Saturday, January 24, 2015

To group or not to group. Here are some articles to help you reflect. Courtesy of Choice Literacy. Enjoy!


The Big Fresh Newsletter from Choice Literacy
January 24, 2015 - Issue #417


DEARO
  
Smile at strangers and you just might change a life.
                                                 Steve Maraboli

On a cold winter day last month I stood at the front door of a local school, fumbling to open it with my arms full of video equipment. It was a quiet morning, with regular classes canceled for parent/teacher conferences. I looked through the glass and saw Alan, the school principal, moving toward me. He gave me a hearty greeting, even though we'd met only once years before. He then grabbed a couple of tripods and ushered me to the classroom where I'd be helping with setup.
Hours later I was walking down the hallway chatting with Jen, the literacy coach. She spied an older man who was stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking confused. Jen immediately excused herself from our conversation and walked over to help the man, who was trying to find his grandson's classroom.
I realized in that moment that the school has a DEARO policy, whether it's official or not. (It's probably not an official policy since I just created that acronym this morning.)  Drop Everything And Reach Out is the attitude of every staff member when they see a visitor who needs help or looks confused.
I thought about another school I visited months before, where most of the students were walked to the school by their immigrant parents from the public housing nearby. I observed dozens of parents outside the school joyfully and tenderly kissing their children goodbye that morning, but none of them stepped over the threshold into the school. The principal explained to me later that day how hard it is to get parents to come into the building. He even makes a point of being at the school door before a parent conference to usher them in, because he knows how difficult it is for many of them to enter.
Most readers of this newsletter are comfortable in schools. We've spent most of our waking and working hours in classrooms since we were five years old. We know the lingo and rituals, and where the staff bathroom is hidden. It's easy to forget how uncomfortable, even threatened, many adults feel by schools. New security measures put in place in the past decade have only increased the anxiety for visitors.  In our rush to get to the next thing, it's tempting to ignore that stranger who looks perplexed in the hallway. The Germans have a phrase for it -- "wie Luft behandeln," which means "to be looked at as though air."
When the whole community is trained to look for that discomfort and alleviate it as quickly as possible, it sends an important message: "We are here for you and your children. This is your place too."  What's your policy for reaching out to unexpected visitors to your school?
This week we look at grouping. Plus more as always -- enjoy!
Brenda Power
Founder, Choice Literacy


Free for All

[For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook:
 
 
Heather Rader asks, How Do We Know Small-Group Instruction Is Effective?:
From the A Year of Reading blog, Franki Sibberson is Planning for Small Group Instruction with a focus on teaching problem and solution:
 
Mary Ann Reilly gives advice for guided reading with intermediate students:
"Hello Stranger" from the New York Times includes research on the mental health benefits of conversing with new people in everyday situations:


Jennifer Allen's Literacy Coach Jumpstart online course runs February 5-16 and includes three on-demand webinars, the Layered Coaching DVD, Jen's book Becoming a Literacy Leader, and personal response from Jen tailored to your needs on the class discussion board. Choice Literacy and Lead Literacy members receive a $50 discount off the course fee. Click on the link below for more details:
Lead Literacy is our subscription site designed especially for literacy coaches and school leaders. You can sample content at this link:

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Great Article --- as always. Courtesy of Choice Literacy.

The Big Fresh Newsletter from Choice Literacy
January 17, 2015 - Issue #416


The Power of Nonfiction Picture Books
  
People respect nonfiction but they read novels.
                                                 E.O. Wilson
Student choice is a key component of my fourth-grade reading workshop. I believe that if students have more control over what they read, more reading will happen. However, more reading doesn't always mean wider reading across many genres. One of the genres I still see students struggling to read is nonfiction. Over the past few years I have increased the amount of nonfiction that is available in my room. At one time my classroom library had about 20 nonfiction titles. Fiction books still dominate, but now there are over 200 nonfiction titles.
Yet I discovered having more nonfiction available didn't translate to more nonfiction reading. If the students are not choosing these books, why have them in the room? I needed to find ways to get nonfiction texts into my students' hands without just passing out a random article to support content studies.
One of the routines in my room is to pick up a picture book as a break from a longer novel. I encourage my students to not juggle too many novels at one time. So if a child forgets her book at home, she will usually choose a picture book during independent reading time. For many fourth- and fifth-grade readers, having a picture book in their hands is like having the Scarlet Letter embroidered on their hoodie. Showing students that a well-crafted picture book is a wonderful break from a longer book is a good gift to give. And since most of the picture books that are displayed in my classroom are now nonfiction, there is a much better chance that high-quality nonfiction will get in readers' hands during these little breaks from novels.
I also often choose fabulously written nonfiction books to serve as mentor texts for writing workshop craft minilessons. Even if kids are working on fictional stories, a well-written narrative nonfiction piece can be a great model for writing techniques. The books I choose for minilessons get read and reread many times by students during independent workshop times.
Book talks are a valuable part of my reading workshop as well. The past few years I have been much more intentional about sharing nonfiction titles during the daily book talk that launches our reading workshop. My excitement about a book will sometimes spark student interest. This past year I shared over 50 nonfiction titles for book talks.  Some made it into the hands of just one or two readers, and some were read by more than half of my class.
If you are thinking about trying to layer more nonfiction into your reading workshop, try using nonfiction as "break books" and mentor texts in writing workshop, as well as featuring nonfiction in book talks. These are all authentic ways to encourage students to choose nonfiction more often on their own. 
 
This week we look at nonfiction in classrooms. Plus more as always -- enjoy!
 
Tony Keefer
Contributor, Choice Literacy

 

 
Free for All

 
[For sneak peeks at our upcoming features, quotes and extra links,  follow Choice Literacy on Twitter: @ChoiceLiteracy or Facebook:
 
 
 
Franki Sibberson is Rethinking Nonfiction Author Baskets:
 
 
 
Kylene Beers has advice for students and teachers on noticing and noting nonfiction:
 
 
 
School Library Journal offers suggestions of great new picture book biographies featuring a range of diverse figures from Johnny Cash to Peter Mark Roget (of thesaurus fame) in The Stuff of Stars:
 
 
 
The Library of Congress has a search feature that allows teachers to find primary sources for historical events from local communities. Michael Apfeldorf explains how it works in Close to Home:
 
 

Jennifer Allen's Literacy Coach Jumpstart online course runs February 5-16 and includes three on-demand webinars, the Layered Coaching DVD, Jen's book Becoming a Literacy Leader, and personal response from Jen tailored to your needs on the class discussion board. Choice Literacy and Lead Literacy members receive a $50 discount off the course fee. Click on the link below for more details:
 

 
Lead Literacy is our subscription site designed especially for literacy coaches and school leaders. You can sample content at this link:
 

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Social and Emotional Learning are all based on meta-cognition. Here is an excellent article on the importance of teaching students in school. Courtesy of ASCD Smart Brief


Study: Social, emotional lessons pay off later in life
Lessons teaching social and emotional skills to young children may help boost school performance and reduce rates of mental health and substance abuse issues and arrests later in life, according to a study recently published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. This article highlights several social-emotional programs. National Public Radio/nprEd blog (12/31)