Inside Out and Back Again

I'm slowly working my way through the books on the Mock Newbery 2012 list. Is there an official list? No. But there are different sites, libraries and librarians, that are starting to compile a list of possible contenders. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai is on that list. If I were to use one word to describe it, it would be: moving.

This wasn't entirely what I'd expected. I had briefly read a few reviews, and saw it on multiple lists, so purchased it feeling it would likely pan out as a good investment. What I didn't know until it arrived was that it was a story written as poetry. Poetry. Hmm. I'm not a real big poet, feeling like a fish out of water or a bull in a chinashop. I fear what I perceive to be the flow and rhythm. I fear not understanding the message the author is implying.

I dove into this head first, at least after the first few pages where I waded in cautiously. In conquering the above fears I found the story moving and powerful. It is the story of a girl living it Vietnam in a time of internal strife. Her father is gone missing, part of the war effort. Her family, struggling to survive, eventually leaves on a boat to Guam. From there they leave as refugees to the United States, Alabama to be exact. It is at that point that I truly felt Ha's (the girl) struggle. She is smart, kind, and strong, but mocked as a stranger in a new place. The struggle to fit in pulls at the heartstrings, and her interactions in the school brought me to my own classroom. I wondered about the ELL students in my classroom, and the struggles that they must experience (even on a much different level). The story made me wonder about my own practice and how I can develop into a champion for my ELL students.

Rating: 4.5 of 5. I struggled with it in the beginning but the middle to end were magnificent. Certainly a contender for the Newbery Award in 2012.

Scavenger Hunt- American Indian Edition

This week we are wrapping up our study of American Indians. Our study has been far more general than specific, fitting with the state EALR/GLE (4.1.2 History). The specific name is: Understanding development of Indigenous Societies in North America. The reason for the lack of depth is twofold: 1) Native Americans are covered in greater depth in Grade 4, and 2) this sets the scene for the encounter part of this GLE where Europeans "manifest destiny" by driving them off the land. Without any prior knowledge of these people, and their ability to adapt, then you miss how devastating this encounter was.

Tomorrow we'll be doing a scavenger hunt. A treasure hunt if you will, where the treasure happens to be important pieces of information. Embedded in this treasure hunt is the skill of deconstructing questions to determine importance (i.e. what information is most important in this question). If you can't determine what information is important, you're left with a big pile of information that you really can't sift through. Beyond that they'll continue to practice comparing and contrasting. They'll do this 2-3 times on this hunt. Finally, they'll be asked two higher order questions. First they'll need to name one reading/writing skill we worked on that everyone should know... and create a question where you would use that skill. Since this has been a big target for us, I am not imagining a huge issue with this. Then they'll need to name 3 big ideas or key pieces of information they think all of their peers should need to know.

This will give us some good fuel for Tuesday's round of Jeopardy, and our Wednesday assessment. Since I am most concerned about reading/writing skills, we'll have this as an open book assessment. Am I more concerned with their being able to tell me the climate in the Great Plains, or whether they can locate the appropriate information in the text? The latter is a more useful skill in my eyes.

The More You Write, the More It Grows

Over the next few days I have a ton of stuff to do. Essentially I have two weeks of freedom before professional development starts in my building. Having just been in two days of instructional materials (writing) training, I am a bit worn out. That being said, I am also excited about the possibility of further integration of writing into my Social Studies/Literacy block.

Kids do a ton of writing when they come through my room. They write down notes, and responses, to what we are reading in Social Studies. They also write down responses to literature we are reading. We do weekly current events summaries as homework. Our wiki gets used on a regular basis, and is a great chance for kids to communicate their understanding of the concepts we are learning.

All of that being said, my actual writing instruction during this block was far from optimal. Part of this lies in my mental concept of writing instruction: a writing block (writer's workshop) where kids are actively working on pieces of writing that may of may not be related to other curricular areas. I utilized the Units of Study materials, and enjoyed them (as a sidenote, I'm hoping to go to the Teacher's College next summer to do some of their PD). What I need to eliminate are the walls between writing and my social studies block. I plan to use the materials I was just trained to use to improve my kids' writing, seeing the materials as a concrete bridge to improved paragraphs, summaries, sentences, etc. Will I do away with my writer's workshop? No. I see room for both to fit in my instruction.

There is quite a bit to be done.

Inspire Me!

The big picture, pie in the sky, head in the clouds stuff is where I often live. The mechanics, or nuts and bolts, are not my specialty. As a teacher I think we swing on the pendulum between both of these. Often you swing between questions like "what is your vision for your kids?" and "how will you teach this lesson in writing?"

Today I sat through a writing training. I was immersed in the nuts and bolts of a particular set of writing materials. I was incredibly happy to hear the presenter say that the materials were another set of tools for our respective writing toolkits, as the standards are the curriculum we teach. To me, it couldn't be put any better. You need to use a variety of resources to reach your kids, and ensure that they are able to meet and exceed the state standards in different content areas.

As I said earlier, I'm a big picture person. I like inspiration, and need to consume it (see it, read it, hear it, etc) on a regular basis. Below are a few videos that I've been replaying in my head (or on screen) the past few days. When working in the classroom I put them up on the projector and had them in the background. I've returned to them quite a few times. Enjoy!

First is a big picture, where is education now video from TedxDenverEd by Keith Kruger called Mastering the Moment.


Next is a video I've posted before, featuring Brian Crosby speaking about his classroom and his integration of technology to meet the needs of his kids (again, TedxDenverEd)



Finally, I think watching Dan Meyer from the blog dy/dan is another source of inspiration. I believe the ways that he rethinks math instruction, and embeds multimedia, can be applied across content areas. (TedxNYEd)

Smartboards...Whiteboards...Chalkboards

Over on the Tempered Radical, there is a conversation around Interactive Whiteboards. The general gist of the Radical's argument is that IWB's are a fairly expensive waste of money, with this post being the case in point. He sums it up well in the latest post saying that you add technology to enhance the learning process, which should focus on kids working socially to address meaningful issues to them or show their expertise (largely pulling from issues of justice/fairness). In that regard, I couldn't agree more and have stated so (although far less succinctly here or in depth)

I've followed from the outside, not being a participant for a myriad of reasons. First is that my school district is equipped with Activboards (Smartboards, IWB's, what have you). My room didn't have one when I moved in, but they ensured that I had one prior to day one. Second is that my district is in a technologically savvy area, and the expectation is that technology is being used. We have a tech stipend around different tech tools that we can use to enhance instruction or professional collaboration. An example of that would be learning to use Microsoft's OneNote, which we use as our team meeting notebook and I used to track my reading conferences with students. Third, I just haven't gotten up the courage to post comments of late. There is a degree of self-consciousness that I've had around my practice, and I've been more comfortable processing independently (perhaps soon).

I agree with the idea that IWB's aren't essential to instruction but they can be helpful. In social studies, I've been able to have students manipulate maps, or draw on maps to illustrate understanding from a text. I've also scanned in different pages from texts or readings, and had students highlight important passages or sentences. Students have been able to illustrate how they've determined importance, and how it connects to main ideas. Instead of using butcher paper, or paper flipcharts, I can save those things and return to them later. We also use Activotes (voting device) to do informal assessments. Granted they are multiple choice, but they allow for you to check student understanding and return to them later if they need follow up. I've also seen teachers use activotes where kids are responding to text, and the discussion that follows allows for students to defend their position. While on exemplary teacher visits, I saw robust student-led discussion around books as students discussed their positions, and tried to counter the arguments of their peers. It was incredible and quite powerful. Do you need an Activboard for that? No. But it certainly can be useful.

New Routines

I have yet to find the sweet spot in my schedule. If it isn't a lack of continuity with my reading/writing workshops, it is a lack of focus on strategy instruction in reading. If it isn't one thing, it's another. I feel like I have solved part of my reading/writing workshop issue with my larger blocks of study. Going to 3+ weeks of consistent writing focus have given us more continuity, and led to some better results. Our writing stamina could use some work, but alas I digress.

The issue I have currently is with the reading section of my social studies block. It is a combined literacy block focused on social studies. But the issues we (I) run into are a lack of reading strategy focus as we continue through units. Additionally, we end up missing much of the fiction component that goes into reading. We end up doing more writing about social studies, and re-reading for specificity as opposed to simply reading.

The solution I've started to employ is breaking my social studies block into 2 parts: reading strategy and a social studies content focus. We start with 10-20 minutes (15 as a ballpark est) of silent reading in our 5th grade reading anthology. The reading is half, or a quarter, of a selection (which they already break into sections). Then we transition into our content focus area for the next 35-45 minutes. I need to front load the content and strategy info on Monday but the carry over should be successful.

My objectives in doing this are that 1) we'll engage in some thoughtful fiction/nonfiction study unrelated to social studies, 2) we'll practice reading comprehension strategies in a variety of formats, and 3) we'll have a period of time to acclimate, similar to having a read aloud or silent reading.

Let the Feasting Commence

We are 3 hours away from the Thanksgiving break. Conferences are complete, and we're all staring at 4.5 days of relaxation ahead. No homework, no projects, no planning (at least for the kids). I'll likely take a day or two then put some work into the next block of teaching time, ensuring instruction and assessment are in line.

Conferences do many things. The amount of work put into instruction is less, simply because there is less instructional time to work about. Work is shifted to looking closely at assessment data, and deciding where some instructional gains can be made. Time is invested in building relationships with parents and families, and it has been fantastic.

I walk away more committed to my kids. I'm excited to rest up, take a fresh look at what is coming up, and ensure that I have quality instruction planned. That is, of course, after lots of turkey.

Goal Setting

We are in the midst of finishing our opinion piece on explorers. Last week I asked the 60+ kiddos to find some information about explorers. They needed to read strategically, looking for ideas that were in the social studies text. The questions ranged from: where was the explorer from, to how did the explorer help/hurt native people. The kiddos were able to easily find some of the explicit information, but inferring was more difficult (isn't it difficult for everyone?!). From those pieces of information we compared and contrasted the effects of European explorers, and worked towards drawing conclusions (do you think they were positive or negative, and why? what facts support your opinion?).

Since the tasks were so diverse, I've had to teach a myriad of skills. For example we started with identifying important information in text, then transitioned into the reading skill of compare/contrast. After that we worked on our thinking, and how we evaluate information (with the idea of the two column chart being like a scale). Where I have had to circle back, and often, has been how to structure writing. In many ways the writing is similar to a summary, as you have a topic sentence followed by facts to support that sentence. But I've found myself repeating the sequence, and reteaching the sequence each of the past 3 days. Has it sunk in? Not necessarily, which tells me that I need a more engaging teaching point as well as more guided practice.

I will admit that I am excited to look through their work. I want to see if they hit everything on our writing checklist (topic sentence, 3 supporting facts, opposing opinion, closure, readability, etc) as they have assured me they have. Next time around I will be introducing a self-assessment piece. I want them to assess where their own writing is, and what they need to do in order to make it better. I already do something like this for their homework and it has worked well. Now if I could only get it out of my box of teaching stuff....

Conferring With Authors

Writing conferences are a wonderful tool for writing instruction. I feel like they are the backbone of instruction, as they allow the teacher to see what lessons students are employing. From there you can provide feedback, learn more about the student as a writer and person, and you can make changes to your instruction. These conferences are where I find my instruction to be most meaningful, as you can move students along in a way that is individualized to where they are in the writing process.

What I've noticed is that I need to make some changes to my Writer's Workshop (my homeroom literacy time as a whole). My writing workshop has been on a 3 days on/off cycle, alternating with reading. But the cycle is too quick and momentum is lost too quickly. I feel like we are returning to "small moments" for the 8th time since September. It feels stagnate, and change needs to be made. So I'm hoping to put a substantial dent into my writing instruction by going for the next 2-3 weeks with writing, then going for the following 2-3 weeks with reading instruction. I'm less concerned about reading instruction, largely because they are receiving that instruction (from me) during our social studies time.

Ultimately I need to consider my end objective... I want my kids to develop a love of reading and writing. They won't love writing when it comes in 3 day bursts every 2 weeks. You love writing when you get to dive in deep and apply an assortment of strategies that lead you towards improvement. The only sad thing is that I won't be trying out any of the strategies from Strategies That Work 2 quite yet with my homeroom kids. The book is wonderful and worth picking up.

Human Resources

I've gotten into twitter. I am sure I will become bored of it, but I enjoy following folks. In some cases, such as this week(end) it is useful as people will tweet the results from sporting events (such as the NCAA Track Champs). But I read an interesting tweet (or two) from a teacher. He had a conversation with a business woman about scripted curricula. Long story short, her response was one of turning an HR problem into a curriculum and instruction problem.

I hadn't really thought about it exactly that way. I guess I had resigned myself to the issues that education has in human resources, namely that you can't get rid of "bad teachers." What "bad" means is open to interpretation, but I take it to mean those that aren't steeped in "good" pedagogy, and aren't helping students grow as learners. They lack the knowledge of instructional strategies to help their students grow.

Why do we have these HR problems? I am not saying run schools as businesses or corporations, as they are different entities. While you can say schools "produce a product," not all of our "products" are the same. But that doesn't absolve us of letting bad teachers, poor providers of instruction, continue to educate kids.

Remediation *edited

While I was running, and staring at Mt. Rainier, I got to thinking. I had sent along a link regarding an average Algebra class versus a remedial class. At issue was how engaged the students were in the respective classes. What I was thinking about (and have now edited, as I got off on a tangent) was the question: Why would they be more engaged? While a video or stop motion, or any number of things might be more engaging than strict algorithms, aren't they still within the realm of math? Aren't these the kids that haven't been successful in math? I liken it to a person who doesn't like basketball being told that they should watch an NBA Finals or NCAA tournament game (compared to two awful teams), as it will spark more engagement. Perhaps it is a difference in what we (and they) consider to be interesting. To me, the video was interesting... but I enjoy math and interesting techie stuff.

What I started to think about was the notion of remediation. A question that I need to post is: What is different, in terms of instruction, in the two classes? I also wonder what is different in the remedial instruction compared to the instruction the students have received in the past. If they had the same instruction (which I am not sure of at all), in particular being taught using the same instructional methods, then how can we expect their performance to have changed? Isn't that the definition of insanity?

That also got me thinking about remediation. Remediation in elementary school can often mean pull-out. In some cases that can be good, particularly those that use different instructional methods to teach old concepts. As an example, in reading we have some kiddos who head out to get extra reading support. When they are getting pulled out they lose connection with their classmates (and that community). Additionally, does nailing those strategies again and again really amount to anything different compared to past instructional strategies? Additionally, are any gains that they might get worth it? Remediation often seems like another method of gatekeeping, and another way for us to pawn students off to someone else- abdicating our responsibility.