My Little No Social Media Experiment (LNSME): Week 4

Part of my writing process in December is supposed to be reflective on the process of not using any social media. I haven’t done a very good job of that in the past week or so, but that's mostly due to holiday celebrations. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been noticing the continual changes since this little experiment began, however.

And there have been changes. Good things that have made my life happier, easier, and even a little more whole. Here's my attempt at capturing the best of the best:

1. Purposeful living — one of my main goals in the past couple of months has been to be much more intentional about the way I spend my time. I think the phrase, “I just don’t have the time to…” may be the biggest cop-out in our fast-paced society. I know I am guilty of filling up far too many minutes in a day with mindless FaceBook scrolling, pointless Google searches, and ye grande old Time Suck otherwise known as Pinterest. And let's not even mention craptastic TV shows. Yikes. 

But with less than a week to go before my self-imposed social media hiatus ends, I’m finding so much enjoyment out of the things I do have time for, and am possibly just a little amazed at all the things I’ve accomplished this month. I’m choosing how I spend my time, not simply letting time slip by in a haze of digital noise.

2. One of the major benefits I’ve noticed from chucking my social media habit is how my relationships with people have changed. To me, this is far more significant than all the writing I’ve made time for this month. Because I’m not tweeting quick thoughts about what’s happening in my classroom or updating FaceBook to let the world know what I’m having for dinner, I have to actually reach out and talk to individual humans if I want any interaction. Instead of sharing a video or article via FaceBook, I’ll text or tell the person I know would be interested about it when we're face to face. I’ve talked more on the phone and even managed to see more people in person this month. 

This slant toward a more personal style of communication has been even more evident in my own home. I’m more apt to work on a project with my husband or sit down and help one of the Littles with a craft now that I don’t feel so tied to my phone, iPad, or laptop. It’s embarrassing to admit how stuck to these devices I had been, but I’m thankful that I chose to put them aside for awhile. I’m a better wife, mom, and friend because of it. And interestingly, my typical angsty-anxious restless feeling I get when I'm at home has mostly gone away.

3. The writing. Oh, the writing! Ideas come easier, words flow onto the page faster, and I’ve spent nearly every day writing. In fact, I think I’ve only missed three days so far. Not bad, considering my writing life before December was incredibly hit and miss, other than things I had to write for grad school. I still find it difficult to sink into one project and work through the hard parts; I’m more likely to flit between two or three projects depending on how much time I have to write and what mood I’m in.

I’m also noticing a new writing style popping up, and although it’s completely surprised me, I’m enjoying what it’s doing for my revision skills. Revision has always been my biggest struggle as a writer. I actually have two complete novel drafts that I have never reopened to revise. Sad, sad, sad. But I’m hoping this new process will help with that. I’m no longer forcing myself to write from beginning to end — instead, I write whatever scene is in my head, skipping around in the story to write the parts that help me keep writing daily. This has done wonders for my ability to stick with a manuscript longer. I also write first by hand and then on the same day type what I’ve written into my Day One app, revising as I go. Eventually I’ll transfer what I have in the app to Pages, revising a third time. Because I’m revising such small pieces at a time, it doesn’t feel so overwhelming, and I feel like I’m getting a lot more accomplished as a draft and in revisions. All good things!

4. I notice more. I’m more mindful of how I’m feeling — whether I’m bored, tired, frustrated, content — I seem to pick up on my downward spirals before I find myself wholly in a funk, and make changes before I’m sitting around angry at nothing in particular. And I notice the things around me more. My house is cleaner than it has been in a long time because I’m noticing little things that need to be tended to and actually doing something about it. Not only is the house more spic and span, I’m finally getting around to some of the projects that should have been done months ago … little by little, our house is becoming more like a home. I feel plugged into my life now that I’ve unplugged from the Internet.

5. My reading life is alive and well again. I’ve had a rough time getting interested in a book for a while now. I read a ton of books for grad school, and thankfully they aren’t textbooks. And of course, I’m always reading something professionally to keep growing as a teacher. But in the past few weeks I’ve read several books just for fun. I try to keep at least one book on my Kindle app for when I’m out and about, and have several books at home that I’ve torn through this month. I know I need to be reading every day just as much as I’m writing, and finally I feel like I’m actually headed in the right direction in my reading life.

There are far more benefits to letting go of the constant online feed of information and prattle than I’ve listed here, but these are the most rewarding for me. Perhaps as the days continue to tick by, more benefits will rise to the top, but for now I’m happy just to notice these few changes that are bringing so much more joy and creativity to my life. Only four days left in December, and I'm strongly considering continuing my social media hiatus. Turns out, it's not so lonely after all.

#IMWAYR - Stop! It's #BookADay Time!

Be sure to hop on over to TeachMentorTexts.com for more great reads!

Summertime means extra time for reading, and joining in on Donalyn Miller's #bookaday challenge, in which I attempt to read a book a day throughout the summer. I know, you never would have gathered that from the hashtag title. I've been doing this since 2010, when I first read Miller's transformational book, The Book Whisperer. The best part is inviting my students to join in; we would make reading goals and book lists for each holiday break and then at the end of the year -- and there was something magical in the community we built around a common love of reading.

This year I didn't have my own class, and the multi-faced responsibilities of my job made it difficult to build a reading community. Next year, I aspire to be better about this. I have plans, my friends, solid plans. I'm hoping that next year at this time I'll be able to share what both my campus reading communities are eager to read over the summer.

For now, here's what I've read so far this summer:

All photos snagged from
Goodreads.com

 The Boy on the Porch, Sharon Creech
This magical story is told from the perspectives of John and Marta, a couple that find a small boy curled up on their porch one morning. Their entire lives are transformed by his appearance, even though he never says a word. It's a touching portrayal of how life changes once you find yourself responsible for a child. Best as a read aloud, I think, as young readers may struggle to connect with the story through the eyes of two adults, but a wondrous read for both the subject and Creech's as-always gorgeous writing style. So many of these sentences I wish I could claim as my own!

 The Miniature World of Marvin & James, Elise Broach, illustrated by Kelly Murphy
A fast, fun read for young readers ready for chapter books. I haven't read their original book, Masterpiece, but am adding it to my to-read list. In this book, James leaves for a vacation at the beach and Marvin is left behind and must find a way to pass the time. He ends up in a wacky little misadventure, worries that James may not miss him very much while he's gone, and learns a thing or two about friendship along the way.

Salt, Helen Frost
In Salt, Frost has created a story of friendship and the struggle that happens when cultural shifts threaten to tear those friendships apart. But more than that, she gives us a secret door into the world of pre-war 1812 in Indiana Territory, letting us glimpse a little of what life might have been like between Native Americans and the settlers that arrived there as traders and soldiers. An important book to add to any school or classroom library.

The Real Boy, Anne Ursu (currently reading)
This book was able to draw me in on the first few pages, something I've struggled with lately when reading fantasy. In The Real Boy, we find a world that is shifting, an orphan that seems destined for adventure, and magic running like a river through it all.
I'm eager to see where this story takes me.

#IMWAYR - Past, Present, Future Reading

Hop on over to TeachMentorTexts.com for more great readerly posts today!

Past

Photo Credit

Chan's debut novel broke my heart into pieces and knit each bit back together again with careful attention. The prose is achingly beautiful, the characters written so true that you will forget you are reading as you ache through their loss and confusion and stumbling attempts at healing right along with each of them. This haunting and magical story of how one family spins out of control before they can slow down long enough to truly see one another again is one I am eager to share with readers, young and old. It's the kind of exquisitely told story that lives on, long after you've lingered over the last sentences, said goodbye to the characters, and closed the book.

Present

Photo Credit

The Husband showed up yesterday with this book in his hands, and was repaid by having to watch me jump up and down and squeal in delight when he handed it to me. I knew about The Art of Neil Gaiman by Hayley Campbell, but hadn't seen it on shelves yet, and had no idea that it is such an expansive and complete work of art in it's own right. Not only are there photos from Gaiman's life, but sketches he created as well as other artists works -- but none of this even compares to the outlines and manuscript pages and oodles of notes from his published work. And then of course, there is Campbell's witty and playful narration of the life of Neil. I'm happily gobbling it up, dancing from section to section like a bid being fed breadcrumbs. Hopping, chirping, greedily pecking away until I've devoured every last morsel of information.

Future

Photo Credit

My class on crafting the short story begins tomorrow, meeting every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the next five weeks. The Art of the Short Story by Dana Gioia and R.S. Gwynn is one of three books we will use as we write, rewrite, workshop, and revise together. I've peeked inside the cover already, and am even more excited than I was before to get started with class!

#EveryDayinMay - So What Are You Really Reading?

Don't laugh, but I actually took a book with me for the backpacking extravaganza this weekend. I also took a journal. It was waterproof, you guys. I mean, talk about dedication to my craft. Let's take a moment to admire my preparation, shall we?

No, really. Picture it. Me in the brilliant green forest, surrounded by doting little woodland friends, quietly reading and penning my genius thoughts into a journal as a soft morning rain shower covers everything in a gentle glow.

Yeah. Except, no.

So I wasn't absorbed in a rich work of literary text this weekend. Nor did I create any wilderness-inspired poetry. The most creativity I was able to muster was narrating my travels as an inner-monologue as I considered how I would write about it later. Even that took some effort.

I did this while shuffling across rocky trails, stepping across fallen trees and overgrown brush, and generally tripping my way toward the finish line.

There was plenty of reading, however. Much of our time was spent attempting to decipher which trail to follow as we moved deeper into the woods and away from society, so brushing up on my map skills was a necessity! I am now a much better topographic map reader, and can even untangle a maze of equestrian trails on a trail map if needed. These aren't skills I ever thought would be particularly important for me, and yet having the ability to analyze all those little squiggles and shaded spots on the map became vitally important late Sunday afternoon as our water supply ran low on a poorly marked trail.

The Trail Angel that gave us the equestrian trail map scoffed at our topo map,
saying it was nice, but hers could save a life. I'm apt to agree.

I was struck by how this type of reading might not typically be considered actual reading, but I applied many of the same skills we ask our young readers to use when analyzing a text. The first time I looked at the topo map, I noticed only the superficial -- the trail I intended to follow, the miles to each waypoint, and any water sources along the way. Once we were actually on the trail, I had new questions. I needed to pay attention to other trails that intersected my trail, to make sure I didn't accidentally end up on the wrong path. Elevation became important when we did end up off-trail, due to some important information we didn't find out until we were halfway into our hike: a fire and recent tornadoes had obliterated a part of the trail. There was a poorly marked detour, and that's where the second map came into play. Now we had two maps (or texts) to compare, from which we needed to draw knowledge. Not much different from students that analyze different texts to draw comparisons and conclusions.

In the end, we wouldn't have been able to make it out of the forest and onto a road if it weren't for our ability to read, reread, and compare our two maps very closely. These are skills I gained as a reader, that became essentially lifesaving outside the academic arena. More on that later this week!

Who knew close reading could potentially save a life, or that I would end up with a story to share in the classroom when a student asks, "Okay, but when will I ever use this in my real life?"

#EveryDayinMay - Poetry with Flora & Ulysses

Today's post was planned and ready to go when all of a sudden it was altered by a very unanticipated occurence.

We reached our first poem in Flora & Ulysses during reading club, and decided we should write some poetry, too. It's a poem that begs to be used as a mentor text, and since our very short time together was ending, I hurriedly gathered up some markers and chart paper and modeled how to use the poem to write my own. We noticed how the poem was organized, and then I thought aloud about how to brainstorm my own list of ideas modeled after Ulysses' first poem.

After I wrote my poem on the chart paper, I invited my little poets to continue brainstorming their own words and begin their poem. We just happened to have paper and pencils handy -- before reading we had brainstormed what a superhero's sidekick would look like and they drew sketches of what their sidekick would look like. They kept the paper and pencil out while I read, to continue their sketches, write down words they liked as I read, and draw pictures to go with the story.

It is always a good idea to be ready to write while you're reading!

Their poems were lovely, as children's poems often are, and we shared what we wrote before leaving for the day.

Response to Flora & Ulysses on Vimeo.
I brought the book home tonight and finished it. Flora & Ulysses would easily be a classroom read aloud I would add to my class library, and I'm happy to have three copies on each of my campuses in our school libraries. I know it will be a book not often on the shelves, but happily in the hands and hearts of our young readers.

#EveryDayinMay Poetry Friday with Tellagami

Make sure to go see what Crystal is up to today!

This week's Poetry Friday Link Up is hosted by Elizabeth Steinglass. For more wonderful poetry, hop on over there and check out all the links!

My supervisor recently gave me copies of The Poetry Friday Anthology by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong for both my campuses. There are weekly poems inside for grades K-5, along with tips on reading each poem with your class. I've only scanned it briefly so far, but I'm eager to read through several more poems! I thought it might be fun to make videos for teachers to use next year in class with some of the poems -- you guys, if I could stand on my head and recite poetry, and if it would get more poetry into classrooms -- I would do it!

So here is my first attempt! I used a fun app called Tellagami. It's free, and allows you to create a character and either record your voice or use text to speech to animate a 30 second video. You can choose from the backgrounds provided or upload your own image.

This is me reciting Night Comes by Deborah Chandra, which is in the 5th grade section for week 32 and chosen as a poem for noticing metaphor and simile. What do you think?

#EveryDayinMay - Flora & Ulysses For The Win!

If you know who this cute little guy is,
we can be BFFs! Photo from the PDF Teacher
Resource file found here.

It's Monday! And we're reading! I love that my 4th Grade Reading Club meets every Monday afternoon -- it's a terrific way to start out the week. We're only on our third week together, and don't have much time left, so I'm hoping to get through as much of Flora & Ulysses as possible. You may remember that we've been reading it; if not, hop on over to the Poetry Friday post where I first announce my love for all things DiCamillo!

#IMWAYR hosted by Teach Mentor Texts

So here's the basic idea behind Flora & Ulysses: Flora is a cynic (oh man, have we had fun in our reading club trying to decide what that word means!) who witnesses the birth of a rather unlikely superhero -- Ulysses. Hilarity ensues. And perhaps Flora's cynicism will melt away a bit, too?

We're excited to find out.

Last week before we read, I asked club members to draw a two-panel comic book predicting what might happen next in the story. Afterwards, they drew a 2-panel comic of what actually happened. Today they'll be creating their own superhero through brainstorming, writing, and sketching. We're having tons of fun with this book -- I'm only sad we won't get to finish it together before school ends!



One thing I just love about DiCamillo's books (You do recall Because of Winn Dixie, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and my all-time fave, The Tale of Despereaux, right??) is her word choice. Flora & Ulysses is no different -- rich, full words that give a young reader a mouthful to relish and think about deeply. I love guiding my readers to discovering meaning for themselves -- no dictionary necessary -- and they seem to enjoy it as well. It's amazing what a reader will do for themselves when they are enjoying the learning because it is fun!

Time to go read up on my favorite superhero's adventures! What are you reading this week?

Crystal and I are blogging together every day in May!

#SOL14 - For the Love of The Hunger Games

So often I have students (mostly girls) come to me and ask for Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Now, I can't blame them for wanting to read it -- The Hunger Games is everybody's darling right now. They've seen the trailer, many have seen the movie, and they love Jennifer Lawrence because everybody loves JLaw.

Of course, my students are not quite the typical age group. These are Fourth and Fifth grade students that want to read the book they think they fell in love with then they watched the movie. They ask me each week if I will pleasepleasepleaseplease-prettyplease-pleaseplease get the books into our library.

The thing is, I can't*. I work on elementary campuses and am allowed to purchase middle grade books for my libraries. The Hunger Games and many of it's similar YA brethren (sisterhood?) are out. I'm trying to compile a decent go-to list of dystopian books geared toward middle grade students, but so far the pickings seem slim.

So, dear reader, I'm hoping you can help. What dystopian novels would you recommend to Fourth and Fifth grade readers that are eager to jump into a story environment similar to The Hunger Games?


*A friend far wiser than me pointed out I could just borrow from one of our middle schools, which is true, but I'd also like to create a display of "Like this… You'll love…" to help students navigate toward materials we have in our libraries.

#Slice2013 - Day 13 of 31

It's been a quiet day.
Reading, writing, reflecting.

I don't remember a time when I wasn't reading, asking for books, wanting to be read to.
Most of my childhood memories are of me wandering rows of books, searching for my next great find.

When I reached 4th grade, I started writing. Poetry, mostly. And only because my teacher gave extra credit for poems written. So I wrote. And I wrote. Bad poems. Silly rhymes. Honestly, I still remember that fat, red folder busting with notebook pages. I remember a poem that went something like this:

The fat cat
sat on a hat
next to a rat

In Fourth Grade. My teacher never said a word about my volumes of uninspired poetry.

But that's when the writing bug really hit.

By middle school, I was writing every day. I carried a binder with me to school, filled with poetry and short stories. I wrote and doodled through all my classes. Language Arts was one of my least favorite subjects. Ironic. And sad.

And by middle school, I found it more difficult to find books that interested me in the children's fiction area of our library. I wandered into the grown up books. I read Agatha Christie. Stephen King (a little, mostly it just freaked me out). Jung. Freud. Books on philosophy. Books on dreams. Books on spiritualism.


I never had a teacher recommend a book. The one time my dad offered me a book, Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon, I was in 4th Grade. I told him I didn't understand something in the book and he took it back, saying "I guess I was wrong. I really thought you were ready for these books."

Later, I read the whole series. Just because.


In high school, I had a folder on our family computer that held a myriad of files containing my writing. I wrote about our car accident. Teenage life. Stories about dysfunctional families. Every day, without fail. Fan fiction modeled after (I'm not kidding, guys) Sweet Valley High or any of Christopher Pike's horror books. I wrote screenplays. And so. much. emo. poetry.

In high school, I also found today's version of FaceBook, years before AOL even existed -- BBS' with multi-line dial-in's that had multi-player interactive fiction text-based games. I lost myself in creating characters and acting out story lines. I took those story lines and wrote even more of my own short stories.

I loved Sassy magazine, and their feature "It Happened to Me," so I wrote a story about my car accident, as true as I could make each word, and printed it out. I deleted the file, afraid my parents would read it. But I gave it to my 9th grade English teacher and asked her to edit it for me, so I could send it to the magazine. She asked if I had an extra copy, because she might lose it. I lied and said I did. She never mentioned it again, and embarrassed that it was so bad she hated it, neither did I.

When I graduated from high school, I deleted all those old files. I'll never want these, I told myself. It's time to grow up. My dad wanted me to get out there and earn a high dollar living doing something sensible. My mom just wanted me to get out, away from all the dysfunction existing between me and my dad.

So I did.

I got married, went to college off and on, had children, went to college off and on, got divorced, and kept writing. Journaling, poetry, short stories, ideas for graphic novels. I took every Literature class and Creative Writing course offered.

And the more I learned about writing, the less I wrote. The more I learned, the more I nit-picked my writing, until it seemed as bad as those 4th grade extra credit poems. And somewhere, deep inside, I decided I was a fraud. Someone that likes writing, but isn't actually a writer.

I let myself believe that for a long time. Then, with a lot of inspiration from NaNoWriMo, I finished my first novel. At right over 100,000 words, something about it's realness made me feel accomplished. Something about finishing something that took so much effort to complete, made me feel more whole.

But I still miss the writer I was when I didn't know I was a writer. I miss middle and high school me, that could sit down for hours in front of the computer and write with abandon, happy and excited, and thinking through the plot without care for sentence structure or literary devices. I miss the child in my writing. The exploration just for the sense of adventure.

And I'm working on navigating my way back to her. I think she misses me, too.

#Slice2013 - Day 12 of 31

This afternoon on FaceBook I read an article about Bridget Zinn, who was offered representation for her debut novel back in 2009. Not long after that, she found out she had stage four colon cancer. She passed away in May of 2011. She was only 33.

Her quirky YA fairy tale, Poison, is set to come out this month. It's up to her friends and family to launch the book, and they're doing an amazing job of honoring her memory while making sure her novel makes it into the hands of readers everywhere. You can read a review of Zinn's Poison here.

Beyond the heartbreak I felt for Zinn and her family, beyond the desire to have her book in my hands, this article left me pondering the fickleness of time. Our best laid plans mean little if we aren't here long enough to reach our goals. Procrastination, fear, the busyness of life - all these and more have often become my excuses for not putting a bold effort toward my own goals. If my time on Earth is abruptly cut short, I wondered, what dreams will I have left unclaimed?

My mind first drifted to the partially edited manuscript for my own YA novel. To the picture book manuscripts unsent. To the half-written stories, and the seeds of stories wanting to be written. To the local critique groups I know of, but shy away from, too afraid to sit in that circle and be seen. To the days spent not writing, when writing is - has always been - where I am most fulfilled.

I have other dreams, of course. For my children, for travel, and other less precious things. But those dreams? The writing dreams? They are the dreams I have the most control over, yet push against the hardest. Those are the dreams I need to be actively running toward, because just sitting here thinking about losing them fills me with regret.

What about you? What unclaimed dreams are waiting for you to run and greet them?

Week 4: So What Do They Really Know?

So it's the end of week 4 and I've just wrapped up my reading of Tovani's So What Do They Really Know?

So much of this book resonated with me! I struggle daily with the decisions I make, especially now that I am in more of a traditional school that requires weekly percentage based grades be entered in an online grading book. I definitely miss the days when my narrative reports, portfolios, and mastery-based grading were the norm! But reading Tovani's book helped me to think about why my beliefs matter, and gave me the extra push I need to continue assessing and grading in a way that I feel accurately shows my learners' understanding and progress.

Here are some highlights that spoke to me from the last three chapters!

Chapter 5
Favorite quote:

The inability to annotate something related to the reading alerts learners that their minds have wandered, which gives them an opportunity to go back and reread before their thoughts stray to far from the text.

 There were several great quotes in this chapter, but this one in particular brought some important reflections about my own learners. Often, I find that they don't even seem to realize that they have checked out, let their mind wander, or are confused about the text. I've used annotations to look at mentor texts for writing, and when we look at a shared poem or other small text -- but not to the extent that I would like. In Tovani's classroom, she pairs an anchor text that the whole class reads with several shorter texts that students can choose from -- this is how she offers choice in her classroom. I'm still struggling to find a way to have more texts we can annotate together, as my learners are reading novels during their independent reading time. This is something I need to think through. I would love to offer more engaging texts to go alongside their Texas history textbook, but these have been difficult to find. One thing I think might work is offering texts that are companion pieces to the read alouds from class. We just finished Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, which appealed to everyone in class! During the reading, I found several articles about the real Ivan -- the gorilla the book is based on. We did annotate one of these texts together, which proved to be a wonderful learning experience. In the future, a little more forward planning could help me be better prepared to offer this type of companion piece texts -- and I can let them do some annotating on their own, after some modeling, of course! I'm eager to see how this works in my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 6
Favorite quote:

Conferring is a talent that can take years to develop. Don't get discouraged, though. To kids, even a teacher who confers badly is better than one who doesn't do it at all.

This is a quote I want to pin in every teacher's classroom all around the globe. I can't even begin to recall the many conversations I have had with teachers of all grade and experience levels about the difficulties when conferring. They are afraid to say the wrong thing, not sure what to say, not sure how to be effective. But the truth is, any help is better than no help at all -- as long as we are mindful that the learner is a person first -- each of them deserves the same amount of kindness we would give a friend in the same situation. When I talk to a friend about a book or a piece of writing, I listen first and comment second. I nudge for more information. I encourage. I give a snippet of advice. And that's pretty much it.

That's how I think about conferring with learners, both as readers and writers. I want to know what they think, where they struggle, what questions they have, and where they want to go next. I can't know these things unless I am clued in to what they are thinking, and this means meeting with or offering feedback to my learners daily.  The "History of the Mob" graded social studies test that is shared on page 124 just about broke my heart. Whenever I sit and talk with a child, the most important thing in my mind is, "First, do no harm."

I often find myself guilty of something mentioned in this chapter, though. Not wanting to interrupt a reader that is "in the zone" I will look over his or her shoulder, see where they are in the reading and what they are writing, but not stop to talk. This is my area to work on! I also think I could use some purposeful thought when it comes to planning some mini-lesson time during conferences. I often bog myself down with worry about how to find time for mini-lessons on all the skills I feel are needed by my learners -- but I can reduce my own stress by doing some of these lessons as conferences with the students that need it most.

Chapter 7
"Grading is Killing Me" is such a fitting title for a chapter on grades! I feel this way all the time. I struggle with assigning numbers to writing, toil over how to best reflect the progress of my readers in a grade, and wind myself up into knots every time I sit down to grade. This chapter gave me some great points to remember as I plan for assessments and grading.

Favorite quote(s):

When the top consideration for grading is how easily it can be managed, we lose what matters most -- understanding and the ability to think critically.

Art Costa, founding director of the Institute for Habits of Mind, has said: "What was educationally significant but hard to measure has been replaced by what is educationally insignificant and easy to measure. So now we measure how well we've taught what isn't worth learning."

These two statements, along with the following information on how Tovani assigns grades throughout the year, were the exact words I needed to read this year. Learning matters. Growth matters. Understanding matters. And recording that progress in the most accurate way possible? Yeah, that matters too.

So when I'm questioned about my grading policies and beliefs, I'm pointing to these quotes. And I can tell anyone asking that I grade in the beginning of the year for how my learners "attempt and complete" the work. It was refreshing to read this section! I nearly flung the book at my husband and shouted, "I do this!! At the beginning of the year I was in tears and frustrated and this is what I came up with! Woohoo!"

Grading is still a struggle, and it will continue to be. But at least now I feel a little more confident about my practices. And I have a plan to carry me forward throughout the rest of the year.

Final Thoughts
Much of the material in this book is aimed at middle and high school teachers. With a little thought and creativity, I believe that these same principles work in the elementary classroom. In fact, Tovani herself says that many of her assessment beliefs came with her from her years in the elementary classroom.

I'm thankful I came across this book through the Stenhouse Summer Blogstitute. This school year is challenging everything I believe in -- I need a staple of strong mentor teachers to look to so that I can continue to say, "Yes! That's exactly why I am doing what I do!"

This is definitely a book I will go to again and again, whenever I find myself getting lost in the politics of school. We all need a little affirmation to keep us headed in the right direction. Encouragement isn't just for our learners -- we need it too!

Week 2: So What Do They Really Know?

Guys! I have to tell you that I love this book. (Okay, if you haven't been following along, I'll tell you -- Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning)

Go check out Book Journey for more reading awesomeness!

I'm finding a good balance between moments when I think, "Yes! Why haven't I thought of that before? I'm doing that tomorrow!" and "Woot! Tovani and I could be teaching BFF's! I do that all the time!"

Okay, I never promised you a well-structured stuffy book review when I said I wanted to use this for a book study. Suffice it to say, when I'm excited about something, it shows!

Chapter 3
Favorite quote:

Whether learners are struggling, gifted, or in between, they all deserve a year's worth of growth.

I think she may have written this quote just for me. This year I have two classes -- my morning class consists mainly of students that struggle in several areas, receive Special Education services, or are somewhere in the middle of the RTI process. My afternoon class has students that are typically high achieving and/or in the Gifted and Talented program. And of coure I have my kiddos that are sitting right in the middle academically but each have their own set of special gifts and skills.

So. Yeah. I wholeheartedly believe they each deserve every ounce of growth I can help them achieve. I work hard to make sure none of our time or efforts are wasted.

I enjoyed the overview of the workshop model -- I mean, sure, I've seen it before. I believe in its effectiveness. But the truth is, as I get busy with meeting timelines and upcoming tests and the system in which we all must live, I often start to veer off-course. This was a good reminder of why I believe in this mode of instruction: the students do the work! It makes sense that when students are the ones working, they are the ones learning! I need to make sure I give them enough time each day to do the hard work of learning.

The curriculum flow map she shares on page 43 was also helpful to me. Since this is my first year as a departmentalized teacher, I'm really struggling to reign in my schedule and routine! I have less than two hours each day with my guys for reading, writing, and social studies. Although the system she has in place for her high school students won't quite work for me in 4th grade, I do want to try making a special bookshelf or area in the room where I can include supplemental texts for students to read and share in a similar way.

So my first goal is to stay on-track with the time to work that I give my students! I'll report back on how I do this week in my next reflection.

Chapter 4
The first thing that popped out at me in Chapter 4 was the learning targets and assessments table. In my school district, we have to post daily objectives and products. The objective is what we will learn together and the product is how the student will show their learning before they leave class. I like doing this because it keeps us all on track, so it was neat to see it in Tovani's book!

I haven't used the inner voice sheets yet, and honestly, I'm not a big fan of making that many copies. We do have reader's notebooks and my students keep notes about their reading, but I call it our reading palette. Whenever I do a read aloud they keep notes, but it looks a little different from the Figure 4.2 on Annotation in Chapter 4. My class creates a table with 4 boxes. Each box is for a different thing, and sometimes I vary what I have them title the boxes, but normally it looks like this:

•  Questions
• Connections
• Predictions/Thoughts on what is happening
• Word Love (a place to capture words, phrases, sentences that their writing ear appreciates)

Alternatively, I tell my kiddos to sketch pictures with captions of what they see in their mind as I read. So I guess we are doing something similar to her inner voice sheet! I go back and forth on having them do this during their own reading, because I really want them in "the reading zone" (gotta throw out a little Atwell love, of course). I felt better about this after I read about her work with Raymond, who didn't want to stop and write while he read. She struck a compromise with him and he writes a little during the last five minutes of reading time. This way he gets to stay in the zone, and she can still get an idea of where he is as a reader. Great balance!

The other part that jumped out at me in this chapter was about debriefing. I am guilty about cutting out the debriefing when we are running short on time. In the future, I'm making a note to myself to try partner debriefing! In the beginning of the year my students hadn't experienced much time working cooperatively with other students, so we have worked very hard to get to a place where we can have conversations about our learning. I think we are ready to try debriefing this way! We also have a Twitter Wall for exit tickets, but I think I need to be a little more deliberate in what I ask them to write each day before they leave. I like Tovani's idea to have students write one question they still have before leaving. Another idea to try this week!

And here's my favorite quote, although it may not seem very important to anyone else!

The evidence I collect isn't very fancy.

This seven word sentence says so much! My evidence is not fancy -- I have sticky notes, pictures, audio clips, scribbled bits of conversations, conversation calendars, conferring notes saved in Evernote -- just bits and pieces of our days, held digitally and on paper. But this is real. Real kids, real moments, real work, real learning.

It doesn't have to be fancy for it to matter. Just keep it real!

Week 1: So What Do They Really Know?

This summer, I followed the Stenhouse Summer Blogstitute. A variety of amazing authors posted on their blog each week and readers were asked to respond in the comments. If the wealth of information shared in the blog posts wasn't enough of a reason to follow, anyone that shared a comment each week was entered into a drawing to win five (5, people!!) Stenhouse titles.

I was a lucky winner (yes, I did a happy book dance when I found out) and Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know? was one of the books I requested.

I could not be more pleased with my selection! After reading the first few chapters, I realized I wanted to share what I was reading with some of my teacher friends. And this little bloggy book study was born. This week I reread chapters 1 & 2, highlighting the points that stood out to me.

Chapter One
Here's a favorite quote from the first two chapters (found in chapter one):

"Teachers don't need any more numerical 'data.' What they need is validation to use the data that matters most--like student work and student talk--to help them figure out next steps for the learners in their educational care."

I connect to this book on several levels -- her sour taste for assessment along with the desire to really know her students quickly grabbed my interest. I feel exactly the same way. But I do like that right away she lets the reader know she doesn't feel like assessment deserves all the blame:

"I realized that assessment wasn't the enemy; it was the way it was being used to judge and punish instead of inform and help educators get smarter about teaching and learning."

 I also thought her comparison between multiple choice tests and open-ended questions was spot on! Just because a student can ace a multiple choice test does not mean they know the material. I think the same is true in reverse. Who hasn't been completely bewildered or frustrated when a student bombs a test over material they know?

If you know me at all, you've probably seen my eye-rolling sneer when the topic of standardized testing comes up. I abhor the district benchmarks, grumble about the STAAR, and shake my head at any assessment that barely skims the surface of what my students know and the progress they have made from where we began. I really identified with Tovani's thoughts on how she had mostly ignored the assessments she was forced to give, even while feeling it wasn't the best way to handle things. I often feel the same way. Finding a balance between the standardized testing students must take and my personal feelings on assessment is a difficult thing for me!

Chapter one ended with our first challenge -- write and define your definition of assessment. Again, this really challenges my over-analytic brain to make some concrete decisions! But if I have to put it in words, this is my working definition of assessment: any interaction or work example that shows a picture of what a student knows and understands at a given time. This can include what seems like an infinite number of possibilities. Audio clips, video, photographs, written work, blog posts ... really, anything that I can use to inform me on where my student is and what they need from me to grow -- that's assessment.

Chapter Two
You guys! I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite quote from this chapter, but here you go:

"When I know my students well, I am a better teacher."

This chapter involved a lot of fist pumping and excited book waving about in the air. I may have read sections to my husband and then stared at him all doe-eyed expecting him to engage me in deep, meaningful conversation about the importance of getting to know your students.

This did not happen.

Instead, I'll share here, because I know you guys will be much more excited. First of all, you need to know that I have been using the Conversation Calendars for about a month in my classroom. I love them! I started out letting students just write to me about anything they wanted. I was a little nervous, thinking they might not give me much to work with. I mean, I'm no Cris Tovani -- maybe those calendars are magical in her classroom, but in mine they were just going to be extra paper littering my classroom floor.

But wow -- I mean, honestly. Without the calendars, I wouldn't have learned that one of my students blames herself for her parents divorce. I wouldn't know the struggles one of them has every day with a difficult sibling. I wouldn't know many things. And they might not know how much I care. But every Tuesday and Thursday we write back and forth to each other and learn about one another and become a tighter community. It's golden. I just love it. Have I mentioned that already?

A couple weeks ago, I started asking them to write to me about the read aloud we're doing in collaboration with The Global Read Aloud. We're reading The One and Only Ivan and this is a book that practically begs for hours of rich discussion. It doesn't matter how much we discuss in class, everyone always has more to share. So we are sharing through the calendar and I am learning so much about them as people and as readers -- I know who is grasping the deeper themes and who is paying attention to word choice and figurative language. I can tell which of them could benefit from some note taking as I read (sticky notes, sketches, word captures, whatever works) and which do better to just sit and listen. It is  a magical thing, but not just in Tovani's room. It's working in mine, too. When we finish this book, I'll have students start responding to their own reading. I'm excited to see where that leads us.

I feel strongly that student-teacher relationships make all the difference in the success of every student. Brain research tells us that all humans need to be enveloped in a safe environment for learning to take place. I work hard to make my students feel secure enough to take risks and explore learning.

The challenges in this chapter really stuck with me. It's so important that we show our students that we see them -- not just that they are a body in our classroom, but that we acknowledge their importance in the universe, and we respond to it.

Tovani's student surveys seem like a great way to let students know that you are invested in their success.  Next week I plan to ask my students what they believe their role is as a reader. What do they think about all the reading we do? What importance do they put in it? I'm interested in those answers.

The challenge at the end of chapter two also included asking readers to make a list of student needs and to-do's. In my Evernote app, each student has a notebook with a list like this (created after my first read of this chapter). I love having this in the app, because anytime I learn something new about a student I can use my phone to enter new info into their note. Before reading about this, I always thought getting to know my students was something I was pretty good at. But having this ongoing list keeps it at the front of my mind, and I find I'm learning more about my students than ever before.

Next Week
For next week, read chapters three and four and be ready to share some more reflections!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

This is book fair week at school, and as usual my "wish list" pocket on the teacher display is slightly embarrassing. No matter, a girl can never have too many books!

I finished reading Starry River of the Sky last week. Although it took me a few chapters to settle in, I ended up falling in love with Rendi, Mr. Shen, Peiyi, and Madame Chang and their story. And it may be true that I'm a little envious of how well Grace Lin wove everything together by the end of the book. Lin's writing brings Chinese folklore to life. Themes of kindness and forgiveness, along with peace and balance flow easily through the story. An added bonus is Lin's beautiful artwork sprinkled throughout each chapter. I was very eager to hand this book into the waiting hands of a student the day after I finished it, and she has been gobbling it up ever since. After reading Starry River, I added Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to my to-read list.

My next must-read was In a Glass Grimmly, Adam Gidwitz' follow up to A Tale Dark and Grimm. Now, you should know I never actually read A Tale Dark and Grimm -- I'm not even sure why -- I always wanted to read it, but it just never happened. Enter October 2012, and I'm hunting new reads for my kids and along comes In a Glass Grimmly. I read the introduction to my class and they were beside themselves begging me to hand it over to them. I told them I'd be happy to pass it along... after I read it. And so I planted myself on the couch this weekend and read. And read. And read. Honestly, I had so much fun with this book I just couldn't put it down. Granted, some of the parts were a little nose-wrinklingly gruesome to a girl that won't even open her eyes during the scary movie previews! But it was a great twist on some oldies but goodies, and I really enjoyed how all the stories eventually wound back together. Tomorrow I will hand this over to my kiddos, and watch some magic take place.

This week I'm focusing on Cris Tovani's first two chapters of So What Do They Really Know? and will post my reflections this weekend. I posted about this last week, inviting readers to join me and post your own thoughts each week as we read our way through this book. I had started this book around the beginning of the year and loved what I read, but the beginning of year doldrums grabbed ahold of me and I didn't keep going. But it definitely seems to be a book worth reading -- I am currently using the Conversation Calendar mentioned in the first chapter and love how effective it has been to direct conversations. I'll post a longer reflection of these two chapters, so watch for that at the end of the week!

Slice of Life Tuesday: A Manifesto Begins

I've learned a lot in the past six weeks, but mostly, I've (re)learned this:

I believe in a reader’s right to choose.

Strike that, I believe in a child’s right to choose.

I believe in a child’s right to be treated like a person, not a statistic. Not a test grade.

Choose how they learn best.

Choose how they represent their learning.

Choose what they want to read.

Choose how they write.

I believe in choice.

The choice to teach in a way that lines up with your beliefs and meets the needs of your students.

I believe in standing firm on your principles.

I believe in change.

I believe when we offer students the opportunity to be great, they amaze us with their excellence.

I believe teaching is about people, not numbers.

I believe we have lost our way.

I believe there is a way back. 

It is the still, quiet voice muffled beneath scores and paperwork and meetings and data.

The still, quiet voice that -- years ago -- urged you to become a teacher in the first place.

I believe that voice has a right to be heard.

And I believe we each have the strength to push that muffled voice from a whisper to a shout -- not just for ourselves; not for the weary eyes, aching feet, boggled brains and burnt out souls of all the teachers across the nation.

No, not only for them -- for me, for you.

I believe that voice has a right to be heard because our children deserve better.

They deserve rooms rich with conversation, laughter that rings through the halls, amazement in the pure joy of learning -- which, let’s be honest -- has been lost beneath the bubble sheets and reading passages and leveled books that bore would-be readers and scientists and Nobel Peace Prize winners at such extreme levels that we have shut down their minds.

I believe our children have the right to be allowed to learn.

I believe change is necessary.

And I believe change is impossible, unless we listen closely.

Listen closely to that still, quiet voice – the one that insists there is a better way.

Because there is. There is a way beyond boxed curriculum sets and test preparation. Beyond extrinsic rewards for minimal expectations. A way beyond what we have let education become.

And if you’ve forgotten your voice, if the demands placed on you have become so stringent that your passion for learning is barely a smoldering ember – put down your clipboard, leave the stacks of papers behind, push open that door and walk outside.

Seek out the playground.

Seek out the children digging in the dirt.

Seek out the boys on the basketball court and the girls doing cheers all lined up in the grassy field. (And yes, seek out the girls playing soccer and the boys reading beneath a tree.)

Seek out the Kindergarteners asking, asking, always asking for more.

Seek out the loner. The angry one. The kids poking bugs with sticks.

Seek out the wisdom in each child, the delight in their faces, the yearning for knowledge.

Fill your lungs with it. Smile, if just for a moment, remembering why you are doing this in the first place.

And let your still, quiet voice rumble and roar.

And be heard.

For you, for your students, for our nation.

Be heard.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (And a challenge!)

It's Monday! Huzzah! It's Monday and I'm sitting at home on my big comfy couch, surrounded by books.

You just gotta love a three day weekend, right?

I've been reading oodles of books lately, partially in hopes of finding the just right way to reach my new students in my new school where I feel a little like Alice and a little like Goldilocks, and a lot like Mr. Magoo.

So between the bumps and bruises of adjusting to my new school home, I read.

Recently, I've read quite a few fabulous middle grade novels, with a stack of promising reads to keep me busy for at least another month. Here's a sample of what I've read so far:

Somehow, between having students with really good taste, and some excellent timing, I've managed to read (or reread) a few delightful books by Sharon Creech throughout the month of September. Love That Dog will always remain a favorite for me -- combining poetry with dog love and a boy learning to love words? Yeah -- you got me. I hadn't planned to read it to my classes so early in the year, but they prodded me and it ended up being a perfect beginning for us. Afterwards, a student handed me Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, which I hadn't read before. I love how Creech weaves together past and present in this short but touching tale of friendship. I'll definitely be passing it along to more students!

Love That Dog * Granny Torrelli * The Great Unexpected

And finally, I picked up a copy of the recently published The Great Unexpected. Interestingly, I heard a little bit of Rosie's voice from Granny Torrelli piping through in Naomi's best friend, Lizzie. I'm curious if anyone else heard that, as well! In The Great Unexpected, Creech tosses together folk tales with a little magic realism and a lot of love to create a story that any Creech follower is sure to appreciate. I know exactly which student I'll be handing this book to first thing tomorrow morning!

Almost Home

I also just finished Joan Bauer's Almost Home, which is as heartbreaking as it is endearing. I quickly fell in love with Sugar Mae Cole, the 12-year-old main character, and her tag along puppy, Shush. Exploring themes that perfectly spark #chooseKind conversations, Bauer also employs a variety of text genres. Readers will quickly understand how important words are in Sugar's world, while seeing models of letter writing, poetry, memoirs, and more. Within minutes of book talking this new title to my students, I had kids scrambling to be the first to read it. And now it's being passed from hand to hand. Almost Home is a beautiful story that any child with family struggles can relate to, and learn from.

Starry River of the Sky

Currently, I'm splitting my time between Grace Lin's Starry River of the Sky (I'm just on page 43) and an unwieldy stack of profession development books. My husband also keeps nudging Patrick Rothfuss' Wise Man's Fear at me, and on a good day, I read maybe a page of it at a time. I loved the first book in this trilogy, The Name of the Wind, but making time for this type of epic fantasy is hard for me these days! And even with as much as I am reading these days, my to-read stack just keeps growing... I need a vacation to catch up on my reading! Does this sound familiar?



The thing I love about reading this much is how it seems to effect my students. Each Monday we sit together and set a reading goal -- they hold me to mine, and I hold them to their goals, too. And when the following Monday arrives, if anyone hasn't met their goal they are expected to know why and have a solution. If they don't have a solution, our class community of readers offers suggestions. It's powerful to watch them transform each week from this simple conversation. So for as long as my nightly reading seems to inspire them to keep chugging along, I will keep reading. I don't know how many reader role models they have in their lives, but at least they can't count on me as one.

So What Do They Really Know?

While I have all these books spinning wildly about, I feel like I need to do something to ground myself in what I'm learning through my PD books. From October 14 through November 11, I'll be reading Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know? and posting each week to reflect on my reading. I'd like to invite you to join me. Comment if you're interested -- I'll post details tomorrow! (Be thinking weekly posts, twitter chat opportunities, and maybe even a google hangout to chat n' learn!) What say you, readers? Do you have time to spend a minute filling out this form so we can read and share together?