Opening Minds 7-9

     Social action...moral development....problem solving. I read chapter 7 the day after I finished Wonder by RJ Palacio. My mind was already turning before I began this new chapter of Opening Minds about teaching kids to choose kindness, about teaching empathy. (Side note if you haven't read Wonder, you should. If you have kids in middle school, you must read it with them. I know this will be a book I will save to read with my own kids when they are old enough to discuss choosing kindness in our world.)
   
     Nurturing moral development isn't something that I will be assigned a color on, based on my performance but it is something that we all know is essential to build, discuss and teach in the classroom. We may never know how we touch student's lives by building their character, but we know we do when we help them look at situations differently, and help them solve problems, and chose kindness. When we talk about books or study writers we aren't just developing reading and writing skills we are learning about people and thinking about our own lives as well as the lives of others in a larger context. Yes, these talks build comprehension but I want kids to read books as a way of understanding themselves and others. Big comprehension is found when kids can take their thinking to the next level after reading and think about how what they read applies to their own lives, to their own world.

     As the heading in chapter 7 reads, "Taking moral development seriously", this chapter was a good reminder of how we as teachers can do this and help kids solve problems through language.

"Conflicts offer opportunities to make clear that we value considerate, empathetic behavior and disapprove of non considerate behavior, making casual links to emotional consequences." 


     My hope for my own daughter is that their teachers all take moral development seriously. It is not enough to just learn the content, I want my children to also learn how to be good people, productive members of society that care. I know that what I teach at home may not be enough. They will need teachers helping them problem solve along the way when school conflicts arise. This reminds me that I am teaching kids throughout the year to choose kindness, and nudging them to understand others who are different from them.


     Chapter 8 reminds us of the power of thinking together. It reminded me of how I need to model what it looks like, sounds like to REALLY listen. (I myself need more practice at REALLY listening to others in my life!) To have dialogue with each other that is meaningful. I hope to as the chapter says, to teach my students to become adept at listening, set goals to learn their partner's views. This is something I worked hard on last year. We talked a lot about how other people's comments, thoughts and experiences help build our own understandings whether we agree or disagree. Hearing another point of view makes you think more clearly about your own point of view, whether it changes your mind or not.

I loved when Johnston reminded me that "turn and talk" doesn't mean merely turn and talk; it means building a conversation. Building a conversation means building on each other's ideas. Listening is the foundation of our conversation and it requires that we are open to the possibility of changing our thinking.


I LOVE this language for introducing turn and talk at the beginning of the year!

Thank you to everyone who has been posting about this book. This reminds me of the power of sharing refelections. So many posts have made me think about this book in ways I would not have done on my own.


     

Opening Minds Chapter 4-6

     These two posters came up on my Pinterest page last week and seemed like the perfect companions to sum up my thinking about part one of Opening Minds. The word yet.... keeps echoing in my brain. 


     Practicing
     My three year old daughter LOVES to draw. I am constantly telling her how good she is at drawing, coloring, painting, etc. She loves to draw the same things again and again such as flowers, a sun, butterflies, etc. This week with Johnston nudging me in my ear... I started to tell her how hard she works on her drawings. She drew a dragon and I told her I noticed how she tried something new. I commented on what she did specifically in her drawings and what effect that had on her pictures. I don't have this down ...yet!


     Chapter 4 
     This was an important chapter on the reminders of process vs person oriented praise. I think I give process oriented feedback often BUT I love to praise, praise, praise to keep kids confidence and motivation high and I know that at times my praise is person oriented. "You're so good at...I'm proud of you...., etc"


     My big takeaway here is to keep my feedback process oriented and to focus on the effort, perseverance, strategies kids are showing and trying. Their effort and the strategies they take risks to try matter, and I must show the value of these through my language. In turn their language with each other will mirror my own. 


     I need to continue to use language that shows the consequences of process or effort. I need to notice small shifts students are taking as readers, writers, or mathematicians. "[You did this] and if you [tried this], then [it would have this effect]" These are the comments that hold power to make an impact on students climbing towards goals. 


     The big take take away.... I can give feedback where kids leave feeling positive without giving constant praise. 


Chapter 5
     This chapter defined a lot of my goals for the year. I want to have a group of students who ask lots of questions, think critically about topics and have dialogue with each other. I want students to focus on meaning making in book discussions and to listen intently to one another. Last year we really stopped to take notice when someone else made us think about something in a new way, whether we disagreed or agreed was not important, it was the fact that the person sharing made us think in a new way, which in turn stretched our own understanding. 
     
     I like the point of how disagreeing can help us learn. Johnston reminds us that interesting discussions help us think more deeply. Thinking deeply happens when we listen so carefully to one another. I know modeling how to listen carefully to one another is an important first nine weeks goal. I want to help students understand the value of listening carefully and participating in group discussions to become "critically literate".


     I kept thinking about book partnerships, whole class interactive read alouds and book clubs (reading groups). I want to use language to guide students to have these deep conversations with each other. 


     


     
     

Opening Minds Chapters 1-3

     We are teachers. We put our heart and soul into our profession. Our words are our tools in which we build learners. The words we use inspire, motivate, encourage, change, and teach. Our language matters. The messages we send our students matter. I was excited to start reading Opening Minds by Peter Johnson to learn more about how to talk to students in positive ways. I loved his book Choice Words. It is one I often flip back through to remind myself of positive ways to talk to kids. 
   
     As I read chapter 1-3 tonight I kept thinking about my language with kids. Do my words allow kids to take risks, to put forth effort, to have a mindset that they can learn if they try? Do I feed into children's fixed characteristics about themselves? Our most powerful tool as a teacher is our language and these chapters have me reflecting on how I can improve the messages I send to kids to empower them to want to change.
   
     "A single comment can profoundly change the academic and moral choices children make." This is powerful. Words can build or break students.

    "I also show you that our language choices have serious consequence for children's learning and for who they become as individuals and as a community. I help you make productive choices, because the language we chose in our teaching changes the worlds children inhabit now and those they will build in the future. Make no mistake wehn we are teaching for today, we are teaching into tomorrow."

     I also thought hard when reading about the fixed performance frame vs the dynamic learning frame. This is a mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes that people are born with certain traits. I kept thinking about my upcoming third graders who already have beliefs about themselves as learners. These are the kids coming in who have already have fixed mindsets about themselves such as, "I can't write. I'm bad at math. I hate reading because it's hard for me."  How can I change these fixed messages? How will I use my language to get kids to believe that their hard work matters and this year can be a new year full of new possibilities and outcomes based on their hard work and perseverance?
   
     A person with a dynamic learning frame or a growth mindset believes that their effort will result in success. They work hard when faced with a difficult problem. They feel smart when encountering a challenge. How will I use my language to send the message that effort is more important than achievement?  We all know these kids too. These are the kids who work so hard at what they do. They place value on their own learning and try, try, and try again when faced with challenges. Johnston describes placing emphasis on process vs performance.


     I like the idea of telling kids at the beginning of the year, "Your brain is changing and so is the way you experience ideas. Expect to change."
   
     Johnston says we want kids to say, "I'm not good at this yet." and to take steps to change that.

     I thought about a beginning of the year activity while reading chapter 3. Johnston talks about deciding which things in life are "essentially fixed, beyond our power to change, and which things we can change (even if it's just a tiny bit)." I was thinking students could as a group brainstorm things in the classroom that they could change vs things that were beyond their control to change. We could brainstorm stereotypes or fixed mindsets kids have about themselves that they could have the power to change...through hard work and effort, perseverance! Last year Patrick Allen inspired me to do beginning of the year read alouds on the theme of persistence. This talk seems like a perfect companion. While reading I kept hearing myself ask kids, "How will this year be different? How can you change the messages you tell yourself about your abilities" I keep thinking about how I will honor hard work and effort. 


     "Children must experience many things as at least potentially changeable, not just aspects of the world outside them, but also aspects of themselves-their learning, their identities, their intellect, their personal attributes, and their ways of relating to others."


      I'm excited to keep reading to hear examples or nudges to use my language to change messages kids have fixed abut themselves as I read on.


    Thanks so much to the organizers of #cyberpd. I can't wait to read other's thoughts!


    

Pathways to the Common Core

     To prepare for the switch to common core this year I have begun reading Pathways to the Common Core. I've also been reading Lucy Calkin's Curricular Plans for Reading and Writing Workshop. I love Lucy Calkin's voice in her writing. I find myself always nodding my head in agreement while I read. She has a way with language that seems to capture my thinking in such a wise way that I myself could not articulate. I can imagine her using this wise language with kids, guiding them always to keep growing as readers and writers.


Here are just a few big points from the first few chapters of this book I want to save or "make sticky".  My thinking is in the purple:)

• "Students need to become strong writers, and to do that, they need expert instruction, time to write, and meaningful opportunities for writing a wide range of informational, argumentative, and narrative texts. They must also become proficient readers of many complex texts, and that means they need expert instruction and opportunities to read a wide range and very deep volume of texts."  Time!!! Students need time to read AND time to write. My goal for this year is to talk less and let kids read and write more. I am famous for taking a mini lesson and turn it into a MAXI lesson! 

• "It is very possible that your readers are mostly reading for plot, grasping the gist of what they read, moving rapidly across book". Model, model, walk together through deep reading, what it looks like, sounds like. Give multiple opportunities to make meaning together through discussion so readers read to extend meaning.  

• "Students should be doing lots and lots of in school reading. Students learn to read by reading. Watch your strong readers. One factor they have in common? They read a lot." Calkins often references time for eyes on print. I think setting up a culture or community of readers, creating a buzz in the room for reading is the #1 priority in month 1 of reader's workshop.  I want to rev up their eyes on print time at school AND at home! 

• Other big "sticky points" are balancing fiction reading with nonfiction reading, having students provide evidence to support their thinking and placing equal emphasis on both reading and writing. 

     At the beginning of the book Calkins tells teachers to read the common core standards as if they were gold, knowing that they are not perfect. Attitude matters and I think approaching change with a positive attitude is important. Is change stressful, overwhelming, and scary? Yes, yes, and yes but I know many other teachers are going through the same challenges. I'm hoping the changes bring about lots of conversations as teachers tackle them together.

The Pause

     Tracey at Thinking Stems got me thinking about what I learned  this year and about reading partnerships. I learned kids need lots of time to read, time and practice to take pauses while reading, space to think, time to write and people to talk to along the way. 
     
     I've written about how I encouraged students to pause to save and pause to think this year. It's the pause, I believe that builds comprehension. It's the pause that lets you know the book has you. It's that moment as a reader where you decide, "Wait... this is really important! I need this information or this event to stick to my brain, or, I know I need to remember this." It's also the moment where for me as a reader I wish someone was reading along with me so we could both pause and stop to talk about what just happened, or what was just learned. That's where the thinking comes in, the comprehension, the deep plunge into the book, to gain new understandings or deeper meanings. When students truly are submarine reading, or reading deep for meaning they are able to pause to think, to connect, to notice, to wonder, to infer. 
     
     I also started thinking more about reading partnerships and how to better foster them next year. Pausing to save and think, and jotting ideas give readers a starting point for conversations. These conversations about what kids paused to think and save are the heart of reading, of meaning making. 
     
     Some of my very best lessons this year were when I pulled out  quality picture books I had gotten at the Jr. Library Guild Sale. Together as a class we simply dove in, pausing to save important information and pausing to think abut what we read. Our conversations along the way helped clear up confusion, and extend meaning. They often gave us next steps to learn more about what we had read by going to YouTube or Wikipedia.
     
     My goal for next year is to guide kids to have these conversations within book partnerships about what they saved, and what they thought about what they were reading. I'm not so sure beyond guided reading and whole class lessons if we made time for this. Towards the end of the year I noticed several of my boys chose to read their books together. They were motivated when they were allowed to talk and jot together. I wish I had pushed for this earlier in the year. Kids jotted like crazy this year but I'm not sure they had the time built in to discuss their important thoughts with others, especially with others reading the same book!


     I also got to thinking I love to hear about parts in books that make other readers pause. I'm so excited to read Choice Words this summer because I know a group of teachers will be reading it along with me. I know their thinking will push my own thinking. Which words will get them thinking, and why?? This is where conversations hold power for me. Other readers sharing their own pauses in places I had not thought to pause will make my own understandings stronger. So here's to a goal for next year ... to help kids build partnerships where they can share their pauses more often and notice their thinking grew through conversation. All in all I hope this inspires some passion for reading!
     
      
     

Getting our feet wet with Informational writing

   



     Do you ever just pull a book to read and midway through realize you have a whole new lesson, new focus that will last for days based on your kid's enthusiasm? This happened this week. I picked up the book, If You Lived Here Houses of the World. I had read a review of it on A Year of Reading so I knew it must be good. 
     
     We are starting a study of cultures so I thought it would be a great non fiction read aloud to start sparking discussion of cultures. Each double page spread has a type of house and text to describe where in the world the house can be found and what is is made of.  


Readers jot main ideas and key details - as we read we jotted down the important details about each house we wanted to remember


Readers sketch and add words to their sketches to build understanding - after jotting notes we realized our words couldn't capture the description. We needed sketches of these houses along with words to explain what we saw


Readers think about what they read - after saving important information about each house, we jotted down our thinking (inferences, why we would or wouldn't want to live in the house)


Readers read across texts to research - after reading about a few of these homes the kids wanted to learn more. We went online and first searched for more images on several types of homes and then read short articles on wikipedia about a few


Readers write to share their learning - partners took their notes and wrote about what they had learned. They added facts to inform and tried to add opinions, voice, and word choice to entertain


After trying this with a buddy students then got to choose their own type of house to research and write about independently. They read, jotted and are trying out a short informational writing piece.


Who knew this book would spark such enthusiasm! Hopefully it is gearing us up for a larger informational report.

"Crack open" a line

     This week we tried out "cracking open" lines authors write. We learned that to analyze is to examine details carefully, break open the pieces to dig deeper. Analyzing is pausing to think about what you read, the heart of analyzing in my opinion is discussion. We talked about how in books there are many lines that the author puts in to show you something, to reveal something to you, in other words to urge you to THINK BIG!
     
  
    
      We read John Henry by Julius Lester. (Great book for figurative language!) At the end we found the line we knew we had to analyze, to "crack open" and discuss meaning.


"But whether it was a whisper or a thought, everyone had the same knowing at the same moment, Dying ain't important, everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living"


We discussed and jotted what we thought this line meant together. The students had to bring it back to the text and describe what in the book happened that made them think this. 


It was a great discussion and we will continue to "crack open" more lines together. I hope students will find these lines in their own books to think deeply about and write their thinking about.