New Literacies

Where to even begin? 


I chose this as my article discussion for a number of reasons, but mostly because I'm in a brand new school, with access to loads of technology resources, and I want to rock my students' worlds. 


I know that's silly, but it's true. I want to work their digital native brains into a frenzy. I want them to realize that the world is quite literally at their fingertips and they will be able to do so many incredible things... 


but...


I want it all to make sense, be organized, and easily understood. This means that I've got to go step by step and have a gradual rollout that isn't just a barrage of stuff they'll never remember. I've been on the receiving end of training sessions like that and all I have to show for them are vague ideas of how cool ActivInspire could be if I only knew how to use it properly.


Here's a quick list of resources I'd like to regularly use in my classroom:

• Promethean board - I turn this on everyday. That's a step in the right direction. 
• ActivInspire - Basic use. I throw together un-fancy flipcharts.
• Activotes - I don't even have these registered to our board yet.
• ActivSlate - You mean, I wouldn't even have to touch the board?!
• ELMO - I only use this for worksheets and watching mealworms morph, but I know it has scanning capabilities.
• Computer - Window to the world (well, the unblocked world).
• Shelfari - Virtual bookshelf and book review hub.
• Natural Reader - Would love to use this more with my at-risk readers.
• Glogster - This is so happening. 
• Weebly - Create private, class web sites the students can upload work and projects to. 
• FlipCams - The opportunities are endless.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. I've decided to choose one and begin my rollout. My choice is Shelfari! Shelfari is a virtual bookshelf you can use to list books you've read as well as review them. My purpose would be to use Shelfari to build a class-wide (and potential grade-wide) community of readers. I can use my account to create a private group where only invited members are allowed to contribute and view content. 
I don't expect the students to be able to just start typing up a review, so I would create a book review questionnaire sheet they can use as a rough draft. We could use a half hour of our computer lab time each week to update our Shelfari group page. 
I will use Shelfari as a strategy to motivate my "non-readers" as well a means for encouraging rich discussions in reading group. The kids are always curious about each other and being able to see what their peers are reading will hopefully bring about quite a few conversations. I'm excited to start using Shelfari in our classroom. It's one very tiny step into the world of new literacies, but it's authentic and purposeful-- which has been my goal from the start. 


Here are a few other uses for Shelfari from The Teacher's Buzz:

• creating relevant opportunities for students to write summaries, reviews, opinion pieces and make recommendations in writing
• to give students the opportunity to practice writing for an audience and to receive feedback from peers on their writing
• to integrate technology into the reading/writing content
• provide students with opportunities to summarize fiction and non-fiction works they read
• provide students with a record of their own of the books they’ve read and the various genres, authors they prefer.
• To provide students with the incentive to try reading material that is new and different from that which they usually choose.
• electronic book reports instead of the reviews: e.g. the assignment could require that the child record what happened at the beginning, middle or end, or the assignment could ask the child to compare/contrast the main character to him/herself.
• provide opportunities for children to learn about technology, internet safety and courtesy in a safe and controlled setting
• Provides documentation for the teacher as to the amount kind and genre of books read
• Provides information and assessment for the teacher as to the child’s level of engagement with the books they are reading.

And another great site for integrating Shelfari into your classroom (as well as a permission slip for parental approval for usage): Digital Teaching and Learning

Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are like gold in third grade. We use them all the time in reading, writing, and small group. I enjoy them because they provide a platform for students who aren't strong writers to show their ideas. In my class I've noticed a modest group of students who are able to list and organize their ideas with a graphic organizer, yet have a little bit of trouble using the graphic organizer to write the final piece. Most of the time the disconnect comes from the students needing to be reminded that they can use the ideas from their organizer to write their BCR, summary, or other reading response. Sometimes the problem lies in taking the lists or bulleted ideas and making them into complete sentences.

I've noticed some graphic organizers are better in certain situations than others-- sometimes you need more lines, and sometimes you need fewer. Oftentimes adding picture cues is also a great way to keep the kids connected to the task at hand. Here are a few different types of graphic organizers and the ways in which we use them:

Jellyfish Organizer: The jellyfish organizer looks sort of like its namesake. The body is used to write the main idea or topic sentence. The legs are used to write supporting sentences. Our classes uses this organizer when we're writing summaries. One way to make this a little more fun is to actually shape it like a jellyfish. The kids enjoy writing on the squiggly lines.

Add 'em up organizer: We also use this organizer for summarizing. It's a neat concept for the kids to think of all the important facts coming together to make the main idea. 

Web: The web is great for making lists. There typically isn't much room to write complete sentences on a web, so it is nice for quick ideas and keywords. Most recently, our class used a web to generate keywords for five senses writing.

T-charts and Venn Diagrams: We use T-charts and Venn diagrams in whole and small group reading lessons. They're helpful for critical thinking questions that ask the class to make comparisons between characters, settings, and other story elements. This week, we used a t-chart to compare our lives to those of Pilgrim children in the 1620s. 

These and several other graphic organizers can be found at: http://www.buddies.org/articles/edschool.pdf

Reciprocal Teaching

Our third grade team has hit a bit of a rut with regards to our "bubble" kids. These are the students who are straddling the line of reading on-grade level versus below-grade level. These students are decent decoders, but need to strengthen their comprehension skills. One of the reading interventions we have to help this group is Houghton Mifflin's Soar to Sucess. This program is used strictly as a "double dip" intervention which means it's given in addition to regular guided reading. Because of the way our school has chosen to use 'Soar', we can't use it in our regular guided reading groups, but we can use Soar to Success' core ideal of reciprocal teaching to reach these students.


The four strategies of reciprocal teaching are:
-Predicting: students make predictions based on the title, passages in the book, and pictures.
-Questioning: students ask questions about the content and ideas.
-Clarifying: students go back and make sense of something that may have been confusing.
-Summarizing: students will briefly retell the main ideas.


We are planning to unveil these strategies in a week-long rollout after the Thanksgiving holiday. We're going to spend one day explaining reciprocal teaching, then the remaining four days on each strategy during the whole group lessons. The hope is to have consistency between homeroom teachers, ESOL teachers, and paraeducators. 


I'm looking forward to the chance to slow down the pace of guided reading and allow the kids to truly analyze what we're reading. Our reading specialist loaded us up with resources including cards, posters, lesson plans, and notes from LiteracyMalden.


For those who are interested in Soar to Success, here's a look at my reading intervention glog:

Literature Circles

I recently began using literature circles in reading groups and it's been pretty amazing. I started with the two highest reading groups about three weeks ago and now, all but one of the groups are enjoying the process. The responsibilities for our literature circles are:

• Discussion leader - develop three "thinking questions" (higher ordered thinking).
• Word Wizard - find three interesting words, talk about how they are used and what they mean.
• Illustrator - create a scene from descriptions in the story.
• Story Connector - connect our story to one we've read in class.
• Real-life Connector - make two text-to-self connections.
• Summarizer - choose two sections of the chapter and retell in your own words.

Each job contributes to the discussions we have in reading group. When groups come to the table, I pull two sticks to see whose job will lead the discussion that day. Unfortunately, we can't get to every job because we don't have enough time, but I collect each person's journal to grade and leave comments on their contribution. 
I've noticed the kids really enjoy having a responsibility and take it seriously when it is their turn to share their work. I've also noticed that while most of the kids want to be the Illustrator, they're happy to take any role because they know they're equally important. Since my largest reading group only has five students in it, I've chosen to double up on the jobs. Usually the Word Wizard is also the Illustrator. Literature circles have also had the unintended side effect of motivating my "non-readers" (the kids who would rather be do anything but read). I think these students enjoy the responsibility and seeing that their work is such a big part of reading group (instead of just answering teacher-posed questions). 


For more information on literature circles and how to make them work for you visit: ProTeacher!

Building Vocabulary

One of my least favorite parts of third grade is our use of spelling tests. I sincerely think our system is completely meaningless and wastes more time than it does anything else. We still conduct our spelling tests the "old-fashioned" way, you know:

1) Get an arbitrary list of spelling words.
2) Do a bunch of mindless spelling activities for homework that week.
3) Turn in the homework at the end of the week.
4) Take a spelling quiz.
5) Quickly forget how to spell any of the words you "studied" all week.

This system is just an exercise in memorization. Is it important to memorize how to spell words and broaden our vocabulary? Of course! But there has to be a more meaningful and motivating way to go about the whole thing.

Our morning work consists of quick daily oral language exercises (DOL). In these exercises the students are asked to correct sentences using consistent proofreading marks, choose correctly spelled words out of a string of misspelled ones, combine two sentences into one, and many other tasks to encourage good writing skills. I enjoy the seamless connection between our DOL and the review stages of the writing process.  I know DOL isn't the most highly touted writing tool in MCPS, but I find that if I remind the kids to treat their writing like DOL, they get it. It works for us and they understand why DOL is important.

Now the question is: how can I make vocabulary building just as important?

A parent recently suggested Wordly Wise, a site geared specifically toward vocabulary acquisition. Wordly Wise separates its word lists into lessons and features different games and puzzles for each lesson. I like the idea of vocabulary games and puzzles, but there's still the missing application piece.

One way I've tried to bridge the gap is through the use of literature circles in guided reading. I typically assign each group member the job of Word Wizard (along with one of the other roles). The Word Wizard's task is to find "interesting words" in a particular chapter, define them, and use them in a sentence to share with the group. I've noticed the kids enjoy seeing who has the most "interesting" words to share. I've also noticed certain words we would have otherwise glazed over are popping up in their verbal and written responses.

What are your strategies for encouraging vocabulary building in the classroom?

Motivation

I've been really intrigued with figuring out exactly how to motivate my third graders "non-readers"this year. I'm using that term to describe any of the kids who aren't too fond of curling up with a good book. From what I've seen so far, the kids who enjoy ready really enjoy reading. Unfortunately the flipside to that is the kids who don't enjoy it, really don't enjoy it. Last year, all I had to tell my kindergartners was that I loved a certain book or that it was my favorite story and they were all about it. This year, I've had to seriously put my money where my mouth is.
Whenever we've gone to the media center for book exchange, I've checked out one chapter book and one "advanced" picture book for myself. The kids were pretty quick to pick up on it and immediately started asking questions about what I was reading and if I'd read this book or that book. In the beginning, it was a strategy to get them invested in book exchange and really use the media center as a resource for finding great books. I wanted them to see that even I was was able to pick out things I really wanted to read from our media center. Now, it's actually really enjoyable for me. I've been able to carve out dedicated reading time on weekend mornings and it takes a few days to get through some of the books so I'm able to grab a new one each time. I've made sure to check out books that represent the wide range of reading levels in our class. I don't want any of the kids to feel left out. Since I started reading "their" books, I think they're a little more willing to listen if I suggest something as a great book. I'm not just the teacher trying to shoo them out of the media center-- I've actually read the book and I'm recommending it. I've noticed some of my non-readers from the beginning of the year are starting to spend a little longer perusing the shelves. Many of the kids have also started suggesting books for me to read.
Checking out books seems like it's working so far, but I would love other suggestions for motivating the kids who aren't that fond of reading!

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking pieces are a big part of our reading follow ups this year. What's nice about having this piece is it allows you to see how the students are interpreting what we've read on a deeper level. So far, I've really enjoyed their quick critical thinking responses in whole and small group reading. In the beginning of the year, I was a little worried how I would make the transition from kindergarten critical thinking skills to third grade critical thinking skills. It turns out it's not so difficult once you get the hang of it. In our class, we typically have 1-2 books per week in whole group reading. The first follow up is usually a graphic organizer for the students to organize their thoughts for a writing piece. The second follow up is using the graphic organizer to complete said writing piece. The third follow up is a critical thinking brief constructed response (BCR). 


For example, we just completed Race to the South Pole, a nonfiction account of two explorers' expeditions to the South Pole. One of the explorers was successful, the other was not. After a couple days of follow ups, the final critical thinking piece was a letter from the successful explorer offering tips on how to make it to the South Pole and back. The letter was addressed to the explorer who didn't make it. Having to sit down and plan out a letter of this nature allows the students to use several details and events from the story. They had to sequence the story and think about all the preparations the successful explorer put in place. They had to choose what they felt were the most important decisions the successful explorer made, and they had to put all their support together in a cohesive paragraph.  In small group reading, I usually have a critical thinking question for an end-of-the-book BCR. We recently read a book about a family at a camp out. After the full week of reading and different follow ups, the question was: "List the items the family needed for their camp out. Put a star next to the item you think is the most important. Using details and evidence from the story, explain why you think the starred item is the most important." Critical thinking questions allow me to see their comprehension on many different levels. The added bonus is that the kids often get a kick out of a question asking them to choose or explain what they think is best (go figure). For more critical thinking resources visit The Critical Thinking Co., a site with different grade level materials to implement critical thinking lessons in all subject areas. 


How do you use critical thinking in your classroom?

Whole and Small Group Reading

I have never been completely comfortable with teaching reading—which is weird, because I always enjoyed it more than math. (Ironically, I love teaching math.) At the beginning of last year, small group reading was my arch nemesis. I got the general idea and the purpose for small group time, but I don't think I ever got the timing and pacing down right. It truly is a science to take 12 minutes and chock them full of meaningful content and reading skills. I had all of last year to practice on my kindergartners and we finally found a routine that worked for us. I owe a lot of our routine to all of the small group videos available on the MCPS website. They were extremely helpful.


This year I've been thrown a curveball-- thy name is third grade. 


Yes, I know third graders have small group too, and the general idea is the same—but there's far more variety in the reading material. Third graders read novels! I've already been given the advice to plan out the full novel before we begin so that I'll have a framework to work within. It's kind of scary, and my respect for my grade school teachers grows exponentially every time I think about all the planning and executing that went on in my classrooms. 


Whole group reading will work a little differently as well. For several of the lessons, we will use Junior Great Books. The JGBs combine literature and shared inquiry to create a rich experience with the reading. It takes about a week to get through one story and all the follow up activities. We're starting our first JGB this Monday and I'm excited to see how it all plays out. We're reading Caporushes, a folktale based on Cinderella. Each student will have his/her own copy of the story, and we'll read it altogether. The follow ups include critical thinking pieces, BCR activities, and shared inquiry discussions. 


If you are interested in using Junior Great Books in your school, you can find information here: https://www.greatbooks.org/