Engagement – Page 3 – Literacy Lenses

Reclaiming Independent Reading as a Professional Imperative

By Fran McVeigh

On September 6, 2018, the stars aligned, the chorus appeared from heaven, and the #G2Great chat was literally almost trending from the first minute because Independent Reading is huge, hot, and hard to say “no” to. It would have been easy for teachers and edu-friends to say, “I’m busy. I will catch this topic later.” For many attendees, it was the first week with students back in school. For others, school has been in session for two, three or even four weeks. But our crowd was splendiferous and the learning was off the charts. It was inevitable. The quotes for this chat included words of wisdom from such literacy greats as: Donalyn Miller, Stephanie Harvey, Annie Ward, Ellin Keene, Nancy Atwell, and Richard Allington.

But just as I was narrowing down my final selection of tweets for this blog post, ILA issued their “Children’s Rights to Read” (link) and I was captivated.

Ten rights. Ten simple rights. Ten rights that highlight the need for access and equity. Ten rights that don’t use the word “Independent” but wouldn’t that just be a redundancy? The “Children’s Rights to Read” are, in truth, aimed at the 750 million people across the world that cannot read and write at a basic level. This notion of “Rights” inspired me to think about whether these ten rights are in place in ALL schools in the U.S. and I am saddened by the knowledge that we have no evidence that they are firmly established in every school building.

The positives in our chat were that I found the following concepts: value, access, love, ubiquitous, equity and sustenance. In the explanations for each concept, please note the crosswalk for the match to the “Children’s Rights to Read” as well.

Value

When we value something, in our personal or professional lives, we make time for it. It gets priority scheduling. It’s not left to chance. It’s never, “Well, if there is time left, we will do independent reading.” Or my most hated because it also speaks to access, “When you get your work done, you can read independently.” (GRRR!) The old Mathew Principle: The rich keep getting richer while the poor continue to get poorer! When independent reading is a priority, I often see it as a “settling in routine” where students enter the classroom and are expected to have their book out and be reading when the bell rings. When independent reading is valued, it’s woven into the schedules and routines so tightly that students will beg for “just two more minutes so I can finish this chapter, PLEEEEASE!”

Value = establishing priorities for what matters

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Access

Access is so multi-faceted that is difficult to pick a starting point. The number one criteria for access is often touted as time. Is it perceived as a necessity for all students or a luxury? That depends on the value of that time. Would any teacher say that Independent Reading was not important? Then schedule it first. In ink. Boldly. Confidently. After time, the next issue is texts (physical books, magazines, and digital resources including video and art). Where does a teacher develop that classroom library? What about the new teacher with an empty room? But broader than that: is there a classroom library in the science lab, math classroom, economics classroom, and more importantly in the office waiting area? Location of texts could be access, value or equity. Other aspects of access to consider may be more subtle. Access to time to talk about books. Access to a knowledgeable adult/teacher to conference with. Access to that next book on the To Be Read (TBR) stack or that long awaited book that just arrived from the publisher when there are NINE names ahead of yours on the waiting list. Access to books about people like you, your community, and your background. Access to books that interest you. Access to new books that have recently been published. Access to conversations about the books with other kids in your class, your school, your state, or your country.

Access = choice of the right texts at the right time!

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Love

A love or passion for reading begins at an early age. It is supported when we read aloud, read along with children, and listen to them read. That takes time and texts. It may begin at home or at school. How do we continually grow and nurture book love in our students? As parents, teachers, librarians, or administrators – those many roles that we have – what is our end goal for students? Will their score on a summative state assessment be what the student takes away from their time in the classroom? Or will it be the fact that you helped them fall into love with reading? You helped them explore their interests. You helped them find books and authors that opened whole new worlds. They grew. They changed. They lived their lives differently because of that new found love or passion for reading.

Love = an opportunity to change lives

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8

Ubiquitous

When something is ubiquitous, it is pervasive, worldwide or universal. The belief that Independent Reading is a mainstay of reading instruction is ubiquitous for teachers who have a goal of helping students get lost in that “just right” book. Teachers who are readers. Teachers who love books. Teachers who know which titles are being published. Those are the teachers who can connect students with books that will change their lives and put them on a path to continued reading.

Ubiquitous = a need to build lifelong, independent reading habits

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Equity

Equity in reading means that all students have the opportunity for Independent Reading. It’s not “what you do when your work is done” because some students never do get their work done. It’s not “pull-out intervention” time. It’s not “pull-out for special education service minutes.” Equity also means that everyone has access to texts at school and at home. Lack of wifi does not limit access to digital texts. Students and parents are not expected to personally buy the books on the summer reading lists. Students who are primary caregivers in their homes are not judged when reading logs or notes to parents working multiple jobs simply forget! When equity and Independent Reading are both priorities, then it is a part of Tier 1 for every student. All students. Every Student!

Equity = zip codes do not determine learning

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Sustenance

How important is reading? That seems to go back to the value of reading. Is your view of reading that it is necessary for life? Does reading nourish your mind, thinking and soul? Do you agree with Rudine Sims Bishop that texts are mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors? If yes, than having a reading life is a part of your required sustenance plan. Not a luxury. Something that must be prioritized into a daily routine or schedule.

Sustenance = the power of “flow” to hook readers for life

Match to Children’s Rights to Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

So if you remember how an acronym works, these characteristics detailed above, Value, Access, Love, Ubiquitous, Equity and Sustenance spell out

VALUES.

Yes, it was a bit cheesy to use “Value” as the first concept. But it’s ~~important~~, ~~critical,~~ imperative! It all comes down to our professional values. What do we hold near and dear? What do we know is vital for our students? What does it take to create readers? What does it take to create literate beings who continue to grow and learn once they leave our school halls?

If we value Independent Reading and make it a professional imperative, it will be a priority every day in every classroom. If we value Independent Reading and make it a professional imperative, time and money will be allocated to support it. If we value Independent Reading and make it a professional imperative, resources from discontinuing old antiquated bribes like AR can be re-purposed to support it (Thanks, Brent for that idea!). If we value Independent Reading and make it a professional imperative, students will love to read, will be able to read and will choose to be readers all their lives.

Just a quick reprise for “Children’s Rights to Read.” Those 10 Rights above are huge. Note that Value, Access, Ubiquitous, Equity and Sustenance connected to all 10. ALL 10! And there were a total of 55 connections out of a possible 60! 92% means Independent Reading as a way to support Children’s Rights to Read is a Professional Imperative!

Curated Tweets:

Additional Resources:

Wakelet – Link

Donalyn Miller – “I’ve Got Research, Yes, I do. I’ve Got Research. How About You?”

ILA – “Making Independent Reading Work”

Scholastic – “The Joy and Power of Reading”

Kari Yates – Heinemann – “Five Ways to Reclaim Time for Independent Reading”

Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell – “On Why We Need Libraries and Librarians”

Reconsidering Our Professional Resources

by, Jenn Hayhurst

On Thursday, August 9, 2018 members of #G2Great’s PLN had an important conversation, Reconsidering Our Professional Resources: Calling Publishers and Marketers to Task. We’ve all seen them, those glossy brochures promising student success so long as “their plan of action” is followed with fidelity. Nonsense! This is what I know for sure, success begins by believing in teachers. Smart, resilient, talented teachers; these are the professionals who have the power to make a meaningful impact. This blog as well as our weekly #G2Great chat exist to extend a platform that amplifies teacher voice. What was the message we sent out to the publishing world?

Listen to what we really need…

Thinking Outside the Box

Undoubtedly, there is an unlimited array of resource options at our disposal. Consumer choice is great and yet it can also be overwhelming. Boxed programs offer solutions but the truth is we have to think outside the box! Taking a more expansive view includes gathering the perspective and wisdom of other educators. There are are more opportunities to exercise personal agency than ever before, social media has given us access to each other. Now we can grow our Professional Learning Networks (PLN). We can support professional organizations nationally and locally. We can be ambassadors for professional learning.

Get the Whole Picture

Educating children is complex, so when a publisher or marketer, offers rigid solutions we need to get out the yellow caution tape, the orange cones, and flashing red lights because this is a professional danger zone. We need to do our own research on their research! We need to gather an array of formative assessments to look at how our students are performing inside our classrooms so we can inform any outside purchases. The most important thing to remember is to trust that we are the experts when it comes to our students. Once we know them, we know what resources we need to look for to inform our practice.

Start off on the Right Foot

A dynamic faculty is more than having good teachers and administrators. A dynamic faculty has a shared vision. Once you have a vision making decisions about professional resources becomes easier. Two tweets stood out to me because they both speak to identity and vision. Roman (@NowakRo) knows himself he is a reflective educator who values design thinking and collaborative work. Gravity (@drgravitygLLC) is a an author / researcher but I suspect the title she likes the most is… teacher who builds teams for collaborative work and shared vision. Know who you are, articulate what you value, and collaborate this needs to happen prior to purchasing anything.

Raising the Bar

What does your curriculum ask of you? Curriculum that is a living document, that is informed by real practice, requires more from us. A go-to professional resource that maximizes the quality of teacher practices has to be relevant to decision making for day-to-day teaching. When research teams like those from Teachers College Reading Writing Project (@TCRWP) create resources you can be assured they are vetted in the field. The work they recommend is born from their think tank and is work they are actually doing so it will be relevant. This kind of work is constantly changing and growing because it keeps pace with teacher learning and discovery.

Everyone: On the Right Page

It is imperative to initiate collective conversations before money exchanges hands for professional resources because if we don’t listen to the stakeholders there will be no ownership. If there is no ownership initiatives will fail. Collective conversations are always at the heart of growth, and I think this is the best way to begin the design process for supporting a child-centered perspective.

Don’t Miss the Mark

Authenticity is the antidote to basal programs and scripts Authenticity can be realized when teachers have ownership over what they will learn and when schools invest in teacher education and learning. We are not so very different from our students. we are all at different points in our understanding for literacy instruction. As a result we all have different needs and our ongoing education education needs to match wherever we are in that continuum. So long as our learning rests squarely on students and their developing literacy learning we can’t go wrong.

Cut to the Chase

We are living in the 21st Century of course technology has an important place in the classroom. However, it can be misused as electronic worksheets. It should be our goal to enhance our practice through technology; while being careful that it does not substitute or diminish excellent teaching. For one thing, teachers not tools make the decisions. For another, accessing print resources and digital texts to build rich classroom libraries is an imperative. Students, teachers, and texts are the heart of the classroom.

It’s ironic that we are asked time and time again to look for answers outside of the classroom when what is really needed is to take a closer look inside our classrooms. When we asked teachers what they need, they told us. In the end, I think Mary said it best, “To do more great work, you need to make not one but two choices. What will you say yes to? What will you say no to?” Good to Great Teaching Focusing on the Literacy Work That Matters. This is how we really put publishers to task so we may keep our students where they belong, at the center.

What matters most? Reverence or Relevance?

By Fran McVeigh

In the week leading up to this chat on July 19, 2018, I wondered about the title and where it would take the chat. I consulted the dictionary and the thesaurus. I even discussed the topic with a co-moderator. I wanted an idea or a theme in mind to “jump start” my thinking. A spark. An angle. A beginning point. After all . . . I was going to be at #ILA18 and my goal was to not spend all weekend writing a blog post. So here’s a small snapshot of what I discovered.

Synonyms for Reverence (Source link)

Synonyms for Relevance (Source link)

Reverence: High opinion.

Relevance: Pertinence.

The “or” in the title suggests one or the other.

Flip a coin. It’s a high opinion.

Flip again. It’s pertinent.

But . . .

I have this queasy feeling in my stomach.

When is high opinion enough?

When the teacher says, “I like it.” ???

When the teacher says, “It has research to support it.” ???

When the administrator says, “This is what I bought.” ???

When is pertinence enough?

When the teacher says, “This is what my kids need.” ???

When the teacher says, “It worked this way for my students last year but I think if I try this one little change, it may work even better.” ???

When the administrator says, “Have you checked with others about this idea? And with whom?” ???

Before you make a decision about what you want (those things you revere) or what is needed (or relevant), let’s review this curated sample of #G2Great community tweets. The link for the entire Wakelet (archive) is at the bottom of this page.

What are our beliefs?

Meaningful, purposeful work: What are we in awe of?

Goals: What are we in awe of? What do we believe is best for students?

Collaboration and Goal-Setting: How do we keep students at the center?

Time: How do we allocate and use time to reflect what we revere and what is relevant?

Talk: How do we ensure that students talk more in the service of learning than the teacher?

Eureka . . .

What if, instead of trying to decide whether we need to start, continue, or stop doing something because of its reverence or relevance, we decided that both factors would be part of the same lens or filter? What if reverence AND relevance became a double simultaneous filter for reviewing and reflecting on our teaching needs and desires?

And as I participated in the chat in the midst of a group of #G2Great dear friends,

Quietly

Concentrating

Reading

Writing

Giggling occasionally

Greeting passer-bys

Reverence and relevance both merged together in Brent’s Canva of a quote from Dr. Mary Howard here.

. . . amazing child . . . notice and nurture . . . incredible potential . . . that resides in each child . . . without exception!

If that’s our vision and our goal how can we not use our understanding of reverence and relevance together?

And now that you have read through a curated set of tweets, just think about what learning in our classrooms could be if we asked students to “curate their learning daily.” What possibilities do you envision?

Copy of Wakelet here

Taking a Fresh Look at Our Practices: Shining a Spotlight on Push In/Pull Out

By Fran McVeigh

The fact that we were trending in the opening moments of our #G2Great chat “Shining a Spotlight on Push In/Pull Out”, on June 28, 2018, was not a surprise. Services for students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) have been a hot topic since the first federal law, PL 94-142 (1975) which guaranteed: a free, appropriate education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Every reauthorization since that initial law has involved change, but the requirement for educating students in the least restrictive environment remains a topic that requires ongoing discussion in every school across the country.

A walk down memory lane in special education would also shine some light on “mainstreaming” and “inclusion” as other terms used to describe student services. Mainstreaming brought special-needs students who were being served in separate classrooms back into general education classes. It was assumed that these students would be able to find success once mainstreamed, but access alone was not the issue. Many students still struggled because specialized assistance within the regular education classes was not provided. To remedy this, inclusion was the next wave of reform. Students with special needs were placed in general education classes but were also supported by specialists in those classes. Co-teaching became one form of support that still exists because IDEA continues to require students to be educated in the least restrictive placement.

As a former special education teacher who has taught in both push in and pull out programs, I eagerly anticipated this chat about services for ALL students including those who are striving, whether they have an IEP or they are Gifted and Talented. In reality this topic has huge implications because it can also include any student ever pulled out for any services: a Tier 2 or 3 Intervention, English Learner instruction, band lessons or even speech services.

Let’s begin with what was revealed in our conversations during the #G2Great chat. This quote of Johnny Downey’s sums up much of the thinking and also matched Amy’s quote about many factors being involved. It’s complicated!

When is the location or the content of instruction an equity issue?

The presumption is that each child will first receive quality core or Tier 1 instruction in the same classroom as their peers. Removal to another location through a Pull Out program during core instruction would be an equity issue because those students could be denied basic instruction. It depends what they would be “missing” in the classroom. However, this could also happen with Push In instruction if the student had small group instruction during a whole class Read Aloud time. The very elements of literacy instruction that are most needed by students, especially independent reading time, are often assigned as time for additional instruction. This does become an equity issue because the student may actually have access to less time for reading than his or her peers.

What is the primary focus for decision-making?

The student must be at the heart of all decisions made about where and when extra instruction will be provided. This seems simpler for students with IEPs because federal legislation, IDEA, guarantees parental rights:

“each public agency must ensure that the parents of each child with a disability are members of any group that makes decisions on the educational placement of their child.” Source Link

But this is also true for all students whether they are missing class for an intervention, speech instruction, or any of the other myriad of reasons that students are pulled out of classrooms. Parents should be part of the decision-making process. No parent of a fifth grader should be blindsided by this statement, “Well, she is not doing well in social studies because she missed it for the last two years because of her intervention time.“

What issues must be considered?

Quality Tier 1 instruction is critical and must be provided by expert teachers.

Neither push in or pull out is ever perfect for all children.
We must consider effectiveness of instruction and collect results to see if our students are really “learning” and if the support is increasing student success and joyfulness.

Decisions cannot EVER be about time, the schedule or the adults. It’s not their education on the line.

Sometimes, pull out instruction can be more efficient and more effective.
Thoughtful discussions should always be a part of the process for EACH and EVERY student.

And FINALLY, the biggest concern with Push In or Pull Out is the feelings and perceptions of the students involved. When do we include students in the decision-making process and what do they tell us?

Access to quality instruction is the right of all students. Access in the least restrictive environment is also a legal mandate for many students as parents consider just where that instruction should take place. An arbitrary requirement for ONLY “Pull Out” or “Push In” services must be rejected because the needs of the students should be a central focus of all decision-making. Student responses to their education, as well as their attitudes and perceptions, need to be considered as the focus of staff must be to accelerate learning in order to decrease learning gaps and develop a love of learning. Team Teaching or Co-Teaching is one current popular way of meeting students’ needs in a less intrusive setting and you can read more about that in the Wakelet archive. Data on the successes of Push In / Pull Out settings is inconclusive but more students are successful in life after learning in Push In settings. Other positive benefits from Push In settings include: more positive interactions with peers, improvement on standardized tests, and increased social and communication skills. Decisions about instruction must occur on a student by student basis in order for ALL students to have access to the highest quality education available in the least restrictive environment.

Wakelet Link

This Series:

Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning K-8

by Mary Howard

May 31, 2018 was a special night on #G2Great when Ellin Keene joined our chat as a first-time guest host. Like many educators across the globe, I have admired Ellin’s work since 1997 when she collaborated with Susan Zimmerman in Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop (Heinemann). This week, we gathered together in a Twitter celebration of Ellin’s new professional masterpiece, Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning K-8 (Heinemann, 2018). To say that a buzz of excitement has revolved around the publication of this remarkable book and our much advertised #G2Great chat would be an understatement.

The term engagement is certainly not a new one, but Ellin has given us a unique perspective of what this term actually means in a way that no one has ever done before. As an entry point to discuss the critical role that engagement plays in the learning process, she explains that time on task has become an ‘overvalued commodity term bleached of meaning.’ And it is certainly devoid of the spirit of engagement Ellin bring to life in one of the most eloquent descriptions of engagement I have ever read:

This blissful wide-awakeness brings to mind wonderful images of children engaged in the joyful throes of learning, enraptured in a state of being where they become so captivated by a book or learning experience that they can willingly linger in emotion charged moments within quiet solitude or lively conversations in the company of others.

Ellin suggests that our best intentions to motivate children may have fallen flat. In pondering that possibility, we can all draw upon our own memory of a time when we watched children passively go through the motions of surface level learning fueled by little more than compliant obedience. Contrast this view with children immersed in the deep engagement Ellin describes and it would be hard to argue that our best intentions have indeed gone awry for too many children.

The question then becomes how we can create the conditions that would nurture the cognitive and emotional engagement Ellin captured so beautifully in Engaging Children. This kind of engagement is only possible when we acknowledge that students truly do desire this intense state of being and that we are confident that they are quite capable of achieving engagement under the right conditions.

Only a cover to cover read of Engaging Children can possibly do this topic justice, so I know that the book stands alone on its own merit and therefore does not need my review. Rather, I would like to revisit and reflect upon her chat tweets as an extension of some of the essential features Ellin details in her book. It is my intent to use her words as a thread to Ellin’s wisdom. As we work toward achieving the highest level of engagement possible for all students, we can begin by keeping these eight big ideas that will nurture, celebrate and elevate engagement.

Teacher Stories

Ellin shares a wonderful example of recalling and sharing her own engagement story about an airplane landing that was admittedly squirm worthy for this fellow flyer. She uses her story to illustrate the value of drawing from our experiences as a model for engagement. Our #G2Great chat is another example of this kind of personal engagement since Ellin immersed herself in a conversational form of blissful wide-awakeness Twitter style. I was mesmerized by how readily she conversed with fellow #G2Greaters considering that she is relatively new to the chat arena. If we want our students to understand what engagement looks like, sounds like and feels like, then we must become more engagement aware and then turn a spotlight on our experiences by sharing a time when we were spellbound by the very enthusiasm we hope for our students.

Student Stories

But simply sharing our stories with students as models is not enough unless we can use those stories to build a bridge from teacher to student engagement. Children are hungry to have these experiences and so we invite them to share moments when an experience beckoned them to engage in a deep and meaningful way. We do this not as an obligatory act of probing but out of genuine curiosity for our students’ experiences at home or school so that we may create the opportunities, resources or designs that would incite the kind of engagement they deserve and avoid those that would extinguish it. If we are willing to view engagement from their very wise eyes and allow them to share the experiences, we can give them a language for having rich conversations – language that is brilliantly nestled in Ellin’s Four Pillars of Engagement.

Discovery Kidwatching

While engagement conversations with children can enrich future engagement opportunities, our noticings allow us to maximize those opportunities over time. When we make room to be intentionally present in learning moments, we give ourselves permission to enjoy the view. Kidwatching allows us to quietly fade into the background so that we can maintain a view from the sidelines to notice how students interact with the resources and experiences we offer and with each other. Quiet professional ponderings afford us time to soak in what we see without judgement in order to understand possible next steps. These thoughtful choices are guided by what we know about students and can dramatically alter their engagement in the future. I am so intrigued by Ellin’s idea to position ourselves in the room for varied perspective.

Trusting Nudge

Throughout the chat and Engaging Children, Ellin makes it clear that perfection is not the goal of engagement. Knowing all the answers so that we may carefully plan our day without leaving room to change course can cause us to miss signs along the way that could lead to real opportunities. Ellin asks us to invite students to generate passionate questions as a pathway to engagement rather than allowing engagement to stagnate when we merely view it as a question and answer process. Trust implies that we are prepared to be surprised by their responses so that we can celebrate the passions that are sure to lead us in new engagement directions.

Student Ownership

The goal student engagement is always to keep our sights on turning this process over to them. We model, discuss, understand, share, and support so that ultimately we can relinquish the responsibility for engaged learning to students. I love Ellin’s reminder to step back and her acknowledgement that this can be challenging. But when we trust our students, we willingly put them in the engagement driver’s seat and allow passion to be the fuel that propels them forward. Engagement is not a school strategy but a life strategy so we approach this critical topic so that students will carry those ideals with them long after they leave our four walls.

From ME to WE

I recall returning to this wonderful phrase again and again throughout Engaging Children because in so many classroom there is rarely a celebration of the WE that brings us together as a community of learners. I love the idea of courageous conversations where we can create a gathering space for students to come together and share their thinking. This collective thinking is about so much more than who they are as individuals as we celebrate who they are as humans. These conversations will be the inspiration for even deeper engagement as it invites them to create a shared passion trail to new learning possibilities in the future.

Enticing Resources

At no point during my enthusiastic exploration of Engaging Children did I ever feel that Ellin was handing us a recipe tied to a carefully crafted list of ingredients that we would dutifully use in a checklist view of engagement. She reminds us that we each need the books and resources that will entice and excite the learners in front of us rather than disseminating a preselected lists of books. She reminds us to personalize our selections while taking our students interests and passions into account and even engaging them in this process.

Room to Grow

The final tweet is one that I did not recall reading in Engaging Children and yet I realized that it is really a concept that is intertwined across the book. In the hustle and bustle of teaching, it can be easy to view the engagement process as a race to the finish line. And yet Ellin asks us to slow down our pace so that we call allow students to truly live in the spirit of engagement as Ellin defines it. Giving children space and time to think affords opportunities that will allow that thinking to take shape in the company of others through varying viewpoints. This seems to me to be a critical feature of true engagement.

As I look back at these big ideas inspired by Ellin’s hour on #G2Great, I realize that each is a theme woven across the pages of Engaging Children. I am struck by the idea that this is the first book that has actually approached the topic of engagement in a way that actually feels authentically engaging in every sense of the word, both as a learner and a teacher. I encourage you to revisit these tweets and then find the trail that leads back to Ellin’s book.

As I close this post in gratitude for Ellin’s wisdom, I am drawn back to her question:

Have we become so overwhelmed by what we teach — checking off one standard after another that we have forgotten that engaged students are much more likely to retain and reapply that content? Do we believe that students can learn to fall into the state of awareness, focus, intensity, and joy that we value so much for ourselves?

We are so fortunate that Ellin is leading the way to help our students fall into the state of awareness, focus, intensity, and joy and we happily go on this engagement journey alongside them. What a remarkable gift Ellin has given us all.

Finally, I include Ellin’s words at the end of the chat simply because it made me smile!

Mutual admiration my friend. Totally mutual!

LINKS

Ellin Keene Website

Ellin’sFourPillarsofEngagementInfographic

HeinemannlivevideodiscussionwithEllin

EngagingChildrenFacebookGroup

HeinemannPodcastwithEllinKeeneandTomNewkirk:

180 Days with Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle

By Fran McVeigh

What a night! Before the chat began Paul Hankins suggested that our theme song might be Petty’s “Free Falling” and as it ended Colleen Cruz talked about re-reading the stream “…to bask in the glow of @pennykittle and @KellyGToGo.” Either celebration would be so appropriate for that hour in time. Less than ten minutes was all it took for #G2Great to trend in the top “3” due to the wisdom flying through the twittersphere so I knew narrowing down a focus for this post was going to be a challenge as Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle joined the #G2Great chat table for their first time on May 17, 2018 to discuss 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents.

I first heard about this book last November at NCTE 17 from a panel presentation consisting of Nancy Atwell, Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. The chair for the panel was Nancy’s daughter. Her introductions were fabulous. Each one was better than a five paragraph essay – well constructed and so thought-provoking. I was mesmerized. I was entertained. I was so curious.

In that session Kelly and Penny shared the overview of their collaboration and I knew instantly that this was a book that I could not wait to get my hands on. But it wasn’t just the content of their presentation. I was completely awestruck by their behaviors. When Nancy Atwell went to the podium, Kelly and Penny (seated on stage) took out their notebooks, poised to write and then did write throughout Nancy’s presentation. I was so amazed by this that I tweeted out a picture that showed them, on stage, writing while Nancy was speaking. Then when it was time for their part of the presentation, it was no surprise that at times, they finished each other’s sentences . . . truly collaborative partners. Here’s the picture and a link to a brief description of their session.

Many may think this is a book only for secondary ELA teachers.

WRONG!

I would recommend this book to EVERY literacy coach, curriculum, and/or department chair in the district as well as every administrator.

Why?

Because the first half of the book deals totally with values and beliefs that define the decision-making process for teachers. Elementary teachers can review it from the lenses of how they prioritize their own literacy instruction, coaching, and observation because the reading and writing standards are similar PK -12. Their work would be parallel to that of the secondary students and teachers. (Not all primary teachers will believe that this book is relevant, so don’t force them to read it!)

As the lead up to this chat, I wrote a blog post on Tuesday with many of the links listed at the end of this post. I also watched Twitter comments during the week, and then Brett Whitmarsh, (@HeinemanPub), posted this podcast the morning of the chat. It was a read aloud by Kelly and Penny.

A read aloud of text that I had read twice before.

A read aloud that I have listened to twice.

The depth of my knowledge after multiple readings and listenings cannot be measured objectively, but I can tell you that the “story” behind the text and my connections to the text have increased exponentially. I will probably listen once more as I continue composing this piece. I didn’t annotate the text, I didn’t take copious notes. I really worked on “holding my ideas” across the text with some jots and post it flags as I “spied” on my own reading in hopes of finding the big ideas.

And then came the chat.

The two areas from their book title that continue to fascinate me are both “engagement” and “empowerment”. Do you know high school students? Do they routinely feel engaged? Do they routinely feel empowered? How does this play out in real life with the students that Kelly and Penny have in California and New Hampshire?

Engagement

How do students get to the “deep thinking that reflects intellectual growth”? Allowing student choice is a critical element. How much choice? This is most evident in reading where Kelly and Penny propose that 50% of student reading is independent reading where students choose their own reading text. How does the “content” fit into a plan to give students choice? This entire book is about answering: “How does it all fit in?”

When students are engaged, teachers and students will be able to dig into deeper levels of understanding. Core beliefs found in their previous books, like Book Love, by Penny and Readicide by Kelly share foundational thinking for their literacy instruction but 180 Days: Two Teachers and their Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents provides the nuts and bolts about what this really looks and sounds like in classrooms. Then you will discover their ideas on how to accomplish it. This is simultaneously overlaid with the WHYs so that you can follow the thinking that drove all of Kelly and Penny’s decisions.

If students have choice, some teachers believe it feels “loosey-goosey” and seems like “free falling” because the teacher cannot plan out the year during back to school workshop days.

Free falling.

Falling without a net.

But as a teacher plans there is a need to keep a laser-like focus on the end goal for the year while also waiting to see the eyes of the students before outlining the year. Within this plan is the flexibility to add/change to meet the interests of students. An example from this school year was a mini-unit that Kelly created, planned and ultimately shared after the Parkland shooting. (Mass Shooting Unit Link)

Tweets from Kelly and Penny that Support Engagement:

As I read back through the Wakelet, I identified three themes that I felt supported “Engagement” in our chat. We will be hearing more about engagement in two weeks when we discuss Ellin Keene’s gorgeous new book, Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning, but for now the themes of Joy, Reading and Writing Lives, and Standards and Assessments from Kelly and Penny’s tweets support increased student engagement and helped me organize my thoughts. Do note that I deliberately left in the number of retweets and likes so that you can see how the #G2Great chat members (and or other friends within the first 12 hours) responded to this wisdom.

Which tweets stand out in your mind?

Which ones would you like to continue a conversation about?

Empowerment

Empowerment is the second promise from the authors. What does empowerment mean? Again, students who feel they have choice and voice in their daily lives will feel empowered as well as able to reach a higher level of engagement. The two elements are not easily separated. The curriculum allows students to strengthen their reading and writing skills. The daily framework for instruction allows students to be more successful with less “push” and “scaffolding” by the teacher. Knowing that half of their time during the year will be spent on self-selected books is empowering. Respecting students’ lives outside of school is also empowering for students as it reduces external stress in their lives.

The clearer the learning targets, the more efficient and effective the instruction becomes. The clearer teachers are about their belief systems, the easier they can articulate the relevance to the students. And yet, truly empowering adolescents will require change in the actions and work of students as well as teacher’s roles. Students will have the power to control their learning within the class. The teacher’s role will be reduced as students take the lead in discussions and book club work. This is not work for the faint-hearted. Students will resist in the beginning.

WHY?

Because it is work!

Why does it matter?

Because the WHY should be guiding all decisions!

Tweets from Kelly and Penny that Support Empowerment:

Specific tweets from Kelly and Penny that supported “Empowerment” seemed to fall into two categories: Actions and Work of the Students and Teacher’s Roles. When students are empowered, there is no need for “fake” accountability systems. Students meeting in book groups with students across the country were interested in completing their work in order to be a part of the cross-country collaboration. Note particularly what one of Penny’s seniors said as reported in Penny’s first tweet below.

Which tweets stand out in your mind?

Which ones would you like to continue a conversation about?

The chat revealed that Kelly and Penny originally began with 20 core beliefs and they did whittle it down to 10. Their schedules provide for daily reading and writing. Kelly (from the book and a live PD session last week) has 10 minutes of reading and writing every day. Time matters in terms of how it is used each day, as well as across the year and throughout the secondary careers of our students.

Time matters:

Just as I can tell you that a thousand seconds = 16 minutes,

a million seconds = 12 days,

a billion seconds equals 31 years,

and a trillion seconds equals 31,688 years.

Seconds do matter! A sense of urgency is needed!

Being responsive to our students does not mean employing a whip and timer for every time segment in class, but it does require that we pay attention to the balance of time and not waste precious minutes that take away from student application and transfer of reading and writing. At all grade levels. With all students.

Those are non-negotiables. The videos in the book are priceless. I remain impressed with the collaborative nature of this work. The need to have another professional to discuss your ideas with, to plan together, to teach in each other’s classrooms. How can book clubs meet virtually in California and New Hampshire? What do students (used to sun and sand in California) who may have never seen snow fall from the sky have in common with students from New Hampshire who ride snowmobiles to school in the winter?

What questions remain?

How do YOU fit it all in?

What will YOU do to engage and empower yourself, your peers, and your students? How do YOU fit it all in?

Additional Resources:

Wakelet (to review all tweets from the chat)

Podcast part 1 – Read Aloud

Resourceful – Planning

Travis Crowder Review

Kelly Gallagher website

Penny Kittle website

#BowTieBoys: Exploring Instruction through Students’ Eyes – Creating a Positive Environment

By Fran McVeigh

There was an air of excitement and electricity that led up to the #G2Great chat with the #BowTieBoys on March 8th. The boys, ranging from 7th graders to 11th graders, craft their own questions, greet folks to the chat and carry on conversations as veterans. I’ve been lucky to “know” the #BowTieBoys for three years but I didn’t fully understand their depth of knowledge and commitment to improving education until #NCTE17. In St. Louis, I saw them individually and as groups multiple times across the days, as they were quite literally the first people I saw at the conference hotel and in four sessions over the course of the conference.

What is their story?

The #BowTieBoys are some very gifted literate secondary students who have literally banded together to study how education could be improved. Their future plans and interests are as varied as they are. Meeting their parents at some of the sessions added another dimension to my understanding. What if students were encouraged to study the work of some of the best and brightest? And who would that be? They were on panels and in pictures with Lester Laminack, Linda Rief, Dr. Mary Howard, Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. They read and study professional education texts. Who wouldn’t grow and learn from those #Edu-heroes?

What are the Keys to Creating a Positive Environment?

1. Relationships and Respect

Relationships and respect are so intertwined that it is difficult to have one without the other. As a teacher, it’s important to build relationships from day one in the classroom. That might be the conversations in the hall about the school event the night before, at the door about individual scores and expertise, or in the classroom pulling in specific student interests to engage the students in the learning. Respect is not about assuming it will be bestowed on teachers as a point of privilege. True respect is about caring for students and being able to be human when students do need a bit of extra care, or being able to laugh and joke as teachers and students learn from each other. Respect is a two-way street and students will earn teacher respect and trust as they also work on developing relationships and treating others kindly. Students have strengths that they can use to teach others in the class, perhaps in the area of digital tools but also in those areas of personal interest where they spend time every day.

As Sam Fremin said,

“EVERYONE in the learning community is a learner AND a teacher.”

Transparency

Transparency is often found in communication that builds on the relationships formed under mutual respect. Secondary students also prefer to have their voices heard as well as to have choices in their daily work. Teachers that can admit mistakes and move on not only exemplify transparency but they also model how to continue to grow and persevere in the face of difficulties. Transparency is necessary for a growth mindset for students and teachers.

Other areas of transparency include: setting time frames for assignments together, having high expectations for all students and developing the assessment/evaluation criteria together. In a transparent environment, everyone is a learner and everyone makes positive growth. Above all, transparency assumes an openness and an atmosphere of honesty from both teachers and students that builds upon the respect previously mentioned and often includes asking for feedback from students and then acting on that feedback.

Strategies to Engage ALL Learners

Several strategies were mentioned during the chat including: time, transparency, and trust. Time included allocating enough time so students can work with their peers. Time to explore topics that students are interested in. Time to work on projects for creation or even problem solving. In addition to transparency qualities previously mentioned, allowing choice of assignments and opportunities to pursue tasks that allow quiet participation for students who prefer to work alone is important. Variations in groupings for work will And with trust, strategies that allow a voice in how the task will be evaluated, perhaps the co-creation of rubrics or the negotiation of due dates, are preferred. Trust can also be built as a part of those teacher-student relationships when teachers attend the co-curricular activities of their students.

Low Student Stress Levels

In the classroom, stress can be reduced by ensuring that time is allocated so that students always begin projects or homework in class, ask questions, and clarify that they know what the learner outcomes are. Students appreciate teachers who chunk projects into smaller shorter deadlines that enable students to have frequent check in points. Feedback along the way in bigger projects or tasks also allows students to know what they can do to improve learning. Simple conversations with students in terms of whether time frames seem reasonable, how can stress be reduced and how does this fit with other course requirements. Similarly teachers who communicate with others can be aware in advance of due dates and not have three or four major projects all due on the same date. Stress is a real issue. Learning does not occur and students cannot thrive when a learner is under stress. That also means that tasks and projects should be valuable to students and teachers and not perceived as busy work.

Reasonable Grading Timelines

What are reasonable timelines for grading? If a task is assigned to be done in one day in one class period, how much time should the teacher have to grade that task? A typical “It depends” answer may prevail because if this is during class periods 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 and the teacher’s prep period was period 2, the grades will probably not be posted that day. But is it fair for students if two or three days pass and those grades are still not posted? Grades are an interesting school phenomenon. Grades are after the fact and they close the door to learning. Yes, it would be nice if more focus was on learning and less on grading, but timeliness of grades is an issue that perhaps again relates back to transparency, relationships, and respect.

Cell Phone Usage

Should cellphones be used in classrooms? Again the answer might be, “it depends.” If students in the building have 1:1 devices, the need for cell phones may be reduced. Sometimes cell phones might be more efficient uses of technology and/or feedback for students and teachers. The learning needs should drive cell phone usage rather than the need to have a fun, cute activity. This again, could be a source of both transparency and trust if students approach a teacher outside of class time with a new app or extension that would really make learning simpler in that classroom. Showing, explaining, and providing a rationale in a separate setting would also be respectful of student, teacher and class time. It is important for teachers to be consistent in their messages about how, when, and where cell phones can be used. But if that is not a skill taught at school, where will it be taught? How and when will students learn to manage the distractible portions of cell phone usage?

Student Involvement in Assessment and

Grading

Another feature of a positive classroom environment is student involvement in assessment and grading. This varies from classroom to classroom much to the dismay of students who may see this inconsistency as a lack of transparency. One way to involve students is to have student conferences. Recording the conferences on Flipgrid and sharing with parents would also be an increase in transparency. Students who help develop the rubrics that are used for assessments would also see this as a characteristic of a positive classroom environment. Teachers who routinely complete the “tests” themselves to check for accuracy and necessity are also respectful of their students and their precious learning time.

Safe and Comfortable Classrooms

How do your classrooms look? Are they inviting? Are they comfortable? Some considerations include furniture that matches the needs of the students and the various instructional groupings: space and tables to collaborate in teams, quiet spaces for reading or writing, as well as space for partner work. That might determine the need for tables instead of desks, couches instead of chairs, and a nook or two where students can seek solitude. Flexibility that responds to the needs of the students is important.

As you have read, you noticed the eight components the #BowTieBoys identified for a positive classroom environment were: Relationships and Respect, Transparency, Strategies to Engage ALL Learners, Low Student Stress Levels, Reasonable Grading Timelines, Cell Phone Usage, Student Involvement in Assessment and Grading, and Safe and Comfortable Classrooms. Others exist but these eight could generate great conversations.

Have you checked in with your students lately about your classroom environments?

What would your students say are the keys to creating a positive classroom environment?

Additional Resources:

Storify from March 8, 2018 chat: https://storify.com/DrMaryHoward/g2great-3-8-18

#BowTieBoys Blogs: thebowtieboys.blogspot.com

4 minute video from 3/9/18 after #G2Great chat: Link

#BowTieBoys YouTube Channel: Link

Previously on Literacy Lenses:

A Reflection on #NCTE17 with the BowTieBoys – Exploring Choice from Students’ Eyes

BowTieBoys -Exploring Instruction Through Our Students’ Eyes

JV BowTieBoys – Exploring Instruction Through Our Students’ Eyes

Sam Fremin: Viewing Instruction Through a Student’s Eyes (storify)

Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners

by Mary Howard

By the time 1/11/18 rolled around, my enthusiasm for what was about to ensue had already reached a record high. On this momentous day, Regie Routman graced our #G2great stage for the first time as we gathered to celebrate her exquisite new book Twitter style, Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence, and Equity for All Learners (Stenhouse, 2018). This virtual celebration was the perfect way to follow our 3-year anniversary on 1/4/18 since Regie’s presence reignited our collective curiosity for teaching and learning.

I became a devoted Regie Routman fan when Transitions was published in 1988 (Heinemann). From the first reading, Transitions became my professional battle cry for the “child-centered, literature-based reading and writing” I knew that all children deserved. I was elated to learn that another book was on the horizon and grateful for the opportunity to read her new book pre-publication. Before I could finish the first two pages, I knew that I was holding Regie magic in my hands yet again:

Equal opportunity to learn depends on a culture of engagement and equity, which underlies a relentless pursuit of excellence. (p 1)

I believe we have to love our work if we are to expend the necessary effort teaching requires. To love it, we have to savor the teaching process while leading full and encompassing lives. To love it, we have to be passionate and knowledgeable. If you’ve lost that love, this book is for you, to help you reclaim joyful teaching and pass on to your students an enduring desire for curiosity and a love of learning. (2)

In Literacy Essentials, Regie asks us to move from teacher-as-technician dutifully following scripts, programs, and rigid data to teacher as thinker responsibly keeping children at the center of all we do. (p 3-4) As a reader, I can assure you that Regie’s words will support our efforts to reclaim the joyful teaching that rises from every page of this oh so wise book. I believe so strongly that Literacy Essentials is a Professional Must Have.

In celebration of an amazing #G2Great chat with Regie gently nudging our thinking, I perused her tweets to uncover literacy essentials Twitter style. I thought about how each fit into the three categories: Engagement, Excellence and Equity. For the sake of brevity, I narrowed her tweets to five, using two for the post with three additional tweets provided at the end. My reflections rise directly from Regie’s words with the intent to support and extend the chat while illustrating why a thoughtful read of this professional masterpiece from cover to cover is absolutely indispensable.

Engagement Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

One of the first things that struck me as I thought about Regie’s words was her reference to heart and mind celebrations from teachers’ and students’ perspective. This elaborated view from both sides illustrates the dual role of professional and instructional endeavors. This role begins when teachers are offered professional opportunities to build knowledge that will engage their mind and heart. These meaningful experiences then lead teachers to adopt a celebratory view of teaching in action. In other words, emotional engagement increases the potential for intellectual engagement while intellectual engagement increases the potential for heightened emotional engagement. This head-heart intellectual-emotional merger then begins to blossom into a persistent quest for classroom practices that become a springboard for student-centered mind and heart engagement. It seems to me that this again plays a dual role since teacher engagement can have a positive impact on student engagement and vice versa. This happens when we focus on meaningful, purposeful, productive and authentic learning opportunities where choice is a central feature. These learning experiences are not limited to the boundaries of our four walls but extend to real-world engaged learning that happens when our children leave those walls. As Regie reminds us, head-heart celebrations leading to high engagement is unlikely when compliant skill and drill is the driving force of our efforts.

Excellence Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

In order to create the classrooms our children deserve, we must first be willing to broaden our frame of reference. In too many classrooms, literacy is relegated to a ninety-minute reading block where all of our literacy efforts live. An intellectual culture extends beyond the clock so that we are able to see opportunities across the learning day that will maximize our literacy efforts. Reading and writing become the invisible thread that tie our day together and dramatically increase the opportunities afforded us to enrich the literacy lives of children within every content area. When clock time is not viewed as an instructional constraint, we also increase the potential for transfer as we are able to offer multiple exposure in varied contexts across time. Regie highlights the role of meaningful reading opportunities where choice is a key feature. But if we have any hope of creating the life-long, comprehending, inquiring readers Regie describes, we must make an unwavering commitment to voluminous reading and writing opportunities our students need. While there are certainly many time constraints in the learning day, many of those are created by the professional choices we make. Regie eloquently reminds us that guided reading can be one of those constraints when it is emphasized to the exclusion of daily authentic reading opportunities such as independent reading and read aloud. When guided reading, or any instructional context becomes over-emphasized and used in excess, we find that there is an instructional tradeoff that limits the time students need to apply what they are learning in these instructional contexts so they can begin to assume increasing control of their own reading process. Of course, this elevates the value of providing the meaningful professional learning opportunities that will help teachers avoid this hyper focus on one area of instruction to the detriment of another.

Equity Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

While equity is not always part of the collective conversations we have in schools, Regie emphasizes that it certainly should be. She highlights several key areas that can negatively impact our efforts to address equity and in turn the quality of the very learning opportunities we so readily offer some children and not others. Each time we allow labels and numerical values that are based on flawed assessments to define children, we will inevitably lower our expectations and thus increase the likelihood that we will in turn narrow our practices to their lowest counterparts in an isolated skill and drill mentality. Equity means that we afford all children the same authentic experiences that occur through high quality texts and experiences that could entice our children to willingly participate in the engaged reading that will lift them as readers. This does not mean that we do not teach skills and strategies but that we focus on a whole to part to whole approach so that learning context is always rooted in meaning and purpose. In order to ensure equal access to our best instruction for every child we must alter the viewpoint of children as the haves and have nots and shift that view by seeing each child through a success lens rather than one blurred by perceived deficits. Regie’s reminder to celebrate strengths before needs illustrates this point. Equity requires us to assume a new stance as we see children in terms of what they each bring to the learning table and to use this as a support stepping stone to what they cannot yet do. We do this by creating a culture of respect for what every child brings to the learning experience as we expand our view within and beyond our classrooms by building a bridge between home and school.

In an age where scripts, packages, and mandates beckon educators at every turn, Regie gives us the professional antidote to these distractions in 385 pages of wisdom. Literacy Essentials and Regie’s sage Take Action advice expertly woven across the pages of the book will undoubtedly inspire educators to refocus their efforts. When all we do is squarely centered on ensuring that every child will receive the learning opportunities they so richly deserve – well only then can we truly begin to celebrate the children we are fortunate enough to have in our classrooms.

And so we come full circle. In 1988, Regie wrote these words in Transitions:

Genuine literacy implies using reading, writing, thinking, and speaking daily in the real world, with options, appreciation, and meaningful purposes in various setting and with other people. An actively literate person is constantly thinking, learning, and reflecting, and is assuming the responsibility for continued growth in personal literacy.

As I come to the close of this post, my thoughts turn back to Regie’s remarkable book that was penned thirty years after Transitions was published. Literacy Essentials reflects Regie’s unwavering commitment to this spirit as she poses a question worth answering:

How do we rise to the challenge of providing an engaging, excellent, equitable education for all learners–including those from high-poverty, underserved schools? In spite of all the obstacles we face–politically, professionally, personally–we teachers matter more than ever. (p 1)

Without hesitation, I can answer that question with one imperative. If we put Regie’s book in every school in this country, we could use it to engage teachers in powerful dialogue that has the potential to bring engagement, excellence and equity to life in classrooms everywhere.

Thank you for continuing to inspire us to do this important work Regie!

MORE TWEET ESSENTIALS

Engagement Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

Excellence Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

Equity Literacy Essentials (Twitter Style)

Regie’s discusses Literacy Lenses on this Stenhouse podcast: https://www.facebook.com/mary.c.howard.79/posts/10211621099507065

“I wrote this book because celebration and joy is missing and that is part of the work that I do, where teachers are joyful, the kids are joyful. Without that culture of joy and celebration of strengths before needs we’re never going to get our students where they need to be and where they want to be.”

Fran McVeigh writes about Literacy Lenses

https://franmcveigh.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/sol18-litessentials/

Passionate Readers Guest Host Pernille Ripp

by Jenn Hayhurst

On August 24, 2017 , our #G2Great community welcomed back Pernille Ripp with open arms. We celebrated her book, Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child with a thoughtful and heartfelt conversation about what it takes to be a teacher of reading. Pernille is a teacher, she is one of us. She is open and honest about her own personal struggles and shares her celebrations and successes. She lets us into her classroom, and in doing so, we see our own teaching lives revealed.

As I read through my Twitter feed, I imagined that I was part of an extended faculty. A member of a dynamic group of educators who cares deeply about our profession. Teachers who understand that together we are changing lives. We are united by a shared purpose and our conversations with Pernille are a prelude to all the good work that lies ahead of a new school year.

As you read this post, imagine we are in the faculty room, and we are having a good conversation, thinking about the complexities of the work that goes into helping students discover their passion for reading. What is the most important thing to focus on? What should I do to set up a successful year? What do I do if students don’t even like to read?

Establish Reading Rituals…

Nurture Reading Identities…

Create a Reading Culture…

Set Attainable Goals…

Design Learning Environments…

Prioritize Time to Read…

Honor Authentic Choices…

Share Your Hopes & Dreams…

Thank you Pernille, you inspired so many of us to dig deep and share what we know. This chat was a glimpse into your marvelous book, which is a beautiful read that is both poignant and practical. Together we can wrestle with the big important questions, and find solutions through our collective wisdom. Fortunately, there are so many talented teachers to learn with as we begin this exciting new year of learning for students as well as ourselves.

Links to Connect with Pernille

Pernille’s website: https://pernillesripp.com

Pernille Ripp on passion-based learning and empowering students (youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKCYj9KQS0o

The Students’ Voice: Empowering Transformation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Un8fFciqmo

Global Read Aloud: One Book to Connect the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoJo5wbK54I

The Educator Collaborative Gathering Global Read Alouds, K-12 Pernille Ripp, Amira Abdel-Aal, & Alumni from New Horizon Irvine https://gathering.theeducatorcollaborative.com/session-three/workshop-11/

Passionate Learners by Pernille Ripp (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=passionate+learners&sprefix=passionate%2Caps%2C143&crid=2QPU63E5QHA0G

Passionate Learners by Pernille Ripp (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Readers-Reaching-Engaging-Every/dp/1138958646/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496069596&sr=8-2&keywords=pernille+ripp

Empowered Schools Empowered Students by Pernille Ripp (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Empowered-Schools-Students-Connected-Educators/dp/1483371832/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478029745&sr=8-2&keywords=passionate+learners

My ITEC Ignite – The Least We Can Do http://ytcropper.com/embed/7R581a9b2a0bd7d/loop/noautoplay/

(Pernille’s newest book): Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration https://www.amazon.com/Reimagining-Literacy-Through-Global-Collaboration/dp/1943874166/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478568811&sr=8-1&keywords=literacy+through+global+collaboration

Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters

by Mary Howard

July 20, 2017 was a very special day on #G2Great because this was the day a long-time wish became a reality as Kylene Beers and Robert Probst settled into the #G2Great guest host seat. On this memorable evening, we launched a virtual style celebration of their phenomenal book, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters (Scholastic). In an instant, exuberant hunger for the shared understandings that would disrupt our thinking stretched an expansive wing across Twittersphere (evidenced by an engaging conversation that exceeded the 1000 tweet storify limit).

I vividly recall the first time I held this exquisite book in my hands and excitedly opened the cover to soak in their wisdom. They captivated my heart with words that read like a promise: The Readers We Want. But as I read those first pages, waves of sadness washed over me as a sense of professional urgency escalated with each tear. I revisit pages 14 to 17 often because they illustrate the tragic consequences that our choices can have on the reading lives of children. And that lingering image moves me to celebrate Disrupting Thinking in their honor.

Each week, we look back at our #G2Great chat and reflect on key ideas illustrated by the tweets that inspired each one. But this week I decided to use just one tweet that set the stage for these reflections. (I’ll share additional tweets from Kylene and Bob at the end of this post with others from our amazing #G2Great family)

The moment I read Kylene’s words, I knew it reflected the big picture I wanted to capture in my post. And so with her words at the forefront combined with inspiration from the entire chat experience, I’d like share six disruptions that we must embrace to bring disrupting thinking to life in countless classrooms with our lead disruptors guiding us from the sidelines.

Disruption 1: Embrace CHOICE

Looking back on the chat, one word was a thread connecting every tweet: CHOICE. This word was easily the most repeated and always in the context of students. If we have any hope of disrupting our thinking and thus that of our students, it will require us to celebrate the texts that are most likely to awaken deeper thinking and bring it to the surface because our readers care about their reading. We cannot make this shift to disrupting thinking if we’re not willing to thoughtfully select and share the best possible texts we can find and then provide time and space for students to choose their own. By embracing choice, we are opening the door to reading that will beckon students so that books will become the impetus for disrupting thinking.

Disruption 2: Embrace TALK

Using these texts to engage students in meaningful and productive dialogue was another idea repeated across the chat. The central feature of these discussions was exploring how to let talk to rise naturally from engaging text interactions. We discussed experiences ranging from opportunities to share with a partner, in a small group, or as a whole class but in each talk variations, the focus was on keeping students at the center of this discourse. We agreed that teachers must lay a strong foundation for talk by explicitly modeling their own thinking and then support this process until we can gradually relinquish responsibility to students. We acknowledge that students deserve a leading role on the talk stage and so we create a supportive environment so that we can to step back and listen to in-the-moment conversations and then use those conversations as a springboard to next steps.

Disruption 3: Embrace IMPACT

The collective professional dedication evident in tweets loomed large across our chat as we set our sights on crafting learning experiences that would maximize student impact. A common discussion theme was that student talk would revolve around these text experiences – not for the sake of a grade or score but because we knew that those opportunities could change their lives in some way. We agreed that such life-changing moments should extend beyond our four walls since our higher purpose was to create a reading experience that students would carry with them long after it was over. In other words, we knew that these experiences could only truly impact students when our instructional pursuits were designed in ways that students would carry their learning into their homes and into the world.

Disruption 4: Embrace INVITATIONS

The word respect was another recurrent word across the chat and it was used in the context of inviting students to disrupt their own thinking. We acknowledged that the ideas the author brings to the thinking table are certainly relevant to the learning experience, but we also agreed that we must respect student thinking by extending them an invitation to the thinking table to merge the authors ideas with their own. Through invitations we stand to learn much about students as we consider new ideas that we could not have possibly have imagined without this deeper engagement. And in this two-way thinking process we begin to ask fewer questions as we invite students to generate their own. We do this because we believe that their thinking matters as much as the author’s and because we know that we cannot disrupt thinking if each instructional move along the way is recorded in a step-by-step, question-by-question lesson guide.

Disruption 5: Embrace UNCERTAINTY

Looking back across our chat, educators readily acknowledged that the path to disrupting thinking is littered with unexpected twists, turns, pauses, and challenges that inevitably arise when we do not know the final destination. We celebrate the amazing opportunities that come from the messy process that is inherent in the risk-taking disrupting thinking asks of both teachers and readers. There was a common understanding that if we are willing to follow the student thinking trail that is oft-riddled with uncertainty, that this uncertainty could provide the room students needed to move their thinking to new discoveries with new uncertainties and discoveries with each step along the way.

Disruption 6: Embrace POSSIBILITIES

I doubt that there is a single educator who has read Disrupting Thinking who doesn’t recognize the professional possibilities of new thinking. In a July 6, 2017 live Facebook event, Kylene and Bob reminded us that our goal is not just to identify “Best” practices but to explore NEXT practices. This central message of their remarkable book asks us to take a leap of professional faith from the first pages to the last. We do so willingly, meandering our way to the possibilities just out of view as we disrupt our own thinking and the thinking of our colleagues. It is my hope that these ideas will raise powerful conversation that will bring NEXT practices into focus and inspire others from a schoolwide perspective. And we are all eager to explore those possibilities in the new school year ahead.

In the introduction aptly titled Where The Story Begins, Kylene and Bob describe the seeds that grew into Disrupting Thinking with the words, “It Was a Child…” These three words should inspire celebratory professional wonderings that lead each of us to embrace our own disruptions in the name of kids.

As we launch this disrupting thinking journey, we celebrate the seeds of thinking Kylene and Bob have planted. And through this exploratory journey their words of wisdom remind us of the WHY that is destined to lead us ever-closer to the disrupting thinking we desire…

Thank you for filling us with new hope for tomorrow Kylene and Bob!

Disrupting Thinking tweets from Kylene and Bob

Disrupting Thinking tweets from our #G2Great Family

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