#D100bloggerPD Crew's Book Study Kickoff of "What Teachers Make" by Taylor Mali

Welcome back for another #D100bloggerPD crew book study! Here's a recap of the crew. We consist of an assortment of Berwyn South School District teacher and administrator learners who enjoy blogging, are smitten with social media and make use of our PLNs as an irreplaceable source of powerful content, hence the hashtag #D100bloggerPD. We devote ourselves to staying globally connected. The crew embraces change, strives to better ourselves professionally and desires to join forces with others to share what we learn because... together we are better!

This book study is dedicated to Taylor Mail's What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. Before I kickoff the study, on behalf of the crew, I'd like to thank Kristin over at Reading and Owl of the Above for organizing our live Twitter Chat with Taylor Mali this past June. It was enjoyable having such an inspirational author, poet and former teacher dedicate time to join the #D100bloggerPD crew's #D100chat. If you're interested in viewing the chat, click HERE for the Storify. Leah, another crew member and blogger on Responsive Literacy, was gracious enough to Storify the event for us. Thanks, Leah!

Okay, on with the study! Throughout the book study, each crew member will give you a peek into the vignettes that dive deeper into the meaning of the poem in this uplifting book defending, supporting and liberating teachers worldwide. This post will be short and sweet. It is dedicated to Mali's brief Introduction and first vignette, Making Kids Work Hard. 

The back cover of the book reads, "Mali's sharp, funny, perceptive look at life in the classroom pays tribute to the joys of teaching...and explains why teachers are so vital to our society."  It was released in 2012 and was written to expand on Mali's poem with the same name. The poem is an expressive response to an *arrogant young lawyer* who questioned why anyone would ever want to be a teacher because "Teachers are so overworked and disrespected...that anyone who would choose to become a teacher today must be of questionable intelligence..." Yikes! I, too, disagree with the arrogant young lawyer.

If you've ever caught sight of Mail on stage performing his poem in person or on YouTube, you know he can be comically inspiring. In fact, one of our #D100bloggerPD crew members, Michelle from BigTime Literacy, has seen Mali perform this poem live! So jealous. At any rate, in an interview, Mali states, "Performance adds passion to the written word. And passion aids in understanding." Provided you didn't quite grasp Mali's tone of crossness while reading his poem, you are undeniably able to experience it firsthand through his performance! :)

Mali started his career as a poet and middle school teacher, but then became a touring poet and advocate for teachers. He set off on a universal, far-reaching mission to inspire others to become teachers.

"So after a couple dozen people told me that they had decided to pursue a career in education after reading the poem, I gave myself a goal: I would convince one thousand people to become teachers through nothing more than the passion with which I spoke about the profession. I called it the Quest for One Thousand Teachers."

Mali professes that being on this mission has deeply impacted him. It has given him a greater purpose in life. His journey of igniting one teacher at a time helps remind teachers everywhere their profession is honorable. 

"...being a teacher is one of the greatest jobs in the world, and sometimes the people who have chosen to walk that noble path simply need to be reminded that there is a vast army of educated and grateful citizens who has their backs. Someone needs to remind teachers that they are dearly loved."  

We all know teachers make daily sacrifices. We do it to improve the lives of our students. It certainly is gratifying to know there are people recognizing teachers' strong efforts to support and carry students' voices. 

Vignette 1:*Making Kids Work Hard*

Below is a segment from Mali's poem. The first vignette in the book is devoted to the underlined portion. Mali explains, if an A+ student hands in A- work, then he/she is not working up to his/her potential, and therefore, it's an insult to everyone involved. However, if a struggling student exerts his/her absolute best with a C+ outcome, then his/her effort should be validated and commended. 

Teachers should be compelled to instill in their students a certain set of attributes that will make them work harder than ever. For these attributes will be what serve students generously in the real world, not just in the classroom setting. 

"The real lessons here are diligence, cooperation, resilience, flexibility, critical thinking, and problem solving you are actively using today. You will use those skills every time life presents you with something difficult or unexpected: obstacles in your personal life, accidents and catastrophes, lost jobs and loved ones."

Mali alerts readers of his honesty with students. When students question the usefulness of his subject matter, Mali reveals to them they will most likely never use the exact information he teaches them. However, he also makes clear that working through challenges is what undoubtedly matters. Life lessons, not necessarily subject matter lessons, are the true gifts teachers give students. 

Truly impassioned teachers are those who inspire students to strive for excellence (not perfection), to exert oneself toward continuous improvement and to be their best each and every day. Teaching has never been or will ever be an effortless and undemanding profession, and, of course, teachers don't enter the profession for monetary gains. We do what we do because we make a difference in the lives of children. We teach to instill a love of learning in our students. That is what will take them to infinity and beyond, as Buzz Lightyear would say. The picture on my desk serves as a valuable reminder that "Children are always the only future the human race has; Teach them well." So, get out there, inspire and teach well! :)

Thank you for stopping by Literacy Loving Gals to join in the #D100bloggerPD book study on What Teachers Make. Next up is the talented Jennifer Lehotsky, one of our school district's instructional coaches and TED-Ed Innovative Educators. Her post will appear on her blog, Teaching and Learning Redefined, on Tuesday, July 26th and is dedicated to the second and third vignettes, Your Child Is My Student and A Poet Becomes a Teacher (and Vice Versa). The schedule for the rest of the book study is below. Stay tuned to hear more from our accomplished #D100bloggerPD crew members!

Thanks again, Taylor Mali!

All Are Invited! Upcoming Twitter Chat with Author Taylor Mali!

Feel free to join the #D100bloggerPD crew on Twitter next week! We will be having a live chat with author Taylor Mali on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at 8PM CST. All are welcome to join in the conversation. If you are active on Twitter, just log in and follow along with the hashtag #D100bloggerPD. The questions are below.

 The Twitter chat is taking place to jumpstart the #D100bloggerPD crew's upcoming study on Mali's book, What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. The kickoff will start right here on Literacy Loving Gals beginning Thursday, July 21, 2016 and will continue every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through August 11, 2016. Hope to see you in the Twitter-sphere! 

P.S. Below is Taylor Mali performing his poem What Teachers Make.  

Conference Recap, Part 2: The Three Components Defining 'Readers as Thinkers'

Welcome back for Conference Recap, Part 2 discussing the three components defining 'Readers as Thinkers'! This post touches on reader voices, what it takes to make an inference and the Close-Reading framework. If you missed Part 1: Defining the Reading Range, and are interested in taking a peek, click HERE.

Three Components Defining 

'Readers as Thinkers'

Component 1~ Reader Voices: Reading, Thinking, Distracting
Looking for ways to make the reading process more concrete for students? Model the voices readers hear via "think aloud lessons" using Reading Voice, Thinking Voice and Distracting Voice signs signaling which voice you are modeling. Explicit think aloud lessons help students develop their own ability to monitor thinking while reading, which, in turn, enhances their comprehension. When I attended the Smekens Literacy Retreat last summer, I purchased the Reader Voice signs in the picture below. They have proved to be useful visual cues for my kiddos. (To purchase your own set, click HERE.)    

I absolutely love reading Elephant and Piggie books. They have such cute story lines and delightful characters. Kristina discussed this series as being a valuable tool for modeling reading and thinking voices, since the stories often show thought bubbles and speaking bubbles coming from the characters. 

Have you encountered students who believe reading relates to speed? Yes, it is true the more fluent of a reader, the better the comprehension. However, students who are *Nascar readers*, as Kristina explains, tend to read at full speed, but are not grasping the concepts or gist in their texts. They say, "I wasn't thinking, I was reading!" These are the students needing teacher support. Explain to students how good readers read a little, stop and have a thought. Then, read a little more, make a connection, a prediction and/or ask a question. Tell students the reason teachers ask questions and stop so often is to get students to think! :)

Having *reading thoughts* is part of reading, but this needs to be explicitly taught. Teachers must model reading thoughts! Teaching writing is no easy task, but it has a product and is visible learning for teacher and peer feedback. Reading, on the other hand, is more difficult to teach because it is invisible. Good practice is reading a page or two aloud to students, tagging stopping points about confusing vocabulary, questions you have and/or predictions that got answered because it allows students to see reading as visible process.  

Advice for teachers: DO NOT READ ON MUTE! Read, pause, retell, read, pause, think, ask questions, etc. out loud in front of students. Modeling this process and naming the voice being used (thinking voice, reading voice, distracting voice) is crucial.  Explain to students, 

"When you hear your distracting voice in your head, such as 'Boy, I'm getting hungry.  I wonder what's being served for lunch today?', you must turn that distracting voice on MUTE. Your thinking voice must tell your distracting voice to STOP. Your thinking voice must then apologize to your reading voice. Finally, reread your text to start thinking again."

To be honest, I have loads of conversations in my head. Though, most are unproductive and not worthy of sharing, it's nice to know I'm still sane. :)

Component 2~ Inferring and Making Inferences: What does it take to make an inference?
What does it take to make an inference? Having thoughts, of course! Tell students, "The conversation in your head means you're making inferences.  Take the text clues from your background knowledge and partner them up with new information. This equals an inference." Kristina claims there is no need to teach the skill of making inferences in a separate lesson because inferring can be taught in the middle of ALL lessons. In order to make this abstract idea become more concrete for students, Kristina recommends using hands-on manipulatives.

Kristina used the example of velcro representing background knowledge and new ideas, along with a small backpack of some sort representing schema. These items can help make the concept of inferences more tangible for students. She purchases a small amount of velcro, as well as mini backpacks or cell phone cases for each student. 

**Disclaimer: Before I begin this next paragraph, I must forewarn you I will probably not do this concept justice. Kristina has a way of flawlessly presenting the information. I've laughed to myself trying to make the following information sound coherent, but the struggle is real, people. Nonetheless, here I go. ;)

**As we all know, velcro has a smooth side and sticky side. Try (like I'm doing right now!) to explain to students to connect the familiar (background knowledge/sticky side of velcro) to the unfamiliar (new information/smooth side of velcro). New information sticks to nothing (smooth side of velcro) unless you rely on your background knowledge (sticky side of velcro) pulled from your brain backpack (schema). Tell students, 

"Connect what you know with what you don't know. Open up your brain backpacks, pull out and reference your background knowledge to stick it to the new learning. Then shove sticky velcro/new knowledge into your backpack. When you go to read, you have knowledge to stick it to using the reading and the thinking voice."

**Hopefully, you're able to understand the whole velcro analogy and how it relates to making inferences. Moving on! 

Kristina remarked on the importance of teachers needing to make time during class to allow students to turn and talk with peers. A suggested activity is to have students talk to a partner with toilet paper tubes (cheap and easy to acquire!) to whisper "thinking" thoughts. The picture below was used at the conference as an example. 

Another suggested idea was to create an anchor bulletin board for reading strategies which is comprised of snapshots of picture book covers read to introduce the particular strategy. The snapshots serve to trigger the lesson for the kids.  As an example, the black and white book covers next to two of the strategies are shown below. 

Overall, you must model how to read and replace students' current thoughts of *being on mute* with what good readers should be thinking. Teachers need to slow down to speed up. Slow down and model for students, so they can speed up throughout the rest of the year. These activities will definitely support their use of metacognition. 

Component 3: Close-Reading Framework
Last, but not least, is the close-reading framework. To better visualize the framework, envision a ladder that climbs down into a deeper and deeper part of the pool. The framework is only applicable to complex texts and should be taught early in the year. Realistically, students may participate in close-reading approximately two to three times per month, NOT daily!  

There are 3 PHASES of reading. This does NOT necessarily mean reading a text 3 times. Kristina states it may require students to read a text up to 4-6 times. The following images were given to attendees at the conference.

Phase 1: Determine what a text says

Bloom's Level of Learning: Knowledge & Comprehension 

Phase 2: Determine how text says it

Bloom's Level of Learning: Application & Analysis

Phase 3: Determine what the text means

Bloom's Level of Learning: Synthesis & Evaluation

The first read is always reading for the gist or the WHAT of the text. 

The second read is for craft and structure or the HOW of the text.

The third read is focused on the author's style and topic or the WHY the text matters. 

I picked up the resources in the picture below at the conference to help me better prompt my students and cue them on the 3 phases of close-reading with visual reminders.

Teachers should target reading skills in isolated comprehension mini-lessons followed by frequent close-reading experiences. Students need to be able to juggle reading skills, as well as their own thoughts/inferences, to fully comprehend a text. The best way to achieve this is to briefly teach every strategy at the start of the year and then build onto each strategy throughout the year using a year-long bulletin board. The bulletin board serves as a record of your lessons. 

As an example, Kristina mentioned creating a bulletin board filled with umbrellas and raindrops.  She stated, "Add an umbrella for every comprehension strategy and then add raindrop skills all year long."  When working with students, she introduces each umbrella's comprehension strategy at the start of the year. As the year progresses, she goes into more depth by adding reading skills represented on the raindrops that fall under each comprehension strategy.  Kristina doesn't teach the skills in any particular order and prefers to jump around basing the skills on the texts she chooses. If you're in a 1:1 technology district like me, an option is to create a digital bulletin board for students to reference throughout the year with Padlet! 

When teaching any skill in isolation, always use EASY text so students can focus on the skill without juggling text complexity. Never start with complex texts. Teach a few skills before jumping into a complex text.  For example, teach students how info-graphics add information beyond the text before having them read a complex text that is comprised mostly of info-graphics. Ultimately, if the six comprehension strategies are a big portion of your instructional foundation (which they should be), consider making them part of your physical space.

Well, there you have it. Hope you learned something new! I'll be back soon for Conference Recap, Part 3: Mini-Lesson Ideas for Reading Strategies.

Happy Wednesday!  

Conference Recap, Part 1: Defining the Reading Range- What Makes a Text Literature, Literary Nonfiction and Informational?

Have you ever been to a workshop hosted Smekens Education Solutions?  They're worthwhile, for sure.  In the summer of 2015, I attended my first Smekens Literacy Retreat with Kristina Smekens as the presenter and acquired a great deal of practical and valuable information that can be implemented into the classroom straightaway.  If you're interested, click HERE to access my Literacy Retreat mini-series breaking down the eight sessions I attended. There are free resources within the posts! :)  

Anyway, I'm back to share an assortment of things I've learned from another phenomenal workshop with Kristina Smekens.  Prior to registering, her workshop claimed to provide the skills and motivation teachers need to keep reading instruction both purposeful and dynamic for students.  After attending, I must say the all-day workshop did not disappoint.  

I was blasted with so many steadfast suggestions and innovative mini-lessons to better scaffold students, as well as grab and keep their attention, that I've decided to break up the content shared at the workshop into three parts, instead of having one never-ending blog post.  

1. Part 1: Launching the School Year- Defining Reading Range & Text Types
2. Part 2: Three Components Defining 'Readers as Thinkers'
3. Part 3: Mini-Lesson Ideas for Reading Strategies

This post is Part 1.  It offers suggestions for launching the school year, which includes defining the reading range for students and determining what makes a text literature, literary nonfiction and informational.  When Part 2 materializes, you will learn more about the three components that define 'Readers as Thinkers', which encompasses reader voices, what it takes to make an inference and the Close-Reading Framework. Finally, in Part 3, I will share a handful of the mini-lesson ideas for Recalling, Retelling & Summarizing (as well as establishing the difference between the three), Determining Main Idea, Visualizing Ideas, Asking Questions, Making Connections and Synthesizing.  Like I said, I was blasted with so much information!  Okay, moving on with Part 1. :)

Suggestions for Launching the School Year:
Think about your reading experiences as an adult. You probably read a variety of undemanding reads such as magazines, recipes, novels, etc.  However, when the time approaches, you may also be required to make sense of more laborious reads, such as tax forms during tax season, policies, insurance documents and so on.  As adults, it's real life to read a variety of texts.  Bringing in some of your authentic samples of *easy* and *hard* reads at the start of the year for students to view firsthand, gives them a preview of what's out there.  

After establishing your procedures and routines for Reading, Kristina suggests starting off the year by explaining to students what they will be reading, which encompasses *easy*, *hard*, and multimodal texts throughout the year. (Click HERE for more information on multimodal texts.) These varieties of text types will be read for differing reasons because that's real life. Cautioning students to expect easy days and hard days makes for a nice transition into teaching them how to persevere through the harder texts (Close-Reading).  This is crucial because students will encounter difficult texts inside and outside of the classroom, without a doubt.  

Defining the Reading Range: Literature vs. Literary Nonfiction vs. Informational Texts
Along the same lines, it is essential teachers discuss the parameters of literature, literary nonfiction and informational texts.  Helping define the range of reading for students is a necessity.  Kristina states, "No longer can we simply refer to something as fiction or nonfiction. The CCSS requires us to distinguish literature, informational text and literary nonfiction- and engage our students with all three."  Below are the comparative features for each text type.  If you click on the image, you can download a copy for yourself. 

Characteristics of Literature:
We usually refer to Literature as fiction.  Kristina affirmed literature comprises the following: 

"It includes made-up characters who overcome problems and resolve conflicts. It encompasses picture books, short stories, fables, fairy tales, legends, folk tales, chapter books, historical fiction, realistic fiction, sic-fi, novels, poetry, and plays/dramas." 

Characteristics of Literary Nonfiction:
The big difference between literary nonfiction and informational text is how facts are revealed.  Kristina indicated:

"These texts read more like literature, but all the information is factual. Think of it like a hybrid. Authors of literary nonfiction engage readers with their lively narrative voice, weaving facts with details that appeal to the reader's emotions and make the subject come alive.  These include biographies, memoirs, documentaries, essays and speeches."

Characteristics of Informational Texts:
Informational text is read for the purpose of gaining knowledge. Kristina referenced informational texts with the the details below: 

"By nature, this text is of a higher text complexity with specialized vocabulary specific to the topic, heavy doses of facts, and numerous text features.  These texts include text books, primary source documents, newspaper articles, etc."

Teaching the Differences:
To teach the differences between the text types, introduce students to a specific topic using a piece of literature, a literary nonfiction text and an informational text.  Assist students in comparing how the topic is treated in each text.  The topic of turtles was brought up at the workshop.  Teachers may, for example, choose the books below to introduce the topic of turtles to students. 

Literature Example

Literary Nonfiction Example

Informational Example

After selecting texts, help students inspect the differences between the texts.  For example, point out the text features. Informational texts usually contain bold/italicized print, labels, diagrams, charts, captions, photographs, subheadings, and more. However, literature and literary nonfiction tend to include chapter titles, page numbers and illustrations.  Explaining to students how authors include specific features to help readers better understand the text or to convey information is important.

In addition, make sure students are familiar with the various structure of texts.  In Stephanie Harvey's book, Nonfiction Matters: reading, Writing, and Research in Grades 3-8, she states,

"Understanding the expository text structures gives readers a better shot at determining important information when reading nonfiction...If students know what to look for in terms of text structure, they grasp the meaning more easily."

Literature is less complex to understand because the structure is always chronological.  However, when students are reading informational texts, they need to be able to identify which of the seven types of expository structures they're reading.  This makes reading informational texts much more complex!  

To more sensibly prepare students to be successful readers, teachers need to start or remain explicit in teaching the necessary skills to better comprehend the different types of texts.  I'll end this post with a quote from Kristina Smekens: "As we are teaching the Common Core Standards, we need to do more than just read the different types of text. We need to teach their similarities and unique differences side by side."

I am hoping the information in this post is worthwhile to someone. I never really know who is actually reading my posts, but I'm hoping the time and effort I put into writing them isn't going to waste. :) Nonetheless, I will be back sometime soon to share more in Parts 2 and 3! 

Happy Friday.

Using Beads in Reading RtI for Some #TLAP

Good morning! After attending the Teach Like a Pirate conference last week, I spent the weekend looking for things that can add some spark and creativity to my classroom lessons.  I learned from and laughed with Dave Burgess over the things he does to engage his students.  He commented, "Everything is better with tights!", meaning dress-up and get into character. :) One of my biggest take-aways was his mention of creating a "capture system" for creative ideas.  He said to write all of your ideas down.  Then, of course, test them ALL out!  What's the worst that could happen?

So, here I am, trying out some new ideas.  I'm seeking some suggestions for the use of these beads in the picture, so I figured I'd get some support from my blogging pals.  The beads are my *new* $1.99 thrift store purchase to add to my classroom goodies.  After having twins, our playroom at home was overly stocked with toys, including beads, but I wasn't quite in the mindset of using the toys for other purposes.  I just wanted to clear the clutter, so most of our belongings have already been donated. Bummer. However, I thankfully have a new mindset!  I came to the conclusion the beads could bring a little #TLAP or 'novelty' to my RtI reading lessons.

Some possible uses I've already brainstormed include using the beads as representation for recalled details or facts from a text, sequencing of events, proof/text evidence to support answers, and character traits of main characters. Does anyone else have other thoughts or tips for using this toy to support reading skills or growing as a reader?  Please share with me! I'd greatly appreciate it and thanks in advance!

P.S. At the end of the conference, I was given a #TLAP bracelet to serve as a reminder to bring curiosity and excitement to learning on a daily basis. Love it! :)

Happy Monday!