#SOLSC22: 20
What a lucky day! My role is a photographer! Back up a couple of years and think Austin. Yes, Austin, Texas. ILA in July in 2018 in Austin, TX. I had checked in to my hotel and hiked across town to find a friend in order to celebrate a book birthday. And the celebration was huge. Two authors meant twice the celebrations. And twice the joy!
Not a surprise to me! Books. Authors. Some of my most favorite things.
At this time, I really had little idea of the meaning of the word “nurture” in regards to friends and family. Sure, we dealt with it in our work in schools (though it was NOT in my boss’s vocabulary), but the idea of how to really “Nurture” readers and writers was new.
And yet . . .
Teachers who were writers were ahead of the game in nurturing readers. And teachers who were readers were ahead of the game in nurturing writers. The reciprocity was alive and well for teachers who were studying the knowledge, the skills and the craft of both.
This was one of the pictures that launched my photographic career.
It was a short-lived career. But the memories of that day continue to nurture my soul as Christina’s second book is now available.
Thank you, Christina Nosek, for nurturing both my reading teacher self and my personal self for many years!
How do you nurture yourself? How do your nurture your professional self? How do you share your journey?
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Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this daily forum during the month of March.
Check out the writers and readers here.
#ILA19: Research
Third time’s a charm! It was so helpful to dig into additional chapters from this book.
I wrote briefly about the #NCTE18 session here and assessment and vocabulary as well as #ILA18 here about Chapter 16 Comprehensive Literacy Instruction and 8 essential components.
Assessment: Peter Afflerbach Handout
So much to think about from this outline. Some key takeaways to discuss: What do you know about your assessments? What do they claim to measure? How well does the assessment align with your “needs”? What are the challenges?
How do we get quality, informed research in the hands of teachers and administrators around the world?
- Know the source. What Works Clearinghouse
- Know the researchers and their reputations and experience as researchers and practitioners. Reading Hall of Fame is one trusted source.
- Know the goals of research. Nell Duke and “10 Things Every Literacy Educator Should Know about Research”
- Attend the #ILA19 Research session with P. David Pearson and Nell Duke at 7 AM on a Saturday morning in New Orleans!
#NCTE18: Decisions
Research-Based Decisions
I wrote about Reading Research here and Dr. Mary Howard capped our #G2Great chat with this post on 11.03.18. As I reviewed the #NCTE18 program in the weeks before the conference, I thought about my “research filter” and the sessions available. I also thought about previous conferences and this post. What factors would drive my decisions about sessions to attend?
Before I even arrived in Houston, I had perused the app and added many of my favorites to my list. At first glance about half of our crowd-sourced experts would be present.
“Richard Allington; Donald Graves; Don Murray; Peter Johnston; Marie Clay;John Hattie; P David Pearson;Lucy Calkins; Tom Newkirk;Taffy Rafael; Nell Duke; Ken and Yetta Goodman; Louise Rosenblatt;Kylene Beers; Bob Probst;Carol Lyons;Ellin Keene; Donalyn Miller; Kathy Collins;Fountas and Pinnell; Stephen Krashen;Stephanie Harvey;Regie Routman; Debbie Miller;Jennifer Serravallo; Gravity Goldberg; Kate Roberts; Maggie Roberts; Ralph Fletcher;Nancie Atwell; Penny Kittle; Kelly Gallagher;Kara Pranikoff;Dave Stuart Jr.; Cornelius Minor; Katie Wood Ray; Anne Goudvis; Georgia Heard; Jan Burkins; Kim Yaris;Susan Zimmerman“(Literacy Lenses 11.03.18)
And I added others:
Tom Marshall, Kari Yates, Christina Nosek, Clare Landrigan, Tammy Mulligan, Lester Laminack, Colleen Cruz, Justin Dolcimascolo, Jess Lifshitz, Jeff Anderson, Smokey Daniels, Sara Ahmed, Carl Anderson, Ruth Ayres, Stacey Shubitz, Katherine Bomer, Donna Santaman, Dorothy Barnhouse #BowTieBoys, #TeachWrite, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Capelli. (Representational list and not meant to exclude anyone.) And then there were teachers, authors, poets, “Slicers” and friends as presenters.
What was the reality?
With luck, I would be able to choose about 15 sessions.
15
The names above represented about 65 sessions.
I had four time slots with five possible sessions to attend. Without Hermione Granger’s “time-turner” that was not going to happen. So how was I going to make decisions? What would I use as my filters?
Research-Based Decision-Making Filter
Why was I interested in research? I wanted the best quality experience that #NCTE18 had! Research, classroom-based and empirical has always fascinated me. I’m pretty picky about my educational research. I believe in being an “informed educator” as espoused by Nell Duke and Nicole Martin’s 10 Things Every Literacy Educator Should Know about Research. The work presented at #NCTE18 would be research-based. Much would not be research-tested. It is easy to get lost in the misrepresentation and misuse of research. Of course, there are limitations. But one only has to read this gorgeous new text by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp to connect with the research about the need for book access for all! And just like a book and movie pairing – I want to read the book before hearing Colby and Donalyn talk any more about it – so one decision made!
I was pretty sure that sessions at #NCTE18 would not be guilty of these misleading uses of research that Mary Howard listed in her blog post.
“Citing research to sell products
Citing research to justify practices
Citing questionable research to support an agenda
Citing flawed and outdated research”
But I do want to remind you that some national conferences have sessions that seem to be at cross-purposes with the beliefs and values listed for the conference! Careful reading of program descriptors and sponsors is always a good idea.
How would I use research as a filter?
One of my criteria for session selection was NEW and recent work, perhaps something that has become an addendum or just a continuing evolution since the last book was published or their July #ILA18 presentation. That was the purpose behind my attendance at both Responsive Teaching: The Courage to Follow the Lead of the Reader and Capacity – Based Writing: Instruction Empowers Students – Deconstructing the Struggling Writer Label while Championing Inclusive Practices. I knew some individual pieces of their work and wanted to see how the “presentation package” brought in the research, the work with students, and increased my knowledge.
What other criteria did I use?
Who have I not seen lately? So after spending an entire day with Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher and 350+ best friends in Iowa in October, 300 minutes . . . Was I going to try to catch them as a part of a 75 minute panel? . . .
Ellin Keene was with Debbie Miller in July at #ILA18, so I heard about her new book there after reading it.
Have I already registered to see them at CCIRA in Denver in February? There are another 10 slots or so where I will see presenters alone . . . no panels, no roundtables, just the speaker and a room full of learners. And with preregistration everyone should have a seat.
Where are there gaps in my knowledge base? This question led me to sessions about equity, mentor texts, and literacy mentors on Friday. And then there was the second session about the 4th edition of the Handbook of Research on Teaching of the English Language Arts.
Am I under-utilizing available resources? Of course that led to the featured student panel, the ubiquitous #BowTieBoys that I heard three times at #NCTE17, and #TeachWrite friends.
Will I be able to make it to the room in time to actually be in the room for the program? We tried five different sessions on Thursday and ALL were overcrowded and packed with “bouncers” on the door to keep additional attendees out. Many times the lack of seating in the room was a decision point as well. Sometimes I deliberately chose a session that I believed would have fewer attendees.
#NCTE18 often had over 60 sessions per time slot. That means there were many choices. Some might even argue that there were too many choices. However, 7,000 + attendees had to be somewhere so “choice” of sessions is crucial. I believe that filters to sort out expertise and research wer helpful for me when I had to make final decisions about the sessions where I would learn the most. And the sessions that I was curious about. And the sessions that challenge me to stretch and grow!
How do you make decisions about competing sessions?
What criteria do you use?
What criteria will you consider at your next conference?
#NCTE18 Posts
#SOL18: It’s About Time!
The heat and summer weather continues but visions of classrooms are filling many heads as teachers and students begin the final stretch of “vacation” and “It’s the last time, I can . . . this summer” routines.
I attended a research round table at #ILA18 in Austin and posted the first side of the hand out from one 15 minute segment about Chapter 16, “It is About Time for Comprehensive Language Arts Instruction (We’ve Tried Everything Else!)” in this post.
This book.
487 pages.
I’m still reading.
How will those “8 Components” be implemented?
Well, that was side two of the handout and some brief discussion. This post is going to focus on just three of the 8 sections on implementation. (The numbering is mine so that I could keep the sections in order.)
The first implementation I am highlighting was the first on the page.
- Make Time for Self-Selected Reading and Teacher Read-aloud
- Replace “morning work” with self-selected reading
- Reduce time for “packing up” and end the day with self-selected reading
- Read aloud to children during “snack time”
- Read topic-related books and magazine articles aloud in subject areas
Four different options for “making time” were listed.
Will one of those work for you? Which one? More than one?
If your students need to increase their reading volume, time is an issue. How can you ensure that they will have more time to read? What is within your control? How are your priorities visible for yourself, your students, and your entire learning community?
The second implementation:
4. Teach Handwriting along with High-Frequency Words
- Focus students on each letter during high-frequency word learning by integrating it with handwriting instruction
Sight Words? High-Frequency Words?
What are you having students learn and why?
How will you know that students have learned the words?
I’m a believer that sight words are “known” when they are used and spelled correctly in writing. Not just the quick, fast recognition for reading but also the accurate recall and correct spelling when the words are written. Part of the practice to get the word into long-term memory can be handwriting. What a win/win for students!
And what a way to achieve my goal: No more students spelling “said” as /sed/ because that is the way it sounds!!!
And for today, the final and perhaps most important recommendation . . .
8. Stop Doing Things We Know Don’t Matter
- Stop doing activities, skills or lessons in traditional grammar
- Stop teaching cursive handwriting
- Stop teaching dictionary location skills
This last section is probably the most critical in my thinking. Why on earth do we keep doing “stuff” that we know either a) is not effective? or b) does not matter?
Here’s the link to the document (both pages).
How will this inform your instruction?
What conversations do you need to have prior to sweeping changes?
How will you know if you are using time wisely?
How will you continue to “check in” on your own use of time?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Kelsey, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. 
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