Sunday, November 2, 2008
Observations...
When you find the time to observe one of your colleagues, please find this space on the blog and post your thoughts about your observation. What is something that you left the observation wondering about? What is something you will try as a result of this experience? What did you notice? What did you learn? How is this classroom the same or different from your own? What did you notice about the particular strategy lesson you observed? What did you notice about the structure of reading in the classroom?
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I had a wonderful opportunity to observe Tara's lesson with the Write To Learn program. The topic they were reading about was about the effects of global warming on the South Pole. The objective was to read and discuss the article and create a summary based on the main ideas presented in that article. You can tell that Tara has done a lot of work with them regarding background knowledge, schema, questioning, and connecting because these students were using that vocabulary and truly sharing their thoughts and ideas about what they were reading.
Tara was very careful about having the students read small chunks of the text at a time. Then they would turn and talk about what they had just read. Not only were they so excited to share the information they had just read, but also to share their background knowledge. It was a great lesson to observe because it put a lot, of what we have been discussing in this course, into practice.
As Tara said, it was great for us to be able to discuss what was happening as it was going on because it was like instant evaluation. I was able to take away a few pointers from Tara's lesson. Mainly, she allowed them to explore and question for a good amount of time. That made a huge difference with their understanding of the main idea.
Thanks Tara, and thank you Tomasen. I wouldn't have taken the time to observe anyone had you not made it a requirement for this class.
I had a wonderful opportunity to observe Tara's lesson with the Write To Learn program. The topic they were reading was about the effects of global warming on the South Pole. The objective was to read and discuss the article and create a summary based on the main ideas presented in that article. You can tell that Tara has done a lot of work with them regarding background knowledge, schema, questioning, and connecting because these students were using that vocabulary and truly sharing their thoughts and ideas about what they were reading.
Tara was very careful about having the students read small chunks of the text at a time. Then they would turn and talk about what they had just read. Not only were they so excited to share the information they had just read, but also to share their background knowledge. It was a great lesson to observe because it put a lot, of what we have been discussing in this course, into practice.
As Tara said, it was great for us to be able to discuss what was happening as it was going on because it was like instant evaluation. I was able to take away a few pointers from Tara's lesson. Mainly, she allowed them to explore and question for a good amount of time. That made a huge difference with their understanding of the main idea.
Thanks Tara, and thank you Tomasen. I wouldn't have taken the time to observe anyone had you not made it a requirement for this class.
Janet,
I am glad it was a valuable experience. It is one of those things that seems so obvious...but finding the time and making the time to do it is another thing. We are all surrounded by many different people with so many different talents! Glad you were able to see some carry over with the work we are all doing together.
I was fortunate to be able to observe Michelle Touzet introduce the strategy of questioning to her third graders. She began her lesson by showing an item and telling that it was very special to her. I was amazed at how many questions her students had! I really thought after the first few obvious ones the questions would be few and far between. I was so wrong! After she had recorded and filled 2 chart pages with questions, most of her students still had their hands up to offer more. At this point she asked them to turn and talk about other questions they had. After a few minutes she gave them post it notes to record more questions. I thought this was a great time saving strategy. My favorite question was, "Does it bring back memories?"
After talking about the questions Michelle told her class that she would be able to answer some of these questions but not all. Then she talked about how when we are having conversations we usually talk in statements not in questions. She modeled having a conversation only in questions and then had them turn and talk to each other only in questions. This made a great point. Michelle tied it together by telling her students that good readers ask questions and that questions are important. She did not end the lesson by telling them what it was but simply let them wonder about it for a few more days and allowed them to add more questions using post its.
I enjoyed watching the students interact with each other and Michelle as they tried to figure out what the item was. They were clearly excited and intrigued. Even students who sometimes have difficulty socially or with learning were able to participate in this lesson. I also found that this is a lesson that I could easily do in my own class (even though I teach a different grade level)to introduce questioning and I've already got a plan stewing in my head. I thoroughly enjoyed observing this lesson and wonder what her next step will be.
I had the opportunity to observe Tomasen introduce Literature Circles to Michelle's 4th grade class. Tomasen began by teaching a group of 5 students how a discussion group works. This prep work was a very important part of the lesson not only for the 5 students in the group but for the rest of the class. Teaching the students the "rules" and helping them "practice" what they were going to talk about helped the students feel more confident about modeling in front of their classmates. By the time the group was modelilng in front of their classmates they did an amazing job of demonstrating how a lit circle should be run. I enjoyed listening to the students share their thoughts with each other and accept a peers point of veiw. Each student had something to offer and you could tell by the discussion they were learning from each other. It was very authentic even though they had "practiced" with Tomesen ahead of time. What was said during the class modeling wasn't just what they had practice. New thoughts were shared and discussed. I can't wait to try this with my third graders and see where they take each other. I'm amazed at how much they learn from each other when they are allowed to share their thoughts. We're teaching them that their thoughts are important and need to be heard.
I had the opportunity to observe Michelle T. introduce the comprehension strategy of questionig to her students. Like Tanny McGregor, Michelle choose to use a concrete item to begin her "launching lesson." Michelle brought in an object that was unfamiliar to the students. She laid the foundation that this object was special to her and allowed the students to touch the object, passing it around the group huddled on the floor.
Reflecting upon the first part of the lesson and set-up, Michelle understands that students need to be engaged and accessible to one another for social collaboration. You could hear the hum of students thinking and talking, trying to determine what this object must be. She allowed students to talk, discuss, and brainstorm ideas quietly while recording their thinking on a chart.
Once the students were finished with the activity, Michelle told them that she would return to this object tomorrow, provide them with a bit more information, and continue to work with the object. Michelle laid a nice foundation for student inquiry, the strategy of questioning, and for social collaboration.
Michelle and I discussed where she was going to go next and how she was going to bridge this activity to the act of questioning while reading. Michelle reflected upon our discussion.
I was not able to see the second part of the lesson, but seeing where she started, she is in a good place with her students. They were active, they participated, and thought of great questions that demonstrated higher level thinking occurring!
I had the opportunity to observe Deanna's schema lesson with her 1st grade class. It was the lesson that Leslie had shared with us at the last class for schema.
Deanna began by sharing many ideas about her mom with the kids. She then used the roller to pick up all the ideas and put them into her folder. She did the same for scrapbooking. It was great to see how involved the kids were The best part for me was when they made connections without any prompting from Deanna like...you have red hair and so does your mom...your schema for your mom is bigger than scrapbooking because you know more about her.
Next the as a class came up with their schema for Mrs. Dufour. The things they listed for her were very funny. She always wears the same jewelry. (they knew which bracelet belonged on which hand) She loves them... She works at canobie...she is smart...she has 2 brothers and 2 cats...
The students got so much from this lesson and came away ready to do more. They asked if they could make their own file cabinets! I can't wait to try this with my class. Hopefully I will see the same excitement.
I decided to venture out to see what was happening during 'Reader's Workshop' in another school. I was delighted to have the opportunity to spend some time in Kellie Annicelli's first grade classroom at Soule. I must say, from the moment I entered the building to sign-in, I was greeted so warmly & felt very welcome by everyone. I'm sure if I felt that way, surely the students do too.
When I arrived in Kellie's room, I immediately spotted a comfortable couch! I've always wanted a sofa in my classroom....so I immediately tested it out and thought "this is where I'd like to read". Later I tested out the cozy chair over by the meeting area near the rug...you know the kind you curl up on in your living room. The room arrangement definitely made you feel invited.
Kellie was doing a mini-lesson with the children on retelling. She began by telling the children about a friend who was explaining a movie she had seen (one that Kellie had not) and how confused she was because her friend left out important events or would remember them later so she heard the information out of order.
She asked the children to think:
Is there a better way of retelling something you saw or heard? Student participation generated that it was important to think about the beginning, middle, and end and to tell the events in the right order. She then read aloud a story and asked them to think about how they could retell the story to a friend who had not heard the story yet (she had students out of the room for reading support and those on the rug would have an opportunity to retell the story to them).
When the story was completed, Kellie suggested they put important words to help them with the retell on the board. With student help, she listed time order words 'First, Next, Last' and jotted key words under each heading as they talked about the different parts. Then she asked for volunteers to give the retell a try. The student participation was high and many wanted to give it a try!
The follow-up to this was having them work in partnerships to write a retell about the story and they would later read it to the children who were out of the room.
Kellie also told the children they would practice retelling with a book they choose from their 'reading folder' during their next 'Reader's Workshop'. This lesson really showed how reading & writing is often connected.
I liked Kellie's idea about having reading folders. Each student put his/her book selections into a folder with a small booklet to write responses into. The responses thus far have been teacher prompts to guide their thinking. Kellie also uses the booklet to work on "skills" such as word hunts (nouns, adjectives, etc.) Kellie and I talked about how 'Reader's Workshop' can be set up in different ways. Kellie and I both continue to use literacy stations and we talked about how we wouldn't give this up---it affords meaningful learning experiences for the children while we work in small guided reading groups a couple times a week.
Thanks Kellie for letting me take a peek into your classroom and teaching style. We can learn so much from each other!
I had the wonderful opportunity to observe Tara Tetu and her class during a lesson on questioning. They were doing a "thinking it through text together" lesson. Tara used the book on three questions that Tomasen used in our class. First of all, Tara, I have to say that I saw such a nice atmosphere in your classroom of mutual respect. Your calm, encouraging words and actions show you care deeply for your students and they respond to you and your teaching. I really enjoyed observing your class.
I especially liked the way Tara posed the question first to them "When you read how can questioning help you?" She validated all of their responses and recorded them on chart paper. Then she directed their attention to understanding the story, which was one of their responses. After a discussion on questions and answers, she led them into the fact that sometimes there are no answers. It was interesting for me to see how fourth graders did with this lesson where I work with first graders. They were very insightful. It was interesting that at first some wanted to answer questions that she was posing, instead of coming up with their own questions (first graders do this, too). She was able to gently steer them into asking their own questions. Then she talked about how some of their questions were answered and others were not. After this there was a quick write and plans made for another activity on questioning. I thought this lesson went well and that progress was made on questioning as a strategy. As of course I expected, fourth graders can definately sustain their focus for a much longer period of time than first graders!
I had a great opportunity to observe Carol's 3rd graders during a visualization lesson this morning. For me, it was a great way to begin seeing how students' abilities to utilize strategies while reading can progress from grade to grade. As I entered her room, her class was already gathered on their carpet area with clipboards and a page upon which to record their progression of mental images on. Carol was reviewing the work that she had previously done with her class to introduce the concept of visualization. Prior to my observation, she had read the beginning of the book "Greyling," by Jane Yolen. She had not shown her students the illustrations during this reading, but had stopped at three different points to sketch out her mental images. In this way she was able to model for her class how her visualizations changed throughout the reading of the book and also how to quickly sketch what was pictured mentally. During her review, she stressed that the images she had seen were based on text from the book, and that they should also be able to point to actual text to tell what made them visualize their images. She continued the lesson by again reading the beginning of "Greyling" only this time she shared the illustrations. Students shared how their initial visualizations were different from the illustrator's portrayal of the text. Once Carol got to the point in the story that she had left off in the previous lesson, she stopped sharing the illustrations and asked her class to visualize the story. At four different points she stopped to ask her students to sketch how they pictured the sea. Students were given an opportunity to share how their images changes and Carol was great about asking them what "text words" helped them to create that mental image.
In contrast to Carol, I am currently still deep in the strategy of schema with my class. I have just recently completed a lesson with them about how our schema can change as we read more and more. For me this lesson made great connection to that which I have dome with my class and I can see how I will be able to tie changes in mental images that happen with more reading to changes in schema that happen with more reading.
Before I left, Carol was able to take a couple of moments to share with me an activity that she had previously completed with her students. For the activity, she had students use "spidery" words to create a poem about spiders. She then asked another student to read the poem and illustrate is based upon the mental images the poem created in their mind. For me, this is an activity that I can (and will) easily adapt for my 1st graders. Last week, we had focused on writing a list poem about Christmas. Students thought about what they see, hear, taste, smell and feel around Christmas. I think that I will have another student illustrate these poems, perhaps even have more than one student illustrate to show how different visualizations can come from the same set of words.
Last week I was able to observe Cecilia doing a questioning lesson with her first graders. She was reading the book Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting. I had never heard this book before, but quickly realized I needed to get it to use with my fourth graders. It was a wonderful story to use when introducing questioning because there was so many unanswered questions that lead to a great discussion.
All of her students wanted to know if the father and son really live in the airport and if they ever get to leave and live in a "real" home. It opened up a nice discussion about what it must be like to not have a warm home to go home to each night.
I plan on doing a similar lesson with my students using this same book. I want to see if their questions will be similar to Cecilia's class.
I enjoyed observing Diana Bates' lesson on "Think Alouds" and "Wondering" that was done with Roxaboxen.We had both her class and mine together and the students were very attentive. There were interesting comments where the students were making many text-to-self observations. Following the reading and discussion, the students designed their own "homes" for Roxaboxen. It is interesting that, since then, the students have made text-to-text observations, comparing Roxaboxen to other stories.
I had the pleasure of observing our very beginning readers in Marie's first grade. It was a refreshing change from the fifth grade. It's been several years since I have worked with little ones.
Marie was preparing to read a story to the class on the rug titled, CHRISTMAS MAKES ME THINK. The students used their schema to interpret the cover picture and make inferences about what the story was going to be about. I could see that they were familiar with this practice and that they used the metacognitive vocabulary. Marie has obviously been doing a lot of these types of activities with them.
When Marie read the text and shared the pictures, students were making many connections to self. Then a child made a connection to the earth, or nature. Marie pointed out that this was a text to world connection. Other students' responses fed off this initial one and soon many of the children were connecting with the bigger idea of how the cutting of the Christmas trees impacted the Earth. One child said, "If we lose all the trees, we won't have air to breathe!"
The other text to world connection was the problem of those who have so little, or are homeless. One child said, "He's being greedy. He shouldn't just think about getting presents." another child inferred, "I think he's trying to donate to Toys for Tots!"
After the story, the students were asked to work in groups to make a big picture of the earth with continent outlines, and write some of their world to text thoughts. Marie aranged the groups for balance.
I was impressed with the level of the thinking shown by some of the children. They obviously have practiced these metacognitive skills. They are able to relate to the text on many levels, some rather sophisticated.
I wonder about the students who don't share their thinking, both in Marie's class and mine. I believe that it is helpful for them to hear the thin king of their peers, but what is their level of comprehension? What can be done to bring them to a higher level of thinking?
In the groups, I also wonder about the level of contribution of some students. I have these same issues in my class. Does the work mostly represent one student's ideas, or is everyone truly represented? By circulating, one can gauge levels of participation. But what do these lower students bring away from these activities. Do they internalize what we are hoping they will pick up from those around them?
With this conversation starting so early in the grades, I expect that by the time they reach 5th grade we will be able to focus so much more on the thinking part and less time teaching the vocabulary and strategies. At this time however, my students are still learning the strategies and vocabulary. I know this will serve them well in the higher grades.
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