Blooming With Book Clubs

Wendy Sheets, Intermediate Literacy Collaborative Trainer

As we anticipate the coming of spring, I look forward to the fresh blossoms of new life springing forth. The dormant seeds buried beneath the snow are surely building in anticipation as well, moving toward their moment of arrival. Perhaps all of nature celebrates their “coming out” with grandiosity. As our students become more independent as readers and thinkers, they too blossom as they take on the act of participation within Book Clubs. In moving toward more independence, there is much that takes place before Book Clubs even begin in a classroom, as it is the instructional context in which the teacher offers the least support.  The best gauge for determining a child’s readiness is his ability to think deeply and converse during the contexts of Interactive Read-Aloud and Guided Reading. When readers have developed the ability to build in-depth discussions that are centered around an engaging text, we see powerful learning take place. 

 Sometimes referred to as Literature Study or Literature Circles, Book Clubs have the potential to expand readers’ understanding of an array of texts while increasing their enjoyment of reading. Opportunities for thinking within, beyond, and about the text while collaborating with others to reflect on, analyze, and be critical expands reading comprehension and the appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of literature. Readers, like freshly blossoming buds, grow to a more sophisticated level of thinking while developing a sense of agency in the intellectual life they share with others. Their ideas are valued, rather than evaluated. Book Clubs are inquiry-based so readers try out tentative ideas and search for information to confirm or refute their thinking (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). They also build on others’ ideas, using language to “grope towards a meaning” (Barnes, 1992).

If you haven’t engaged your intermediate learners in the practice of Book Clubs, or you’d like more information about this integral component of the Reading Workshop, I encourage you to investigate chapters 17-20 in Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading, K-8 (2006), and/or chapters 15-17 in Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy (2001), both by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell.  Your readers deserve to celebrate authentic, powerful engagement with text with grandiose opportunities for blooming.      

Resources:

Barnes, D. (1992). From Communication to Curriculum, second edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6: Teaching

              Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

 Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2006). Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking,  
             Talking, and Writing About Reading, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

 

The Power in Professional Readings

The Power in Professional Readings

Jenny McFerin, K-2 Literacy Collaborative Trainer
 
I have been doing an extensive amount of reading lately on the topic of developmental spelling.  From journal articles to theoretical texts to pedagogical texts, the readings have been very interesting. My understandings have been deepened, challenged, and revived. This has gotten me thinking about the power of reading a variety of texts on one particular area of interest.

How much time are you spending digging into your professional texts? Are you feeling like you need a boost in professional development? Consider revisiting some old favorites as a way to revive your understandings. Here are some suggestions for breathing life into those familiar readings:

• Dip into several texts and read about one component of literacy. For example, if you are interested in conferencing in writing workshop, read about conferencing in several different texts by several different authors. What are the similarities? What are the differences? What are your new understandings?
• Search for professional studies in a particular area and compare the findings with what you have been reading.
• Create a study group. Have each participant read a different text’s section on the area of study you have chosen. What does each perspective say about the area of study? How does this compare with your current teaching practice? What else do you want to study?

Read!  Have fun!  Discover!

The School Book Room: An Oasis for Readers

The School Book Room: An Oasis for Readers 

Jenny McFerin, K-2 Literacy Collaborative Trainer

Book rooms can be an oasis for teachers; a place to find the resources needed to quench our students’ thirst for quality, engaging, and enjoyable stories. Book rooms are a way for buildings to house a variety of texts in one location. Texts in book rooms range in many levels so that the instructional needs of all readers are met. This variety in level and genre provides opportunities for students to learn the written language and to love stories. It would not be an inefficient use of space and resources if each classroom housed its own set of leveled texts for students. A book room provides a space where teachers can access all levels of books as needed for students. Working with colleagues on organizing and maintaining this efficient system will help share responsibility and build capacity.

How should a book room be organized and maintained?

Book room organization and maintenance are personalized from building to building. The text, Matching Books to Readers: Using Leveled Books in Guided Reading, K-3 (Fountas and Pinnell 1990), offers many suggestions for starting and maintaining a school book room. Share this photo journal below with your literacy team. What else can you do to maximize the book room in your building?

At Northwestern Elementary School, Springfield, Ohio, teachers can check out guided reading books using an electronic system. When books are ready to be returned, teachers place the books on the cart and a volunteer puts them away. The literacy coach, Amanda Husted, works hard with the literacy team to order and maintain a variety of books.

Some schools use a self-check out system. Teachers keep track of the books they have taken from the book room using clothes pins or index cards. 

 

These are boxes with books. The blue cards have the book title and number of copies

Each teacher has a card packet on this bulletin board. When a teacher checks out a set of books she places the blue card from the book box into her card pocket.

This is a printout from the data base created for the book room at Harding Elementary in Youngstown, Ohio (Genevieve Bodnar, Literacy Coach). Teachers can easily locate titles of books and levels. This also serves as an inventory to aid the literacy team when a new order is needed.

Literacy coach, Prudy Platt from Paul C. Bunn Elementary in Youngstown, Ohio has a section in the book room for Keep Books®. Teachers can use this home-school connection by finding the just right book for children to read at school, then children take the books home to keep.

Heather Myers, literacy coach at William Holmes McGuffey Elementary in Youngstown, Ohio uses the whiteboard in the book room as a communication center with her staff.

The Power of Shared Reading

The power of shared reading

by Jenny McFerin
K-2 University Trainer

We live in data driven schools. Over time, we teachers have become very good at collecting and analyzing data. Once we know what students need, devising a plan and executing the plan can be a challenge. In a recent action research experience, a group of literacy coaches in training were working together with the second grade team at Prairie Lincoln Elementary (Southwestern City Schools, Columbus, Ohio). Our group of professionals included classroom teachers, literacy coaches, literacy coaches in training, the building principal, and a university trainer. Together, we were learning about the students in a low progress reading group. As we analyzed each student's strengths and needs it became clear that all students needed further support in detecting errors and self correcting. 

We knew what the children needed, now we had to decide how to teach them. We chose to use shared reading to demonstrate how to notice errors and fix them while reading. Shared reading is a context where the teacher is processing the text while students are following along. It is important that the children can clearly see the text; big books or enlarged poems are some examples. 

The teacher demonstrated what to do when something in the reading did not match. The teacher demonstrated what to do to fix the error. Then, the teacher and the children shared the reading, stopping and talking through thinking when they encountered errors. As the students took on the reading, we began to see small shifts in their readings; they were stopping when words did not match, they were rereading to fix the errors!

Consider the power in explicit demonstration through shared reading when making a plan for teaching children how to notice and fix errors

Interactive Read-Aloud Recommendations

Interactive Read-Aloud Recommendations

By Wendy Sheets, Intermediate Trainer

When engaging children in the practice of Interactive Read-Aloud, it is important to choose high quality text that will promote good conversation. In addition, exposing students to a wide range of authors, genre, and content will broaden their repertoire of experiences. I am often asked for a list of recommendations, and although many lists have been published by others, I’ve compiled my own personal list of favorites. What follows is a variety of titles that I have personally used during Interactive Read-Aloud with intermediate readers. I would love to hear some of your favorites as well!

A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant

A Unicorn Named Beulah Mae by J.H. Stroschin

Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Doreen Rappaport

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka

An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant

Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol

Bigmama’s by Donald Crews

Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco

Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson

Crab Moon by Ruth Horowitz

Crow Call by Lois Lowry

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill

Dear Willie Rudd, by Liba Moore Gray

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say

Grandpa’s Face by Eloise Greenfield

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth

Ma Dear’s Aprons by Patricia McKissack

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Gray

My Name is York by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk

Mr. Peabody’s Apples by Madonna

New York’s Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester L. Laminack

Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Sophie's Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

The Brothers Kennedy: John, Robert, Edward by Kathleen Krull

 The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland and Tatsuro Kiuchi

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting

Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher

Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson

Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Wilson Chall

Welcome to the River of Grass by Jane Yolen

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan

Who Was the Woman Who Wore the Hat? by Nancy Patz

 

Using Technology to Enhance Dialogue

Using Technology to Enhance Dialogue

by Jenny McFerin, OSU Literacy Collaborative Trainer

Just the other day, my children (Abby and Connor), along with my niece (Quinn), were playing. They started off playing school. During their play I noticed how they were effortlessly using their electronic devices to enhance the learning at ‘school’. For the announcements, the principal had her iPad which helped her give the weather report. The teacher used the iPod to create a list of assignments the class would have to complete. The student used the iPod to research ocean animals (the area of focus for the day). Then, something happened at ‘school’. Everyone scattered, each with an electronic device in hand…one upstairs, one downstairs, and one outside. The conversations were deep and engaging. From iPod to iPad they discussed via video chatting how exactly this problem at school would get solved. Once the issue was resolved, the electronics went by the wayside and they came together for lunch and finished their ‘day at school’.   Later that night, I read this exchange that took place between Quinn and Abby:

Quinn:   I miss u!

Abby: I miss you to

Abby: Can I fas tim you

When we think of opportunities for talk in the classroom we traditionally use talk in whole group, small group, triads, or partners. Nothing can replace looking eye to eye and speaking. Children need to learn how to engage and be social with peers and adults.   

Children also need to learn how to appropriately use technology. Consider the power of conversation and engagement when technology can be used. 

As you prepare to welcome a new class of students into your classroom, how might you use technology to enhance dialogue?

That's Why It's Called Teaching

That's Why It's Called Teaching
By Wendy Sheets, Intermediate Literacy Trainer 

The sun shone brightly on the waves and the shouts and laughter amid the fishermen could be heard as we walked onto the long concrete jetty that stretched into the ocean. My husband and I were visiting my parents in Florida and had crossed the hot sand to reach the pier at Sebastian Inlet Park. Among the many fishermen, there was a boy around age 14, who was busy with the work of fishing. As we stood there enjoying the sunshine, the breeze, and the contented manatees far below us, I couldn't help but keep an eye on the assiduous young fisherman. Wearing just shorts, his bronze back was evidence of his frequent trips to the salty waters to pursue this love of his. He skillfully maneuvered his pole, carefully baiting and casting into the swells of lapping waters. When he spotted three large stingrays swimming in the distance, he quickly changed his bait to begin a judicious mission. We watched with wonder as he pursued his catch, much like an adrenaline-filled predator seeking his prey. Through his determination, he managed to hook one of those stingrays, and thus began the process of working him in. Tenacity took the lead and inexperience fled as the young man patiently pulled just a bit at a time, slowly fatiguing the thrashing stingray. I watched with interest as he worked and waited with tired muscles, determined to win the battle as time slipped away. Rubbing his arms, he asked another man to briefly take the pole before returning to his task. The weary stingray, after a lengthy time, pulled under the jetty with a final burst of zeal, and the line snapped, leaving the boy's pole disappointingly empty. I felt a sense of loss, sorry for the young man who had endured so long. Upon turning to look at me, he smiled and shrugged, proclaiming, "That's why it's called fishing. It's not called catching."

As I reflected upon that experience, I thought about how much it was like our work with those we teach, children or adults. Like that boy, we must be determined and dedicated, committed to our work. We are excited and filled with anticipation and fortitude as we observe progress, moving slowly, but always maintaining a sense of urgency. Basking in the sun is always a pleasure, but when the work needs done, we roll up our sleeves, knowing we have an important mission.  When dealing with "a struggler," we must be willing to have patience, coming alongside and lifting for as long as it takes, expending great amounts of energy, sometimes even pausing to reflect and massage our sore muscles. When progress comes slowly, we may have to reach out for help from a more expert other, someone who can bear the weight better than us at that moment. We give it our all, never retreating to throw in the towel, not willing to lose our fight. We remember that learning is a journey, and we have an ever-important job to do. That's why it's called teaching.