Teaching Paperless

Teachers use lots of paper. I am as guilty of it as anyone. I have a reading packet for my kids, helping track comprehension over the course of the week and recording new vocabulary words. I also have kids print out their current event summary, and their article each week. I've given them the option of emailing each, or writing down the URL to their article, but the majority opt to print.

This week I am doing my best to go paperless. How am I doing it, and what are the kids doing? Good questions. The kids are working on the question: Who was the best explorer (during the Age of Exploration)? The question requires kids to gather information, compare explorers, determine which information is most important, then evaluate that information to respond to the question. They'll take all of that information, and all of that work, and create a project that they will submit electronically. Beyond the writing, reading, social studies standards (not to mention critical thinking) I'm also focused on getting kids familiar with using our netbooks.

How am I going paperless? I decided that I would have 3 documents kids would be using (one of which they had from a week ago). The two that I would normally print are posted on our class wiki. Yesterday I had them save both documents in a particular way, user name then file name. As they do work they will type directly into the two planning sheets. When they complete the sheets, and their project, they will submit them through a dropbox. I have one set up on our network where kids can move files into the folder, and I can then evaluate them (with different color comments, then emailed back to them). I think it is a step in the right direction. More to come!

A Break Well Spent

My three days off (plus the weekend!) were certainly needed. While I did a little bit or work yesterday, today was the only real day that I got down to work for a substantial amount of time. I worked on honing my plan for this week, as well as mapping out the week after that (first week of March). That being said, I went book shopping and I read 5 books that I might be using for novel study as well as one other book. My time was well spent.

I was able to make my way through the following books:

• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood
• Loser by Jerry Spinelli
• A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements

I really enjoyed all of them. As I've done in the past, I opted to dog-ear pages with possible stopping points for kids. I then took those pages and put them into my OneNote notebook for novel study books. Instead of constantly needing to go back and re-read books I can use these questions to refresh my memory. My hope is that I can get kids to think more deeply about the author's message by using some stopping points with questions aimed at analyzing character and plot.

Netbooks

My district is in the midst of moving to a 1-1 netbook-student ratio. That ratio holds true through the secondary grades, but is more like 1 set per grade level (or 2-1 student/netbook) at the elementary level. I'm a bit of tech geek/nerd, so this is fantastic. The effect is similar to teaching in a tech lab, which I almost already have (2-1 ratio currently).

We've been piloting it in my grade level since last week. The initial teaching of how to treat them, how to manipulate the touchpad, and how to get familiar was a bit time intensive. Logging in, since it is wireless (and there are 20+ other machines logging in simultaneously), took longer than usual. But each subsequent usage has been far more efficient. We use the downtime to read, largely because it means kids need to have their hands away from the touchpad or keyboard (plus we have novel study as an ongoing project). So far so good.

This past week was part of the acclimation period. This coming week we will be going ahead with the netbooks full bore. I was inspired by a project-based learning video from Common Craft. Instead of project based learning, we're going to be more question-based. The question: Which of the 8 explorers we've studied was the best explorer during the Age of Exploration?

We've already done some of the background work. We have read about these 8 explorers, and asked questions to fill in missing information using some internet research on the netbooks. To respond to this question, kids will need to do an initial evaluation to narrow down their comparison to two or three of the eight. After that they will need to compare/contrast these explorers, and think critically about the information in order to make a final evaluation. Once they've done that they will need to synthesize it into one "thing"- poster, PowerPoint, Photostory, or essay. The thing will show why their explorer is the best, and will need to include accomplishments of the explorer as well as comparison statements between their explorer and another (i.e. "Unlike other explorers, like Hernan Cortes, Jacques Cartier did not attempt to conquer native people"). Assuming I provide enough scaffolding, I think this will turn out really well. It should also put the netbooks to great use, as kids will be responsible for creating multiple documents on the netbook and doing additional research. Can't wait!

Books to Read

Today is the start of midwinter break. We stretch it out from Thursday to Monday, and get back after it on Tuesday. I really dislike taking time off. While I know I need the physical and mental break, I still find it difficult to break away. This break is no different. So what is on tap? Lots of reading. Some of the books I want to tackle include:

• A Week in the Woods- Andrew Clements
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle- Avi (never read any Avi, so it needs to be done!)
• The Breadwinner- Deborah Ellis
• Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Paterson
• Hatchet- Gary Paulsen
• The Westing Game- Ellen Raskin
• Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler- Konigsburg
• Bud, Not Buddy- Curtis
• Maniac Magee- Spinelli

Most of the above I have skimmed (or read in the case of Frankweiler, Bridge) but want to go through in the case I want to use them for future novel study. I've also go Mockingbird by Erskine, and Catching Fire (Hunger Games) by Collins to tackle as I want to keep reading stuff that I want kids to pick up independently. Books books books! Not a bad way to spend my break.

Running Novel Study Groups

The greatest challenge in our novel study is balancing the varying rates of readers. You have some kids that read slowly (sub 120 words per minute), while you have others that read significantly faster. You balance that against kids that have a greater propensity to read than others as well. That doesn't even get into the variance in comprehension, which is not entirely correlated with reading rate.

I've struggled balancing out my groups. I'll give kids books that they are interested in, but not always the one they are most excited about- seeing some books as an opportunity to challenge kids. Between getting excited about books they weren't pumped about, monitoring comprehension of readers of all rates, and keeping fast readers invested in novel study... there is quite a bit to take care of.

One wrinkle I am considering changing is actually an addition. Currently I have bi-weekly literature circle groups. In those groups kids will respond to 2-3 questions (largely inferential or analytical) with their peers (those reading the same book). That is fantastic, but the other weeks miss that same response element. They have a response to do for their novel study packet, but I would like to use the same questions from their literature circle on non-lit circle days. What is stopping me? The additional writing that the kids would need to do- I don't want reading to be a constant chore ("I need to write now that I have read"). It isn't what real readers do. By the same token I need to monitor comprehension, particularly with some of the symbolic messages authors embed in their respective works. Ah, the joy of running novel study groups!

Stating Objectives

I am taking a set of classes on Assessment. It is part of the New Teacher Support Program, and runs as a 4-part set. I'll admit that I wasn't necessarily thrilled about the other choices (differentiation and engagement). I feel like I do a fairly good job of differentiating, and will hopefully continue to improve. I also believe my kids are engaged, partially because of the content and partially because of my enthusiasm. So Assessment it was!

The big takeaway for me was connected to objectives. During student teaching I never posted my objectives. Some folks did, but I thought that it was fairly pointless. Who was I trying to appease, folks who walk into my room or my kids? I wasn't sold on the notion that my kids really would care that the objective was on the board. Fast forward to last fall and I was posting my objective. Why? I'll admit that initially it was more symbolic than functional. I saw others doing it and felt like "when in Rome, do as the Romans."

Over the course of the past 12-16 months I've changed my thinking a bit. I have my objectives posted on the Activboard everyday (same as before). I also state it at the beginning, and circle back to it after any direct instruction or when people move into independent work time. I've got reading/writing objectives as well as content objectives. I usually have the reading/writing skill posted, not the content (stated orally). My reasoning for posting it is to ensure that kids are aware of where we are going. Does everyone get it? No. But by stating the objective (which can change daily or weekly, depending on what we are working on) kids get an idea of what they need to practice. Is it asking questions while reading? Is it summarizing text? Is it...

The alternative is kids asking "why are we doing this?" Ugh. I still get that, but not as much as I used to.

Word Work Wednesday

Word Work Wednesday is relatively new in my classroom. Previously we'd strictly been doing vocabulary work associated with our reading text. Much of the instruction with those exercises involved blends, VV, or CVVC types of combinations. While that is moderately helpful for kids, ensuring that are recognizing letter combinations so that they can pronounce them appropriately, it isn't enough.

I had also realized that I wasn't doing enough to help my kids in vocabulary instruction. Part of EALR 1 (Vocabulary) is GLE 1.2, building wide vocabulary. Getting more specific, part of that is understanding Greek and Latin roots. While I'm not perfect with my instruction involving those, I certainly am doing more. Word Work Wednesday is a big part of that.

For homework Tuesday night kids get a list of 4-8 different roots. They compile a list of words having those roots. After that they define 2 from each list, and lastly predict what they think the root means. We then share our words, a few definitions, and predicted roots (and actual roots) when we come in on Wednesday. An example would look like this: "-gress" (movement) would have progress, egress, aggressive, regress, congress. They look up progress which means to move forward, and regress which means to move backwards. Ah! Movement!

It doesn't always work cleanly. If you looked up congress (coming together as a group) then you might be a little fuzzy. The kids have been really excited about it, particularly sharing words and making predictions. I have kids selecting other kids to share words, and the overall engagement is really high. I can't say that it is the best way to teach vocabulary, but having kids excited about word work is fantastic.

Novel Study... One Year Later

Last year I was itching to get my kids reading good books. I wanted to do some in-depth study of characters, plot, and ways stories are woven. I went to a training, and was incredibly fortunate to find a teacher that was doing just that- and willing to share! So in the Spring I had two rounds of novel study, and it went moderately well. If you consider that I was in my first year and had never had 60+ kids doing a novel study (between 5 books) then the level of achievement rises dramatically.

Hit fast forward and here we are today. I have 60+ kids exploring 6 different books. Four of the books are new to my novel study unit on challenges (A Wrinkle in Time, the Lightning Thief, Rules, and Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) and they have been well received. I've met with each book group in each rotation group, giving them some background as well as vocabulary preview. How is it going? So far, so good. I'll be able to tell more once I get my first round of FQR sheets back and can see what they are documenting for their summaries. I'm also keenly interested in their responses where they need to decide which character is most or least like them. We've modelled solid response writing, and I did so again prior to handing out the FQR sheets, so I am hoping for really good responses- solid connections, multiple examples, lively descriptions. We're also going to self/peer assess our sheets on Friday. This will allow me to leverage those students that consistently make those connections, and expand in their writing.

So far so good. Different than last year. Better? We'll wait and see.