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 Word Work: Transfer

This past Saturday I had the chance to listen to Chris Lehman speak about Close Reading.  I’ve heard him speak several times before and each time I am able to absorb a little more.  I’ve been thinking intensely about word work in my classroom. I was reminded, “Close Reading happens when we pause at a part in a story/article and reread." For me that often occurs with vocabulary.  Chris reminds us when we go back to reread there are three areas to consider: 
TE (text evidence) WC (word choice) and S (structure). 

As I thought about this slide and Word Choice (WC) I like how it is circular.  Many times in word work I believe, myself included, we see skills in isolation.  I always want to connect word work with writing for that implementation piece; however do I build enough time in for that practice?  Probably not if I am honest with myself. I encourage the transition from word study to writing but I struggle because I don't want to force it.  "You must use 8 words today from word work in your writer's notebook." because that is not writers do.  Writers collect words, learn words and apply them.  I'm pretty sure most of my students aren't transferring their words, and now I'm reflecting on that transfer - the authentic piece of connection.  

There is a small group of teachers reading Choice Words by Peter Johnston. I've read this book several times, but each time I read it I learn something new or think differently. Perhaps all of this word work thinking will all fall neatly into place soon or maybe not?  Next week is Spring Break and time to recharge. I'll be back posting in two weeks.  Happy Spring Break friends and as always thanks for reading. 

Wednesday Word Work: Tale of Two Conversations

A few conversations this past week started me thinking about the role of a teacher as a learner. The first conversation was with a teacher who was struggling with word study.  She felt like her lessons were not flowing, and the lessons were more like a check off list.  As we talked,  I suggested several activities and she made al list of "possibilities."  I saw her get overwhelmed as we continued talking.  I realized I was talking way too fast for her.  Together we looked at the list of "possibilities" and helped her to choose a few from the list. These are the ones she chose to tackle for the next week.

• collecting words (from the read aloud or picture books) new skill
• word observations (she had already taught this skill earlier in the year) review skill
• playing with words (sharing magnetic letters, dry erase boards) helping with spelling

The second conversation was with a friend who is an amazing math teacher discussing the importance of "talk" in the workshop.  She shared a video of her class during math workshop and as I listened to the talk of the students I noticed that the teacher was in background.  I was on overload with so many ideas running through my mind.  I couldn't comprehend more than one idea.  I asked her for one strategy to help me with talk in my workshop because I felt overwhelmed.  Her suggestion was about how to help students have a conversation without raising their hands every time.  If a student wanted to change the topic of the conversation, they he/she would raise their hand which signaled a shift in thinking otherwise the students would talk math. Brilliant light bulb moment for me. 

Compliments of Google Images

As I think about tale of two conversations, I was on both sides of the track.  Both of these opportunities to learn more about myself are important. One is not better than the other.  In the first conversation, I was leading the conversation and helping support the teacher.  In the second, I was the learner and grasping for one strategy to modify the talk in my math workshop.  One strategy was all that I could hear and begin to think about for talk in math. How many times do our students feel that way in our classroom? Both experiences helped me to remember the importance of teachers as learners.

Wednesday Word Work: Keeping the Mini in Minilesson

How do you keep word work lessons mini?  What a great question.  In our district, we are required to do 10-15 min. word work daily.  This is not a problem for me however keeping the mini in mini lesson is more difficult.  I always start with the learning target typically in Social Studies or Science. 

We are studying Native Americans and how their environment impacts their living conditions.   I choose 3-5 words, which will support the target, and those words become focus also for word work. I chose the following words: adapt, migrant, migrating, migration, adaptations.  The students are familiar with these words through our lesson in Social Studies.

For word study, we focused on the difference between adapt (verb) and adaptation (noun), migrant (noun), migration (adjective or noun) and migrating (verb) The word observations and word sorts around these five words were powerful.  I started with an inquiry what do you notice about these five words?  Conversations were rich as I eavesdropped on them. 

G. said, “I didn’t know migration could be two different parts of speech.”  

B. asked, “Can you help me?” 

G replied, “Look in our book, see migration routes – that makes it an adjective.”

B. read out of the book,  "The migration from Asia to United States was treacherous."

G.  "Yea that is a noun." 

Mini will always be a challenge for me;however, I've learned and continue to practice on keeping it short and simple. The biggest shift in mini has been connecting the mini to prior learning.  #WWW. 

Wednesday Word Work: Exploration

Favorite shelf of word study and poetry books.
Typically the poetry shelf is jammed pack; however,
every student has a book in their desk for this week's
Poetry Friday celebration.

I had a little extra kick in my step this week with word work because I was constantly thinking.  I went straight to the source. My amazing and vocal group of learners in Room 234.  I shared with them that I was blogging about word work, and I wanted to continue the conversation from last week about EXPLORATION.  I asked a few students during indoor recess:  What's your favorite part of word study? 

• your word study book tub (which continues to grow out of the tub)
• word observations
• having fun with words on Poetry Friday
• sorting words (introductory lesson for most new skills)
• having our own word notebook (always have a basket ready to choose from)

Word observations is a routine I start early in the year and my students continue to use this strategy throughout the year especially syllable boxes to help them with their spelling.   It's the opportunity to notice the word features.  

1. Count the vowels plus consonants = letters (write an addition problem)
2. Using that information, build syllable boxes (one of the most important rules in spelling every syllable has a vowel in it)
3. Teaching why "y" is a vowel and a consonant (it's really neat if you have a student who's name is Ryan because y is a vowel) depending on if it is in a box without another vowel
4. Part of speech
5. Definition 
6. Sentence showing meaning

first word observation of the year

Thanks for stopping by on Wednesday. I am excited to learn along with you as we explore word work. If you decide to post leave your link in the comment section.

Saturday Celebration #WWW

It's Saturday and time to Celebrate.  I'm always thankful when it is mid week and I have already decided about my celebration for the week.  I hope that isn't cheating starting my blog post early on Thursday and waiting until Saturday to push the publish button.  I am thankful for Ruth for encouraging us to celebrate.  Today as you read this post I will be at the Dublin Literacy Conference which is always a highlight of my winter.   I will be tweeting my new learning #dublit16 feel free to follow along and learn side by side.  Here is the link up this week. 

My celebration is simple but makes me happy.  I've been struggling with writing lately.  There are way too many posts to link back to that talks about not having my writing voice.  I've learn a few lessons about writing and the biggest one has been that sometimes we are our own worst critic.  As I think about my #OLW16 (quest) I chose that word purposefully to move me in my writing.  I've found my niche again and I'm excited.  My passion is vocabulary.  I'm constantly thinking about it, wondering why authors choose that specific word, collecting words from EVERYWHERE.  It's in my DNA and I have decided that is where my writing is leading me.  Down a path to share my journeys.  I am not sure of the big picture ahead but for right now the quest I'm on is worth celebrating.  I would encourage you to join me in in blogging on Wednesdays about word work. if you do leave a comment on my post and we can link up. Here's to s a Super Saturday of living and learning.