#SOL19: Who’s Doing the Work?
Who’s Doing the Work?
Seven little bodies.
Three coaches.
Wouldn’t that be a lovely classroom ratio?
Met at the beginning
With a high five
a personal greeting
by name
and definite eye contact.
Personal Greeting.
For 45 minutes
A delightful mix:
Whole group
and individual work.
Teams
and individual work.
Familiar groupings?
Skill work:
“Knock the cones over with your ball.”
And they did.
Formative assessment & feedback from the coaches.
“Return to base.”
“Reset the cones.”
“Return to base.”
And again.
Knock the cones over with your ball.”
“Feet.”
And they did.
Formative assessment & feedback from the coaches.
Repetition:
“Return to base.”
“Reset the cones.”
“Return to base.”
“Once more.”
Transition warning. Activity will be ending.
Knock the cones over with your ball.”
And they did.
Formative assessment & feedback from the coaches.
Scrimmage time:
Two teams
Attempting to score
Two teams
Alternating possession
In patterns of threes.
With a transition warning before the final time.
Little athletes helping set up the environment
Always moving,
Always with a purpose for actions,
Four year olds learning soccer with drills and scrimmages
And perpetual action, feedback and coaching!
As a grandmother sitting in the stands, I was mesmerized. These coaches had children athletes of varying knowledge, skills, and developmental levels, practicing and working together.
Was it perfect? No.
Were they learning? Yes.
How could I tell? Each repetition improved. Each round of applause fueled their excitement.
Athletes doing the work.
Coaches could have reset the cones, but they didn’t because it was one more opportunity for the athletes to move. One more opportunity for the athletes to “do the work.” No scaffolding required. Just part of the expectations.
Why does this matter?
What work are your students “doing for themselves”?
What work can they do independently?
What work should they be doing independently?
What work has “transferred” because you have taught the work to independent levels?
Check out your “suppositions” as you reflect on this year’s learning and plan for “Who’s Doing the Work” next year!
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Kelsey, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum from Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers and readers here.
Reflection: Top 10 Posts for 2016
Which of my 131 posts during 2016 were most read?
In reverse order (10 to 1) with a few notes:
10.#SOL16: #WhyIWrite – No More Red Ink!
What happens when a teacher “edits” with red ink?
9. #SOL16: What are you planning to read?
Five books in February that were on my “MUST READ” list from authors: Stacey Shubitz, Kate and Maggie Roberts, Kim Yaris and Jan Burkins, Sonja Cherry-Paul and Dana Johansen, and Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie.
8. #SOL16: Professional Development
Characteristics of professional development were highlighted for four different “sessions” attended within a two-week time frame. Are these important for you?
- Choice?
- Free?
- Learning Collaboratively with Others?
- Available 24/7 to Revisit?
- Passionate and Inspiring?
7. #TCRWP Writing: Takeaways Day 2
Different ways to share – a symphony and a museum share from Celena Larkey, why students need to write with a pen from Colleen Cruz, letting students lead with mentor texts with Mary Ehrenworth, and “DON”T KILL THE BOOK” with Donald Graves keynote.
6. #TCRWP Reading: Takeaways Day 2
The value of READING mini-lessons with Amanda Hartman, the value of “practice, practice, practice with Kathleen Tolan, What readers need in order to become AVID readers with Mary Ehrenworth, and Matt de La Pena’s keynote! “Teachers and authors don’t often immediately see the results of their work. Patience . . . you will!”
5. #SOL16: Who’s Doing the Work?
Have you read this book? You should have annotated and dog-eared it by now! This post celebrates the twitter chats (with links to the storified archives) as well as an inside look into many of the activities Kim and Jan developed in their study guide. How do you know you have “learned” something? How do you expect students to share their learning? So many DIFFERENT ways are shared here!
4. #TCRWP Reading: Takeaways Day 3
Learning about the many ways of shared reading with Amanda Hartman, inquiry for developing fluency with Kathleen Tolan, close reading with Kate Roberts and the keynote session with Donalyn Miller. What a fabulous learning day!
3. #TCRWP Reading: Takeaways Day 1
A Lucy Calkins’ keynote on developing reading community, sessions with Amanda Hartman on “one-focused teaching point” and Kathleen Tolan – a mind-blowing small group read aloud. Never.thought.of.a.read.aloud.for.a.small.group. And so obviously why I need to continue to learn. Such a privilege to have been a part of Kathleen’s June Institute.
2. #SOL16: March Challenge Day 23 – DIY Toolkits
Have you read this book? You can create your own tools after reading this book. Better yet . . . study it with a friend and then work together on creating tools. Tip: Best part of this blog post is the “summary tool” that Kate created and the links to other pages about this session (Tara, Sally and NCTE).
1. #TCRWP Writing: Takeaways Day 1#TCRWP Writing: Takeaways Day 1
This post includes quotes from Lucy Calkins (opening keynote), revision across the day with Celena Larkey, the power of stories with Colleen Cruz and planning for two or three days of small group sessions at a time from Amanda Hartman. What an amazing first day of Learning for the 2016 #TCRWP Writing Institute!
Reflection:
Data is so interesting. I was not surprised at the popularity of the #TCRWP posts as the June learning has been quite high on the list in previous years. Some of those posts continue to be “all-time” highs as well. I was surprised that the top 10 was split evenly between #SOL posts and #TCRWP posts and absolutely delighted to see that three of the posts where Kathleen Tolan really stretched my brain were in the top 10. I learned so much from Kathleen this past summer and YET had so much more that I needed to learn. It’s time to practice, practice, practice. I do write more “slices” than any other “type” of posts so I thank my slicer readers for boosting those stats! It was great to reread those posts with a “reader’s eye” as I considered WHY those posts were read more often than others!
What are you reading? What are you writing?
How do you set goals and reflect on those goals?
And as always, dear readers . . .
#SOL16: Ready to Travel Again
Two carry-on bags
One on wheels
One that lived on my shoulder or by my side at #TCRWP.
The Vera Bradley bag . . .
Notebook,
Pens,
Markers,
Mac,
Phone,
Power strip with five plugs,
Killer Whales,
On Market Street,
DIY Literacy,
companions for the last two weeks.
Empty now and ready to be refilled.
What will be the next adventure?
The roller carry on . . .
What treasures you carried!
Books,
Books,
And more books,
Who’s Doing the Work,
The Journey is Everything,
Craft Moves –
all accompanied me from Iowa.
New items . . .
Reading Chart post its and
Read Aloud post its,
Plus receipts to be filed.
Minimal space for
Maximum learning.
Clothes and shoes all re-closeted.
It’s time to repack to be ready for the next adventure.
All pockets emptied.
Refilling the shampoo.
Restocking the personal items.
Ready for the next adventure.
Ready to travel again.
Next destination?
Planned? Unplanned?
Ready!
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Lisa, Melanie, and Stacey. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thank you for this weekly forum!
#Digilit Sunday: Function
Twitter connections are so fabulous. Via Twitter today I found out that the focus of #Digilit Sunday was function. Check out Margaret’s post here. The part of “function” that I have been thinking about a lot lately is “executive function”.
It’s close to the end of this school year, but how can students still be increasing their own level of executive function? Isn’t this where deep learning and even transfer live? Isn’t this the whole point of moving beyond “surface learning”?
Fisher, Frey, and Hattie
And of course, the most important factor in executive function, in my opinion, is that a student has had plenty of opportunities to “do the work”? How do teachers ensure that students are doing the organizing and the self-talk? They must “say less so readers can do more” and demonstate over and over that they really can do the work with panache and confidence!
Burkins and Yaris
For me, the connections from this post all began years ago during TCRWP Writing Institute with a conversation between Allison Jackson and myself about this book. That conversation grew into a book study, Twitter chats and actually meeting the authors. Completely life-changing . . .
Vicki Vinton and Dorothy Barnhouse
The function of learning is that students do the hard work of making meaning. That students actually dig into surface, deep and transfer learning. That teachers are like the conductors on the train. Recognizing the signs, making them visually and verbally apparent, but that ultimately students are really the ones who need to be in charge of their learning. And that learning should always, always, always be JOYFUL!
Unfortunately, this Mark Twain quote may still be true:
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
-Mark Twain
But I can learn in spite of or even despite my education!
Is learning the FUNCTION of your work?
How do we know?
#SOL16: Always Learning
Learning.
It comes in many forms.
In many places.
Expected?
Unexpected?
Often,
A journey of
Many ideas
Colliding
And like a pile of legos
Rebuilt in another shape
A different shape
A synthesis of ideas!
The past week has been a journey into read alouds. Perhaps you participated in the #G2Great chat last week. Check out Jenn’s post about that chat, please. With the title, “Teachers Doing the Work: Thoughtful Planning for Intentional Read Aloud“, you must stop and check it out!
And then I’ve continued to read in this new book.
Chapter 2 is all about Read Alouds and the title is magical, “Read-Aloud: Giving Students a Reason to Learn to Read”.
I’m lingering with this idea, ” Next generation read-aloud focuses on read aloud’s power of engagement while still leaving room for intentional but limited teacher talk. It follows the lead of students as much as possible making space for responsive teaching, reflective connections to standards or isolated strategies, and celebrations of productive effort.”
And then this post from Susie Rolander completely consumed my thinking as I continued to wonder about how we help students find their voice and path in literacy learning.. It is about the students and the learning they can show us IF and WHEN we tap into and “turn on their smarts”.
To top it off, I just learned about the research tool in google last night from my colleague Dyan. Where have I been? Why did I not know this? Inside any google document or slide show, you can research straight from the document WITHOUT opening another tab? How, you ask?
Under the tool bar – select research and then you have a myriad of choices.
Images – those that are free to use. Scholar for that quick look at resources . . . .And the link will be inserted with a picture or a reference . . . And MLA or APA style can be added.
As a result of this tool, here’s how I’m feeling:
as I wonder when WordPress will incorporate this feature?
Here’s a portion of my search for Read Aloud under Google Scholar inside a google document.
So much that I can now do without opening 10 other tabs . . . one for a search, one for an image, one for whatever distracted me . . . .
Always learning! Thanks to my friends at #G2Great, @hayhurst3, @burkinsandyaris, @suzrolander and @DyanSundermeyer !
Have you used the google research tool?
Do your students?
Thank you, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thank you for this weekly forum!
#SOL16: Rainy Night Results in . . .
Rain . . .
No outside work.
Rain . . .
Time to read.
(Gotcha – definitely NOT inside work!)
After two glorious days of temps in the 70’s and 80’s, I was so happy that this was waiting at my doorstep yesterday after a long day of work. Perfect timing! Relaxing with friends . . .
It’s available online courtesy of Stenhouse Publishers here. I have been reading (albeit slowly) the online version, but it’s tedious. Reading online means that I have one device open to read and another device open to take notes. No split screen. There’s a limit to the size that I like to view pages in professional texts. Slow. Absorbing. Delighted.
I love this infographic.
“This book does not advocate the simple idea of the teacher doing less. Rather it is a guide to being intentional about what we do less of.” – Joan Moser (Foreword)
This book is truly a gem as it guides the reader to think, and to think deeply about whether teacher scaffolds unintentionally cause greater student dependence. If our goal is joyful, independent, capable readers . . . what should we really do more of? What should we do less of?
I’m savoring this book and pages 14 and 15 are my current favorite because the section is “What Do Reading Levels Mean, Anyway?” and wordlover me is mesmerized by the use of “ubiquitous”. And the thought leaders . . .
“Dorothy Barnhouse
Vicki Vinton
Debbie Miller
Regie Routman
Gail Boushey
Joan Moser
Chris Lehman
Stephanie Harvey
Richard Allington,
Peter Johnston,
Mary Howard
Kathy Collins
Kylene Beers,
Fountas and Pinnell”
Oh, my!
Ready for some “next generation literacy instruction“? Ready to learn about “saying less” so students do the work to learn more?
You need to read this book!
And check out how long you resist figuring out where the words come from that are the background for half the page of the book cover. It’s another favorite section of mine. (Truthfully, I thought I would be farther in the book. But I’m rereading. Marking. Post-it-ing! Thinking!)
What’s it like to get that book you have been eagerly anticipating?
Do your students know that joy?
Thank you, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thank you for this weekly forum!
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