Finding Comfort, a Moment at a Time

This piece of writing started in a writing workshop from the blueprinting activity. Sometimes people begin something that needs to be finished. Sometimes what they write needs a place to live for a while. Here is Kristin's memorial of her sister. 

Shona,

Here is what I wrote for my sister’s death anniversary. 

My heart has never known or felt so much pain, until two years ago. 

On November 30, 2015, an essential piece was ripped from my family's lives. The dreadful event, details that followed, pain and responses, which unraveled from that moment when a worst nightmare became a reality, left me forever changed. One feels like life can be mundane and that one is just acting out the motions of the day-to-day tasks. However, the feeling of being in this abyss never quite sinks in, until a fatal tragedy sends so many on a grief stricken cycle. Nothing speaks more mundane until one is left with healing what inevitably takes one day at a time. It is unimaginative, often leaving visibility of what is to come, obscure. An endless journey of agony and euphoria felt at any given moment. When the joy arrives, I grasp it tightly, refusing to readily allow it to disperse. In the memories I am left with of her, joy is brought to the surface. At last, if only for a moment, I find hopefulness.  

Every part of my heart shatters at the thought of her departure. It yearns for just one more day with her so it can feel one shred of wholeness, just for a moment again. The emptiness and pain where only fragments of my heart remain, cry out to hear that beautiful voice again. Just one more memory I cry... 

Receptivity is still a profound struggle. I cannot receive the peace I so desperately need. The ability to overcome denial, or even the desire to, is a constant struggle. The big "A" in the grief cycle, ACCEPTANCE. I don't really want to accept anything at all actually. Why should I accept anything I wasn't prepared to live without? It is not simply an entity one's neither mind nor heart effortlessly accepts. Denial is infinite, perhaps, a necessary response in order to cope. It is as if I'm holding on to denial to prevent myself from fully feeling the depth of this loss, this reality. I don't necessarily remain in this numb state emotionally and mentally either. At times, I force myself to accept little pieces of this loss, so I know that I am still capable of feeling something. If I lock it up long enough, the reality, I eventually have to let the thoughts leak out, despite the crippling pain. The paralysis, struggles for breaths, the pain of my heart being ripped out, is therapeutic in a sense, compared to allowing the pain to sit idle in my mind, heart, and spirit. If acceptance brings me a moment of peace and is so therapeutic, why am I running from it? I often wonder if I'm afraid that acceptance will erase Kendal's memory. That really isn't a logical thought. I suppose one during grief can feel or think as they wish? I wouldn't know really, this is the first loss in my life that had brought so much pain. 

I was told to focus on what you left behind, your memories, opposed to what took you from us. How you were taken from us. A task that sounds so simple yet is more difficult for me to achieve than I would care to admit. Many memories of you are easy to retrieve; others are blurred and harder to define between reality or just my mind getting the best of me. 

I don't mean for this to be so sad, so full of pain. I set out to write about my sister, who was a gift to the world. Yet, I still struggle to express or share that gift with anyone else that isn't already aware of her impact. It is a selfish coping mechanism to hold onto her memory, what I allow my mind and heart to remember. I want to share her legacy, I am meant to do so, however I can't help but want to keep her all to myself. What was not stolen from us is held onto for dear life. Kendal was a young woman any would dream to become. She was a gift to all who knew her. Her impact on this world was so profound in such a short 22 years. She was patient, compassionate and everything I strive to be now. She had the capability of reaching anyone who seemed out of reach. She left her mark on so many before she was ever taken. I have read the journals she left behind. They are like a gift I keep on receiving. They are a way to have that connection with her again. It is almost like reaching out and touching her, embracing her in my arms, and hearing that beautiful voice again. She had a way with words and people. Her love for our Lord was so intense that it radiated in everything she was, did or said. She wanted to simply live for God as the daughter spoken in His word. She was sincere, had a heart of gold and a fire for God. I know she would never want us to feel this kind of pain. She would want us to keep going and heal. I know she is perfectly content where she is and it is where she always wanted to be, in Heaven, with our Father. 

So with that in mind, I am able to find some comfort, some relief, and if only for a moment at a time. I will see her one day again and it will be bittersweet. Until then, I cling to everything she left behind. I cling to her beautiful soul. I cherish the memories I have with her and the memories of when she was there by my side through thick and thin. In one of her journals she wrote, "Happiness isn't pleasure, its victory." Those are the very words I need to live by and hold onto. I hope I make you proud baby sister. I pray I am half the woman you were already and could have been if given more time. I will continue to tell everyone about you and hold your memories close to my heart. I will share them with my children and honor your life once my heart fully allows me to do so in this journey called grief. As you have written, I will "convict my fear, because I give it authority to be gone." I will get through this and past my fears from losing you one day. Until we meet again, I love you dear sweet sister. You are part of my heart and I cannot wait for that part to be restored. 

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-12-01/police-man-killed-wife-self

http://amarillo.com/obituaries/2015-12-02/kendall-elizabeth-kuehler

Test Taking Strategies for STAAR: Essay Prompt Planning

Dear Shona, 

I follow your blog and really love your thoughts and suggestions. I am reaching out to ask if you have an effective process or method for teaching teachers how to unpack the prompt page/box and stimulus with students? We have found that kids don’t use this page as a place to plan/rehearse. 

Thanks for your thoughts! 

For kids, 

XXX

Interesting. I pray every day that I can bring value and support to those who touch our kids. 

Here's what I made to think through  what I have seen high scoring campuses and teachers use to diffuse the prompt and to plan the writing. 

    I remember listening to Victoria Young talk about how they were developing these new prompts when STAAR came on line. They thought that the Read, Think, Write charge was going to be a great support for kids. They thought that adding the extra information would give kids a start on their thinking. They thought it would help kick start them with ideas that they could write about. 

    Unfortunately, they helped-us-to-death. Instead of being a support, many students get lost in this stimulus. They end up being confused. They write about what is in the box instead of what the writing charge directs them to do. 

    We also have kids that don't use the word "expository" in their daily language. No surprise there. I don't either. 

1.  Kids use a synonym that helps them remember what kind of writing they are supposed to accomplish. This is especially helpful to kids who are having to retake both English I and English II tests in the same week. I have kids write "Convince" on the Persuasive prompt for English II. 

 2. CROSS out the C***: Have kids - especially those who struggle with reading or language - cross out all the stuff they don't need.  Ignore that stuff. You don't need it. I will say, however, that I have seen some campuses tell them to use the stuff in the box as an introduction.

3. Highlight the WRITE charge. Then underline and label the parts. ALL of the 4th grade STAAR released expository prompts have two parts. This gives a GREAT clue for readers about how they might organize their paragraphs. It also tells them exactly what should be included in the essay.

2016: Part A: Tell what you like about being in 4th grade Part B: Why do you like it? 

2015: Part A: Tell what you look forward to doing Part B: Why do you want to do it? 

2014: Part A: Describe your favorite place to spend time Part B: Why is it special? 

2013: Part A: Write about your favorite time of year Part B: What makes it special to you? 

4. Make a working thesis/controlling idea. Use the language in the WRITE charge and leave a blank.

"I would like to meet ________________. (Notice that I purposefully did not add the because. I want a SIMPLE and focused idea that keeps kids thinking about the SAME idea all the way through the paragraph. Also, kids who are taught to write a three pronged thesis for 26 lines won't have room to fully develop ANY of the ideas. That strategy pretty much ensures a 5 paragraph essay and a score of a 2 at best.) 

5. Use a decision donut. (Or quicklist.) What are the possibilities that you could consider? Then decide which one you have the most to say about for both parts of the essay. Can you describe them? Do you know enough about them for a full paragraph? Can you explain why you would like to meet them in more than one sentence? What are you in the mood to write about right now? Cross out the ones you don't like and prioritize the ones you like from greatest to least. Once you decide, fill in the blank. 

Think Aloud: I could write about famous people. I don't know many of them because I live under a rock. How about Elvis? I don't really care much about that. If I don't care about that topic, then I probably won't have much to say. Not enough to fill a whole paper. Other people might write about sports, but EW! No way. I could write about people in books. Winnie the Pooh? I might have trouble coming up with the "whys" for that one. Harry Potter. Doable. I could write about real people. My favorite character in the bible was Ruth. She was so brave! In one of the student papers I read, a kid wrote about wanting to meet his grandmother who had passed. I have always wanted to know my cousin Willie better. That one kinda pulls at me. The Ruth thing sounds too serious. And I think I could share the essay with my cousin. He would like it. I'll put a star next to that one and see if I can generate enough examples, reasons, explanations, and such to fill a paper. If I can't, I'll come back and work on Harry Potter. 

6. Develop your ideas. If you start writing now, it will all be a confused mush. And you don't know if you have enough to say yet. Jot down all the things you could say for WHO you want to meet in the first half of the box. Jot down all the ideas about WHY you want to meet that person in the second half. Try to come up with 10 things. You might not use them all or even have room for them all. Some is good. More is better. And too much is just enough. You can always cut out the weakest ideas or examples later. 

7. 7. Organize your ideas. There are lots of ways to do this, but there are two main ones that writers can master as they are beginning. Since the prompt asks for two things, I can write a paragraph about each one. The first paragraph can be about who I want to meet. The second paragraph can be about why I want to meet him. That's called BLOCK format. Like things go with like things. 

(A helpful strategy also is to number the ideas you have jotted down in the order that will make the most sense to talk about them. Then you just have to start with number one, make a sentence, and move to number two. For Cousin Willie, I'd probably start out with "Up north" as number one, because the distance between us is one of the biggest reasons I don't know him. Then I'd probably put number two as "met when little" because I have actually met him. He just doesn't remember me. It's important that I get that in there because it's one of the main reasons I want to meet him. I want him to remember me! Lol.)

I can also organize in another way. I can also explain one characteristic of Willie and then match it to why that characteristic makes me want to meet him. I write a sentence about who Willie is. Then right after that, I write a sentence about why that characteristic makes me want to meet him. That's called POINT by POINT format. (Or reason followed by explanation.) Then I keep going until I have explained all the important characteristics.  

Notice: I did NOT have the kids start organizing their work FIRST. Kids who try to organize their paragraphs into a five paragraph structure end up writing in generalities and vague references. They repeat the same idea over and over. NO ONE NEEDS AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY UNTIL THEY HAVE IDEAS TO ORGANIZE. What people have to say dictates the structure that will be the best delivery system, NOT a formula. 

Think Aloud: I can also group my ideas together in a point by point structure. As I was generating ideas, I realized that there are some things about cousin Willie's descriptions that are connected to why I would like to meet him.

When I was brainstorming about the ideas I could use to write, I noticed some connections. Cousin Willie runs a restaurant. And I love to talk about food. I would enjoy talking about that with him. Cousin Willie posts pictures on Facebook about camping with his family. I think that would be a fun activity for us to do if we got a chance to meet. 

Then I started to notice that a lot of my other ideas were all about family. It was then that I realized that I could have 2 paragraphs - one about Willie's activities and why that makes me want to meet him; and one about the importance of family and why that calls my heart to see him. 

If I don't have room to write about both, I can pick the most powerful one. I obviously have more to say about family. I think that I can start writing about that one. 

8. Write a sentence (or more) for each idea. Reread and revise for powerful word choice. 

9. Edit and Check: Draw some check boxes on the paper. Reread your paper for spelling. Try reading it backwards -from the bottom to the top - to help you see the mistakes. Then check off the box. Now read your paper again, checking for capitalization. Check it off. And so on. 

10. Write the introduction.

11. Copy the draft to the lined paper. Add the conclusion. (Some kids will write too slowly to write a whole rough draft. You can have them highlight to group their ideas and then number the ideas for the order that they are going to write sentences. Then they just write the sentences and check off the ideas as they compose.) 

Here's a copy of the whole enchilada planning sheet: 

They Failed the STAAR Essay. Now What?

I've been working with some teachers to figure out how we can help their kids be better writers for STAAR. Here's what we are learning: 

Teachers, 
This kind of feedback on student papers is called process level feedback. I am showing them where they are falling short for the task by naming where and what they are/are not doing.  Then I am showing them a process, strategy, or skill that they can use to do it right. I write a model for them so that they can see what it’s supposed to look like. Then I give them a revision charge to apply the strategy. And that’s just the beginning. Then we need to apply the concepts to the next writing charge/prompt.

From this analysis, I can tell what minilessons that should be taught during RTI/Academy as well as whole group lessons that the students have not mastered collectively. In this case, the kids don’t understand persuasive tone or how to develop their ideas with specificity. Those are specific lessons that I should re-teach in small groups after I have explicitly modeled them with the whole class.

ALL kids (English I and II) need more instruction on how to diffuse the prompt. In almost all cases of the essays I have read, the kids didn’t write about what they were asked to write about. They explained or gave advice. They told why happiness was important. That’s not persuasive. These kids don’t know how to do what we are asking them to do. Why? Not sure. But we need to explicitly and directly teach and reteach these skills. I’ll diffusing more prompts tomorrow during our hangout.

Shona 

Able

Beatrice

Chip

Freddie

Jamie

Mitchell

Pseudonyms have been used.

x

Vocabulary Activities for Drama (and maybe a little Romeo, Juliet, and Caesar)

I was asked to model a lesson on how to extend vocabulary study in the English I and II classroom. 

This is what the teacher had accomplished before I arrived: 

English 1:  Read The Shakespeare Stealer in class.  I modeled/pointed out different dramatic elements within the play.  Now they have started Romeo and Juliet.  They watched the shmoop video about the summary of this.  I divided them up into groups and assigned them each a different act to read among their group.  As they were reading, I told them to take note of important details, the summary of what they are reading, and what dramatic elements they are noticing from their vocabulary words.  I give them 5-7 minutes at the end of each class to write these things down.  Then the next day, they share with the class what they’ve noticed/found and continue reading.  After they are finished, they look through their entire list of vocab and write down each example they notice.

English 2:  Same exact thing except the model selection I used was Tibet Through the Red Box.  They are currently reading Julius Caesar.

I wanted them to go deeper into the application of the terms. Here is the lesson plan and images of student work. 

First, we started out with Word Cycle: 

I asked the students to shuffle and distribute the cards from these sets: 

Drama English I Set One

Drama English I Set Two

Drama English II Set One

Drama English II Set Two

Then they randomly drew five cards from the cards they were dealt, placing each in the center of one of the circles. 

Then I modeled for students about how to create a connection between the first two words on the chart. I chose /monologue/and /tragic flaw/. As I thought aloud, I said something like this: "In Romeo and Juliet, the first monologue is from Juliet. Romeo overhears her, so that's how I know it's not a soliloquy. Now I need to think about how Shakespeare is using that monologue to show us something about a tragic flaw. In this first speech, we realize that Juliet is a silly, immature little girl. That kind of thing never ends well." 

On the arrow between the two circles, I wrote: a playwright could use a monologue to reveal the tragic flaw in a a character. This could also foreshadow other conflicts and plot elements that would arise later." 

Then I asked students to do the same on their papers, collaborating with their group members for ideas. Here's what they came up with...

Note how this student used orange to give a definition in her own words about the terms (which I didn't ask her to do). Her connection here is spectacular because she shows understanding of how the monologue itself might be used in a play. 

This next student nearly broke my heart when I received her paper. She explains - "I got confused." But she didn't realize that what she did was exactly what I was expecting for the next stage of the lesson. 

This child clearly understands how Tybalt's dramatic speech resulted in a climax for Scene Three where Romeo kills Tybalt! She went further than connecting the terms, she applied them to a specific instance in the text. 

Sometimes, in class, you look for a child to give you an example that sets the tone and expectation for that class and all the classes to follow. When a student can give you a better example than yours, you have something special to use as a model. 

The student was connecting the terms Plot and Theme. If you read the image, here it is: The food fight scene from hook express the theme of Imagination. Imagination makes life fun. The Boulder in Indiana Jones illuminated the theme of success with risk. He goes on to connect Theme and Characters: Just like a prop  the characters can Illuminate a theme of story. Indiana always is in a risk bisiness which can lead to profit or a gain of some sort." 

In the next phase of the lesson, I asked students to draw a character sociogram and then connect the terms to the characters with annotations. The student clearly articulates a sequence of events with the plot and labels them with the appropriate term.

The next two artifacts were so brilliant that I asked the students to explain with an audio file. 

This one made me do a happy dance: "The foil character can interact with the tragic hero and show the strengths and weaknesses." I wish all students could understand the purpose of the foil! 

But here's the thesis. At the end of my post. Again. Seems like that's a trend for me.

Vocabulary instruction is not about definitions. It is about using what words mean to help us understand what an author is saying and how he has crafted his message to us.

                                                                                     

On Franzen, Climate Change, and Writing Pedagogy

Even if you disagree with Franzen's topic, he teaches us about writing too. If you dare, take some time to closely read the text,  annotating for instructional implications for writing. 

Franzen on Climate Change...and other things too

Early in the essay, I stopped dead as a picture of James Comey pointed in accusation above the following text:

"Here I might mention two other lessons I learned from Henry Finder. One was Every essay, even a think piece, tells a story. The other was There are only two ways to organise material: “Like goes with like” and “This followed that”  (Franzen,2017).

What if we taught these simple text structures and organizational patterns as  editor, Henry Finder, guided Franzen?

When we talk to kids, what if we said:

"When you organize your ideas...

"When you go back to look at your freewrite...

"Cut up and regroup your sentences and paragraphs to follow one of these two structures: 

"1. Like goes with Like: What ideas go together? These can be grouped in the same paragraph or a group of paragraphs (paragraph bloc). 

"2. This followed that or "This followed from that" (Franzen also): Are your ideas following a train of thought or cause and effect relationship? These ideas can be put in the sequence that match how your brain is tracing that path for the reader. What order do you want the reader to consider the ideas for your thesis?"

Franzen explained more about this second pattern: 

"If you’re looking at a mass of material that doesn’t seem to lend itself to storytelling, Henry would say your only other option is to sort it into categories, grouping similar elements together: Like goes with like" (2017).

Yet, Franzen (2017) also points us to story. 

"This is, at a minimum, a tidy way to write. But patterns also have a way of turning into stories."

This advice strikes me as another simple - and respectfully human - classroom approach to writing. Franzen explains: 

"If you accept Henry’s premise that a successful prose piece consists of material arranged in the form of a story, and if you share my own conviction that our identities consist of the stories we tell about ourselves, it makes sense that we should get a strong hit of personal substance from the labour of writing and the pleasure of reading. When I’m alone in the woods or having dinner with a friend, I’m overwhelmed by the quantity of random sensory data coming at me. The act of writing subtracts almost everything, leaving only the alphabet and punctuation marks, and progresses toward non-randomness. Sometimes, in ordering the elements of a familiar story, you discover that it doesn’t mean what you thought it did. Sometimes, especially with an argument (“This follows from that”), a completely new narrative is called for. The discipline of fashioning a compelling story can crystallise thoughts and feelings you only dimly knew you had in you."

With each of Franzen's clauses, I could tell you a stories about a children disenfranchised from meaning by obtuse and disrespectful pedagogy that honors rules and form (five paragraph essay) over meaning and substance. With each of his clauses, I could quote lemon lipped fossils spouting dictates about personal pronouns and the horrors of using personal anecdotes in expository texts. At the end of the paragraph, I am re-seeing thousands of inane standardized assessment essays where students wrote themselves into nothingness or perhaps something they didn't know when they began. With our pedagogy, we are losing the "personal substance" of the children and divorce them from the power that comes from the "labour of writing and the pleasure of reading" (Franzen, 2017). 

Of course, the staunch English academics will argue. Franzen knew that too. 

"These precepts may seem self-evident, but any grader of high-school or college essays can tell you that they aren’t. To me it was especially not evident that a think piece should follow the rules of drama. And yet: doesn’t a good argument begin by positing some difficult problem? And doesn’t it then propose an escape from the problem through some bold proposition, and set up obstacles in the form of objections and counterarguments, and finally, through a series of reversals, take us to an unforeseen but satisfying conclusion?"

The headline for the article provides an apt imitation frame for my thesis here (and yes, I purposefully didn't place the thesis at the end of the first paragraph): 

In the age of assessment and accountability: 

Is it too late to save the world? 

As student writing crumbles and the education secretary threatens to pull out of public schools, we must reflect on the role of writing pedagogy in times of crisis. 

We must reflect. We must act. And again, I can imitate Franzen's language in the last paragraph of his essay. 

Unlike Franzen, I do have hope that we can stop the change from coming. As authenticity and critical thought crumble and while the education secretary threatens to pull out of public schools, we must reflect on the role of writing pedagogy in times of crisis. 

My hope is that we can accept and communicate the damaging effects of legislation, assessment-accountability movements, and the fossilized practices of our own instructional domain. Facing it honestly, however painful this may be, is better than denying it. As practitioners we must still give rebukes where they are deserved. But we must also remember that teachers need more hope in terms of practical solutions than the woes of a depressive pessimist. Teachers and students are the people for whom the prospect of a repressive, calamity-filled future of inept writers and thinkers is unbearably sad and frightening. In fact, it happens now. Let's revise our practices. 

Franzen gives us practical ways to begin.

Franzen, J. (2017). One year of Trump: Is it too late to save the world? Jonathan Franzen on one year of Trump's America. The Guardian. Accessed 15, November, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/04/jonathan-franzen-too-late-to-save-world-donald-trump-environment?CMP=share_btn_tw 

Socratic Seminar and John Hattie

Teachers are the ones that can take staff development to the next level. These teachers took two different sessions and combined them into resources for the classroom. I am so impressed with the way they have applied their learning - both theoretically and practically.

Good morning Shona,

I am  submitting my lesson for our Socratic Seminar. 

I believe you met my colleague, Ross Perschbacher. I shared with him what I had learned from our PD and he shared some comments you had made at a different PD session. We decided to come together and revamp our Socratic Circle. 

This is the model I learned about when Jane and I
visited a school in New Zealand.

We have decided to break it up and reteach three parts: Building Knowledge, Making Meaning, and Applying Understanding. We feel as though this will help the kids better understand what they are to get out of Socratic Circles. 

We then created a flip book that the kids will add too as we present/teach each new concept. We just got done with Building Knowledge and the improvement in discussion was just awesome!!! 

I am going to attach our teaching page as well as the student flip book. 

Next week we move on to Making Meaning. 

Before I forget, we are anchoring the process as well so that the kids can see it on the wall and refer to it. We discussed annotating again and made a few changes. 

The biggest change/improvement is that any underlined or highlighted sentence MUST have a connection or question next to it. We will add to this as we go along. 

Please let me know if you need any more information or have any other questions. 

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Danna Trujillo

Notes to a New Teacher: Instructions are not Instruction

My Dear, 

Most of the time, students don’t know what teachers want them to do. Some are unaccustomed or insecure about tasks that require critical thinking. They are even more unsure about those tasks that have no clear-cut answer. They need to see someone show them how to do what you expect. 

Model, Model, Model! You provide the epitome of a proficient performance: the standard to be imitated.

In your class, I asked students to evaluate the performance of groups who were presenting their ideas about how the dramatic vocabulary terms were connected. I had to think aloud to show students how one forms those thoughts. And one time was not sufficient. 

• Emilio’s group shared the example that “plot” and “theme” are connected because the character goes through many scenes in the plot to deliver the central message of the play. This was an excellent answer because the students honed in on the author’s purpose for using the plot as a tool to deliver his message. The answer went beyond stating that a plot is this kind of thing while pointing out a contrast that the theme is another kind of thing. The answer focused on an understanding on how the plot is used as a tool.

• Mary’s group pointed out that “dialogue” and “script” were connected because the dialogue in the script advances the plot. The audience experiences the plot through what the characters have to say. They then made a connection to a specific example of how this works in Julias Caesar. Their answer was correct and insightful because the students brought in a third dramatic term to add depth to their answer. They also had a specific example to illustrate their point.

• Frankie’s group connected “aside” and “conflict” to say that the asides can help foreshadow and upcoming conflict. This answer was correct and also quite satisfying because students demonstrated a connection to a third literary term and homed in on the reason a playwright uses an aside. This insight is a very helpful tool for how readers can comprehend a play as they are reading or viewing a performance.

I had to model my cognitive approach to making the connection to “monologue” and “dramatic effect”.  ELAR is not a set of content that can be defined easily. Everything we do is about a cognitive thinking process. The teacher, as a more proficient peer, must model the invisible in-head actions.

It’s not enough to say, “Explain the connection between these two terms.” That’s called “giving instructions” and has absolutely nothing to do with “instruction.”  There are several ways to give instruction through modeling: 

1. Prepare the sample before you start class. Write what you are going to say on a piece of paper. When it is time to model, have that paper out of sight. Write what you have written on the document camera and explain aloud how you came up with those ideas. (repeat this for EACH class. Don’t simply project what you wrote in first period.
2. Think aloud and compose without prior preparation. This helps you recreate the struggle and steps that you have to go through to figure out what to say. Kids need to know how you edit, evaluate, and come up with the ideas that you will use.
3. After you model (fresh for each class), you will  probably have an example from a previous class that is an excellent model of an effective performance. Project the student’s paper and explain, “In second period, Frankie did something brilliant. Read his example and tell me what is effective about this response.” Or “In third period, Maddie started out with this example that wasn’t quite right. She revised her thinking to go deeper. Why is her second attempt such an improvement from the first?” 

With Love, 

Your Advocate

I'm looking to replace AR...

Ya'all - this came into my inbox today. I'm so excited that I'm not sure that I am thinking clearly. This is BIG. Can you read below and comment on what else I might need to say to this brave leader? 

Mrs. Rose,

My name is _______________ and I am the _____________ at ____________.  I'm looking for a good reading program to replace the AR program I currently have on my campus.  Are there any you would recommend?

Thanks,

XX

OH MY! I am dancing in my cube! WHEEEEEEEE! That is just the most exciting thing I have heard ALL YEAR! Research shows that AR actually causes harm after second grade. Instead, teach them to read like a wolf eats, as Gary Paulsen says.

Here’s some ideas to begin:

1. Buy BOOKS for the classroom... and the library... and for kids to have an hold. Here's a place to look for resources. 
2. All teachers need a copy of Book Love by Penny Kittle. 
3. All teachers need a copy of Disrupting Thinking by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst
4. Then they can listen to this podcast  about how Penny Kittle started thinking this way.
5. Teachers can read anything by Terri Lesesne:
1. Making the Match:  The Right Book for the Right Reader at the Right Time, Grade 4-12
2. Reading Ladders: Leading Students from Where They Are to Where We'd Like Them to Be
3. Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers
6. Teachers and students start doing book talks. A neat place for students to begin sharing their ideas is the Reading Tease Facebook page. It would be an authentic place where they could contribute their love for books as recommendations to other students across the world. 

Books + reading + writing = change...dramatic and purposeful... change.  You'll be doing more than replacing a reading program. 

Notes to a New Teacher: Give a listening charge

My Dear, 

When kids present to the class, the rest of the class often sits passively. They wait for the teacher to pronounce judgment about the answers the other groups share. Most of the time, they don’t listen at all. Instead, ask the students to evaluate the accuracy and quality of the answers their peer groups present to the class.

1. Give students a group task. 

2. Student groups present their ideas to the class.

3. The students in the other small groups converse to decide:

•  Is the answer correct or incorrect?     
• Why is the answer correct? or
• What adjustments need to be made to find the right answer? 

4. Groups share their feedback and evaluation with the group that presented their answer.

With Love, 

Your Advocate

Notes to a New Teacher: Give Clarity

My Dear, 

They are looking to you for approval. I see their eyes and their body language reflect insecurity and desire to please you. You have established yourself as someone important enough to value. This is quite the accomplishment, as most students this age value the opinions of their peers more than adults. 

1. The kids want to know if they are right or wrong. I can see them looking to you for facial or verbal cues to evaluate their performance. 
2. When you say, “Good job” keep talking and explain WHY and WHAT part of their ideas are sound or need revision. Here’s two examples from class:
1. For a correct answer:  “Freddie, when you connect the terms “props” and “theme” with the examples from Indiana Jones and Hook, you give a concrete example that helps demonstrate your understanding of how a playwright applies these terms when he is writing. The example shows your understanding on how the use of props then impacts the audience’s understanding of the theme.”
2. For refining an answer that’s just not there yet, state why you are sharing the feedback: “I’m sharing the conversation between Jackie and me because it shows my expectations of for your answers. I’m looking for depth of thought as opposed to surface observations.” Then explain the interaction and the refinement the student made in his thinking. “Jackie and I had a good conversation her about how to go deeper. She noticed that dialogue happens on a set, but that’s not enough. Why does it matter that dialogue happens on a set in a drama? When I pushed the thinking, Jackie talked about how the set places characters at different heights and varies the distance between the character and the audience. She realized that this placement is purposeful in helping the audience understand which character or message is important. That’s the depth of response I’m looking for.”
3. When you leave a group during your monitoring sweeps, share an idea about their progress with that group. Or bring the whole class together if it is something the whole class could benefit from. Share an insight or refinement about their stage in the learning process. (Note: You don’t do both each time. These are just options.)
1. To the group: “Your best idea so far…” To the whole class: “Listen to this group’s idea. It’s the best one I’ve heard so far. How can you use it to develop your ideas and extend your conversations?”
2. To the group: “I’m looking forward to how you will solve….” To the whole class: “I have heard three groups with a common dilemma. /Share the dilemma./ Do any groups have an idea that would help correct this struggle?”
3. To the group: “When you said ____, that was insightful/just what I was looking for because…” To the whole class: “Class, listen to what this group just said. I want you to explain how their idea is insightful or spot on for my expectations.”
4. To the group or individual: “That might be an idea you want to bring forward to the whole class when we debrief.” Or “Would you mind sharing this idea with the whole class?”
5. To the group: “I like what you are doing here (asking questions, returning to the text, etc.) to clarify your confusion about ____.” To the whole class: “This group has found an effective strategy to clarify confusion. Please listen to their thinking process.” 

With Love, 

Your Advocate

Notes to a New Teacher: Establishing Tone and Presence

My Dear, 

You are the actress and your classroom is a stage. 

1. When you begin the class, establish your presence by going to the front of the room. One time, my mother talked to me about how a lady enters a room. It's quite dramatic. You enter the room, standing with confidence. Pause. Your eyes scan the room and you smile or make contact with others, your expression morphing to reflect understanding and connection to those you recognize or would like to know better. Select a place in the room and walk purposefully to that location. 
2. Call the class to order with a greeting and a smile. This sets a friendly, but authoritative tone.
3. Then, give the beginning charge for the day – even if it is written on the board. Stand there and scan the room to see that everyone complies. Then go take attendance.
4. As you sweep the class to monitor each group, note that if you hear or see the same misconception more than two times, you are wasting your time to reteach the same concept to each group. Call the whole class together and reteach.
5. After each trip around the room, pause and eavesdrop over the whole class. This is a quick formative assessment for you about what you need to address behaviorally or instructionally. Capture the whole class attention if there is a trend you are noticing that needs refinement. Catch and Release: Catch them quickly, make your comment, and then release them back to their collaborative work.
6. When you are working with a group, remember that you are always on stage. As such, point your body to the whole class (don’t turn your back) and point your head to the group or individual. 

With Love, 

Your Advocate

Writing in Math Class: Disciplinary Literacy

I was working with Dalhart teachers on Friday about what writing looks like in each subject. They seemed relieved that writing in math class doesn't have to be about feelings (what a waste of time) or look like an essay (how would you grade that?). Isn't it nice that writing in math class isn't supposed to look like what happens in English class?

I promised them that I would find the resources that my colleagues have been creating for math and writing. (Thank you Luanne Bunch and Michael Ladick.)

Here are some of them:

1. Math People Read Wrong

2. Language Structures Carry Mathematical Concepts

3. Helping the MathMindless

4. The Fantastic Disappearing Math Notes of Ms. Shona Mathmindless

5. A session with folders on Math Problems Don't Read "Once upon a time..." 

Here's the link to the PowerPoint for the Writing Across the Curriculum session.