Picture Books for Adolescents? YES! YES! YES!

Is it important for students to read from a variety of texts? Yes!
Do visuals support English Language Learners and all students to better comprehend text? Yes!
Do Middle School students respond better to shorter reading assignments and choice? Yes!
Are there more picture books being written on sophisticated content? Yes!
Should you read aloud to Middle Schoolers? Yes!

Should you incorporate picture books into your instruction?

Well, you know by now what my answer is. I am a big fan. However, you do not have to take my word for it.
Check out positions taken by the International Reading Association and the National Middle School Association.
http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/September2006/Article4/tabid/1017/Default.aspx

The use of picture books in reading, writing, and all content areas can serve multiple functions. They can provide enhancement to the textbook. Picture books can give students unique and more immediate perspective on an issue.
They can provide a model of writing craft. Just because they have pictures does NOT mean they are for babies. Quite the contrary!

Convinced yet? Do a bit more reading on the topic. Check out some lessons that teachers have done with picture books.
Start with a subject that might be a bit dry or conceptually challenging and hunt down a related picture book. Start with a picture book you love and read it aloud with gusto!

What are you waiting for??!

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/postmodern-picture-books-middle-66.html



http://writingfix.com/Picture_Book_Prompts/Dogzilla3.htm

http://www.amazon.com/How-Hole-Other-Side-World/dp/0064432181/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Poetry Month Activity-Help students share cultural identity

Getting to Know Each Other: Celebrating Students' Cultural Heritage
Check out this lesson, inspired by George Ella Lyons' poem, 'I Am From'. The format of this poem is accessible to a range of ages and learning styles. Students can invoke ordinary sights, sounds, smells, from their lives to paint a vivid picture of their family and cultural identity.
Sharing your own writing in genres that you assign to students can build trust and show students you are willing to take the same academic risks you are asking them to take. In addition, it can be a great way to model the process, including your struggles and strategies.

Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand . . . what he learns and the way he understands it. Soren Kierkegaard

http://www.scholastic.com/dreamincolor/pdfs/TeachWiththePoster.pdf

Teaching Inquiry through Current Events: Japanese Earthquake

One of the most important things we can teach our students is how to ask (and try to answer) the right questions. The earthquake in Japan is a devastating event that opens up a myriad of questions for young people. Use these teachable moments to explore science, history, and human society.

See the following article on Edutopia for some ideas and a huge list of resources for exploring the topic.



Teaching Resources for the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami
By Eric Brunsell
3/14/11

The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan is on the minds of all of us, including our students. The event and aftermath is tragic and the continuing nuclear emergency is a reminder of how fragile society can be. As educators, we can help our students make sense of these events and give them the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their world.

In their book, Comprehension and Collaboration, Daniels and Harvey provide a comprehensive vision of what inquiry can look like in the classroom. They describe the following components that can easily be used to bring the Japanese earthquake into your classroom.

Immerse: Invite Curiosity and Wonder
Introduce the topic by asking your students what they already know about the disaster. Follow this by brainstorming a list of “wonderings” that students have. You may want to set the context for the discussion by reading a small excerpt from a news article or by showing a video.

Investigate: Develop Questions, Search for Information, and Discover Answers
Individuals or small groups select and refine a broad question that they find interesting. You should help students with their question so that it provides an opportunity for them to delve into a topic and consider multiple sources of information. Students can use the web, library resources, and other media to search for information.

Coalesce: Synthesize Information and Build Knowledge
Students should identify a small number of “knowledge claims” that they have learned from their research. These claims should be supported by evidence from multiple media sources.

Go Public: Demonstrate Understanding and Share Learning
Students can share their learning in a variety of ways. For example, they can create newspaper articles, videos, audio podcasts, posters, or infographics. The resources below provide a variety of perspectives on the Japanese earthquake. Some of the resources may not be suitable for all children.



http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-resources-japanese-earthquake-tsunami?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29

National Pi Day-March 14th!

National Pi Day! Did you know there was such a thing?
Check out the Eminem impersonator as he sings of the angst and stress of trying to remember all those digits. You can also read an interview with Chao Lu, the world record holder, who memorized...67,890 digits! What!?

He messed up on the 67,891st digit or he could have made it to over 90,000!!!
http://www.pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/details/luchaointerview.html




Have fun!

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids | Video on TED.com

"...the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed. Are you ready to make the match? Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom."


Take a few minutes to be inspired by a young person with big ideas. While every child we teach may not be a 'prodigy', they
all have something to teach us if we are prepared to listen.

Questionaut: You MUST see this online game!!!!

It's art. It's storytelling. It's math. It's musical. It's science. It's a tool for review and test-taking skills. It's free. It's fun!
I dare you not to love it!!





http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/03/questionaut.php

Go right to the source. Be careful! You may easily get hooked on their other games!
http://amanita-design.net/games/questionaut.html

A million things to teach and NO time??

I was thinking today about the frenzy many teachers are in right now. Everyone's scrambling to 'catch up' because of snow days and illness; rescheduled meetings and test prep. I know that feeling of pushing plans forward day after day and thinking, "How am I supposed to follow the curriculum map (if I have one) with no time to teach the curriculum??!!"
Although we know it is a somewhat futile exercise, the impulse to make sure we 'cover' everything is strong. This makes strategic planning all the more critical. It forces us to look at not just 'what' we are teaching (or trying to 'cover'), but 'how'.

Making the most of the time we have by incorporating best practice is key. You cannot teach 'everything' to any student. You can teach some very important things to every student. One of the most important being the development of their own metacognitive skills.


Reading
You can teach, post, and remind all students of word attack and comprehension fix-up strategies. Good readers use a number of tools to make sense of what they read and students need to continually practice these while reading a range of texts, especially those of their choosing. There are a whole range of strategies and approaches. The key is that students are monitoring their own comprehension with you as a guide for what strategies they may need to engage more often.

Depending on your grade level or individual student needs, you may choose to emphasize different strategies with different students. For example, if you have a student who has good decoding skills, but whose miscues affect meaning, you could emphasize 'does this word make sense?' vs. 'sound it out'. She could set a goal of trying that strategy when she gets stuck to remind her that she should be reading for meaning.

If you teach in a content area, it is critical that you reinforce self-monitoring and comprehension strategies, as your students may struggle with reading the most when faced with a language foreign to them, e.g., Math, Science, Social Studies.

Whatever subject area you teach, you should find strategies here that will benefit your students:

Monitoring for Comprehension (Self-monitoring):
Students need to be aware of when their comprehension breaks down. Teachers need to explicitly teach students to be aware of their comprehension as they read. Once they realize they have lost meaning, they can then begin to apply the following strategies below:

Use picture and/or context clues

Ask questions

Go back & reread

Summarize & Retell

Make predictions

Graphic Organizers


http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/comprehension/flowchartofbehavior.pdf

Word Attack Strategies
Students who are learning to read need strategies besides decoding to help them read unknown words. Decoding is the most common strategy that students use but many words in the English language do not lend themselves to decoding. Therefore, children need other strategies for reading words.

Look at the pictures.

Try to sound out the word.

Look at the beginning letters.

Look at the ending letters.

Look for a smaller word inside the word.

Skip the word and read to the end of the sentence.

Try to guess! Does your word make sense? Does your guess look like the word?

Use the words around it.

Go back and re-read.

Put another word in it's place.

Look in the dictionary.

Ask a friend or an adult.

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/fixup_strategies.html

SCUBA-D

S-Sound it out
C-Check the clues in the sentence
U-Use main idea
B-Break word into smaller parts
A-Ask for help
D-Dive into the dictionary

http://www.unl.edu/csi/Pdfs/scuba.pdf


Math Problem Solving
-While you do not have time for students to master every skill in the state standards, you can teach general problem solving strategies so they have tools to work through math problems.

Find a Pattern
Make a Table
Work Backwards
Guess and Check
Draw a Picture
Make a List
Write a Number Sentence
Use Logical Reasoning

http://www.mathstories.com/strategies.htm

Do your students love to read? They should and they can!

Images from the classrooms of Sarah Johnson VTC 2011, Brittany Jackson VTC 2012, and Kendall Paine VTC 2012

For the last couple of months, I have been talking to more and more teachers who are trying to address student
engagement in reading. By giving students more time for independent reading, through a Daily 5-type format or Reader's Workshop, they are seeing their students' skills and attitudes improve. They find students reading for pleasure, building their stamina, and developing independent strategies.

Are you considering moving to a workshop format or making space for structured, self-directed reading? Where are you in the process? Read one teacher's reflections on the impact of implementing Reader's Workshop on her students. And then, please share your thoughts and experiences.




When I first began teaching last year, I taught reading the way I was taught to teach it in my undergrad education program. Every student in my class read the same book at the same pace at the same time. There were quizzes over chapters, writing assignments, and final tests. The books were great: Maniac Magee, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Westing Game. I was enthusiastic because these were books I loved when I was growing up. However, my students dreaded reading. They would groan and make faces any time I asked them to take out their novels. Reading simply wasn't fun for them. I was devastated. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I wanted my students to love to read as much as I did. Faced with being the reading teacher for the middle school the following year, I knew something had to change.
Fortunately for me and my students, over the summer I discovered Nancie Atwell. I read her book In The Middle cover to cover, convinced she was a god. Nancie Atwell advocated completely free choice reading - and lots of it. She called her method “Reading Workshop.” Each day, she taught her students a short mini-lesson over author's craft, procedures, or comprehension strategies. The students then proceeded to read for a solid chunk of 20 to 30 minutes. There were – gasp – no tests, quizzes, or book reports. There didn't need to be. The students read for the joy of reading alone. The results, she wrote, were amazing.
I was hesitant to jump on Atwell's bandwagon at first. I was worried about classroom management and holding students accountable for what they read. But slowly, as I read more literature on Reading Workshop, my mind began to change. I could visualize what Reading Workshop might look like in my own classroom. I was excited.
I am happy to say that this year, my students love to read. My 5th and 6th graders have embarked on an amazing literary adventure with me and I can't say that any of them miss the old novel sets. Instead, they squeal with delight when I book talk a new or interesting title in the library. They ask for and give recommendations. They share favorite books with friends. They add entries to their book logs. They laugh and cry with their favorite characters and write letters to me about the books they've been reading. I've seen reluctant readers transformed into reading fiends. I've seen experienced readers explore new genres. The kids are reading volumes – I have a handful of students who have finished nearly 20 books already this school year.
Needless to say, my eyes have been opened. I'll continue stocking my library with great books and teaching engaging mini-lessons. And I'll leave the novel sets in the storage room where they belong.

If you'd like more information about Reading Workshop, check out these books:
In the Middle by Nancie Atwell
The Reading Zone by Nancie Atwell (This is the Reader's Digest version of In the Middle)
Revisiting the Reading Workshop by Barbara Orehovec and Marybeth Alley
Day to Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop by Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak

Sarah Johnson, VTC 2011
5th/6th Grade Reading/Writing
St Agnes of Bohemia





http://www.readersworkshop.org/