I’m reading the new Ralph Fletcher book Pyrotechnics On the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. My plan was to be part of the Stenhouse Ning group and work through this book with other educators and Ralph himself. (See my post about that here.) However, 2 days into the work, I was absolutely overwhelmed by the constant emails about posts and comments to posts on the Ning. It was just too much for me! So instead, I’m leisurely reading the book on my own. After finishing chapter 2, I’m convinced there is something BIG here for my work with teachers in the Fall… TALK.
More and more I’m learning how oral language development is the most important indicator of reading and writing success. Students who are strong orally are stronger writers and stronger readers. It makes sense, but this is something I don’t think I’ve really put emphasis on in my classrooms or even with my own daughter.
This doesn’t mean I’m advocating just letting children talk and talk and talk. Instead my emphasis would be on being a better listener to that talk. I plan to focus on engaging a child into moving further in her talk while practicing listening better to what is said.
Certainly there are direct links to conferring here, but really I’m thinking about the classroom environment. We need classrooms where children are taught how to talk; then given the space and time to do it. From KG1 (our PK4) to grade 5, developing talkers is an important step we need to take.
Today is the last day of school. Tomorrow we will board a plane for the US. The year is officially OVER. My next posts will be from the TCRWP Institute in NYC June 29-July 3.
Until then, here is a look at my coaching space at ACS. It is, as always, a work in progress. In this video you will see how we have organized our DRA testing papers (cutting down on lines at the copy machines), big books, a large collection of leveled texts students can take for home reading, our leveled library, and professional books. The space is quite large and allows for demonstration teaching (lab sites) as well as plenty of room for teachers to meet for professional development. (I apologize for the way this video ends. I was surprised by another teacher and forgot to edit the end before I made it into a movie.)
Next year we will be receiving 1,000s of books to support our reading and writing workshops. When you are working from such a great distance, we have to be very careful that we know what supplies we have and what has been lost, so initially these books will be organized, inventoried, and stored by me.
If you have any ideas for organizing and managing books for teachers to check out and use, I would love to hear your thoughts.
During my early years as a teacher in the US, I spent weeks over the summer going through my classroom, organizing and setting up. Now however, as we plan to get on the plane the evening school is out and not return until the day before we are to report for work, I am trying to do all of that “set up” now. That said, I do think I’m getting better at keeping the clutter to a minimum.
Yesterday, I went through all of the files I’ve had sitting in the cabinet for the past 2 years. Some are mine, but most were here when I arrived. I decided that I would conduct a massive “purge” of materials I haven’t used in 2 years. Guess what? That cabinet full of files? Now, 3 of the 4 drawers are empty!
At the end of the week I will put up a short video clip showing my literacy room. It is amazing how far things have come in such a short span of time at this school!
I follow the WNY Education Associates blog. A few days ago, there were some interesting posts about kids (MS/HS age) who are abandoning Facebook because they are overwhelmed by the stress and pressure to “friend” people. As the mother of a 9-year old, this isn’t something I’ve dealt with before, but I did pass the information on to my husband who is our MS Counselor. Following the Facebook post, Angela at WNY Ed Associates wrote a post asking if we as teachers should “foster in our kids and in ourselves the ability to assess and effectively respond to the stress created by some of these realities….” Below is a list of bullets she has started brainstorming which would do just that. I must say it has gotten me thinking. If you have something to add, be sure to head over to WNY Education Associates and leave a comment.
Technology I can use- today!
In my international teaching career I’ve been fortunate enough to work in schools which could afford cutting-edge technology. However, at times, those expensive and fantastic “advancements” didn’t really help me improve student learning.
There have been other times though, when the technology has improved my work- dramatically.
Today- our school had a demonstration of a new ELMO document camera. WOW! I’ve always thought these were handy, but this new model was even better. Not only can you show any document, but you can move the camera around, zoom easily, and save a “snapshop” of your work (either the document or you can twist the camera around and take a picture of the work students did with the document on the white board) to your computer.
The uses for this tool in the elementary grades are endless. I found an article by Tim Bedley detailing some ways to use document cameras in the classroom, but I’m sure there are many more ideas out there.
As we get started using ELMOs here- do you have a list of tips and tricks for getting the most out of this technology?
I gave up on having a word wall in my classroom years ago. For one thing the kids never seemed to really use it. Another reason I abandoned it’s use was once I become more proficient at charting during workshop, I needed all the wall space I could find.
Instead, when I taught grade 1 I borrowed a great idea from my teaching partner at the time, Sarah Toa and gave children mini-charts of frequently used words to keep in their writing folders and/or stored in a supply bin at their tables. When I moved into grade 3 I used the same idea. At that level, a child was encouraged to add a word to his list when he (or I) thought it was a word he needed to learn and use correctly.
Now as a literacy coach I’m being asked to help teachers use their classroom word walls. However, I can’t seem to get beyond the voice in my head saying… “Why do you need a word wall anyway?”
Check out the blog: Two Writing Teachers. These ladies are deeply involved in teaching writing and inspire me to be more thoughtful when I approach this craft. The following post examines several issues of intention and ties it all up into a neat bundle called “Teaching Tracks”.
I love the idea of stepping back and examining my own room (or the classroom of another teacher) to see the track she took to lead her learners.
The fact that this should be evident by simply looking at the walls of the room reminds me of my current question to my grades 3-5 writing group: “Does the physical space in our classrooms allow us to effectively display everything we need (and want) to show students?”
(My classroom in Shanghai was small, but the floor to ceiling cork boards on every wall made it an amazing “tracking” space. SAS-Pudong, 2007)
What is your teaching track?
