Edublogs

I am going to love, love, love Edublogs. Because I noticed that a couple of teachers do their classroom blogs through this site I decided that it was time to look into it. It seems so simple, and it will open up my students to one more way to utilize technology as well as being an important communication piece with my parents. I found their 10 ways to use your edublog to teach link especially helpful. Here's one more component that I will have fun exploring and setting up over the summer.

Now I really need to go relax and enjoy my first day of summer vacation. It is hard to shut down the gears that are spinning and the excitement about next year.

Whole Class Meeting Area

This year one of the main things that I wanted to change about my classroom layout was to have my Smart Board be a part of my whole group meeting area. However, because of various set components of the room, such as lockers, electricity and computer installations in the floor, and the mounted projector, I was not able to make that happen this year. When I wanted the whole class to gather around the Smart Board for modelling writing or to watch a video, some students were sitting on the floor while others were at desks, and it was not the same feeling as when we had whole group activities at the carpet.

In my new classroom I already requested from my director to leave space in front of the Smart Board for a whole class meeting area before putting in the laptop hook-ups, and she said that I will be able to decide where I want them. I am lucky that Debbie Diller gave me so many ideas in Spaces & Places on how to plan with a step by step process of which components to start with so that I can get it right the first time since once certain components are installed, I will not be able to change my mind.

The Smart Board is on the floor plans as being in the front and center of my classroom, so I am hoping that it will work out to have a small table/computer stand off to the side, a white board on the other side, and a carpet in front. That way I would have flexibility with whole class meetings. I could easily model writing and create anchor charts. Students would all have clear visibility with close proximity. I am very excited about the possibilities of my classroom layout working for me in terms of being able to utilize technology to the best advantage. Ideally, I will also be able to get a document camera to have by my computer to further enhance instruction.

One area that I was concerned about was the students not having accessibility to anchor charts done electronically. I was trying to think of a way to have them at their fingertips even when they are not on the Smart Board. This year for part of the year we had a drive on the network where I could put documents that my students could access. However, part way through the year this stopped working. Franki at A Year of Reading recently started a conversation about SmartBoards and reading and writing workshops. I noticed that one of the commenters, Monica, mentioned having a classroom blog where she puts a lot of information that she used to put on chart paper. This would be perfect because my students have laptop access and this could be the perfect solution. This also opens up possibilities for students and parents who have Internet access at home.

Recently I have seen other teachers' classroom blogs such as Stacey at Two Writing Teachers' blog. I had also wanted my students to start blogging, so the classroom blog could serve many more purposes than just a place to store anchor chart/whole class discussion information. I will have to get familiar with Scribd to be able to post Office documents. I noticed that is what Stacey uses a lot. I have also heard of Google Docs, but I am not sure how that works either. At least I know there is a way to make it possible and I have the summer to figure it out!

I have always loved floor plans and organizing. Since my classroom will not be ready until right before school I will have fun mapping out plans on paper over the summer.

Spaces & Places

I was so excited to get Spaces & Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy by Debbie Diller in the mail this week. Yesterday was my last day of school with students, and although I am looking forward to rest and relaxation over the break, I am already so excited about next year. The gears are already turning in full swing. One area of excitement is that I will be getting a new classroom. Our school purchased two buildings last year and renovated the first one. The second one will be the middle school portion of the school, and next year they will be able to do the first phase of remodeling, including my new classroom. Thus, it was perfect timing to get the book.

I kept a pen close by as I was reading to make a list of ideas. Now I am tossing around ideas such as whether or not I want a teacher desk - something I had never even considered not having before. Yet, Diller's suggestion of saving space by having a table serve as small group meeting area during student contact time and teacher desk in the after hours makes sense.

I am going to take Diller's idea of mapping out a classroom plan on paper using sticky notes. I mapped out my room last year, but had not thought about using sticky notes instead of drawing the same floor plan over and over with different configurations. I feel even luckier because I can just copy my classroom off the contractor's floor plans, which will already have all of the permanent fixtures marked. Then I can play around with different classroom components.

Another area for excitement is that with a growing school we will have to purchase new classroom furiture. Whereas any other year I would not be able to give suggestions for classroom furniture as a whole, this year I can. I want to process the information, skim over the wonderful color pictures again and then meet with my director while it is still early enough to influence the type of furniture for my classroom.

I will be posting lateron throughout the summer with ideas on how I want to set up my room. I also went back and skimmed A Year of Reading's blog to find posts from the beginning of the school year about Trading Spaces, some fun posts that complement the book well (1, 2, 3, and 4).

Student Awards

This week our school's student awards are coming up. Our school previously decided to do one annual awards ceremony where every student gets an award. This structure was set up before I started working at the school, so I had to check in for clarification to see which type of awards. I was not sure if they were related to academics or not. It turns out they are more about character and personality rather than subject areas; however, some students who are passionate about a certain subject may have academic components as part of their award. I can see how the concept is a good match for the school's philosophy of everyone being learners together with a focus not only on content but also on character development. We rarely give extrensic motivators, but there are whole-school celebrations/traditions throughout the year that students look forward to. This is the one time in the year when students are officially recognized with awards (for example, we do not have any student of the week/month awards).

When my colleague let me know more details about the type of awards they are she suggested looking on-line for ideas. Previous staff members were trying to make sure that students were not getting the same award year after year. I am not sure which awards my 6th graders previously received, but I wanted to think closely about each of my students to try and decide on a unique award for each student that will make him/her feel proud.

As I started my web search I found a couple of sites with a variety of awards, such as this one. Yet, I only wanted to use a handful of the ideas that I thought were a good match for my vision of what the focus should be and age appropriate, such as: helping hands, doing your best, hard worker, and good listener. I was also trying to come up with my own list of names/concepts that I thought would work, such as book cheerleader (for my most voracious reader who spreads her enthusiasm for reading all over the class), collaboration/team work, take a stand (for students who stand up for what is right and to tie into a unit we did this year), enthusiasm, and positive attitude.

I had an aha moment when I was skimming the list on this site and noticed the Lewis and Clarke award for students who are excited to learn about and explore something new. I loved the concept of having a historical name represent qualities. Yet, I wanted to make sure that it was a reference to something that would be meaningful to my students, which got me thinking that maybe I could relate their awards to different concepts/units we have studied this year.

Here is my list of what I came up with. This is still a rough draft list though as it might change once I double check with co-workers who may have suggestions. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section as well. Of course students show multiple areas that I would be able to honor, but I tried to think of areas that would highlight at least one of their personality traits or talents. I also like that some student will have the same or similar aspects highlighted but they will each have their own, unique award name.

Ancient Greece and Rome:
My student teacher just taught a unit on Ancient Greece and Rome, so I found inspiration for awards going with that theme here.

1. Athena Award - Goddess of Wisdom for my passionate reader
2. Nike Award - Goddess of Victory for my student who really gets into sports
3. Hephaestus Award - God of Artisans for my artistic student who loves creating comics and inspired other students in the class to explore more with art
4. Hermes Award - God of Boundaries for my student who gets along well with his classmates and is a good example of our school's goal of fostering a love of bilingualism in our students
5. Poseidon Award - Earth Shaker for my student who always has the class rumbling with laughter
6. Janus Award - God of doorways aiding in beginnings, endings, and transitions for my student who helps make sure that everything is running smoothly
7. Jupiter Award - Protector of the state and its laws for my student who is a good model of the classroom and school expectations
8. Venus Award - Goddess of love and beauty for my student who wants to be a fashion designer and is always ready for the camera when many of her classmates duck or cover their faces

Take a Stand Unit:
9. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award - for my calm and peaceful student who works hard to make a change and meet her personal goals
10. Abraham Lincoln Award - for my student who tries to do what is right and watch out for her classmates, making sure that everyone is being treated with respect and fairness
11. Harriet Tubman Award - for my student who cheerfully navigates her classmates when they need assistance
12. Cesar Chavez Sí se puede Award - For my student who believes in standing up for what he believes and pointing out injustices. He also thinks anything is possible and is always thinking through every scenario
13. Gandhi Award - for my quiet, peaceful student with a lot going on in her mind
14. Rosa Parks Award - for my student who has shown a lot of effort and improvement in going out of her comfort zone
15. Susan B. Anthony Award - for a student who works well with and supports her classmates
16. Barack Obama Award - for my student who is always eager to try something new

Read Alouds:
17. Esperanza Rising Award for my student who joined the class as a native English speaker this year and has risen to the challenge of stepping into a dual immersion program later on in the process
18. El color de mis palabras Award for my student who has been very creative with writing and has also demonstrated compassion for her classmates
19. The Giver Award (also links with the Take a Stand Unit) - for my student who demonstrates hope and optimism
20. Love That Dog Award - for my caring student

Science:
(The Poseidan award also fits in here since we studied earth quakes earlier this year.)

21. Volcano Award - for my student who is always erupting with fascinating stories and enthusiasm
22. Water Cycle Award - for my student who is always busy with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for learning

Math:
23. Complementary Angles Award - for my student who works well with his classmates and balances out listening and talking well to complement his partners
24. Probability Award Award - for my student who always has a high probability of having a big smile and cheerful attitude
25. Conversions Award - for my student who joined the school this year who has been fun to watch make a conversion from being quiet and withdrawn to an active part of the class

Heinemann Resources

I absolutely love professional development reading. While at the beginning of the year I was immersing myself in YA and middle grades novels, I started to miss teaching books. This winter and spring I have been enjoying Heinemann and Stenhouse resources (my two favorite publishers - I can never get enough of them). The main advertising that pulls me in to wanting to buy Heinemann books are their detailed mailers about their latest books. This week I received two and already ordered one, Interactive Notebooks and English Language Learners: How to Scaffold Content for Academic Success by Marcia J. Carter, Anita C. Hernandez, and Jeannine Richison. I am not familiar with any of the authors, but I have come to trust Heinemann and their authors' writing styles. Most of my colleagues attended GLAD training the year before I was hired and I have heard them talk about interactive notebooks. I know that they could be very powerful and want to hear more about them. Watch for a review early this summer.

The other resource that I am looking into is Linda Hoyt and Lynnette Brent Sandovold's Interctive Read-Alouds: Linking Standards, Fluency, and Comprehension Grades 6-7. I looked over a slide show talking about the series which is also available for other grade levels. From the comments I can tell that it closely aligns with my literacy philosophy and that it would be a natural fit for my classroom; however, I am not sure if I will buy it or not because it sounds like something that I could create on my own. It does always save time when someone has already created something ready to use though, as long as it is a good pedagogical fit which seems to be the case here. Also, I know that I would gain more ideas from the teacher materials that I would be able to apply to other texts that I do choose on my own. I imagine that although a lot of it will reaffirm what I already consider as ideal, there is always something new to learn.

If I do get the resource I know that it will fit in well with my literacy block for next year. It will work well for our whole class and small group instruction and goals. I also remember and enjoyed Hoyt's other book Revise, Reflect, Retell, which is now available in an updated edition.

Edit:
Let's make that three in the week. I was just sorting through some mail that I set aside and did not get through this week, and I realized that there is also another book that I would love to read, Pauline Gibbons' English Learners Academic Literacy and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge Zone. I enjoyed her book Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning when I was in my undergraduate program.

Heinemann does have a sample chapter available on line, but since it is the first chapter, it is the research base chapter. I prefer to view the strategies (that is one of the reasons I prefer Stenhouse's set up of showing the whole book so that I can look at the table of contents and then briefly skim the sections that I am most interested in to make sure it is what I think it is before ordering). However, there was a hint of what it would be like with the brochure in the mail and it looks like it would be helpful, especially the academic literacy section and the writing scaffolding.

Family BBQ & Art Sale

Annually my school has a family BBQ and art sale toward the end of the year. I went last year knowing that I was going to be the 6th grade teacher in the fall, but this is my first year of actually being there as an official staff member. I really appreciate the importance of home-school communication at my school and the chance to showcase the students' hard work. The BBQ/Art Sale is one of these events. I do not have a lot of art background, but my students seemed to have fun doing their four art projects throughout the year to showcase tonight. When we studied ancient Egypt they did a drawing that they then painted, then we did a portrait and collage as part of our Take A Stand Unit (one of my assistants who has a lot more art background did a lesson on point perspective before they did their portrait drawings), and then they chose to do a design with their compass or a tessellation that linked into one of their math units. I enjoyed having their art link into our curriculum.

I appreciated the event both as a parent and as a teacher. It is always fun to have interactions with my students and their families, and I loved seeing my kindergartner's fun surprise pieces.

Summer is Near

We only have one and a half weeks of school left! I can hardly believe it. In addition, there are so many out of the ordinary events going on lately that the time is going by extra quickly. I have never sent home optional summer assignments, but I would like to this year. My new partner teacher has done this in the past and says that she typically gives extra points at the beginning of the year as an incentive for students to complete them. I remember seeing mentions of summer reading programs on blogs last summer, so I am going to try to dig around a bit and find some ideas. I would like to also incorporate writing. I would love to hear any feedback you may have on what you have done in the past/plan to do.

YouTube Book Trailers

I always have loved watching movie previews, and YouTube book trailers has been a really fun, new way to market books. I did not incorporate them in my classroom at all this year, but for next year I have been thinking of using some rather than traditional book talks at times. I also thought it would be fun to have as another option for students to respond to books. They could write out and plan how they would market the book as a trailer. If I was able to get a little more tech savvy they could even create a book trailer. Another option to utilize the trailers would be to have students view them after reading books and analyze areas such as whether or not they are accurate representations of the book and whether or not they would hook readers.

Here's some examples of book trailers that I thought would be appropriate to show my middle schoolers. They are all from Class of 2k8 books and are listed on the Great Scavenger Hunt Contest.

Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head


I So Don't Do Mysteries


http://mrsvsreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/emerald-tablet-arc.html

Two Writing Teachers

Lately I have been excited about the wealth of information available at Two Writing Teachers for practical tips on writing instruction. Earlier this weekend Stacey posted about a the writing process in her classroom, and I wanted to learn more about the idea notebook that she mentioned. She graciously put a separate post to answer my questions. One of the links in her post was for her classroom blog through edublogs. It was interesting to see how she integrates blogging to have communication with students and is a strategy I would like to share for next year since our students all have their own laptops. I was also happy to see that they now have a companion website as another way to quickly find ideas on specific topics. I know their blog and site will be key resources as I continually develop my writing instruction.

Thoughts for 09-10 School Year

I have already mentioned that I am trying to really evaluate what worked well this year and what I want to adjust for next year. My position will change next year as I will only be responsible for reading, writing, and social studies, rather than all content areas. I am not sure what my exact schedule will be, but my partner teacher and I are hoping that we will each be able to have 2 1/2 hours with each grade level per day. One day a week we would only have the students for 1 1/2 hours because they would go to their dance class for the other hour.

My thoughts are still in a rough outline form, but here is my list of essentials that I want to incorporate into my classroom and resources that have inspired me. This will be adjusted and further developed over the summer. I will be meeting with my director early on in the summer to make sure that my vision is okay with her so that I can make any adjustments as needed. Out of the 2 1/2 hour time block, I am tentatively thinking of having a 15 minute read aloud, 10 minutes of word study, followed by reading and writing workshop for 40 minutes each, and finishing up with 45 minutes of social studies. One the shorter day I am planning on not having social studies.

POETRY:
I have been very happy with daily poetry using Atwell's resource Naming the World: A Year of Poetry and Lessons as a foundation that I have been doing for the last bit of the school year. I know that I want to have poetry have a bigger presence in my classroom year-round, rather than just having a poetry unit. However, I am not sure if it will be feasible to have daily poetry. From what I gathered from Atwell, it seemed that she does the daily poetry as the only shared text with her class, which I took to mean that she does not have a read-aloud novel. I am not quite ready to give up my read-aloud novels, so I thought that maybe I would compromise by having poetry Friday where I would replace the read aloud with poetry for one day of the week. I know that it is less than ideal, but at least poetry will have a more consistent presence than it did this year. I chose Friday since it would align with the popular poetry Friday posts in the blog world.

WORD STUDY
This year was my first year trying out Words Their Way. I like that my students did consistent word study, and that it was differentiated by their level. This year I introduced new sorts on Mondays, had students practice all week with their sort (I adapted a word study form from a Words Their Way book), and had their quiz on the sort on Fridays. Next year I am going to change it a bit and have students on different rotations. For example, each group will meet with me on one day of the week and work independently or with a partner with their sort on the other days of the week. This year I had five groups, so if it ends up being that way next year than I would meet with a group for each day.

READING AND WRITING WORKSHOPS:
I will have traditional reading and writing workshops starting with whole class mini-lessons and then move into strategy groups and one and one conferences. I will use the CAFE menu format for reading, and I am planning on creating a similar menu for writing to help students familiarize themselves with the writing strands according to our state writing rubric: content and ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Even though it does not make a pretty acronym like CAFE it will still be a consistent idea of having whole class, small group, and one on one components with each student working on a goal to improve at all times.

My thoughts on literacy are strongly influenced by: Nancie Atwell, Kylene Beers, Cris Tovani, Aimee Buckner (I have her second book ordered from Amazon), Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi, and Two Writing Teachers' blog.

This year my students have had a half hour of SSR, and one of the areas that I need to get approval from my director is to have reading workshop instead. I cannot imagine how I would be able to do what I want to do if we cut a half hour SSR out of the schedule; however, if I am able to have the students do their independent reading as part of their reading workshop, I will be able to accomplish a lot more. Don't get me wrong, SSR is one of my favorite times of the day since I love reading, but I think I could help my students more by conferencing and giving them individualized instruction tailored to their needs while they also get a chance to read self selected texts.

READING INTERVENTION
This year our school had reading intervention pull-outs for the first time. They also have an afterschool program for further support to get students to grade-level in reading and math that they have had for years. I would love if I could have an intervention push-in rather than pull-out during reading workshop time so that students who need intervention would have instruction that aligns with our classroom philosophy. The same teacher helps with after school programs, so it would be great for her to have a better background of their classroom goals to better assist them in improving their literacy skills. We talked briefly about the idea, and she sounded excited. We will have to see if it is feasible or not, but I will be excited if it works out!

SOCIAL STUDIES
Our state's social studies standards has one set for 6th-8th grade. They have sample curriculum maps to give an idea of what should be taught for each grade level. The science standards are similar, and my partner teacher and I talked about having three separate years of curriculum to rotate so that they are exposed to all of the content by the end of their three years, rather than doing the traditional 6th, 7th, 8th set-up. This way next year my 6th and 7th graders would both be doing the recommended content for 7th grade. My units will be created keeping ideas from Freeman and Freeman and the SIOP model in mind to support my language learners.

I also want to incorporate regular current events. I have been following the conversation about the topic via Stenhouse facilitated by Kelly Gallagher and Sarah Cooper. I already read Readicide to get ideas about Gallagher's Article of the Week and I want to read Cooper's book for further thoughts on the topic.

HOMEWORK
I haven't talked to my partner teacher about homework load yet. It has always been an expectation at our school to have a half an hour/night reading log requirement. I just saw Stacey's idea of a nightly idea notebook entry. I may have these two pieces be my regular homework. I do not plan on having social studies homework, unless students do not finish certain assignments in the time allotted in the classroom. This way students always know what their homework is, and they will be spending their time on valuable literacy activities.

Mother's Day Gifts

One of the new components of coming to my new school and being the first teacher with the middle school piece made for some assumptions that elementary teachers just know, such as making holiday and Mother's Day presents. Luckily, I heard some of the other teachers talking about the holiday presents earlier in the fall or else I probably would not have even heard about it until it was too late. My director laughed and said I was "such a middle school teacher". I already posted about my holiday present here.

For Mother's Day I decided to use an idea that my friends and I did when I was on a National Student Exchange to the University of Rhode Island by making frames with magazine clippings and cardboard. My students had fun thinking of ideas that would represent their moms' interests. It was fun to get a glimpse into their moms based on their selections. They chose everything from soccer to shopping to cooking to reading. In addition, the students mounted their picture on construction paper to cover the back of the frame (Their pictures are covered up in the photo above). Then they wrote a poem for their moms on the back of the frame. When I was in college we did finish them off by putting clear contact paper over the top, but I was not able to do that with my students. It will be fun to hear what their moms thought of them tomorrow.

The CAFE Book - Appendix

My final post about The CAFE Book is about the very informative 60 page appendix filled with useful forms and reference materials. There is an accompanying CD with the documents as well, making it easy for teachers to access. They even thought ahead to have fillable forms using Adobe Acrobat. The only downside is that they cannot be saved; they have to be printed out.

The helpful information in the appendix includes launching suggestions, typical schedules, the CAFE menu, and various forms. One of my favorite components is a table with sample needs and strategies. It reminds me of the list that I love so much from Beer's What to Do When Kids Can't Read with suggestions on reading behaviors and specific needs. The other piece that I absolutely love takes up the majority of the appendix to break down each of the strategies on the menu to define them, explain why students need them, give a secret to success, how to teach it, and troubleshooting. This will be an invaluable section and complements other reading resources that I have well.

I am excited to incorporate a lot of the ideas from this book in my classroom next year.

The CAFE Book - chapters 6 and 7

The whole class component described in chapter 6 was familiar to me, and it seemed pretty standard for the other ideas that I have heard about for reading and writing whole class mini-lessons. The main highlights were to make sure that they were brief but frequent. The authors also outline systematic steps for successful instruction with example lessons for different needs. Along with one on one instruction, whole class is one of the most important components to the framework.

The concept of strategy groups was one of my favorites from the whole book. I could really relate to their comments that it is better to group students by their strategy needs rather than their reading level because within levels students have diverse needs. I can clearly see this in my classroom, and I cannot wait to see the impact that it has on my students' growth. It is also easier to imagine flexible grouping with this strategy as opposed to guided reading groups by level.

I was also glad to see the following comment, “Many of our intermediate readers also participate in literature circles and book clubs in three- to four-week cycles" because as I read the earlier chapters I thought about how I would not want to give up this component in my classroom. It was nice to see that the authors have already blended the concepts together rather than setting it up as an either/or situation.

Before strategy grouping begins teachers take plenty of time to establish routines so that students not in the group can work independently without redirection. This concept and how to implement it remains to be the most helpful piece of information that I gathered from The Daily Five.

While strategy groups are a great idea for students with similar needs, the authors point out that not every student is in a strategy group. It is fully dependent on whether or not they need it at any given time or if the teacher is meeting the students' needs through whole class and one-on-one components.

As with other sections of the book, the authors give many thorough example lessons for strategy groups, making it easy to visualize how the various groupings work toward the same student goals.

The book gives an in-depth overview of the CAFE menu making it easy to visualize and imagine how all of the pieces come together. It give me a lot to consider this summer!

The CAFE Book - chapters 4 and 5

One of the most powerful structures is the one on one conferences with the forms and organization that the authors have developed to make them run smoothly and effectively. The authors look closely at these conferences in chapters 4 and 5. “The Sisters” explain, “These forms and this conference structure enable us and our students to look beyond the moment to the concrete, practical steps that can be taken today, tomorrow, and this week to move students forward as readers” (p. 54). Again, the students play an active role as they think about their continual progress.

The conferences each have a specific target strategy to focus on. Rather than emphasizing which book students are reading and when they will finish, their focus is on strategies. However, I still want to include at least a little bit of talking about the books they are reading because some of my students love sharing about why they love their current book. Yet, I do see the author's point about why strategy goal-oriented focuses are most beneficial as well as having time effective conferences, so I would definitely have to make sure that I don't spend too much time talking about plots.

One area where it is apparent throughout the whole book that "The Sisters" have mastered is organization. As I mentioned yesterday, when I first saw all the components in the notebook I thought it was a little overwhelming. However, with these chapters, I realized why each piece helps keep the teacher and students on track to make sure that all students are progressing as readers. Some of the forms include a conference calendar where teachers list their priority conferences for the day, as well as a tracking sheet to help the teacher make sure that none of the students are getting overlooked. I like that the individual forms for each student not only keeps a record of what happens in the conferences but there is also built in accountability for the students as the teacher observes whether or not the student has done the assignment from the previous meeting.

Another fun idea mentioned in chapter 5 is that the students have table talk notebooks (spiral 3x5 notebooks) that they take home to share ideas with their families. This is a great way to incorporate home-school connections. The example they mentioned was having new words listed to share with families.

Check in tomorrow to get a glimpse of their whole class and strategy group components.

The CAFE Book - Chapters 2 and 3

Throughout the book I love how there are mentions of Daily Five to get a clearer picture of how the concepts in the two books work together. Chapter two outlines an important component of the CAFE menu, the conferring notebook, which includes assessment data, daily observations, and teaching and learning. At first it seemed like a lot of different forms and paperwork. I wondered if there was a way to do it more efficiently, but as I read the later chapters of the book I could see why each form was essential.

I was also excited about the data/information that the framework of the notebook gives about each individual student. Last year I created a form for anecdotal records that I was pleased with. I had similar forms set up for my class this year, but for whatever reason I ended up not using them. This system will help assure that I keep regular records of student goals and growth to have tangible details about how they develop over the year. The form is even better than what I had been using because it is set up to have a clear link between observations and instruction. Last year I was working with students in a scripted program and was not able to do that much different regardless of what I noticed with the records.

In the third chapter, the authors discussed another essential part of the framework, the CAFE menu bulletin board. The board starts out blank at the beginning of the year, aside from the description of each of the words in the acronym. As strategies are introduced the bulletin board is filled out. There is also a spot for students to put their name under the section that is the focus of their current goal. The authors use post-it notes with their names, but I want to try having a name card for each student laminating that they can post with a tack and shift around as their goals change. It is nice that the bulletin board provides consistency throughout the whole year rather than just being a launching tool. Another great aspect of the bulletin board is that students play a large role in adding the strategy cards. The bulletin board needs to be in close proximity to the meeting area because the teacher refers to it often by touching the strategies discussed as one more step to get students familiarized with the tool.

Other examples of students playing a large role in their learning is that the teachers reiterate goals often so that students internalize their goals and demonstrate that they have a clear understanding of what they are working on. When they still are not very sure about their current strategies the teacher explains them again as many times as necessary. Patience is key.

The rest of the book explains each of the pieces in detail to get a clearer picture of how all components play a vital role to the framework.

The CAFE Book - overview and chapter 1

Yesterday I received my copy of The CAFE Book. I was so excited, and I started reading right away at every free moment that I had. Yesterday and today have been cloudy and rainy, so they were perfect days to stay inside and read. I ended up finishing it this morning. I have so much to say about the book that I decided to post all this week on different sections of the book so that I don't have one huge post.

When I first saw glimpses of the book on Stenhouse's site, I mentioned how I loved that the introduction made me feel like I could easily be sitting on the beach with "The Sisters" having a literacy conversation with them. In their book "The Sisters" express feeling this way about other educators who provided the same sense of books as conversations, "It felt like those teachers were sitting with us over a cup of tea, telling us the stories of their teaching with humor, grit, and eloquence. Our teaching heroes were now real people to us, willing to share their successes as well as their struggles in a style that let us know we were all in this together, part of an incredible community of teachers who were learners, too" (p. 128).

Aside from feeling like I was part of the conversation, I really appreciate that the sisters invite readers to make the ideas in the books their own and share their experiences with others. For example, they say, "We've talked about and written the story of how CAFE came to life in our classrooms. Now, through the power of the Web, we can't wait to read and see the story of how it comes to life in yours" (p. 128). They are always mentioning that the actual implementation is always evolving for them and they welcome interactions with other teachers who try out their ideas and make them work for their own rooms based on their students and schedules (p. 12).

I could closely relate to so much of what "The Sisters" said, and I can see myself in them as they describe their earlier years of the process it takes to go from theory and best practices to actually feeling like they are coming to life in the classroom. While I was able to skip some of their process since I came into education at a different time than they did and never taught during the time when whole class instruction was the norm, I still see myself feeling the sense of having a feeling of disconnect between my actual classroom and what I want it to look like. I constantly reflect and try to make changes to move closer toward my vision, but it is a long process, and it was refreshing to see them validate this feeling and realizing that I am not the only one who was not able to instantly have everything work like magic.

The CAFE menu provides a framework for teachers and students to have a common language about effective reading. Students become familiar with what Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding vocabulary mean as well as strategies to make sure they are using them effectively to improve their reading. They explain, "What it does is provide a structure for conferring, a language for talking about reading development, and a system for tracking growth and fostering student independence" (p. 5). Each day this week I will reflect on additional chapters of the book.

Resources that Have Shaped my Teaching

In order to give an idea of the type of professional development reading that frames my teaching, I am going to start a working list of the books that I choose to read for personal professional develop. I started blogging about professional books the fall of 2008. There are many books and experiences that I had prior to my blog that remain strong in influencing what I do everyday. Sometimes I will add books to the list even if I did not do a comprehension review of the resource, as I revisit resources and rediscover all that they have to offer. I have also included a few instructional DVDs that are distinguished from books by an asterisk after the title.

My two favorite publishers are Heinemann and Stenhouse.

Allen, Jennifer
A Sense of Belonging

Allington, Richard
What Really Matters for Struggling Readers

Allen, Patrick
Conferring

Allison, Nancy
Middle School Readers

Allyn, Pam
Pam Allyn's Best Books for Boys

Anderson, Jeff
Everyday Editing
Mechanically Inclined

Atwell, Nancie
Lessons that Change Writers
Naming the World: A Year of Poetry Lessons
The Reading Zone

Bear, Donald R. (see Templeton, Shane)

Boushey, Gail and Joan Moser ("The Sisters")
The Daily Five
The CAFE Book
Intermediate CAFE in the Classroom*

Buckner, Aimee
Notebook Connections
Notebook Know-How

Burke, Jim
What's the Big Idea

Carter, Marcia, Anita Hernandez, and Jeannine Richison
Interactive Notebooks and English Language Learners

Cooper, Sarah
Making History Mine

Culham, Ruth
Traits of Writing

Diller, Debbie
Spaces & Places

Dorn, Linda J. and Carla Soffos
Small Group Intervention*

Edmonds, Kathryn P. (see Wild, Monique D.)


Fletcher, Ralph
Boy Writers
Breathing In, Breathing Out
Pyrotechnics on the Page

Fountas, Irene C. and Pinnell, Gay Su
Literacy Beginnings
The Fountas and Pinnell Prompting Guide
The Spanish Fountas and Pinnell Prompting Guide

Freeman, David and Yvonne
Academic Language for English Language Learners and Struggling Readers

Gallagher, Kelly
Article of the Week*
Readicide

Graham, Steve, Charles MacArthur, and Jill Fitzgerald
Best Practices in Writing Instruction


Heard, Georgia
Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School
A Place for Wonder

Hernandez, Anita (see Carter, Marcia)

Hicks, Troy
The Digital Writing Workshop

Invernizzi, Marcia (see Templeton, Shane)

Jacobson, Jennifer
No More "I'm Done!"

Johnson, Pat
Catching Readers Before They Fall with Katie Keier

Johnston, Francine (see Templeton, Shane)

Kajder, Sara
Adolescents and Digital Literacies


Keier, Katie (see Johnson, Pat)


King, Stephen
On Writing


Kist, William
The Socially Networked Classroom


Kittle, Penny
Write Beside Them (*Book also includes a DVD with classroom footage.)
Public Teaching


Layne, Dr. Stephen
Igniting a Passion for Reading


Lesesne, Teri
Reading Ladders


Mayeaux, Amanda S. (see Wild, Monique D.)

Miller, Donalyn
The Book Whisperer

Miller, Lisa
Make Me a Story

Moser, Joan (see Boushey, Gail)


Nehring, James
The Practice of School Reform

Newkirk, Thomas
Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones

Overmeyer, Mark
What Student Writing Teaches Us
When Writing Workshop Isn't Working

Palmer, Erik
Well Spoken

Pappano, Laura
Inside School Turnarounds

(see Carter, Marcia)

Richison, Jeannine

Smith, Michael W. and Jeffery D. Wilhelm
Fresh Takes on Teaching Literary Elements

Templeton, Shane, Donald R. Bear, Maria Invernizzi, and Francine Johnston
Vocabulary Their Way

Wilbur, Dana J.
iWrite

Wild, Monique D.
TeamWork

Wilhelm, Jeffery D. (see Smith, Michael W.)

Día de los niños celebration

This year there have been a lot of firsts as I have been learning the ropes of my new school's culture. One event that I had heard a lot about all through the year was Día de los niños. The big day was finally here, and it was a very fun celebration. Although the official holiday was yesterday, we decided to celebrate on a Friday since it is draining to have such a big event and it would have been hard to have the students come back still energized from the day before if we had done it yesterday.

The day consisted of a whole school assembly explaining the celebration and with performances by different staff members (one sang a couple of opera songs in Italian, while another group danced a traditional Mexican dance). Then students cycled through ten fun-filled centers in multi-age groups during the day with a break for lunch. Centers included a dunk tank, Astro run/jumping castles, musical chairs, a picture frame recuerdo, bingo, piñatas, and more. Needless to say, all of the kids had fun.

At the end of the day we wound down by having a little bit of time with our students in our rooms. We gave each of our students a book which is another part of the tradition. It was fun to see my students excited about the different books that I chose for them trying to match each of them with a book that was appropriate for their interest and reading levels. (Most of us save up Scholastic bonus points throughout the year to help get the books.)

It was fun to have a school wide celebration celebrating our students and to see so many parents involved in making the day a success for their children.