Book Club #3 Lucy Calkins

Book Discussion #3

Krista Milen, Tina Hatcher, Crystal Lawrence

The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins

     Our group read pp. 285-517 from Lucy Calkins’ book this week. Chapter 18 dealt with editing and the best way to approach it during writer’s workshop.  She discussed how many kids come to us thinking writing is a display of spelling, penmanship, and punctuation and they will focus more on that than the content.  We all three have seen this happen in our classrooms.  Students will just freeze up on spelling a word or where to put punctuation and then forget what they are even writing about.  Calkins stresses in this chapter that we need to help them write freely and unselfconsciously.  No one learns well while feeling afraid and ashamed.  We need to let students realize it’s ok to make editorial errors as they write; all of us do, and then we correct them as we edit.  She states that the best thing we can for their syntax, spelling, penmanship, and use of mechanics is to help them write more often and with confidence.  When she launches writer’s workshop, she tells them their notebooks aren’t meant to be displays of perfect spelling and handwriting.  It’s a place for deep thoughtful ideas and careful observation.  Our group agrees that young students need to focus, above all, on what they are saying and let spellings come out naturally. We liked her quote, “This is a rough draft. It is meant to be rough.  There will be a time for making it beautiful.”  Some other ideas/comments we liked when writing rough drafts:

-Let them use a pen or pencil

-If too much time being spent making letters perfect, she might say,” No erasing allowed- Just cross out and keep going.”

-She might show students one of her first drafts

-When children keep asking how to spell a word, they keep asking because you keep giving them the answer.  They need strategies for spelling words.  Say the word.  How many parts in the word? Now listen for the sounds in the words.

    It was also interesting the research she did among two third-grade classrooms comparing how they were taught writing.  Ms. West taught mechanics through daily drills and workbook exercises.  She started at the very beginning, teaching simple sentences, periods, capitals.  She did pretests and post-tests, but the children rarely wrote.  In Ms. Howard’s class, the children wrote every day and chattered as writers do, about conventions of written language.  When Calkins met with the “writers” who had not had formal instruction in punctuation, they could explain an average of 8.66 kinds of punctuation, whereas writers who had studied punctuation every day through classwork and drills could only explain 3.85 kinds of punctuation.  Even more important, children in the writing classroom liked punctuation.  Calkins stresses that when children view themselves as writers, like students in Ms. Howard’s class, they see punctuation everywhere.  They start noticing it and becoming familiar with it.  The nonwriters described punctuation by trying to remember the rules they’d been taught. How many of us do this?  We get bogged down writing as adults because we can’t remember the rules or how to spell a word.  Many of us were not taught to write “freely” and our first draft was our final draft.  We wanted it perfect the first time. 

    She discussed one way to help students edit is by giving them a checklist to go over before they turn their work in. The one she gave was very simple and we can see ourselves using it with our students. When conferencing with students, notice the things a student can do and only pick out one or 2 things for the student to work on as a writer.  We liked the idea of having a sheet of paper in their writing folder and jotting down what you notice and the one thing that student is working on.  Calkins also stresses that kids need to know that when authors finish their writing, they move on to another piece. 

    

     We discussed that poetry is a powerful genre because of its condensed nature. Every child in the classroom can be a poet, because poems can be very short. We liked how she allowed the children to use pieces from their notebooks to turn those in to poems.

     We all loved the section on Making Memoirs Out of the Pieces of Our Lives. Virginia Wolfe said, “A memoir is not what happens, but the person to whom things happen.” We all agreed that Memoirs will be a great way to really get to know our students, because we will learn their feelings, ideas, and insights rather than just reading about an event. The stage of writing memoirs is described by Randy Bomer as the stage of “shoving kids out of the nests.” He says this because they are forced out of their notebooks into a draft. They suggest that the easiest way to do this is by setting a deadline for a draft.

    In chapter 25, Calkins discussed how we used to do research from an encyclopedia, but today research starts out with what we experience and what we know instead.  She said we should tell our students to seek out new life experiences and relationships, which will help them to learn more, and to find more to write about.  We enjoyed the quote from Jean Fritz in this chapter, “As human beings, we thrive on astonishment.  Whatever is unknown quickens us, delivers us from ourselves, impels us to investigate, inspires us to imagine.”  We should watch out for surprise and mystery, these things will make for good nonfiction stories. 

    She discussed how we should create conditions in our classrooms to help the ‘learning’ happen.  We can’t ‘make’ students learn, but we can encourage them to ask questions, to notice and wonder, and to inquire about the world around them.  Writing is a way to do these things.  Writing throughout the day can be used to develop meaning and compose ideas about different topics.  Some ways to use writing that interested us were:

·      Writing to learn journals – add short journal writing activities into the classroom throughout the day to help them develop their thoughts and ideas

·      Take a few minutes to write down what we are thinking about a topic – this helps reel them back in if they have tuned out of a whole-class discussion

·      Have them summarize the ‘essence of the issue’ – use these summaries to get them actively participating in the class discussion

·      Write down what we know or wonder about a topic before you start discussing a new one

·      They can use writing as a tool for thought

·      “The main thing we’re talking about is…” – is helpful to stimulate a whole-class discussion

·      “The main thing I’m talking about is…” - is used for individual self-motivation

·      Writing can encourage students to ask questions and problem-solve in any content area

·      Write to support their reflections on their guesses and predictions during lessons

    Calkins describes ways to make our students into active learners through their writing in this book.  She talks about how much our teaching matters, and what a big responsibility it is to teach our students wisely.  We discussed how important our teaching is, and how we want to use more of the writing techniques from this book to grow as teachers.  We are teachers because we love our students.  How better to show them our love for them, than by expressing our love of learning through writing?  

Theoretical Discussion #3

Theoretical Discussion #3

Comprehension

Pardo, Stahl, and Neufeld Articles

   

       The 3 articles we read this week dealt with comprehension on how to teach comprehension, recommendations for k-2 teachers, and what every teacher needs to know about comprehension.  The main thing we noticed in every article was that limited background knowledge or weaknesses in word-level processes are major problems to comprehension.  If students are spending all their time trying to decode words, they will have less mental energy left to think about the meaning. Automatic decoding must be present. We discussed how many of our kids at our school come not having a lot of background knowledge needed for comprehension of some texts.  Pardo stated that some research indicates that the single most effective way to increase comprehension is through Read Alouds.  We were pleased to read this because we will be implementing Read Alouds this fall.  He also recommended that one way to add world knowledge is to use informational books. We discussed Neufeld’s article stating that teaching comprehension should not be viewed as falling in the domain of language arts alone, but should be in other subjects.  He brought out that there is strong evidence that students can be taught reading comprehension strategies but unfortunately this instruction doesn’t occur in many classrooms.  He said the best support teachers could give students to become competent comprehenders is: teach decoding skills, teach vocabulary words, motivate students, and engage them in personal responses to text.

     My group discussed how teaching vocabulary words is such an important component in comprehension. We read somewhere how first-grade children from higher-SES groups knew twice as many words from lower SES children. Seventy percent of our children are on free/reduced lunches.  This is one reason why we are implementing a vocabulary program as well at our school Research also says that even if a child comes to school and learns to decode words and progress in reading, if the vocabulary is not there, it will come back to haunt them in 4^th or 5^th grade.  The texts are harder and they might can read the passage, but if they can’t comprehend it. Students must actively engage with the words-use them in written and spoken language in order for the words to become a part of the students’ reading and writing vocabularies. We liked the idea of having students create graphic organizers that show relationships among new words and common words.

     We really liked the table of prompts in Neufeld’s article.  These are suggestive prompts for “Getting Ready to Read”  and “ While I’m Reading and When I’m Done.”  I plan on enlarging the tables and keeping them handy as I work with students. Neufeld stressed that question asking and answering can be viewed as the strategy that drives all the other strategies.  We talked about this in great detail in Dr. Anne McGill-Franzen’s class last term.  After reading Choice Words, the type of text talk, questioning, and what you say modeling and thinking out loud are so important in teaching kids to become strategic readers. 

     In Stahl’s article we thought it was interesting she said Beck and McKeown’s interactive read-alouds actually limits discussion of background knowledge and extensive discussions of the students’ prior knowledge often led students far from the text.  I will have to disagree with Stahl. I am a Beck and McKeown fan and have used their vocabulary series in my classroom.  If students get off on a tangent, I would simply redirect their attention.

   We did like the literature webbing idea in Stahl’s article.  It was interesting that Stahl suggested video was advantageous for at-risk students.  She claimed that they could re-tell twice as many statements as to the children who only heard the story and viewed the illustrations.  I guess I feel that students watch too much TV.  Maybe it is a powerful tool, but the challenge as she states is finding quality videos.

     I really liked these 3 articles we read this week. They all had good ideas and techniques to bring into the classroom.  It makes me reflect on my own questioning and how I need to do a better job teaching comprehension strategies. 

Book Club #2 Lucy Calkins

Krista Milen, Tina Hatcher, Crystal Lawrence

The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins

Our book club this week read pages 59-287 from Lucy Calkins.  The first part dealt with the foundations of literacy (writing in the home, nursery school and kindergarten).  She emphasized that oral language “takes place on a non-sequence, whole-task basis.”  We wouldn’t  dissect oral language into component parts  and we shouldn’t drill young children on all the sounds of the alphabet before inviting them to write. We should treat early writing with respect just like we would a baby’s first words. She says when launching a writing workshop in the primary-level classroom teachers to accept whatever they may put down.. Children don’t need to be afraid they will “fail” but need to be accepted and praised for what they can do.  Tina, Chrystal, and I liked how she addressed the students as “writers”  Calkins also stresses that children’s drawing is rehearsal for them.  It plays an important role in that it provides a supportive scaffolding within which can help children write.  They can return to their drawing and most of the child’s meaning is carried by the picture.  Calkins later discourages drawing, as a way of rehearsing for writing because she says that no solution works for every child and not solution should works forever.  She says we should watch for signs indicating that a child no longer needs to weave drawing and writing together.  She states that drawing is a predominant form of rehearsal for many 1^st graders, but talking is the most effective form of rehearsal for 2^nd grade.  We all three liked the idea of notebooks in primary grades.  They have it with them throughout the day and go home with them at night.  It is a place for gathering bits and pieces of their lives.  She also states that peer conferences may not get better writing, but longer texts. 

            Calkins went on the discuss Writer’s Workshop in the upper elementary grades.  We discussed how a lot of students are no longer comfortable to really get in to their writing due to peer pressure and bullying.  We all agreed that students at this age need us to care about them and what is going on in their lives outside of the classroom.  Building a community is especially important at this level of Writer’s Workshop.  When building the community we must demonstrate our love for reading and writing. This is the age to make the reading/ writing connection. Students at this age still apply some of our values to their lives.  We agreed with Calkins when she said that launching Writer’s Workshop with students in secondary grades is difficult.  The teacher in Secondary Writing Workshops must build one on one relationships, seize the moment and teach on your toes, encourage students to voice themselves through writing, and see the energy in the classroom and go with it.

            Tina, Crystal and I agreed that in order for Writer’s Workshop to work it must be predictable.  Teachers must be organized, and set-aside particular times every day.  “It is almost impossible to have a successful writing workshop if students write only one or two times per week.  We like the components of Writer’s Workshop.  We discussed the mini lesson, work time, conferencing, share sessions and publication.  The mini lesson is just what it says.  This is the time that is set aside to “teach” all the students something. We shouldn’t expect for every student, however, to use what was taught that in his or her papers.  There is not a set curriculum on what to teach in the mini lessons.  Teachers must decide what to teach based on the needs of the students that she is teaching.  A problem that teachers face with mini lessons is that teachers often struggle with reverting to the “old” way of teaching at this time.  We all agreed that we must remember who ever is doing the most talking is doing the most learning.

THE ART OF TEACHING WRITING

         We had a lot of favorite things about the book to discuss when we met.  One of the sections we all agreed upon was the section on mini-lessons of revisions.  I told the girls that I especially enjoyed the phrase by William Faulkner, “Writing a first draft is like trying to build a house in a strong wind” (Calkins, page 209).  The sense of urgency he discusses is what it is like when students are writing their first draft.  They need to get the ideas all down on paper quickly before they forget what their ideas were in the first place.  I will list a few of the recommended strategies for topics of mini-lessons here:

·      Write about a subject in a different genre

·      Rework a confused section- the ending, the title, etc

·      Take a long draft and make it shorter

·      Take a short entry of a draft and expand it

·      Imagine a purpose and an audience for it

·      Reread the draft evaluating what works and what does not

·      Read the entries/draft and think, ”Where’s the mystery here?”

·      Put the draft aside and return to it another day

·      Take a jumbled piece and rewrite it in sections or chapters

These are just a few of the strategies that we found would be most helpful to our age group of students.  (Calkins, pages 209-210)

         In the chapters on ‘conferring’, one phrase stood out to me that I shared with my group.  “Creation and criticism- these are central to our work with clay and blocks, and they are also central to our work with words.” (Calkins, page 222)  In these chapters of the book, Calkins was discussing how important it is to question themselves about their writing.  As readers, we should ask a question or two about our drafts. No matter the age, questions like these can be used over and over.

·      What have I said so far?

·      How do I like it? What is not so good that I can fix?

·      How does it sound? How does it look?

·      How else could I have done this?

·      What am I going to do next?

These are some questions that can be discussed during teacher-student or peer conferences to get a student to learn to interact with their own writing.  The goal for the teacher, over time, is to be unnecessary or unneeded. We want students to be successful at self-questioning.

         I enjoyed the different stories and anecdotes in this book.  There was a particular story about a little boy named Noah on pages 262-263 that was meaningful to me so I shared it with my book club group.  The story was in the chapter on publications.  Calkins was sharing how the 5 year old had written a 10-page book, with words and a picture on each page.  After reading his book to the class, his teacher asked him what he had written on the back of the book.  He told her that it was “nuthin”, just “sumfin” for the library.  He had put symbols for the section of the library that it would go into for the librarian.  This is humorous, yet significant, because he already sees himself as an author.  As Calkins says, “His teacher has not only helped him develop skills, she has also helped him develop a self-concept as an author.” (Calkins, page 263)  We want our students to not only act as writers, but to become one.  To see him/herself as an author causes the children to make connections with the books they read.  When they make connections, they are learning.

Theoretical Discussion #2

     Shannon, Lara, and I met to discuss Dr. Allington's  article What I've Leaned About Effective Reading Instruction.  He states that good effective teachers are key to exemplary reading instruction, not more materials or "proven programs." We talked about the six T's that he observed in exemplary elementary classrooms.
1. Time- Exemplary teachers routinely had children actually reading and writing for as much as half of the school day (around a 50/50 ration of reading and writing to stuff.  It was really bothersome to read in his research that in a typical classroom it is not unusual to find children only reading and writing 10% of the day!  Students did more guided reading and independent reading, social studies, and science than students in less effective classrooms. The teachers' instructional planning involved much more than simply allocating lots of time for reading and writing.
  2. Texts- Exemplary teachers rejected the "one size fits all" approach to teaching reading.  Our group discussed how our school is doing this through guided reading.  Through our grant our school was able to purchase a rich supply of books leveled for all kids.  Allington stated that it was the lowest achievers who benefited the most.  They could spend their days reaching books on their level successfully.  Shannon brought out the point that now when she sends her students to read-to-self, she knows they have a book box on their level and they are actually reading.  In the past they would just "pretend" to read.
3. Teaching- Exemplary teachers uses active teaching instead of the assign-and-assess. We agreed with Allington talks about the missing-vowel worksheet assessment.  It really is an assessment of who already knows the vowel patterns, not an instructional activity that will teach a vowel pattern.  They need someone who can actually model and demonstrate strategies.
4.  Talk-Exemplary teachers foster much more student talk.  The talk is purposeful, problem-posing, problem -solving talk.They pose more "open"questions.  We how this went along with the book Choice Words we read last semester.  He states that "thoughtful" classroom talk leads to improve reading comprehension, especially in high-poverty schools.  This really hits home because we are 70% free/reduced at our school.  We talked about how this is a challenge that we must put on the forefront.
5.  Tasks- Longer assignments and less emphasis on filling the day with multiple, shorter tasks.  Students seemed more often engaged and less often off-task.
6.  Testing-Exemplary teachers awarded grades based more on effort and improvement than simply achievement.  With this grading, teachers must truly know each of their students well in order to assign grades.  They have to be able to recognize growth and to track the student effort involved. We agree with Allington in that the effort-and-improvement grading scheme does require careful explanation to parents.  We went through this with our standards based report card.  Many parents still wanted to see a "grade." What really is a 90 in reading for a first grader anyway?
    In Allington's conclusion, he again stresses to enhance reading proficiency rests largely on the teacher to provide expert, exemplary reading instruction.

In Behind Test Scores: What Struggling Readers Really Need by Valencia and Buly, we discussed how the in-depth study on 108 randomly selected students who scored below standard on the state test supported the notion that one-size instruction will not fit all children.  The six prototypical children that were examined had different needs and the article stresses that teachers shouldn't overgeneralize their needs.  They also recommend that we go beneath the scores on state tests by conducting additional diagnostic assessments that will help identify students' needs.  Lara, Shannon, and I agree that time to do these assessments can be limited.  The article suggests a kind of layered approach to assessment in which teachers first work diagnostically with students who have demonstrated difficulty on broad measures of reading.  Then work with other students as the need arises.  We were all happy to see that they used the Woodcock-Johnson Revised (WJ-R) because Dr. Allington trained us on this assessment a few months ago so we were familiar with it.
   

Book Club #1

     Tina, Crystal, and I read The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy Calkins Section 1 on the Essentials of Writing.  This section discussed how to get the students excited about writing and how "writing is not deskwork but lifework."  Calkins talked about how writing matters when it is personal and interpersonal.  We like how she compared writing as taking a seed (idea), grow it into a story, speech, or book.  Students should jot down things they notice, what they wonder, memories, and even if it's just one word. We all three liked the example of  Isoke, a teacher Calkins refers to. She had a writer's notebook she shared with her students that she carried with her and cherished.  She brought this enthusiasm into the classroom.  She would jot down a memory, or something she notices, or wonders. Calkins refers to this as the "Rehearsal." She had her students do the same and she started a "ritual" for students to take their notebooks home every day and do the same and bring back to school in the mornings.  Calkins says the goal of  the first few days of introducing writer's workshop is to fill the students with a sense of "I've got so much to say" "My life is full of possible stories."  We also discussed how she talked about revision as not repairing a draft but using the writing you've already done to see more, think more, and learn more.

     This book I feel will be very beneficial since Tina and I will be teaching writer's workshop this fall for K-2.  I am excited about teaching writing a different way.  I have been guilty of making writing "deskwork" and giving my students a sheet of paper and a topic.  I think this way of teaching writing also creates a sense of community in your classroom because you are getting to know your students and they are getting to know you as well.  Calkins also stresses the importance of sharing.  Many times we write and then don't allow time to share.  We send papers home and the student's writing never gets shared.  This basically tells the child that their writing is not important.
   

Theoretical Discussion- Fitzgerald and Duffy

     Shannon and I met to discuss the Fitzgerald and Duffy articles.  In the What is This Thing Called "Balance?" article we discussed how our school is implementing the four blocks reading program this fall.  We started guided reading and read to self through the Daily Five this year.  Writer's Workshop and working with words through Words Their Way will be added this fall. The article examined what a balanced approach really means.  There appears to be different descriptions of balance , but there are 3 common characteristics:  1.  Key components, key kinds of instruction, 2.  There is a focus on how to carry out the program, 3.  There is a shared perspective on what aspects on what aspects of reading is most important.  It states that balanced reading is not a singular approach or practice.  There's not a singular approach or practice and there are many manifestations of it.
     The article discussed balancing inside-out (learning is initiated by the students) and outside-in teaching and learning (teacher decides what the students learn).  Also, at least some of the daily instruction should occur in small achievement-level groups.  We do this with our Fountas & Pinnell guided reading levels. The article also states that heterogeneous grouping has benefits because poorer readers learn from the modeling provided by a better reader.  It suggested mixed achievement-level groups during partner reading or literature circles.
     Lastly, we discussed the developmental phases in learning about reading.  Phonological awareness plays a key role for beginning readers, word recognition strategies is important through first and second graders, building fluency takes precedence around third grade.  However, this does not mean that comprehension and response to literature should be eliminated until fourth grade.  A balanced approach shapes instruction differently for diverse learners.  This is what we really like about our Fountas and Pinnell reading program.  Some of the previous reading programs we had did not allow much room for differentiation.  A balanced reading approach  gives each child what it needs in their journey to learn to read.  I'm really excited teaching the Writer's Workshop component for K-2 this fall.  Reading and writing go hand in hand and I hope to incorporate the learner's local knowledge, global knowledge, and love for reading into my class.

     The Duffy article basically stressed that there is no one "perfect method" for teaching reading to all children.  Duffy states that "Teachers policy makers, researchers, and teacher educators need to recognize that the answer if not in the method but in the teacher."   I think back to when I first started teaching when teaching Whole Language was the trend.  Basals were out the door and whole language was going to be the cure-all method of teaching reading. Many said that not enough phonics was being taught so we moved toward teaching only only phonics.  Then we moved back toward the basal and not enough differentiation was involved.  Looking back, I remember bits and pieces from Whole Language that I really liked as well as the other programs.  There were parts I felt were a waste of time and my students already knew.  The article said the most effective teachers were adaptive.  They integrate new with old in unique ways.  What worked should be embraced and expanded.  The article said teachers need to be eclectic and modify to the needs of their students.  I feel that's what we are doing now with our current reading program.  We now are looking at all the components and elements to reading and writing, not just one aspect.  We also have ongoing professional development to guide us in our new reading program.  Many times we are given a program or an assessment and without the proper on-going training it just fizzles out.  "Teaching improves when when we invest in teacher development across the life span of teachers (Darling-Hammond, 1997).  I think that's why so many teachers get burnt out over their careers. They get frustrated spinning their wheels in a rut and "chained to a particular method or program for all kids."  They are not allowed to be eclectic  and don't have access to on-going training.

What Makes Me a Reader?

                     Response to Blog Post #1

-I have been reading a lot of Lucy Calkins books lately because I will be teaching Writer's Workshop this fall for K-2.  I like to read articles and books about teaching that I can bring into the classroom.  


-I like to read magazines about gardening, fitness, and entertainment.

-I avoid reading political/business magazines and manuals.  

-I usually read in my bed or around the pool some.  I never read at the beach... I'd rather be playing in the sand with my kids!  


-I usually read at night.


-I loved to read to my kids when they were little!  I would put a kid on each side of me and we would curl up in the bed and take turns "reading." They would always pick 2 or 3 each and I always knew which one Marissa would pick.  It was a ratty old book about flies.  She would giggle uncontrollably when we would smack the fly in the picture.Those were some of my favorite memories.  Just a while back and made them sit beside me as I read a story to them, they are 12 and 9.  They grumbled and laughed at me at first, but they enjoyed it, or so I think! 


-My earliest memory of reading was seeing my Mamaw Davis reading the newspaper, Guidepost, and other things.  She had books, magazines, newspapers and print all over her house.  I remember thinking how smart she must be!  She always had something in her hands reading.  She had a set of encyclopedias I would always play with.  Later, I learned she only went to the third grade.  She was a very intelligent, strong woman and I can only imagine what she could have become if she had the opportunity to further her education.


-I remember being out of school in first grade for about a week due to sickness.  When I returned, the kids were putting a "smile" and dash (I thought was a frown) above vowels.  I was so confused!  I don't remember sounding words out.  I think I learned to read by sight.  Sadly, I fully didn't understand phonics rules until I taught it. I was not a good reader and I knew I wasn't in the high group or low group. I knew I was in the middle.  I remember hating to read out loud because I was such a shy child.  I didn't like Dick and Jane because it bored me to tears.  I knew they were old books too because Dick and Jane had out of style clothes on. :-)I wanted to read about animals or something that interested me.