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?