atychiphobia

Uncommon Core

    This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers

 

There has been this nagging little itch in the back of my brain for the last few months.  Our district, like many others is in a full blown "Common Core-itis" stage of transition.  As a fourth grade teacher I haven't had much district supported professional development yet.  But, I know it will be coming.  Being who I am, I have dug in on my own and tried to thoughtfully look at the Common Core State Standards, The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and a rather lengthy list of other resources that are infiltrating my web browser.

I am not 100% sure where I stand on this adoption of the CCSS.  On the one hand I have never been a big fan of top-driven programs in any arena of my life.  On the other hand I do see some merit in the idea of more consistency in terms of curricular goals across our country.  While I am unsure of the need for elementary students being able to disect themes across several books, I am actually happy that the CCSS is calling us out for not valuing nonfiction reading as much as we should.  The sadness of the lack of writing poetry in elementary classrooms is balanced by the fact that writing in general has been lifted to a new place of importance in our curricular planning.  I could go on and on with lists of positives and negatives.

I think my big concern with the Common Core is the fact that it is missing more than a few big things for me as an educator.  The wrestling match that will go on in my head over the next few years will be my possibly Uncommon Core values with the Common Core expectations.  I know many of us are having similar concerns, but I am starting to compile a list of ideas I refuse to let go in the face of a massive reworking of our curriculum.

My Uncommon Core (so far):

1) Students will love to read what they choose to read.  Unless I have completely missed the boat in all of my independent study of materials, I can't find one mention of students actually choosing to read books they love.  While I know that students should be able to "read closely" and "refer to details and examples in a text", I still want my students to leave our room knowing who they are as a reader and actually wanting to read.

2) Students will use nonfiction texts or media to propel into greater inquiries of topics they love.  I do completely understand that students should be able to "interpret information" and "explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text", but where is the big why?  I do believe that the value of digging into nonfiction is to gain a better understanding of what our world has to offer us.  Without falling in love or becoming more curious about a topic or idea, we don't connect to it, so we have a harder time developing a depth of understanding.

3) Students will develop an understanding of the power of writing.  Writing moves us.  Writing is a way to share, learn, persuade, enchant, and connect with just about any audience.  After many readings of the CCSS for writing, there is not much there that frustrates me (with the exception of devaluing poetry completely), but there isn't anything about the empowering and tranformational process that writing gives a learner.  We need to elevate this idea if we want our students to actually want to write.

4) Students will create effective classroom and school communities through the acts of collaboration and communication.  The listening and speaking parts of the CCSS are certainly robust.  I have zero problems with things like, "pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information", who would?  Ideas like actually communicating with a degree of civility seem very sound to me.  However, what is the purpose?  We should be looking for ways to empower students to use these skills to make places of learning more valuble to them.

I am sure other ideas will bubble up from the dark corners of my brain, but for now I know that when I am developing goals for next year, these four ideas will be front and center as I am also trying to revamp what I need to do in order to be more aligned with the CCSS for English Language Arts and Literacy.

Later,

Tony

The Power of Conversation

    

Talk is the sea in which all else floats.

                                        -James Britton

 

 

This past Saturday was the annual Dublin Literacy Conference.  It was a ridiculously good day of learning for me.  Since I presented this year, I only went to three sessions but each one was great.  I have seen Donalyn Miller share her thinking before and while there was not much that was completely new to me, the power of hearing some of her central ideas resonated deeply.  When she asked, "What do people who don't read talk about?" I knew what she meant.  At times I have to work hard to be involved in a conversation that doesn't include what I hve been reading lately. Sharon Draper absolutely mesmerized me with her passion for writing and getting great books into the hands of children.  Then at the end of the day I went to a session about the power of film by Bill Bass.  It was after this that I felt like my mind was toast.  All of this new learning was swirling around in my brain and I couldn't slow my thinking down.

Eventhough the sessions I attended were enriching, it was the conversations with some very smart people throughout the day that gave me even more to ponder.  

I ate lunch with Bill Prosser and James Preller.  We had a fascinating discussion about whether or not reading a ton does make people smarter and more interesting.  It intrigued me to think that maybe the depth of reading experiences, even if slightly limited is more important.  For example, does reading every book written by John Grisham or Danielle Steele actually make you smarter compared to a person who spends 15-20 minutes a day reading a newspaper?  In reflection I still think I want my students to read voraciously, but maybe I need to do a better job at moving them toward books that will exapnd thinking and learning.  I will still celebrate a 4th grader reading every book in the A to Z Mysteries series, but maybe I need to also celebrate a child who during the same amount of time only read 4 to 5 books, but they were all more complex and thought provoking than The Absent Author.

After lunch a discussion with Franki Sibberson helped me to understand that it may be way too difficult to plan an effective session on using tech in classrooms based on the wide range of ability teachers have in regards to integrating technology.  How can, in 45 minutes, someone effectively inspire a range of learners that include people who are just getting started to people who live a life of seamless tech integration.  I think it would be daunting and she helped to confirm what I was already thinking.  Which is why in my presentation, the use of tech was a remarkably small amount of time. 

Later in the evening I had the chance to talk with Bill Bass and he helped me to understand in even more detail the transformaive power of creating film in the lives of students.  He also gave me lots to consider in the wrestling match that often goes on in my head in regards to internet safety.  One thread of this conversation contained the idea of if we don't allow students to use tools they use at home in the classroom are we subtly devaluing the authentic work our kids do outside of the school day?  This is a big idea that caused me to think hard all of Sunday.  Now I am not ready to turn my class into a free-for-all of phone cams and let's make a movie for everything.  But I am starting to think I need to allow more of this type of work to occur.

I could go on and on about other conversations that I had during Saturday, but I feel the need to wrap up this post.  My reflecting about the day is nowehere close to being done. I blame this on the Power of Conversation.  Like the quote from above, everything that day floated on a sea of talk.  I cannot comprehend how much I would have missed if I didn't barge my way into conversations with some very smart and interesting people.  There was a time when I went to conferences and really didn't talk at all.  I just absorbed the stream of information and kept my mouth shut.  If I would have done that this year I would have missed a gold mine of ideas and learning.  

Later,

Tony

 

Finding Fellow Travelers on the Path

It has taken me a while to post.  So to all three of my readers, sorry about that.

I went to the NCTE Anuual Convention for the very first time this fall.  I seriously have no excuse for not attending in the past.  I guess I thought that the roughly $1,000 I knew I would spend on conference fees, transportation, hotel, food, drinks and books was too much for me to afford.  After 3 days in Chicago I came to the conclusion that I can't afford not to spend the cash in the future.  Thank goodness my "tweeps" got me to seriously consider going.  Without them I would have missed a tremendous experience.

Thinking that  I am clearly an "odd" teacher has never felt better to me than it did at NCTE.  For nearly 20 years I have meandered along a path that felt like the outskirts of the world of teaching.  I am the guy who spends probably too much time and money on both books for kids and professional books.  The nearly constant process of looking for new thinking and stories has been fulfilling, but often times I have felt rather lonely on this path.  Yes, I have been fortunate enough to develop connections with some great people over the years, but in my school I feel out of place at times.  I love where I work, but it is hard to have a conversation with a colleague about a book they haven't read.  And it is really hard to have conversations with colleagues who say things like, "I know I should read more, but who has the time?"  These colleagues are great people and teachers, but it is hard to completely be myself with them.

The major take-away for me after attending NCTE is that there are literally hundreds of teachers like me.  In fact there are people that make me look like I never crack the spine of a book or think about new ways to inspire kids.  Meeting and learning from people who live in a world filled with the richness of reading and learning was both ridiculously rewarding and humbling.

Creating a list of all the people who welcomed and inspired me at NCTE would make this post about 3,000 words and it would become dreadfully boring, but I feel the need to say thank you to a few old and new friends that helped create the wonderful time that I had.  So thank you very much Franki, Katie, Cathy, Karen, Mandy, Donalyn, Jeff, Terry, Mindi, Katherine, Teresa, Brenda, Bill, Troy, Laura, Ann Marie, Jen, Cindi, Ellie and Colby (who rescued me with a place to stay).  

In different sessions, both Kathy Short and Sara Kajder spoke to the idea that NCTE was home or family to them.  If I hadn't gone, I am not sure I would have completely understood what they both meant.  Their vision of family is probably not the same as mine, but I do think I found a community of fellow travelers at NCTE.  And it sure beats the idea of walking down the path without some company.

Later,

Tony

image credit: m3cfa

Crunchy Granola

 

"Reading should be left somewhat organic"

            -Patrick Allen pag 182 of Conferring.

This is my last official post for the #cyberPD group started by Cathy, Jill and Laura.  I would like to thank these three a great deal.  The invitation to participate in this event was very rewarding.  Reading this book in conjunction with many other educators across the country, then writing about it here and reading other's thoughts has been one of the more interesting forms of professional development I have done in quite some time.  Hopefully the other members of our little group have similar feelings.  I know I will be a better teacher of readers in the coming years because of this experience.

 

The quote above, "Reading should be left somewhat organic" is what will linger with me for quite some time.  I have always been a rather hands-off teacher over the years.  I plan reflectively and in most cases in reaction to what I think the students in my room need next.  This probably comes from being grounded in the thinking of educators like Vygotsky, Wells, Graves, Caulkins, Ray, Heard, Fletcher, Newkirk and many, many more.  If you walked into my room at any given time, I would hope you would see children engaged in purposeful thinking and doing and a teacher guiding them along the way.  It pains me to serve up a helping of crap to my students.  

However, there have been times over the last few years that I have questioned the role of reader's workshop in our current accountability climate.  I have tried to think critically about the role of authentic reading in this era of test, test, test, data, data, data to the point where my brain hurts. This spring was no different.  I think I helped to guide a pretty decent reader's workshop, but in the back of my head was the creeping shadow of the test.  Even though I knew it wasn't the best thing, I caved and had, in my opinion, too many strategy lessons and small group lessons that dealt with the art of analyzing a test question.  My reward for all this extra planning and doing was a rather small uptick in my reading scores from last year.  My class did fine on the test, so I am not upset, but based on the false assumption that more focused work on the "genre of testing" (excuse me for a brief moment as I go puke ... ) they should have done much, much better.  

So, why I am I questioning the value of an authentic reader's workshop and the value of conferring with students?  At this point I have no idea.  In the last three weeks my moral compass has been redirected to true North and I know that I need to get back to the place where reading (learning) is more organic in my classroom.  I know I cannot throw the standards out the window and forget that we have testing (though I would like to do that), but what I do know is that more good will come from helping students fall in love with their own learning, than will come from the idea of teaching them how to pinpoint the best answer in a multiple choice test.  

At one point in this last part of Conferring, Patrick shares a letter from one of his students who definitely has her metacgonitve abilities honed.  I bet if we could read her reflections about the books she read we would have been equally impressed.  I bet that Mackenzie came to Patrick the following year to tell him about books she was currently reading.  I bet that she also is a strong student in other areas besides reading.  I bet that she will most likely be a kid who loves reading her whole life.  I bet because of the rather organic nature of thinking that goes on in Patrick's room that Mackenzie did fine on state tests.  And I bet she would not have done any better if Patrick shut down all that is good in his room for mountains of test prep.

So, to answer one of Patrick's little pondering thought bombs that he dropped along the way, I know what I want my students to "walk away" with this year.  It is a short list, but I think it will a great deal of energy to make sure that all 26 of next year's class gets there.

I want my student's to walk away from conferences next year with:

1) The certainty that I believe in them as a person as well as a reader.

2) The goal of wanting to become a better reader.

3) The understanding that they can fall in love with reading.

4) The ability to begin to purposefully analyze and strecth their own thinking.

 

To help me stay true to my goal I have decided to stick an empty package of granola on the wall that

I usually put my little reminder pictures of family, previous classes, favorite books, etc.  I am a visual learner so if I get a daily reminder to be a little more organic by seeing a empty bag of crunchy granola it will most certainly be a good thing.  And since people who spend time in our room usually ask about some of the peculiar things that hang in this area of the room.  I am assuming that I will get asked about the bag-o-granola, especially because it had a marginally inappopriate name.  But it will inspire me to talk about Patrick's book and the importance of reading as an organic act.

Thanks again to Cathy, Jill and this week's host Laura.  And if you haven't seen this, one of these fine ladies organized a Jog the Web of all the bloggers who participated in this #cyberPD.  You should check it out.

Later,

Tony

 

Learn to Listen: #cyberPD

You gotta learn to listen, listen to learn
You gotta learn to listen, before you get burned
Learn to listen, listen to learn
You gotta learn to listen, before you get burned

                        -The Ramones

I am sure that when Patrick Allen was going through the tedious revision process is writing Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop his editors at Stenhouse wouldn't let him quote The Ramones.  They were probably concerns that elementary teachers would not be familiar with the seminal punk rockers.  And if we know anything about writing, we know that hitting your audience is key.  So, Patrick, the quote above is for you.

Learn to Listen by the Ramones is from their 1989 album Brain Drain.  I am not a huge Ramones fan (I think buried in a box in the basement I may have one vinyl album).  But I was in college in the early 1990s, plenty of my friends had Brain Drain and I would sing (scream) along at the top of my lungs to Learn to Listen.  I seriously doubt I actually listened to the meaning of the song.  I was a kid and anything blaring on a stereo that hinted of antiestablishment or counterculture was fine with me.

The point I am finally getting to is that learning to listen when you are conferring with students is a huge, and I mean huge with a capital H-U-G-E, piece to the puzzle.  I have probably spent hundreds of hours with students over the years not really listening to them, but just pushing a conference in the direction I felt it should go.  Over the last few years, I have tried to become better at letting the student's voice come through more often in a conference and it is not easy, but I am getting better (I think).  In part 2 of Conferring we get to peek into Patrick's classroom a little more and I appreciated his thinking on how to make conferring with students richer by listening to them more.  We gotta to learn to listen before we get burned.

There are many parts of chapters 4 and 5 that I will come back to frequently.  Some of these ideas are:

1) A record keeping system that has a little more focus.  I may try Patrick's R.I.P. model, but I am not sure it will work for me.  One take away from his model is the goal setting piece.  I have to include this more deliberately with my system this year.  Which will probably be the 15th system in the last 15 years.  Last year I started using Evernote for my conference record keeping and I loved it.  One great thing about Evernote is that if you have an iPad or smartphone there is an app you can download that will sync with your Evernote account.  Last year in the classroom, I used my phone, an iPad and my laptop to take notes and record snippets of conferences.  Then,  like magic, I could access my conference notes and recordings whenever and wherever I had some form of internet access.  Scary.

2) Framing conferences for different reasons.  I really liked the idea of developing a conference routine that nurtures inquiry.  I may have done this inadvertently in the past, but I wonder how this would look if I thought about nurturing inquiry more often?  I am hopeful that looking at conferring through the lens of inquiry may help my students become much better at deeper reading and deeper thinking.  Many of the students I work with tend to think deeply already without much help from me.  However, there is a larger group of students that seem to have difficulty getting past just basic infromation or attitudes.

3) I will definitely go back to the pondering questions from this chapter often.  The question that struck the biggest chord with me was, "How would your students describe you as a listener?"  Have I ever thought about this question before?  If I have, I buried it to the deep corners of my brain.  I am a reflective teacher.  I tend to beat myself up a little too much when things don't work out the way I thought they would in the classroom.  This, "it's never good enough" attitude is deep-seated for me.  So now I get to wrestle with Patrick's taunt of, "Do your students think you are a good listener?"  Great.  I am not sure how I will accomplish this inquiry into my listening strengths and weaknesses, but hopefully it won't keep me up at night when the school year starts.  I already have enough sleep issues in August.

So, I gotta learn to listen, before I get burned.  I know that being able to slow down and truly listen to needs of my students may be the most important thing I do as a teacher.  I just have to make sure it stays at the top of "my what's important" list when I am planning a lesson, unit, scope and sequence, etc.  If I don't then I may miss some big things.

 

Thanks Jill, Cathy, and Laura for hosting this #cyberPD event.  Reading all the posts from last week added greatly to my thinking and reflecting about Patrick's book.  Hopefully my brain can handle this week's trip around the blogosphere.

Later,

Tony

Conversing about Conferring: #cyberPD

The Nudge

My good friend Cathy over at Reflect and Refine graciously bullied me into joining her #cyberPD blog conversation about Patrick Allen's book Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop.  Maybe bullying isn't the right way to describe how I got the itch to join her group, but here is how I now imagine the sequence.

... late one night trolling through my Twitter feed I spot a tweet that leads me to Cathy's blog.  I read through the post and think "nice idea, but I am a little busy right now.   Then for the next three to four days I hear Cathy's voice in the back of my mind, "C'mon Tony, you should do this with us ... All the cool kids are doing it ...  just read a little, post a comment, ...  AND SUDDENLY I AM 35 PAGES INTO THE BOOK AND TWEETING "CATHY, I'M IN!"

The Thinking While Reading

As I read the first section of Patrick's book, there wasn't much that particularly challenged me, but there were many moments that made me think, "why haven't I considered this yet?" or "thank you very much for reminding me of things I have forgotten."  Some of these moments included:

1) Patrick's question near the beginning of, "What emerges from a conference?"

2) Patrick's repetitive usage of the idea of wisdom.  "What does it take to be a wise reader?"

3) The idea of looking into a classroom and asking, "Would I want my child to be in this room?"

4) The expliciness Patrick uses with his students when he shares why he, as the teacher does something.

5) The idea of being more open to a colleague coming into observe your teaching, or trying to observe a colleague teaching.

I think the main reason the first part of Conferring was more affirmation than anything else was that for quite some time, reader's workshop (specifically the part of the workshop that Patrick would describe as composing time) has been one of the few nonnegotiables in my room.  We read and confer everyday.  Even on the crazy days with assemblies, fire drills or standardized testing.  Thirty to forty minutes of every day in our room is spent on students reading while I am conferring with them.  I honestly wouldn't know what to do if conferring were not present in my reader's workshop.

The Reflecting

I loved Patrick's writing style and since I have met him, I kept hearing his voice as I read.  I loved that Patrick posed "ponderings" all through the book.  It was like Patrick was right there launching a thought grenade into my brain.  Most of these, like Cathy's bullying, made me slow down to consider more deeply the things I need to become stronger at doing.  So after some reflection and some connecting I have decided to dig deep and ...

1) Slow down.  An underlying current in the first three chapters was the idea of taking the time to purposefully build something that will last.  On page 92, Patrick wraps up his ashlar metaphor with the idea of looking at buildings that have stood the test of time compared to building that are falling apart way to soon.  Those that endure are the ones that are built to endure.  In this current era of accountability gone wild, I have been guilty of rushing too quickly in the name of coverage.  I need to slow down.

2) Observe more intently.  Like most good storytellers, Patrick is a master at careful observation.  It was easy to tell that whether he is teaching, conversing with a colleague or listening to his students that Patrick works hard at being there in the moment and observing carefully.  Much of the time I spent reading this book, I was making connections to various other lessons I have learned recently.  And one theme seems to be emerging.  Observe with intention and purpose.

3) Trust the lessons from your mentors.  I have spent the last 3-4 years becoming more immersed in the possibilities of technology.  I love my gadgets, I love infusing tech into the classroom and I think that we, as teachers, are irresponsible if we don't try to incorporate tech into our classrooms.  I have always struggled with the purpose of using certain tools.  Are we giving children a new platform to show what they know or are we doing stupid things that look cool.  Throughout the first 90 pages, many of the people who have influenced Patrick's thinking (Debbie Miller, Katie Wood Ray, Mem Fox, Franki Sibberson, Cris Tovani) have been huge mentors for me as well.  Interestingly enough, none of the works I have read by these authors are filled with blogs, wikis or podcasts.  Their lessons are about helping students become more intentional about the craft of reading and writing.  By no means am I going to shun the use of technology, but I think Patrick's references to all these fabulous teachers subtly reminded me that it is ok to question the use of tech for just the sake of doing something shiny and new.  I need to remember and honor my roots as I push forward.

Thanks Cathy, Jill and Laura for hosting this #cyberPD event.  I look forward to reading posts by other thinkers and the discussions that will emerge from our collective reading.

 

Later, 

Tony

#AllWrite Reflections: Affirmations are Powerful Stuff

One week ago I attended the All Write Summer Institute and I am still thinking about it way too much.  I have wanted to post about this event, but I needed some time to digest all of the learning and connecting I did in the roughly 48 hours I spent at the conference.  I finally decided that I needed more than one post to reflect on the experience.  Today's post will focus on the idea of the power of being affirmed that teaching is a wonderful profession.

My weekend started with connecting to some of my tweeps at a rather large dinner that included some of the presenters of the conference as well.  The fact that there were 20 plus professional educators nestled into a corner of a restaurant the night before a conference started was pretty amazing in itself.  Some of these educators were from the conference planning committee, but most of them were from miles away from the event.  Not to sure who got the prize for longest commute, but of the non-presenters who ate with this group we had a teacher from Texas and one from North Carolina (and I thought 4 hours was too much driving).  The amazing thing to me was that I quickly realized I was going to genuinely like this group.  I wasn't sure what I was getting into.  Yes, some of these people came across as excellent people, but what can we really learn about a person when the only contact we have with them is a series of 140 character tidbits from a a twitter stream?  So my first understandings that this was going to be a great two day experience was the fact that I felt incredibly comfortable with a group of relative strangers.

The next morning I looked over my plans of who I was going to go see on the first day of the conference.  The first stop was the opening keynote by Jeff Anderson (@writeguyjeff) of Mechanically Inclined and Everyday Editing fame.  When I discovered quickly that Jeff's keynote was an introduction into his forthcoming book 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, I knew that I would be taking notes like a crazy man.  His new lines of thinking were very interesting and I will probably buy the book when it comes out this fall (you can thank me later for adding to your sales Jeff).  However, the most powerful moments of his presentation were not what do we need to do as teachers to help students become better writers, the really powerful stuff for  me was the reminder of the mark we leave on students.  He used the metaphor of tree rings.  As in what would the ring on the student look like during the year the student spent time with us?  Jeff skillfully reminded us that we, as teachers, can be a huge force for good or bad.  It is up to us to be that force of good in a child's learning life.  His lessons affirmed for me that the most powerful thing I can do is really get to know my students well.  I think I do a good job of this, but the last few years I may have inadvertently built up a few too many walls.  A dose of Jeff Anderson's presenting savvy is good for the soul of a teacher.  If you ever get the chance to see him in person, do yourself a favor and go.

The rest of my day included the chance to learn from Katie Wood Ray, Terry Thompson and Anne Marie Corgill.  I learned a great deal from these presentations as well, but all three of them did similar things that Jeff did in affirming some of my grounding beliefs.  In various places all three of these presenters reminded us that as teachers we need to act as advocates for our students.  We need to in essence "grow a spine" a fight for what we know is right in helping children become better readers and writers.  It has been a while since I fought the good fight.  There are probably a million excuses for why I have shied away, but all would fall under the topic of rationalization.  

By the end of just the first day, I was feeling quite refreshed, inspired and much more willing to fight the good fights.

Day two also challenged my thinking as an educator, but listening to Lester Laminack, Cris Tovani and Georgia Heard also added deeply to the recurring theme that I, as a classroom teacher, need to be the big learner in the room and do right by my students.  Some of the lasting nuggets of information that are still rattling around my head are:

Georgia, "Kids are hungry to ask questions."  I know this, but I seriously need to do a better job of honoring the honest inquiry of children and be more planful in how to tap into their profound level of curiosity.

Cris, "When we have kids who give up, we are sunk."  Again, I knew this but the right reminder at the right time was very powerful to me.  I need to get back to the place of not letting students give up too easily.  Nearly everything I have done that has been worthwhile was not easy to do.

Lester, "We have to be a loving resident in the world of reading, not a tour guide.  Let them (students) know the world is bigger than what they live in"  In Lester's closing keynote he masterfully used the metaphor that some types of reading instruction are more comparable to reading a tour guide book, than actually delving into an actual adventure.  While this metaphor was brand new to me the sentiment behind it was not.  It was a great reminder to me the best lesson a reader can learn is the one where he or she is compelled to read intrinsically and not mandated to read extrinsically.

As a final side note into my thinking about affirmations playing such a huge role in my All Write experience, I need to say a big thank you to all the people who I was able to hang out with when sessions were not going on.  It was wonderful to meet in person, reconnect or forge new connections and share some thinking with Franki, Mary Lee, Katie, Meredith, Cami, Lindsay, Katherine, Mindi, Teresa, Donalyn, Paul, Stephanie, Barbara, Ann Marie, Jeff, Terry, Cris and Ruth (many of whom can be found here).  During the time I spent with these people I was consistently reminded of all that is good in the world of teaching.  

Later,

Tony

I'm on my way to All Write!

Tomorrow, I will be heading to the All Write Summer Institute.  There are numerous reasons why I am definitely looking forward to this conference.

The first is the quality of presenters the people behind All Write have coaxed into sharing their knowledge.  Jeff Anderson, Ruth Ayers, Ann Marie Corgill, Georgia Heard, Lester Laminack, Debbie Miller, Katie Wood Ray, Terry Thompson, Cris Tovani, and Gordan Korman.  My biggest problem might be deciding which sessions to attend.  "Seriously!?!? I have to choose between Katie and Jeff, oh wait, Terry is presenting at the same time as well.  For cryin' out lout people."  Hopefully this will not be the case, but since I haven't seen an official schedule yet, I am guessing that Karma will ensure some difficult choices.

The second reason is that I will get to meet many of my Twitter friends in person for the first time.  This should be awesome, but since I always plan for the unexpected I am imagining myself belching or realizing that I have food stuck in my teeth when we are all having dinner together shortly after checking in tomorrow night.  Welcome to my world @paulwhankins, @katsok, @donalynbooks, @rdngteach, @mindi_r, @ruth_ayers.  To keep people udated on this escapade I will be using the Twitter hashtag #insideallwrite.  When I use this hashtag, I will share my awestruck or dumbstuck moments.  So my first tweet will be something like this, "Just laughed so hard that a piece of french fry hit @donalynbooks in the head.  #insideallwrite".  This #insideallwrite will be different from the #allwrite tag that many of us have been using to help plan important things like where we will go to eat, snacks we are bringing and what we will be wearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third reason I am looking forward to this event is the car ride to Warsaw, Indiana.  I will be spending , according to Google Maps, approximately three and a half hours with three of the smartest people I know.  Franki, Mary Lee and Katie.  I am sure we will have some "fun" conversations, but I am really looking forward to talking about books, literacy, tech, etc as well.

The final reason I am looking forward to All Write is the chance to be recharged after what might have been my most dificult year of teaching.  I am thinking that the new ideas, affirmations of older ideas and the chance to connect with new people will have a profound impact on gearing up for next fall.  I know that starting on the way back from the conference I will be thinking, "When does school start?  Can't wait to get back into the classroom."

Later,

Tony

 

Dublin Literacy Confernce + #titletalk = Professional Recharge in a Weekend

We are all busy, busy, busy.  Maybe not all of us, but I certainly feel like I am.  I do relax by reading and watching some suspect tv, but I rarely get a chance to get professionally recharged in the the middle of a school year like I have been in the past 36 hours.

I won't babble on and on about how great yesterday's Dublin Literacy Conference was, but it was awesome.  Getting to learn from Kelly Gallagher, Patrick Allen, Troy Hicks and Brian Pinkney all in one day is ridiculously crazy.  All four challenged my thinking and reminded me why having the opportunity to work with kids on a daily basis is the best vocation ever.

It will take me some time to process and reflect on all I learned, but a common theme seemed to emerge throughout the day.  Standardization does not lead to excellence or joy in education.  In some way or another the four I listed above layered this idea into their presentations.  I will need to chew on this a while.  I am still struggling with the idea of balancing the needs of nonstandardized learners with the pressure of dealing with a standardized measure of their success.

Then tonight I joined another fabulous #titletalk on Twitter.  This chat between what seems like hundreds of book lovers from everywhere is, for me, the best hour on Twitter.  This chat, hosted by Donalyn Miller and Paul Hankins explores a theme about reading in classrooms for the first 45 minutes.  Then the mad dash at the end is a rapid fire sharing titles of great new books for kids.  I consider myself fairly knowledgable about kid lit, but the group that hangs out at #titletalk makes me look like a nonreader.  My list of books "I need to read yesterday" expands greatly after this blistering hour.  

Tonight's #titletalk exploration was all about when did we fall in love with reading.  I loved reading all the little stories of which book, family member, friend or teacher hooked all of these Twitter teachers and librarians on the love of reading.  For me, I really didn't develop a deep love for reading until high school.  I had a great teacher and a great class that explored modern American literature.  All we did was read, read and read some more.  Then we shared, shared and shared some more.  I read more books in that one semester class than I probably had in the previous 11 years of school. When the class ended I was hooked on books like they were a heavy narcotic.

I could have been a little jealous when I read all the snippets of great books read by my #titletalk friends when they were young.  But I wasn't.  Reading these tweets just confirmed what I have known for quite a long time ...

If guiding children to that book which launches a life long love of reading is not the most important job I have, I am not sure I want to know what is.

I am thankful that in my own community, both "real world" and Twitter, that I have the opportunity to learn from the best.

Later,

Tony

image from imajustabill's flickr photostream