of ideas, and/or lack of confidence that what I have to say is worth saying. So, here I am recommitting to slicing weekly as one way to continue ruminating on my teaching philosophy and practices. I am hopeful that this community of bloggers will keep me honest and nudge me along as I try to build this writing habit. Back to this idea of doing what's necessary before doing what you like or is pleasurable. At another iteration of my life I would have scoffed at this idea. What do you mean do what's necessary? I think it should all be about pleasure, joy, happiness. And, yes, these are important but they don't always get me anywhere I want to go. I am not talking about a deadline or a goalpost, necessarily. What I am talking about is knowing what I want to do - improve as a writer, for example - and do what it takes to get there. This isn't always a pleasurable or easy task. It takes time, energy, and even self-doubt but it is worth it in the end. And, the end is what I need to keep in view. Then, what seems like an effort now will become less so the more I do it. I talk about this with my students all the time, now: if you want to get better at reading then you have to put in the time it takes get better at reading by reading all the time. If you want to learn more Spanish then you have to listen more carefully, take risks using the language, and have a certain amount of faith that the time you have invested will result in a positive outcome. They get this because the results are almost immediate. And, guess what? It's a pleasurable feeling after all!That's it. It's all good.

Teaching Math

2011-10-23T18:37:00.001-06:00

If one thing is constant for me as a teacher it is this: nothing is ever the same from year to year. I often spend my summers reflecting on the previous year and on the lessons I learned with my students. It is on this basis that I make changes or adjustments in September. Often, what worked for one group of children won't work for a different group. This "difference" is what makes teaching come alive for me year after year. It's never the same because I never teach the same group of students or teach under the same circumstances; I am never the same teacher from one year to the next. In fact, the opposite is always true. Now, if this makes teaching hard, so be it. Whether or not teaching is harder than most other professions is up for grabs. See this: http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/poll/poll-about-teachers-make-sure-you-vote-in-this-poll/#disqus_thread

So, after a summer of reading, reflecting, and planning I am ready to make changes in my classroom practice. I may experiment with a new teaching strategy, make adjustments to classroom structures, or study up on a specific aspect of teaching. This summer my focus was on math. I asked myself three questions. How can I get children to love math in the same way they love to read and write? How can I make math class interesting and challenging for everyone and not just for the children that get it right away? How can I infuse an inquiry perspective to our math time?

I tend to teach math whole group with some time set aside for practicing the focus of a lesson. I find that whole group instruction does not allow me to effectively differentiate my teaching to the needs of my students or to effectively scaffold learning math in Spanish. So as I experiment by using small group instruction, one-on-one conferencing, and math workshop choices, I will be blogging about how these changes in the organization of my teaching of math, impact my student's understanding of big ideas as they are challenged to communicate and work in their second language. I look forward to your comments.

Walking to School: Why I'm Marching....

2011-07-23T06:11:00.000-06:00

Read why one teacher is marching to Washington, DC at the end of this month.

Walking to School: Why I'm Marching....: "I was born and raised in Washington, DC. In the summer the humidity settles down and the sky turns a sick, pale shade of yellow. The swam..."

Check out the Ralph Fletcher podcast on mentor texts

2011-07-10T10:01:00.000-06:00

I love reading professional books. I especially love reading professional books that nudge and challenge those teaching ideas that become solidified (and misapplied) over time due to misunderstanding and misguided mandates. When teachers "do" whole language or "do" mentor texts, as Fletcher mentions in this podcast, a red flag should go up: "doing" is scripted and regulated. Instead, we need teachers who watch kids and encourage conversation in the classroom, then use this to inform their teaching. The podcast below with Ralph Fletcher is a glimpse into Fletcher's latest work regarding mentor texts and I know I'm going to love reading the book when it comes to my mailbox in September.
Enjoy!

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1561.cfm

The Important Things About Grade 2

2011-07-06T20:07:00.000-06:00

On the last day of school, I asked my students to contribute a line for a class piece on the important things about grade 2. We modelled this piece on The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown http://amzn.to/qohItz Although I might have highlighted different important things, I took heart at the fact that several lines addressed our classroom community in some way. Since this was a major focus of our learning this year it was encouraging to hear the children's learning expressed in this way. This is what they said:

The important thing about grade 2 is that you learn to read more challenging books.
It is also true that you learn to listen a lot.
And that you make lots of friends.
And that you learn to write lots of stories.
And that your classmates and your teacher are important.
And that you work as a team.
And that you have opportunities to work with different things.
And that you have fun.
And that you learn to write long and big sentences and stories.
And that you respect people.
And that you have a great teacher.
And that you learn a lot.
And that you learn to use class expectations and the school motto.
But the important thing about grade 2 is that you learn to read more challenging books.

Note: The class expectations mentioned above are school wide expectations. They include the following: listen to adult instructions the first time; keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself; walk in the school. Our school motto is take care of ourselves, take care of each other, take care of our school.

Frustrated Educators Aim to Build Grassroots Movement

2011-06-15T06:26:00.000-06:00

Frustrated Educators Aim to Build Grassroots Movement
Read this article and get energized about taking action to reclaim public education.

A Few Lessons Learned

2011-06-12T16:45:00.000-06:00

Recently, I hosted a real time email conversation with the families of my students; only one parent participated. A second parent responded later on to say that she hadn't been able to be present at the discussion and didn't really have anything to contribute at the moment. A third parent had emailed me earlier saying she would not have internet access at that time. And, although we had a great discussion, I am left wondering at the low turnout given how comfortable it is to log in from the comfort of one's own home or mobile device. And, because I know that in order to improve at anything it is important to reflect on one's experiences, I have identified four reasons for why this may have happened. Although there may be other causes, these are ones that I will address the next time I plan a similar event.

First lesson learned: it took me several weeks to pull this session together. Did interest wane in the time it took to me to gauge parental interest and the actual discussion? Possibly. I had initially hoped to do an Elluminate session but when that looked like it wasn't going to happen I decided to try an email conversation. I had personally experienced the power of reading and responding to posts in real time, so to speak, and was hoping that my students' families would also find this form of interaction appealing. But, by this time in the year everyone is basically looking ahead towards summer.

Second lesson learned: a few parents responded that they were happy with their children's progress and/or learning plans and so didn't see the need to participate. This is actually the first time I've had this kind of response. And, although I was pleased to hear that parents were satisfied with what was happening in the classroom, I wondered at the idea that only parents who have concerns about their children see a need for attending a session with their child's teacher. Although, I was hoping for a more general interest in literacy and child growth/development, maybe that is too much too expect. So, next time I will focus the sessions around specific questions rather than broad topics.

Third lesson learned: it may have been intimidating for parents to respond to each other on email rather than be on the receiving end of a workshop by their child's teacher.

Fourth lesson learned: the conversation was on a Friday afternoon in early June. Need I say more?

Has anyone done anything similar to this? Does anyone have any ideas for a beginning of year topic? What are your thoughts about involving parents and families in the classroom using technology?

Here's to the Teachers!

2011-05-21T08:16:00.001-06:00

Take a look at this blog post by Anthony Cody about a video in honor of teachers. A bit late for Teacher Appreciation Week in the US and Education Week here in Canada but worthy of viewing and keeping in mind, nevertheless.

Here's to the Teachers!

Teacher Journaling

2011-04-27T07:42:00.000-06:00

In my search for the perfect blog post I realize that I have neglected my professional journal writing. You may be wondering, "isn't blogging the new journaling"? Perhaps, but for me my professional journal is private, for my eyes alone, unless I want to share it with others. Blogging is as candid a public expression of my professional self as I can muster. Nevertheless, it is still edited for public purview. So, I am going to get back to my daily journaling in the marble notebook that I found this morning hidden in a pile of "to read" books and professional magazines. Maybe, I'll even blog about it here.

Screen Free Week - April 18th - 24th

2011-04-26T06:42:00.000-06:00

Well, Screen Free Week is over - http://bit.ly/dUgLav - and it was a moderate success at our house. I have to say that although we weren't screen free for the entire six days we tried really hard to stay off the screen for most of the week. Having a 3-day weekend didn't help matters, though!

From Monday - Thursday we all did pretty well. My husband slipped a little here and there (Facebook) but for the most part neither one of us used our computers or checked our email on our cell phones unless it was related to work. Having intentional time without the use of my BlackBerry, that I love, was a good, needed break. And, it became apparent to me how much time we spend on mobile devices even if they're connected to work. Instead, we played a couple of board games after dinners and spent time reading. Once the weekend came though it was harder to keep my son from pining for the computer or the DS or the Wii, to name a few screens we have in our house, since that is when he normally can have limited use of these toys. It took a lot of will power on our part to keep saying, no.

Until we caved in.

I thought we could take a break and go to the movies, then go back to being screen free for the rest of the time. So, we went to see Rio Friday afternoon. Big mistake! How can you explain the concept that a break is just that - a break and that afterwards you go back to your original plan? How can we realistically expect a 6-year-old to again muster up the will power to stay screen free for another 2 days? Well, it didn't work! Although, we still limited all of our screen times the magic of Screen Free Week had been broken.

We'll try again next year but I think the real challenge is to make screens one of many choices for children (and adults) so that it is not the only choice they gravitate to when they want to be entertained. The allure of these devices is so strong that we need to develop alternatives that are as enticing, along with the necessary will power, to make alternate choices for our off times.

I'd love to hear from those of you who are struggling with these issues, whether or not you participated in Screen Free Week.

President Obama: We Want for Our Children What You Want for Yours

2011-04-13T06:39:00.001-06:00

This post originally appeared in Anthony Cody's blog, Living in Dialogue, on April 8th.

President Obama: We Want for Our Children What You Want for Yours

Dentists and teachers?

2011-03-31T20:36:00.000-06:00

How is a great dentist like a great teacher? Here's the partial list that I created after I visited my dentist today.

They both have genuine smiles on their faces and greet you warmly.

They both make the patient or student feel comfortable. Today my dentist offered me a blanket while he was performing the procedure on my teeth.

They both explain what they're doing; the dentist describes the procedure as it's happening and the teacher coaches the student as she teaches.

They both use soft voices and answer any questions as carefully and completely, as possible.

They both make you want to stay.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/solsc-2011-30-of-31/

Feeling relaxed

2011-03-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

The writing topics I posted on Monday evoke too much raw emotion for me to address at the moment, especially right now when I'm feeling so relaxed. That's what being on vacation does for me, even a short one - I feel the tension draining from me with each passing day. I end up doing more of the things I like and that make me happy. I read more, write more, and spend more quality time with my family. I smile more and worry less. Let's face it: I have more time that's my own.

And, as Spring Break winds down I wonder how I can keep this feeling from fading come Monday. Is this the normal cycle of a teacher's life or can we create another cycle that balances school and family?

Do you have some tips for staying fresh when school resumes? Make sure you post them here.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/solsc-2011-30-of-31/

Writing List

2011-03-28T22:42:00.000-06:00

I sit in the living room, half listening to my husband, son, and oldest daughter making tiramisu. I stay out of the kitchen as that is not my strong suit. My son and daughter are learning from my husband while I write my Slice of Life for today. There are lots of things I could write about but instead I make a list for another day when I'm feeling less confused and more lucid than I am at the moment.

--Is your cup half empty or is it half full? Someone said that to me recently and I'm still not sure what the intent was or whether I should even worry about the intent or even if there was an intent. Nevertheless, it obviously bothers me because I'm still thinking about it more than a week later.

--My first day of Spring Break. It snowed off and on today. When the sun finally broke through the sky I thought that finally we could look forward to spring - not. It snowed one final time.

--My thoughts about where to go next in my career. I would love to spend more time writing and working with teachers. I also love working with kids and being in the classroom. What to do?

--My oldest daughter is visiting for a few days. She's leaving in a couple of days and my heart aches every time I think about it. That's enough of that thought...

--Breaking Night by Liz Murray. I wish I could remember who recommended this book but as much as I'm liking it I'm also finding it to be terribly sad. I can't help but wonder how many children never get out from the cycle of neglect due to poverty, drug addiction, and abuse? It seems too much to bear at times and yet the resilience of these children is more than I could probably stand.

I'm stopping now. It's time to take a shower, go to sleep, and wait for another day.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/solsc-2011-28-of-31/

Canada Olympic Park - School Away from School (Post #3)

2011-03-27T09:12:00.000-06:00

We walked the length
of the luge track
on our third day
at Canada Olympic Park (COP).
For nearly 1.6 km
we trudged, through soft,
pristine snow
covering the ice
below our feet.
I slid three times,
landing on my bum,
laughing joyously,
cushioned by the thick snow
that continues to fall
beckoned by hints of Spring.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/solsc-2011-27-of-31/

Canada Olympic Park - School Away from School (Post #2)

2011-03-25T04:37:00.001-06:00

In my last post I said that Canada Olympic Park (COP) was the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. Actually, it was one venue of several where various Olympic competitions took place; one of the many things the children and I learned during our visit this week.

On our second day, we spent the morning revisiting the 7 Olympic Values (see Post #1) and trying to find connections to the 7 Sacred Teachings (love, respect, bravery, honesty, wisdom, humility, and truth). The two specialists from the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) used a Venn Diagram to help the children find connections between the two sets of values. They had to use their best thinking to identify similarities as much of this was new terminology for them, though not new concepts.

Next, our teachers for the day took us on a hike through deep snow to the Paskapoo Slopes, http://www.paskapoo.com/, which is also known as the Eastlands, of the COP. This used to be a site for a buffalo run long ago. We stopped to listen to and watch waxwing birds. We saw bushes of Saskatoon berries and Alberta white rose. We also saw a few animal tracks here and there. We had a refreshing walk despite the few challenges that hiking in snow and ice presents.

In the afternoon we had inspiring talks by two athletes, a gymnast and a luger, from the National Sport School http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b830/. Despite the many challenges they've faced - hip replacement and spine injuries - these two female athletes exemplified for the students many of the Olympic Values we had been discussing over the last two days. A special treat was to try on the gear that goes with being a luger and to practice some gymnastic moves.

End of day #2.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/solsc-2011-24-of-31/

Canada Olympic Park - School Away from School (Post #1)

2011-03-21T21:46:00.001-06:00

Today was our first day at Canada Olympic Park (COP) Open Minds School. COP was the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. It is now a popular park in our city highlighting a variety of winter sports. Our class is fortunate to be able to spend this week there as a result of our successful grade level proposal that has other grade 2 classes attending a variety of Open Minds School, such as Nature School and Zoo School.

Although it was a snowy day we were able to explore exhibits on two floors of the Ski Tower and to take a short hike around the ski jump area. Our focus for the week is the seven Canadian Olympic values of excellence, respect, peace, personal growth, fairness, leadership, and fun. We will also connect these to the First Nations values of wisdom, respect, humility, sharing, harmony, beauty, strength, and spirituality. I am looking forward to a great rest of the week. I plan to blog a little bit every day about our experience this week. Below are two posts by my students from today. The "old days" that Paige refers to below is the 1988 Winter Olympics.

What?!?! The snow came back!!! Aaaahhh...I wish the snow didn't come back. It was hot and sunny last week but what about this week? This week is gonna be snowy and cold; even the snow is falling off the roof. It's not just cold it's freezing. Oh, I hate it when it's freezing!!!
P.S. I'm at COP!!! - Taylor

Today I went to C.O.P. We saw a lot of Olympic stuff. My favorite one was the uniforms they wore in the old days for the Canadian side. I had a lot of fun.
P.S. The uniform is a cowboy hat and other cowboy stuff. - Paige

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/solsc-2011-21-of-31/

Student-Led Conferences

2011-03-20T09:03:00.000-06:00

This week, my students prepared for student-led conferences. They reflected on their learning by identifying important knowledge in four distinct areas: reading, writing, math, and Spanish. Then, they wrote these self-assessments as "I know" statements. Some examples are: I know how to check for understanding; I know how to add and subtract; I know how to make connections when I'm reading; I know how to stay on topic. “How do you know you can do this?” I would ask them. “Why is this important to know?” “How does knowing how to do this help you as a reader (writer, math student, Spanish learner)?”

Next, my students had to find examples of work that clearly demonstrated this learning. If they couldn’t respond to my questions they would need to start this process over again. And, if their evidence didn’t match their learning they would need to go back to their work and search for examples that did. Finally, they had to edit their writing and organize their work on their desks so that it would be available for viewing during conferences.

I conferred one-on-one with each child throughout the week to support their emergent self-awareness as learners. This wasn't an easy process; sometimes they’d sigh loudly as I asked them to dig deeper for evidence or for statements to back up their findings. However, with support, many of my students were able to create suitable statements around their learning and to identify work that showed this understanding. I found this process was less stressful and painful than in the past. And, I think I know why.

At the start of our school day, one student, usually the student teacher of the day (class helper), writes a morning message to the class. I blogged about morning messages a few months ago after attending a session with a grade one teacher and others at the National Council of Teachers Annual Conference in Orlando. (For an explanation of how I'm doing morning messages go to http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/2010/12/morning-message.html) But, this process has been evolving and a new post about these changes is overdue. Until then the previous link will give readers a window into what morning message looks like in my classroom. At first, all we did was check for understanding - what did you learn about Taylor, for example, from her morning message? Later, we began asking questions or making comments about a child’s message. Now, we are articulating our noticings about what each message tells us that child knows how to do as a writer. The child who wrote the morning message starts out by saying what the message shows s/he knows about writing. Then, we open it up to the class for their observations. I started out by writing the observations on a separate sheet of paper that was only visible to me, but now I write these on sticky notes and attach them directly onto the message.

So, what does this have to do with student-led conferences? First of all, these whole class opportunities have allowed the children to think through what they are learning to do and to notice what their classmates are also learning to do as writers. Sometimes the statements we make show that a child is beginning to do something, and at other times it is clear that s/he is already doing it consistently and so it becomes a statement of fact. An added perk that has come from these conversations is that the children will occasionally mention something they think is not correct in a message or ask a question about the use of a particular convention (one child wanted to know about the use of semi colons), which has given me numerous opportunities (teachable moments) to intentionally teach something that the children are curious about and want to understand better.

These discussions have been enlightening and inspiring for me as a teacher, and they have made it easier for the children to reflect on their learning for their student-led conferences. Yet, as powerful as this learning has been, I am cognizant of the fact that children don't always transfer their learning from one area of the curriculum, or the school day, to another. This was evidenced as I observed the children having a harder time identifying their learning in subject areas other than writing for student-led conferences. I intend to help them to make this transition through whole class reflection times during other parts of our day.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/solsc-2011-20-of-31/

Did I Tell You?

2011-03-17T20:00:00.000-06:00

Did I tell you that it snowed yesterday?
I looked out the window and big, fat flakes were spinning and whirling in a frenzy.
I saw it all outside my classroom window.
And, then it stopped.
As suddenly as it started.
The water that had melted from the snow now turned to ice.

Did I tell you that I love you?
Or, did I forget to do that?
You would say it wasn't on my list of things to do.
I say, we all have lists.
Some of us are better than others at juggling them.
I think of you when we're not together.
Is that enough?

Did I tell you that I'm happy
When we spend time together?
I don't need much.
Just you.
You should know that by now.
Did I tell you that?

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/solsc-2011-17-of-31/

Student Slices

2011-03-17T19:51:00.000-06:00

Dear Slice of Life,
I want to go to Mexico. When I was six years old I always forgot to ask my parents. When I get home I am probably gonna ask my parents. I hope I do. They're probably gonna say no but it's worth the risk if I do. - Isaiah

Starfighter
I was making a Starfighter. I called it: Slave 195. It has five blow blasters, three green blasters, and three red blasters. It carries weapons. But these are not blasters. They are two swords, one spear, and a travek stick. It carries two Ninjas. - Isaac

Today at recess I played rugby with Isaac, Dylan, Ethan, Karson, and Isaiah. It was fun but I got pushed around, but otherwise it was fun. - Gabriel

Yesterday I was playing outside and my underground snow fort fell on me because I accidently punched it and i was stuck for 30 minutes. And, when I came inside I almost froze to death.
- Boris

Once I was talking to my sister about my favorite song. I said baby (feet) and my brother said, "You're a firework!!!?" - Paige

Today at lunch recess I played rugby with Isaac, Ethan, Gabriel, Isaiah, and Dylan. It was fun. Me and Isaiah won 10 to 4. Isaac was just teaching us, but then we played a game.
- Karson

I got a new bus driver and a new bus. It was funny because it smelled sooooo bad. I thought I might pass out. It smelled like tuna fish. - Reese

Today at recess I played soccer with Aarushi and Gabriel. It was fun but Gabriel felt unsafe because he felt that it was going to rain.
P.S. If I was playing soccer I will play again and again until I quit soccer. - Alexandra

Hi,
Today I have piano lessons. I am starting a new book. It's called Piano Town #1. My sister already finished Piano Town #1 and #2. My piano teacher's name is Mrs. Chang. Bye for now, Ruth.
P.S. All of my family plays the piano. - Ruth

Next Friday I am going to my grandpa's house. We are leaving on Thursday. It will be fun and awesome. Well, I think it will be. Well, it will be. It's going to be. I am going to miss my friends. - Caroline

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/solsc-2011-17-of-31/

More Student Slices

2011-03-16T09:40:00.000-06:00

Here are my students' slices for today.

I got two books. They are Bionicle books. They are a series. The first book is called: Adventures (1) Where the Adventures Begin...Mystery of Metru Nui. The second book is called: Bionicle Adventures (2) Where the Adventures Begin...Trial by Fire. - Isaac

When I was four I went to Mexico. It was fun. We went swimming at the pool. There was a pretend river attached right to it. And there was a bar of the swimming pool. - Dylan

On the weekend I played one of my X-Box games and I got 36,000 dollars. And, if I got 4,000,000 dollars you can buy a sky scraper. And, if I got 60,000 dollars I can buy a house and a store inside. - Boris

Dear Slice of Life,
Once in my life I have finished a chapter book in less than half a day. The book was called Ook and Gluk. It was a pretty funny book. I liked it when the author put up some signs and made funny jokes. And, I also liked the part where the two Kung-Fu people took out the two robots in Goppernopper's hallway, and the minnie dinosaur threw up in Goppernopper's mouth. And, also when Ook and Gluk were making fun of the gorilla. - Isaiah

Yesterday was my last day of power skating. It was a game. I scored a goal. I probably scored because I got a haircut. It is short. It is fine. When I first got it I didn't really like it but now I do. My dad cut my hair. I didn't want a haircut but he bought me a toy so I said, "Sure." - Ethan

Today in gym we are learning hockey. Yesterday we did puck handling. It was sort of easy because I know how to play hockey. Today we did passing with a partner. Last year's sport I think was basketball. I play that on Fridays sometimes. At basketball we play three on three just together for a warm up. The sport after basketball was exercising. - Rachel

Today in gym we played floor hockey. We had to get partners and I got to go with Ethan. We practiced passing the puck. Me and Ethan are really good at hockey so we passed harder than other people. Yesterday we practiced stick handling. It is harder to use sticks without curves. It's harder to use sticks without curves because when you shoot it might not line it up correctly and then you will miss. - Karson

A few days ago, my Nanny bought a doughnut. And since my bus driver really likes doughnuts I split the doughnut in half. He even said he likes doughnuts. - Reese

My sister was very tired. I was tired, too. My mom was tired too because my dad woke up at 6:00 and my mom needed to wake up, too. And, when my dad left my mom did not go back to sleep. First my mom had to make food. - Aarushi

My brother is nice. He gives me hugs and kisses and hugs. And, he is funny like the day in the morning he woke me up and started to dance in his diaper. That day I had school and he sang Justin Bieber. He sang, "Baby, baby, oh," when we say to sing. - Rene

Today I have martial arts. I hope we are going to play "Wrestle the Pig"; it is my favorite game. You get a number and when the instructor calls your number you go and try to get the pig in your side. It is really fun!!!! By Ruth.
P.S. Just if you're wondering, my sister goes to martial arts, as well. - Ruth

Today my Flat Stanley came into class. The teacher read the letter to the class. It was very funny. My favorite part was when my cousin Tristan tried to eat him. It looked like a lot of fun.
P.S. Barbie misses Flat Stanley but Molly won't. (There's a drawing of Molly, the fish.) - Paige

On Saturday my parents and me went to Walmart. We bought a new tank for my pet fish named, Goldey. His old tank is small. After that we went home then me and my dad cleaned the tank and the seaweed, and the statue sitting on the fake turtle. Then, me and my dad put everything in the new tank. And, then we put Goldey in his new tank. - Alexandra

On Saturday Paige came over to my house. We had fun but the two worst parts were when Dustin punched us and the other one was me crying at the end. I don't want to say why because it is sad for people and for me. After the play date I walked to Mac's with Abby and Annie and Dustin. It was fun.
P.S. Abby, Annie, and Dustin are my sisters and brother. - Caroline

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/solsc-2011-16-of-31/

Is it Spring?

2011-03-15T15:24:00.006-06:00

I think spring may have finally arrived.
I look out the window of my classroom
and see the wind rustling the leaves
of an evergreen tree.
I can see flocks of birds flying low
in the sky.
I can't see any snow
from where I'm sitting,
but that's deceptive.
I know that once I leave the building
there will be hills here and there,
some of it melting and then turning
to ice overnight,
then melting again during the day.
I'm not counting on this weather staying its course, though.
I've seen too many springs here become winter again.
A drop in the temperature.
Take out the coat,
mittens,
hats,
boots.
Spring just came for a short visit and has now gone away.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/solsc-2011-15-of-31/

Introspection

2011-03-13T16:54:00.001-06:00

The time has come for me to step back and do some self-reflection.
I can't say more right now. That would defeat the purpose of being introspective, wouldn't it?
As always, what's important can be found in the unspoken word.
Meaning is in the empty spaces.
That's my slice today.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/solsc-2011-13-of-31

And More Student Slices

2011-03-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying my student's slices so much that I have not written any of my own. I can really relate to Ruth's post the other day about being overwhelmed. Nothing else to say. Enjoy!

Last night I was eating dessert. I put my plate onto the counter and I was walking through the hallway to go upstairs. My mom and Abby and Annie said, "CAROLINE! Put away your cup." And, I said, "I'm not married to the cup." And, I started walking away and they called again, "CAROLINE! Put away your cup." I said, "I'm not married to the cup. But, OK. I will put it away." - Caroline

In two weeks I am going to Brandon. Last night I called my auntie Chrystal about going to Brandon. She lives in Brandon and she has a little girl. Her name is Emma. She is my cousin. She is 2 1/2. I was five years old when she was born. - Ethan

I have a brother who is very annoying. When I read to him, I'm done with him. He always starts talking in the middle of a sentence. - Gabriel

I love Lego because you can be creative. (Note to self: it is fun.) I like TV because it is a fun thing. - Sean

Today Rene is coming to my house. We are doing an experiment at my house. - Alexandra

Today I got ready, went downstairs, got my food, then I looked at the clock and saw the time. I was so surprised. I went up told my mom. My mom was surprised. - Aarushi

This morning I was playing my DS/Pokemon White Versionland. I beat a hard part where I had to beat Leader Chiliand. I beat him so now the game is gonna be easier until the next gym leader. The gym was in Stration City, that's the first city. On the game I have two best friends named Cheren and Bianca. I didn't make them up. It just gave them to me as best friends. I battled lots of Pokemon and I caught seven or eight. I have a DS I. It has a camera. That's the difference. - Karson

Yes. It finally came. Today at 10:10 I will be 8 years old. I opened up my presents early so that I could play with them after school. Bye, Ruth.
P.S. On July 26th it is my sister's birthday. - Ruth

Yesterday night I went to piano and I did good. There was a song that went like this: re si la so fa mi so re re do la re si so re si la so fa mi so re re do la fa so. It's hard to play that on the piano. And, then I got home and I took a bath and mom said it's time to cut your hair and I said, "Ahhh." And, Caleb, my brother, said, "Ooooo." And, mom said to me, "Wash your hair before I cut your hair." Mommy cut Caleb's hair first so I had time to wash my hair. Mom said, "Hair conditioner first, Rachel." And, I said, "OK." Dad was in the bath and Megan my little sister was in the bath, too. Caleb came upstairs and said, "Rachel, it's your turn." So, I went downstairs and mom cut my hair. My hair was very short. It was up to my shoulders. - Rachel

A Slice of Life
Why?
--It's fun.
--It's a hobby.
--There's cool stuff to write.

Why do we do it?
--It expands your vocabulary.
--You double up your arm and hand muscles.

A story:
On 3/1/11 mommy took all four of my spin jitzus. But, I got them back at 3/2/11 pm. I have a spin that is so fast that it stays in one place. The real spin goes up to your opponent. - Isaac

More Student Slices

2011-03-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

More student slices...

Today is my uncle Cole's birthday. He is turning sixteen years old. He is just learning how to drive. I can't wait 'cause he can drive me wherever I want. He can almost drive. When you are 16 you can drive. He can drive me to MacDonald's and Wendy's. I will command him. - Ethan

Yesterday it was my brother's birthday. He turned 19 and we celebrated his birthday at Nick's. - Boris

Yesterday Alexandra gave me a cut by accident. And, today I had a problem at recess: my best friends, Kaitlyn and Michelle, wouldn't let me plan with them. They wanted to play something and I wanted to play the other. And they said, "You can only play with us if you play this." - Taylor

In May I am having a party. I am inviting five boys and five girls. I am having a swimming party. - Alexandra

Today I am finishing my book about penguins. We are almost done. We just need to do the last page. Then, we need to color. Then, we are done. We might share it tomorrow or in two days. There is a new series coming. It is called "Bella Mouse and Polla Penguin". It is about a mouse and a penguin that are friends. It is not too funny but kinda funny. It will come out in April. Me and Reese are working on the series. We are also working on a puffle handbook. - Audree

Do you ever feel like you're getting left out? Well, I did. It was my birthday two years ago. I couldn't go in the kitchen because my unwrapped present was there. I am wondering if anyone else sometimes feels the same way? Bye, for now. - Ruth

On Sunday my family went to a garden show. It was not a show. It was a big craft fair. On Saturday only mom volunteered to help at the big craft fair. She helped at the Welcome Wagon Stall. The next day we all went to the craft fair. We got a flag and candy. - Aarushi

Once I Got Bit by A Spider
Once I was climbing on the rocks in my backyard with bare feet. I didn't know that spiders liked to sleep in the rocks. All of a sudden I felt a pinch on my foot. It was the spider. It had bit my food and I had to go to the Children's Hospital again. When I got there they had put a special medicine on my foot. Then, I went home and I lived happily ever after. - Paige

Once in my life I have fainted on the bus. It happened when I turned my face red. I fell straight to the ground and Karson tried to get me up but I didn't get up. I stayed on the ground. In about 5 minutes I probably got up and when I did get up, it was my bus stop. It was really freakly being fainted. That was my first time being fainted. It didn't feel good being fainted. I don't know why I turned my face red at that guy. His name was Diego and I don't know why I fainted and fell to the ground. It didn't hurt a bit when I fell to the ground. (To be continued.) - Isaiah

Every day my brother does something mean to me. Sometimes he bites me and scratches me in the face. He does a lot of mean stuff to me. - Rene

One time I was on the bus and my friend Julia wanted to sit with me. So, when the bus started to move...and then a couple of seconds later she spat on her hands and stuck it on the seat. Then, Ryder said he would never sit on that seat again. - Reese

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/solsc-2011-10-of-31/

Student Slices

2011-03-09T15:29:00.002-07:00

I received 12 positive responses from parents giving their children permission to publish their slices on my blog. So, here are a few of them!

In my family, I am the oldest kid. I have an annoying younger sister. The only time when she was not annoying is when she gave me the stuffed animal I liked from her. In my family I have my mom, my dad, and my younger sister. - Taylor

Once I went on vacation in the summer and my grandma was watching my cat. When we were at the hotel (motel) my mom got a call from my grandma that my cat ran away. But my mom and dad didn't tell me very fast. They waited till we got home instead of on vacation. My parents kept on saying that my cat was on vacation as well and she might not be home even when we pull in the driveway. When we got home my parents told me. I was so afraid because there are lots of coyotes in the night (that's a whole different story). Five days later we put up lost cat signs. A couple of days later we got a phone call from the cat and dog pound saying they might have our cat and they did. - Paige

The month before last month my brother got upset with me. I hurt him because he hurt me and when I hurt him because he hurt me he threw a car at me. It hurt bad because I have a big bruise on my nose 'cause whenever I get hit in the face it's normally on my nose. - Gabriel

When I was little I went sledding and I was 2 years old. My dad put me onto a sled and pushed the sled and...I did't know how to control the sled and...Bum! I bumped into a tree. I told my mom, "Let's go home". And, she said, "We will have hot chocolate with marshmallows." I said, "OK."
P.S. I was crying.
- Caroline

Today at recess I played Batman and I played it with my friends. And, we played spies and one of my friends was James Bond. - Boris

Today our buddies came a lot. We made a wish to make the world more peaceful. I wished for no more wars. I wished that 'cause it makes people cry.

Gabriel shared his soccer medal. It was gold. He shared it because it was his first gold medal.
- Audree

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/solsc-2011-9-of-31/

A slice a day and we can't stay away!

2011-03-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

It all started just as we were getting ready for reading and writing workshop. There was a soft knock at our door. More than 20 eager grade five students, our buddies, were lined up outside our classroom. I had forgotten that we had planned to get together to work on peace messages for our school yearbook.

Time to shift gears.

Forty-five minutes later my students and I sat down to slice for 12 minutes until the bell rang. I told the kids to take a minute or two to think about what they wanted to write - something that happened today, yesterday (teachers had a professional day and so the children didn't have school), or even on the weekend. We were interrupted twice before the 12 minutes were up and both times I had to step outside the room. Each time I returned the children were intently writing in their writer's notebooks. Even when I rang the chimes to signal the end of the writing time they didn't stop right away. Gotta love it!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to finish my slice, which is why I'm doing it right now, or to read the children's entries today. Hopefully, a few parents will return the permission forms tomorrow and I can start to post the children's slices.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/solsc-2011-8-of-31/

A moment in the life of a teacher

2011-03-07T22:59:00.001-07:00

2:00 pm

I stood in the middle of my classroom and took a look around. I noticed a stack of baskets on top of a table where a now forgotten science experiment used to be. I moved the offending baskets out of the way but didn't put them to any good use; I'll leave that for another day.

I read individual writer's notebooks and smiled at an entry I had not previously seen. I made a mental note to talk to this student about what he had written.

I finalized a letter that I will send home tomorrow asking parents for permission to post their childrens' slices on line. It took me about a week to finalize this as I had to confer with several people regarding safety issues around the use of public internet sites. Fortunately, everyone was very supportive about helping me get this project off the ground.

I revised and sent an email about an upcoming PD Day at our school.

I ran off individual copies of small books that I will assemble, laminate, and add to our classroom library.

I made copies of notices to go home.

I talked with a teacher who came by to consult about something or other.

I searched for library books that needed to be returned to the pubic library.

I closed my computer, gathered my things, put on my coat, and walked out the door.

4:30 pm

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/solsc-2011-7-of-31/

Baking Muffins

2011-03-06T17:37:00.001-07:00

Today is one of those beautiful rare days this winter, at least for Calgary - sunny, blue skies and not too cold. I spent most of yesterday and today working on report cards. My breaks have consisted of washing dishes; having meals; reading Losing Charlotte by Healther Clay, a new and notable book from my public library that is now seriously overdue; reading to my son; and messaging with my youngest daughter as she travels by plane from Charlotte to Boston.

My husband and 6 year-old son also took a break today to make chocolate muffins. That's them looking pleased as punch and having a blast! This picture reminds me of so many other times when my husband would bake or cook with our two daughters when they were little; they're now 23 and 19 and they still call their father for cooking advice. Now, it's my son's turn to be initiated into an entrenched family tradition. As my son said earlier while he ate the chicken soup my husband had prepared, "This is the life!"

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/solsc-2011-6-of-31/

Rewards and Punishments

2011-03-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'm always surprised and disappointed when educators I respect support the use of rewards and punishments to control student behaviour.

Whenever I feel like my students are "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed, it's usually because I'm "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed. Sound odd? Perhaps, but think about this for a minute. When something goes wrong, i.e. not according to plan, it's usually because the kids have responded in unexpected ways to what I'm teaching or presenting to them. Unless I'm prepared to handle these contingencies I can lose focus of the lesson and the children. I find that the best way to deal with these "disruptions" isn't to control behaviour through carrots and sticks but rather to take a deep breath and think about what may be causing the problem. Often the cause has to do with one or more of the following: how I've presented the lesson (it's confusing, not challenging enough or too difficult, not relevant to what they're ready or interested in learning), something is buzzing among the children that I'm not aware of, sometimes they just need a shift (same 'ole, same 'ole mentality has kicked in), or everyone is tired, including me.

Children respond to us and we, in turn, need to respond to them. Instead of looking inwardly (at ourselves), we look outwardly (to our students) and react by imposing discipline charts, or tokens that must be earned/taken away depending on the behaviour of the students. Yes, the behaviour may improve for a while but so did behaviour improve when children were taught procedures and the lessons were inviting and relevant to them. Behaviour improved when the children were taught, through modeling and identifying noteworthy examples, the value of respecting and treating each other with kindness. Behaviour improved when, as adults, we took the time to examine what was not working and took teaching steps to change it. Using tokens or rewards and punishments only sends children the message that they need to be controlled by someone else rather than teaching them how to regulate their behaviour depending on the circumstances. I tell my students that it's when I'm not around that doing "the right thing" counts.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Why? What are your thoughts on rewards and punishments?

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/solsc-2011-5-of-31/

Writer's Block

2011-03-04T15:21:00.001-07:00

Writer's block.
I've got it.
I don't know how many topics I've contemplated,
and started writing about,
and then stopped.
None of them seemed right.
Too trite.
Too contrite.
No substance.
I don't know what to write.
Keep writing something.
Anything.
I tell my students the same thing.
It's hard to do but if I don't keep going
then I'll stop writing altogether
'cause sometimes it just seems too hard.
Developing a writing habit is like exercising.
Now, that I've started exercising for 10 minutes in the morning I can't stop.
(Now, that I've started blogging every day, I can't stop.
Don't want to stop.)
I know 10 minutes isn't a lot but it's something.
A place to start.
A place to keep moving from.
What do you know?
I've got a slice!

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/solsc-2011-4-of-31/

What counts in a thank you note?

2011-03-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

In our grade 2 class, we have been writing letters, thank you notes, morning messages, and home-school journals since the beginning of the year. So, during our class meeting today I asked the children the following question: what counts in a thank you note?

This is the final list they came up with:

1 - Greeting (Dear _________)

2 - Farewell (Love, From, Sincerely, etc.)

3 - Saying thank you for whatever the person did for you

4 - Asking if there is something you can do for them in return

5 - Telling them what you're going to do for them

6 - Drawing a picture

Before starting our discussion I had not envisioned going beyond the first three ideas on this list. The fourth idea expresses a beautiful sentiment and was suggested by one of my quieter students, which prompted another child to contribute #5 above. I was ready to add this last idea to our list when a third child said that you may or may not ask (or tell) the person to whom you're writing the thank you note what you might do for them in return. At this point, a lively conversation ensued about whether or not numbers four and five count in a thank you note. I suggested that we might want to put an asterisk next to numbers 1 - 3 if we agreed that they absolutely had to be in a thank you note; the other ideas would not get an asterisk because they were optional but we agreed they did enhance the quality of the note. Earlier, a fourth child had said that drawing hearts counts in a thank you note. At first, in my short sightedness, I had gently discouraged this response but in light of the unexpected turn our discussion had taken I suggested we add this to our list, as well. Everyone enthusiastically agreed.

So, now we have a list of ideas that may or may not be everyone's idea of what counts in a thank you note but that does make sense for our class. And, it makes sense not because it's right or wrong but because it was created through a collaborative conversation based on reasoned thinking by grade 2 students.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/solsc-2011-2-of-31/

The Dead of Winter

2011-03-01T17:17:00.002-07:00

We're still in the dead of winter here in Calgary; it was -36 degrees Celsius with the wind chill today.

It hasn't stopped snowing since mid-November.

The children have had more indoor recess this year than I'd care to think about.

Everyone's patience, including my own, is wearing thin.

It's report card time and parent conferences loom in the not too distant future.

The progress I've made with some of my students is looking precarious.

One step forward, two steps back.

It's time to revisit procedures we practiced in September.

It's time to redirect our attention to the growth of our classroom community.

It's time to regroup, set priorities, and move forward.

By writing this down I'm feeling better already.

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/solsc-2011-131translation-slice-of-life-story-challenge-2011-day-1-of-31/

My Son - car conversation #2

2011-02-15T20:52:00.001-07:00

Another brief anecdote about my son...a few days ago we had a lot of snow in a short time in Calgary. Driving to work in the morning was treacherous - no snow days here. When it was time to go home I saw a teacher walking away from the parking lot. I stopped my car and asked her where she was going. She said that she was walking to the train station because she doesn't drive when it snows so much because her car gets stuck in the snow. So, I offered to drive her and she was grateful. It took me a few minutes out of my way but I probably saved her a good 20 minutes and the risk of slipping on the ice. After I dropped her off, my son, who was playing with his DS in the back, quietly said, "That was nice." I said, "what was nice?" His response: "What you just did. That was nice."

You think they're not listening or noticing but they are. Our actions DO speak louder than words.

"Slice of Life Story Challenge" at http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/slice-of-life-story-challenge-2/

My Son

2011-01-25T12:07:00.002-07:00

Today, unlike other days, my son didn't want to listen to the radio on the way to school. Instead, he wanted to count to a very high number. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one right now. Suffice it to say that this is a personal project of his that keeps increasing in size over time. So, as we drove away he started his counting frenzy. He got into the 200's before he stopped and then we engaged in the following dialogue.

My son: If someone got to 99...
Me: You mean 999?
My son: Yes. If someone got to 999 where would they end up next?
Me: 1,000.
My son: You mean 1-0-0-0?!
Me: Yes.
My son: Wow! He would be rich! Or she!

Then, he asked to listen to music on the radio.

A lovely way to start the day.

“Slice of Life Story Challenge.”

Public Education on the Line

2011-01-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

In the current climate of teacher bashing, increased standardized testing, and the push to evaluate teachers by student test scores, it is imperative that teachers, families, and students stand up and say, "Enough!" Although there may be individual projects many of us are engaged in to stop the tide of mediocrity and the destruction of public education, there are two projects that need and deserve all of our support now. First, teachers stand tall in defense of our profession and for the welfare of our students by signing the declaration of professional Conscience for Teachers at the change.org petition site. Encourage your school to become a School of Professional Conscience when your faculty votes to endorse the Declaration.

http://education.change.org/petitions/view/a_declaration_of_professional_conscience_for_teachers

And, while you're at it join the following cause on Facebook and make your voice heard beyond the confines of your school site. We are teachers, family members and students devoted to defending public schools. We are organizing for a national march and conference to be held in Washington, DC, July 28 to 31, 2011. Mark your calendar and volunteer to make this march reverberate through the land.

We demand:
Equitable funding for all public school communities.
End to high stakes testing for student, teacher, and school evaluation.
Curriculum developed for and by local school communities.
Teacher and community leadership in forming public education policies.

http://www.causes.com/causes/556335-save-our-schools-march-and-national-call-to-action/about

Read to Me - Picture Book Reading Challenge

2011-01-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have just joined the Read to Me - Picture Book Reading Challenge. I have committed to reading 200 picture books to a child between now and Dec. 31, 2011. I will be blogging about the books I choose to read and my experiences reading to individual children. I will be doing this at school with my students and at home with my son. I am looking forward to this challenge. Won't you join me? If you are interested go to the following website to participate!

http://www.theresabook.com/read-to-me-picture-book-reading-challenge/

To My Daughter

2010-12-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

OK. My daughter read a recent post I wrote on this blog and she says I'm too hard on myself. Instead of beating myself up about what didn't go well in my classroom she wants me to celebrate all the things that do go well. So, here it goes, my end-of-year present to myself - a list of all the positive things that have transpired this year, not in order of importance, with little or no additional commentary from me.

1. A parent who could not attend the recent literacy session I did for families asked when I was doing the next one because she'd heard the first one was very informative.
2. Our last Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting went really well; I shifted the focus to teacher practice and pedagogy.
3. My students freely give each other appreciations during closing circle.
4. My most challenging student is gradually and successfully becoming a valued and valuable member of our class.
5. Five students have made considerable progress in their spelling development.
6. Many children are using Junior Writer www.juniorwriter.com at home.
7. Although perpetually overwhelmed with everything that I do, I am less stressed out than many of my colleagues.
8. I'm spending more quality time with my husband and I love it! (This might have something to do with item #7 above.)
9. I have augmented our regular classroom academic program with various "expert visits" by my students' family members.
10. I am finally starting to feel like a graduate student - loving it more every day.
11. I am proud of myself for juggling various hats and sticking to my principles.

New Year's Resolutions
1. To get back to an exercise routine.
2. To keep writing, a little bit every day, as it keeps me focused and energized.
3. To continue to find the balance between my home and school lives.

Closing Circle

2010-12-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

At the end of the day we have a closing circle in my classroom. It is intended to give the children and me a moment of quiet and reflection at the end of the day in the same way that morning meeting energizes us to spend the day learning and playing together. Depending on how much time we have for closing circle - I find that 5 - 7 minutes is just right - we may do a quick check in about our day by putting our thumbs up for an excellent day or thumbs sideways for a good or OK day. If we are not rushed then I will may ask the kids to answer the following question: what will you share about your day with your families tonight? Lately, we've been doing appreciations or thank you's. The only provisos are that you appreciate someone who is present in the room, that you start your appreciation by saying, "(Child's name), I appreciate you for...", and that you look that person in the eyes as you speak to them.

I've noticed that the children's comments have been limited to appreciating their friends for playing with them at recess. As a start this was OK but I remind them to notice what others do during the day that merits an appreciation. The day I mentioned this there was a flurry of appreciations related to other than recess play but that didn't go any further than that moment. I have tried to remember to talk about this at morning meeting but I haven't been successful. I will be writing this down on my first day plan back to school in January.

Our last closing circle before the winter holidays reminded me to remain vigilant of everything that we do in the classroom for how it affects the children, either positively or negatively. Here's what happened: one little girl appreciated a classmate for playing with her and the child being appreciated breathed a big sigh of relief and said, "Finally! Someone's appreciating me!" My heart sank at the same moment that I recognized a teaching opportunity and before the next child could hurry in to get his appreciation, I said: "OK. Let's stop for a moment, here. Susan (not the child's real name), how did it feel to be appreciated?" She said, "Good." Not a very deep response but nevertheless it gets at the core of how it feels for others to show their appreciation for us: it feels good. I then reminded the children to notice others' actions during the school day and to remember to appreciate those children during closing circle. It always amazes me how just when you think they haven't noticed or don't seem to care they really do.

I will help the children make a list of things that others do that merit an appreciation, either publicly or privately, and point these out when I notice them in the classroom. Hopefully, their appreciations will become more genuine over time. Just like math and reading, social interactions need to be modelled and taught.

On a last note...a few days one one of my more challenging students went up to a parent who had given a presentation on her work to our class that morning, and said: "I want to give you an appreciation. I appreciate you for coming to our class and teaching us about the operating room."

Such are the melodious moments of teaching.

Student Reflection

2010-12-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

At the end of every marking period, my grade 2 team asks students to give themselves report card marks on a modified one-page sheet with descriptors similar to those on the report card that teachers are required to complete. The children score themselves on a scale of 1 - 5 in the same way that we teachers do on the report cards. As part of my doctoral work I am reading an article entitled, Rewriting narratives of self: reflections from an action research study by James Pauline, Educational Action Research, 7: 1, 85 - 103 in which the researcher recounts his back and forth use of quantitative and qualitative data, and how the qualitative data gave him more useful and interesting information than was available from the quantitative data. He especially remarks on the fact that the numbers and rankings gleaned from the quantitative data are beside the point to the information he gets from the conversations, written reflections, and comments of his research participants. While he initially surmised that the quantitative data would support and perhaps even reinforce the qualitative data he quickly discovered that, if anything was true, it was the opposite. In fact, my conclusion is that the quantitative data simply adds work but does not enlighten the process and conclusions of a research project.

Therefore, I am rethinking my use of what we call the "self-report card". Instead of using this scoring system I will give the children a few statements to comment on as part of the next report card reflection period. Currently, there are over 15 items on the self-report card. I will need to sift through these items and pick out the most cogent ones, possibly rewriting them to elicit deeper levels of reflection by my students. I am excited by this plan. I realize that I was merely going through the motions of what my team had put in place years before and I have followed unquestioningly. It's time to break the mold.

Morning Message

2010-12-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last month I attended the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference in Orlando, Florida. I am one of three newly elected members to the Elementary Section Steering Committee (ESSC). The NCTE annual conference is one of my favorite conferences. It provides for three days of excellent professional development and conversation, and the possibility of meeting like-minded educators who continually explore their practice in order to improve it. And, it's an opportunity to catch up with old friends. I always learn a lot when I go.

This year I attended a session where a first grade teacher shared how she uses morning message to build classroom community. I was so energized and excited by her presentation that I decided to try this out in my classroom. I told my students about this session and that I wanted them to write the morning message from now on. I told them that I thought their messages would be more interesting than mine and that it was a way to tell the class about themselves. I guided the first three students by reviewing how we write a greeting, the date, and a farewell. After that no one has needed any help.

The messages vary in length but they all convey something important to the writer. After each child writes his or her message we read it and discuss what we learned about the student who wrote it. It has been wonderful watching each child look forward to writing his or her message, and the growing interest exhibited by the rest of the class in discussing what they've discovered about each other. So far, we have learned about Chinese school, swimming lessons, and holiday preparations, to name a few. In today's message, the word "I" and the child's name were written in Chinese!

Every day I look forward to reading what that day's morning message will be. If you don't already do this in your class you may want to give it a try. It is a great way to engage children in an authentic reading and writing activity and to build community at the same time.

Every once in a while

2010-12-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while a student does something wonderful that sends my head spinning. Usually, this incident is out of character and even though you hope he'll do this precise thing he's just done some day, you're just not prepared for it when it happens. You hope that it will happen even if you are not the one to witness it. But you don't hold your breath because you might just be disappointed. When it does happen you suck in your breath and hold it there for a moment not believing your ears and your eyes. But, there it is. The moment you've been hoping for: a student takes the initiative to verbalize his appreciation for someone else without being prodded, enticed, encouraged, coached or any of the other things we do in the hopes that, if we do them often enough, they'll stick.

"What a great holiday gift," someone said. So true!

Finally!

2010-10-10T15:38:00.001-06:00

It was a short summer compounded by the fact that it never really happened here in Calgary; we went from spring straight into fall and now we're doing a back step into a summery autumn. I don't mind because we're experiencing the most spectacular fall I've seen in a long time. The leaves are turning all shades of yellow, orange, and red. It's beautiful. And, in the midst of such beauty I am searching for a routine with my students. I am particularly focusing on constructing a math workshop with clear and efficient procedures and routines that allow me to be more effective at teaching math in Spanish to monolingual English speakers at the same time that I support my students' nascent math understandings. I think I've almost got it.

To help me sort this out, I am reading Guided Math by Laney Sammons which has given me new ideas and a fresh look at math workshop and small group instruction. I have developed a math menu and will be testing it out with the children this week. I'm also working at making numeracy more visible in my classroom in the same way that literacy is virtually all around us. Simple additions, like a "Math is Spoken Here" wall and easier access to manipulatives will go a long way towards making sure that the children realize that math is everywhere and not just in school. And, of course, I will be making adjustments with feedback and suggestions from the children as to how it's going.

More in the next post.

The Last Day of School

2010-06-26T02:13:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the last day of school. It was bittersweet, as it tends to be from year to year. It's hard to believe that the group you've lived with for ten months will no longer be together come September, and at the same time you're ready for summer vacation to start.

The last few days of the school year are often hurried, leaving little time to enjoy each other and say farewell properly. Three other activities yesterday contributed to this hectic pace: our school's annual talent show, SmartBoard installations in various classrooms, and an ice cream party on the playground. In the middle of this craziness, we stopped and I addressed each child individually before everyone went their separate ways. After I finished reading my "the most important thing about..." paragraphs for each child one of my students walked over to his desk and started writing furiously. I assumed he was adding to a comic he had been working on during the week. Then, he came over and handed me the paper. It said, "the important thing about Señora Waingort is that she loves us."

This was a fitting end to an incredibly enriching year. This child's words will stay in my heart forever.

The Results of the 2010 Elections Are In!

2010-06-10T21:16:00.000-06:00

The Results of the 2010 Elections Are In!

Working in Partnerships with Parents

2010-04-03T11:17:00.000-06:00

I have been rethinking my relationship with parents as I read, Becoming Teammates, Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, a National Council of Teachers (NCTE) publication. I am noticing a subtle change in the way I am willing to frame the conversation at the same time that I realize that many of my colleagues are not there, yet.

As I reflect on the ways I involve parents in my classroom I recognize that there are a lot of issues that I need to come to terms with and some perceptions and practices that I need to change. Most of this soul searching comes in the guise of questions for reflection. For example, how can teachers and families share and be responsible for the literacy learning of children? How will this re-visioning change my relationship with parents? How will this change impact children's learning? How can I relinquish control of my classroom in order to better partner with my parents for the sake of their children's learning?

What kind of parent involvement do I practice: avoidance (parents are seen as adversaries and it's better not to involve them in school at all), dependence (parents are seen as supporting teacher and school programs and as needing to learn from the teacher), mutualism (parents are valued as partners in their child's education so that an attitude of "let's learn together" prevails)? (Source: Becoming Teammates, Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi.) At the moment, I see myself as falling into a dependency relationship with parents and moving towards practicing mutualism; intellectually I am a mutualist.

More in a subsequent post. In the meantime, into which paradigm do you fit?

A Poem

2010-02-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

At this time of the year,
everything begins to gel.
We are a community
at long last.

Everyone is busy
reading or writing,
absorbed in their play/work.
Even...
is huddled in the corner
with a brand new copy of
The Wimpy Kid
or a newly stapled book
about some character of
the imagination.

There is a quiet hum,
the laptop,
the rustling of the pages
of a book,
pencils skimming
across a clean page,
the whispered voices of
children reading together,
my own voice conferring
with a student
who has just had a
revelation
and can't wait to get
back to her writing - alone.

I stand back.
There's nothing left to do.
I move on to converse
with another child.

It's a grand day.

Writing and Me

2009-12-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've set a goal for myself of writing every day for at least ten minutes. It's not working. Most of the writing I'm doing is because I have a deadline that's either imposed internally (blog entry) or externally (doctoral paper). Without the deadlines, I'm not writing during those self-appointed ten minutes every day. Of course, I write emails, notes to parents, comments on school documents, etc. But that's not the same as disciplining myself to write for ten minutes whether or not I have to.

I need to revert this trend as it stultifies my goal. I want to be writing for the sake of writing as that is the only way to get at anything worth writing about. Make sense? It does to me. I need to write, every day, for 10 minutes even when I don't have a deadline. There are now three article ideas running through my head and that's all that's happening - they are running through my head. I need to transfer the ideas in my head to paper.

Just yesterday I read a quote in The Life Before her Eyes by Laura Kasischke that resonated so deeply with me that I wanted to jot it down so I could write about it later. But, I got distracted and, in a flash, the quote was gone. And, I've neglected writing in my professional journal for the past month; this happens often.

I need to write to make sense of the events in my life. I need to write because I like the act of composing, revising, and making my writing as clear as I'm able at that moment in time. I need to write because how can I ask my students to write if I myself don't write? I need to write because, through my writing, l make important connections in my personal and professional life. I need to write just like I need to breathe.

Drawing in Writing Workshop

2009-12-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Every year, without fail, I am confronted with the dilemma of how to encourage my students to write a lot without compromising drawing as a form of expression during writing workshop. While I understand that drawing is important to writing at this stage and that a drawing can be as intricate and detailed as a piece of writing without pictures, I am still conflicted when I see children who draw flowers, candy canes, and the like just because they have the choice. At the same time, I have to remember that I must take the children where they are in order to get them to go where they can go next. But, should I limit the amount of drawing the children do? Should I "require" writing to happen before drawing? And, what does all this seemingly aimless drawing tell me about my lessons and my students' grasp of what I've been trying to teach? As I write this I remember a wise teacher once saying that we need to eliminate the shoulds and musts from our vocabulary. Hmmm...

Last month, this issue rose to new heights as I read my students' writing folders and their writer's notebooks in preparation for writing report card narratives. I discovered that while their writer's notebooks were full of great writing, most of the "writing" in their folders was actually drawing. In addition, many of the illustrations had little to no detail, didn't convey a story or message, and seemed like doodling - what you might do as you chat with friends about everything and anything under the sun. The writer's notebooks are a place where I prompt the children to try out different kinds of writing or topics that they wouldn't normally choose on their own with the hope (maybe this is where I've gone awry) that they can transfer this into their own writing projects. The dearth of writing in the writing folders was true regardless of a particular child's stage of writing development.

So, I panicked. Usually by this time of the year the majority of the kids are writing lots of stories and there are just a few that I may need to encourage so that they can increase their fluency as writers. So, I did what I always do when I identify a problem or concern in the classroom: I talked to the children about it. By this time, they had noticed the lack of writing in their folders as well because they were getting ready for student-led conferences. This awareness prompted lots of talk about setting goals to write more and to write first and then draw. I became aware of the importance of referencing mini lessons where we talked about writing that is meaningful to the writer and the reader. And, rightly or wrongly, I did encourage them to write first as a way to balance all the drawing that had been happening for the last three months.

What makes this somewhat easy is that my students love writing workshop. They love that they can sit anywhere they want, work with a friend or not, choose what they're going to write or draw about that day, and share their pieces of writing with everyone. This is not a minor accomplishment as I wouldn't be able to talk to them about increasing the amount of writing they do unless they already loved the idea of writing.

Over the last few weeks I have noticed more writing and increased talk about new ideas for stories. My favorite has been the Mommy Jail series. And, the other day one of my most challenging (to me) students said, "Señora Waingort, you know what? I get a lot of ideas from the class." And, he mentioned how a read-aloud I had done recently had sparked an idea for a story.

Sometimes I just need to be patient. It will come. It will come.

The Power of Writing

2009-12-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

Recently, several families at my school experienced the devastating effects of a fire that left five families on their block without a home. Fortunately, no one was hurt but one family at our school lost all of their belongings. The different communities this family belongs to have offered various levels of support as they look for other places to live and try to reconstruct their lives. Some people are offering monetary support and some are just providing a bed to sleep in for the children and parents.

Our principal sent a letter to all the families in our school detailing the situation and asking parents to consider making a donation for this family in our school. On the back of the principal's letter there is a simple drawing and a brief note from one of my former students. Having been evacuated in the early morning hours and probably wondering herself if her home and family would be safe, she wrote a simple missive to her friend calling her a hero. My former student's mother realizing how upsetting this event had been for her child prompted her daughter to draw and write about it as a way to soothe her fears.

As I read the correspondence that went home, I marvelled at the power of writing. The principal recognizing the urgency of the situation prompted by my former student's writing decided to use her piece of writing to spur others to action. He recognized that the fire is being discussed and worried about among the children. So, how can we reassure our students and take an action that may help this family in their time of need? Teachers agreed to discuss the letter in our classrooms and to urge the children to talk about what happened with their parents.

It is events like this that reconfirm for me the power of using writing as a way to make sense of our world and to consider how we can have an impact on what happens around us. I know this little girl and her mom are feeling very empowered right now.

Observing Students

2009-11-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today I was reminded of the importance of taking a step back to observe students. Yetta Goodman calls it kid watching. Others may call it listening in. Whatever you call it make sure to take a few minutes every day to observe and record your observations while students are working and interacting with each other. You will discover things you had not noticed before and you will get insights that will help your teaching go more smoothly giving you the perspective you need to be a better teacher.

Today I watched my class interacting with our artist-in-residence. I was particularly interested in one student who often has a difficult time controlling his responses when we are working in a whole group setting. I rarely get to finish what I am saying before this child will interrupt with a comment of his own. Often these comments are funny or silly and they don't contribute to our collective learning process. When he is not interrupting, he is off to the side seemingly withdrawn. Today as I watched I noticed how this child's attention was controlled by his own running commentary on everything the artist was saying. These comments were often accompanied by gestures and sounds that oddly enough did not distract the rest of the class from focusing on the artist's lesson.

After the children sat down this student was able to complete the art assignment as well as anybody else in the class. The artist, who has worked at our school for a number of years, commented that he thought this child was a good artist despite a comment early on by him that his illustration was "terrible".

Later in the day I decided to ignore the interruptions of my student and to keep going with the lesson. Surprise! Everyone was focused on what we were doing and I wasn't distracted by correcting this child every two minutes. In the end, he did no better and no worse than anybody else in the practice part of the lesson. I also noticed how focused he is during our writing workshop. He can stay with one story over a few days and is always proud of what he has done.

Although I know that ignoring isn't always the best solution, and certainly not the only solution with this child, I have learned that his interruptions may be his way of dealing with school. There are times when my student is focused and on task and produces wonderful work. This was important for me to affirm since I have been focusing too much on the negatives and not enough on the positives.

After the children had gone home and a colleague asked me how my day had gone I could honestly say, "Great!"

Even in Australia

2009-11-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

After my last blog entry, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what's working and what's not working in my class and, by extension, what needs to change. Part of the (my) problem is that everything always feels rushed; this particular group of children needs more time to explore and ease into learning. Instead, I keep pushing them along; the clock is always my worst enemy.

When I looked at our class schedule I was reminded of my tendency towards being dogmatic. Although I understand that ideas and structures are just that - ideas and structures - I tend to want to replicate them religiously even though I am as nonreligious as they come. If the "experts" say, "thou shalt do morning meeting every day for 30 minutes", then that's what I try to do first, instead of thinking about what my students need and what I know is important about teaching and learning. The adjusting and tweaking needs to come first given the constraints of an elementary school schedule and the previously mentioned attention to children and learning. Although this is what I will always tell the protege I am mentoring this year, I am hard pressed to follow my own advice.

So, for now, I have rearranged our schedule for a better flow between activities - fewer interruptions and lost opportunities for leaning (there's that mighty clock again) - so that there's more room for sharing, which my students love. Classroom frameworks such as morning meeting and class meetings are useful and need to be intentional and purposeful. But, when the children don't know why we are doing something then even a good idea can be cause for disruptions and unintended outcomes.

I need to rethink the language I am using with my students. It's time to take out Choice Words by Peter Johnston for another look at at how the language we use impacts the children we teach. And, it's time to read Alfie Kohn for inspiration and a good dose of chutzpah.

I need to slow things down. Although I don't feel pressured by the threat of standardized testing, it's the self-imposed pressures that I need to do battle with. Gratefully, I love the challenge of teaching and I am always looking for a better way. Sometimes this can be exhausting but the smile of a child who "gets it", or has just discovered she loves to read, or has felt what it's like to "get lost in a book", is priceless.

That's why I'm a teacher and that's why I keep coming back day after day after day.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2009-11-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong and nothing you do seems to work? No matter how hard you try you feel like you're just bumbling along?

What do you do when you feel like the worst teacher that walked the planet? How do you take back a bad day? How do you make it up to your students and to yourself so that you can continue on a healthy path to learning?

How do you call up the courage to listen to what your heart and mind tells you is the right path to take with a challenging student at the same time that you acknowledge that you might need help? How do you listen to yourself and others without losing sight of the most important person, the child?

These are the questions I am going to be reflecting on in my teacher journal today, Remembrance Day. Seems fitting since, in some ways, this is a day to think about how we can create and practice peace in our professional and personal lives on a day to day basis.

I welcome your thoughts.

What the iphone Can Teach Us About Teaching

2009-11-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

What the iphone Can Teach Us About Teaching

What do you think?

Ideas anybody??

2009-09-20T11:04:00.000-06:00

I am planning a series of monthly sessions for my students' parents on reading. More specifically I plan to discuss the approach to teaching reading (Reading Workshop) that I use in my classroom as well as how I assess children (observations, one-to-one conferences, conversations, etc) in order to determine what to teach and what configurations (individual, small group, whole class) will best meet their needs. I am also planning to teach parents about miscue analysis and to share some samples from the classroom, without using children's names of course.

I think the first session, just like the first day of school, is important as far as first impressions are concerned. I want to draw parents in and whet their appetite for future sessions at the same time that I want to give them something concrete to take home to try with their children.

I have some ideas of things I've done in the past but I'd love to hear yours. So, fire away!

Sleepless in Calgary

2009-08-25T04:30:00.000-06:00

It's 4:33 am. I've been up for about one hour; I can't sleep. Yesterday I couldn't sleep either. So, instead of lying in bed trying to count sheep I decided to do some work.

We have three teacher days to get ready before the children arrive. Are there other professionals that have three days to set up their workspace, on their own, so that on the fourth day they are prepared to greet their clients?? Do any of them have to do this year after year? No need to answer.

Yesterday was my first day back at school. We spent the morning in a staff meeting, and for half the afternoon my grade level group sorted the classroom materials we ordered at the end of June. I couldn't remember why we ordered some of the materials that were on our list and right now I can't think of a single use for anything in my room. I'm drawing a blank and the kids arrive in two days. Every year I get numb during the first few days back in the building and then I'm off and running. This year I haven't had time to ease into a new school year; I was with my family helping my second child move into her first year of college in Boston. My husband and oldest daughter are still there while I'm home trying to sort out the pieces and get ready to greet a new group of students.

I try to remain calm as I go through all the beginning-of-the-year details I must attend to:

--setting up a library area
--seating - what arrangements do I want?
--my teacher space so that I don't spread out all over the room
--bulletin boards - where and for what?
--meeting area
--where to put the materials my students will use
--what to store and what to display
--routines and procedures
--remembering to take mind breaks.

I could go on and on; there are so many things to consider before the students arrive and as the year goes on. But, I am reminded to keep my focus on my goal - to put the children at the center of everything I do. One of the most important things I will do during the first couple of days is to begin the process of establishing positive relationships with each of my students. As I create my classroom space and design my lessons for the first few days I want my students to understand what's important in our classroom. The layout of the room and the choices they have now will give them a glimpse into the kinds of classroom we can create this year; the possibilities are endless.

It's true that writing allows us to discover what we know and to work out problems we may be experiencing. As I write these words, I am starting to get excited. My motto for this year will be: Our classroom is a place where we enjoy learning about the world and ourselves. Now, I think I'm ready.

And the Countdown Begins

2009-08-12T12:14:00.000-06:00

In less than two weeks I'll be starting another school year in a new well-lit classroom with a new group of students. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm ready.

I'm ready to focus on my students and maintain that focus throughout the year. I am ready to stay calm and not just during the easy times. I have always marvelled at how during summer vacation I am less agitated and more relaxed. Housekeeping chores seem to get done with relative ease and I read a ton of books. I try to sustain that feeling by remembering the sights and sounds of summer. I'm always confident that I can do it just by "remembering". I'm able to "remember" for a short while and then by the end of the first month of school, it's gone. It's a gradual leaving and before I know it I've developed amnesia all over again. Of course, I know that the carefree attitudes and practices of summer are difficult to sustain during the school year. Yet, I am always hopeful that I will have meditated long enough on this so that this time it will stick.

This school year I'm determined to stay at peace with myself and others, family included, by taking lots of deep breaths before lunging forward blindly. Simple technique but it does work. We always talk to our students about controlling their impulsive behaviors but we rarely take that advice ourselves. Because I know it works for me - I've had several opportunities to prove this theory myself - I am going to practice it more often this year. I know it won't be perfect but I know it will help when things go haywire in the classroom or when relationships with colleagues are on edge. When I've practiced deep breathing and/or counting to ten before speaking or acting I'm amazed that whatever had been driving me crazy a short while earlier is no longer that important. And, then there are no regrets!

I wish everybody a happy, restful, and exciting start to the school year. Let's keep it that way.

Growing Up and Leaving Home

2009-08-05T10:15:00.000-06:00

My second child is going off to college this month. When my oldest left, four years ago, I couldn't drop her off because I was starting a new job. This time around I am going but I can't help her move in because I start to work three days earlier this year. Just the time I would need to help her settle in. I will have to fly back to Calgary from Boston with my son; my husband will stay behind until she is settled in. I'm hoping I don't cry all the way home. My son is going to be sad, too. He doesn't need a blubbering mom to worry about.

I thought this time around it would be easier to let my child go. I thought that having gone through this rite of passage once before would make things easier. But, I was wrong. Every time I think of some plan we have for the fall I immediately think of my second born and as quickly remember that she won't be around. I get so sad that I have to work hard to pull myself back to the present. It's not helping that the weather is so dreary; it hasn't stopped raining in three days and we haven't seen the sun for that long either.

I know my daughter will do well. She will be happy. She will be safe. She will go out into the world and do great things. I have no doubt about that but I'm selfish. i want her close to me; I want all my children close to me. And, then I remember Kahlil Gibran's words and it gives me courage:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

Growing up is hard.

250 Words

2009-07-29T06:59:00.001-06:00

Recently I was invited to blog on Schoolwide Blog. www.schoolwideblog.com So far, I've posted three blogs on parent involvement in their children's learning. I've enjoyed the process of writing and the responses I've received to my entries. I am limited to approximately 250 words and, needless to say, this has been a challenge. It's not easy saying something of worth in 250 words. I've learned that it's important to be concise and to the point. It's not necessary to say everything there is to say in the world about a topic. In fact, it's better to say just enough to get others thinking. This will help me as I design mini lessons for reading and writing. I tend to want to say and teach too much rather than just enough. Like with this post.

Oh, one last thing. :) Dick Allington will be the newest blogger on Schoolwide Blog. So, tune in if you can.

Schoolwide Blog |

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Writing and Me

2009-07-15T10:42:00.001-06:00

I've always considered myself a good teacher of writing and I love to write. My students leave my classroom at the end of each year loving to write, as well. Nevertheless, I haven't always seen myself as a writer. I do write a lot but most of it has been for my own consumption. I think of writers as people who share some of their writing with others by publishing it - with a capital P. Yet, this summer I've begun to rethink this image I have of myself and what a writer looks like. This despite all of my intellectual rationalizations about writers and writing. Go figure!

This summer I've been doing a lot of writing while simultaneously reflecting on myself as a writer. I already think of myself as an avid reader. I have no trouble with this label. Could it be because most of the reading I do is solitary except for the occasional book study or book club I've been involved in?

Here's a list of the writing I've been doing this summer:
--papers for my doctoral course.
--an entry for an educational blog I've been invited to participate in.
--an essay that I've submitted for publication.
--online book reviews.
--social networking such as on Facebook, Twitter, listservs, etc.
--my journal.
--an entry for a friend's 50th birthday celebration book.

Case closed: I do a lot of writing and I do publish my writing even if it's not in the traditional sense of publishing with a capital P.

In the past, I have tried sharing some of my writing with my students. Truth be told, I can probably count the number of times I've done this in one hand! Hmmm... This coming school year I plan to share more often. I want to use my writing to share about my life with my students as well as for teaching purposes. I'm excited about doing this at the same time that it makes me a bit nervous.

So how do you see yourself as a writer? Do you like to write? What kinds of things do you write? Who do you write for? Does it matter?

I'm hoping blogging about this issue will give me courage to post something on the National Gallery of Writing.

End of the school year

2009-07-04T07:02:00.000-06:00

Well, I am officially on vacation. The children and I barely got through the last week of school without a major mishap as they were at each other's throat from the first day of the week. There were a lot of conflicting feelings for many of them and although we talked about this they are after all six and seven year olds. They are just beginning to understand the permanence and meaning of farewells. I loved this year's class as I always do and wished I could keep them for one more year. But, I sent them on with, I hope, lots of strategies for how to learn and live well.

So, I packed my old room for a new grade 2 teacher and I moved all of my things into my new room. I feel like a little kid with a new toy: my new room! It's smaller than my old room but it has a beautiful window with a great big window seat. The teacher that lived in this classroom a few years ago used the window area for her desk crowding that beautiful space with her stuff. I plan to use it as the primary reading area in my classroom. I will put pillows on the window seat for the kids to read, write, and draw, or to simply contemplate the change in the (2) seasons - spring/summer and fall/winter. (This is Calgary, after all.) My desk will go in a corner of the room because I have come to terms with the fact that I need a desk to contain myself otherwise I end up containing the classroom. I seem to overflow everywhere. Recently, a teacher gave me a large kidney shaped table for a corner of my room in exchange for a small round table. Mistake! I overflowed onto that table although I tried not to.

Summer is the time when I think about what went well this year and what I can improve on for next year. I have lots of new and old books to read and lots of new ideas I want to try out. I hope I remember that summer doesn't last forever and that if I'm going to be productive in my planning/thinking that I need to prioritize. In two months I'll be on the third or fourth day of school and this summer will seem like a long time away. But, for now, I am excited about getting another fresh start at getting it right even as I know that "getting it right" is just a matter of approximations that keep improving over the years. I still look forward to another try. After all, that's what beginnings and endings are all about.

Happy summer!

Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter

2009-06-05T21:53:00.000-06:00

Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter

Math Workshop - one event

2009-05-18T07:16:00.000-06:00

This year, I have been experimenting with math workshop modeled along the lines of reading and writing workshop. In reading and writing workshop we always start out as a group so that I can teach a lesson, do a read aloud, or give a writing assignment for the children to do in the children's writer's notebooks. Then, the children have anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes for independent writing or reading where I walk around and conference with as many children as I can get to that day - another chance for me to do some one-to-one teaching. Afterwards, or at another time, the children will share what they've been working on. Sometimes the intent of the sharing will be to highlight the focus of the mini lesson. We typically have one hour each for reading and writing workshop at least three times a week, in both Spanish and English. This year we started out with a 30 minute slot, once a week, for math workshop. This has since increased to 45 minutes, once a week, as my confidence with this kind of teaching has increased. I am planning to expand the number of days for math workshop next year.

Some math workshop sessions have gone really well while others have been less than stellar, and that is also how reading and writing workshop goes from time to time. Since I've been doing workshop teaching in language arts for over 20 years, I have become accustomed to the ups and downs of this kind of approach and how to address particular issues. I've developed faith in the children's ability to work out their reading and writing problems and to come to love reading and writing if they're given time, choice, appropriate materials, and mini lessons to guide them in their learning. I am working towards that learning curve with math.

In math workshop the children design a question with math content (choice), carry out their investigation (time), and then reflect on their learning (my opportunity for teaching). The following are snippets of some of the investigations that my students were engaged in during a recent math workshop.

--K. was measuring the width of the classroom. First, she used unifix cubes and then the length of her foot as measuring tools. Since she didn't have enough unifix cubes to carry out her investigation I suggested she measure the width and then the length of the carpet and compare the two measurements; there were enough unifix cubes to carry out this investigation. Her question became: how many unifix cubes long and wide is the carpet? And, will these measurements be the same? She discovered that the length and the width of our carpet are not the same. "What does it tell you about the shape of the carpet?" I asked her, thinking that while this was a great math question it would prove too difficult for a grade two to extend her thinking in this way. "It's not a square," she said. "What shape is the carpet, then?" I asked. "It's a rectangle," she responded. "How do you know?" I countered. "All sides are not equal," she said.

--M. was working on a structure using centimeter cubes. This was the second math workshop that he had been working on this question. He was trying to break his previous record by making this week's structure taller. M. knew that each cube equalled one centimeter even though we had never labeled them as such. He built a structure that was 4x4x8 but only considered the length and the width and not the depth of his structure. He was not thinking in terms of three dimensions even though he had a tangible object in front of him. When asked how many cubes he used this time, he answered that he used 80 centimeter cubes for his structure. Yet, when we counted the cubes there were 128. We counted by making groups of tens and then adding on the extra cubes. "How can we account for this discrepancy?" I asked him. Although he couldn't tell me and since our math workshop time was over for that day, this became the subject of a focus lesson on a subsequent day. Although the thinking involved in trying to figure out why M. miscalculated the number of cubes used was too advanced for many of the children in the class it was an opportunity for the children to experience puzzling ideas in math and to consider designing their own investigation to try to figure out what happened.

--R. explained that to add 30 + 26 she first added 30 + 20 (not 3 + 2), which equals 50. Then she added 0 + 6 = 6. Finally, she added 50 + 6 = 56. She is starting to understand the concept of adding two-digit numbers and how to put these numbers together so that they make sense. By not using the algorithm for addition, R. was forced to think about place value and the relationships between and among numbers.

Playing For Change | Peace Through Music

2009-05-08T06:37:00.001-06:00

Playing For Change | Peace Through Music

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I discovered this website from a friend. The music is wonderful and uplifting and the video is beautifully done. Enjoy!

Taking Stock

2009-04-03T22:38:00.001-06:00

I spent the last couple of weeks, including spring break, sick as a dog. I am just now staring to feel better and am regaining my strength. This illness has forced me to reevaluate my time, my commitments, my inability to say no. I need to slow down and simplify. I need to set priorities and stick to them. I need to devote more time to myself and to my family. I tend to take on too much because I like being busy, always having a project on the back burner.

But, this time it was too much.

I don't need to do everything now.
I have enough to do as it is: teaching, starting a doctorate, spending quality time with my family.

I need to simplify.
I will.
I have already started to slow down.
It has been nice though it feels strange.
I can do it.

I will

A Writing Lesson on Voice

2009-03-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today I did a writing lesson on voice with my students. Each of the members of my Professional Learning Community (PLC) decided to choose a trait from the 6 +1 Traits of Writing and teach a lesson as a way to become more familiar with the traits. I chose voice because I find that while it is the easiest of all the traits to identify it is the hardest to teach.

The lesson I used came from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) www.nwrel.org. NWREL is the developer of the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. Although I am very familiar with the 6 traits and have used them with my students and in my work with teachers over the years, I do not rely on the 6 rubrics to determine my writing program. At the same time, I find that the language of the 6 traits can help children assess their writing and those of their classmates. Of course, it's not necessary to use this particular language but it is important to develop terminology with your students so that when you talk about the hallmarks of a good piece of writing the children know what you're talking about. Then, they can begin to identify these in their own and others' writing.

In this lesson, called Adding Voice, the children listened to a short passage about a child's experience rafting during a family vacation. The story could be said to have no voice. The children and I looked at the voice rubric so that they would know what criteria we would be using to assess this piece of writing. We agreed that a piece of writing that takes the audience into consideration and has a purpose - a reason for being written - would have voice. Also, a story with lots of details means that the writer is willing to take a risk to reveal himself. This, we said, is also important. Then, the children worked with a partner to add voice to this voiceless piece of writing. As the children worked I walked around and talked to them about their stories. I found that most of the pieces lacked enough details to make the story come alive for the reader.

I am planning to do this lesson again with another piece of writing, or perhaps even with the same one, but this time we'll work together to add voice to the story. I want to continue working with the children to help them develop their voices. Part of me wonders whether they're ready to take this leap. I wonder if I could have done a similar lesson at the beginning of the school year? Probably not. Timing is critical.

I was excited that the children were engaged during our whole group discussion and when they were working with their partners. This activity went well because there was a clear focus and easy to follow directions. I think the children learned some important things about how writing that can sound flat and boring can be revived so that it has more voice.

Exploring Writer's Workshop with Teachers

2009-02-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have started doing a series of Wednesday afternoon sessions for teachers at my school on Writer's Workshop. The first session was this week. I love doing these workshops for teachers because it helps me articulate my philosophy and practice. They help me think through the what and why of my practice. They keep me honest.

During the first session we talked about the writing process or "the process of writing" as worded by Wendy Bean and Jan Turbill in their book, Writing Instruction, K - 6, Understanding Process, Purpose, Audience. We talked about how the writing process and the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing work together, since the latter is of special interest in my school at the moment. I explained the components of Writer's Workshop and we did a little bit of writing. It was probably too much for a one hour session; we could have spent more time on any one part of the agenda.

At the end of the afternoon I asked for feedback regarding what teachers wanted to know more about. I received good responses that I am planning to weave into each of the next sessions. I will also be offering twice monthly brown bag lunches to further discuss the fine points, problems, etc of Writer's Workshop.

If you have done sessions like this before at your school, or have attended any yourself, please post suggestions for what you think are some ideas worth exploring with teachers new to the concept of workshop teaching. I'd love to read your thoughts! Thank you!

Alfie Kohn

2009-02-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at Teacher's Convention in Calgary, I heard Alfie Kohn speak. Although I've read articles he has written I had never seen him in person. If you ever get the chance to attend one of his lectures don't walk, run, to see him!

He is passionate about children and teachers. He wants to keep classroom tasks authentic and connected to students' lives. He is anti-grades and anti-testing but he doesn't just leave it at that. He supports teachers as knowledgeable professionals who know their students best. He asserts that the research says, and I've been at several assessment sessions that support this position, that before high school there is no need to give grades or tests. A case can be made for high school simply because that is how colleges still admit students: partially on the basis of their grades. However, before grade 9 it is more beneficial to students' learning if they aren't given grades but are provided with timely and specific feedback. Although we need to assess and evaluate children we don't need to do it at the expense of learning; there are other tools we can use to determine what students know, have learned, and where they might need to go next.

Kohn claims that the purpose of standardized testing, in the U.S. and Canada, is to control teachers and students. I couldn't agree with him more. The threat of standardized tests looms over teachers and students like a heavy cloud. Since we know we have to administer these tests and that the scores are publicized we often end up teaching to the test. As a result, we end up compromising what is important and appropriate for children to learn based on their needs and interests at any given time.

I felt validated in what I do in my classroom and was one in an audience of over 1,000 people who stood up and gave him a standing ovation.

Aren't Children Amazing?

2009-02-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last week my students presented what they had learned about Guatemala to three different groups of classes at my school. It was part of the now annual Celebration of Learning. Although it started out as a way to highlight the Latin American holiday of Carnaval it has taken on a life of its own. We now share what we're learning about the different Latin American countries that we study, whether or not it's to highlight that country's particular customs around Carnaval time. Although my students' presentations were far from polished and they had been nervous while presenting, they felt they had done an awesome job . At the end of the day, I asked the children what they could improve on for the next time they had to give a presentation in front of a group. In a nutshell, this is what they said:

--Even though I was nervous I pretended there was only one person in the room and that I was just talking to that person.
--I just told myself that this was only for a few minutes and that I could do it for that long.
--I think I need to practice speaking in front of a large group.

Next week I am presenting at our local Teacher's Convention and I will most definitely remember my students' words of wisdom.

The Answers Depend on the Questions You Ask

2009-02-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

The answers depend on the questions you ask. What a simple and provocative statement! When we worry about students who don't seem to be making progress we often start by asking questions such as these:

--Why can't F. retell simple stories?
--Why does F. get a blank look on her face when you ask her a simple question?
--Why does F. sometimes seem to know what's going on and at other times, she hasn't a clue?

I could go one and on in this same vein but I don't think it's necessary since you may have already noticed that all these questions are phrased negatively - what D. can't do. They all operate from weaknesses and deficits. The answers will only lead me to more cant's and probably even some "wont's".

If, on the other hand, I explore what D. can do, and what her interests seem to be I might be able to use her strengths and interests to help her improve her ability to listen and attend so that she can learn more and better. I noticed that F. likes to draw. Often, though, her drawings are simple and feminine in nature. How can I start with something she's already doing and enjoys to get F. to think, write, and read on a deeper level?

What am I responsible for?

2009-01-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

A question I posed in my previous post - how can I be held responsible for those things over which I have little or no control, such as a family's socioeconomic status - begs an answer. Although I can't be held responsible for a family's socioeconomic status, I do have a moral responsibility to advocate for an equitable distribution of resources so that all children have what they need to focus on learning in the classroom. Although, there are other elements that come into play as far as the progress a child makes in any one year, financial stability is definitely high on the list due to the repercussions it has on all aspects of a family's life. As teachers, we are responsible for the learning that happens in our classrooms and we must protest the politics and policies that prevent children from learning. We need to be front line supporters for our students. If not us, then who?

Accountability

2008-12-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the term accountability. According to Wikipedia, accountability is defined as: In the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.

These thoughts, some of them may appear random, came to me as I was reading the January 1994 issue of Language Arts. (Yes, I save my professional journals until I've read them cover to cover.). Accountability, at least the way it is sometimes used in educational circles, amounts to responsibility, or a duty, obligation or liability for which someone is held accountable. Why didn't you clean the house? That was your responsibility! (Wikipedia). So, when you are accountable, you are responsible because others are counting on you to complete a task or explain yourself if you don't. Here's a random thought: am I accountable for my students or to my students? If I am accountable to my students then I can only answer to them and their parents/guardians, and what happens in the classroom during the single year that they are with me. I cannot be held responsible for what came before or even, to a certain extent, what comes after except in the sense that I've successfully taught my students ways to continue their learning in future years. And, even then, this is dependent on whether their current teacher knows how to take advantage of what they know and are able to do. But, how can I be accountable (responsible) for their family situation and condition? However, I can be held accountable to their family situation and condition by being aware of all that they bring into my classroom. In this way, I can be a better teacher to my students. But, how can I be held responsible for the teaching they were exposed to, or even that which they were not exposed to, the previous year? How can I be held responsible for whether or not they have breakfast in the morning or a nutritious snack and lunch when they come to school?

How can I be held responsible for those things over which I have little or no control?

We need to guard against a narrow view of accountability or responsibility that wants to put the blame on teachers for those things over which we have little or no control. Only informed and knowledgeable teachers can take responsibility for the teaching and learning that goes on in their classrooms to help their students progress. Once the specter of fear and threat is removed from the term accountability, then we can get back to what we know how to do best: teach, nurture, and love the children in our care. I feel privileged to be held responsible to that definition of accountability.

End of Year 2008

2008-12-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable, but true! The last time I wrote an entry in this blog, that nobody even knows about yet, was almost a year ago. So, my New Year's resolution for this year is to write an entry once a week and to let others know about this blog, especially parents.

In less than two months time I will embark on an exciting adventure as I start a Doctoral Program in Education. It has been something I've been trying to do for at least five years but finding a reputable online program has been difficult. Nevertheless, I've found one at the University of South Australia in Adelaide that seems to be just right. It took almost 3 months for my application to be processed and approved. Now that it's a reality I am looking forward to this challenge. At the same time, I am committed to maintaining quality time with my family and to maintaining my level of commitment to teaching and learning. A tall order, I know, but this is a challenge that I am ready to take on. I know I can do this because I work best when I push myself to my limits in every area of my life. It makes me feel alive and happy. When I'm happy I am more productive; I'm sure this is the case for most people.

I am getting ready for this new stage in my life by putting my priorities in order so that when push comes to shove I will be able to make appropriate choices. Will I read this entry next year and wonder if I was heavily in denial? Who knows? Only time will tell.

Happy New Year to all!

End of year reflection #1

2007-12-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Since we're just a few days away from 2008 I feel compelled to write this post before the year ends. This is has been an incredible beginning to the school year for me as a teacher. I ask myself what it is that has worked so well this year that didn't work well last year. Is it because I have a different group of kids, maybe with fewer behavior issues? Or is it because I have more supportive parents this year? Or is it because now I have doors in my classroom rather than an open pod? Maybe it's all of these things put together that have made the difference but over which I have no control. However, I also want to think that I had a little hand in our coming together as a classroom so far this year. So, what am I doing differently this year? First of all, I have implemented a morning meeting that is sacrosanct. The kids expect it and when we miss a part of it they notice. I am taking baby steps when teaching procedures and demonstrations before expecting the kids to plunge in and show proficiency and independence. All in all, I think that I am a better teacher this year because I am taking the time to make sure that my students are more caring towards each other than the group I had last year. As a result, they are more willing to do the "right thing" rather than waiting to be told what to do. They are more willing to take risks and try things out. We are a community of learners that cares about each other.

First Days of School

2007-09-12T19:53:00.000-06:00

This post was supposed to have begun thus: The first day of school is officially over.

Then, the first day of school was over and I hadn't gotten around to blogging or journaling anything. The same thing happened every day after that. Before I knew it, the first day and week of school were over and I hadn't captured their essence as I had intended. These are important days when the character of the class is beginning to gel and I am getting to know my students. Today is the 7th day of school and I spent it at home with my son who is sick. So, it's today that I can carve out a few minutes to write in my journal - my first entry for this year - and then to expand on my thoughts in this blog.

As I pause to reflect on the first few days of school I am once again reminded how important it is to take some time to think about my teaching. It is this process that gets me energized to go back into the classroom and try again. It is what helps me stay the course when I feel at my lowest and wonder if I will ever be the kind of teacher I read about in professional books or the kind that writes pages and pages describing her classroom on the many professional listservs that I belong to. In Sonia Nieto's book, What Keeps Teachers Going, a teacher describes in poignant terms his doubts about his abilities and effectiveness as a teacher. I identified with that teacher. I am him. A day doesn't go by when I don't question what I did in the classroom that day. Sometimes I'm very hard on myself and forget all the good things that happen. Which gets me back to the original topic of this paragraph: the importance of reflection and writing. As I write I eventually get to the good stuff that keeps me coming back for more. And, then it's there, on the printed page for me to read over and over again.

So, what is my thinking about the first days of school? I have many questions and not many answers. I wonder how much the decorations or lack thereof matter in a child's first impressions of his new classroom? Did it matter that I did not have store bought "stuff" on my bulletin boards like many of the other teachers? Was the layout of my room, as carefully thought out as it was, of any consequence to the kids or was I the one who set the tone? Or was it a combination of both elements?

The start of this year seemed smoother than in years past. Did that have to do with the fact that I have eight students from grade one with me this year? Are they also helping to set the tone? Or does it have to do with the fact that I'm going slowly, focusing on procedures and expectations? Is consistency and follow-up, though not perfect, the key? Is it a combination of all of these particulars that make up the character, nature, tone, etc. of a classroom community? I'm beginning to think that's it but I'm still not sure. As I write, I'm thinking I should ask the kids themselves for their impressions. But, what do I ask? How do you feel in our classroom? What do you like about our classroom? What don't you like about our classroom? What would you change about our classroom? That's it! I'll ask the kids and reflect on what they tell me. I'm sure, if nothing else, I will learn a lot about them. Now, I'm excited to go back tomorrow (hopefully my son will feel better) and try this out and get their responses. The power of reflection!

Summer Professional Reading

2007-08-12T10:22:00.000-06:00

This summer has been a whirwind of professional reading for me. I have been focusing primarily on classroom management and reading comprehension strategies. I'm reading several books simultaneously right now and am excited about the changes I am planning to make in my classroom this year. I hope to change the look and the feel of the classroom. I want to spend the first six weeks on establishing procedures and routines even as we delve into content. I am planning to slow down so that we can take advantage of the year in grade two.

One of the additions I will be making to my classroom is the Family Message Journal or Home School Journal. Once a week, probably on Fridays, I will have the kids write to their families about what they are learning in the classroom and any other topic they want to broach with their families. I will start this around the end of October after the kids have had a chance to get into the routines of being back at school. What will I cut out? I will not be doing Monday journals anymore so that I can fit in and justify the Family Message Journals. I am excited about this change especially after consulting with some teachers on the Teachings Applying Whole Language listserv (TAWL) who have been doing this type of journal for some time now.

Another change I am looking to implement is the Daily 5 based on the book of the same name by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ("the sisters"). More on that as it develops. And, I will be increasing and planning for structured comprehension lessons based on Mosaic of Thought, second edition, by Ellin Keen and Susan Zimmerman, and Strategies that Work, second edition, by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.

So, here's to another wonderful year of teaching and learning with my students. I can't wait to get started!

Summer

2007-07-05T13:30:00.001-06:00

Today is my first full day off from school. Although we were officially done on Friday, I went back Tuesday and part of Wednesday to finish cleaning my classroom and to organize my materials.

I can't believe it has been almost a year since my family arrived in Calgary from Ecuador. What a whirlwind year it has been for us! One of the highlights, by far, has been my experience at Dalhousie School. The administration and teachers welcomed me with open arms and supported the work I was doing with students. Without that support it would have been a much more difficult year. I also had a great group of parents that worked with me and put in many volunteer hours throughout the year. That was wonderful and a first of a kind experience for me. I am looking forward to next school year when I will be teaching grade 2. I am excited to be taking some of my grade 1 students with me and am looking forward to creating a wonderful classroom community with the other grade 2 students. Now, it's time to do some housecleaning!