Lynn Burnham- January Post

I was a late-comer to the Weavers, but am so excited to be exploring the beautiful question of "how do we integrate standards into the inquiry process?"  We all come from different grade levels, different content areas, and there are a few of us who aren't currently  in a classroom. It is fascinating to me that we call still come back to this central question:  If we teach through an inquiry-based approach, is it still possible to meet the standards to which we (as teachers) and our students (as test-takers) are being held accountable for?  So at this point in the inquiry process, I have lots of questions, so I apologize that this post is mainly stream of consciousness....

Think:
I believe teachers are superheros...And Super Human.  Unlike our fictional friends, we don't have the luxury of made-up problems, or beautiful, fairy tale endings. It is a struggle as a teacher to try and do everything, and to do it all WELL and with intention.  More than ever, (especially this year) our feet are being held to the fire.  We have been inundated  with new district initiatives.  We are supposed to be at the level of full implementation of Common Core.  New tests, delivered via a new platform, are knocking at our door.  We are being evaluated through a framework that is broad, and by peers who have little, if no, "schema" about us.  We struggle with the balance between providing differentiation yet making sure all kids are proficient on grade level skills.  And yet we have to still deliver all of this while keeping in the mind the DPS virtue of "FUN."! Hmmm... like I said,  SUPERHUMAN!  Despite the to-do list above, we are still diving in, feet first, to explore this idea of Inquiry! Maybe this is our path to fun?


Puzzle:
The inquiry question my group has chosen to explore has created many new puzzles for me:

• Can a truly inquiry-based classroom be standards driven?  This question has opened a can of worms for me
• If we are planning an inquiry unit, do the standards go by the wayside while we allow students to let their own questioning take off ? Or are Standards always the foundation for the plan?
• Do I always have to plan with the end in mind, or with a standard in mind?  Or is it OK to reflect upon the lesson in hindsight and figure out what standards may have been covered?  This seems to allow for more flexibility in terms of the kids driving the direction of the inquiry based upon their authentic questions.
• If I plan around a standard, is this still allowing enough freedom for the inquiry process to drive itself?  OR does this lead to a "guided" inquiry?
• And then, is it still inquiry if I guide a lesson or guide my learners in a particular direction?
• Workshop and other instructional structures:  where does they fit in?  Can you blend inquiry into a workshop model?  can you still deliver differentiated instruction in the midst of Inquiry? What does this look like?
• What does Inquiry look like in an intervention setting?

Explore:

So I guess my next steps would be to immerse myself in my questions!

1)  I am fortunate that the first grade team has been open to sharing their planning and classrooms with me so that I can have a group of guinea pigs to work with!  This has been an incredibly fun, fun, fun time for me to connect back in to the classroom, and witness the incredible work our teachers are doing!

2) I am going to attempt to take a risk and try inquiry with an intervention group!  NOT AT ALL SURE what that will look like!

3) Attempt to answer my questions surrounding inquiry and standards!

Peeling the Fruit

Peeling the Fruit

I have been curious to try the routine “Peeling the Fruit” with my kiddos, but have struggled with the context in which to use it.  In LLI, we fly through a new book every day, so I couldn't figure out how to use one for this activity.  It finally occurred to me that I could use it as a sort of summative assessment.  Through all of our work with UbD this year, I have really started to try to plan more intentionally based on formative assessments, but I need to also incorporate some sort of summative assessment into my end of year program.  I needed some sort way to gauge whether or not I have connected my program to the essential question I came up with in the fall:  How does reading impact and enhance our lives?

I used this routine with all of the first and second graders that I have had the pleasure to work with this past year.  I decided to ask the kids the simple question “Why is reading important?” and had them sit quietly and record their responses onto sticky notes.  They then helped me to categorize their answers onto one chart.  I had given some initial thought to how the chart would be organized (what the different layers meant), so that helped immensely in the categorization. 

To be honest, I really thought that the vast majority of ideas would fall into the “skin” category.  I really thought that the kids I see would be so focused on reading at the skill level that they might not actually be able to make the connection between those skills and the more substantial reasons for reading.  But, here is how their ideas about “why reading is important” turned out:

Outside Skin (Reading Skills):

• ·         If you can read it, you can spell it
• ·         You need to know what texts or letters say
• ·         So you can read “flooently”
• ·         So you can get better
• ·         So you can read
• ·         Figure out tricky words

Middle (Connections:  Academic, home, school, etc.)

• ·         It makes you smart
• ·         We got to learn math and science and read the books
• ·         Because you have to read to be smarter
• ·         Words are everywhere
• ·         It is important because people need help
• ·         So we can move on to a new high school
• ·         Reading is important. If you can read newspapers you can read really hard words.
• ·         It helps us learn
• ·         Reading is important because if I need to read something like a chart of food and I want a cupcake and I need to know does this store have cupcakes?
• ·         You can read to find out how to do something.

Core (How reading can enhance life)

• ·         It is good for you.  It is fun.
• ·         You have to have fun.
• ·         So if you marry someone and they have a baby you can read to them
• ·         Boss gives you papers and instructions for work
• ·         It will help you be what you want to be
• ·         Read instructions and instruction manuals to know how to do things
• ·         My mom reads all day
• ·         So you can get a job
• ·         To work
• ·         Sometimes you read for fun to listen to stories
• ·         Reading can help you with your job
• ·         If you don’t know how to read you can’t have a job
• ·         Sometimes you read for fun to listen to stories

I must say I was pleasantly surprised!!!  They really are making connections between the skills they are working SO HARD on, and the benefits and outcome to all of that hard work!  Some even stated “because it is fun!”  That, in itself, is a victory with struggling readers.  I am so excited to use this routine again next year.  Now that I have been introduced to it, it would be so great to use it at the beginning of the year, and then at the end of the year, and measure the change in ideas.  It was really neat to see these kids extend their thinking, and go much deeper than I gave them credit for!!

Zoom In

After looking at my instruction through the planning lens of UbD, I have been working on trying to infuse a little creativity into my LLI lessons rather than sticking to the lesson format provided by the program.  One way I have tried to do this is in the way I do the book introduction.  Although it took longer than the usual intro, I chose to use Zoom In with a group of 2^nd graders, one of whom is an ELA student.  It is important during the intro to be able to implant and talk about new words and vocabulary.  The nonfiction book I chose to use was titled All About Boats, and there were many concepts and words the kids may not have had any schema on.  Zoom In allowed us to take a very close look at the pictures while discussing all of the different details the kids noticed.  I was really excited at how much information the kids were able to pull from simply looking deeply at the photos.

I chose two images.  The first was of a house boat, and the corresponding discussion is next to each photo.  I noticed that as the photo expanded, the kids seamlessly synthesized the new information they were observing, with very little guidance from me.  This routine worked like a charm!

I think I see the trees.

I see the house.

Palm Trees.

The beach… Mexico.

Close up beach house.

Oh wow.

There’s another building on top of that building.

I think its going to get taller and taller and taller.

They have a lot of plants.  Their house is a plant garden.

Teacher: “How has your thinking changed?”

You can see bigger.

First I thought it was a close up beach house.  Now I think it’s an apartment.

Wait!  I think it’s on a boat.

Teacher “Why do you say that?”

From here to here it looks tilted.  On close up it doesn’t look tilted.

G was right!

It’s a house boat!

It’s on the water!

“So what do you predict the book will be about?”

Boats.

The next photo I chose was a tug boat.

 

I think this is a boat that catches crab and fish. 

It looks like it can crash through ice.

This looks like a fishing pole.

It brings up one of those cages.

Teacher:  "You have lots of schema on this."

I usually watch this show called "Deadliest Catch."

 Oh.

I think that thing is one of those things that goes down with the cage.

Maybe it is pulling a boat.  A tiny boat.  I think it’s a rope tied to something. 

I guess G was right! But it’s huge instead.

I think this big boat isn’t doing anything.  The little boat is pulling.  I think the little machine is very, very strong.

They are a very strong boat that moves the huge boat.

They are strong. Their job is to pull boats!

Teacher: “These are called Tug Boats.”

In debriefing about Zoom In, I asked the kids, “What does this routine teach us about looking at the whole picture?” and they responded:

It teaches me about how you zoom out.

So you can know what’s going on.

Its important to see the whole thing.

You have to zoom out and see the whole picture.

I really enjoyed this activity, and was really pleased by the conversation that was generated, and the synthesis it promoted prior to reading a new book.  I can’t wait to use it again in the future!

Headlines for UbD Vowel Study

I have been lucky enough to begin planning a unit on Vowels with the first grade team.  As I have mentioned often, I struggle with designing a unit around a basic skill.  However, it was through the planning process with this team that I have realized that even something as simple as learning about vowels can be much more interesting to students when it is planned with intention and purpose:  Planned with the end in mind.

Although this plan is messy (as Andrea says, “Planning IS messy!), it is a snapshot of how this unit is beginning to evolve.

The enduring understandings we have established for this unit are:

·         Vowels are essential in every word in the English language

·         Vowels impact how other phonemes sound: “Vowels Drive the Word”

·         Vowel sounds change for a variety of reasons

·         Understanding vowels impacts your reading and writing

The essential question we have developed is:

How does and understanding of how vowels work help us in our reading and writing?

The key knowledge and skills students will acquire are:

·         Vowels are in every syllable

·         What is a syllable?

·         Vowels say short sounds unless something changes it

·         There are always rule-breakers!

We also thought that it is critical that teachers use common language in instruction (critical for transfer between intervention class and the classroom, and between grade levels).  Some of the common language we have identified so far is:

·         Syllable

·         Vowel

·         Consonant

·         Letter name vs. sound

·         Long sound

·         Short sound

·         Schwa

·         Different sounds (rule breakers) such as mud sounds, sounds from a different linguistic/cultural origin

One of the best tools used throughout this study has been the creation of an anchor chart.  The chart is a visual tool the kids can use to remind them of all the “funky” things that vowels can do in our language.  It was actually eye-opening to me to realize that there aren’t many exceptions to the rules, and that they can be categorized quite neatly on to one chart!

Although this UbD Plan is still “under design” for next year, I have been able to begin to shift some of my instruction this year by incorporating common language and more direct instruction surrounding vowels.  I was curious to see what my kids have learned about vowels, and what they know about the job vowels do.  We first brainstormed all of the things we know about vowels and I wrote these ideas down on a chart.  I was actually really excited that the girls were so able to recall and quickly articulate the rules they know about vowels (enduring understandings?).  

We talked about how these characteristics make vowels very important letters in the English language, and the impact they have upon our ability to read and pronounce words correctly.  I then modeled a headline for them, and then asked the girls to come up with their own…  I asked them to imagine they had to sell a magazine article about vowels, and that they needed to come up with a catchy way to title that article.  And here is what they came up with:

Padlet Article on Assessment and What Makes You Say That?

I am often struck by the fact that I am completely, 100% reliant upon assessment in my instruction (Running Records).  This sometimes seems really daunting, but through our books study of Understanding By Design, I have realized this is OK!  Where I have found I need to grow is in the feedback I give to my students.  I have always used assessment to drive my instruction, but I have not been skilled in sharing that information with the student. 

On Michelle’s padlet, I found the article “Bowling with Your Eyes Closed:  Students Need True Formative Assessment” by Ben Johnson. 

http://padlet.com/mmorrisjones/AssessingUnderstand/wish/23019895

The portion of the article that struck me most was “Assessment provides needed information for the teacher to adjust instructional activities, but that is a by-product of the real reason for doing it.  True formative assessment engages students and puts them in charge of their own learning.” 

I also found David Wees’ compilation “56 Different Examples of Formative Assessment” on the Padlet to be a great resource and suggest taking a look at it!

http://padlet.com/mmorrisjones/AssessingUnderstand/wish/23019783

When I noticed that this resource mentions running records as a formative assessment, I made an immediate connection.  My question became:  could what I do on a daily basis to assess my students and drive my instruction actually be used as part of a thinking routine if I engaged my students in feedback? By adding the simple question “what made you say that?” when a student stumbled on a word, or (more importantly) self-corrected a word, feedback had much more impact.  I was able to gain insight into what the student was thinking at the point of error, and help the student articulate the strategies they used to make a correction.  This is such a simple way to enhance meta-cognition!  I was so excited to realize that something so simple could so greatly enhance feedback!

In the past, I would have quickly glanced at a student’s running record, picked one strategy I thought the reader needed to focus on, and incorporate that into my next mini-lesson.   Typically this teaching point would be focused at the skill level on word attack skills:  visual, meaning, or structure.  After reading this article, and incorporating feedback, I have noticed that my students have shifted from exclusively using phonics to figure out tricky words (or appealing to the teacher for help, and are now using meaning to help when they are in a tricky spot. 

When I began working with the student represented in the running record pictured above, she was a phonics queen!  She could absolutely slaughter a word!  By the time she came to the end of a page, she was exhausted and might as well have been speaking a foreign language based on the way the words sounded when she read them.  After MONTHS of feedback (explicitly showing her what she did when she read out loud to me (I would even re-read her running records out loud exactly as she had read them), followed by LOTS of support and reminders to think about “what would make sense” when she was caught on a word, the work has paid off!  Her fluency has increased by 300% (!), and the mistakes she makes are typically meaningful.  She often thinks aloud (“what’s that?”) while reading, and although she still falls back on phonics, she no longer perseverates on a word to the point of exhaustion.  The use of explicit, immediate feedback from her running records has made such an impact! 

In shifting my view of running records from just formative assessments, and viewing them as part of a thinking routine, I now have a regular formative assessment that has a huge impact on both the student and teacher.  They are no longer just a measure of how a student decodes, but serve as real-time snapshots of how as student uses his/her schema, inferences, and questions to navigate tricky text.

Chalk talk

Every year I seem to struggle with using the Thinking Strategies in a reading intervention setting.  I feel very restricted by the LLI (Leveled Literacy Intervention) program I use- both in time and in flexibility.  This year, however, Michelle has helped me to look at the thinking strategies and routines through the lens of skills.  They can be used down to the word level. 

This has also inspired me to dive into a few of the elements backwards design.  My first attempt at this was to “try” and come up with an enduring understanding that is an umbrella for my entire program.  I often get bogged down in the “skills” kids use in reading, and how they are progressing in the use of each individual skill and how they are progressing in integrating all of those skills to become more proficient readers… sometimes overall comprehension seems to go by the wayside (or we run out of time to talk more deeply about the books we are reading.)

The attempt at identifying an enduring understanding that would encapsulate my instruction was an exercise in frustration initially.  I think I was trying to make it too profound, something really “meaty” that makes me sound like I am the purveyor of some great secret… I finally realized it is REALLY, REALLY simple!  Here it is: How does reading impact and enhance our lives?  There!

Once I simplified my own thinking and synthesized all of the jumbled ideas I had floating around in my head, this simple enduring understanding really gave me some clarity in my planning, instruction, and assessment.

The first thing I thought I needed to know about my kids was what they actually THINK reading is.  Often, kids who struggle with reading become passive reading participants within the classroom and at home- they become masters at coping with text that is too difficult, magicians at gaining information from sources other than the printed letter.  I wanted to know what my students actually think we are asking them to do when they read.  I jumped in with a simple variation of Chalk Talk, in which kids responded to the question “What is reading?”

Some of the comments:

·         Reading can make you a better reader

·         Reading can make [you read] different books

·         Reading is [an] exercise to make you fluent

·         You can learn new words

·         Reading is something that you can learn about new books and new juicy words

·         Reading is important because you need to learn new words

·         Reading is important because if you love then you want to get a new or a same book

Although we didn’t get to the level of silent conversation with our peers, this exercise served as a very eye-opening assessment for me. Even though the kids had some ideas about what reading is, or how we read, these connections were very surface.  I was impressed that the word fluent came up, and the mention of learning new words, but there was no mention of HOW we learn those new words, and why, in fact, we read.  This simple routine gave me a direction for my instruction, and made me realize how important the articulation of why we read is so critical to our students.

What Makes You Say That?- Take 2

Connect:  After using the "What Makes You Say That?" routine with my 4th graders surrounding a Volcanoes book, I decided it might be interesting to use the same idea with a 2nd grade reading group.  This is an interesting group to work with because it is three boys, two of whom are ELA students.  Although this text was a very simple fiction story about the "Fixit Family," I thought it presented an opportunity to make a prediction and then dive into the information the students used from the text to "make them say that."

Extend:  The most interesting, and surprising, outcome of doing this simple routine with this specific group of students was the formative assessment it became for me.  This group of boys fearlessly dove into using the graphic organizer to capture their thinking, and made attempts at using the language of the book in their predictions and explanations.  Even without the support of the spelling in the story (they did this with the books closed), they used other information to help them in supporting their thinking.  They even wrote their answers using complete sentences, re-writing the sentence stems in each of the thought bubbles (without being told to do so)!  I was so impressed, and realized this was a direct reflection of the writing they have been doing in their regular classrooms!  And... their predictions were spot on! 

Challenge:  In the future I would push myself to use this routine with this same group of boys, but in a text in which they would have to infer more deeply. This prediction was very surface-level, but it did give me some important information about their vocabulary use in English, as well as their success with using English language sentence structure- really important aspects of reading instruction and speaking that I often overlook!

What Makes You Say That?

Connect:  I decided to focus on Predictions with my group of 4th grade intervention students as we were concluding a short novel in our Lit Circle.  The premise of the entire novel was the question of whether or not there were occasions in which little white lies MIGHT be appropriate.  The majority of the novel focused on the main character's problem of having dropped her grandmother's favorite necklace down the toilet:  should she just flush it and never tell, or somehow get it out before anyone would know (quite the problem for a 3rd grader...the story does go a little deeper than this!).  Throughout the chapters, the main character is challenged by her twin sister not to tell any lies, which compounds her problem of the necklace.  Anyhow, before the conclusion of the story, I asked my students to write their predictions on a graphic organizer, and then justify their prediction by answering "What makes you say that?"

Extend:  The interesting this about this routine was that each student's prediction was different, but all of their What Makes You Say That comments were the same. This helped me to know that the kids had, in fact, determined the imporatant lesson from the story:  that telling the truth can be the best option, and sometimes keeps you from getting in to trouble.  It was so facinating that each prediction contained individual synthesis of the events in the story and each student's schema from their own personal experiences.  For instance, one student said that Grandma will figure out that the neclace was in the toilet, and be very understanding of the fact that it was an accident (personal experience, perhaps?).  Another prediction was that the girl was

going to reach in and get it out so she wouldn't have to lie, or tell the truth-  a good, conflict-free ending?  And the final prediction was that the girl just tells the truth so that someone ELSE can get it out- sometimes it's best to get help!  All answers to the question of "What makes you say that?" focused around the tenent that the girl decided that however the problem was solved, she had to tell the truth.  My favorite resonse, however, went as far as to state that "in a lot of books that I read, everything turns out all right."  Hilarious!

Challenge:  I think that the more I use this routine, the deeper the kids will get in making inferences.  Although they used a lot of their own background knowledge and the overt facts from the book, the responses were still a little surface.  I think the simplicity of this book lended itself to simple responses, so I might need to use this routine with a text that has a more complex problem and perhaps doesn't come up with all of the answers for the reader.

I Used to Think, Now I Think

I Used to Think, Now I Think

Connect:  I decided to use this routine in a different way with a group of 2nd grade reading intervention students.  Rather than using it in the context of a text we were reading, I decided to use it as a "check in" on the affective beliefs of my students as readers...  I wanted to make sure that these kids, with whom I have worked with for 2-3 years, were now truly seeing themselves as readers, and not strugglers... I must admit, it was a little scary for me! What if participating in my groups for so long had actually "damaged" their view of themselves as readers?

Student Thoughts:

I used to think:

"...that I would never be able to read."

"...reading was very hard.  I felt not very smart."

"...reading was super hard and I was not very good at reading.

Now I think:

"...I am one of the best readers in my class!"

"...I am a great reader. I feel great because I can read!"

"...I am so good!  I think I can read 100 chapter books!"

Extend:  Whew!  What I learned from the student responses was REALLY gratifying.  These three really do see themselves as readers!  I love their authentic and honest responses.  This routine helped them to articulate how their view of themselves as readers has altered over time, and that they truly have come so far.  It helped me to see the resilience in young children, and the impact that their fantastic classroom teachers have had upon them. It takes a village, and in this one the kids are enjoying the rewards of hard work and are moving forward in an environment full of support and recognition of success.

Challenge:  I am shocked that such a simple routine could have such an impact upon me!  I am hopeful that it had an impact on the kids in terms of actually thinking about how far they have come and that they are successful.  My challenge is to integrate this routine in to all of my groups so that it can be used as a simple check-in of synthesis, as well as determining importance within text. In terms of using it as an "Affective Check, " I would love to use it in the same manner again with all of my intervention groups.

See, Think, Wonder

Connect:  As an intervention teacher who pulls small groups of students for a limited amount of time a few days a week, I have really struggled with how to implement the thinking routines into my program.  I have wondered how to use a routine within the confines of a fairly strict reading "program."  I finally realized that I needed to take the risk, detour from my curriculum and just see where the kids thinking would take us.  I AM SO GLAD I DID!  Rather than using the typical picture walk and vocabulary discussion to preview a book I was going to be using in a guided reading group, I decided to use See, Think, Wonder around an interesting photo I took from that book.  What the students did not know was that the title and topic of this non-fiction book was Volcanoes.

Extend:  The kids took some quiet time to look at the picture and notice the strange details.  As a group we then listed all of their "See, Think, Wonders" on a group chart.

What I loved about using this routine was that the students were able to go deeper with their thinking than just the surface "information" visible in the photo.  The "see" step in the routine allowed us to list those surface elements that we so often talk about when we do a book preview.  It was within the "Think" and "Wonder" steps that we could go beyond the image.  I was so impressed with the thoughts and wonderings the students came up with!  They came up with wonderings and questions about what happened to create such a scene of abandonment and destruciton.  They all concluded that some sort of natural disaster had to have played a part.  What astounded me the most was that the kids didn't just jump in to make a prediction about what happened!  They were lost in the wonderings!  I am always so quick to ask "What do you think happened" and this process helped me to slow down and let the kid think about the picture.  In turn, the payoff in slowing down with this routine was that when it came to reading this book, the kids were able to use thier thinking to help them with challenging vocabulary within the text.  I also believe it enhanced how they determined importance within the book and their overall synthesis of new information. 

Challenge:  I  discovered in doing this routine that the kids were already familiar with it (thanks to Val!). This made it SO much easier to jump right into the routine since the kids already knew the process.  It truly illustrated the power of routine, and how this can connect BEYOND the regular classroom in to other instructional groupings.  My personal challenge is to find a couple of routines that I can use as a regular part of my group rituals-  these can then become a direct connection to what the kids are using in their classrooms.  I  think this can be such a powerful connection for an intervention program that has (self-admittedly) been very disconnected from the classroom.

Headlines

 

Headlines

Connect:  The RTI team used the headlines routine at the end of our February PLC which focused on differentiation.  The focus of this routine was to synthesize the work the staff had just done in generating a staff-wide list of all of the different assessments we already have in place within our building.   Our PLC time is usally packed so full of information which can get overwhelming, so we thought using headlines would help the staff realize they already had many assessment tools in place to help them differentiate within the classroom.

Extend:  After generating lists of assessments used, staff participated in a group discussion about the differences between formative and summative assessments.  This staff discussion was so interesting to me because it confirmed what I already know:  we have an incredibly thoughtful staff that knows each student as an individual. The RTI team's ultimate hope was that through discussion, our staff could come to a more common understanding of how we use this information within our building throughout the whole RTI process.  We believe it is important for staff to realize that they ALREADY have the tools to differentiate their instruciton for ALL learners.

Challenge:  The headlines the staff came up with are great, and ended up being such a wonderful formative assessment for me. I noticed from the formative assessment headlines that teachers understand the importance of the information they gain from "everyday in the trenches."  Observation, quick tasks, and conversation are all critical tools to help scaffold instruction.  These headlines (generally) appear to have an optimistic tone to them: "You've come a long way baby," "It's all formative," "Just in time..."  The summative headlines, however, help to uncover and expose the pressures teachers feel everyday within their jobs:  "Teacher panics:  It's Too Late,"  "It's not who you know, it's WHAT you know," The Endless Road,"  "Where the Sidewalk Ends..."  It is amazing that such a quick routine can have such a powerful undertone!  From this information, I am challenged by my own next steps:  How can I help support teachers in their assessment process? What can I do to help alleviate the pressures classroom teachers feel? How can we streamline our assessment process so we are assessing "smarter, not harder."  Lots of directions to go with this one...