Schoolwide Blog

Lesson Title: The Author’s Note in Personal Narratives
Subject: Writing Workshop / Publishing
Audience: 2–5

RATIONALE:
Authors base personal narrative stories on experiences from their lives. The Author’s Note, typically a short piece at the beginning or end of the book, often explains where the idea for the story came from.
PREPARATION:
•    Video Clip: “Why Authors Write – Looking at Author's Purpose” featuring Schoolwide Literacy Consultant Ilene Cohn
•    Book: Ma Dear’s Aprons by Patricia McKissack
o    Click Here to purchase a copy of Ma Dear’s Aprons
•    Make copies for students of the Appendix “Author’s Note.”
WATCH THE VIDEO: “Why Authors Write – Looking at Author's Purpose” More...

What do pirate supplies, super hero accessories, and literacy have in common? Yes you heard correctly. . . The answer? Well, in this TED video from a year ago, Dave Eggers discusses his "Once Upon A School" program, where students and teachers work alongside working English language professionals every day as part of a free tutorial program in some interesting environments. Piloted at the McSweeney's office on Valencia Street in San Francisco and disseminated by key educators through "transformative partnerships," the Once Upon A School program now has an international reach.

How do programs like this not improve reading and writing skills?  What is the role of our community in enhancing our education system and developing local opportunities for shildren to thrive?  Have you participated in this or something like this? Let us know your thoughts.

I’ve been working with a group of teachers putting together a curriculum map comprised of units of study for reading workshop. One of the units that came up was a “Testing - Genre Study”. I’ve come across this in other curriculum maps as well, but I never had an opportunity until now to have a conversation around what exactly that genre study would look like. If the unit includes having students examine the structure and format of the Language Arts test they are expected to take, or have students learn to pace themselves during a timed-testing session, or even using a scan tron sheet, then I see the importance of putting testing into a curriculum map.  If however, for example, it involves teaching students how to possibly recognize and then answer certain types of questions, or how to figure out an unknown word in a reading passage by using context clues, then I don’t see a “Testing- Genre Study” being placed as a unit of study for a month or so in a yearlong curriculum calendar. To me, it would be like putting a “Thinking – Genre Study” in a reading workshop curriculum map.  The skills and strategies that kids need in order to be effective test takers are linked to the skills and strategies needed to be an effective reader. If we agree with this thinking then test taking strategies and skills need to be taught alongside all the reading strategies and skills units we introduce across the year. For example, if you are modeling which clues in a read aloud text helped you to determine the main idea of a text, or what the author wanted us to know the text was mostly about, then it is a great time to say, “If I was answering a test question about main idea which asked me what the passage was mainly about I would use the same strategies and skills I use as a reader to answer the question.  I would look at the clues in the passage and decide if what I think the main idea of this passage is matches one of the choices.” I’m thinking that the essential elements necessary for getting kids ready for a test may be embedded in the great teaching we do, but I think it needs to be extracted and the application of that thinking needs to be explicitly taught during all the units of study. This philosophy is the backbone of the Testing Fundamentals units of study. The lessons in the units explicitly teach kids how to become effective test takers by applying what they are learning in reading workshop to test taking situations. Becoming an effective test taker is not about answering the question correctly, but about knowing and being able to explain how you derived at the answer. This kind of thinking can’t be neatly wrapped up in a month long unit called a “Testing- Genre Study”

Why do the state test developers continually confuse the kids by changing or asking questions in a difficult way?  I’m repeatedly asked this question both at large workshop sessions and in the direct test preparation work I do in schools.

Teachers feel, as I did, that there seems to be intention on the part of test developers to trick students rather than to measure their comprehension. This is a pervasive feeling on the part of educators mostly because they feel that the questions are worded in such a way that kids don’t recognize what they are being asked and that causes the break down in their ability to choose the correct answer to a question rather than them not knowing the information needed to answer the question.

Several teachers and I were discussing the value of teaching students to use specific graphic organizers to plan a written response to a question that requires them to extract information from 2 pieces of text. Of course, the Venn diagram leaped to the top of the list. 

I have always had a problem with using the Venn just to recognize similarities and differences between texts.  I believe that making text to text connections is a necessary comprehension strategy, but if we want our readers and test takers to stretch and deepen their comprehension they need to learn how to synthesize information and then come to a conclusion based on the evidence they find and use to fill in the sections of the Venn.  

For example, if we read two different versions of Cinderella, after deciding on the similarities and differences between the two fairy tales one conclusion might be:  

Authors can use the same idea to tell a story in a different way.  Another conclusion might be: 

Similar stories exist in different cultures. 

If we take this learning back to the test it will most likely enable our kids to fashion a better response to a question that requires them to synthesize information from multiple sources rather than just recognizing the literal similarities and differences across multiple texts. SOOO a good suggestion from the teachers for increasing the value of using the Venn is to pull out those diagrams sitting in a folder in your file cabinet and under those connecting circles write the word CONCLUSION!

Vision

A vision is a clear image of what you are trying to create.In this case, when your school is starting a new literacy initiative, you need to be clear about what you want to be true at the end of a certain time frame.In other words, be clear about what you want to create. Make it as concrete as possible so everyone has the same picture in mind. Then communicate it.

How does this play out in action?

Scenario 

Since it’s National Poetry Month, we’ll create a simple vision for it. Keep in mind this is a short - term initiative that lasts only amonth.  This vision will describe what we want to see for students by the end of the month.

The answer to the question, "What do we want all students to have by the end of poetry month? " will be our vision.

Our vision for National Poetry Month- We want students to have evidence that they have read and created responses to 5 poems. 

Now we have to let people know what these responses look like because a picture is work a thousand words. 

In order to clearly communicate the vision we  (all the teachers asked to participate) will agree on sample responses to use as benchmark papers. We will share these benchmark papers with parents, consultants, poets in residence and anyone elsewho interacts with our students to demonstrate the type of work we are striving for.

 Once we have identified the vision,  we will refer back to our list of literacy initiatives and materials to determine how what we have in place will help us realize our vision and go to work!

If we do not have what we need, we will order a poetry collection that we think will best stimulate responses.

Applying this to other situations

You can use variations of the question above to create your vision for other circumstances. Here are sample questions to guide your vision planning …

·     What do you want all students to have by the end of third grade Readers and Writers Workshop?

·     What do you want all students to have by the end of Honors English?

·     What do we want all student to have in their literacy portfolio after completing K-12 in our school district?

Remember to refer to the lists of Instructional Initiatives and materials to see what you can use to accomplish your mission. Let me know how it goes.

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…..