I read.
I reread.
I jot.
I think.
I read.
I write.
I tweet.
Dipping into the facebook group here
@HeinemannPub resources here
and original blog posts at “To Make a Prairie” here.
It’s a delicate dance similar to a waltz.
Read
Think: “How does this fit into my current beliefs?”
Write down questions, changes, fleeting thoughts . . .
To be absorbed into the mental stream of consciousness
Synthesis
A new belief
Test it out
Problem solving
And with reading, writing, thinking, and more practice . . . It’s time to begin sharing!
What’s up?
This week marks the beginning of #cyberPD for the summer of 2017. Check out the hashtag and the blogs and hold onto your brains as the pace is quick, the thinking is challenging, and you will question your own beliefs about reading! Be prepared for the provocative nature of this book, the discussion, and the debate!
Here’s the challenge from Ellin Oliver Keene in the Foreword:
The book:
The schedule:
Why were Chapters 1-4 challenging?
Because I didn’t begin with them. I began with Chapter 5.
Check the text.
Vicki gave readers to start with either part 1: background, values and changes or part 2: problems and practices. Of course, I began with Part 2. It’s my favorite. But in order to sustain changes, I know that I have to understand the “why” in order to stay the course and continue to “steer the ship”. (page xix)
Values and Beliefs:
Reading is meaning.
Meaning is constructed by the reader.
Use inquiry or a problem-based approach. What I do 1:1 with striving readers.
Inquiry or problem-based approach with all – that’s new!
Students doing the work.
Students thinking.
Ditch assigned patterns of close reading. (AMEN!)
Critical thinking.
Creative thinking. Hit the brakes! Do I really get the difference?
Real meaning of read closely and deeply. (YES!)
Teaching vs. learning (including over scaffolding and too much priming the pump)
I’m still learning about problem-solving. I understand the basic principles. As I read this summer, I’m keeping track of what I do when I get stuck, tangled up in the words or tangled up in the ideas. How do I work through the “stuck” and the “tangles”. I need to continue to practice on my own reading.
Same for creative thinking and critical thinking. Such a delicious thought that they are not the same. I’ve had years decades of imitating, patterning, and coasting in the shadows. Am I really creative? Too early to tell.
What do you value in reading?
What will you read that will be provocative this summer?
Do you dare break out of your complacency?
Want to join #CyberPD?
Join the Google+ Community https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107711243109928665922
Follow #cyberPD on Twitter
Follow @cathymere
Follow @litlearningzone
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Lanny, Lisa, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum and the #SOLSC that runs from March 1 to the 31st. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
Resource - Full 
Wow! Somebody’s been busy. I’ll have to revisit this post when my brain is less scrambled and I’m less tired. Impressive work.
It’s a fabulous book!
Thank you for writing about this new resource!
You are welcome. Aileen!
Keeping track of your own reading strategies is a great idea!
I started at the beginning of the book. I’m not finding it is challenging my thinking, but it is reminding me that not everyone has made the shift to helping students become more agentive readers, more independent reading-problem solvers.
Lisa, I love the focus on independent problem silvers. How can we provide the time and the space for students to literally do the work?
I enjoyed your stream-of-consciousness post! Would you recommend this book for my job as a librarian to inform my lessons, or is it primarily for classroom teachers?
Fabulous question. I would recommend it to you because you will consider changing your lessons!
Hi, I’m a K-8 librarian and I’m reading this book as part of the #cyberpd group and there is much to think about here. While not all of it applies to our work, it it has got me thinking about the way I talk about books with kids, the kinds of questions I ask them when making recommendations, and how I share information about kids’ reading to their classroom teachers. I’m also hoping to collaborate more closely with teachers when they are teaching books/reading/literacy. I’d definitely recommend taking a look at it. Jody.
I love your post! What a powerful reflection! The line that speaks to me most is” “Teaching vs. learning (including over scaffolding and too much priming the pump)”. I feel we do enable students often too much when we support too much…’priming the pump’ is a perfect description! This one I will use with my colleagues to be sure! Thank you for your insights!
You are welcome! I’ve come to believe that we often use way too much teacher talk/work that makes/allows students to be dependent on us.
So much of what Vicki says just emphasizes what I know to be true but also love to have validated by additional outside sources! ❤
Oh wow, I love this: “Creative thinking. Hit the brakes! Do I really get the difference?”
I have yet to write my post for Cyber PD so you have set me up to look closely at that idea. Something is rather delicious about creating our reading.
I’m stuck on the difference between knowing in my head and my actual doing
. . Could a reader see this in my work? That was a shocker when I asked myself!
I also love your stream of consciousness thoughts! This part especially resonated with me: “Think: “How does this fit into my current beliefs?” Write down questions, changes, fleeting thoughts . . .” That is exactly what I do when I read new professional books. Since I have been reading the book Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Comprehension I am more aware of my own stream of consciousness thinking as I read and question and figure things out. I am very excited to share this thinking and learning with my students! And I also need to think more about when I am creatively and/or critically thinking while I read.
Yes, that meaning making pressure . . Does it fit with current beliefs? Cause a slight shift off the path? A 90 degree angle? More like a meandering stream? Or a complete 180? The search for patterns in meaning!
Interesting process for your work and thinking, thanks for sharing. I don’t know if I could skip a chapter and start later in a book.
Mandy
I don’t ever read nonfiction or professional books in order. I use the Table of Contents to pick the chapter I am most interested in, start there, and then determine the order for the rest of the book. I’ve always taught readers that a lot of nonfiction books can be “dipped into” at will.
Fran, you always have such thoughtful and creative posts. Glad you are part of this conversation this summer! I am loving this book, but also as Ellin Oliver Keene said, “I don’t find myself wholly affirmed or agreeing with every premise…” but it is challenging and stretching my thinking in a healthy way. (and I do agree with a great deal as well!!)
Thanks for sharing.
Paula
Paula,
So good to “see” you as well. Because I have so much respect for Vicki, I am not as skeptical as some other authors/books might cause me to be. I find myself more in a “Hmmmm . . ., what does this mean?” rather than a “No way; Not true” response mode!
That’s how I am feeling. I am reserving judgment (creative rather than critical thinking!?) on some concepts as I work them through and synthesize what I’m reading. I love being challenged!
Hi Fran, your writing about your own problem-solving techniques really got me thinking about how I’m approaching my own thinking around Dynamic Teaching. This is my first year participating in #cyberpd and there is much to consider in my own reading strategies and responses. Thanks for sharing. Jody
I have to always start with myself and really dig into my own thinking. For me, that’s also part of a public accountability piece as well. So much learning to do!!!
Hi, Fran! I was tempted to jump to chapter two because I’m always interested in the practical, but I thought I might not return to the first section. I’ve always been a big advocate for supporting students’ critical thinking, but had not considered creative thinking until I read this book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and giving us some questions to consider.
Lisa,
Sometimes it takes me awhile to read an entire book when I don’t read it cover to cover, but the opposite is also true – no one knows if there is one chapter that I read five or six times. I’m not sure where, why, or when we’ve come across that “one and done” is the way to go in reading.
Practice, Practice, Practice!!!
I loved this style of writing. As I read your writing, I wonder if you have done any work in Reading Recovery? As I get further into the book, I’m making many connections to the idea of problem solving on the run and staying out of the way.
Kendra,
I volunteered for Reading Recovery training at several points in my life but it never worked out. The whole point of being responsive to student needs has always been a focus whether I’ve been a teacher, an administrator or a consultant. It’s ALL about the students and their learning!
Staying out of the way and NOT being a part of the problem are so very critical! THANKS!
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