Schoolwide Blog

SchoolwideBlog is proud to announce that the celebrated speaker, author, consultant, and Regents Professor Yetta Goodman will be participating on the SchoolwideBlog for the next few months.

Please look for a post tomorrow and, for those of our readers in the Tri-State area this weekend:

Yetta Goodman will be speaking at Dr Michael Shaw’s Literacy Extravaganza

Saturday, Oct. 17 at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, NY...approximately 1/2 hour from the George Washington Bridge

Yetta M. Goodman is Regents Professor of Education at the University of Arizona. She consults with education departments and speaks at conferences throughout the United States and in many nations of the world regarding issues of language, teaching and learning with implications for language arts curricula. More...

Another sneak peak from our forthcoming Schoolwide Network video site (coming this fall), this video is a nice illustration of a detailed bulletin board for writing workshop. Look for more quick tips like this to show how the visual impact of classroom presentations can aid the learning process.

How do you use visual aids in your classroom? What do you like about this presentation? What would you do differently?

I often say the only difference between adult fiction and young adult fiction is the main character's age. You can pretty much deal with anything you do in adult fiction--from death to war, and anything else you might find in the Great American Novel... except it's fueled by the teen mind. And seeing a story through teen eyes is the key to why I write middle grade and YA fiction. More...

Some of the most frequently asked questions and concerns are, “How can I get better and keep my conferences shorter?” I need to meet with so many of my students, and make sure they are on the right track, how can I do it effectively? I just don’t have time to conference; there are so many distractions and interruptions….

This is not uncommon. Many teachers struggle with conferencing. You are not alone! You need to find a system that works for you. Just keep 3 letters in mind R, D, T. First Research your students work. Ask him/her to read it to you and find something to compliment them on. Next, Decide what is the 1 skill or strategy the child needs you to model to help with his/her writing. Then, Teach it to them. Have them practice the skill or strategy after you leave.

Some helpful tips:

• Keep it short. Try to keep it to 5-10 minutes. That way you can be sure to conference with 3-5 students each day.

• Leave a post-it on the page with the compliment and the teaching point that you have covered that day. That way the child has a place to look to be reminded of the conference.

• Make sure you keep good notes! I keep a folder for each student and write the compliment, teaching point and follow-up- what I want to address next on a mailing label so I can hold the students accountable for the work we have done. I also use that information to share with parents during parent teacher conferences, and to help with report card grading. Some teachers keep their notes on individual index cards, whole class sheets or in a notebook. It really doesn’t matter, as long as you have consistent record keeping and it works for you!

• Last but not least, if you are having difficulty, especially those teachers with large class size, have 5 students a day leave their notebooks out when they leave for a special or lunch. Then without any distractions you can read through their notebooks, and post-it a compliment and a teaching point. When they return you can meet with those students and model the teaching point for them. This will allow you touch base with every notebook, every week, and you will feel more in control and knowledgeable about your student’s work.

What conferencing techniques or strategies are working for you?

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)

We know from working with teachers in our area and surrounding states that they are being asked to teach biographies to their students, and in turn, have them write biographies.  Yet, when we ask teachers what they want their students to know as a result of reading and studying this genre, teachers themselves are unclear.  What is biography and whyshould students read and discuss them?

In actuality, here’s where the real work begins.  Biographies can take several different formats and structures.  For example, a biography may contain a number of chapters and chronicle an individual’s life from birth to death.  Other biographies may only focus on one or two main events in the person’s life and present the information in a picture book format.  Some recently published biographies convey information through verse or poetry. In fact, when the American Library Association announced its 2009 book and media award winners last week, biographies written in a variety of styles were among the winners.

If students are going to be asked to write in this genre, it’s imperative that they be exposed to a number of biographies written in different formats.  Teachers need to know that biographies take many “shapes and sizes” and are appropriate as well as engaging for students of all ages and reading levels.  Through exposure and study of the many presentation forms of biographies, students come to understand that they have choices when developing their own biographical text. Check out these amazing titles as you prepare for your own biography genre study.  If you and your students have a favorite biography or two, let us know.  We’d like to hear what texts you are using in your biography genre study.

Barretta, Gene. (2006).  Now and Ben: The modern inventions ofBenjamin Franklin.  New York:Henry Holt and Company. (picture book – prose)

Bryan, Jen. (2008).  A river of words: The story of WilliamCarlos Williams.  Illus. byMelissa Sweet.  Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. (picture book – prose)

*This was named a 2009 Caldecott Honor Book. 

Kerley, Barbara. (2008).  What to do about Alice?: How Alice Rooseveltbroke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy.  Illus. by Edwin Fotheringham.  New York: Scholastic Press.  (picture book – prose)

*This was named a 2009 Sibert Honor Book.

Krull, Kathleen. (2003).  Harvesting hope: The story of Cesar Chavez.  Illus. by Yuyi Morales.  San Diego: Harcourt. (picture book –prose)

*This was named a 2004 Pura Belpre Honor Book.

Stone, Tanya Lee, & Gibbon, Rebecca.  (2008).  Elizabeth leads theway: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the right to vote.  New York: Henry Holt and Company.(picture book – prose)

Weatherford, Carole Boston.  (2008).  Becoming Billie Holiday.  Illus. by Floyd Cooper.  Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.  (poetry – older readers)

*This was named a 2009 Coretta Scott King Honor Book forAuthor.

Weatherford, Carole Boston.  (2008).  Before John was a jazz giant: A song of JohnColtrane.  Illus. by SeanQualls.  New York: Henry Holt andCompany. (picture book – prose)

*This book was named a 2009 Coretta Scott King Honor Bookfor Illustration.

Weatherford, Carole Boston.  (2008).  I, Matthew Henson.  Illus. by Eric Velasquez. New York:Walker and Company. (picture book – prose)

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”.