Give and Receive

Tomorrow I plan to post some pictures from the past few days. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of my notepad as it currently stands, full of scribbles and ideas for how to make them work. I'll also post a picture of my classroom, and my quest for more wallspace to put up charts and student work (I'm not very good at posting things in the room).

But I did stumble upon a posting on twitter linking to someone's Top 20 Websites need for the upcoming school year. Some of them you'll have seen, while others will be new. Alas it was well worth clicking through, seeing what the sites look like, and envisioning how I could use them in my classroom with my kids.

PS... got a new home computer, with a snipping tool... so great! I need to better integrating pictures into my posting.

Worth Watching

As my wife and I start the process of getting set for the school year, slowly but surely, I am trying to go through my google reader for inspiration. One post which I saved was from Brian Crosby of Learning is Messy. When I had started the teacher certification program, and just getting started with web 2.0 tools, I started following a few different blogs. This was one which I followed fairly regularly, but was intimidated by because of how impactful the teaching was. It was as close to problem based learning as it gets, and the experience was moving to me.

Fast forward to last year and I tried to implement some of those same tools. We used our class wiki on a regular basis. It was an effective tool that students could use to write about events in US history, as well as revise some of the work of their peers. Beyond that they were able to search for other usable sites that would add depth to the information they already learned by embedding links and pictures. But I shied away from blogging in year one, if for no other reason than uncertainty around how it would work with 60 kids (and no true plan for how to ensure it would be connected to the standards).

Below you'll find a link to the TEDxDenverEd presentation by Brian Crosby. It further reinvigorates me as I prep for the upcoming school year.

Revamping the Classroom Library

There comes a time that books go out of style. Over time, the book will lose its appeal to the audience. It might be the story, or the cover, or the binding. For some reason people just don't want to read it anymore. That seems to be the case with my classroom library.

In particular, my novel study books are fairly dated. Books like Hatchet, the River, Detectives in Togas, and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler are all fine books, but rather old (all things considered). I still plan to use them, or at least some of them. But once August hits, I need to head over to some of the local used bookstores and look for newer books. I tried that earlier this year, finding the Janitor's Boy from Andrew Clements (another book from the author of Frindle). Kids were very excited by the newer book, clambering to have a crack at it.

My attention will turn to books like the Breadwinner, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and Tiger Rising. The goal will be to accumulate as many copies as possible for the 70-75 kids I'll see in Reading/Social Studies. Later, someone will go through the same process I am (hopefully in 15-20 years!).

Struggling to Persevere

My current book choice is Peter and the Starcatchers. While I have chugged along through the Percy Jackson series, and made my way through the first book in the Penderwick series, I've struggled to move through this one. Why is that? As I was reading some of the posts in my Google Reader, I came across one that hit the nail on the head. While she was reading an adult piece of fiction, she was having the same struggle I was having. Desire to finish, but the simultaneous feelings of love and hate.

I'm about 125 pages into the 400+ page book at this point. Who knows when I'll finish, as I've been reading it for about a week and my slow reading rate isn't what is holding me back. Instead I simply can't get into the plot, and don't really have the desire to know more about the characters. That is in stark contrast to my feelings with Percy Jackson or the Penderwick girls. While I thought the Penderwicks dragged, I was curious to see what trouble they might elicit because of the class differences with their hosts. Perhaps it was also the feeling of the latter two stories being written in a way I could relate to them, as they are set in more recent times (full disclosure: I'm also not a huge fan of boats, preferring land to sea any day).

All of that makes me wonder how some of my kids tackle books. I had a few kids this year that read books incredibly quickly, and were able to give fantastic retells with detail. But I also had a few other kids that just struggled to move their way through books, and had some books sitting on their desk for weeks on end. It makes me wonder whether the right thing to do when someone is struggling is to have that friendly conversation about their interest in the book. Why is it that you don't like it? Tell me about the book thus far? What do you think would make this better (and be specific)? I don't want to encourage kids giving up on books easily, but rather having them think critically about why a book doesn't work for them.

Reading Challenge

I've finished the first four books in the Percy Jackson series. Thus far they have been very entertaining. I've enjoyed how Riordan mixed mythology into the stories without being teachy. The books were action-packed, and moved along fairly quickly without an overwhelming amount of downtime.

Having read all four, and planning to purchase the fifth when it comes out in paperback on July 27th, I couldn't help but think of my previous class of kids. They would eat the books up (some were reading them during the year). But going further, I think I am going to create a 40 Book Reading Challenge or something like that. Essentially I'll be going through ALA Notable books, Newberry Award winners, etc to create a list of books that kids *should* read. We'll also do some book talks during the process. The end goal being to get kids reading books that are widely recognized as being good literature. I'm going to stay away from some of the older books that I plan to use for novel study, if for no other reason than they are older (kids and older books can equal pulling teeth). Where did the idea come from? The Reading Zone... the idea came from here.

Where to begin?

I went by my classroom on Wednesday. My parents were in town, so I wanted to bring them by in order to show them what my room looked like, and what the school looked like. It was also a chance for me to grab some of the curriculum materials that I need to get planning. I brought home my whole Houghton Mifflin reading set (unit guides, assessment guide, etc), my Units of Study box (planning guides for each writing unit), and my Social Studies materials. The latter I really don't need since I relied on it throughout the course of my first year. The other two I used, but to a somewhat lesser degree.

Where to start? Well I need to look at the standards again to re-familiarize myself with the grade level expectations. From there I want to look at my reading and social studies units to see what is standards are taught in each, as well as how manageable the material is. Even though it is in the curriculum guide, it doesn't mean your kids will find it engaging. I'll then look at the different assessments to see how they line up, and start to plan out my year (when I hope to teach particular things, how long that will take, potential deviations).

Where I hope to really focus some time (this month if possible) is on assessment. I want to find effective pre-assessments for our reading materials so that I can really see the growth of kids in particular reading skills. While reading is done holistically (difficult to separate out skills), I want to ensure that I am pinpointing skills like inferencing, main ideas, asking questions, etc. I also want to be better prepared to mix in novel study books at appropriate levels. Some of this past year relied on moving kids as they got into books, largely because what I anticipated didn't work out. Some of that goes back to effective pre-assessing of reading skills/levels. Having better pre-assessing will allow me to better target my instruction, and move into effective small groups.

For now the materials will stay boxed in the downstairs bedroom/office.

Rules

I just finished Rules by Cynthia Lord. As a whole I really enjoyed it. The book is about a middle school (or intermediate) aged girl who has a brother with autism. She has to take care of him often, and finds that others don't necessarily understand her. But the story becomes complicated by a boy that she meets at her brother's OT sessions. The boy happens to be in a wheelchair, and be mute. Additionally, a girl her age moves in next door and Catherine (the main character) hopes that they will become friends.

I see the applications to my kiddos. The themes of difference and acceptance run throughout. In addition I think many of my kids could associate with the idea of wanting to be friends with someone that is different than they are (with a disability etc) but struggling with the discord that is struck between what is popularly considered normal. Many might not really say that they have been in Catherine's shoes, but I would be willing to bet that more than 3/4's have. It is particularly important at an age where social status and fitting in starts to become more apparent.

Definitely will be considered for my novel study groups in the fall!