MARESA LITERACY MONTHLY: November 2020 Edition

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Maresa Monthly November issue

For the Love of Reading

Texts to Tables:  Nurturing Readers While at Home

    There is nothing better than walking into a favorite bookstore or perhaps entering a new one while away from home.  What do you do in those first few moments?  Do you stick to a favorite genre or do you let the displays set your course for each visit?  Does someone welcome you in and volunteer their guidance or offer suggestions?  Let's face it, we have habits as readers and those habits have been developing since childhood!

    Understanding and reflecting on our own habits can help wrap our minds around helping our students develop their own set of skills for selecting books and navigating through libraries.  As educators, we harness the power to help students build an awareness of what texts exist and how to select those that truly make our "hearts beat".  Even while away from school, our students need texts. How can we get texts out of our classrooms and onto their “tables” at home?! While transferring Literacy Essential 8 from face-to-face to remote instruction may take a bit of extra time and effort, it is possible.  For review:  


Essential #8 Abundant reading materials and reading opportunities in the classroom

    One tried and true practice of “connecting children’s interests” to books and materials is through the use of interest inventories.  These inventories help teachers begin the work of helping students discover their interests and also help to let the children know that their interests matter...big time!  Our state literacy leaders have shared that selecting texts that interest our readers is more important now than it ever has been. Whether face-to-face or remote, learning more about children's interests through these simple, adaptable inventories will help you place print (digital included) into eager hands.


Here are two sample inventories to borrow or to inspire your own thinking:  


            *Make copies and customize them to meet your student needs.  The great thing about an inventory on a Google Form is that it works perfectly for your remote learners.  An asynchronous recording of how to fill out the form can add additional support for your students and families. 


    Essential 8 calls on teachers to allow students to take books home or access text digitally.  With that in mind, we begin to ask, “What about safety during this pandemic?”  Creating protocols following safety guidelines is essential.  Currently, the CDC shares that the best way to visit a library is by using an online reservation system, choosing digital over print if possible, and even curbside pick-up.  The Michigan Library Association recommends a 4 day book quarantine and 5 for any plastic products.  (Visit the link to read more!)  Let this information guide you as you customize a plan that works best for you and your students!

  

    If you are a MARESA teacher and would like further conversation and support in getting “Texts to Tables”, please email me:  hmuscoe@maresa.org or visit our MARESA Literacy Help Desk to make your request. 

    laptop wave

Every Child, Everyday Writing

Writing While Remote

    Did you know that according to the What Works Clearinghouse Educator’s Practice Guide, Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers, kindergarten students should be writing for 30 minutes per day and in grades 1-5, that recommendation doubles to 60 minutes?   Let me share good news...those minutes do not need to be connected!  Writing during content area time counts!  Another important disclosure:  the guide expresses a belief that incorporating technology into writing is “critically important”.  Whew!  Maybe remote writing will help us accomplish this integration so that we can grow the skill in the future?!  For the November Edition,  we will explore interactive writing, which is founded in research and may be more conducive to your remote instruction.  


Interactive Writing 

*Recommended for K-1, but could be adapted to meet the needs of any elementary writer!


Interactive writing is a highly scaffolded shared writing experience that allows students to write in a way that they may not be able to do independently.  As a seed to begin thinking, please view the following videos. As always, be thinking of how the concepts and practices could be adapted to meet your current instructional needs.  What would you borrow?  What could you grow in your practice?

Videos:

    Remote interactive writing lessons should be planned during small group synchronous times in your schedule.  The tech tool most helpful for shared writing is Google Jamboard.  See our September Edition for more information about Jamboard.  If you prefer low tech, make sure that students come to your synchronous session with a whiteboard, marker and eraser.  While students do their contributions on whiteboards, you can screen share a Jamboard, document camera view of your writing, or even a Google Doc to display the piece of writing.  

    Please take a moment to read through the “How To” guide below:


Interactive Writing “How To” Guide

*Prompting ideas in orange

Planning: 

  • Set REAL purpose and audience.  Let genre guide you...informative, narrative, or opinion?  

  • Set instructional goals.  Be intentional with standards and what skills students are ready for.  Any skill or standard can be addressed with scaffolding throughout the writing session.  Phonemic awareness, phonics, print concepts, conventions, and more!  Use your observations, assessments, and knowledge of content to guide your decisions. 

Launch Lesson:  Establish purpose and audience with students. 

Boys and Girls, You were really amazed when we watched the video of the mother turtle laying her eggs last week.  I thought that we could share an interesting part with our families in our classroom newsletter.  

Negotiate and craft the writing idea together...guide students with questioning.  

What do you think was the most interesting part from the video that your families may not know about? 

*If multiple ideas surface, could you guide towards sentence combining?

Rehearse together.  No pen yet!  Say it together multiple times so students know it.  Count words.  

Okay, let’s say that together.  Can you say it again?  Show me your hand, could we count the words together? (hold one finger up for each word). 

Share the pen!  Recall words...one by one and guide in writing.  Think phonemic awareness, phonics, print concepts and more!   If you are using Heggerty, chop your words to increase participation.  Be responsive to what you are seeing.  Be intentional with what you ask students to do independently.  You do the parts that they are not ready for.  Scaffold, scaffold, scaffold!

Let’s say the first word together!  Julie could you write the first sound?  

Read and reread:  Build fluency together.

Illustrate:  Could the writing be shared out to illustrate?  Could we illustrate while together?

Give to the audience:  Let authentic feedback come back to writers!  Increase motivation!  

Reading Into Things

7 Norms of Collaboration

    In October, we began our work with the 7 Norms of Collaboration which originate from Adaptive Schools.  The norms guide working groups towards effective communication and collaboration.  This month, we will reflect on the first norm which is pausing.  Pausing allows for thinking and gives all members time to process before speaking.  Sharing the airspace with those who need more time to think will increase contributions.  While pausing is helpful to working groups, it is also important when  speaking to individuals (parents, students, coworkers, etc.).  



    Complete the “Pausing” section of this  self-assessment. Keep it visible and refer to it often as we embark on this study of norms.  Allow yourself time to reflect.  Reflection itself is a wonderful way to practice the norm of pausing.  Give yourself the gift of time and share it with others near you!

 MANAGING IT ALL 

Using Visuals in Virtual instruction

    Have you seen the viral TikTok video of kindergarten teacher, Mackenzie Adams, teaching online?  The video highlights in a comical way the amount of energy educators bring to virtual teaching but it also reminds us of two great strategies for managing instruction in the classroom or online: 

  1. USE VISUALS

  • As educators we know visuals increase learning. The research is clear on this one, so let’s take these visuals for teaching expectations online that we shared last month but in addition to using on Google Slides at the start of your lesson, print out and put on popsicle sticks (as seen on the TikTok) to use as visual reminders of your expectations with students. 

  1. USE HAND SIGNALS 

  • The TikTok video  also reminds us how important frequent student responses are for monitoring instruction and keeping students engaged. To add onto the student hand signals shared last month,  Edutopia has five hand signals to use for engaging students in more equitable discussions which are great practices to use during interactive read alouds as part of synchronous whole group instruction. For a short video of the five discussion hand signals go here. 

Go! Go! Gaby!

Digital Text Made Easy

More tips for synchronous instruction


Student Check-ins

How Can I help Support you?  How Are you feeling?  What do you need?

    Educators know the impact of their relationships and connections with students on their learning.  As we teach through a pandemic, it is now more important than ever that our students know we care about them. We care not only about their academic learning but also about their social, emotional and physical well being. In addition to face-to-face checking-ins with students in the classroom or online, linked below are some sample student forms for daily, weekly or quarterly check-ins that can be copied and edited to meet your needs. 

Engaging Families

What's in the Bag:  What do MARESA Teachers Send home for Remote learning?

  • Whiteboards & markers or white paper in plastic sheet cover 

  • Math manipulatives

  • Crayons, scissors and glue

  • Device and headphones

  • Encouraging notes

  • Food

  • Classroom or school library books for independent reading

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