SOL 4 I KNOW how to get kids to write!

I was pretty sure that adding more tests was not going to work.  I was pretty sure that the new APPR standards and publishing teachers' grades in the New York Post was not the answer. 

I was pretty sure that more tests, harder tests and longer tests were not the answer.  I tried to give more and more models and more and more mini lessons about craft and ideas - it helped some - but it was not enough to motivate the reluctant ones. 

I tired encouragement, scaffolding and even a bit of bribery...sometimes that helps a for a while.......

NOW I KNOW...I really get it....

I set my alarm on a Saturday morning so I would have time to get it all done.  I literally ran down the stairs to write!  On Day 3 of this challenge, the thoughts were coming fast and furiously...I could have written 2 or 3 posts!  I was feeling the same kind of passion for my writing that I did back when I was writing that dissertation! I hit attach and send before heading off to make a cup of tea and checking my emails.....

And when I came back, it was there....on the Internet.....the answer....how to get the reluctant writer to write more.......one of my teacher-blog heroes had responded to MY post!  Who would have thought that would ever happen!  I think I was actually shaking with excitement as I hurriedly opened the browser ....and there were other comments....already?  WOW......

So now I know the answer.  They have to write a lot - maybe every day.  We have to genuinely want to read and respond to their writing.  They have to know we care. We have to provide them with comfortable ways to write.  We have to embrace technology. They have to have feedback that comes right away...and we have to make sure they are not penalized for taking risks with their writing.

If we give them almost immediate feecback through our responses to their writing and if we tell them we really care ...they will feel like they hit the jackpot...SO long notebooks....bring on the iPads and laptops....it's a new world...and we have to see it THEIR way!

SOL 3 I'm the fastest "flipper"

"Phew, I'm tired," the 7 year old sighed as he settled into the pillow to read a comic."
"I know what you mean," his friend said supportingly, "She's so fast."
"I mean you just can't even breathe she is so fast."
 "I bet she's the fastest flipper in the whole world."
"She's faster than Superman."
"She's faster than lightning,"
"She's faster than my dad."
"She's faster than anybody."
"She's so fast she makes my hands fall off."
"Phew, I'm tired."
"Wanna read with me?"

While some get mugs reassuring themselves they are the "best" or the "greatest," I might be infamous as the "fastest" flipper around.  It's a skill that I have worked on for many years and the kids I overheard discussing my prowess were right - I am pretty fast at the word card reading and sorting activity we do to build automaticity! 

For those of you who don't spend your day supporting struggling readers and writers using multisensory techniques (Wilson, Fundations type programs), you'll have to practice this skill at home.  I suspect you could use a few packs of 3x5 cards (that is what I use) or perhaps a few old deck of cards. 

I do at least have this one item to brag about, among Fundations word card reading and sorting teachers I might just be the "fastest flipper."    However, now that I am making my prowess public, it is possible that someone might read this and might want to challenge my title.  I say, "Bring it on!"

I'm the fastest flipper!

SOL 2 Pieces of Love

A long time ago, when I had very little money and a little more time, I made my first baby quilt.  It was not a huge stretch for someone who had been sewing since she was 14 and who had made her own wedding dress (don't get too excited...it sure was not like the dresses of today)!
That first quilt was a gift I could afford for the first of my peers to have a child. Yet that first project of pieced remnants and turned into something more than I could have imagined.  I spend a lot of time sewing and quilting and I imagined that it might soon wrap a "miracle" on a cold night.  It's most important job, however, was likely its role as that little girl's "lovey."   About a year later, I made an elaborate Blue Bonnet Sue quilt for my sister's first daughter.  My financial situation was a little better and I also threw in a car seat as a baby gift; but I realized there was something special in that quilt that represented the many hopes and prayers I had for that child and her family.  Over many years, I have made many not-quite-so-elaborate quilts for other babies of friends and family.  I have incorporated themes and family hobbies such as fishing and jogging!  I've made quilts with thin "slices" and fat "pieces" of fabric.  I've used remnants and fine Egyptian cotton in the same quilt!  Once, I used tie-died batik fabric for a child who was named after a Grateful Dead song! 
When my daughter (who has many intersecting identifies herself as well as a challenging professional career) called on Sunday night to tell me about her weekend quilting obsession, I smiled because I knew. I too had spent the day making a quilt and I could have just plucked something off the registry.  I am pretty sure I did not tell her - but somehow she figured out that pieces of love are better than anything money could buy.

SOL 1 learning to be a writer in the 21st century

While certainly not the "best" view of me, this picture depicts a few of the multiple intersecting-slices of my life! As a literacy specialist during the day (lots of reports, paperwork) and an adjunct professor in the evening (lots of case studies, lesson plans), I spend a LOT of time at my computer!  So, when the disk-drive on my overworked desktop-computer crashed last week, it seemed like the time to align my needs and wants!

The computer world had certainly changed since the last time I "shopped" for computers and at first I thought I might be able to fill my needs and my wants with a new incredible slim-line laptop; however, the more I pondered, the more I knew that what I really wanted was a tablet to serve as an "e reader" and note taker and a computer to do those excel spreadsheets and power points. 

So, Monet (she is "champagne" colored) arrived on a UPS truck late on a snowy afternoon and shortly thereafter I was reading the Times and exploring her functions.  It was close to 7 when I reluctantly left her charging on the counter and made my way to the stove to stir up some dinner.  Moments later, my husband appeared out of nowhere and began playing with my new writing tablet!  I almost erased the picture and its text as "play" but fortunately I came to my senses just in time.  The picture and text are really much more and perhaps even symbolic of the writing journey that we are ALL taking as writing changes. 
 
ALL this made me reflect on this blog.  I started this blog to do what I "preach" as a teacher of teachers.  If we really do learn to be writers through the process of writing (as the great writing gurus of the 20th Century - Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins - said), then our students need to write about topics that are personally meaningful to them on a regular basis.  I finally began to understand the process as I wrote, endlessly it seemed, for my dissertation.  While I started this blog FOR my grad students, at some point, I realized that this really was more than just a diversion; I really was learning to be a 21st Century writer.  It's a little scary to be putting all these thoughts, ideas and pictures out there for others to possibly read; but that is what writing is all about!
                              

Hurting, Healing, Helping & Hoping

The cyles of life at home, school and work are just that - cycles of very stressful times (hurting) followed by calmer times of healing.  Within our multiple interstecting identities, we help when we can and hope when we can not.  I guess it is just that ol' circle of life they talk about in the Lion King.   It's easiest when there is something you can do...to help....and hardest when all you can to is to hope...!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5q2HML8Fh8

Life in a Lion's Den

Remember that old saying about how IF MARCH COMES IN LIKE A LION, it will go out like a lamb? 
Last Friday morning, we had a surprise 8 inches snowfall on my mountain that closed an interstate road for 3 hours - in the middle of rush hour!  As I drove home on Thursday night, I listened to the 880 news, traffic and weather people several times...and nobody even hinted that such as storm was a possibility! So this today, I thought I would look ahead.....and this is what I saw... .http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/snow-ice-headed-back-to-the-no/62057
The forecast of ice and snow on March 1st is ANOTHER reminder that winter has NOT yet left...and there is no fury like a season that has not left its mark....I guess we are living this late winter season in a sort of "lion's den".....the weather can still wake up and remind us who is the boss!
I hope the weather people are wrong again this week! 

With a little help from my friend

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/slice-of-life-march-challenge-nuts-and-bolts/

With a little help from my new tablet (last post) I am going to challenge myself to write every day in March.  I've planned a series of posts that are really my thinking out loud!  I will try to write about what I think about and talk about each day!  It's a BIG challenge to myself; but, I have already begun to find my voice through this blog!  I think I can...I think I can....

Reading and Writing 21st Century Style!

My new reading and writing device is here :)

Seasons: We Got Three Seasons

During this week of "winter vacation" that so many districts sacrificed due to the surreal weather of early September (Labor Day hurricane) and late October (the Halloween Blizzard), we have clearly had the opportunity to "participate" in 3 of the 4 seasons!  We had a very warm - nearly 60 degree - day with sunshine that made you think of the classic Indian Summer day of late fall.  The trees were bare assuring us that winter was on its way; however, the sunshine was reminiscent of summer.  Then we had a beautiful breezy day yesterday where you wanted to rip off your coat and let the breeze blow through your hair....reminding us all of spring and encouraging us to put away those winter coats and mittens and to shop for bright yellow and orange lightweight sweaters....I actually thought about doing so.....and if I had a few extra minutes yesterday, I would have browsed the "new" collection at TJ Maxx....but this morning, I woke up to the reminder that it is STILL February....and STILL WINTER in the northeast...and it STILL can snow and ice....
I COULD be discouraged...or I COULD rejoice that I got to experience 3 of the 4 seasons this week! The real irony in this year of crazy weather, is that there are districts nearby who were using TODAY as a MAKE UP DAY and who had to close AGAIN....sigh I guess that is called a "snow-day'-snow-day"....

Thinking......About Assessment and its Impact on Teaching

While there is no "school" per se in our part of the country this week due to the "winter break,"  most of us are thinking about and in SOME way preparing for the weeks ahead - busy ones - and ones filled with important decisions that will impact teaching and learning.

One teacher told me that he is trying to get "organized" and plan focused essons for the busy weeks ahead not only to assure his own peace of mind, but also to make sure that every lesson is as good as those demonstrations of our teaching we affectionately call our "observations lessons."  Another teacher mentioned that she is working on some "packets" that will help her students understand the "3rd grade extended response" question on the ELA.  While some of our colleagues are off at the beach or skiing for a few days, they too are planning, sometimes through professional reading and sometimes just through thinking, for the days and weeks ahead.  Effective teachers are always thinking!

I've been researching and thinking about assessments that will support assessing teaching and learning in light of the state-wide Race to the Top Mandate for APPR reform.  It's a significant in that we are using assessments to not only determine student learning but also teacher effectiveness in a far more overt and public manner than ever before. 
It could, in theory, cause teacher anxiety and fear leading to practices that are more reminicent of the Emeror's New Clothes than of reserach-based effective classroom practices.  It is possible that some of our colleagus, unsure of their own effectiveness for whatever reason, might, like the emperor, become obsessed with thinking about and practicing for tests! 


It is possible that some teachers might only think about tests and spend all of their teaching time focused on students' obtaining good grades on the tests.  It is possible that some teachers might have just one ambition: to always have the best scores!  It might, in some cases, be that teachers go out of their way to make students look "low" at the beginning so that they might get credit for their progress....sigh...these are not good thoughts for sure....they are the thoughts of nightmares...the thinking of a teacher who is concerned !

I am not alone in such thinking.....and am TOTALLY confident that excess test prep has negative implications both short term and long term.  I'll write more about that tomorrow!

During the time I was in computer limbo this week, there was another very imporant post on this matter ...check it out..
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/test-prep/