Schoolwide Blog

International Reading Convention 2010 Day #1

 

Today was the first day of the International Reading Association (IRA) annual conference in Chicago.  I left my hotel room before 7:30 am to board the shuttle bus to the McCormick Place Convention Center.  When I got there I waited in a long line, that moved surprisingly fast, to register and get my program.  Up until this morning I hadn’t thought much about what sessions I wanted to attend.  I was spending most of my time working on my own presentation scheduled for earlier this afternoon or writing up lesson plans for the three days I would be out of school. More...

Working in Partnerships with Parents

I have been rethinking my relationship with parents as I read, Becoming Teammates, Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, a National Council of Teachers (NCTE) publication. I am noticing a subtle change in the way I am willing to frame the conversation at the same time that I realize that many of my colleagues are not there, yet.

As I reflect on the ways I involve parents in my classroom I recognize that there are a lot of issues that I need to come to terms with and some perceptions and practices that I need to change. Most of this soul searching comes in the guise of questions for reflection. For example, how can teachers and families share and be responsible for the literacy learning of children? How will this re-visioning change my relationship with parents? How will this change impact children's learning? How can I relinquish control of my classroom in order to better partner with my parents for the sake of their children's learning?

Finally, what kind of parent involvement do I practice: avoidance (parents are seen as adversaries and it's better not to involve them in school at all), dependence (parents are seen as supporting teacher and school programs and as needing to learn from the teacher), mutualism (parents are valued as partners in their child's education so that an attitude of "let's learn together" prevails)? (Source: Becoming Teammates, Teachers and Families as Literacy Partners by Charlene Klassen Endrizzi.)  At the moment, I see myself as falling into a dependency relationship with parents and moving towards practicing mutualism; intellectually I am a mutualist.

More in a subsequent post.  In the meantime, into which paradigm do you fit?

Schoolwide Blog Entry by Elisa Waingort

Schoolwide Blog Entry
Feb. 25, 2010
Elisa Waingort

    After reading aloud a chapter book in the classroom I sometimes struggle with getting my students to respond in authentic and meaningful ways.  I’ve tried stopping whenever anyone has a comment, (these may be meaningful or not – it’s usually hit or miss - and may interrupt the flow of the story and interfere with attention); allowing children to comment at the end of a story only (some children can’t hold onto their ideas for that long and may lose interest in the discussion when it does happen); asking specific questions about the reading or prompting the children to make a particular connection to the reading; and modeling how a proficient reader (me) thinks about what she is reading.  More...

Elisa Waingort Feb. 17, 2010

 

Schoolwide Blog Entry
Elisa Waingort
Feb. 17, 2010

    As a teacher of writing, I hope that all of my students will think of themselves as writers by acting like writers.  And, how do writers act?  Here’s my short list:
•    A writer is always writing even when she doesn’t have a pencil or laptop at hand.  
•    A writer loves to talk about what she is writing now and what she might write about next.
•    A writer is always planning the next piece of writing as she is finishing a project.  Sometimes the writer plans “in her head” and sometimes she plans on paper.  
•    A writer takes notes for future pieces and stores them in a place that she can easily access.  
•    A writer writes every day for different purposes.
•    A writer finds ideas for writing in everyday situations and in books.
•    A writer enjoys the act of thinking about ideas and topics for future pieces of writing.  
•    A writer sometimes gets stuck and doesn’t know what to write about; she keeps writing anyway. More...

Elisa Waingort Jan. 17, 2010



    In my last blog entry I promised to report back on how well my students responded to setting goals and making a plan. That process is still not complete. As soon as it is, I will blog about it. Instead, I want to turn my attention to the topic of student choice.
My school is involved in a school board-initiated project to help teachers plan instruction that addresses the needs and interests - social and academic - of our students. To this end, all students responded to a short online survey. One of the questions asked students to rate the amount of choice they feel they have in school.

More...

How do you approach parent workshops?

I sent the following letter to the families of my students summarizing the recent parent workshop I gave but not everybody was able to attend. I post it in case anyone else has ever done parent workshops and would care to suggest ideas, directions, and other thoughts on parent education. Thank you in advance!


Dear Parents,

    The purpose of this letter is to give you a brief synopsis of the first parent workshop in October. We began by focusing our attention on thinking about the kinds of reading that we do on a daily basis. A cursory review of our lists reminded us that most of the reading we do is short (articles, emails, work memos, etc) and focused on our particular jobs or personal interests. In addition, most adults read non-fiction more often than fiction.  More...

Should we get rid of report cards? By Elisa Waingort

 
      It's report card time again.  I dislike report cards intensely.  It is a passionate hate affair between report cards and me.  It is the only thing I dislike about teaching and the only thing I didn't miss when I was a curriculum coordinator.  Since returning to the classroom three years ago I am constantly reminded of how much I dislike report cards.  Did I say that already?

 

    Reason #1:  I am forced to give a child a number that effectively ranks him or her in at least 50 descriptors ranging from physical education to reading and writing in a second language.  This practice persists despite the fact that studies have shown that children do better, i.e. learn more and actively engage with their learning, when they are provided with timely oral or written feedback about their progress than if they are given a numerical grade.  More...