Common Core is here. 

It really is.

We think about the things we used to be able to do, but don't.  We think about how choice and voice are gone from teaching.  Maybe.  There are still some elements of them.  It's true, the standards tell us what to teach, but not exactly how.  Exactly.

If you're looking back at the good old days when there seemed to be more choice and more voice to your teaching, think about your students.
What are the most significant ways that you give your kids choice and voice in their learning?  Let's pool some ideas so that we can ensure that these critical aspects of learning don't go away.

You can post right here, or fill out the attached survey and email it back to me at dearmrmarshall@gmail.com. I'm gathering ideas on this topic that we can hopefully share to make a real difference for kids and teachers.  Really!

Something that's become a tradition at Stony Lane is our use of a yearly learning theme. It's a metaphor that unites learning in an easy way.

This is our fourth year with a learning theme.  The theme this year is, "Cross a bridge to new ideas. Build a bridge to connect them."  We're doing lots of things with bridges. 

What this isn't is a bunch of arts and crafts activities.  It's more using bridges as a metaphor for learning both academically and socially.  We launched the year with helping kids understand how a bridge is simply something that connects two things.  In our situation the two things are our current understanding of some topic or concept, and greater understanding of it.  Throughout the year, teachers refer to the bridge metaphor as much as possible in their teaching, in organizers they create, in bulletin boards that have student learning on them.

Here is a smattering of things we do...

1. In our effort to teach kids social skills, we use the metaphor of bridging ourselves with others to teach the social skill of small talk.  A slide show in an assembly helped us do this.

2. We send home a bimonthly newsletter called, "The Bridge," which tells the quick story of a famous bridge, and some character building message related to that bridge's name.  For example, the George Washington Bridge is named after the first President, so the message is about setting priorities to see what is #1 in your life.

3. We create bridge-type learning progressions to help kids work in highly metacognitive ways in the classroom.

We also use the bridge as a metaphor in our professional learning.  We are trying to get from our current understanding of topics in our teaching (like conferring, assessment, Depths of Knowledge, anything!) to new understanding.  Each year, we make our learning theme match professional development goals.  This allows PD to feel like an exploration, and teachers don't need to feel like they're doing something wrong...and that it's natural for teachers to learn and grow, just like kids!

We've used journeys, reflecting in mirrors, and adding pieces to puzzles as other themes.  It's a great way to create a sense of learning morale in your school.  You can do this with your whole school if you're a principal, a grade level, or an individual classroom.

Try it out, and see how it goes!  You really can't go wrong!

What is the role of writing in the reading workshop???
    Our overarching goal in reading is comprehension at deep levels of understanding.  There are many tools that help to achieve this.  One of these tools is writing.
    When asking students to write about reading, you should have them write in an authentic way (that's for them, not for you!)  This can look very different for all students.
    Writing long is just one way of fleshing out thoughts about your reading.  However, if you see that kids are writing beautiful essay-like writing about their reading every day, and it's totaling about the same amount of time (or more) as their actual reading, they are probably not using their time wisely.
    Writing about reading can be short, messy, and organic.  It can be on a post-it, index cards, or in a notebook.  It can be in phrases, sketches, or short sentences.  They can create timelines, tables, T-charts, or anything.  You should teach your student different ways to organize their thoughts, always highlighting how these help comprehension.  This will enable kids to create their own ways to write about reading. 
    One final tip is that when kids write about their reading, you should ask them to think about how this will influence their next round of reading.  If it doesn't, then it really didn't help them!
    What role does writing play in your teaching of reading?  How does it enhance your students' comprehension?  What questions do you have about this important topic?

So, they've given me a literacy coach...  What exactly is that?

Let's start with what a literacy coach is not!
1. A literacy coach is not an administrator who comes to observe a teacher for evaluative purposes.  A literacy coach is a teacher (unless a particular district has a very specific arrangement that should be transparent) whose job it is to help teach teachers about good teaching.
2. A literacy coach is not a co-teacher who comes it to take half the class and work with them. A literacy coach's main student is the teacher!
3. A literacy coach is not a special teacher who comes in to relieve the teacher during literacy time. Working with a coach in your class is the prime time to make improvements in your practice and in students' achievement!

If you have a literacy coach in your school, that should feel good. He or she is someone to study with, whose role it is to improve student work by helping to develop teacher work. 

Literacy coaches should be working with many teachers across the span of a year. Working in cycles of time (4-6 weeks) is the best way to enhance teachers' work, as it creates a formal learning relationship.

What kinds of success stories or questions do you have regarding working with your coach?

Here are two links to other blogs that are good practices for teachers at the turn of a new calendar year.  Both are taken from NCTE's Inbox, an online collection of articles that arrives every few weeks if you are a member of NCTE (and why wouldn't you be?)

This is a link to read some good new year's resolutions for teachers...
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_for_triumph/2014/01/new_years_teaching_resolutions.html


This is a link on ways to create a sense of reflection in your students and yourself...
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/mid-year-reflection-teachers-students-maurice-elias

    One thing I remember Lucy telling us many years ago was that the difference between good schools and great schools is that the great schools do everything that good schools do, but they also have structures like study groups to keep ongoing professional conversation going.  Here are a few ideas of ways to build community in your schools.

1. Start a study group around a book or professional articles about a certain topic.  Lots of schools do this, but the part they miss out on is the link to actual classroom work.  Make sure that there are takeaways.  For example, if reading Pathways to the Common Core or a series of articles on conferring, make sure you create some sort of homework for the group to go back and try out and recap during your next visit.  This is the only way to keep your group from turning into a passive retelling session of a text everyone has read.

2. Find ways to visit each other's classrooms.  It can be during preps, or you can ask the principal to arrange for a floating sub one morning in which multiple visits can occur.  Have a theme to your visit.  Teach in front of each other.  Don't worry about performing for each other, but crack open the problems you have around conferring, working with strugglers (or non-strugglers), or listening to students read to assess their level or some specific aspect of their reading.  Become critical friends of each other.  Devote time during faculty meetings to teaching in front of each other or sharing your ideas.  All we have is each other. 

3. Finally, find a way to "publish" and celebrate your best work with each other.  Whether it's in a school newsletter you share with colleagues or on a theme-based bulletin board in which you post your best lessons, materials, charts, or your best anything, find a way to share what you do so that you can learn from each other. 

These are three very broad ideas for building communities around learning.  Let's share whether you've tried any, or if you have other ways to share.

The world around us in education makes it very easy for teachers to feel divided.  Let's let our practice unite us and strengthen us.  It will make a huge difference for all of us, and for other people's children entrusted to us!

This is a blog for teachers, coaches, school leaders, and anyone who is interested in helping kids learn reading and writing! 

I've never blogged before, but that's what learning's all about, isn't it?  Trying new things out to outgrow yourself and help others around you.

Stick around as this becomes a site to share good thinking around good teaching!