*Journal articles, blogs, and newspapers will not count*
This workshop is meant for books. However, the format you read them in: print, ebook, or audiobook, is up to you.
I'll be reading Wiggins' The Best Class You Never Taught: How Spider Web Discussion Can Turn Students into Learning Leaders.
After attending Leah Mermelstein's visit in June, she suggested this book if you want to pursue the kinds of thinking she spoke about at the K-5 units of writing course.
After attending Leah Mermelstein's visit in June, she suggested this book if you want to pursue the kinds of thinking she spoke about at the K-5 units of writing course.
Please share the book and author you'll be reading in the comments below. You first have to login to Blogger, or your comment will be posted as anonymous and then you can always say "This is Michele" in your text. When you finish, leave a small book review of at least 3 sentences: The gist of the book's purpose, the best take away, and a universal quote from the text you think others might enjoy. No credit will be given for responses made after July 25.
If you wanted to share more, such as amazing resources the book contained, the thing that annoyed you or left you in disagreement, or other random opinions, go for it!
Book clubs are public discussions, so please do comment on other people's reviews. While not required, conversations and questions about other books are encouraged. If someone else posts a book that looks interesting, feel free to read the same title.
I'm reading: Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers - Kathy Short, Jerome Harste, Carolyn Burke
ReplyDeleteYay Inquiry! Hold on to _A Place for Wonder_ as you read this... can't wait for your takeaways.
DeleteQuote for the day:
DeleteEducation, first and foremost, is about learning. It is about outgrowing ourselves through inquiry.
Brilliant.
So this is NOT a light easy read and there's no way I'll finish before the 25th so I'll let you know about the 3 chapters I've read so far.
DeleteInquiry as a Mindset. Not attached to science or history or only in May but all year, all day across the curriculum. That was a doozy to digest (still not sure I get it). The authors introduce their Authoring Cycle which helped and then it gets applied as Inquiry. Simple version: Start with what the students know from life, engage in discovery, collaborate, reflect, present.
The engage part I really liked. They push 1-2 weeks of all materials out for kids to explore BEFORE asking them for their Project Question. This get them past the generic closed-ended questions (Do whales have teeth?). Leah Mermelstein suggested the same thing with (submerse?) can't remember her phrase. Especially for my young students I think this will be a game changer.
In the Literacy Cycle they do a fabulous job explaining how to get students to be more independent in their editing, collaborating on craft, and choosing a variety of writing genres. I know the Multi-Age 2/3 teachers use this style. Still contemplating how it could work in K/1 but loved being challenged to see publishing in a new light.
Next part is titled "When Teachers and Parents Inquire." Could be cool!
So in library-world, what you're describing is called the recursive process: Children can be taught the procedures of active learning. It's like the saying "teach the hungry to fish instead of giving them fish" and then saying "here are the rules to fishing, we're going to do these for hunting, cooking, and farming too!" So... it sorta works, but it's a reach. Inquiry as a Life Philosophy (tm) is something a lot of library-world people have bought into and I find it a little precious but since there is so little true, independent inquiry in our curriculum, bringing the process into all areas of academics might be a revelation for our students. It certainly meshes well with growth mindset.
DeleteI’m reading Visual-Spatial Learners by Alexandra Shires Golon
ReplyDeleteWow this sounds like it is full of targeted practical tips! I'm poised to learn off you!
DeleteJust finished.... The gist of this book is that students can be put into two categories (really on a continuum) visual spatial and auditory sequential. Schools typically cater to the strengths of auditory sequential, and visual spatial students don’t preform as well. VS kids are kids who think in pictures. One take away for me is the book mentions a study that found 90% of a school’s special education population were visual spatial learners. This makes me think about my students and what I should be doing differently. The book was a quick read, and each chapter was filled with strategies for topics like reading comprehension, writing, organization, testing, etc.
DeleteQuote:”because visual spatial learners remember what they see and not necessarily what they hear, be sure your students are seeing and doing, not just hearing or reading.”
DeleteThanks for sharing Kristina.
DeleteI'm reading Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms. I'm hoping to find a little more joy for myself and my students.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued! I hope you find confirmation of some excellent things you already do as well as inspiration.
DeleteIn 2001 Finland came out of nowhere to perform very well on the PISA exams. They have shorter school days, with more built in break times, and a much more relaxed school environment. So how are they able to be so successful? The book is broken into 5 sections, each centering on main categories that will lead to greater joy in the classroom (for both teachers and students) which, in turn, will lead to increased learning. The 5 sections are: well being, belonging, autonomy, mastery, and mindset. Each section has 6 or 7 strategies to focus on. None of them were earth shattering revelations, but many of them got me thinking about ways I could make subtle shifts in my classroom environment or teaching repertoire to increase student learning. "Breathe fresh air", "bring in the music", and "learn on the move" offer possibilities that can easily be added with very little extra planning on my part. "Offer choices", "celebrate their learning", and "coach more" focus on tried-and-true strategies that "everyone" already knows, but it helped me to look for additional opportunities where I can incorporate them. Overall, an easy read that was more of a reminder of basic teaching ideas that I have learned and forgotten over the years (I found myself saying, "oh yeah, I remember that" rather frequently.)
DeleteThanks Josh! This sounds like a great refresher for teachers feeling crispy. I think the names of those 5 sections are really amazing- like you could structure classroom rules around those. "Learn on the move" reminds me of the ill fated year I tried a "busy boys" book club that met once a month and I would read to them *as we walked* the halls in the winter, outside if the weather was okay. They LOVED it. I found it stressful, but hey, it wasn't about me.
DeleteI'm going to be reading The Power of Our Words by Paula Denton. I'm looking forward to getting some tips about keeping my teacher talk brief and meaningful.
ReplyDeleteThis is Sarah O'Hare-it's showing up as unknown when I posted, sorry!
DeleteThanks Sarah. It's a good book and most of our school read it as a community professional read a few years ago so it's a good one for you to know.
DeleteI am reading Mindset - The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.
ReplyDeleteThis is Sarah Kachmaryk (mine also came up as unknown). :)
ReplyDeleteThis is on my summer reading list too. I want to reread it with a parent’s perspective now.
ReplyDeleteoooo, multiple lens re-readings... so smart! ;)
DeleteSara, Mindset blew me away. one of the most impactful books I've ever read, for sure!
This is Dawn Knapp. I just started reading my book this week. It is Doug Lemov's "Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College." This book came strongly recommended by a presenter at the Summer Math Institute for Teachers that I attended at RIT earlier this summer. Lemov has done extensive observations and research of what top teachers around the country (and world) do. I will comment again after I have dug in a bit more.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dawn. Never heard of it but sounds like TedTalk material!
DeleteThis is Sarah K. again.... and I read Mindset - The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. This book is about the power that mindset has on how we approach things and how one's mindset relates to their motivation, success, and achievement in any domain. One take-away from this book that I was intrigued by is that mindset really can impact every part of life, from sports to business to relationships to teaching. I personally think people can have a combination of the growth and fixed mindsets; but that one can be motivated to make changes from one to the other. I thought the book's stories and examples really were instrumental in providing insights as to what the other was talking about and made it more interesting. I also thought it was a bit too long and started out slow. A universal quote from the text (stated by Benjamin Bloom, an education researcher) that I think resonates with teachers is "What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn, if provided with the appropriate prior and current conditions of learning." Overall, I thought this book was worth reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts Sarah. I continue to reflect on this book and keep coming back to how fixed mindset people can be so threatened when making the shift to growth mindset... if it isn't their choice and they haven't bought into the benefit. I think there can be social-emotional implications in the classroom for teachers who just say "yay growth mindset" and begin. Getting the students to see the examples you mentioned is KEY, and preparing for resistance (I'm thinking of 3rd graders who have already decided they're not readers) means making these examples be their examples.
DeleteI agree with you, Sarah - I think everyone has both kinds of mindsets depending on what situation we are facing. For my students I hope to help them learn how to identify the two and determine if they are stuck for a "real" reason or a "mindset" reason. Sense?
ReplyDeleteThis is Dana Zink and I'm almost done reading The Joyful Classroom, Practical ways to engage and challenge students K-6. This is a book from Responsive Classroom. I'll get back to you with my gist before Wednesday! :)
ReplyDeleteI read Leaders of Their Own Learning by my friend Ron Berger. I read it a few years ago, but I felt like I wanted to reread it this summer to refocus myself now that I have completed a complete curricular loop in multiage (YAY!!!). It gives teachers different ways to let students have ownership over their own learning. It covers ideas for giving helpful and detailed feedback, conferencing effectively and using data and learning trackers with students. After attending Leah's workshop this summer, it really got me thinking about giving useful feedback that helps students move forward in their learning process. It was then that I decided to go back and reread this book so I could think of this concept throughout my teaching. I already have implemented some of these practices( setting goals with students and creating trackers with steps to achieving goals to help them track their progress), but I also was reminded of how to improve my student led conferences and better choose work for portfolios, conferences, and to help students move toward/see progress.
ReplyDeleteThanks Aly. Your review and Dana's review make me think you guys could touch base this year! I hope the chromebook center helps you use forms and docs in a way to help do this targeted conferencing and tracking a bit easier.
DeleteThe above was Aly...sorry!
ReplyDeleteI finished The Joyful Classroom. This was a great review of the Responsive Classroom philosophy. They best quote was "Watch your classroom become one where the light of learning burns bright for every child!" This book centered itself on practical ways to engage and challenge kiddos with the focus on interactive learning structures, interactive modeling, academic choice and self assessment. My goal for the upcoming year is now centered around teaching students to self-assess. Good book an I have it if anyone want to borrow it!
ReplyDeleteHi Dana! I wonder if the chromebook center could be used to make self-assessment more procedural for you? Thanks for the review!
DeleteI finished up "Teach Like A Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College" this week. Although the title may imply it's a book for secondary level teachers (because of the reference to college), it really is aimed at teachers from about third grade and up (although many of the techniques could be used with our earliest learners).
ReplyDeleteLemov believes that teaching is an art and that like all artists, teachers need a set of tools to flourish in their craft. The 62 techniques shared in the book are tools of the teaching craft. Some of the techniques are “sophisticated” but most are simple, easy to implement ideas. After hundreds of hours of live observations and analysis of filmed lessons, Lemov divided the techniques into four main categories: Check for Understanding, Academic Ethos (think rigor here), Ratio (get the kids doing more of the thinking, talking, analyzing, etc) and Behavior and Culture. Each technique is described and typically includes a concrete example. The book also gives the reader access to video clips (either online or by using the included DVD) of the technique being used in an actual classroom.
As someone who just finished year 21 of teaching, I found that I was quite familiar with many of the techniques in the book. At times, I felt this book might be best for pre-service teachers and relatively new teachers but I think it has value for all teachers regardless of experience level. The book validated many of the things I do in my classroom but it also reminded me of techniques I have learned over the years but have not been using as much lately. I also found techniques that support some areas I have been trying to work on improving the past few years. Two techniques I really want to employ this upcoming year are “Culture of Error” and “Excavating Error” which both involve helping students feel safe to make and discuss mistakes so that they can learn from the mistakes.
The universal quote I took away is: “Artists, athletes, musicians, surgeons, and performers of a thousand other varieties achieve greatness only by attending to the details of their technique. Their constant refinement of it perpetually renews their passion for the craft and allows them to seek the grail of better performance...This focus on technique and its constant refinement is also the path to excellence for teachers.”
I signed this book out from the Victor Teacher Center so it is available to anyone.
Hi Dawn! Thank you for this in-depth write up. It reminds me a bit of what Josh said, that sometimes reading pedagogy can feel affirming instead of challenging, and is good for refocusing. The Culture of Error... whew, I really don't care for that terminology. It sounds so cold and clinical after Growth Mindset. I guess it's the focus on the "error" instead of the "growth" vocabulary, but however you state it, I think it's something everyone can benefit from.
DeleteI read Building The Reading Brain. It's a little older (2004) but since the ELA coaching staff is conducting a gap analysis around the K-2 reading curriculum, I thought it was important to reconnect with the reading process of this age group. The book focused on the brain functions and processes that are activated when a child is learning how to read. I was more focused on the comprehension piece since that seems to be a pivotal point that is not only intangible but also challenging to teach our youngest learners.
ReplyDeleteIn this book, one of the pathways to comprehension is to look at comprehension and how it is connected to vocabulary development. Sometimes I think we consider vocabulary development as something outside of the reading process, but when we look at classroom practices that build and strengthen a student's vocabulary, this has an added benefit of strengthening their comprehension of text. One way to do this, not surprisingly, is through read aloud. The structure of teaching vocabulary through read aloud is called Text Talk (by Isabel Beck et. al) It incorporates a read, re-read and discuss process. New words are taught after students hear a story. Then students are asked to :
1) conceptualize the word,
2) repeat the word,
3) define the word,
4) use the word in other contexts,
5) get other examples of the word in text
6) repeat the word so students have an imprint of the word.
Encourage use of the word in oral language and even memorializing the new words around the classroom was also suggested. Teachers would create word walls where the cover of the text (especially picture books) is posted along with the context of the new words highlighted so students have a point of reference to recall that word and not lose sight of it once they have moved onto other work.
There was so much more to share in this text, especially the physiological brain functioning of reading, but this practical tip was the easiest to convey
Thanks for doing this Michele!