many tools are greater than two

I just finished listening to Emily Hanford's podcast entitled, "At a loss for words, what's wrong with how schools teach reading." 

I feel agitated. 

First, at the heart of reading is meaning. If you read an article or a book, and then someone asks you what it was about, and you have no idea, did you really read it? I teach my students that this is an example of fake reading. If I pulled one of these kids to confer with me, I may listen and hear them read all the words accurately. If they cannot talk about what the author said, I do not believe they read the text.

This point - the comprehension of a text - was not discussed in the podcast. How can we leave that out?

Second, reading is a problem-solving endeavor, and sounding out a word and memorizing sight words should not be the only two strategies a child uses to solve a word. I'm so irritated as to why the teachers in this article call everything that is not sounding out or sight words "guessing." What about using phonology, morphology, and etymology (which, if your curriculum uses a phonics program under a balanced literacy framework students have this knowledge) to solve words? What about prompting a child, "Check the end letter in that word. You said /k/ but there's a 'ch' in there. Try it again." What about asking a child, "Does that make sense?"

I think the using the three cueing systems (Meaning: Does that make sense?, Syntax: Does that sound right?, Visual: Does that look right?) as cues to make meaning are just a few of the ways good readers approach text. Teachers who use the cueing systems are prompting students to get metacognitive about their reading. Ultimate goal? A child is reaidng on their own, and then thinks, "Huh, that sounds wrong," and then backs up to reread. That's a win in my book.

As I mentioned above, primary readers need phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. They also need to build their vocabularies. They need a schema bursting with experiences. They need to have positive feelings about reading, be able to name favorite books, and will be thoroughly invested if their teacher sets up partnerships or book clubs where children read the same books as their friends.

Which leads us to balanced literacy, which I believe is a model great reading teachers follow. Keep that going, sis.

Here's a bigger problem I see: our universities are not teaching reading as thoroughly as they should in undergraduate programs.

When I graduated in 2003, I began teaching sixth graders in central Phoenix. I would have some kids come up to my classroom, and they wouldn't know what to read, and I had no idea what to do, except follow the curriculum I was given.

The day the textbook told me, "Make XXX inference," and I didn't make that inference was the day I started to question things. Shortly thereafter, I began my graduate studies at Arizona State in Language and Literacy. Without that work, I would have continued to not be prepared for my students and their needs.

But the biggest takeaway? Teachers MUST trust their professional judgment, and seek out peers and mentors when they are stuck and unsure what to do. Since graduate school, teaching for me has always been kidwatching (Yetta Goodman). I watch my students and respond to what I notice. I build my instruction with my resources and my knowledge of what kids demonstrate to me. I do not blindly follow some curriculum or some resource or some report from some form of assessment as my only way to make decisions about kids. I am the trained practitioner. I kidwatch, use the resources available to me, and I make decisions as to what is next for my students.

I think I'm just a little put off as to why the attack of the three cueing systems. They are just ONE TOOL our readers can use. They can also use their knowledge in phonics, and the picture clues, and the schema they bring to the text to form their specific transaction to the work they are reading.

Reading is not black and white, and it instead lives in this really large grey area. As long as we are working together with our colleagues and continue learning, I don't think we need to throw out a bunch of tools (like LLI, which I have personally seen do amazing things for readers!) because they don't fit into some new idea about how reading instruction should be thoroughly changed.

Let's trust ourselves as professionals instead, and lean on our colleagues, coaches, and instructional leaders when we need another opinion.

Let's send some feedback to our undergrad education programs and get some advisory boards going so we can have teachers stepping into their first year much more confident and knowledgeable than I was.

Rant over :-) hahahhah

But seriously though, drop a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

balanced literacy classroom essentials

As the school year is wrapping up, I have been looking around at all the things I have in my classroom and was feeling so thankful that our district understands the importance of these items that truly make a Balanced Literacy Classroom flourish. This time of year, I'm sure you're like me in that you begin to think ahead, to envision your next year and everything you're going to do to make it better.

If you'd like to think about shopping, here's what I'd put in my cart for a perfect classroom:

The Library

I read a great quote once, about how the size of the library reflects the teacher's vision for literacy instruction. Totally agree. The bigger the better. Beg, borrow, steal. Ask your principal for money for books! Post ads on Craig's List, use Donor's Choose, ask in neighborhood facebook groups, just make it YUGE!

A Rug & Gathering Space

Again, ask your principal. You need a rug so you can sit together as a family and build community and talk about books. If asking doesn't get you anywhere, use Donor's Choose and get something gorgeous!

An Easel

You have to have one of these for teaching: having your anchor chart paper on one side, a magnetic whiteboard on the other. This one is awesome and has little buckets below, too, for storage. Just the other day I was making that chart with an intervention group and one of the firsties said, "I love this chart of words!" So, you can use this whole group or with a small group, but it's an essential!

Conferring Table

You have to have one of these kidney tables if you plan on conferring with kiddos over reading and writing. *Absolutely essential.

Benchmark Assessment System

You'll need this to figure out where kiddos are, what instruction to give them, and then to monitor their growth. There are many different tools like this, but Fountas and Pinnell is my favorite!

Magnetic Letters

Children, especially the youngest ones, need to manipulate items to learn best. You need these magnetic letters in your life so they can do just that. Also, pick up some little bowls by the tupperware at Target - you need to have everything prepped and ready before your lessons or you'll waste 5 minutes just taking the letters out!

Organizing Bins

Your life will be much easier if you have a little container for each child where they put their things. These have materials for our intervention group, but kiddos can also keep their Readers and/or Writer's Notebooks and Just Right books in them, too! Here's the ariel (sp?) view:

Literacy Idols

And of course, where would we be without our idols? I love having my people with me when I am stuck or maybe when someone else has a question or maybe just for inspiration! Calkins, Atwell, Fletcher, Richardson, Miller, and all the rest are at my side when I need them.

Don't forget some Sketcher Markers, notebooks, and good pens!

What am I missing? Leave a comment to share!

there's no app for that

I was surfing my blog feed today and ran across a post, Motivate your kids to write with this app! Yesterday I saw a post about math Pinterest Fails - you know, those quick acronyms and tricks math teachers use to get kids to remember order of operations or division steps?

If you're a teacher and you're really interested in getting your kids to love to write and to deeply understand math concepts, you have to come to terms with the fact that there are no quick fixes.

I'm a writer, so let's go there...

If I want my kids to love to write, I have to be an authentic model of what that looks like. I have to make my writing life visible to kids. They need to see my writer's notebook:

They need to see inside, too, and see that it's messy and not perfect. I need to tell them about my writing process and my writing preferences - how I like to keep my notebook with me and in the instance I don't have it, I make lists on my phone of things I want to write about. They need to know about my obsession with writing utensils, including these new Ticonderoga pencils that are now in colors, colors people!

I need to "go there" in my own writing - you know, that scary place where we investigate tragedies and conflicts? Then, I need to let them see what that's like. I need to take the time to research mentor texts and show kids how I study writers so I can mimic what they do, so I can help myself find my own way as a writer. I have to let them in on my own writing insecurities (I'm not as eloquent as I'd like to be) and work to make my classroom a place where they feel safe enough to share theirs. I need to keep up with PD in writing to bring fresh strategies to my students so both they, and I, can write in newer and livelier ways. I need to take time to plan Marathon Writing days so we can marvel in and be inspired by our surroundings and facilitate their planning of Author's Chairs so they can share their best work to a real-life audience. 

Friends, there's no app for this.

While I totally appreciate all that technology does for us: lets us share, allows us to respond to others we normally wouldn't have the opportunity to, and publish our work in new and creative ways, I also understand that it takes more than that to put thoughtful, insightful, beautiful works out into the world.

It takes a writer.

written conversations

I'm at the Illinois Writing Project, friends! It's a 2 and a half week course all about Writing with a focus on teacher leadership the second week. Every day, we get this blissful Writing Workshop time to compose anything we want! Today, I'm sharing Written Conversations with you, a strategy we used earlier this morning!

What are Written Conversations?
They are just that - a silent activity where two participants each write a note (in our case, in response to a story we read). Then, when both finish, they pass their note to the other, then respond to their partner's thoughts.

How can you use them?

• Get to know someone! Introduce yourself ask a question to your partner, then respond.
• Build background knowledge: Share a topic, kids write what they know and then respond to one another.
• Response to Literature: Students write letters about their Just Right books, short stories, brief articles and teacher or a partnered peer responds
• Exit Slip (?): Maybe kids could write about something they learned at the end of a unit, then have a written conversation, and then teachers could collect?
• Staff Development: Share a teaching strategy by way of a short article and then have paired teachers engage in written response to one another about the article

What other ideas do you have for implementation?

After participating in this activity, we spent a good 30 minutes debriefing. (Think Share Time!) There was so much to learn! The ideas here represent the ideas of the participants of my group - so thank you to all my colleagues who shared! 

Side note: It was during this time that I thought I should get everyone's twitter handle so I could give credit where it's due! Unfortunately, for this activity, I wasn't tracking who said what! But appreciations to my class for sharing their ideas that are now shared here!

Benefits of Written Conversation

1. Honors 2 Voices: Many times, when we have a Turn and Talk, the conversation will go off on one person's response to the article. In this case, both partners started their response, so two conversations of different content were going simultaneously!
2. Focused Listening: In verbal conversation, we tend to listen long enough to then start figuring out our response. In Written Conversation, you can really hear what your partner has to say and then begin composing your response.
3. Less Daunting: When students are paired, everyone participates more often and the teacher doesn't have to respond to everyone. As a teacher who used to do this about Just Right books with ever kid in my class, I can tell you that this was a big undertaking. I would spend an hour - 1:15 minutes PER DAY responding to my kids letters about books. While it paved the way for exceptional, deep thinking, it was time consuming to say the least!
4. Awareness of Audience: Getting kids to think about audience for their writing is so abstract. When kids write for one another, they can really begin to understand what that means. I for example, was making jokes in some of my letters, while another participant might be more serious. If kids changed partners for this activity, they would definitely begin to see how audience plays a role in writing.
5. Special Record: You walk away with a record of your conversation, so make sure they're in a special notebook!

Teacher Tips for Implementation

1. Remind students to respond to what their partner says, not carry on the conversation they originally started in their own notebook. Asking students to include a question at the end (like us bloggers do) can help guide this!
2. If needed, remind kids that the conversation is about the content, not the grammar. No need to worry about conventions, just as long as your message is clear.
3. Teacher should float during this time to look onto conversations and perhaps, make some notes for debrief.
4. Want to do a shortened version? Have kids write on post-it's and then pass them!
5. Tech version? Could we use Twitter here somehow?

How have you used Written Conversation?

Do you have a great idea to Rev Up Writing? Share it with The Reading Crew!

defining moments

The moment I because a Social Constructivist is as clear as day.

There I was, standing at the front of my classroom. My kids sat in groups of four. They had their basal (gasp!) out in front of them and we were reading a story from the book as a whole group (the horror!) It was some kind of traditional literature story about how the stars became in the night or something like that.

I would read a little, and then as prompted by the questions along the side of the book, stop periodically to ask the questions to the kids. I would pose a question, they would think and then turn and talk, and then we would share out.

This particular day I was modeling how to draw inferences as we read. The book told me to stop at some line and then share the inference listed. But there was a problem (well, there were a few, namely 1. basal reader, 2. whole group instruction, and 3. kids didn't do any independent reading, but I digress.) At that moment, my problem was that the inference that the book publishers were telling me to make made absolutely no sense to me. Zero sense. Zilch.

This happened in my fifth year of teaching when I was in the midst of my graduate work at ASU. I was learning about best practices in teaching reading and all the pieces suddenly fit together so perfectly.

Pearson or McGraw Hill or whoever was the publisher of this book was trying to instruct for me. I had no accountability to this book and this story, because it was all laid out for me. I just opened it up and read what it told me to. And usually it made sense, but in this moment when it didn't, it finally clicked. If I want to give my kids the best instruction, *I* have to be the one to figure it out and make meaning that makes sense to me. I have to be the one to prepare it for my kids!

I can't say that from that moment on I began doing what I'm doing now in year 12, but I was acutely aware that I had to construct my lessons myself.

I still used the basal, but I prepared how I was going to teach from the stories. Before I taught them, I sat down with that book - just the story, nothing else - and I read it through. I considered what my during reading strategy should be and picked places to stop and model what that would look like. I figured out if we would do any analysis after our first draft reading and planned that. The teacher who teaches kids each day should plan everything out. Not Pearson. Not McGraw hill. The practitioner.

Today, I am proud to be a part of a district that operates under a constructivist philosophy. In year 12, this makes sense to me and I believe it's what is best for kids.

But then I think of our first year teachers and how overwhelming it can be. I was lucky to be handed a basal in year one, and continue using it for five years. I got my feet wet, got my management down, had the kids do worksheets and everything was there for me. It was laid out and easy. That was all well and good, but it wasn't what is best for kids.

So to the newbies out there - the ones who are trying to get everything down in year one - the ones who are exhausted and have no time to do anything but work because on top of managing a classroom, you're also trying to learn how to teach a Reading and Writing Workshop - please know that you are giving kids amazing instruction, coming from what I believe is the hardest teaching philosophy out there. You're putting in all the labor to figure out how to model what good readers do and then give differentiated instruction in your guided reading groups, get kids to love to read and write, and then having them share. You're keeping anecdotal notes and using running records to inform your instruction, and writing Common Formative Assessments with your team, and grading them and then figuring out what kind of reteaching and enrichment needs to happen - you're doing all that work plus teaching three other content areas. I, on the other hand, opened a basal.

It's time for you to pat yourself on the back and appreciate all the work you've done, because it's outstanding and you're amazing.

Defining moments...mine was a sunny day in Phoenix during my fifth year of teaching. What is yours?

a harvest of freebies blog hop: plot problems

Hello and welcome to BigTime Literacy! I'm Michelle and I'm so excited be be working alongside some amazing Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches for this fall-themed blog hop!

So teaching plot is something we all do - I taught it in middle school and now, as a Literacy Coach, I see teachers across the elementary school teaching it in various forms: Beginning, Middle, and End in the younger grades, and then with the same plot line I used in middle school in the intermediate grades!

When I first started teaching, I ran into a few roadblocks with the plot structure. First, the rising action. Kids wanted to list *ALL* events of the story on the rising action. I didn't know how to stop this! I knew there had to be a better way....and then I find, there is!

Another problem was determining the climax. When I began teaching, I always would say that the climax was the "most exciting part" of the story. Well - one kid's most exciting part does not always equal another's. I knew there had to be an answer to this  burning plot predicament, and when I came across this book, I had found it!

Grand Conversations (Peterson & Eeds) is a great book about authentic book clubs that work with fiction texts, including great tips for teaching plot (that I'm about to share with you here!) I highly recommend this book if you are interested in book clubs!

Here are two quick tips for teaching plot with your kiddos - young or older!

Rising Action: Points of Tension

When you think of the rising action and what should be put on that list and what should be left off, think about tension. Any event that causes the conflict to become more intense, that's tension, and that should be added to the rising action. If the event causes tension, add it to your plot diagram. If the event doesn't cause tension, leave it off.

Climax: The Turning Point

Telling kids that the climax is the most exciting part of the story simply does not work. Instead, teach it as the turning point, or the part of the story when the conflict is no longer a conflict. It's the moment in the story that makes the conflict cease to exist. It might be a line of dialog or a characters inner monologue. It might be a fight or a handshake. Whatever it is, if it turns the conflict, it's the climax.

Maybe I was just late to the game, but these two pointers really helped me focus my instruction on the plot structure for fiction text. Hopefully they are new to some of you out there as well!

Before I get to my freebie, I also wanted to share a great read aloud for kids young and old: The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey:

This book, written by the same author as the Captain Underpants series, is a cute story about a little wiener dog named Oscar who doesn't want to hurt his mom's feelings when she wants him to dress up as a hot dog for Halloween. Filled with tons of plays on words (a wiener dog named Oscar, anyone?) and super cute drawings, this book will make you laugh and also share a great message.

I've read this book to kinders and to 7th graders and they all love it. The older kids can easily do a plot structure on this book, and, with the two tips I shared with you today, it will be a breeze!

Download my freebie - a spiffy-clean plot diagram - to use with this text or any of your choice!

Aaaannnnndddd.... if you like what you've read here, be sure to follow me on Bloglovin!

Now it's time to head on over to Comprehension Connection to hear about another great freebie from my friend, Carla!

In the rush to get everything done in your classroom this month, don't forget to slow down and enjoy all the splendor of the season:  the leaves changing colors, the crisp air, and an abundance of Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

Happy fall!

teach simply

I can't believe it's been so long since I logged into my blog! After blogging every day in July, and then only once in August, it feels super weird, but I'm glad I'm back!

I really should be working on this Online Blackboard course I need to complete so I can teach my very first grad school class beginning later this month. (!!!!) I'm so excited to teach the course - it's Language Arts Methods at Dominican University! The university put together a little course for the instructors to get acquainted with the online component - ours is called Canvas. I'm halfway through and locked out now since I'm waiting to have my last assignment checked. Nothing like waiting until the last minute - it's due on Thursday at 4 and I'm only halfway done!

but anyways....back to the title. I was at my sister's this weekend and she had this cute little decorative plaque thing up on her wall with all of these sayings, and one was "live simply." It was something like this:

Anyways, I got to thinking about this instead: teach simply. Obviously, there is nothing simple about teaching. In the very least, it's a constant stream of decision making and multitasking that can wipe out all your energy in just a half day. 

Rather, I mean, teach simply - don't go overboard with all the stuff that is in the teacher store. You really just don't need it.

The teacher I am today and the teacher I was from 2003-2008 are two totally different people. I was that teacher. In my first five years of teaching, my classroom looked like the teacher store. I bought the posters, the job boards, the books of worksheets, the hall passes - everything was super cutesy and none of it was the thinking of the community of learners in my room.

Then grad school came around. I learned about so many books that were amazing for kids, and so I began spending tons of money on building my library. Chapter books and graphic novels and picture books, nonfiction and poetry and biographies and text sets.

Meanwhile, I was watching, and learning from (one of my now) best friends. She didn't have any of the Ancient Egypt posters or fraction posters up in her room. Instead, she created anchor chart after anchor chart displaying her students' thinking on paper and then posted on the wall.

And then I got it.

You don't need to buy all that stuff at the teacher store. You don't need books of worksheets and test prep manuals and all the extras that companies like Pearson want you to buy.

What do you need?

Books. Lots of them.
Composition notebooks.
Chart paper and good markers.
Post-its.

If I had a classroom today, you wouldn't see any of that stuff above. You'd just see my kids surrounded by great literature, reading their books next to open notebooks with a pen in their hand. When they were confused, you'd see them reference the thinking of our class that was plastered on all the walls around the room.

What story do the walls of your classroom tell about the learning that is/will be happening there?

lift the level of classroom talk

I've been reading this book:

getting ready for a PD I'm doing next week with one of the other Lit Coaches in my district. It's really good and I'm going to share five cool things I've learned!

(Funny story - yesterday's post was five reasons why I think The Giver (the movie) will fall far below my expectations. Definitely wrote that because I thought Friday was yesterday. You know it's summer when you don't know what day it is! and that's awesome! Anyways, if you want to check that out, click here!)

But now, five things you can do to lift the level of conversation in your classroom this upcoming school year:

A Paradigm Shift

It's not about sharing right answers but about growing ideas. Children need to get their thoughts out. It's so important when building a classroom of purposeful talk that lifts thinking from literal retells to inferential thinking that children know that instead of trying to share the right answer, they are instead listening to their peers with intent, pursuing a line of thinking, and negotiating meaning together. It's about growing ideas!

It starts with the way we engage students in conversation. Instead of asking kids to tell their partner something, ask them to "build a conversation" around a specific topic. Nichols explains why: "'Build a conversation with your partner' conveys a very different message than does 'Tell your partner what you are thinking.' Tell is a one-way experience, building a conversation implies give and take of thought that grows" (p.49).

This "build a conversation" is one of the biggest take-aways I have from this book. It's amazing how the way we phrase things can make something as simple as the turn and talk so much more powerful!

Listen With Intent

Is this you: You have a discussion with your whole group of kids and as the teacher, you want to make the ideas of the class very comprehensible for everyone, so you repeat and/or rephrase what the kids say out to the whole group? I totally did that. Probably all the time. Now that I've read this book, I will definitely...

hahhah #oldschool

If you're a kid in the class of a teacher who restates everything, do you think you'll listen to your peers? Of course not - you know your teacher is going to stay it again, and better, so it's okay to *not* listen to your peers. In a classroom where accountable talk lifts thinking to higher levels of learning, children are taught to listen to their peers and to clarify when they need to.

Nichols says, "To listen with intent, children must learn that, once someone starts talking, their hands go down; they temporarily 'park' their thinking, and focus on the idea being shared. Most certainly, some children will forget their thought as they listen, but the process of learning to listen with intent is far more valuable than one idea about one text. And, over time, the children do become stronger at holding on to their own thinking while simultaneously listening to others and engaging with the others' thoughts" (p. 42).

Now, this is not to say that you should never clarify. It just can't happen all the time. Kids have to be held accountable for listening to their peers!

Keeping Lines of Thinking Alive

I mentioned above that children need to be taught to pursue a line of thinking. You know how you try to have a discussion with your class? And, especially with the younger kiddos, they all want to share things on topic, but all different answers that don't go together? As a teacher, it's hard - you want to value everyone's ideas, so you want to hear from everyone, but at the same time, you want to build an idea with the whole class. Here's a non-negotiable for a classroom where talk lifts learning: We have to expect that students will listen with intent and then stay focused on a single idea.

In the book it reminds us, "So, when Miriam shares her thoughts, we cannot allow Samuel to say, 'Well, I think....' and go off in a different direction. We have to say, 'Hold on - what do you think about Miriam's idea?' (p. 43)

It's time to model, practice, and provide feedback on students so that they get used to following one line of thinking until the idea is built to it's capacity.

Negotiate Meaning

This is the heart of accountable talk - the place where we want to get kids. To get here though, kids have to listen with intent and follow a line of thinking. But once they can do that, then the real magic happens! 

We know that reading is an interpretation that is based on the knowledge and experiences we each bring to the text as we read it. Because of that, each person with see the text through a slightly different lens, shaded by all that they bring with them. When a group shares a text, there will be varying interpretations, and that's great! So, while sharing a story, children will be encouraged to bring their ideas to the group, ground them with evidence from the text, but then be flexible in their thinking as they hear the thoughts of others. 

Nichols continues, "When keeping a line of thinking alive and negotiating meaning, total agreement is neither necessary no always possible. What children do need to learn is a healthy respect for differences of opinion when the other point of view has strong evidence, and a willingness to consider alternative views even if they are not swayed in the end. Listening to ideas that are different from ours helps us to look at situations with new eyes" (p. 46).

It's great when we can see situations in new ways. Just yesterday on my blog, I shared an interpretation of the ending of The Giver that I didn't know about until the third time I read the book. That new idea changed my line of thinking about the ending and made me love it even more. I would have never had that idea without having a conversation with the librarian that I worked with my first year of teaching! We constantly negotiate meaning as we learn, and need to share that with our students!

The Classroom Environment

This kind of work cannot take place without a classroom environment that supports it. First and foremost, a gathering place is needed, one where students can sit in a circle and all see each other. It's essential to create this kind of space in your classroom if you hope for your conversations to flourish in this way! Nichols points out that "facing each other strengthens communication by allowing for eye contact and nonverbal communication, and allows us to weigh the reactions of others to our ideas" (p. 38).

So that's just the tip of the iceberg with this book, but if you are a D100 teacher, please join Lauren and I next Tuesday at noon for 3 hours on accountable talk!

What do you all think? Are any of these ideas new for you, too? Please share!

An InLinkz Link-up

running records tutorial

Hey there! Do you use Running Records to inform you instruction with groups of students? If you're not doing so yet, you need to start ASAP! You will glean so much information about your kiddos by listening to them read, recording their miscues, and having a comprehension conversation with them!

I've created a running record using Reading A-Z's benchmark book. The book is a level I fiction book (first grade) and the comprehension conversation is aligned to Fountas and Pinnell's Benchmark Assessment System.

Head on over to my TpT store to download it and then read this blog while you take a look at the form.

This form goes with the Reading A-Z Benchmark book, On Vacation. It's Level I which correlates approximately to March or April of 1st grade.

Okay so let's start with the front of the doc. When you sit down with a child to give them a running record, you'll need a copy of the book, a copy of this form, a pen or pencil, a timer, and a calculator (or you can use this calculator by FnP!)

Make sure you read the whole book first, as the child will only read part of it aloud to you. You will place the book in front of the child and read them the prompt from the form, "Read this story about a girl who visits her grammy. You'll read pages 3 through 8 aloud to me and then finish in your head before we talk about the book together."

The child will begin reading and you'll start the timer. Record the miscues the child makes on your recording sheet. If you have the FnP calculator, you can keep the timer going until the child finishes page 8, but if you don't, pay attention to the 1 minute mark and mark spot where the child finishes a minute's worth of reading. After the child finishes reading reading page 8, have them finish in their head while you work on some data points.

Record the time right away in the box below. Record the number of errors the child made in the time read aloud - but note: if the child self-corrects, it's as if they didn't make an error, so don't count that. Record the number of self corrections. If you're using a regular stopwatch and marked the words read in one minute, record the total words read correctly (subtract the errors). I usually did it like this:

Next, you're going to find the accuracy. To calculate this, follow this formula:

(Total words read - Total errors) / Total words read x 100 = Accuracy Rate

In this case we'd have the following formula:

(98-3) / 98 x 100 = 96.9%

Go ahead and record the accuracy percentage. At this time, the child should have finished reading the text and you'll be ready to flip the recording sheet over and have a conversation about the book.

(If you have a FnP calculator, follow the directions for collecting all the data. You'll get a larger sample so your data will be just a little bit more accurate!)

The Comprehension Conversation will always include three questions from three different categories: Within the Text, Beyond the Text, and About the Text. Let me give you a brief explanation of these three kinds of questions before I discuss the ratings.

Within the Text - This question deals with what is right there for the kids to read, and I always make this question a retell question. In addition to retelling, the evaluator could make notes of how the child solves words, monitors their reading, searches for and uses information, maintains their fluency, and adjusts their reading when they are trying to problem solve.

Beyond the Text - These questions are inferential in nature and require the reader to think with their own background knowledge and experiences added to what the text said. These questions will require children to predict, make connection, synthesize, and infer.

About the Text - These types of questions will ask the child to comment on the author's craft and structure or ask the child to critique the text.

So now we're ready for page 2:

Update: I've done a little bit of revision to this, including the type of question for each category. In this case, the Within the Text question is Summarizing, Beyond the Text is Inferring, and About the text is Analyzing. I've also added suggested answers to make your note-taking on the text easier!

There is plenty of space for recording the child's answers. These are great forms because as you save them, you have lots of information to inform your instruction in guided reading and also share with parents at conferences or if a parent requests information on their child's progress!

Let's discuss ratings for the Comprehension Conversation:

In all cases, a 0 score would indicate the child did not answer at all. A 3 would indicate that the child gave an excellent answer, sequenced correctly (if applicable) and with multiple responses (if applicable). Additionally, a 3 would also be for an answer that had to be justified with evidence from the text or background knowledge, which the child could provide. When a child attempt an answer, but does so incorrectly, I score them at a 1.

Within the Text - For a child to score three points, they have to tell you a really good summary, sequenced correctly, when you ask them about the book. For me, I score down to a two if I have to prompt them lots (feel free to prompt the child with more questions!) but in our district we've had many conversations about this. Some people believe that if you prompt the child with 10 questions and they get them all right, that is still a three. It's my personal opinion that a child earns a three only if they retell flawlessly and talk easily about the book without being prompted. I mean, isn't that what we're striving for, anyways?

Like I said in a post the other day - this is messy work! Don't beat yourself up when you begin this kind of assessment - as you learn, you will refine your procedures and knowledge of the assessments and books!

Beyond and About the Text - Again, scoring is a matter of hearing various children read the same text and answer the same questions before you can really hear who has the 3 answer, the 2 answer, and the 1 answer. Just keep in mind that a 3 is Excellent, a 2 is satisfactory, a 1 limited, and a 0 unsatisfactory.

Tip: Rate the child right away! Do not save the scoring of the 0-1-2-3 until the child walks back to their seat. You'll do a better job if you just make a snap decision in that moment based on what you heard and the notes you wrote.

Once you have finished scoring the child's conversation, determine the amount of points they get, with 9 being the max. There is an option to give an additional point, but I use that very sparingly - you'll know it when you hear the conversation. There will be a kid at one point or another who blows you away with the connections or inferences they make - usually just as you begin the retell - that is the time to give the extra point!

Here are the scores and ratings for the Comprehension Conversation:

Once you list this information on the front page in the boxes to the bottom of the text of the story, you can then determine if the level of the book the child is reading is Independent, Instructional, or Hard. Here are the qualifiers to make that decision:

As the reading levels go up past level K, there are different qualifiers. So, make sure (if you use this sample running record) you are looking at the A-K qualifiers, since this running record is for level I.

Remember, the independent level is the level at which the child can read the book on their own with no support - this should be where they read for their Just Right books. The Instructional level will challenge them just a little - this is the level you'll want to use in guided reading. Finally, the hard level is just so you know when they frustrate. Sometimes students can be independent and instructional at a range, so keep testing up in the beginning of the year until you have their hard level!

Well, I'm tired of writing this novel of a blog. I'm sure I've forgotten things and I can always go back and add a follow up, so no worries. What I want to know from my readers is if this kind of doc is something you'd like to have and that you'd use in your classroom? Thoughts? How can I make it better? Please share what is confusing, too, and I can elaborate!

By the way...the book below is one you need to own. I used it as I created the comprehension questions and it's super helpful for instruction!

That's all for today! Happy Wednesday!

An InLinkz Link-up

let go of judgment, let go of expectation

I was in yoga yesterday for the first time in ages. Funny story - when I walked up to check in, it was taking a long time. I said something like, "Oh, I haven't been here in so long! Is that why?" The girl behind the counter was all, "No, it's slow, it's not judging you." I laughed and said, "Okay, well, I am!"

Then judgment came up again during class. It usually does. It's hard to hold the postures they want you to for as long as they want you to, especially when you've been out of practice for so long. We were doing my favorite - a static set of standing bow:

note: my foot doesn't go that high!

I did really good on my right side but not so good on my left. Was really wobbly and ended up falling out of it actaully. After that pose, she had the whole class bring their hands to heart center and do some breathing while she reminded us, "Let go of judgment, let go of expectation. You're here on your mat today, so thank yourself for that."

Which got me thinking about balanced literacy (I always find yoga paralleling work when I'm in class...I get lots of good ideas for writing there!)

Anyways, since I just presented this week three times, balanced literacy came up during each presentation and so that's how I made the connection.

Let's start with the Gradual Release:

If you're going to teach in a Balanced Literacy classroom, you're going to teach with the gradual release. Actually, if you're going to teach anything well, you're going to do this! You can't expect kids to know how to do something if you don't first model it to them and then slowly bring them into the activity. I heard Dr. Mary Howard speak once last year (she's a literacy consultant, I think) but she said, "Sometimes it's not just I do, we do, you do, but it's instead: I do, wedowedowedo, you do, OH! I do (again) I do, I do, we do, okay...now you do." You have to always look to your kids and give them what they need, and lots of demonstration and feedback  is a must!

So then a balanced Literacy classroom has the Gradual Release naturally flowing though it: You start with modeled reading (teacher does a demo) then move to shared (shared with the whole class). You give students guided reading in their small groups with leveled readers and kids are always doing the work independently. The same goes with writing. Then read aloud and word study are always flowing through each side of reading and writing.

Did you see that quote below? If you teach balanced literacy, you teach the reader. If you teach with the basal, you teach the program. So so true. Balanced Literacy isn't about opening a teacher's edition. It's about making decisions about your kids every day using all the information you have: Their test scores, their assessment data from a running record and comprehension conversation, you informal observations from class, your looking at the standards and then looking to your kids to find the balance, what you notice in their notebooks, in 1:1 conversations, the things they say in guided reading.

Balanced literacy might be using a short story from the basal, but building your lesson from your own head. You want to teach questioning to your kiddos? Great. Use the story in the textbook, but read it ahead of time and plan out where you're going to stop and model questioning. Figure the place in the text where you're going to stop to prompt kids to question together. Where will you stop and let them take a try on their own? What will you say to them? What writing will they do afterwards?

This is the thing with Balanced Literacy. It *is* messy, because there's no one from Pearson in a textbook there to tell you what to do. You'll make decisions daily about what your kids need. Sometimes you'll do the right thing and sometimes you'll have to go back and reteach. But that's what it's all about. Try it out and then revise.

And when you make the jump to this kind of teaching (especially after leaving the Teacher's Edition and all of *Pearson's Knowledge* behind) (that's what it is...the knowledge of someone else put down in a script for thousands of teachers and students!), don't judge yourself when things go wrong. Don't be so hard on yourself. Know that you're trying out a new way of teaching that is good for kids, and thank yourself for that.

Namaste :-)

An InLinkz Link-up