Reading and Writing Workshop Training: The Power of Seeing

By and far one of the most powerful aspects of the training was sharing video clips of workshop teaching.  I think that and being able to experience workshop first hand were the most helpful and influential for teachers. One teachers even commented that she loved the writing style for the Calkins' units of study resource, which really paints the picture of what is happening, but that she would much rather prefer to just watch it. She talked about how she is a visual learner. Even though I don't necessarily consider myself a visual learner, I can relate to the power of being able to actually see it. I loved the DVD component of Penny Kittle's Write Beside Them and was thrilled to see the Atwell resources after reading so many of her ideas.

I could tell every time I showed a video clip that it really helped to solidify the concepts we were talking about or to open up a whole other avenue of possibilities. I shared clips from Atwell's resources for reading and writing workshop, and clips from Calkins' videos for writing workshop. It really helped to have the Calkins' resources to show how it looks k-5, while having the Atwell resources to show what it looks like at the middle school level. Teachers could get ideas that they could adapt to their grade level from every video clip, yet there was also the added value of seeing how workshop teaching can progress and the foundation that the younger years can provide for the older years being even more powerful.

I will be watching for more video resources. I was excited to see that Stenhouse has a new Patrick Allen resource coming out focusing on reading conferring. I'm sure that would be an amazing one to add to any workshop resource library!

Atwell Workshop DVDs

I have mentioned Nancie Atwell's Reading in the Middle and Writing in the Middle DVDs a few times but still have not done an official post of them as a resource. I highly recommend buying the DVDs as the bundle unless you only teach one of the two subjects. Each of the resources comes in a folder with a DVD, a CD with additional resources (including reproducible forms and student examples), and a facilitator's guide. The folder also outlines the titles and times of the different clips, ranging from around a minute to fifteen minutes in length. The reading set contains more than 20 resources on the CD, while the writing set contains more than 45. The facilitator's guide shows how the DVDs and CDs complement each other well, in addition to providing a sample organization and discussion questions.

Both DVDs start and end similarly, showing Atwell setting up her classroom and then reflecting on the end of the classroom. There is some common language in these introductory and concluding clips before shifting to the specific content. A large portion of the video footage is from the start of the school year when Atwell is establishing procedures, but there are also some features that show the progression later on. I love that it showed glimpses from different points in the school year.

Even though I watched the DVDs in the spring when I received them, I just viewed them again to take notes about each section as a future reference, as well as notes about when I might use the resources to supplement the facilitator's guide. With this next school year I will utilize this resource in various contexts. First, I will use it as support materials for a reading and writing workshop training that I will be doing in August. Additional clips will also be beneficial for my colleague that will be filling in for me next year, and I will also use them for the children's literature courses that I will be teaching next year for pre-service teachers. Last spring I showed one of the book talk clips to the children's lit class.

It is always nice to see concepts in action, especially when it is a teacher so highly regarded as Nancie Atwell. I appreciated seeing her calm, yet firm demeanor to set up the ideal workshop environment. This is a great resource to complement the other Atwell resources already available through Heinemann, as well as her Scholastic book, The Reading Zone. We are able to see how her years of experience, teaching intentionally and learning along with her students to determine how to continually improve, have fostered the respectful, stimulating environment of readers, writers, and thinkers shown in the DVDs. This is one of those resources that has value for a range of previous experience, from those who are just familiarizing themselves with workshop to those who are veterans.

One additional aspect is that all royalties from the sales of these resources goes toward tuition assistance for students at the school that Atwell founded in Edgecomb, Maine, the Center for Teaching and Learning. That of course made me happy!

Can't Hardly Wait!

Kylene Beers, Robert Probst, Nancie Atwell, Sara Kajder, Linda Rief, and Chris Crutcher all at one literacy and technology retreat!? Oh, and did I mention it is offered through one of my all time favorite publishers, Heinemann? I could hardly contain my excitement just thinking about the possibility of going to the Boothbay Literacy Retreat, but today as I clicked through my web registration it is hard to believe that I will actually get to go.

All the pieces are coming together. As if the conference wasn't enough to be excited about, I will fly into Boston to spend a couple of days with my sister who has been living in Massachusetts for the last three years while her husband did his medical residency there. Then she will take me to the retreat in Maine and pick me up. Next, it will be time for her and her family to drive cross country to move back to the Pacific Northwest. On the way we will be able to see another one of our sisters in Iowa, as well as our 1 year old niece that we have only been able to see one other time! I have never had a chance to drive cross country either.

There is so much to look forward to. The only downside is that I, of course, will miss my girls and husband. I think I will be gone about two weeks total. My mom just reminded me that a couple of summers ago I helped out with an institute for two weeks in the summer, and I survived being away from my family. I will, however, make sure to spend a lot of time with the girls before going on my trip.

It is still hard to believe that I actually get to go. I will make sure to have writer's notebooks with me to document my experiences. I am certain the experience will inspire many WN entries that I can later share with my students. I will definitely be posting a lot about this experience.

*Note: Even though I do not have reviews/comments on my blog about each of the literacy leaders who will be at the retreat, I have books from each one (Sara Kajder's new book is the latest addition to my professional development library, and I will be posting about it soon). I have loved every single one. It is great to recognize all the names and have a reason to be excited for each one.

Reading Countess Comments on Atwell

From The Reading Zone, I saw a link to Reading Countess' recent post about standardized testing and the amount of time it takes away from regular instruction. She was lucky enough to spend a week in Maine with Nancie Atwell - what an amazing experience! I can only imagine how beneficial that would be.

Monday Musings

Today I noticed Ruth's Monday Musings, and pretty soon after Shelly had her post up as well. Here goes my musings for the day:

*Today I was complemented on my lesson preparation. I am still trying to balance feeling prepared with spending too much time in my classroom on the weekends. I always keep on thinking if I just spend one more extra day in the classroom I will be set up for the year on another area. While this is true it seems like another new area of need pops up to press me to wanting to spend another "just one more day". It always feels so good to get one more level of organization in place or to feel just a little bit more prepared on a unit. Eventually additional time in my current position and classroom should lead me toward the pay off when I will have many pieces established that I am still working out now.

*I am so grateful to have a grade level teaching partner this year. This is the first chance that I have ever been able to really work closely with a teaching team. It has been so nice, and I could not have asked for a better fit. Best of all we are able to laugh together a lot, whether it is to share celebrations or to work through our challenges with humor.

*Today I realized that I don't have to keep moving through a news writing genre study that I had started with my 6th and 7th graders. Instead I am going to take a couple of steps back to better establish the workshop model and what it should look and sound like. I am using ideas from Ruth's post to create classroom blog posts and classroom charts on the process. We will still continue along with the genre study, just at an altered time-line. Even though it is always hard to decide whether to pause and take a step back or to keep moving along, in this case I think it will be well worth it. In addition, I have my reflective notes written down so that next year I will remember to add in this pieces in my yearly outline and have a smoother start to begin with. My students also started to work on their heart mapping today. I had wanted to do this for a long time but somehow forgot. Last week I ran across the idea and emailed myself a reminder to add it into my agenda. However, I will be using it to inspire any type of writing, rather than just poetry (as in Heard's book).

*Yesterday while at school I remembered to check out Nancie Atwell's video. What a special treat! She has always been so inspiring. Today I was reflecting on how much I try to fit into my day. Every piece is "essential", closely aligned with my philosophy of best practice, but I may need to incorporate some pieces on alternating days because there is not quite enough time in the day to incorporate it all.

*I loved my first TCI lesson in social studies. We started out with a geography challenge, which was a perfect follow-up to our start of the year geography intro on a world-wide scale. Now students are zeroing in on the specific geographic area that we will be studying. It was fun to see the level of interaction that the program incorporates. I can't wait to teach more of the lessons, but know that it will require more planning on Spanish weeks since not all of the materials are available in both languages. It will be one of my favorite parts of English weeks though.

*I am still trying to balance out the best way to have my environmental print fully reflect the language of the week, while also being time efficient. That is enough to be its full own post though.

Student Choice

At the start of the school year there was a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about a The New York Times article about reading and student choice. Today I received the flier shown in the image via email, and it was interesting to see so many great minds on one discussion post. It was almost intimidating to put my own thoughts since everyone else was a published author. For some reason Nancie Atwell's video is not working properly on my computer, but I can't wait to get to a computer where it does. I love how technology is opening up opportunities to fill the need for discussions with a wide range of educators from various perspectives.

Reader's Notebook Responses

It has been so interesting to get to know my students more as readers through their reader's notebooks. It is especially fun to see the reasoning behind some of my returning students' reading behaviors/interests that they demonstrated last year. For the start of the year I used ideas from Nancie Atwell and Aimee Buckner. After modeling my own reading territories (inspired by Atwell) for my students, they wrote about their territories in their reader's notebook. Because I made a point of showing books that I read and enjoy from a range of personal difficulty levels, many of students reflections were aimed toward explaining about reading that is relatively easy or hard for them. While this is not quite like Atwell's territories, it was great information for me. On a different day, we discussed Buckner's "What I Know is True About Reading" concept. I was really pleased with how both of these turned out, and I highly recommend resources by both authors. It was helpful to see students' personal philosophies about reading.

Here are some of the student comments inspired by the prompts.

Reading Territories:

“I like to read about smart, witty characters usually now about my age or older. I also like it better when the main character is the narrator, not just a voice who does not exist. I like to be able to get inside the characters’ heads (or head) and read about their emotions and thoughts.”

“I really like to read about adventures and action, not like some books where its just girls liking boys, or growing up problems. I live through that stuff every day. I don’t want to read about it. I want to read about things I’ve never seen before, places I’ve never been to.”

“Some books can be hard for me if they have more than one narrator.”

“I like reading books where the main characters are trying to accomplish something.”

“It’s hard for me to read when there is a lot of noise. I like to read when it’s quiet.”

“Something that I am reading is Eclipse, and it is a little bit hard. It helps to have a lot of friends that have read them.”

What I Know is True About Reading:

“Sometimes when I read a book that’s really well-written, I can almost believe (even if it’s fantasy or a faire tale) that that stuff is actually happening in the real world. I just can’t see it.”

“When I read a well-written book, usually I can see the story going on in my head, so I don’t have to focus so much on reading the words. I see it like a movie in my head. The details have to be well-explained though.”

“If you enjoy a book, you can’t stop reading.”

“It helps my spelling.”

“Books can teach you how to be a better writer.”

“I love books that I can relate to. If I have nothing in common with the book or the character, chances are I’m not going to like it.”

“You can read different difficulty levels.”

Lessons That Change Writers

I loved the glimpses into Nancie Atwell's classroom that she provided in Lessons that Change Writers. After an introduction into writer's workshop and mini-lessons that includes a nice outline of the conditions of a writing workshop (XVII), Atwell provides explanations of 76 lessons for the remainder of the book, as well as an appendix with writing mini-lessons resources. The accompanying notebook has masters for reproduciibles and overheads for the lessons that are shown in the book as a small image in the side bars to easily match up the lesson descriptions to the support materials in the notebook. In addition, the notebook also provides student sample writing that can be used as mentor texts/examples during the lessons.

I appreciated that the book also gave insights into how Atwell's writing workshop has evolved from the time she wrote In the Middle. She mentions:

So I pondered the content of mini-lessons and how to make them most effective for my kids. At first I believed that lessons must be responsive--planned day to day in reaction to what I saw kids doing and needing as writers in the workshop. It was exhausting. But then I began to see patterns of needs and information to address in the fall, in winter, and in spring: in short, a course of study of writing. Finally, I recognized that good lessons draw on a balance of ad hoc teachable moments and the teacher's prior experiences with writing and with teaching it (XII).

This is valuable information that I expect will help me have a focus as I map out my year. I will feel more prepared starting the new school year, knowing that there is a long-term curriculum map, while also having the flexibility to make adjustments as needed. Instead of having my vision fall short of my expectations because of becoming overwhelmed by too much all at once, this concept should provide a framework for the year.

Atwell also emphasizes the importance of making sure that the genres we study are authentic genres that students will find in the real world rather than "school genre" assignments (XII). Since I want to foster life-long readers who are inspired to write for reasons other than just because they have a school assignment, I was happy to have this reminder to make sure that I am helping my students engage in real world writing. Then they will feel empowered by what writing can do, rather than dreading it (92).

Students were key to determining which lessons to include in this resource. Atwell requested their feedback on which lessons were most helpful and realized that those that positively impacted them as writers could be classified into four areas: lessons about topics, lessons about principles of writing, lessons about genres, and lessons about conventions, so that is how the mini-lessons in the book are organized (XIV). However, Atwell also provides an outline at the front of the book of when she teaches the lessons throughout the year by month (XXVIII-XXIX). Her explanation for conventions, "what readers' eyes and minds expect from texts, and how marks and forms give writing voice and power and make reading predictable and easy" reminded me of Jeff Anderson's resources (XIV).

While reading the book I decided to not read every lesson. Instead I skimmed through the type of information and made notes on my curriculum plan of where they would fit in naturally, as well as a list of the others at the bottom to keep in mind if the need arises during the year. For each lesson Atwell provides a sample script of what she says to her class, not for teachers to stick to the script but to get a better sense of exactly how she delivers her lessons. She explains her intent, "[...] straightforward invitations to teachers to listen to, try on, then adapt my voice and experience" (XIV). I will definitely start the year with writing territories (as well as reading) and heart mapping (3-13). I read Heard's book with heart mapping earlier this year, and loved the concept. I will do this instead of a personal Coat of Arms at the beginning of the year (I may even use the activities on alternating years so that my students will eventually do both).

I'll end my reflections on the resource with another excerpt from the book that encompasses what I love about teaching in a position where I am encouraged and supported in personal professional development, with approval to try out new ideas in order to improve my classroom:

The other advantage we gave ourselves was permission to teach as well as we could--to read research and conduct our own, develop methods that make sense and help kids move forward as learners, implement others' approaches that fill the bill, and change our minds as we learn more or when a method doesn't help kids as we wish it to. In this thoughtful, purposeful setting, as a teacher responsible for curriculum development and for classes of regular kids whom I adore, I have the power to pose questions about how lessons might help writers, develop the lessons, teach and refine them, consult with my students, and refine them some more (XXVI).

This embodies the idea of teachers as learners seeking professional development and getting to know their students in order to do the best job they can.

Revisiting The Reading Zone

For my last post (for now) on revisiting The Reading Zone, I wanted to make a list of ideas that I will incorporate from the book:

*Have a books we love section in our classroom library (33).
*Set aside pages in the front of students' reader's notebook for a Someday page with book titles that they would like to read eventually (68).
*I loved the quote from one of her students Forrest who said, "With girl characters, I am watching the 'movie,' but with boy characters, I am the star" (22). I am going to share this concept with my students while discussing the pleasures of being in the zone.
*Work toward her goal of having at least 20 books per student in my classroom library and continually look for ways to make my library grow. Even if I have just one particular student in mind when I see it - it's worth it (31).
*Talk to students about three levels of books: Holidays, Just Rights, and Challenges (40).
*I will put a copy of her "Some Questions I Ask as I Roam Among Readers" in my binder that I will carry around while conferring as a reminder to revisit it frequently and to reflect on how I confer with students (93).
*I am going to discuss with my teaching partner the idea of sending notification to parents each time there is a missing assignment and scheduling a conference once a student has three (28).

Revisiting The Reading Zone

While reading The Reading Zone, so much of Atwell's ideas made perfect sense. One area that stumped me however, was her comments against some of the strategies and literacy practices including metacognitive strategies from educators and resources I had come to trust, such as Cris Tovani, The Mosaic of Thought, Kylene Beers, and Harvey Daniels (pp. 17). (Note: Atwell did not say anything against these educators' ideas or resources specifically, her comments just reminded me of concepts they had advocated that made sense to me.)

As I continued to read the book I tried to sift through different references to the subject to determine exactly where Atwell draws the line. When referencing lessons incorporated in her reading workshop she mentioned, "Each involves kids in a discussion of good books and good things that smart readers know" (42). I thought about how this idea matched up with why the other educators advocated strategies in order to help make a successful reading process more transparent for those who were not avid readers yet.

Later, she further clarified for me by stating, "[...] to make distinctions between study skills that do help readers gain concepts in science and history, and metacognitive strategies that may interrupt children's processing of stories and distract them from the pleasures of the reading zone" (51). In the margin I wrote about how I could relate to this. Right before I came to this section for the first time I had just read Becoming Naomi León and kept notes about different places where I could model comprehension strategies that I had. I thought that if I recorded them the first time reading through it would be more authentic. However, I was distracted from the process and sometimes wanted to just read the book.

Atwell then discussed how she integrated cognitive strategies into her classroom only to regret it. "The sticky notes intruded in the zone, disrupted the flow of a great story, ate up precious hours that could have been devoted to living inside another great story, wasted their time as readers" (54). Furthermore, she explained, "[...] directing story readers to activate comprehension strategies may hurt their comprehension" (56). Another comment against the strategies was, "The problem is that when we tell kids they have to seek connections as readers, we're teaching them to stop engaging in stories and start looking for distractions. And no one can be engaged and distracted at the same time" (59).

Later in the book Atwell makes a distinction between comprehension strategies in the reading workshop and in content areas such as science and social studies where she thinks teachers are responsible for making sure the content is accessible to their students, which may include teaching strategies (61).

Atwell gave me so much to consider, especially in reference to the many resources I had connected with that seemed to go against what she was saying. I ended up making a note to myself in the margin, "I appreciate this as I am developing my sense of quality reading instruction. A lot to ponder - can see her point." My struggle was I that while I got her perspective (it was easy to get why it is not ideal to bump students out of the zone), I could still get where the other resources were coming from and the validity behind them.

My Latest Conclusions
When skimming through this last time I decided that I still agree with the multitude of resources, even though they seemingly contradict each other. As much as possible I will stay out of my students' way this year to make sure that I am not unnecessarily bumping them out of the reading zone, especially when they are already established readers. However, with students that are not established readers I will gather as much data as possible to try to understand what their roadblocks are to becoming life-long readers and I will utilize a portion of the reading workshop to meet with small groups. Each time I will try to be very intentional and aware of the two sides of the debate to make sure that I am making the best decision for my students and the long-term effects my decisions will have on their reading. With avid readers I will still pull them into small group meetings (albeit less frequently) to include them in book clubs or to engage them in reading a book that challenges them but provide support to do so.

I have also found it helpful to have students complete general responses to reading after they complete assigned reading, rather than encouraging them to stop as they find examples. This way they think about what stuck with them. They have heard about the specific strategies, but I often allow a free response rather than stating they have to use a specific strategy. However, sometimes if I am working with a group of students or a student on an individual strategy that seems like it will help them have a breakthrough to be a more successful reader, I may prompt for a response directly linked to instruction.

I wonder what I will think on the topic when I revisit The Reading Zone again in the future, which I am sure to do.

Revisiting The Reading Zone

One of the books I revisit and skim again frequently is Nancie Atwell's The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers. I decided to do a few posts with my reflections on the book. One of the topics that I ponder every time I look at the book (as well as in between times) is whether or not to use a reading log. I love the lure of her thoughts on just checking the page where students are during independent reading time and then using whether or not they have been progressing as an indicator of if they are doing their homework reading or not. I have been so close to switching over, and thought it over again this summer.

I take the concept of making sure that the components of my literacy block reflect what real readers and writers do. I know keeping a reading log would drive me crazy. I enjoy blogging about books I read, but I would not like having to record the pages and time I read each time I do. I even ditched the record keeping that I started filling out with my girls for the library's summer reading program. I realized that I just wanted to sit with my girls and enjoy the experience of getting into the reading zone. They are filled with excitement each time we go to the library and pick out a stack of books that we read together and they look through on their own multiple times before switching for a new batch of books. Watching the clock was taking away from the experience for me, and I also did not want to add in the extrinsic motivation with the rewards the library provided if my girls are already intrinsically motivated. By giving up the reading log for the reading program, I was not forfeiting anything important in the long-run for my girls and still focusing on an environment that will create life-long readers.

I am sure many of my ravenous readers feel the same way. One of my most voracious readers sometimes forgot to hand in her reading log, but there was no doubt in my mind that she had read well over the minimum requirement. For readers like her who are already well established, I would like to get rid of the log. Another student would usually read on the bus ride home but always forget to record what she read once she got home.Then I also think of students who are not yet avid readers and how the reading log is one more tool to keep track of their reading behaviors.

My biggest road block to giving up reading logs is that students do not necessarily always read the same book in school as they do outside of school. Just as I often read one book during independent reading time and other books at home, so do my students. In addition, our dual immersion setting means that sometimes students are reading a book from each language at a time. Other students read to where they need to be for their book club, when applicable, and then continue reading in their other self-selected book. My next thought was that again, students juggling multiple books may once again be avid readers who I would not need to worry about as much, but there are some students who are not necessarily established readers who read books with their families for their at home reading requirement and a different book while at school. Checking their progress with their in-class book may or may not reflect whether or not they did their home reading.

I would love to hear your thoughts on reading logs and whether or not you have found it realistic to skip the record keeping piece while still maintaining the follow-through on the students' side.

Heinemann Podcasts and Teacher's Lounge

I just read Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones, so I was excited to get an email update from Heinemann announcing a podcast available with a discussion between the book's author, Thomas Newkirk and Nancie Atwell. When I went to listen, I noticed a tab for a teacher's lounge. Those who have read my previous posts know that Heinemann was always my favorite go-to professional development publisher. Recently, Stenhouse caught my attention because of their technology pieces that I love so much, such as their blog. It appears that the Heinemann teacher forum is fairly new, and I look forward to seeing how it evolves and to check in to see which new podcasts are available from time to time. I am glad that my two favorite publishers have opportunities to interact with the authors and other educators, opening up many opportunities to network with other teachers.