Schoolwide Blog

I love talking about the power of poetry. I have been giving teacher workshops for many years on this topic and it always feels fresh and new. Maybe it’s because I get to read aloud poems all day. Or maybe it’s the fact that before my eyes I see teachers being transformed into poetry lovers as well. After all poetry is magical. When beginning a unit of study on poetry I remind myself that this is very different from a poetry activity (i.e. You have your whole class make a spring acrostic poem). A unit of study allows children to feel the power, purpose, and sounds of poetry. I often tell my students, “For the next few weeks we are going to read, write, think, eat, breathe, sing, dream, draw, and live poetry!”  Before you begin your poetry unit you must consider the poets and poems that will mentor your students. Choose a variety of poems and poets that show your students all poetry can be. Don’t only use rhyming poems. Look for poems that add to your student’s knowledge base of poetry and being a poet.  

• Poets: Children should be familiar with different poets, from different backgrounds, with different voices. I love to find anthologies where poets talk about poetry and their process. Two favorites are: A Jar of Tiny Stars Bernice E Cullinan, Editor and The Place My Words are Looking For selected by Paul Janeczko.

• Sounds of Poetry: Children need to hear the music of poetry. Feel the rhythm. Clap their hands and move to the beat. Rhythm can come from rhyme, repetition, white space, alliteration, onomatopoeia. The two poetry books I always go back to are Honey I Love by Eloise Greenfield and On the Wing by Douglas Florian.

• A Poet’s Inspiration: Children realize poetry can be about anything and everything. It’s how poet’s look that makes the difference. Find poems that show where poetry comes from. Observation and wonder – All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth Persona Poems – Dirty Laundry Pile Selected by Paul Janeczko Memories – Toasting Marshmallows Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George

• Poems Create Images: Image is the seed of a poem. Find poems that create images in the reader’s mind. Poems that your children can picture and connect with. Poems that create vivid images often include sensory detail, vivid verbs, simile, small details or specific language. I have been using Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines and Creatures of the Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard.

• The Look of Poetry: Children see that pets, more than other kinds of writers, consider how their words will be placed upon the page. Find poems that play with shape and structure, white space, font size and punctuation. Flicker Flash and Splish Splash by Joan Bransfield have wonderful concrete poetry. Dear World by Takayo Noda are poetic notes to the earth. Little Dog and Duncan by Kristine O’Connell George has interesting use of white space and font.

When I started teaching there was a debate going on, whole language vs. phonics. Now we are all for “balanced literacy”. We all agree when it comes to teaching reading we need to address phonics or “word study” as well as comprehension strategies. Kids need to be able to read the words off a page and make sense of them too. 

What I see happening now, in big and small districts alike, is often a frenzy to figure out how to do this. Teachers are frequently given a list of things they should be doing in a day (see below), and no training or resources to do it.

• Shared Reading
• Guided Reading with Literacy Centers
• Independent Reading
• Reading Workshop
• Word Study
• Interactive Writing
• Interactive Read Aloud
• Writing Workshop

So what are our choices when trying to implement a balanced literacy approach to reading instruction? Are there materials and curriculum guides teachers can use when teaching children to become proficient readers who understand the power and purpose of reading?

I know what has never worked for me is an anthology (sorry Scott Foresman but your anthologies focus on teaching a book or theme, not teaching readers. You throw in a lot of buzz words to make it seem like you do it all but it has never made sense to me.)  However, I also know administrators and teachers both want something to hold onto, a common curriculum that considers standards and how children learn best.

So what is working for you or your school and how do you know it is working? Are there materials out there that I need to get my hands on because…..

Teachers often feel they are given writing curriculum calendars that are unrealistic.

This week a teacher shared with me, "Sometimes my kids are just starting to get the feel of it, and I want to stick with it, but I know a new month is coming and I need to move on to the next unit".

Another teacher pointed out, "Doing a unit of study a month doesn't work because some months are much shorter and busier than others."

A unit of study in writing workshop should allow for deep, sustained thinking about a particular genre and the decisions writers make, while giving students opportunities to produce pieces of writing under the influence of the study.

Just because you don’t do 10 Units of Study, does not mean you don’t have a rigorous writing workshop.  I believe in quality over quantity.

Sample Student Work.pdf (470.35 kb)

The first time I walk into a school I often hear things like: “Staying the night?” or “Are you going on a trip?” My suitcase is quite deceiving at first.  Inside my well worn suitcase is a bundle of books. Anywhere from 10-30. My job as a literacy consultant takes me from school to school, district to district, state to state. I recently realized that during the past 13 years of teaching teachers I have never gone into a school without books. Maybe it’s because I am often an outsider and my books offer comfort, like a familiar friend or companion.

Like many teachers I know, I am book obsessed. I can never have enough books and as many books as I know (and I know a lot), there are always new ones to discover.

My work this year has been largely focused on primary writing. When I read a children’s book I start to imagine how it can empower the young writers I encounter. That’s why this excerpt from Choice Words by Peter Johnston spoke to me.

Children becoming literate need to learn the significant features of text, how it is organized, how it relates to spoken language, how to recognize the little tricks authors use to compel readers, when to use which sort of written language, and so forth. However, no learner can afford to be dependent on the teacher for everything that needs to be noticed, so teachers have to teach children to look for possibilities. . 

Books are an essential part of writing workshop. As a writing teacher, I have been reading books differently for many years. I read like a writer.  As soon as I hold a book in my hands I can’t help but think of all the writing possibilities it holds and I can’t wait to share the possibilities with my students. I want them to look at a published book by an author we admire and think, “I can do that!”

I read or I should say re-read for the tenth time, Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems, to my son’s kindergarten class. Knuffle Bunny is one of those books that holds so many writing possibilities for kindergartners. Together we started to notice all the cool stuff Mo does with his words and pictures. I would stop periodically and think aloud. “I’m noticing Mo’s black and white photographs and drawings.  The photos show where Trixie is and the drawings show Trixie.”  Ali points out, “I notice that sometimes the people are coming out of the picture, like that man jogging.”

Together we notice a lot of interesting things Mo does. This is some of what we noticed:

• He use bold print when he want to emphasize a word or idea.
• He uses  speech bubbles to show characters talking
• he uses different punctuation (., !,?, ….)
• he does zoom in or close up pictures
• his characters facial expressions show the reader how they feel.
• He uses interesting words (“boneless”)
• He tells a “time when…” story from beginning to middle to end.
• His dedication tells us this story came from his life.

The best part of this read aloud, actually it was more like a shared reading (the kids memorized most of the words), was when I opened the book and Mark said, “Look! Mrs Cohen there is pictures of Knuffle Bunny in the washing machine!”

 

“Aha. Why do you think Mo did that?”

“He is giving us a clue about what is going to happen in the book!” proclaims Wade.

I respond, “Wow, what a cool thing for him to do, he puts a clue page before the book even begins! I wonder if Mo does that in his other books or if other authors do that too.”

“Do you think you might want to try this when you make books?”  Of course they reply, “YES!”

These children know how to read like writers. They know how to notice and name the writer and/or illustrator’s techniques. They know they are part of a community of writers and that community includes their good friend Mo Willems. 

That night I asked my son Zach if he liked when mommy came in to read. He said yes mom and you know something, you’re a good “noticer”.