Wednesday Words: Continue the Conversations

Compliments of Google Images

It's Wednesday and I continue to think about the conversations in our classroom again. Who's leading them?  Who's waiting for approval which could be a head nod or even the proverbial "Good job."  I already know the answers to all of the questions above and the visual that I think of is Charlie Brown's teacher. 

Shifting the conversations has to start with me.  The definition of conversation is "information interchange of thoughts, information, etc. by spoken words; oral communication between persons." I like the word interchange - I am drawn to the interchange on highways.  Several cars going slow, too fast and just right.  Similar to learning in my classroom.  It helps me when I am making a shift in my teaching to have a visual.  Charlie's Brown's teacher has been at the forefront of my thinking for several weeks.  I am ready to shift gears to the analogy of the interchange. 

I feel like I have adjusted to the differentiation of learners by using the cheat sheets that I mentioned last week.  I have questions/statements for all my learners.  Where I haven't transitioned is the need for teacher approval. I know I always give verbal reinforcements; however, I never considered the message I was sending.  

• The teacher is correct when she says or writes, "Good job."  
• Some (most) students wait for that approval.
• What message am I sending when students wait for my approval?
• I am going to continue thinking about the the language of conversations in my classroom.  Any thoughts?

Wednesday Words: It's About the Converations

When I first started posting every Wednesday, I planned on focusing on word study. What does instruction look like? Sound like? Best practices?  I've been posting since February 10 every Wednesday, little over two months. I just realized this week as I was thinking about what to post today that the key word in my Wednesday's post is "word." and that's what I have been pondering lately.  Words, vocabulary in the classroom, questions, teacher talk. What ever synonym you want to use that's what I've been contemplating. Like the world of blogging, my thinking ebbs and flows. I find myself getting caught up in one idea - immersing myself in it by reading blogs, reading professional books, sending tweets and joining twitter chats.

I find myself being robotic with my questions that I ask in the classroom. After 27 years, I am extremely programmed. This year, I read Readers Front & Center by Dorothy Barnhouse. I also reread Choice Words, by Peter Johnson for the umpteenth time. Both of these books help me organize my thinking, and I started making cheat sheets (small index cards) so that I could reprogram my brain when asking questions. I put the index cards on my clipboard or hold them as I am teaching. These helpful hints help me to ask questions at a higher level both in whole group and small groups and has made a huge shift in my instructional practices.

Some of my new question from the article 

I just found “100 Questions That Help Students Think about Thinking” on twitter. These questions are categorized and it will be my go to for the rest of the school year. I especially like the idea of Maker Space and helping students be more reflective as learners. With six weeks of school left, I am going to structure workshop around stronger questions and allow myself some freedom to make mistakes at the same time begin to mold my new language of questioning.  My cheat sheets are growing.... So perhaps Wednesday's blog isn't going to be just about instructional practices with word study.. Perhaps it's going to be just about words a pretty lofty topic.