tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56544972094076778032024-02-18T18:03:41.192-08:00@readingisswaggHeather Lambert is a parent and child learning consultant based out of the western suburbs of Chicago.Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-56922336641870940192015-04-17T16:13:00.001-07:002015-04-17T16:13:33.719-07:00Officially shutting down this blogFor those of you who don't know I'm taking a year leave of absence from public ed to pursue other avenues of life. If you're enjoying my writing and my blogs, feel free to visit me at <a href="http://www.corechild.com/" target="_blank">COREChild</a>. That will be my new blog site. It's been a good ride these last three years! Thank you so much for following.Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-22548105292664250862015-03-17T11:59:00.000-07:002015-03-17T12:48:29.410-07:00Waiting until they're readyI follow a website that recently posted a meme with this quotation:<br />
<br />
<i>You can struggle for weeks to teach a child something before they are ready, or you can do it in a few moments when they are ready to learn.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This statement was so impactful to me as I reflected upon my own experiences as a teacher and a mother. I immediately drew a connection with my own daughter - now eleven years old. As a musician and piano instructor myself, I was convinced that my parents had the right idea starting me on piano when I was seven. Seven is about the earliest age I recommend for parents to start piano with their kiddos, so why would I NOT start my own daughter in piano at seven? <br />
<br />
So we did. And it failed. So we tried again when she was eight. And it failed again. I felt kind of like a failure and took her inability to play very personally. Of COURSE she will play. All Lambert children will play. But my husband just looked at me and said, "Maybe she's not ready." I knew he was right. So we stopped trying.<br />
<br />
When she turned eleven we had an evaluation for vision therapy and made the decision to pay for the twenty sessions to see if it would help her academically. We had no idea, however, that the vision therapy would impact her in more ways than just academically. What surprised us so much was the confidence that the therapy sessions instilled in her. Her stamina in reading fluency and writing climbed, and she went from below the tenth percentile in many areas to over the eightieth percentiles in everything. Her ability to absorb information visually increased so dramatically, we were all baffled. <br />
<br />
As we neared the end of her sessions, she brought up piano lessons on her own, so we started immediately. Would you believe that when she sat down at that keyboard it was like her fingers had finally come home! She was ready, and she is moving steadily through her lessons with very little prodding or help from me!<br />
<br />
I see this over and over at school. A kiddo struggles and struggles with reading, no matter what type of interventions we serve her, and then one year - WHAMMO! She is healed. It's like something just clicks - hormones click in and she settles down long enough to learn how, or she matures enough to be remotely interested, or she is just ready.<br />
<br />
A girlfriend of mine was so determined to potty train her daughter at the age of two, and therefore it took her two years to fully potty train her. The stories I can now recall of this same type of "pushing" are endless. <br />
<br />
The moral of this story is to have patience. Am I saying don't worry? No. It is our nature as parents to worry when our children seem to "lag" or "fall behind". We want to compete, and we feel judged when they can't keep up with their peers. We know that other parents take full responsibility when their children are gifted - "Oh, well. We have been reading to him since before he was born." or "We work math every summer." Well, guess what? So do we. <br />
<br />
I'm a mother with two advanced degrees in education, and my daughter struggles with reading. I can't take responsibility for that. But I can take responsibility for knowing my daughter - who she is, how she learns, and what her strengths are. I need to remember that who my daughter is is not the same thing as who I want her to be. Recently I had a father tell me, "I know what he is capable of, and he is not producing." But we should remind ourselves regularly that what we want them to be able to handle may not be what they are capable at this time to handle. Regardless as to why. And pushing them will only beat them down.<br />
<br />
I go back to my favorite psychology professor from Harvard who tells us that kids will produce if they have the skills to produce. Figure out your children. If you can't, then find somebody who can. Approach your child with curiosity rather than as a detective looking for something wrong. Barricades may show up in all forms, but without your parental eye those barriers may never be discovered.<br />
<br />
Be mindful. Be aware.Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-1908335225514114672015-03-09T16:07:00.001-07:002015-03-09T16:07:52.388-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
“We don’t need more data to tell us we need action.” The concluding quotation in a March, 2014 article
written by Joy Resmovits of the <i>Huffington
Post</i>. The article, entitled
“American Schools are STILL Racist, Government Report Finds,” is almost a year
old, and yet it stabbed at me as if it had just come hot off the press. In this report Resmovits rattles off statistics
indicating that our education system is racist – the conclusion from a series
of data surveys given by the US Department of Education and Civil Rights Data
Collection. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The post made for a good morning Facebook conversation with
a psychology professor I’d never met. It’s currently eleven o’clock, and I’m
still fired up about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the first few paragraphs Resmovits stuns readers with
statistics about the percentage of black students versus the percentage of black
students who have been suspended or referred to law enforcement. She also continues by revealing that a higher
percentage of students of color are exposed to teachers who “fail to meet
license and certification requirements” AND that teachers in areas where there
are higher numbers of black students get paid less than those in less diverse
districts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First off, putting unqualified teachers into classrooms of
our most at-risk groups of students is the result of decisions made by people
who are obviously not qualified to make those decisions. It would be like sending in a surgeon who
hadn’t finished med school to perform an intricate and delicate procedure that,
if done poorly, would likely result in death.
Because, often, the result is
death – is it not? Maybe not physical
death, but death of opportunity. Death
of self-esteem. Death of future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why are we not spending money on recruiting the thousands of
highly qualified and caring educators who are currently jobless to move into
these schools? Why are we spending so
much time and energy on assessing, when we already <b>know</b> what the assessments are going to tell us? In the state of Illinois, property taxes, by
county, indicate a significant portion of the income schools receive to run the
schools. I, myself, work in a district
where, next door to us is a large district that doesn’t even have busses to
bring kids to school! On the other side
of that same district is a district that has enough busses to take everybody to
school at the same time. This is a true
picture of inequity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Racism</i>,
according to several dictionaries I consulted this morning, means anywhere from
a belief that a race is inferior to another to simply liking or disliking a
race based on some judgment. In all of
the definitions I read, there was one commonality – a person (or collective
group) who is racist must make some judgment about a race. So basically what Resmovits is saying in the
title of her article is that America’s schools are judging races and have made
a decision that blacks are indeed inferior OR that America’s schools just don’t
like blacks in general. Call it
picky. Call is syntax. That <b>is</b>
what she’s saying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But is that what she meant?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Resmovits continues in her report by bringing up Brown v.
Board of Education and the 1964 Civil Rights act that use ambiguous words such
as “quality education for all children” and “equal access to education”. Apparently these historical decisions were
supposed to put away hundreds of years of judgment and hatred and learned
behaviors. But one person’s definition
of <i>quality education</i> and <i>equal access </i>is not everybody’s. Enter today’s education system. A broken system with more holes than a honeycomb. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The remainder of the article references a survey by the
Education Department’s Office of Civil rights and continuously points to the
fact that our system hangs minority students and students with disabilities
(how being disabled got into the article about race, I have no idea) out to
dry. The entire article is so full of generalizations
that it’s tough to grasp the point except that it keeps screaming racism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One truth that Resmovits discusses is that change is
needed. She even talks about easing
discipline and how that won’t help with the increase in school violence. How the problem has such long roots, that we
see these trends even in preschools!
Even the discipline/skill correlation surfaces toward the end of the
article.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What would happen if we started treating our students more
like people and less like numbers? What
if – and this is a big IF – we honored the gifts of each of our students and
allowed them to be themselves rather than the people we think they should
be? What if we knew what our students’
strengths (and I’m not talking about academics) were as they walked into the
door, and what if we could use that information to guide them to advocate for
themselves?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our problem is the fact that we have lost focus on what is
really important. Those children and
adolescents who walk into our classrooms each day are singularly different – so
much so that you could never carbon copy one of them. To know each one’s strengths and preferences
in learning is to empower ourselves as educators to teach the entire
child. More than half of them will not
be academically talented, but academics is what we emphasize in school. Some will have a gift for art, music, or
sports – so why do we limit those times to once or twice a week while we pummel
them with phonics and math facts? Believe
it or not – the gift of gab that some of them have will end up being their
forte in life and may take them places we have never dreamed! Is their curiosity or creativity not
important? The message we are giving
them at school is that it is not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before we start pointing fingers at systems for being
racist, what we ought to do is take a look at ourselves as a society and
reflect on what is really important.
Perhaps it is us who have created a society that embraces a way of life
– one in which certain populations of our children are still being treated as
unequal. I am in no way saying that any
race behaves a specific way or has a particular strength, but if we step away
from skin color and focus on our students as students – we might find that we
can see a piece of them that we have never been allowed to see. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we perceive as negative behaviors may only surface
because the whole child is not embraced.
Excessive talking in a kid who is interpersonal becomes a way to cope
when math is hard. Doodling helps visual
students get through a tough literature class.
Physical aggression allows kinesthetics a release when a student has
been cooped up in school for ninety minute blocks of testing. Once we view our
students through these new lenses, we can then begin the task of building them
up so that they feel like they want to succeed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If they have the skills and want to succeed, they will. Dr. Ross Greene of Harvard University says
very pointedly – <i>Kids do well if they can</i>.
It is our responsibility as a <i>society</i> to find out why they are not
producing. Generally speaking – it’s
not because they’re black.<o:p></o:p></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-45434876028099612752015-02-05T19:18:00.001-08:002015-02-05T19:19:23.926-08:00Using the visual strength to compensate for lack of linguisticI couldn't <b>not</b> write about this, as it was such an amazing revelation today, but I'm stumped and thought I'd put it on "paper" to see what my colleagues and friends say about it.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of my eighth graders is really struggling to read. His fluency scores tipped me off that there might be some phonics issues underlying, so I gave him a screening test for phonics. It was a quick and simple one that tested nonsense, single-syllable words, and he passed it with flying colors! He also passed the next section of it, which was real multisyllabic words. In the past, I would have stopped there. He passed. No deficits. But something was telling me to dig a little more, so I gave him a multisyllabic nonsense word screening. What I found on this assessment stunned me. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He couldn't put two syllables together to create a multisyllabic word!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now I was confused by this because he can clearly read multisyllabic words, as was demonstrated by the first screening. So what happened? I couldn't figure it out. Until today.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We were sitting together at a table working on silent-e syllables. He was flying through reading the single syllable nonsense words. And then he got one wrong. He stopped, and I tried to talk him through it, but he couldn't do it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Miss," he said. "I can't think of a word that looks like it."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"What do you mean?" I asked. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"I mean, I usually just look at it and think of a word that looks like it and then change the first letter or whatever."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh my goodness, I thought. He's using his visual strength to cope for his lack in linguistic. I almost fell out of my chair. How do you teach a child who has come up with such an amazing coping mechanism to forget it?? He's fourteen. Is it possible to fix this? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm considering working a phonics program with him that starts with phonemic awareness using color tiles instead of letters to appeal to his visual side in hopes to strengthen his linguistic, but . . . . he is fourteen and he leaves me in four months for the high school. Time is not on my side.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-69875546750482316292015-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:002015-01-25T12:36:12.341-08:00Taking a breatherIf you've been checking back looking for more, just know I'm taking a breather from blogging professionally. I've made a decision to take a leave of absence from my job in public ed beginning at the end of this school year, and I'm trying to focus on "What's next?"<br />
<br />
Stay tuned, as I will undoubtedly have more to say as the year closes this year!Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-89929504627112408962015-01-01T14:56:00.002-08:002015-01-01T18:46:29.201-08:00Using strengths, not discipline, in your classroom managementYou're sitting with a student looking over her work for the last week. The rest of the class is <i>supposed</i> to be working on the vocabulary for the current unit. Quietly. Independently. It's the only way you can be certain they're all working while you conference with individual students. It's the only way you can keep them all <i>accountable</i>.<br>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
But who is throwing a wrench into your plan because he just cannot stop talking? Enrique. You've moved him three times and put him in a corner. You're tired of moving him. You've given him incentive tickets for times when he can sit quietly and work. You've kept him in for lunch detentions for not shutting up. You have called home because there is no end to his chatting with his peers. Honestly, you're frustrated with his incessant talking, and you're about ready to lose your cool!</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
The way I see it, you've got a few choices. You can lose your temper and unleash your teacher dragon on him, which will feel better initially but only to you and not for long. You can kick him out to sit in the hallway. This will "drive home the message", "teach him a lesson", and make and example of him. Again, this might make you feel better for teaching him a lesson and using him as an example, but will it really stop the behavior? It also removes him from under your watchful eye and gives him more room to mess around. The likelihood he will get much done out there just went down about fifty percent . . . . or more. You could write him a discipline referral - again driving home your message of "too much talking". But will <b>this</b> eliminate the problematic behavior?</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Sound familiar? You're about ready to get into a struggle with a thirteen-year-old kid who likely doesn't care whether he is in your classroom or in the office. Guess who else has had enough too.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Let me tell you a little bit about this boy. After taking a multiple intelligences test and test of learning styles, Enrique's scores show that he is highly interpersonal and prefers to take in information by listening (aural). He's people smart. He watches body language and listens to tone of voice and is able to interact with you the way he should to get just the response he wants. And now if you look at him, you can see this is very true. No matter who he engages in conversation - his peers, the principal, even the school resource officer - his body language shows high sense of self. As long as he is talking and listening, one has to wonder even if he isn't eighteen or nineteen years old and not thirteen. He carries himself in a conversation beautifully, and he even has a tendency to bluff his way through things you're certain he doesn't know.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Unfortunately, since he was five, his teachers have made it clear that the constant talking is inconvenient, inappropriate, and unwanted. Upon his entrance to kindergarten, Enrique's strength in his interpersonal has gotten him into more trouble than not, but no matter what his teachers did, they just couldn't squash this boy's gift for gab. By the age of thirteen, his weakness in math and reading has gotten so out of control, and his teachers blame most of it on his inability to stay focused on anything but his peers, that Enrique can't wait to turn sixteen and drop out of school. He has no qualms with sharing his goals and puts little focus on anything academic.<br>
<br>
Enrique doesn't feel comfortable doing much academically. Neither does his friend Dalia, who is also in this same class. But instead of talking nonstop, Dalia spends most of her time drawing. During whole class activities Dalia keeps a sheet of paper on her desk and doodles or draws while she tries to listen and/or participate. Dalia's strength is . . . ? You guessed it - visual/spacial. And maybe a touch of kinesthetic since it seems like her hands have to be moving often. </div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Reading is difficult for both of these kiddos. They both struggle with linguistic activities, and when they feel unsuccessful in an area, they tend to feel bad about themselves. Being the still-very- egotistical beings that they are, they try to salvage what little self esteem they have by doing something that makes them feel good. What better way to do this than by doing something in which they excel? For Enrique, his answer is to talk. For Dalia - drawing and doodling soothes her. What we find to be blatant disobedient or disrespectful acts might actually be mechanisms they are using to save the little bit of academic self esteem they have left. Will dishing out punishments stop the behaviors that are being conceived as disrespectful? Absolutely not.<br>
<br>
So what do we do with these two and others like them? <br>
<br>
Honor their strengths. We all have had the drummer. You know, the one who taps her pen or pencil to rhythm without even realizing she's doing it. Musical strength? That's likely. Barking orders to stop tapping is probably going to chop her down a little and make her feel bad. She may stop. She may not. But nothing beneficial comes out of calling her out in class and making her stop.<br>
<br>
Point it out. For example - <i>Gabby, I see that you're tapping again. That musical strength of yours could be put to some good use if you could find out a way to fit those definitions into a rhythm. Can you work on the first one for me for a minute and I'll come help you with it after I'm done here with Dylan? </i>or <i>Enrique, you're talking again. Your interpersonal strength is distracting Charise from getting her work done. How about you and George go into the back corner and work on the vocabulary together? Make sure that you both talk about the answer before you choose the correct one.</i><br>
<i><br></i>
Sometimes you can't let them showcase their strengths, but just bringing the strength into focus and honoring it - maybe even asking your kiddo to tone the strength down a bit will help a lot more than a disciplinary action or being called out in front of peers. <br>
<br>
Your students want to be respected, honored, and understood. Being aware of each of them, how they interact with others, and why they behave certain ways will most certainly benefit you in more than just a few ways. This is truly the key to building their confidence and creating learners who take control of themselves as learners. And then maybe - just maybe - Enrique's talking will no longer be a nuisance to you, but a message that he needs something a little different than what you're offering today.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-88217214590926720102014-12-14T16:47:00.000-08:002014-12-14T18:34:59.616-08:00The most important lesson everIt's been a few weeks. In fact, I was almost of the mindset not to blog again this week until my husband and I sat and chatted this morning about how things were going this year. After I rambled on and on for about ten minutes straight, he encouraged me to blog about it. Either he thinks what I said is worth the read or he was tired of listening and thought maybe if I wrote about it I would shut up. Or a combination of both. :)<br>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
I have to tell you all, this year has been a ride so far. Going back into the classroom was a challenge that I knew I could handle, but it wasn't something I wanted to handle. I liked what I had been doing - supporting our students in their content areas and working with them in their intervention classes, going through school-wide data and making program change recommendations, and being a resource for our teachers who needed support in reaching their resistant readers. But once I got back in front of a group of my own kiddos, life got amazing. And it reminded me why I went into this business in the first place. As a colleague of mine keeps gritting her teeth and saying, "It's all for the kids." Any educator worth her salt today has to keep reminding herself of this because nobody is making this job easy. Nobody. <br>
<br>
My plan at the beginning of the year was to instill a sense of self-worth in all of our kiddos who either were performing out of fear or who weren't performing at all. I wanted them to feel free to take risks and reach for success. I knew it would be a challenge. I knew I would have to work at it and tweak my approaches along the way. I prayed it would just happen. Well, to say it's been a challenge has been an understatement. To say I've had to tweak my approaches is putting it mildly. And I've needed a lot of prayer this year. And a lot of Kleenex.<br>
<br>
But what I'm seeing is kind of blowing my mind.<br>
<br>
After spending a month at the beginning of the year learning about ourselves as learners - our learning styles, intelligences, learning types, interests, and even love languages, these kiddos now had the tools to advocate for themselves. They have been given the gift of self-knowledge and have been helped to understand why they struggle with things and excel at others. Why they can't shut up or sit still for forty minutes. Why they hate PE or art or language arts. When their high energy or chatterbox-ness is getting on my last nerve, instead of getting exasperated and directing frustration at them, I point out how one's interpersonal or kinesthetic intelligence is getting in the way of their learning and ask them how they can bring that strength <b>into</b> their learning. I point it out as much as I can, we joke about how things are hard when we don't get served to our strengths and what we can do to communicate our needs to others.<br>
<br>
What happens? My kiddos work. Not for a grade or for a ticket to buy things at the school store. They don't get a "good job" at the end of the period, and I don't give them candy. Heck, I don't even email home or send home postcards to tell mom and dad how proud I am. But I do talk to each student as much as possible. I give them the gift of my attention, and I point out what I see them doing. And when it comes time for them to measure their growth, they get nervous about it and celebrate when they see the quantitative proof that they've worked and grown. I'm proud of them. <br>
<br>
It's funny that I didn't notice this growth until my husband and I started talking about it today. But now that I'm reflecting, I wish there was a quantitative way I could "prove" that my approaches are creating more confident, happier kiddos. I see it, and I hope their teachers and parents are seeing it too. <br>
<br>
It says something when I have kiddos who "graduate out" of my class and choose to stay. When I have students who ask if they can work on the eighth grade vocabulary rather than the seventh grade. When, even while I'm working with a small group, I look over and see heads bent over interactive notebooks working or hands flying over desks of vocabulary matching activities - all by just saying, "Okay, go ahead to your first activity today. You've got fourteen minutes until we switch." There's no participation points or names on the board. No way to keep track of who is working and who isn't. I have students who come in to get their notebooks so they can take them to the library to check out a book on their list or to take it home and study their vocabulary. We don't have homework, nor do I expect students to take their work home - and yet they're choosing to do this on their own.<br>
<br>
So - go ahead - ask me. How is my year going? It's a tough change, and I DO mourn the loss of what I was able to accomplish the last three years. But I'd never ask for it to be different this year. What I'm learning this year is going to be invaluable as I continue my research and work with students on intrinsic motivation. And by the end of the year, I forsee dozens of my babies walking out of my classroom with their heads held higher and a lighter step because they were able to learn. Not phonics or fluency or reading skills. The most important thing in the world ever to learn. About themselves.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-39982788218331323142014-11-26T19:28:00.000-08:002014-11-26T19:28:47.081-08:00Give your students the two minute challengeIf you've been following me for a while, you may have picked up on a few of my philosophies. First off, I am a firm believer in the idea that <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/06/motivation-overlooked-sixth-component_23.html" target="_blank">motivation</a> must come from within rather than externally. Second, in order to be <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/motivation-overlooked-component-of-reading-heather-lambert" target="_blank">motivated</a> to do something, you must feel like there is a chance that you will find success in whatever it is.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is the big hangup with a lot of our kiddos. Success seems so distant to them that refusal is a much better option. These are the <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-four-types-of-learners-and-what-we.html" target="_blank">failure accepters</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
During her Friday pre-conference presentation for the Secondary Reading League's Day of Reading, Dr. Janet Allen mentioned a simple way to build some confidence in those who are somewhat resistant when it comes to learning. The two minute challenge works really well as a <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-importance-of-building-background.html" target="_blank">background knowledge builder</a>, and as long as you can find a few paragraphs pertaining to your topic, you should be good to go! Here's how she explained it.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Give your students a small passage full of facts on whatever topic you are going to study.</li>
<li>Allow your students to read it in whatever format you choose. You can read it aloud to them, have them read silently (if you have a class full of independent readers), or pair them up and <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/01/partner-reading-in-science-classroom.html" target="_blank">partner read</a>.</li>
<li>Set the timer for two minutes and have students write down a set number (she suggested ten) of facts derived from the text.</li>
<li>Choose a way to wrap up the exercise. Sharing in a group of 2-3 is great because they can add to their lists during the group time. Having them all share one thing from their list with the class may give a few a boost just because it's not often that they have anything academic to say. This will help them to feel competent, and a feeling of competence breeds intrinsic motivation. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Doing an activity in the classroom like this one will hit several targets at once. Many of our students come to us with very little background knowledge, and this is a brilliant way to begin building that for the big learning. But even more importantly, it allows our strugglers an opportunity to feel successful by participating in writing and discussing the topic in a non-threatening way.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Can you turn around Monday and use this strategy? Many of you can! Let us know what your plan is or what you have done in the past to make a strategy like this work for you. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Happy Thanksgiving!</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-56610487361594107642014-11-22T06:47:00.001-08:002014-11-22T14:35:30.017-08:00Not everybody learns by reading and writingThat title seems like a "duh" kind of statement, but it hit me this morning as I was running (exercising my very weak kinesthetic) just how true this statement really is. Two things happened to me this week that emphasized this to me.<br>
<br>
First, I was working with this really great group of sixth graders Monday morning. It's a group of five, and one of the five struggles - even in the small group setting. She appears off task at times, and her answers come more slowly than the rest of the group as she is furiously scribbling her half-right answers on her white board. I've come to reserving slots in my questioning just for her to be sure she is able to apply the skills we are practicing. <br>
<br>
This week we were working on reading and writing multi-syllabic words - both real and nonsense (we use nonsense words to practice the skill without using words that they've memorized). After a while of working vowel teams on our white boards, she started to shut down on me (or so I thought). She capped her marker and just looked at me. I decided to see what was going to happen next, so I went on to the next word. Do you know what happened after that? Once I asked her how to spell the next word she did it no problem! Reading and spelling the words was so much easier once we got that marker out of the way! <br>
<br>
On Wednesday while getting ready for work, my six-year-old son followed me around the house talking my ear off. This child is highly interpersonal and rarely shuts up once he gets going. He started talking about word problems, and of his own accord, told me he wanted to make up word problems. For the next thirty minutes as I was putting on my makeup and flat ironing my hair, he and I went back and forth. He <i>totally </i>got me on this one, "Zander makes three strikes in a row. How many more strikes does Zander need to get a 300?" The boy loves his bowling, and I (being the non-kinesthetic) know nothing about how many strikes it takes to get a 300. Talk about lacking background knowledge! I got the problem wrong with my answer of five. He was happy to shout, "INCORRECT!" to me and ask me to try again. <br>
<br>
What strikes me as funny here is that at our October parent-teacher conference his teacher expressed concern about his not completing his "math cards" (those don't sound like any fun) and that he needed practice on his word problems. All done on paper. Well, okay, but yet he just spent thirty minutes going back and forth doing word problems with addition, subtraction, and division AND a few were multi-step. All in his head and with great stamina.<br>
<br>
So is it realistic to try to keep our kiddos accountable aurally (by listening) and orally (by talking)? Heck no! I know that there are many of you out there with thirty plus students in every class, seven periods a day. Not possible. But consider doing some of the following to help some of your interpersonals and aurals out (I'm actually going to throw our musicals in there for a fun connection because so many of them are also aurals):<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li>Ask them to partner up and give each other answers so they can write down each other's answers.</li>
<li>Ask them to create questions to ask each other in class.</li>
<li>Have them read out loud with a partner or in a small group.</li>
<li>Listen to music while they are completing independent work (Take caution in the type of music you choose. My kiddos love my George Teleman, Paul Cardall, or Peaceful Holidays station on my Pandora.)</li>
<li>Listen to text on CD or online.</li>
<li>Teach them to study by talking to themselves (repeating things out loud and answering to themselves or others).</li>
<li>Record themselves on their phones or a computer and listen to it afterwards.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Using some of these quick tips along with other <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/07/reaching-our-social-students.html" target="_blank">discussion strategies</a> in your classroom and emphasizing them outside of the classroom will give those interpersonals, aurals, and musicals exactly what they need to feel more like they're accepted as learners. You'll find that as you bring attention to their preferences and strengths they will be more likely to take risks and exercise them in your classroom to grow. Have you had any success with any of these strategies in your classroom? Share those with us in the comments below. </div>
<br>
<br>Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-14370370888944739332014-11-14T20:00:00.000-08:002014-11-14T20:01:29.178-08:00Admit Slip: 3-2-1Exit slips are common practice in many classrooms and so are daily "bell ringer" activities. I never thought to put the two together, however, until I got to hear Dr. Janet Allen talk about this practice this morning at the Secondary Reading League's Day of Reading Pre-Conference. <br />
<br />
Last <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/building-background-knowledge-to-create.html" target="_blank">February</a> I <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/building-background-knowledge-to-create.html" target="_blank">blogged</a> on building background knowledge using a really cool activity called Observe, Infer, and Question. In this activity, students looked at a visual and made observations. From the observations, they recorded inferences based upon their background knowledge, and then finally the asked questions based upon those observations and inferences. The entire process spanned over an entire class period. <br />
<br />
Dr. Allen's strategy is this exact activity, but in the form of an exit slip and at the beginning of a lesson rather than the end. Here's how it works.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>As students walk in the door, give them their Admit Slip: 3-2-1 sheets or index cards (one per student). </li>
<li>If you copied a sheet for your students, you can put the picture(s) and/or graphic(s) on it. For even easier implementation, project the image on the front screen so you don't have to make copies of it and just give your students index cards on which to write.</li>
<li>Students first task is the 3. Write down three details about the image (observe).</li>
<li>Their second task is the 2. Finish this sentence: I think . . . Then finish this sentence: I also .think . . . Both sentences should be based from the details they recorded in the first task (infer).</li>
<li>Finally, the third task is to write one question based from the details they recorded and/or the inferences in the second (question). </li>
</ul>
<div>
Once students complete the Admit Slip, you can do a variety of different things with them. You can collect them to see how much background knowledge each student has on the topic if it's new. You can begin small group discussions with this information. You can have an entire class discussion. Students can share in small groups or with the entire class. They can also keep their admit slips in an interactive notebook (see my amazing colleague's blog on those right <a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/link/post?post=1504347425&blog=5799411&group=0&frame=1&frame_type=a" target="_blank">here</a>) or someplace safe so that they can return at a later date to see how much their initial reactions have changed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Whatever you decide, know that in all content areas, students see visuals and graphics, which means that every content area should be able to use something similar to this strategy. It would work especially well in geometry, science, and art where content is linked so heavily with visuals. Think of the possibilities! How <i>could</i> you use something simple like this? Share with us in the comments below. </div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-45333718040998026132014-11-07T18:06:00.000-08:002014-11-07T18:06:21.284-08:00Pick Two and Possible Sentences - applying vocabulary knowledge and writingThis week's strategy I learned while attending my colleague Ann Eifler's session at the <a href="http://www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org/conference.html" target="_blank">IRC Conference</a> in Springfield back in October. Since attending this session, I've used it several times in different contexts and have loved it each time! Here's how it works:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Decide what your goal is for the activity. You can do this as a pre-reading activity where you use a combination of words the students will know and may not know or use it as a post-learning activity where you're asking students to apply their knowledge of their newly-learned vocabulary.</li>
<li>Decide how you want your students to record their sentences - white board, pen/paper, large paper with markers, or electronically.</li>
<li>Make a list of words you want to use for your students.</li>
<li>Have students work alone or in partners to match words up that would likely be found in the media (text, video, electronic media, etc) together. </li>
<li>Ask students to create sentences with their paired words. If you're using this as a pre-learning activity, remind students to use this as a way to predict how these words will be used. If you're using this as a post-learning activity, tell them that they should try to remember how these words were used before pairing them up so that they can create sentences that effectively communicate what your students want.</li>
<li>Share out with the class or post them around the room.</li>
<li>If you used the activity as a pre-learning activity, revisit the sentences after learning and reflect on misconceptions with your kiddos. This is a GREAT way to teach them how to use mistakes and misconceptions as a learning tool.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I thought I had taken pictures of their work, but after looking through my camera, I can't find them, and since I'm writing from home I don't have access to student notebooks this weekend. If I think of it I'll post some examples on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/lambertontheweb" target="_blank">my Facebook page</a> so you can see them. I used the writing activity as a post-learning activity where I was expecting my students to apply their knowledge of vocabulary they had learned. They wrote really fantastic sentences and showed me that they owned those words.<br />
<br />
Feel free to share ways you have used or can use this strategy in your content area in the comments below. <br />
<br />Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-72225374250001989042014-11-01T19:23:00.002-07:002014-11-01T19:24:12.070-07:00You Ought to Be in Pictures – Using the Visual to Strengthen the Linguistic<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had a wonderful conversation with a colleague a few days
ago about student strengths, and since this conversation, I’ve been
hypothesizing all sorts of things about the way our kiddos behave in the
classroom. I don’t have to tell many
people this, but according to the <a href="http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm" target="_blank">Birmingham Multiple Intelligence Test</a>, one of
my highest intelligences is <i>musical/rhythmic</i>.
I don’t get to use this intelligence much in the classroom, however. This year, I’ve been illustrating the use of
our intelligences to my students by bringing up my lack of <i>kinesthetic </i>intelligence. To
clarify, I hate exercise and anything associated with it. I don’t learn by doing, and I hate moving
around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But I’m forty. And if
I plan to live a long time, I need to get moving. So in January I started running. The only way I can get myself moving – be it
outside or on a treadmill – is to blast music at just the right BPM into my
ears for the entire run. And so I did. It’s been ten months since I started, and I
ran over two miles this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My point is – I used my <i>musical</i>
intelligence to pull me through my weakness in my <i>kinesthetic</i>, which is strengthening every day. This made me start thinking about the number
of kiddos we have who can’t do their homework unless they’re listening to
music. It’s not all of them, but many of
our students have a <i>musical/rhythmic</i>
strength that may pull them through the trials of not being <i>linguistic</i> or <i>mathematical</i>/<i>logical</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today’s strategy uses <i>visual</i>
to strengthen <i>linguistic.</i> So many of our kiddos are <i>visual learners</i>, that if we don’t use
that to our advantage, we miss out on a huge opportunity to strengthen other
areas! This particular strategy is one
outlined in the <i><a href="http://www.projectcriss.com/" target="_blank">Project CRISS</a> </i>manual
as <i>You Ought to Be In Pictures</i> and
can be used in <i>any </i>content area. Here’s how it works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Choose a picture or cartoon for the students to view either
on the projector or photocopied.
Depending on your objective of the lesson, give your students
instructions as to how to use the picture.
You could choose to have them:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Answer questions based upon what they see.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">If you are using the picture at the end of a
unit, perhaps they need to use what they’ve learned to help them answer those
questions.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Caption the picture using information they’ve
learned.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Caption the picture using specific words that
they’ve been studying during the unit.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Describe what might be happening in the picture
based upon what they’re learning.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Notice specific things in the picture and write
about it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Write a narrative about what is happening in the
picture. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some examples of how this could be used are below.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Language arts – Caption the photograph using
specific words or a part of speech correctly.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Social studies – Caption the photograph knowing
what you know about life in a specific time period.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Use three of the vocabulary words we have
studied.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Science – Write a narrative about what is
happening in the photograph, now that you’ve conducted an experiment that looks
similar to it.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Use these three
vocabulary words in your narrative: ___, ___, and ___.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Health – Look at the graphic and write a
narrative about the way that the respiratory system works using your vocabulary
correctly.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Be sure to include all parts
of the system.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">PE – Use the photograph to help you write a
narrative about a person teaching a seven year old to play this game for the first
time.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Be sure to include the rules that
the person would have to learn in order to not get hurt.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Math – use the photograph to write a word
problem based upon what you see.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Solve
the problem and explain what you did and why.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Music – Use the photograph and the piece of
music we just learned to write a short story.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Bring them together using what we learned about the meaning of the
piece.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Art – Use the photograph of this artist to write
a story about what is going through this artists mind as she is creating.</span><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 107%;">Use three of the words we have learned in
this unit to explain the process of her creation.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 15.6933336257935px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Woodshop/Life Skills - Use this photograph to explain why this person got hurt. Include safety tips that we learned this week and how you know the person in the photograph didn't follow the rules.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="line-height: 15.6933336257935px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It takes a little creative thinking on your part, but you can tie photographs in anywhere for your <i>visul/spacials</i> and use them to help your students strengthen their other areas of intelligence. Keep in mind that the writing is going to be really hard for some of them - especially if they're not accustom to writing in your content area. Stick with it, though. Make them write once a week, and they'll start expecting it. They know when it's "pacers" day in PE - whether they like it or dislike it - they come to expect it. They can come to expect to write weekly, as well, in any content. It just takes practice and determination on your part. I know that it's not just your kiddos whose boxes are being shaken up a bit - its yours too, but you'll get used to it, and some of you may actually enjoy the change of pace! </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="line-height: 15.6933336257935px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="line-height: 15.6933336257935px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How can you use this type of activity in your content? Share your ideas with us in the comments.</span></span></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-54400429776775813652014-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:002014-10-26T09:19:30.623-07:00Document Based Questions – using multiple medias to inquire <div class="MsoNormal">
I know I’ve mentioned my favorite book on non-fiction
strategy guides before – <i>Guiding Readers through Text: Strategy Guides for New Times</i> by Karen D. Wood, and today I’m
going to mention it, yet again. While
attending the IRC Conference in Springfield, one of the presentations (again, a
Mundelein HS presentation) mentioned the use of Document Based Questions (DBQ’s
– of <i>course</i> there’s an acronym!). With Common Core expecting our students to
pull evidence from multiple medias and with all of the rage in the expanded
definitions of what “text” is, I figured it would be a good time to bring this
book up again and demonstrate how this type of activity could be used
effectively in the classroom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because
the teaching of history lends itself well to this strategy, I’m going to use a
history example.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9nOhARkuHCF5OejZBhdJnGgRZc4I0F4nuMQ-BZczsxlpykJP_5CYkY6IHcwSN-T8uobvc3zpQ6q4Lot-DSRkZdfpEBVdhwDFWBz6tz1i_9jy7J9z0irDqAgIEHNgpuSJ2nhdo2RQrPw/s1600/IMAG4310_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9nOhARkuHCF5OejZBhdJnGgRZc4I0F4nuMQ-BZczsxlpykJP_5CYkY6IHcwSN-T8uobvc3zpQ6q4Lot-DSRkZdfpEBVdhwDFWBz6tz1i_9jy7J9z0irDqAgIEHNgpuSJ2nhdo2RQrPw/s1600/IMAG4310_1.jpg" height="221" width="320" /></a>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Decide on a goal or objective for the
lesson.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Consider an essential question
such as </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">How did conflict contribute to
the fall of the Roman Empire?</i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Demonstrate how to create questions from the
essential question.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">For example, </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What conflicts occurred during the Roman
Empire? What caused the conflict? What happened because of the conflict? Did the
Roman Empire become weaker because of the conflict? If so, how/why? Etc. </i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Choose three (or more) different medias (text,
video, web, audio, electronic media, etc) that present information answering
the essential question.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Using medias of different perspectives or that have different purposes
could be an interesting twist to this assignment.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> Part of the <i>Standards for the 21st Century Learner</i> require us to teach students how to peel relevant and reliable sources out of the vast pool of information available. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">For multiple leveled students, provide more than three, and allow students to
choose (or guide some to choices that might meet their needs more
effectively).</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Text books could be used in this step, but
don’t leave them to be the sole information provider!</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Teach students how to organize their information
for reading – you can start with providing an organizer, but remember that our
ultimate goal is to create independent information seekers.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Modeling how to create your own organizer may
be more effective.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Above is an example
of what a handwritten organizer might look like.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Demonstrate how to highlight text and jot down
notes in the organizer so that they can be reviewed later on.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Allow students to work independently (or with a
group of 2-3) to complete their reading.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Meet with groups while they’re working, clarifying where needed.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">One question you may ask is whether you can have one student work on pulling information from each media and then share the answers with each other. This will obviously be a shortcut they'll consider immediately as well. My answer is always the same - Consider your objective. The shortcut would mean a different objective. It's absolutely one possible way of getting this assignment done in a shorter amount of time. It's also a way to ensure that your kiddos are all accountable for something. But if your objective is to truly have your students work </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">together</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> while practicing speaking and listening and to glean important information from multiple sources, then my answer would be a solid </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">NO</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Once all information has been gathered, ask
students to go back to the essential question and discuss the answer before
putting together a final answer, complete with documented information from the
three (or more) medias. It's obviously your choice how you expect students to report, but you could have them submit a final answer on notebook paper, have them write it on poster paper and hang it up in the room for discussion. You could also have them construct something to report out to the class without a "formal" piece of written work. Or each student could be responsible for documenting the information and submitting it. Again, consider your goal and your learners. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Obviously, not every strategy lends itself to work beautifully to every content area, but if you step back, there are places in many areas where it could really be effective and engaging for your learners. Science, health. Even music, PE, and art might be good places to use an activity like this to support the standard of using multiple medias to draw conclusions. How can you use this activity in your classroom? Share your ideas in the comments below.</span></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-28328696526078021022014-10-17T17:01:00.000-07:002014-10-17T17:32:34.484-07:00Make information stick with magnet summariesIt's amazing how much useful information one can retrieve from <b>one</b> session at a conference! This week's blog stems from the same session from the IRC 2014 Conference as the last two I have written. The strategy is <i>magnet summaries</i>, which also happens to be a <i><a href="http://www.projectcriss.com/" target="_blank">CRISS</a></i> strategy. Double score!<br />
<br />
Magnet summaries can be used in a variety of contexts, which is what I love about the strategies in the <i><a href="http://www.projectcriss.com/" target="_blank">Project CRISS</a> </i>manual. They're all very adaptable. Here's how this one works:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li> Give each student an index card or half sheet of paper. On the "front" have the students write the topic you want them to summarize. For example, if you're teaching students about <i>variables</i> in math, write <i>variables </i>on the front of the card. </li>
<li>After the initial lesson, have students go back to their notes (maybe do this in partners to keep your interpersonals happy) and find four words that stick out as being key words connecting to the word in the middle (one or more will probably be another vocabulary word, which should help with information transfer). When talking about <i>variables</i> in math, you might have words like <i>constant, coefficient, operator</i>,<i> </i>and <i>equation</i>. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17Lixj_KcxeWdYDZOsSkSe97e1wWsBCmj-M3GpuZXTX9RZBa3-2WcvhjT9jGzcHCfTVU-hBVVj7XQB7LqBVCSqCEfoDeZP-K0jky4aYIVZlb-V9vk_NGuBQ-qI26k3IoJFTCMnkKKQ24/s1600/magnet+summaries+picture+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17Lixj_KcxeWdYDZOsSkSe97e1wWsBCmj-M3GpuZXTX9RZBa3-2WcvhjT9jGzcHCfTVU-hBVVj7XQB7LqBVCSqCEfoDeZP-K0jky4aYIVZlb-V9vk_NGuBQ-qI26k3IoJFTCMnkKKQ24/s1600/magnet+summaries+picture+(3).jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://hs-englishliteracy.wikispaces.com/file/view/<br />
strategy8.JPG/250740026/703x521/strategy8.JPG</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li>On the back of the card, students can expand their words into sentences. Depending on the writers, you may choose to let them freely write their summary based upon the five words on the front of it, OR you may want to give your students a frame. The frame might look something like this:</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: red;">Today's lesson explains [topic] by talking about ______, ______, ______, and ______. [Write one sentence explaining each of the four magnet words or combine them into a few sentences if they easily connect.] It is important to know this because ___________________. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
The picture to the right is one way a student could write a magnet summary if you were allowing them some freedom in their writing or if you have very comfortable writers. One thing that I liked about the session I attended at the IRC Conference is their attention to reflection, which is not included in the example above. The last sentence in the frame above in red addresses the reflection. Students need to justify why the information is important. This does two things - it validates why the information is being taught and creates a reason to connect the information to either new information, past information, or student's lives. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So think about the next lesson you plan to share with your students. How can this strategy be adapted? Could you add it easily? Could you use it as a formative assessment? Share your ideas with us in the comments below. </div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-6198331615638017952014-10-12T07:11:00.000-07:002014-10-12T07:12:14.435-07:00Applying vocabulary - More than just writing sentencesTeaching vocabulary is tricky and can sometimes become monotonous if you don't change it up. Often, we want to present vocabulary to students before reading, but then what? Well, when I was at the IRC Conference a few weeks ago, I was reminded of this really simple, yet super effective activity. It is called I<i>nteract with Vocabulary</i>. Here's how it works.<br />
<br />
After you've introduced vocabulary and have established definitions and examples using a technique like the <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/08/digging-into-frayer-model-for-word.html" target="_blank">Frayer model</a>, it's time to apply the information. Pre-write questions to ask. Try to connect the vocabulary to your students' lives. For example:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Name one thing that happens <i>unintentionally </i>in the hallways at school. [general Tier 2 vocabulary]</li>
<li>Why is the system of <i>checks and balances</i> important for you as a citizen of the United States? [social studies]</li>
<li>What is one reason you would measure <i>perimeter </i>of something<i>? </i>[geometry]</li>
<li>Why would one need quick <i>reaction time</i>? [health]</li>
<li>Name one popular song that would sound better <i>piano</i> rather than <i>forte</i>. [music]</li>
<li>What is an example of a <i>network </i>that teenagers may use every day? [computer tech]</li>
<li>Give an example from school of <i>convection. </i>[science]</li>
</ol>
<div>
Not every vocabulary term has practical life application, so you could also write your questions in perspective. For example:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>If you were a <i>constructivist </i>artist, which <i>medium</i> would you prefer and why? [art]</li>
<li>As a <i>tyrant</i> of a Greek city-state, what is one job that you would do well and why? [ancient history]</li>
<li>You are planning to build a bookshelf. What tools should you plan to use, and why? [woodshop]</li>
</ol>
<div>
The next decision you'll have to make is how to have your students interact with their vocabulary. If you're a teacher who needs proof of accountability, try the following ideas. I'm an advocate for the interpersonal (<a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/07/reaching-our-social-students.html" target="_blank">social</a>) student, so you'll see that these all include discussion:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Type up the questions in a worksheet and have them record the answers from their discussion so that all of the group members has a copy. Everybody's answers should match. Share out as a class or conference with each group as discussions progress.</li>
<li>Give each group a copy of the questions and have them discuss and record on a large piece of poster paper (more for your visual and kinesthetic students). Share out with the class or conference with each group as discussions progress. Post answers around the room after discussions. </li>
<li>Put up poster paper around the room and have the students <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-22-crumble-new-spin-on-carousel.html" target="_blank">carousel</a> each of the prompts. Give students forty-five seconds to a minute at each station. </li>
<li>For my digital-teachers, use Google docs and have all groups contribute to the same document in different colors. Monitor what students are writing and conference with groups as misconceptions emerge. Print a copy for each student. </li>
</ul>
<div>
The title <i>Interact with Vocabulary</i> immediately indicates that more will be happening than just reading definitions. Using student schema to learn, is a sure-fire way to ensure longer retention, but its also a great way to assess whether a student truly understands that meaning of the words. But just as important is the idea that we should be choosing applicable vocabulary. Educating our students is not just about taking words from a text book, it's about applying them. It's our job to be sure that the words apply. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What challenges do you see in using a strategy like this one? Share those with us in a comment below. </div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-53200547872898918452014-10-03T15:37:00.000-07:002014-10-03T18:19:48.694-07:00A Cornell Notes Comeback!On Thursday I attended a session at the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield entitled <i>Success in Science Through Literacy Strategies.</i> The four presenters Katie Giambeluca, Jamie Moderhack, Melissa Sethna, and Alyssa Wiltjer were all from Mundelein High School. After spending some time with them both in the session and with some Mundelein teachers later on that evening - and after attending a subsequent session the next day with another set of amazing teachers from Mundelein (blog to follow in the future), I am convinced that Mundelein really has it going on out there, and I want to see and hear more!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmCk1icjKjD96-NkDi_WUqEAMAM9x-OxQ75tlmJi_nBlStQfYwmnyUZZNNUvQgB6-4TZ_zOpBU3SnCcSH8BG8pRn3fXUE24SaPfUuX1VAgZo4dTfps9s7ejHWw_nUxrC4p9d4o8u4IbY/s1600/A+page+of+notes+written+in+the+Cormell+format.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmCk1icjKjD96-NkDi_WUqEAMAM9x-OxQ75tlmJi_nBlStQfYwmnyUZZNNUvQgB6-4TZ_zOpBU3SnCcSH8BG8pRn3fXUE24SaPfUuX1VAgZo4dTfps9s7ejHWw_nUxrC4p9d4o8u4IbY/s1600/A+page+of+notes+written+in+the+Cormell+format.gif" height="400" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://caren-iannelli.blogspot.com/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One thing I found interesting in the few days I've been here in Springfield is the number of times that <a href="http://lsc.cornell.edu/LSC_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf" target="_blank">Cornell Notes</a> have been referenced (or <i>Two-Column Notes</i> for my <i>Project CRISS</i> friends). I find this amusing because Cornell Notes never seem to really go away! After doing some research, I discovered that they got their beginning in the 1950s - obviously an oldie but a goodie, and they have withstood the test of time! Even more interesting is that I have heard about this strategy three times in three different sessions in reference to science instruction.<br />
<br />
Regardless of the content, Cornell Notes can be used effectively as a note taking and study strategy. Your read/writers would use this most effectively because there are no limitations on how lengthy your notes can be. Those of us who are linguistic tend to like limitless possibilities for writing. BUT, they're also a really great setup to keep students organized AND a very useful tool for studying.<br />
<br />
Here's how they work. <br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Have students split their paper into four sections as shown above to the right (kind of like a capital I but off center).</li>
<li>Give students a purpose for reading (or watching a video or participating in a discussion or activity - however you plan to deliver information), and have them write the purpose on the top of the paper. For example, <i>watch the video to gather information on how climate patterns have changed over the last one hundred years.</i></li>
<li>Instruct students to jot down notes or draw pictures/diagrams (for our visual students) in the big right hand column. The notes/pictures should connect to the purpose (skip a line between notes). Notes should not be in full sentences and should/could be abbreviated as much as possible.</li>
<li>After note-taking is completed, students should go back and read their notes, pulling out key ideas, names, dates, and vocabulary. These can be listed on the left in the skinny column. Also, any questions students may still have about the material can be written in this column for future inquiry. This entire step can easily be done in small groups so that our interpersonal students get their <i>chat </i>release and so that all of our kiddos can process and grapple with what the key points really are.</li>
<li>Finally, as a group or individually, on the bottom of the page, have students write a few sentences, summarizing those key points listed in the right column. Again, this could easily be done in small groups.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Once the note taking process has happened, students now have beautifully constructed notes that can be a fantastic study tool for something like a <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/09/todays-homework-study.html" target="_blank">twelve minute study</a>. Students can approach studying their Cornell Notes like this.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Reread your notes in the bigger right hand column, looking for specific examples or details that might be important.</li>
<li>Look at your key ideas on the left, and ask yourself if you really understand them. If not, how can you help yourself understand them?</li>
<li>Reread the summary. </li>
<li>Do this for a set amount of time (eight minutes for eighth grade, six minutes for sixth grade, etc.) every day up until the test or quiz.</li>
</ol>
<div>
No matter if you know them as Cornell Notes or Two Column notes - the premise is the same - this type of note taking strategy is useful in any area that a student would need to record information to be used for studying at a later time. Once your students have gone through the process, have them reflect on themselves as learners and how the practice of organizing their notes in this manner has benefited them. Be prepared to hear how much students found them to be seriously beneficial. But also be prepared to hear how difficult they were for some. Remember that <b>no </b>strategy works for everybody, and our job is to shine a spotlight on what might work for each of our students as individuals so that they can begin to feel control over how they organize and take their own notes. Our job is to create independent learners, and this is a perfect tool to put into their hands.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What kinds of successes have you had with Cornell Notes? Share those below.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-2304792591635426752014-09-27T20:46:00.005-07:002014-09-27T21:05:14.269-07:00Reciprocal teaching for continued independence across content areas<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve kind of avoided this topic over the last few years, and
I’m not sure why – maybe because initially it seems like a labor intensive
strategy to teach. It really isn’t,
though. It’s meaty, hearty, sound
teaching, and once your students get the process, your job gets a little less
exhausting. I’ve said it before, and
I’ll say it again – Work smarter, not harder.
We already work hard enough.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my all-time favorite books for tackling content-area
learning (reading or not) is <i>Guiding Readers Through Text: Strategy Guides for New Times</i> (Wood, et. al, 2008).
The books is organized
beautifully by chapters on different learning guides, and one of them is the
reciprocal teaching guide, which tends to make the entire process easier. I’m a firm believer in the idea that we never
want to make our students dependent on an organizer or a guide, but to start
them off on it, give them the guide and then eventually have them begin
creating their own. Unfortunately, Wood, et. al seems to be the only author group that has created the organizer that I love, and it is copyright protected in their book, so I can't copy it and throw it up on this blog for you. But I have taken the time to create one similar so that you can get a visual of what one might look like as you read through its use below.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reciprocal teaching guide begins with a little background information on the media you want students to tackle, and then spots for the following items: predictions about the media based upon whatever you gave them as a background knowledge activator or a preview of the text, confirmations of those predictions, and evidence from the passage that support those confirmations, a place to write down questions about what the student is learning, and the answers as the group discusses the questions. Finally, on the bottom of the page there is a place to write two or three ideas that the student thinks are the most important and wants to share with the group. The group will then decide together which piece of information is most important.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s how I would use it in the classroom:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3vRtChFTla-8ul6wXRd28i3ux7oJ9TEpnZe6iJFgBp31d3jA6WgIv8BNae7NFruD9R09OQta7EZwkcji1qLc5kYjaf5OFckN-vRbhD3eAWEzJZ7Twrrp1k8RUKosZllgX17d7oyZ-_M/s1600/reciprocal+teaching+organizer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3vRtChFTla-8ul6wXRd28i3ux7oJ9TEpnZe6iJFgBp31d3jA6WgIv8BNae7NFruD9R09OQta7EZwkcji1qLc5kYjaf5OFckN-vRbhD3eAWEzJZ7Twrrp1k8RUKosZllgX17d7oyZ-_M/s1600/reciprocal+teaching+organizer.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></a>
<li>Put students into groups of 2-3.</li>
<li>Give them the Reciprocal Teaching Guide.</li>
<li>Do a <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/04/background-knowledge-and-purpose.html" target="_blank">background knowledge</a> <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/05/background-knowledge-and-purpose.html" target="_blank">activating or building</a> activity. If you are using text, have students do a quick preview of the text and point out features that will help them with the process (subtitles, graphics, vocabulary, etc.).</li>
<li>Model the steps as the students go through the guide the first time.</li>
<li>Students in the group should discuss and decide upon predictions. Guide them in making their predictions the first time through. Use features of the media to help predict. This will also help you to choose media that will allow them TO predict. Without the ability to predict learning, students can't begin to build purpose independently. </li>
<li>Instruct students to make their way through the media in small chunks (paragraph by paragraph or another way if not using physical text), stopping after each to discuss whether there was evidence to support any of their predictions and writing down any questions they had about the section.</li>
<li>As students write down their questions, encourage them to discuss the answers and write down what they discussed, showing they had managed to clarify the information. </li>
<li>After the reading is over, have students individually write down three of the most important ideas in the passage.</li>
<li>Groups should share their ideas and decide on <b>one</b> idea that they thought was the most important. They should write that one down at the bottom of their notes.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So after all this, can you see why using an organizer at the beginning might come in handy! This strategy is so
versatile, though. I mean, it can be used with
media in <b>any</b> subject, be it a text
book or an article – even a piece of music could lend itself to using a
reciprocal teaching guide! You could use
it with a video or an entire lesson, but keep in mind that you want your
students to do the working so that you can monitor and observe what is
happening with their learning. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The harder you work up front of the classroom, the further
from your students you become. You cannot observe and monitor while you’re doing a song and dance up front, so try to put
your kiddos at the front of their learning and see what they can come up with. You may find that you don’t have to get up
there at <b>all</b> and that you can teach
them from the back of the room instead.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Can you think of ways you can use this strategy in your own
content area? Share that with us in the
comments below.<o:p></o:p></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-37416190012819660392014-09-19T16:37:00.000-07:002014-09-19T19:45:22.509-07:00A plea for your visual learnersThis week I accidentally discovered something about digital text books and visual learners. I love it when this happens because it reminds me that there is still so very much to learn about the way we teach and the way our students learn. Two things happened on the very same day that created new understanding for me.<br />
<br />
I had a teacher contact me asking if we could meet. She was using a new text book (online), and more students were struggling with the text book than not. We set up a meeting during lunch the very next day.<br />
<br />
The period before we met, my eighth graders were working on a vocabulary matching activity (for my kinesthetics and aurals), and I overheard one of them saying, "That can't be the definition! It was longer than that." Now some teachers would call that lazy. What? <i>Measure</i> the definition, but heaven forbid you <i>read </i>it! I would call that <i>visual</i>. But it never dawned on me that some students (especially those who are reluctant to take reading risks) might <b>rely</b> on their visual perception to compensate for their reading challenges. <br />
<br />
After the eighth graders left, I warmed up my lunch and headed down to the sixth grade pods to meet with my colleague. She was using a brand-new online version of a text book, and she reported that many of her students were having difficulty with the text book. As soon as she opened the online text book, my eyes popped out of my head as I (me, the read/write linguistic person) tried to make sense of the portion of the page I was seeing! Talk about inconsiderate text! I was blown away by the difficulty, and we discussed possibly doing a lexile test to see what the level of it actually was.<br />
<br />
As our discussion progressed we talked about different ways to help the kids break down the text to help them to make sense of it, but before we had gotten very far, the bell rang. As I walked out the door, she handed me a hard copy of the text to look through, and we made plans to continue our discussion the next day.<br />
<br />
Later on that day, I had a chance to sit down and look at the hard copy of the text book. I opened the cover to the same chapter we were discussing, and I was shocked to discover how considerate the book actually was! The page was laid out so nicely with a few pictures, nice headings, nicely organized and clearly marked sections. And each section was only two pages long! I couldn't believe the difference in the way I felt looking at the hard copy versus looking at the online version - and I'm not a visual learner!<br />
<br />
After I went home that night, I started processing the two separate incidents, and my mind began to put together some very interesting questions that I would LOVE to research more. <br />
<br />
As an experienced reader, I (even though I am not really visual) need to see where my reading begins and ends. I need to see how it is organized so that I know what questions I can answer in my head and make predictions about what I will be reading. The digital format of the text didn't allow me do this easily. When we logged in and clicked on the section of text, it was just there. I wasn't motivated to turn a page to see when the reading ended or eyeball the page to see how many sections were in it and how they were organized because all I saw was probably half the page, if that! <br />
<br />
How can we teach our students how to read non-fiction text if they can't eyeball the page? It seems to me that our publishers are trying to accommodate us with a "digital format" but to just put a paper-copy into a digital format isn't working for our kiddos! They can't use their strategies to read it, which means we have to take extra steps to show them how. Here are some ideas when making an attempt to tackle digital text books:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Know what your <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/09/september-13-crumble-purpose-setting.html" target="_blank">purpose</a> for reading is. If the entire selection doesn't have to be read to meet the goal, please don't make your risk-avoiding students do any more risk-taking than they already are. </li>
<li>Offer hard copies for kiddos who are not reading risk-takers or to those who prefer it. Chances are, they need to see the entire page visually and need to have a page to turn - and all for different reasons, but many for our visual and kinesthetic learners. You may have to insist that some kids use the hard copy and explain that you are interested in seeing if it makes a difference in their learning. </li>
<li>If you absolutely have to use the digital text, start teaching them how to zoom in and zoom out. REQUIRE students to zoom out to take a look at the entire selection required for reading and consciously analyze it for structure. Use a strategy/organizer like the <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?id=112" target="_blank">THIEVES</a> organizer that forces students to preview the entire selection before reading.</li>
<li>Teach students how to maneuver the online text. There are features on the computer that cannot obviously be used in a hard copy of the text. If you're going to make them read the online version - teach them how to pin sticky notes to it, highlight text, and click on video links, and then REQUIRE them to use those features until they become automatic. </li>
<li>Don't ask them to answer questions that can be found directly in the text. There may likely be a search function. Once your students discover this, all bets are off - nobody will be reading that text. </li>
<li>Create purpose for reading by looking at the beginning of each section for goals, objectives, or purposes. Then teach kids how to organize notes.</li>
<li>Do these things over and over and over again.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Please don't misunderstand this blog post to be <i>anti-digital-text</i> - there certainly is a time and place for digital text. But understand your goal, where your students are, and what you really need to do to get them from where they are to where you need them to be. And don't be afraid to seek out colleagues for additional suggestions! Chances are, more of us are struggling than you realize!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Feel free to add suggestions below for additional ideas on how to tackle digital text. Happy reading!</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-19167280362497666982014-09-12T16:57:00.001-07:002014-09-12T16:58:36.666-07:00A-B-C. Easy as 1-2-3.Sometimes you just need something easy to engage your learners in conversation and get them thinking right away. The A-B-C brainstorm is such an easy and versatile strategy, and yet it gets little credit for being amazing. Not only does this strategy engage your aural and social learners in conversation, but it also engages those who are linguistic and read/write learners due to the alphabetizing and writing. It can be used as a background knowledge retrieving activity , an informal formative assessment, or a note taking strategy. Here's how simple it is:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Give students a copy of the <a href="http://www.studenthandouts.com/Assortment-01/Graphic-Organizers/ABC-Brainstorming-Directions.html" target="_blank">organizer</a> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLny4HJXPzuuZLsks7X2jHkED34s-c5HsNF7b-CVu-9WfuqGYBy74PVbOXN1a960587P_sNft_lbYReXd4BqfHKJyFGX0q4-JIHO_1ZFlWVoAt-BlVYk4cRbDYu8WB9LHyQdLlwPM6-6w/s1600/free-printable-abc-brainstorming-worksheet-ela.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLny4HJXPzuuZLsks7X2jHkED34s-c5HsNF7b-CVu-9WfuqGYBy74PVbOXN1a960587P_sNft_lbYReXd4BqfHKJyFGX0q4-JIHO_1ZFlWVoAt-BlVYk4cRbDYu8WB9LHyQdLlwPM6-6w/s1600/free-printable-abc-brainstorming-worksheet-ela.gif" height="248" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click the <a href="http://www.studenthandouts.com/Assortment-01/Graphic-Organizers/ABC-Brainstorming-Directions.html" target="_blank">link</a> for the source</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
at the beginning of class or as they walk in (good for visual learners, as there are boxes for drawing pictures and organized visually). </li>
<li>Direct them to work with a partner or group of three on filling in the organizer with words and/or pictures that directly relate to the topic and begin with the letter in the box (or have that letter in the word - your choice).</li>
<li>Students can use their resources or not - it's completely up to you. </li>
<li>Walk around, monitor, and ask questions to engage students in deeper conversations, pointing out other words that can be written in the boxes. </li>
</ul>
<div>
You can time the activity or not. I could even see it used as a homework assignment so that your students review learned material from that day. Making students go into a text book to skim and look for relevant words that are directly related to the topic might make a good preview activity for a selection of text. For our kinesthetics, make them do it on big paper. Tape it to a wall if you want to get crazy! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Keep in mind that a quick reflection should always be used after any strategy. Start out by saying something like this, "Okay, so what did we do to start out learning today?" [Students answer with A-B-C Brainstorm] "How did using this help you to review/learn/dig out background knowledge?" At this, your students should be able to tell you that they talked about it, reviewed the text, wrote about it, etc. Finally, ask them what part worked best for them and how it relates to them as learners. Making your kiddos talk about their specific learning preferences is beneficial here because they will begin to relate these preferences with their individual learning, ultimately creating more metacognitive and independent learners.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-86661837086902442912014-09-03T18:46:00.001-07:002014-09-03T18:47:37.584-07:00Using a three-minute-pause to break things upI rarely walk into a classroom anymore where a teacher starts a video at the beginning and lets it just run all period. Those days are long gone, thanks to United Streaming and YouTube where we can pull a seven minute clip rather than a forty-five minute documentary. Last year I blogged about <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/09/todays-homework-study.html" target="_blank">studying for tests</a>, and I mentioned that I usually consider a minute per grade level the maximum a student can do the same thing before zoning out. So for the average eighth grader, we're looking at about eight minutes of note taking, video gazing, worksheet doing, or even group discussion before they get sidetracked and lose focus.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Enter: the three minute pause.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love this strategy because it is a quick and easy way for a student to regain focus and for the teacher to gauge what is happening inside the student's head. Here's how it works.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Decide ahead of time if you want students to discuss while pausing or work independently. I tend to lean toward discussion if the lesson has been a sit-and-get with note taking or independent if the students have been actively involved in discussion or activity. </li>
<li>Also decide ahead of time how you want your students to be held accountable for the pause. Should they write out their answers on a page? On a large piece of poster paper? Sticky notes? Record it? </li>
<li>After eight minutes of a video or note-taking, find a logical stopping point and pause.</li>
<li>Ask students to summarize key points so far, make connections and react to what they've learned, and ask questions or predict what they will learn next.</li>
<li>Resume the activity.</li>
<li>At the end of the activity, take a few minutes to have a group discussion about how the Three-Minute-Pause worked for them as learners, and get a feel for who seemed to benefit more than others.</li>
</ul>
<div>
And that, my friends, is it. So go ahead. Use it, and use it often. Watch that forty-five minute video. Make those kiddos take notes for the period. But pause, pause, pause. Don't forget who you have sitting in front you, and understand that they're all going to need to get refocused - even if you are shoveling the information in by means of the correct learning style. </div>
</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-25199487146563317332014-08-29T15:41:00.000-07:002014-08-29T15:41:41.215-07:00Make things bigger for those who like to moveAs promised, I administered the <a href="http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=younger" target="_blank">VARK learning styles assessment</a> today to my three groups of students. They delivered exactly as I had expected - highly <a href="http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=visual" target="_blank">visual</a> and <a href="http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=kinesthetic" target="_blank">kinesthetic</a>, and one of them even had the audacity to score a zero in the read/write category! Thankfully, I've been in this business long enough to know that this is exactly the type of kiddo who would struggle with reading, and that is why I placed her into my intervention reading class. She and I giggled about it today. She was so far on the other side of the scale, that she really was highly kinesthetic and nothing else. That's hard to do!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So I started thinking today about these kiddos. The ones who need to move. And I researched it a bit tonight to see if others had the same thoughts about it as I did - make everything BIGGER.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Face it, public school is confining and restrictive. We expect our students to walk in, make their home in their one little desk in a row or a "table", walk down the right side of a hallway, and act like miniature adults. But some of them are just not ready for all of that. They need to move and shake. Adolescents - especially the boys - are like mini-firecrackers, ready to explode at any minute with all of the energy they've saved up. How can we work with this in a traditional classroom?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Kinesthetic learners need to move. Even the act of writing is better than just sitting, and they certainly do not have time to listen! But what if we made it all bigger? What if those kiddos who were kinesthetic were allowed to write on larger pieces of paper or small white boards where their entire arms moved and the other one was busy holding the paper or white board? What if we allowed them to draw things on these pieces of paper where they were making larger, loopier, gestures rather than simply writing. What if we created word sorts and matching activities where both of their hands were moving - or what if we made those sorts larger so that they had to put them on the floor to manipulate them?</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just yesterday I noticed my eighth graders glazing over at about one o'clock (late lunch on Monday), so I made them get up and walk across the room to answer a question. Kind of a big deal to answer just one question, but they were awake afterward, and it gave my kinesthetics a duly needed break. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
So when the ants-in-your-pants kid looks like he's ready to vibrate himself right out of his seat, think quick, grab a large piece of paper and some markers and sit him in a spot where he has a little bit of room. Ask him to do whatever you're doing - just bigger. Chalk on sidewalks works really well, and so to those white boards that you can keep at their desks. I know they're distracting, but you're going to get better attention from the kinesthetics (and the visuals, for that matter) if you give them white boards and colored markers.<br />
<br />
What other things can you make bigger for these kiddos? How can you appeal to their kinesthetic side in a more effective way? Share your ideas with us below.</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-73563839738658294042014-08-22T14:54:00.000-07:002014-08-22T14:54:45.700-07:00Digging into the Frayer Model for word understandingWord knowledge happens in layers. We are first introduced to a word, learn the meaning, how it might be used - but then over time we begin to place that word on a continuum where we can relate it to others that may have slightly different connotations. Our ultimate goal should be to add the word to our word bank so that we might communicate more effectively over time. Studies show that the word-exposure gaps between children in poverty and children of affluent families are staggering - millions of words! What does that tell you about the communication skills of some of those kiddos who come to us everyday from low-income families? It tells me that I need to work double hard to ensure that these children have a competitive chance!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6m8N19zHhAUYTIqvUQUy0pEp9pIDXWm3N6RVegBXnaQKhF9pxL8gxd4tsD7j7l7kbjje8f2fHLmUooLmitVvjjOvIu6aQw92NyhyJthyphenhyphenakyam8zB4wxBPNhT1VuMpmN2aHZyqhLF3GA/s1600/Frayer-Model.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6m8N19zHhAUYTIqvUQUy0pEp9pIDXWm3N6RVegBXnaQKhF9pxL8gxd4tsD7j7l7kbjje8f2fHLmUooLmitVvjjOvIu6aQw92NyhyJthyphenhyphenakyam8zB4wxBPNhT1VuMpmN2aHZyqhLF3GA/s1600/Frayer-Model.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a>One of my go-to strategies is the Frayer Model. Now I've seen this strategy morphed into dozens of different organizers - all with the same outline but different prompts. The ultimate goal here is to add the word to a continuum of words so that we can pick from a variety of words that might mean similar things.<br />
<br />
The Frayer is a great tool for our visual / spatial students who like to see relationships and information organized spatially. You can have them draw pictures or write in the boxes. Make the boxes big enough and your linguistic kiddos will enjoy this one also because there is potential for lots of room to write (although may of them like lines on which to write). Put it on the sidewalk in chalk and now your kinesthetic students will have to bend down and crawl around to write on it. Make them move!<br />
<br />
Here's how it works:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Place the word to be studied in the middle oval. </li>
<li>I prefer to write "<b><i>What it is</i></b>" instead of <b><i>definition</i></b> because it leaves for some wiggle room on a definition. Definition, to many students, means <i>open up a dictionary and copy the first definition for the word</i>. Before any of my students write down what it is, we discuss, and then they write down what it is.</li>
<li>When using <b><i>characteristics</i></b>, be sure that the word has some distinct characteristics. This could take some grappling, but it's not supposed to be easy, either. <b><i>Characteristics</i></b> can be replaced with "<b><i>What it is not</i></b>". I LOVE asking kids to identify what it is not because it makes them think in a way that requires more distinct lines drawn between words. This will also require some discussion and grappling as well.</li>
<li><b><i>Examples</i> </b>requires students to take it a step further. Now they can't just define it, but now they have to apply the information, which is, again, a visual strategy. Don't forget you can have them draw. They don't have to write.</li>
<li>Finally, <b><i>non-examples</i></b>, again, requires students to stop, back up, and think backwards. I've also used the prompt <b><i>connection</i></b> here to make my students connect the word somehow to their own background knowledge. Research clearly shows that linking new knowledge gives the information a better chance of sticking. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Keep in mind that once all is said and done, having students reflect on what the strategy did for them as a learner is always beneficial. It'll be painful at first, but drawing attention to them, as learners, keeps them thinking that these strategies are not just gimmicks but true learning tools. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And that is it. A quick (yet not-so-quick) vocabulary acquisition strategy that can be used over and over and over again and in every content area. You can use it on paper, make it miniature and put four on a piece of paper, or create gigantic ones on sidewalk with chalk. What are some ways you can see adapting this simple strategy to your teaching? Have you used a Frayer before? What are some of the ways you have used it, and how have you had your students reflect on their learning afterward?</div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-10878251895824317462014-08-05T15:21:00.001-07:002014-08-05T15:22:23.168-07:00Five Love Languages and how they can be applied in the classroom<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just yesterday my daughter came to me with an acorn top, handed it
to me, and told me to put it on my dresser so "you can remember me every time you look at it." For years she’s been doing
this with random items from nature, and my usual response is a hug and a “thank
you”, and then I place it somewhere in hopes of remembering to put it back
outside. But after I ran across <a href="http://www.5lovelanguages.com/about/gary-chapman/" target="_blank">GaryChapman</a>'s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Love-Languages-Secret-Lasts/dp/0802473156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407256082&sr=8-1&keywords=five+love+languages" target="_blank">Five Love Languages</a></i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>series, my views on her behavior have
changed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapman started out with the book itself, and it morphed into one
specifically for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Love-Languages-Mens-Secret-Lasts/dp/0802473164/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407256145&sr=1-4&keywords=five+love+languages" target="_blank">men</a>, for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/5-Love-Languages-Children/dp/0802403476/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407256145&sr=1-3&keywords=five+love+languages" target="_blank">parents</a>, and even for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Languages-Appreciation-Workplace-Organizations-Encouraging/dp/080246176X/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407256145&sr=1-10&keywords=five+love+languages" target="_blank">workplace</a> (which I am
currently reading). The word <i>love</i> in the title was originally put there
because he started out this idea by helping married (sometimes almost
un-married) couples figure out how to reconnect. After reading that book,
I easily understood how the same principles can be adapted to any situation if
you open your mind to the idea of really understanding other people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the last year I've researched <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/06/motivation-overlooked-sixth-component_23.html" target="_blank">intrinsic motivation</a> up, down,
backwards, forwards, and inside out. One of the main philosophies of
rebuilding lost motivation is getting to know a person<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>at the foundation</b>. I've
discussed learning styles, intelligences, skills, and <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-four-types-of-learners-and-what-we.html" target="_blank">types of learners</a>, but
one thing I've never really delved into is the idea of making a child feel
appreciated and (yep, I'm going to say it) loved. This may partly be
because of the state of today's education system. Love doesn't really fit
into the data collection and analysis equation, does it? But yet we have
large numbers of kiddos who step through those doors feeling worthless and
unappreciated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Before you do anything else, take the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.5lovelanguages.com/profile/"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">test</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">yourself. You'll be amazed at what
knowing the results does. The basic gist of the philosophy is that any
person gives and recognizes love and/or appreciation in one or more of five
ways: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and
physical touch. To know your love language is to understand that you both
<b>express</b> appreciation through that language and <b>recognize</b> it the same way
- whether or not another person expresses it to you in that manner. The
problem comes in when one person expresses appreciation in a language that goes
unrecognized by another - not because the other person is a bad person or is
unwilling to recognize it, but because the other person simply doesn't
speak that language. This is how relationships break down, and this
can happen at lightning speed in a classroom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Teacher/student relationships are always rocky at the beginning.
Thirty eyes staring at you the first day, no matter how veteran you are, can be
unnerving. You have all sorts of kiddos in that group and from all sorts
of backgrounds. There is
almost no point in trying to teach a kid who is angry or upset because the
brain chemistry won't allow that information to store. We need to put our
students into a mindset that says they are appreciated. All of them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what can we do to express this appreciation? Below are
some ways to shower your students with appreciation and hit all of the
languages so that your students' brains are ready for learning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Words of Affirmation</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In his<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/feedback-words-are-powerful.html"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">February Kane County teacher inservice</span></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">, Rick Wormeli spoke a great deal about
providing feedback to our students. The trouble is, we fall into this
trap of destructive feedback rather than constructive feedback. The words<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>good job</i> and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>great work</i> are so overused
that they become meaningless. Our kiddos are seeking meaningful
affirmations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One example of this might be, "That's an interesting thought,
Jessica. I heard you say that Edgar Allan Poe's relationship with his
father may have impacted his writing. That shows me that you're putting
things together and are really thinking about his purpose for some of his
writing. I'm wondering if we can hold on to that thought as we continue
this discussion." This not only gives the student an affirmation
that she is on the right track in her thinking, but it also shows her you were
really paying attention to her (see Quality Time below). You've now made
a connection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Acts of Service</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"For these people, actions speak louder than words." Keep in mind that what one student recognizes
as an act of service might not be what another recognizes. It might be something as simple as stopping
by a student’s desk to help him start a paragraph or picking up a book from the
library for another one. An act of
service might be helping a student get organized during the last five minutes
of class or helping him figure out a logic puzzle for fun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapman warns his readers, however, that if you plan to serve
somebody, keep a few things in mind.
Always ask before you help; sometimes kids just want to do it by themselves. Be genuine and positive, but not over the
top. And for heaven’s sake, do it their
way. If you’re going to help out with
something, don’t start dictating. That
defeats the purpose of an act of service.
And always finish what you start.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;">Quality Time</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When
Chapman suggests quality time, he means make the time that you <b>do</b> have with your kiddos count. Have undistracted conversations. Keep eye contact. LISTEN and don’t interrupt, and watch for
body language. This is a perfect place
to throw in the idea of <a href="http://discoverthought.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/summer-escape-a-teachers-guide-to-using-time-off-as-a-means-to-becoming-a-better-educator/">mindfulness
in the classroom</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When
one practices the language of quality time, instead of focusing on what you are
saying, like in <i>words of affirmation</i>,
you focus on what you are hearing and observing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gift Giving<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From
now on I plan to really focus on what my students give to me and each
other. At Valentine’s Day some of our
girls walk around giving each other cheap little stuffed toys and hearts on
sticks. Pencils, erasers, and other
school supplies that can be purchased cheaply at the dollar store or in August
when everything is on sale are great gifts for kids who will appreciate them. Tickets for special privileges are cheap and
easy as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;">Physical Touch</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
final language of appreciation is one that comes with the most
controversy. There was a time in
education when hugging a child or putting your arm around her was okay, but
today many school boards frown on this type of touching, and some teachers have
actually seen disciplinary consequences for these acts of
appreciation. So what is one to do to
fill the need for physical touch from the large number of kiddos whose primary
language IS physical touch? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chapman
gives a few suggestions. First off,
don’t underestimate the power of quality time.
Closeness doesn’t have to always be physical. It can be emotional or social, and that can
take on the form of uninterrupted conversation and eye contact. But things like firm handshakes, fist bumps,
a high five, or a pat on the shoulder should not be underestimated either. I have even made jokes about our “no hugging”
rule, and now we do “air hugs” in my classroom where we open our arms in front
of each other and then wrap our arms around ourselves. It’s the feeling involved with the physical
touch that makes it wrong or right, and who can go wrong with an “air
hug”? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
toughest part of using the love languages in your classroom is figuring out
which ones to use and when. Use them all
and use them often, and you will begin to see who responds to what. Maybe even give your students choices. Something as simple as, “Would you like me to
help you now during class or would you like to come in at lunch?” might allow
you to understand if a student is looking for and act of service or quality time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 125%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Can
you think back to a time when you’ve noticed differences in the way kids
respond to different ways you’ve shown appreciation? What new acts can you try this year to support
more languages than you have in the past?</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-5799131131380143962014-07-01T17:37:00.002-07:002014-07-02T21:05:51.637-07:00Finding your students' inspiration to write through interest inventories<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Freadingisswagg.blogspot.com%2F2014%2F07%2Ffinding-your-students-inspiration-to.html&media=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-6h739ZFOQsM%2FAAAAAAAAAAI%2FAAAAAAAALBw%2FKi_V23echgk%2Fs512-c%2Fphoto.jpg&description=Next%20stop%3A%20Pinterest" data-pin-do="buttonPin" data-pin-config="above" data-pin-color="red"><img src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pinit_fg_en_rect_red_20.png" /></a>
<!-- Please call pinit.js only once per page -->
<script type="text/javascript" async src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script>
<a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://tinyurl.com/n9xvuxl" data-text="Inspiring Resistant Writers to Write" data-via="readingisswagg" data-related="writeguyjeff">Tweet</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been wandering around my house for days thinking it
should probably be blog time, but as I went into my brain, looking for a good
topic, I kept coming up blank. That’s a
bad feeling for a writer. Summer is
tough. I don’t have teachers around me
asking questions or wanting to upgrade their instruction with some more
engaging strategies. It’s all me. A perfect example of why I could never just
blog and why I surround myself with inspiring people. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last summer I had colleagues, friends, and family feeding me
articles to ponder, <b>and</b> I was taking
classes that gave me more reading to process.
I had blog ideas all summer long last year, and they took me right up through
Christmas break. This summer my friends have been quiet (I’m not sure this is a
good thing), and I’m not taking classes – so I’m back to relying on myself to
come up with stuff my readers will appreciate! As
I started thinking about this, though, I realized that one of my favorite
places to get blog topics is from learning I do myself - things that hook me
and give me inspiration to do what I love to do.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was then that an idea struck me. If my favorite writing topics are things that
hit me emotionally and inspire me, shouldn't it be the same for our
kiddos? I know what you’re
thinking. “Duh,” right? Well, it’s kind of willy-nilly to get up in
front of thirty eighth graders and say, “Ok, all!
Write about what inspires you.”
Most of them haven’t got a clue what inspires them. That’s when I started formulating a
fantastic idea for getting resistant writers to write!<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Start with </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5brf-r4XSS8RWs4Rl9vNVZWT2M/edit?pli=1" style="text-indent: -0.25in;" target="_blank">interest inventories</a><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. Many of you might use them for reading, but
why not use them for writing also? If
you look at an inventory and find that a student loves to watch scary movies,
then you have a place to start. What
kind? Ghost stories? Slasher movies? A quiet kid in the back of the room bleeds football, plays for the
school team, and spends the entire weekend watching college and NFL games with his
uncle. What can you do with this
information?</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Go to Google.
Type in “effects of watching horror films on teenagers” and watch what
happens. Dozens of websites and articles
pop up. Now google “teenager playing
football”. Again, dozens of websites and
articles that somehow relate to teenagers playing football – all with different
angles. These websites don’t even have
to be “evidence based”. All we are
looking for is something to inspire writing and get our kiddos writing
passionately. This type of activity is a
great start to finding a good writing topic.
Grab the laptop cart or go to the lab and have your students do some
searches with one goal in mind - to find something that really grabs their attention
and sucks them in. You could even have
them work in pairs to help each other come up with good search topics. And we all know they LOVE using Google. This, in itself, could be a great
collaborative lesson with the school library media specialist!</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Once your students have their articles (hard copies
might be a better choice), you can have them read and react. A mini lesson on <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/09/september-27-crumble-close-reading.html" target="_blank">close reading</a> or <a href="http://mrswhite1103.blogspot.com/2014/07/getting-started-with-annotation.html" target="_blank">annotating</a>
might be good here. The idea is to get
some meat and potatoes from the article and get the kids thinking, feeling, and
eventually writing. </span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Free-writing is the next step. If the topic is truly inspiring, these kiddos
will now have lots to say. Give them as long as they need to write about what
they read and their reactions. Model
this process. Start a free-write by
talking and writing in front of them.
Then let them go and keep writing in front of them. The more you write, the more they will
write. I’m a firm believer in creating
on the spot so they can see me struggle with it like they might.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
From here, it really depends on your goal. If you want some material for grammar
lessons, try using some of <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-spin-on-day-at-judson-with-jeff.html" target="_blank">Jeff Anderson</a>’s approaches. They’d fit perfectly here. If you’re looking to move into a specific
type of writing, ask students to go back into their writing and start pulling
out information that applies. In my
opinion, once you have the inspiration – the possibilities are endless. For a kiddo who reads an article on negative
effects of horror films on teenagers, he could write a piece that argues the
other side or a narrative about a kid who started hurting people after going on
a horror film watching spree. He could
compare types of horror films and their effects or do his own study on how
middle schoolers view them. He could compare horror books to horror films to
see what the differences are in their effects on kids. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The keys here are to begin with a goal in mind and to get
your students writing about relevant topics.
If you know that your idea is to get some good free-writing down for
grammar instruction, you may want to give free reign on what they load up from
the internet. If you have a specific
writing goal in mind, then when you conference with your students while they’re
searching for material, let them start by reading anything from the internet,
but you’ll need to teach them how to find credible sources once they’ve picked
a topic. It all depends on where you want
to go with the instruction, and don’t forget to tap into your resources
yourself. Use your media specialist to
help you out from the get-go!<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I have found over and over and over again, once I find a
topic that inspires me, the 833 words I crank out in 30 minutes seems like
nothing. This is what we want for our
kiddos. Writing should not be work. Revising and editing? That will and should be work. But writing itself should flow from their
fingertips like words do from their mouths.
If it does, they will create inspired works for you. Guaranteed.<o:p></o:p></div>Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5654497209407677803.post-62252649088240695392014-06-23T16:41:00.000-07:002014-07-02T21:11:34.285-07:00Motivation - the overlooked sixth component of reading<a href="//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Freadingisswagg.blogspot.com%2F2014%2F06%2Fmotivation-overlooked-sixth-component_23.html&media=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-6h739ZFOQsM%2FAAAAAAAAAAI%2FAAAAAAAALBw%2FKi_V23echgk%2Fs512-c%2Fphoto.jpg&description=Next%20stop%3A%20Pinterest" data-pin-do="buttonPin" data-pin-config="above" data-pin-color="red"><img src="//assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pinit_fg_en_rect_red_20.png" /></a>
<!-- Please call pinit.js only once per page -->
<script type="text/javascript" async src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script>
<a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://tinyurl.com/ofutnn2" data-text="Intrinsic Motivation" data-via="readingisswagg">Tweet</a>
<script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');</script>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trina is an eighth grader trapped in her own
prison. She's the one whose seat you've had to move a dozen times in the
last semester. The one who pokes four different kids on her way to
sharpen her pencil for the fifth time before you've gotten through the daily
warm-up. Yep, she's that kid. That's the kid who, on the rare
chance that she's absent (more likely suspended or in the dean's office), the
class seems more . . . well . . . manageable. And that kid is what
prompted me to start really looking into what makes our "unmotivated"
adolescents . . . well . . . not tick.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In a <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Stamford Advocate</span></i> article entitled "<a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Lecker-The-disturbing-transformation-of-5256686.php"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #047ac6; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The Disturbing Transformation of Kindergarten</span></a>",<i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></i>columnist Wendy Lecker reports that kindergarten
has changed drastically in the last fifteen years, shifting to reading
instruction rather than discovery and creativity. Anybody who knows
a five-year-old is well aware that they have a natural curiosity
that, if fostered, becomes a full-blown desire to learn. In her March,
2014 <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/03/irc-conference-why-curiosity-thinking.html"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #047ac6; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">IRC session</span></a>, Stephanie Harvey said that when
kindergartners come in to school, they are wide-eyed with curiosity and a
desire to learn, but by fifth grade, our focus has become answers and not
questions. She quoted Albert Einstein who said, even in his time, “It is,
in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have
not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.” Enter: the
“unmotivated” adolescent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading instruction is
commonly broken into five components: phonemic awareness (knowledge of sounds),
phonics (the idea that sounds equal letters and those letters make words),
fluency (pace and accuracy of reading), vocabulary,
and comprehension. When our kiddos are first learning to read, everything
is new and exciting to them. To some (probably our linguistic ones),
reading comes naturally. To others, not so much. Well-meaninged
educators identify those who struggle and give them more support, taking time
away from other areas, and then during the process we begin to try to boost
their confidence by showering them with praise and incentives when small
successes are made. Thus, the sixth component of reading – <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">motivation</span></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 8.55pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br>
But what of those kiddos who are now ten, eleven, twelve or older? These
are the ones who have heard the words of praise hundreds of times. The
ones who feel dumb because they have to miss art for reading. They’re the
ones who deflect their inability to function at the same level their peers are
by throwing a pencil when the teacher isn’t looking or bullying others. Dr.
Ross Greene, psychology professor at Harvard University, writes in his 2007
article, “<a href="http://www.aea8.k12.ia.us/documents/filelibrary/jinni_horn/kids_do_well_if_they_can_ross_green_8E31787E09D9D.pdf" target="_blank">Kids Do Well if they Can</a>,” that all children would perform if each
possessed the necessary skills to complete the task.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kids are motivated to
learn by three different factors: desire to learn, incentives, or fear of
failure. As they get older, desire to learn decreases, external and
internal obstacles increase, and we find that they rely on incentives and/or
fear of failure as their major motivating factor. Most of the curiosity
has been tested right out of them, and school becomes work. <a href="http://jackcanfield.com/" target="_blank">JackCanfield</a>, self-esteem expert and author of the <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Chicken
Soup </span></i>series, reports that in a self-esteem survey eighty
percent of first graders reported high self-esteem, but by graduation this
number had dropped to five percent. Five percent of high school graduates
reported high self-esteem. That's staggering. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can this be
reversed? Can the motivation blockade be torn down? The external
factors such as family and neighborhood distractions sometimes cause internal
factors to arise. What starts as a hostile environment may cause a
struggling eleven-year-old to develop low academic self-concept, and the
downward spiral begins. Often this happens much earlier than age eleven.
When the external factor of standardized testing provides feedback that
spells intervention, our kids know, and their fragile sense-of-self takes a
nose-dive. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Certainly you aren't
reading this blog for that bleak truth. Your real question is <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Now what? </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Martha Farrell Erickson,
PhD. (2003) of the University of Minnesota describes the <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/publications/tipsheets/ericksontipsheets/3csnarrative.pdf" target="_blank">Three C's</a> </span></i>as "critical ingredients for
healthy child and youth development." </span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">In my opinion, they<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span>are critical for
educating any child, and most importantly, for reversing the earlier damage
done to self-esteem, which can cause blocks in motivation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Connection</span></u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Erickson says, "as
children move into the school years, connections to teachers and other caring
adults, and also to peers, become increasingly important, allowing children to
feel a sense of belonging not only in the family, but in the larger community
as well." Shortly after I read this, I began to take inventory of
the different ways teachers can make connections with their students, use the
information to their advantage, and begin building back that battered self-esteem.
The idea is to get to know your kiddos so that you can best educate the
entire child. Brain research tells us that if negative emotions are
present, internalization of information is unlikely. When students feel
happy, protected, and comfortable, they are more apt to take in and retain
information. Dr. Ross Greene (2007) says that if we can pinpoint and
support students with skills they lack, they will begin to feel successful and
<a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/cant-vs-wont.html" target="_blank">want to succeed</a>. It is our job to get to know these kiddos inside and
out. Here's how.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocushare.pvbears.org%2Fdocushare%2Fdsweb%2FGet%2FDocument-5642%2FReader%2520Self-Perception%2520-%2520Questions%2520and%2520Scoring.doc&ei=9R-mU5yyHYumyASOxYKYBQ&usg=AFQjCNGyDEMgFOACUXMxCxQlxkg15q9Wqw&sig2=1UZrSfpcrCo1UWB8i1a8YA"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;">Reader Self-Perception Scale</span></a></i><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;"> - </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Some of our kiddos are
completely disengaged with the reading process and have no reason to re-engage.
Others struggle, even though they want to do well. With this
information, you could determine which students need more encouragement and how
to approach each one individually, which makes a huge difference in
differentiating your instruction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=younger" target="_blank">Learning Styles Assessments</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> - I use the VARK.
It can be done paper/pencil or online, and it comes in an adult and
student version. I ALWAYS take these assessments first because the
epiphany that comes after learning something new about myself is mind-blowing.
Once you find out what YOUR learning style is, reflect on your teaching
to see if your teaching style matches. If it does (and it inevitably will),
start to realize you will have to make some changes because teaching to one
style leaves out three others. And <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/10/2011-article-i-wrote-and-had-published.html" target="_blank">learning your students' styles</a> and
making them aware of them gives them power to learn and produce. It's
pretty amazing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.bgfl.org/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/ict/multiple_int/what.cfm" target="_blank">Multiple Intelligences Assessments</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> -
I can tell you that I've taken close to half a dozen from different websites,
and they've all come out the same. It doesn't matter which one you take
or give. But take one first, realize that there are reasons you do
certain things in your teaching and life, and then give them to your students.
Allow them to reflect, gain power, and proceed carefully with this<a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/10/2011-article-i-wrote-and-had-published.html" target="_blank"> new knowledge of self</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;">Skill
Deficit Inventories</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> - Kids will
perform if they possess the skills necessary, according to Dr. Ross Greene.
What better way to help these kiddos than to teach them those skills.
The problem usually lies in the fact that we never seem to dig deep
enough. My favorite question to ask about a student is, "Why?"
If, in a conversation with another teacher, the teacher mentions a
student's misbehavior or refusal to participate, I always ask myself,
"Why?" What's missing? The only way to find out is to
assess (formally or informally) and observe, draw conclusions, and collaborate.
What skills are missing?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;">Interest
Inventories</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> - These are
especially useful when looking for reading material for a resistant reader. Here's my <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5brf-r4XSS8RWs4Rl9vNVZWT2M/edit?pli=1" target="_blank">favorite</a>, created by two of my colleagues (one whose <a href="http://mrswhite1103.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> you should definitely read!). Getting to know your students' interests allows you to match them up with
good-fit reading material. Pair this with a skill inventory, and you
could quite possibly find a book that not only matches what a student is
capable of managing but on a topic he enjoys! You can't get any closer to
getting a resistant reader to read. I've done it dozens of times.
Lexile.com is great for choosing great-fit books. Simply type in an
approximate lexile score from a reading inventory and check the boxes of
interests. Lexile.com will narrow the millions of books available to
adolescents to a much less intimidating list. "There's nothing good
to read in this library," may just become, "I never knew there were
this many good books here!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;">Types
of Learners</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> questionnaire – Dr.
Valerie Rice and the US Army did a <a href="http://www.army.mil/article/47416/Fear_of_failure__it__039_s_not_necessarily_a_bad_thing/" target="_blank">study</a> on types of learners. The gist
of the study breaks learners into <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-four-types-of-learners-and-what-we.html" target="_blank">four different types</a>, depending on their
approach (or non-approach) to learning new material. Imagine the power
our students would have if they knew what type of learner they were and how his
information could benefit them!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Contribution</span></u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the book <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bridging-Cultures-Between-Home-School/dp/0805835199/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403491959&sr=1-1&keywords=bridging+cultures+between+home+and+school+a+guide+for+teachers" target="_blank">Bridging Cultures Between Home and School</a>, </span></i>the
author team discusses collectivist cultures and what educators can do to
honor this growing number of students. Adolescents of immigrant families
from all over the world grow up with a sense of collectivity, and parents
emphasize working together and community instead of bringing attention to
individual successes. As educators, it is our job to support each student
individually while maintaining that we have a large number of students who also
need to feel like they are contributing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is just as much an
engagement philosophy as it is one of esteem-building. <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2013/07/reaching-our-social-students.html" target="_blank">Discussion activities </a>can be as simple as a quick think-pair-share to a whole group
activity or discussion model. The more you use them, the more engaged
your students become. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Competence</span></u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Erickson's third C is
the heart of intrinsic motivation. The entire reason for the esteem
breakdown in the first place lies solely with the fact that many of these
kiddos have faced so much failure that success no longer seems attainable.
To build that back, we need to give our students a feeling of mastery,
even on things that don't seem to matter. For example, writing out a
clear agenda and reviewing it at the beginning of each day allows our students
to transition from activity to activity with greater confidence than they would
without knowing what is coming next. Over time, students begin to feel as
if they "run the place" themselves, especially if daily routines are
set and maintained early-on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Providing <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/feedback-words-are-powerful.html" target="_blank">specific and constructive feedback</a> is another way to build competence in our struggling
students. <a href="http://rickwormeli.net/" target="_blank">Rick Wormeli</a>, author and speaker in the field of education,
told his audience <a href="http://readingisswagg.blogspot.com/2014/02/feedback-words-are-powerful.html" target="_blank">last February</a> that one of the worst things we can do for our
students is assess without providing feedback. Talk about an esteem
breaker! To assign a number or a letter grade to student work without
providing any true feedback is meaningless, and yet we do it all the time.
Wormeli's idea is to empower our students. To give them a true
feeling of success, honor their work. Observe. Honor. Tell the
student what the work does for you. Then help them to set a goal to
improve on it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Trina, I noticed
that when you read the first few chapters of your novel you wrote sticky notes that
asked a lot of questions. This shows me that you are really thinking
about and wondering about your reading, and I'm wondering if you've found any
answers to any of these questions. As you read the next chapter, can we
make a goal?" At this time the discussion should move toward either
writing questions that may have answers rooted in the near-future text or to
look for some answers in the next chapter and record them somewhere. You can
then check back with her in a day or so to see if she has met the goal, honor
and re-adjust if necessary. Help her make goals attainable so that she
can begin to feel some success. The more successes she feels, the more she
will strive to succeed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And succeed, she will.
If even one of Trina's teachers meets her with the attitude that says,
"I'm going to get to know you, kid. I'm going to give you a chance
to be a part of this community and to feel success," she will respond.
The biggest challenge is changing our mindset so that she can change
hers. There are no kids who are "just not motivated".
They do not exist. Each one of them has a story. It's our job
to read it, learn it, and help them to use it as power, not as a prison. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>Heather Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03615609870820222709noreply@blogger.com0