#DigiLitSunday: Vocabulary
Additional DigiLit posts can be found at Margaret Simon’s blog, Reflections on the Teche. Check them out here!
I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing “feral” posted in a variety of tweets and blogs over the last year. I know what I thought it meant but before writing this morning, I decided to “see” what a definition really looked like! Here’s what I found!
What if our students were encouraged to have feral vocabulary experiences?
Would that be too extreme?
What if students were thinking users of vocabulary?
That was the premise of a session led by Katy Wischow (@kw625) at the 89th #TCRWP Saturday Reunion that was summarized in this post. Vocabulary is complicated. It cannot all be taught through context. But when do we KNOW that a student really knows a word?
I believe that it’s when a student owns the word and uses it in his/her writing and quietly sit and wait for the teacher response after the word is found. It’s also when the student says, “Ms. M, I tried out “plethora”. I think it works; please check it out for me!”
I gained an even deeper understanding of vocabulary at #NCTE16 with a presentation by Valerie Geschwind, Shana Frazin, Katy Wischow, and Char Shylock summarized here.
What do you believe about vocabulary instruction?
Does it “WORK” for all students to “study” the same words on a list?
When it comes to Vocabulary, I have more questions than answers. If I am a “wide reader”, I have exposure to more words. I can still remember my first exposure to “supercalifragilisticexpealidocious”! Such a fun word that over shadowed the plot in “Mary Poppins” for days! And words like “loquacious”, “accolade”, “capricious”, and “ubiquitous” add fun and joy to my life! None of those words were ever on a vocabulary list for me to memorize or write in a sentence! (Just sayin’.)
What words do you like to USE?
How do you collect and use new words?
Bonus:
For those of you who coach others or provide PD, here’s an example of a Vocabulary Hyperdoc created by members of our literacy team for our local coaches designed to help teachers reflect on their vocabulary instruction and assessment practices. (Content + Technology)
#DigiLitSunday: Gratitude for #NCTE16 Learning
Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche encouraged us to blog about “Gratitude” this week. Read more links here.
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My gratitude is for all those who attended (in person or at a distance) #NCTE16 and shared their reflections. Here are my favorite quotes from our conference days. (Note they are NOT numbered so that I can include those that are “sticking with me” without stressing over the ones that have to be left out!)
- “Courage is more exhilarating than fear–and in the long run it is easier.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt via Tom Newkirk
- “We do not teach for mastery. We teach for revolution.” – Cornelius Minor
- “Classrooms have to be spaces of light. That’s our revolution. What you do on Monday at 8:30 is gonna change the world.”— Ernest Morrell
- Successful readers revise their thinking, and there is a huge chasm between those kids and the kids who grab a thought and then just hold on to it. – Ellin Keene
- “You probably don’t know adults’ DRA, you don’t know what level book they are reading. You might not even know what their community values. We acknowledge their habits and behaviors.” – Matt Glover
- “Exploration, risk, and failure are essential components in a writer’s growth. Exploration and risk will not occur if everything is graded.” – Kelly Gallagher
- “When we give students multiple choice tests, you get multiple choice test thinkers for an essay world.” – Kelly Gallagher
- From Julieanne’s blog and some of the sessions we attended together!
And from sessions that I did not attend personally but could still learn from due to generous Twitter and blog authors:
- “End every day with JOY no matter how the rest of the day may have gone.” – Franki Sibberson
- “It’s not what I do that matters, it’s what I do in relation to what my students need that makes a difference.” – Chris Tovani
- “DO NOT USE THE TERM THOSE KIDS. Every kid that walks into the classroom needs an opportunity. They all need you.” – Sharon Draper
- “All of life is material for writing. I rewrite the past as I wish I’d done.” – Tim Federle
- “When you don’t know the language, you don’t realize how important it is to have language.” -Shana Frazin
- “If you don’t struggle in front of students, they think you have a writing gene they don’t.” – Kelly Boswell
- “When I’m not writing I notice a huge difference in my teaching. I need to be writing.” – Beth Moore
- “Help kids revalue themselves as readers by explicitly showing them the complex work they are already doing.” – Dorothy Barnhouse
- “The Just Right Book is the book that meets the head and the heart.”- Penny Kittle
- ““If I gave a child a topic, I would find out what they know about the topic, NOT what they know about INFORMATION writing.” – Mary Ehrenworth
- “We must not judge a child’s story by the chapter of his/her life that we walk into.” – Kristin Ziemke
- “We have an obligation to tell and share stories. And we must make all kids visible in our learning communities.” – Sara Ahmed
What were your favorite quotes? What continues to linger in your mind?
Thanks to all who tweeted and / or blogged about #NCTE16! Amazing Learning!
#SOL16: Quiet Anticipation
Excited and thinking the best,
Anticipating
Friends . . .
Fellow Twitter Friends
Fellow Voxer Friends
Fellow Bloggers
Fellow #NCTE14 and #NCTE15 attendees
The shiny ball is going to drop on #NCTE16 and I can’t wait!
Professional Development is an “investment in yourself” – Check out this blog post from #NCTE15! Continual growth matters!
Learning
Listening
Learning
Eyes wide open
Learning
Within a cocoon of friendship
Learning
Around every corner
Learning
At every session
Learning
In Atlanta!
Looking forward to meeting up, face to face, with “Slicers” Saturday night.
Will you be there?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Lisa, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
What have I learned from #NCTE in the past?
#NCTE 14 (First Timer Report) here, (Community, Collaboration & Social Justice) here, (Our presentation – Story as the Landscape of Knowing) here, (Top 10 Quotes I Have Used from #NCTE14) here and (Close Reading and the Little Ones – Chris Lehman, Kate Roberts and Kristi Mraz) here.
#NCTE15 (Vicki Vinton & Katie Wood Ray) here, (Kelly Gallagher’s Top 10) here, (Sessions – Colleen Cruz, Jennifer Serravallo, Clare & Tammy, #G2Great) here and (Involving Students – 2 #tcrwp sessions, Kylene Beers, Bob Probst, Donalyn Miller, Seymour Simon, Linda Hoyt, Kelly Boswell and more) here.
And how do you reflect and review your learning?
How do you know you are growing?
#DigiLitSunday: Purpose
Check out other #DigiLit Sunday posts at Margaret Simon’s Reflections on the Teche here.
Purpose: The End or the Beginning?
In the process of getting ready for #NCTE16, I was considering not blogging about this topic today. And yet, here I am because of three different conversations this week. I vacillated between:
What’s the “purpose” for assessment?
What’s the “purpose” for instruction?
What’s the “purpose” for digital tools?
- What does the research say?
Doug Fisher and John Hattie both shared this effect size for “Teacher Clarity” in Iowa in separate October, 2016 professional development sessions. That’s well about the “.40” that is touted as a “cut score” and is almost the equivalent of TWO YEARS of learning for students. Therefore, Teacher Clarity is important in instruction, and equally important in assessment aligned with instruction and perhaps has the greatest importance in the selection of digital tools for students.
2. What do teachers need to consider in the planning process?
Teachers spend hours poring over lesson plans and planning for instruction that will meet ALL students’ needs. Searching for the right resources, planning that delivery that will empower students and most of all trying to make learning purposeful and engaging. That’s not easy as some content is hard for students to really “grapple with” for real understanding ans not just rote memorization. However, if the goal is “LEARNING” and is focused on Teacher Clarity, won’t that require the teacher to BEGIN with “What will the students know and be able to Do after they complete this learning? So the teacher process might include some or all of these steps depending on the curriculum that exists and the expectations of any given curriculum.
Retrieved from ict/lesson plan
Each step in the process above has ideas for “possible tools” to use during the planning and / or learning process.
3. But what about the learning environment?
Which classroom promote accelerated learning for students? How and where are students preparing for today, tomorrow and life “after school”?
What should classrooms look like?
4. What tools should the teacher and the students use?
The learning purpose should determine the possible range of tools that both the teacher and the students will use. Will the students ALWAYS have a voice in selecting the tools? Probably not, YET. Should the students have a bigger voice in selecting the tools that will showcase their learning? YES! Students should be allowed encouraged to showcase their learning in a variety of ways. Learning should not always look like “cookie cutter” factory models.
As I’ve thought about purpose and its role in learning, this is the way that I have viewed it . . . with “purpose” as a critical factor at each level.
But now I wonder if “PURPOSE” should be the circle that houses the other four circles. Maybe purpose really is all encompassing and is the “driver” behind all decisions. So are the learning targets the center and purpose the frame for all learning?
Where do you believe “Purpose” lives in the daily decision-making processes involved in instruction?
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