Common Reading Time: Data and QRIs

Yesterday I started an update of how our shift to a 6th-8th grade common reading time is going so far. I explained what it was like the first couple of days. Today, I am going to continue on by sharing what my push-in colleague and I did next.

On the third day we took what we had observed in the various classes, as well as our background knowledge of the various students and met to map out a plan for starting QRIs. From previous years, we knew that conducting QRIs could end up taking a large portion of classroom time. We did not want it to stretch out over a period of a month and a half as it easily had before (or worse, even longer as a result of having all three classes at the same time).

Previously I had administered QRIs on my own to all 6th graders (since they were new to me) and to a select group of 7th and 8th graders since I had already had them for a couple of years. Instead, this year we prioritized students and mapped out a plan. We narrowed down to new students and students that we want to monitor more closely. Once we got to that point, we still wanted to think about efficiency. When we considered how long it would take us to complete the QRIs if we did multiple passages with students, we both agreed that we would want to avoid that length of time.

Instead, we chose one passage to use with all of the students in order to get a general snapshot. We know that we can always go back later and do more in depth QRIs with some of the students if needed. The fourth day we were able to begin the process. Because each of the grade levels was in a classroom with a teacher, we were able to pull students from the classroom to conduct QRIs and we were able to be fully present to the students, rather than also being in a supervisory role of the rest of the class. We also did not have to worry abou the interference of students overhearing responses of students before them. Walking in the hall we were able to have quick asides with students about the books they were reading.

By having both of us conducting QRIs, by being able to fully focus on the student that is with us at the time, and by going in with a plan for one passage, we have been able to move through our lists efficiently. Most likely, we will be able to finish up next Monday or Tuesday. At the end of each session, we typically have a little bit of time where there is not enough time to check in with one more student, so we have been quickly debriefing about what we are noticing so far.

And we are still observing... As we go into classrooms to get students, we notice student engagement. Even though it slows down the QRI process, we make sure to have quick check-ins with students who really need it in order to find the right book. As a team, we talk about what we are seeing and the possibilities of our next steps now that we have a little bit more flexibility in what we do. We consider how we can best meet the needs of the students in the different classes.

Time and time again, I am discovering that one of the aspects that I most appreciate about teaching alongside my colleague is the opportunity to have deep conversations about adolescents and reading and the history behind what we are doing and new possibilities.

In the future I will be doing posts about a shift in the way that we are doing reading logs this year and how that is working out, as well as a post about our post-QRI steps.

Scheduling Update

A little bit before the school year started, I posted about some changes in scheduling for this year. Now that we are two weeks and two days into the school year, I thought that I would give an update on how the shift to a common reading time for our 6th-8th grade classes (just one class/grade level) has been going.

We started school on a Thursday, but we did not begin our independent reading time slot until Monday. In some ways, my first two days of school felt rushed. Thursday was busy with First Day activity, and Friday I knew that I needed to make sure that every student checked out a book and was ready for Monday. I also needed to explain the new reading log to them that they will be using to log both their at school and at home reading requirements.

Monday mid-morning rolled around and each of the classes were reading - the building was silent. My push-in colleague and I quietly moved through the three classrooms to observe for signs of student engagement. We were able to have quick hallway asides about what we noticed as we were in the classrooms at different times. We began to formulate lists of students who we might be most concerned about, students who we would want to focus on in order to connect them with books in contrast to student who have already established a sense of the joy of reading. We continued doing so on the second day.

Those first days the reading block was actually longer than typical because of a 4th-8th grade common language development time that had not yet started. Teachers decided to use the time to facilitate talk about books. Each teacher did it differently with a mixture of talking about the books they were reading, whole class student sharing, partner sharing, and small group sharing. As I rotated between classes, it felt odd to be on the periphery of these interactions. Teachers had already set the stage for the conversations, so instead, I sat back and observed, taking notes on my iPad, highlighting what each teacher was bringing to the table to enrich the literate lives of our students. I thought about how seeing glimpses into each classroom would allow for common conversations of what seemed to be working really well.

By the end of the second day, we felt like for the most part, the various classes had settled in. We had checked in with some students about making sure that they were reading books that were a good fit for their interests and where they are at right now as readers. We were ready to move into a different phase, in order to get into a more active role, rather than observing and scaffolding the first days.

Tomorrow I will be posting about how we shifted to considering data and mapping out a plan on the third day.

Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling

As maybe all workshop teachers, each year is a new opportunity to consider how to maximize the time that I have for each class period, determining how to prioritize. Over the last three years that I have taught the amount of time that I have had has varied as our school has grown and schedules have changed. The third year when trying to squeeze everything in, I ended up not including word study or a read aloud with my 6th-8th graders. Nonetheless, I wasn't happy with the shift. It was just one possible way to try to provide sufficient time for students to read and write, balanced with instruction/discussions. I continued to reflect on the impact of those decisions throughout the year.

Last year when I took a leave of absence, I let the teacher who was filling in for me know about the rationale for my decisions but also about how I discovered that I would have wanted to try to layer both back in if I was going to be in the classroom again. She met the same challenges with time though.

This summer when thinking through how we could reconfigure the schedule, one option that came up was having a common time where all students are doing their independent reading. I had mixed feelings about it. On one hand it made me nervous. It was hard enough for me and my push-in colleague to feel like we were able to confer regularly enough with all students. How would that feel with all three grade levels in one common time? Nonetheless, when I looked past that nervousness and considered the alternative, facing the time crunch, I realized that it was time to also consider the advantages of the change in the schedule.

The top advantage is that students will have a guaranteed time and space for reading independently four days a week (Friday the schedule is completely different for PBLs and Electives). Another huge benefit that I love about it is that students will get to see all of their teachers as readers and adults who care about them as readers. In addition, students receiving special education services for reading were pulled out during my reading workshop and did not have an opportunity to have choice in what they were reading during their pull-out session. Now they will be able to participate in the independent reading portion of the day and still receive their pull-out services at another time.

I also thought about how while my colleague and I won't necessarily be able to interact with each student as regularly, we will have at least three other teachers to help us. Here is the initial vision of how it will look:

• 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will each be in a classroom. The fourth teacher on our prep school team who does not have her own classroom will be in mine. The push-in teacher and I will have flexibility to rotate around the three rooms. I recently found out that we will most likely also have one special education assistant who will push-in as well.
• Our first priority will be making sure that kids are engaged and motivated to read. As a team of 5-6 adults, we will be closely observing to see who already has an established habit of reading and a high motivation versus students who can use more support to make sure that they have a book they will enjoy.
• My push-in colleague and I will be able to provide support with conferring. The great thing about conferring is that it will not require any outside planning/preparation (other than conversations about it and time to reflect) - something that we wanted to be careful about when considering how the shift would impact other teachers.
• Eventually we will layer in book clubs. Having one common reading time will allow for multi-grade face-to-face book clubs. The groupings will be more flexible. Other teachers will have the option of opting in or to continue conferring, as facilitating a book club would require time outside of the independent reading time slot in order to read a book along with the students. Other staff, such as administrators are interested in seeing if they can participate in book clubs at times as well. 

Reconfiguring how the space for students to have choice and read independently shifts other aspects of my typical routines and procedures. I have been thinking through the check-out process for books as well as status of the class. I have been thinking about goal setting and students playing a more active role through self-assessments and reflection.

I look forward to seeing how it all emerges as well as the deep reflection that is sure to come with a shift like this. Sometimes in education, it is necessary to try something even though aspects of it make us a little nervous. Looking beyond those feelings to consider how there is the potential for something great and then problem solving how the logistics of a shift can have a big pay off.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

This time last year for the first time since I started teaching I was not setting up my classroom. Instead I was helping a colleague set up her classroom as I took a one year leave of absence in order to fill in as a sabbatical replacement in teacher education. I have not blogged as much as I would have liked to as my experiences last year, possibly because the experiences were different than the general topics I typically write about on my blog.

In many ways, taking the leave of absence was a great way to stand back and reflect on my classroom practice while also revisiting my own teacher preparation program. Interacting with pre-service teachers and seeing education through their lenses reminded me of the dynamics of those in my teacher ed program. It reminded me of my passion and my vision for education before I stepped into my first full-time teaching position. It was a chance to reflect on which aspects may have been forgotten through the busy first years of my career, as well as to celebrate what I was able to do that aligned with my teaching and learning philosophy.

Tomorrow I will officially step back into my role as a 6th-8th grade language arts teacher in English and Spanish at a public dual immersion charter school. I have already set up most of my classroom library, including a new shelf for graduated students who have moved onto the high school. I have been thinking through what the school year will look like and how I will launch reading and writing workshop this year. I will also have the opportunity to provide one period a week of push-in support for a couple of Spanish immersion colleagues in the younger grades. I look forward to learning and growing with them, gaining familiarity with their 2/3 and 4/5 students. Fall term I will also have an opportunity to keep one foot in higher ed as I will be teaching one adjunct course.

Last year I savored the time to think, reflect, and grow through both the final year of my doctoral program and through the sabbatical replacement. I am energized to start my 8th year as an educator.

November - So Much to Look Forward To...

Earlier I posted about how I was excited for my first annual convention and the release of Notice and Note in November. Now I have two more reasons to be excited...

This week the July 2012 NCTE Council Chronicle with the annual convention preview arrived in my mailbox. As I was skimming through, there were plenty of reasons to know that it will be worth every penny. I loved this line from Sandy Hayes' welcome, "In reading through the mountain of session proposals, I realized that NCTE members share a kind of double vision with Bradbury's time traveler: we have the capacity to see things not only as they are but also as they could be. We aspire to change our world by embracing complexity, considering research, collaborating, working hard, and stretching toward an ideal" (p. 4). Right off the bat with the Preconvention Sessions the tough decisions will begin. All four sessions look amazing, but I will most likely either go to see Teaching: The Questions We Ask and the Answers We Find with Jim Burke, Penny Kittle, and Kelly Gallagher or Building Reading Communities Online and Off with Donalyn Miller, Sara Kajder, Teri Lesesne, and Franki Sibberson. See why it will be so hard to decide!

As if the regular components of the convention weren't enough for building anticipation, I decided that it would be worth it to stay the two extra days for the ALAN postconvention workshop. I have heard about all of the authors present and the box of books that comes along with it from one of my university professors. Originally I held back because of the additional expenses, but this week I decided that since this may be the only time I financially prioritize in order to go to the annual convention, I might as well get the full experience. Of course, as soon as I purchased it, I noticed the CEL Writing as Leadership postconvention with Penny Kittle, Tom Romano, Peg Tyre, Casey Olsen, Kelly Gallagher, and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels. So tempting, but alas, I can't attend both and have already signed up for ALAN. Like the Boothbay Literacy Retreat, this convention will be one of those dream PD opportunities.

When I was still buzzing with excitement over adding on the ALAN postconvention, I happened to stop by the Heinemann site again. Either this was just posted or I completely missed it last time, but an upcoming release for Penny Kittle is listed, Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers. And yes, just like Notice and Note, I automatically pre-ordered it and can't wait for its anticipated November release. Just seeing Penny Kittle's name on it is enough to prompt that though, but I am really excited for the topic as well. It aligns well with my dissertation research and my intended continual focus on engaging and sustaining adolescent readers.

In the midst of the school year, November will be something to look forward to. Two weeks from today I officially start the school year with teacher work days, but between now and then I will meet with K-5 colleagues to discuss how the first year of reading and writing workshop went as well as thoughts for the upcoming year. Then I will also get together with some colleagues for our August for fun book club. Once the school year gets started, the months will be moving in fast forward.

November will be a nice month. The convention will fall a few weeks into the second quarter. The whirl of events that come with parent teacher conferences and the first quarter report cards will be complete. I will head out mid-week and when I return we will be on Thanksgiving break. A nice chance to let ideas from the conference settle and to savor time with family after being away. Both the convention and the quick break immediately after will be a chance to recharge and savor what has happened so far in the year and glimpse ahead to the possibilities for the remainder of the year.

Who else is planning on going to NCTE?

What upcoming professional books are you looking forward to their releases?

Math Exchanges

Math Exchanges: Guiding Young Mathematicians in Small-Group Meetings by Kassia Omohundro Wedekind isn't the typical professional book that I would read. I don't teach math, nor do I teach in the primary grades. And yet... I was intrigued. When I heard brief mentions of math workshop in Catching Readers Before They Fall, I wondered what math instruction would look like when aligned to a workshop approach. I smiled as I read the first pages of Math Exchanges and saw a mention of Katie Keier being one of Wedekind's colleagues and shortly after saw connections to Pat Johnson as well. Not only was I going to see an overlap of ideas from Catching Readers, but I could envision a dynamic team of teachers working together. Considering how the thinking behind both of the books was occurring at the same school, before I even got to chapter 1, the acknowledgements had me excited for the thinking and teaching discoveries through a collaborative process that I was going to encounter.

Aside from curiosity about math workshop, I also wanted to get ideas as a parent. At home I support my girls' (ages 9 and 6) reading and writing development much more than I do their mathematical thinking, mainly because of my personal levels of understanding about supporting kids in those content areas. For both purposes, I really loved Kassia's book. While waiting for a chance to sit down and read it since it was published, I started following the posts she put on her blog by the same title and will continue to do so.

Much like Catching Readers, Kassia provided a strong, clear conceptual background for a rationale behind the way she sets up her classroom. There were also plenty of connections between the underlying workshop philosophy that is consistent between reading, writing, and math workshops. As a math outsider, this helped me to better understand her motivation to teach the way she does. The book provides a glimpse into Kassia's journey of wanting to teach some way other than a traditional mathematics instruction approach but not being quite sure how to do so. She provides a background of how she co-constructed her thoughts with colleagues and mentors. She includes ideas such as, "Math workshop certainly is not the easiest path to take. We have plenty of outside resources willing to tell us exactly what, when, and how to teach our students. And yet, none of those resources has the intimate knowledge of your community of mathematicians that you have" (p. 23). The concept of valuing teachers as professionals and their capacity to make decisions about their own students is prevalent throughout the book.

The book also provides a clear picture of various ways to set up math workshop in the primary grades, as she highlighted both her own work and that of her colleagues. There were plenty of examples of dialogue throughout the book, as well as explanations into the intentional grouping. I especially love her mathematician statements that I first heard about on her blog and was interested in learning more about through her book.

Though I won't be implementing math exchanges into my own classroom because of my position, I will definitely be sharing the book with colleagues at my school and she has left me with plenty to think about as a parent. It was just what I needed to be more competent in understanding my daughters' math development, as well as being more intentional with providing support. One of my favorite parts of the book are charts that she provides (such as Figure 4.2 on p. 71 and Figure 4.4 on p. 74) sharing problem types, examples, modeling strategies, counting strategies, and facts and derived facts strategies, as well as strong explanations for how to put the ideas into action. I am starting to see more examples of every day mathematical thinking than I typically would have. For example, as I was teaching my daughters how to play Uno for the first time last week, various problems were running through my head that I could later pose to my daughters.

With so many books to read and so much that I want to do before the school year starts, it would have been easy to not pick up Math Exchanges with the rationale that it wasn't really as relevant as some of the other books in my pile of professional books waiting to be read. I am glad that I treated myself to something outside of my typical content areas as it was so powerful.

Opening Minds: Chapters 7-9

I have enjoyed participating in cyberPD as a means to reflect to participate in a collective response/reflection/conversation about Peter Johnston's Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives. Laura Komos is hosting the last section of the book. The conversation is already well underway as it started Wednesday. Johnston's thoughts are also featured on Stenhouse's summer series this week. I highly recommend his post as well as the others in the series.

My thoughts on chapters 7-9...

Development Links
While reading the book I have been thinking a lot about implications for my 6th-8th grade classroom as well as college courses that I teach, specifically a development class that I will be teaching this fall. Last fall as I was teaching it for the first time, I began to align some of the previous assignments with InTASC Standards as play a role in our university's re-accreditation process. In Standard #1: Learner Development, the following areas are highlighted: cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical. One obvious shift in wording is the lack of specifically highlighting moral development. I am not sure why that is the case, but as a result, I brushed over it rather than going in depth with it.

I have been thinking about it a lot this year though, wondering if it was one of those areas that just because the standards do not specifically highlight it does not mean that I should not focus on it in class. I think that the rationale might be that it is woven into some of the other areas; however, it also seems like having it under umbrella terms rather than its own specific category can deemphasize the importance.

While reading chapter 7, Moral Agency: Moral Development and Civic Engagement I continued my thinking about this aspect a lot. When talking about the current context of education emphasizing academics, Johnston stated, "Whether we like it or not, children are acquiring 'character' and dispositions toward civic engagement (or not) as we teach them about history, literacy, math, and science. Their moral development doesn't just stop because we choose not to think about it" (p. 81).

Reading the book has come at a perfect time as I have been reflecting on how I will shape the development course this fall, what to keep, what to change, what to improve from last fall. Johnston's words have really helped me think about the course. I mentioned in my initial reflections that I would be reading aloud some excerpts to my class. I will definitely be sharing aspects related to moral development, such as:

• "Morals are largely normative. We learn what to attend to and what to ignore--what we value--and how to act. What we choose to discuss with children and how we discuss it shapes these norms" (pp. 82-83). 
• "Routinely raising for discussion issues of fairness in the world and in the classroom establishes a norm: It is something that we care about in the community" (p. 83). 
• "[...] but the extension to equity and race played an important role beyond helping the children to generalize and remember. It increased their moral reach--the breadth of individuals to whom our moral commitments extend" (p. 84). 
• "[...] the teachers's response framed as a request with a logic emphasizing the consequences for others, offers a more symmetrical relationship. While not eliminating the teacher's authority, it offers a moral choice that relies less on subordination" (p. 87). 
• "We tend to view conflicts in the classroom as simply distractions from academic learning, so we try to eliminate them as quickly as possible by invoking our authority as teachers. This might get us back to academics more quickly, but at the cost of reducing the moral authority and commitment of the students" (p. 91). 

Of course, there were other quotes that stood out to me, and I will be reading them in the context of a bigger section, but the quotes above provide a snapshot into what I thought was so powerful about his thoughts. Students in my development class this fall will continue on to a practicum and coursework in the winter and spring, both including a classroom dynamics course each term. Development really lays the foundation for how teachers set up the classroom community and the decisions they make. I want them to have Johnston's words tumbling around in their minds as they move forward in the program. 

Teacher Links

As a teacher, I continue to think about implications for better understanding my students and the impact that the words I choose and the way I set up the classroom has on them. Of course, everything that I mentioned above as being thought provoking for pre-service teachers has implications for my own teaching. The conclusion of chapter 7 stated, "These are the threads that we are morally bound to weave into classroom life. They are a foundation for democratic living" (p. 92). I like that image once again of threads, of thinking about how over time we set the tone for what we value. In chapter 6, I also appreciated that Johnston talked about the threat of stereotype impacting students who tend to envision themselves through a fixed mindset when it comes to testing. 

I loved the emphasis in chapter 8 on the power and role of thinking together. Through reading different workshop resource, I have already been thinking about the power of oral rehearsing and social interactions more in depth for the last few years of my career. Johnston once again extended my existing thoughts. As with other sections of the book the way that he wove in research studies to illustrate points was powerful. He has a way with sharing studies and highlighting why the findings are so beneficial. Needless to say, in this chapter, I have many notes in the margins. 

In chapter 9 I noted how Johnston is always thinking about the long-term, the impact of how we set up our classrooms on the futures of our students. This is so vital in education, supporting a vision for looking beyond standardized test scores into thinking about what really is important. Reading Johnston's words reaffirms the importance of this mindset. I especially loved Johnston's thoughts about inspiring students to be teachers in their worlds and how this links back to democratic thinking. He stated, "Imagine the implications of twelve (or eight) years of this instruction as these children become parents and teachers" (p. 112). I found the section Teaching for Economic Survival as particular powerful (starting on page 113). Once again this links beautifully with workshop mindsets, such as the saying teach the writer, not the writing. Johnston's words made me think of another layer of teaching students as people vs. content area. 

Concluding Call To Action

I smiled when I got to the last line of the book. I thought of the implicit ...What are you going to do about it? As such, he helped me to continue my thinking about my role in the grand scheme of the world of education, thinking about how my day to day actions will impact much more than my students lives as readers and writers.