Archive for January, 2009
In Robin Turner’s high school English class in Anaheim, California, students are more than just classmates, they are family, or familia. Robin works hard throughout the year to create this sense of family in his class, with a common mission: to help students get into a four-year university and succeed once they get there. “This concept of familia permeates every activity of the class,” Robin writes in his book, Greater Expectations. In this week’s tip, Robin explains why familia is so important in his class and suggests ten quick ways to help foster the concept.
The need to belong is so strong in this digitized generation that to facilitate a sense of community, or familia, can be a powerful motivating force for adolescents. In my class I try to never lose sight of the students who otherwise would get lost and be forgotten in the classroom – too often, such student is the underrepresented student – and instead, I actively work to draw those students into the mainstream of the class. Learning and using my students’ names within the first two days, creating a seating arrangement that leaves no one stranded in a corner, getting kids to interact on a near-daily basis, and conveying messages purposefully with the displays on my classroom walls – these are some of the techniques I use to accomplish familia in the classroom. Here are ten quick ways to help foster the concept of familia:
1. Take pictures of your students at prom, sporting events, assemblies, in class, and other places and post them in your classroom.
2. Try to find something to talk about with each student – their job, sports, clubs, hobbies, or music. A quick moment or two of conversation about something personal can make a lasting impact on a student.
3. Display student work on your wall.
4. Teach students how to have a classroom discussion. Have them use each other’s names in conversation. Make sure your students know each other’s names.
5. Bring back past students for quick talks of how your class has benefited them. Let your students see that they are part of a community of students who have gone on to be successful.
6. Set up writing groups as soon as possible. Have your students react to student work as quickly as possible. In an English class, it isn’t enough to be a community; we need to be a community of readers and writers with plans for future academic success.
7. Let students see that you are part of their community. Laugh at their jokes, show them your own struggles with writing, and listen to their criticism of your own writing.
8. Listen to students’ music during writing time after previewing the lyrics.
9. Make time outside the classroom to foster community. This past year, I have used my lunch break to play cards, video games, and Pictionary with my students, and have spent after-school time to eat hamburgers and attend plays, bonfires, and movies with groups of students.
10. When conferring with a student about a paper, suggest another student to look at it as well. A community of writers is the goal here.
The most important thing I have learned is to be interested in my students. I have found that if I start with that, everything else falls into place.
Later in his book, Robin talks about writing assignments that further foster the concept of familia.
January 13th, 2009
How can you take on the role of mentor and foster a positive and fulfilling experience for you and your new colleague? What are the important factors that influence the success of a mentoring relationship? How can you help the beginning teacher tackle specific classroom challenges?
Building on the success of the first edition — used in teacher induction programs across the country — the revised and expanded Mentoring Beginning Teachers is a practical guide for K-12 mentors that answers key questions about:
• preparing to be a mentoring guide and coach;
• encouraging reflection;
• helping beginning teachers with specific challenges such as classroom management and teaching English language learners;
• school-wide strategies for ensuring the success of mentoring and beginning teachers;
• how to deal with common mentoring tensions and dilemmas.
The new edition incorporates team mentoring strategies and features new chapters on helping beginning teachers negotiate the school culture, collaborate with parents, prepare for curriculum mapping, and work with administrators. And it’s filled with examples of mentoring situations and dialogue that illustrate key concepts.
Available later this month, you can preview the entire text online now.
January 12th, 2009
As usual, this week’s poem selection comes again from Bill Varner.
Mary Oliver’s poetry seems to embody James Wright’s idea of “the pure clear word,” which is a wonderful phrase, I think, for good writing. This poem, from Orion Magazine, simply stunned me with its devastating simplicity. (great magazine too if you haven’t seen it…)
At the Pond
One summer
I went every morning
to the edge of a pond where…
Read the rest of the poem here
January 9th, 2009
We made some changes to our homepage this week, so make sure you visit us at www.stenhouse.com. We added a new media player, so you can now preview Kelly Gallagher’s new DVD, Improving Adolescent Writers.
You can also browse our entire line of new titles for the spring. Here is a list of our titles, go to our website to find out more about each book. Many of them will be available in the next couple of weeks, so check back often!
Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
Kelly Gallagher
Notebook Connections: Strategies for the Reader’s Notebook
Aimee Buckner
Improving Adolescent Writers
Kelly Gallagher
Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-8
Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literary Assessment and Instruction
Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, “The Sisters”
Engaging the Eye Generation: Visual Literacy Strategies for the K-5 Classroom
Johanna Riddle
Making History Mine: Meaningful Connections for Grades 5-9
Sarah Cooper
What Every Elementary Teachers Needs to Know About Reading Tests (From Someone Who Has Written Them)
Charles Fuhrken
Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Guiding, Reflecting, Coaching (Second Edition)
Jean Boreen, Donna Niday, Mary K. Johnson, Joe Potts
January 8th, 2009
“Beginning anything is never easy,” writes Ann Marie Corgill in her new book, Of Primary Importance. This is especially true when it comes to creating a community of writers in a primary classroom. Every teacher knows the chaos, uncertainty, and confusion those first few days or even weeks and months of a writing workshop can create. Ann Marie suggests that while the chaos is inevitable, creating a writing routine from day one is essential. Here is how she does it:
In order to create a writing routine in your classroom with your students, the most important thing you can do as a writing teacher is begin on day one—give the kids paper and pencils and crayons and markers and say, “We’re going to have writing time every day in our class, and it’s going to be really great.” Or you might say, “Just Write! Our writing time this year is going to be lots of fun!” No doubt there will be lots of talking and lots of questioning and lots of chatter in the room—“I don’t know what to write” or “I’m finished. What do I do now?”. Lots of “Where are the crayons?” and “Can you sharpen my pencil?” and “How do you make the stapler work?” There will be broken pencil points and crayon marks on the tables and glue sticky hands and paper covering the floor. And, yes, you may seem a little fried and overwhelmed at the end of it. I know. I feel that pain every August or September (and even into October!), and it’s normal. But don’t give up. Establish a writing routine on day one and stick to it.
Our classroom writing routine lasts approximately one hour and always includes a focus lesson, independent writing and conferring time, and writing share. The routine is the same every day except for differences in the time allotment of that hour over the course of the year. At the beginning of the year, we tend to need more time for focus lessons and settling in to our writing at the beginning of the workshop period as well as time for cleanup and share at the end of the workshop period. The children need longer amounts of time to practice the routines of passing out writing folders, finding appropriate materials for work, and settling in to their actual writing. We also need extra time for cleanup at the end of the period, so that children can make sure that their writing work and all materials are in their proper places and ready for the next writing day. At this point in the year, although settling in to write and cleanup take more time, we need less time for actual writing and conferring until the children build writing stamina and can focus their attention on the writing work. As their stamina increases and they develop strategies for writing and producing pieces, the length of the workshop increases.
At the beginning of the year, our independent writing and conferring time lasts around twenty minutes, and by the end of the year, we have built up to at least forty minutes of independent writing and conferring time As you live and work through these days of writing chaos at the beginning of the year, try to take a step back and really listen to the questions being asked and what caused the chaos at the writing materials area or during your conference time with a student. Everything that’s happening is an opportunity to teach (and then go home that afternoon and have a glass of wine!).
It’s in these early months of writing workshop that I can just hear myself saying (in a very strong and serious voice), “I am trying to hear your classmate read his writing, but you’re making it very difficult for me to hear!”
I can’t count the times I’ve said, “I’m shocked that you don’t care enough about your writing work and fellow writers to use a quiet voice.” But we are teaching five- and six- and seven- and eight-year-olds who make sense of their world through talking, and the more we let them in on the problem solving, the more respectful and productive they will become. “What can we do about those times when I’m conferring with a classmate and I can’t hear him over the room noise?” “What can we do to respect the other writers in this class during workshop time?” “What does a productive writing workshop look and sound like? Do you think we can try that today?”
You can read more about Ann Marie’s classroom on the Stenhouse website.
January 6th, 2009
Each January, Lisa Koch, coauthor of Beyond Leveled Books, cherishes her ritual of picking new books for the new year. She wanted to instill the same excitement about reading in her students, so she looked to her classroom comment box to see what students are struggling with when it comes to reading. The comments help her come up with a plan that not only gets her students into the school library, but also allows them time to read.
Each Christmas I receive a gift card to the local book store. I spend a few days thinking about what I will purchase with this card because to me it represents much more than the mere $25 I get to spend. It represents my new year. All of my choices, I might add, come directly from the self-help aisle.
My life can be easily chronicled just by looking at my new year’s book collection. I have spent time eating, cleaning, simplifying my life, organizing in three easy steps, running with beginners, completing the total money makeover, visiting South Beach… you get the idea. But, each year I am as excited as can be to take on my new project whatever it may be.
I have been trying to think of ways to get my students excited for reading in the new year. How can I spread my “self-help” excitement on to them with regards to reading? I started by looking at my class suggestion box. These are some of the notes I found that I thought could lead to something good.
- Mrs. Koch, you took Michelle’s picture when she got her library card, but you’ve never taken mine.
- Mrs. Koch, I don’t have anything to write down when you say are you keeping track of your reading. What does that even mean?
- Mrs. Koch, I can’t find a good book!
- Mrs. Koch, seriously, when do you expect me to find time to read?
- I need help sticking with a book- I start and never finish.
I think for the new year, I can start with these suggestions. I will address these as soon as I get back in January, then I will go on the rest of the suggestions.
#1. The before and after photo
When Michelle came in with her new library card, she was ecstatic. She was a freshman in high school and had never had her own library card. Our librarian has the forms for the cards in the school library and she offers treats if she “catches” students with their card. Michelle filled out the form, when the card came, she ran around the room holding it like she’d just hit the lotto. I took her picture.
When I go back, I am going to take a photo of my class — those with cards can hold them up. Those without cards can make the “it’s on my to do list” face. I will send those without cards, down to the library to get the form. I could have the form in the classroom, but I love to get them to the library whenever I can. Two weeks later we will take an after photo: a class full of students with library cards. It is so important and many teachers take for granted that all of their students have one.
#2 Set reading goals
Help each of your students set a reading goal for the new year. If you can, sit down one-on-one to discuss those goals and how the two of you can track them. Every one of my January books has a chapter on setting goals and the importance of having those goals down on paper. Our class may decide to post them or keep them to themselves. The important part is setting those goals.
#3 What do I do now?
Help your students find books they can connect with. Our librarian gives each student who asks her, three books. That way students have a better chance of connecting with at least one. I am going to give a book talk to my classes when I get back. I’d like to suggest some old favorites as well as books that were big in 2008. I might have students take time to share books they love in an informal setting. This will help others choose books. Another suggestion from the box was that we make a giant bookworm around the room. Each student could put up a circle when they finished a book. I love the idea if we can use it to start conversations about great books.
#4 Set aside time to read
This one is simple. We need to make sure our students have the time to read. Provide the time. Talk about this in your goal setting session.
#5 Keep it up!
Ask your students how things are going. Talk with them about books. Let them know what you are reading and see if they want to read it next. Keep up on who is reading what and follow through with your plans to help them. We all need encouragement. You may even have to pick up the book and read it too, just so you can talk to the student who loses focus.
Every time I read one of my January books, I say to myself, “I know this! Why do I need to read another book about it!” Of course we’ve all learned it somewhere. The trick is keeping those obvious practices front and center. With this list of resolutions, I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you can offer more suggestions to get our students excited to read.
January 5th, 2009
Bill Varner is back with a poetry selection for the first Poetry Friday of the year.
Here’s a poem about teaching from Timothy Cook, a poet living in Asheville, NC. About it he says, “What is significant to me about this poem is the unconscious motivation behind one’s actions, that teaching is not just a job, but an answering to a call coming from deep within one’s self.”
Proud Son of an Honor Roll Student
Both strange & wise was my dad’s advice
when he told me to never tell my teachers
that he was an English professor . . .
& long was the road from his father’s shed
to the front of a classroom. When I think of
my dad, I have to consider him
as the son of a carpenter, the youngest son
who could never measure up to the oldest
no matter what he did. Despite the houses built,
the mountains cleared, the boats sailed,
the marathons run, nothing was ever enough.
So finally he gave up & went to college,
which was way too much because back in Holland
his father finished school by the sixth grade.
When I think of my dad, I have to remind myself
that he is the son of an immigrant,
growing up to amass a staggering amount
of books, shelves covering the living room wall
fifteen feet across, from floor to ceiling.
Not an idol in the house & yet we blessed
Our Lord and these thy gifts before every meal,
my dad’s greatest disappointment
that I no longer attend church. When I think of
my one-dollar-a-week allowance,
I have to realize that when my dad stuck
his hand out for money his father spit into it.
No matter how much I, the youngest son,
ever messed up, it was never too much.
I could still return to my dad
like when I’d come home from grade school
for lunch—a cuisine of frozen pizza
or macaroni & cheese with canned sardines.
I remember crying the one time I saw
my parents fight, my dad storming out to a bar
or something, although he never drank,
just a few rum & cokes in all those years
of working nights & watching me
during the days. When I think of my dad’s life,
I have to admit to the things he left undone,
the unfinished sections of the house, the carpentry
he didn’t teach me, the books he never wrote.
Then I remember that too often we dwell
on shortcomings, forgetting
that my dad worked his way to a Ph.D.,
stayed with one woman for his entire life,
& taught immigrants how to read and write
English, immigrants like his father . . .
& so it is that I love my dad
in silence, how men are allowed
to love one another, with simple gestures
like a head nod or a pat on the shoulder.
January 2nd, 2009
Next Posts