I’m so happy you’re here (and welcome to the new friends we’ve gained over the summer!)
It’s time for our September community chat. Below, feel free to share:
What are you thinking about in your classroom right now? What are the “pebbles in your shoes”, instructionally speaking? What’s occupying your thoughts?
Questions you’d love to have answered (One of these will be our September Q+A!)
Resources you’d like to share
Chime in below! I hope you’ve had a wonderful break!
AS we start school, I'm thinking more and more about how we combine reading and writing workshop -- doing MORE with less instead of having to squeeze everything into steadily less time. How can we transfer learning and skills between the reading and writing workshops? How can we create space to breathe and think and ENJOY in the ELA classroom? I'm tired of everything feeling so frenetic.
I am trying to develop a year-long scope and sequence designed around conceptual units, but keep getting muddled in the process of synthesizing the reading and writing. "Frenetic" is a great word for how it feels in the midst of the tension between agency and standardization :)
I still flip flop between the 2 in my freshman classes, and I found most success sequencing them so I could use the reading workshops as the warm-up to the writing workshop. Read Marrow Thieves & practiced analyzing small passages on reading deadlines & other texts (picture book, video clip, poetry, article) in between deadlines. The next unit was a literary analysis essay where students got to write it on an IR book of their choosing. This meant a lot of the mini-lesson work & smaller skills were covered & I could focus on deeper critical thinking or more elevated writing moves with them in the writing workshop. I'm trying to figure out more ways to pair my units like that--work smarter, not harder, right?!
My students have trouble focusing on reading and writing units at the same time because they say it feels like we’re doing to much at once. (They struggle to work on a writing piece while reading a whole class text, for example.) But, finding a way to make them go together more seamlessly would be ideal!
I am interested in practical reading skill mini-lessons that students can apply to their independent reading. I also want to know what read alouds look/sound like in other teacher’s classrooms.
This is my first time here, and I'm excited about this community!
The pebble in my shoe, a question I'd love to have answered, is this: When I look for exemplar texts, especially for non-fiction, they rarely follow any formula we might give. I DO want students' persuasive writing (for example) to sound more like a newspaper editorial, but when I think of middle school and below, I feel like they need the suggested 5-paragraph structure with the hamburger paragraph (well done, of course.)
How do you take off the training wheels? What do you do when the bike flies all over the road and you have limited time to get to your destination? I'm excited to make writing less formulaic and more based on what the writer really wants to say, and I'd love thoughts from folks further on this journey than I am.
Weirdly enough, I was just reading through the Moving Writers resource Rebekah provided about storytelling from The Practice Space (in the most recent email) and on page 4, the "Final Takeaway," it says, "Templates, protocols, and rubrics are all still applicable to storytelling, as long as the point is still to open a window into diverse human experiences and outlooks." I think this speaks to using scaffolds with writers (insert writing for storytelling), the hamburger etc...it's the way we use them, maybe later in the process—to open a window for what the writer needs/wants to say? I don't know, but it's making me think about a dilemma I face as well.
I struggle with this too. I provide the mentor texts, but I sometimes struggle to follow student thinking because of a lack of organization. I don’t believe that students need to stick to the formula, but I think established criteria helps all of us. So, after reading the mentor texts have students identify what they see/notice. Make a list of must haves to meet criteria and make sure students can identify them in the mentor texts.
I also have had luck with having students write a memo with their writing pieces. In it, they highlight where they believe they met the criteria (each criteria has a different color) and what they understand about it/learned about it. So, I have them highlight their claim in green, evidence in orange, analysis in pink, etc. That way if I can’t see their thesis/claim, for example, I can see what they believe their claim is by looking for the green highlighted text. They can also articulate what they understand about claims so that even if it isn’t crystal clear, I can “see their thinking” and decide if they’ve shown enough to meet the criteria or if they should revise. I also invite students to explain more if they believe they’ve met the criteria when I don’t. Usually students see how they could make things clearer and revise.
I’m always interested in learning about how others are creating summative assessments for reading that are NOT tests and NOT traditional literary analysis essays. I have done the reading responses with a self reflection after reading about that in this group. One marking period I do a mock trial, which is fun. But, I’m sure there are other great ideas that I’m not thinking of. What are you doing in your classroom to let your students showcase their reading skills?
Over the summer I read Sarah Zerwin's book Point-less, and it was LIFE CHANGING! I've been thinking a lot about rubrics and how to best assess student writing in a point-less way, while still holding them to a high standard. I'd love to see some examples of how other teachers assess student writing and give feedback!
I read her book during the summer of 2021 and ran my classes without traditional grades all last year. It was a huge success (but not without challenges at times), and I'm doing it this year again. I'm also happy to talk logistics. I'd love to compare notes with others who have adoped this method of assessment or adapted it to more traditional methods of grading.
Yes, at first I tried my own version of Sarah's list of 10 or so, but I found that was too limiting. I have 4 Habit goals we all work on (timeliness, engagement, etc.) and then students set 3 academic goals: reading, writing, and something else (critical thinking, speaking/listening, or a second reading or writing goal). I walk them through crafting goals that are specific, measurable, and just-right for challenging. I'm going through their rough drafts this week to give feedback on any goals that need to be tweaked. I was doing semester goals, but this year I'm trying just quarter goals to see if that works better. When we write for next quarter, we'll talk about how to show progressive growth. That's one of the big requirements for when we set what each grade range looks like for report cards--you should show competency and improvement. Progress on the habit goals are often used to indicate moving a letter grade up or down to a + or -. And I set a bare minimum of work (like "these 2 major writing assignments must be completed") for passing as well as specific benchmarks for earning an A.
Ok I keep thinking about this! Is there any way you could send me any of your resources/instructions for how you ask students to write goals? My email is mckenzierandall@alpinedistrict.org :)
I want in on that discussion! I also read Point-less over the summer but can't wrap my head around the gradeless classroom. Now that we're back in school, during the first two weeks I have seen some great writing and was able to do some decent early assessment just from reading students' notebooks - but I'm feeling stressed/pressured because I don't have any grades in except for the Notebook Check. I know this is silly - just about everyone in my classes (grades 10 and 12) engaged and put enough in their notebooks for me to feel that writer's notebook time is time well spent. I've told my students I want their grades to reflect productivity and growth, and I know that these first grades are only going to show productivity. But that voice in my head is nagging me to get some grades into the gradebook. I'd love help and advice from someone who has gotten over the grading hump.
One of the ways I started dipping my toes in was doing more student self-reflections & including those in the grade book. I used Kate Flowers' reflective reading ladder template to have students track their reading (IR & assigned) throughout the quarter & then they self-assessed a grade. That was 10% of their quarter average. You can also put things like "conferences" or "notebook self-reflections" in the grade book and even if you don't have a grade in for it, use the comment box (PowerSchool has an unlimited one) with the assignment to add narrative feedback there. I've really utilized PS's comment boxes & symbols as a way to collect tons of data in one place for all the stakeholders without numbers needing to be added. Here's the letter I send home to parents, which explains all my logistics. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IOucxJf3qABNewQMG3v6r_luDpMtghwzQ3mE92yBupc/edit?usp=sharing I've only taught honors & AP in the years I've done this, but I think it would work really well at all levels with support. I've received no negative pushback, and I have had kids earn Cs or Ds for specific quarters--I think because there's more transparency and clarity as to WHY that grade.
I also freely use the "Collected" Checkmark in PowerSchool as a way of communicating to parents that something was done or undone, met my general expectations of participation (read: trying!) or didn't, etc.
Happy September!! I am thinking about the shift mandated by our state to an "approved" curriculum. We are starting Amplify very soon. Hoping I can somehow hold onto the joy of reading and writing workshop even in a fixed curriculum.
Very interested in what you all are thinking. We are developing/using a homegrown approach, but that can be a challenge in trying to address all standards and committing to a year long plan. Consistency and alignment can become variable. With Amplify, would you still have a workshop model?
I'm assuming I won't be able to like I could before. I used to have lots of freedom :( I'm not really sure yet, though, because I haven't checkec it all out, but their writing material seems pretty packed.
I tried to tackle the research paper last January in my 9H classes and it was...not successful. There are SO many skills and so much to teach. How do I do it justice in under 4-8 weeks?! I'm really re-evaluating whether we NEED to do the whole thing with freshmen, and if I wouldn't be better off focusing on a few key skills within the research paper process to help them master so that they're ready to take another step forward next year. We're lacking in vertical planning in our department in this respect, and aside from "a formal research paper" being a senior year requirement, we don't have other requirements or directives.
AS we start school, I'm thinking more and more about how we combine reading and writing workshop -- doing MORE with less instead of having to squeeze everything into steadily less time. How can we transfer learning and skills between the reading and writing workshops? How can we create space to breathe and think and ENJOY in the ELA classroom? I'm tired of everything feeling so frenetic.
I am trying to develop a year-long scope and sequence designed around conceptual units, but keep getting muddled in the process of synthesizing the reading and writing. "Frenetic" is a great word for how it feels in the midst of the tension between agency and standardization :)
I still flip flop between the 2 in my freshman classes, and I found most success sequencing them so I could use the reading workshops as the warm-up to the writing workshop. Read Marrow Thieves & practiced analyzing small passages on reading deadlines & other texts (picture book, video clip, poetry, article) in between deadlines. The next unit was a literary analysis essay where students got to write it on an IR book of their choosing. This meant a lot of the mini-lesson work & smaller skills were covered & I could focus on deeper critical thinking or more elevated writing moves with them in the writing workshop. I'm trying to figure out more ways to pair my units like that--work smarter, not harder, right?!
Love this. What kind of reading mini-lessons were the most successful?
It’s so hard to squeeze everything in! I wish I had a block schedule. I have 48 minutes and it flies!
Yes! This!
My students have trouble focusing on reading and writing units at the same time because they say it feels like we’re doing to much at once. (They struggle to work on a writing piece while reading a whole class text, for example.) But, finding a way to make them go together more seamlessly would be ideal!
I am interested in practical reading skill mini-lessons that students can apply to their independent reading. I also want to know what read alouds look/sound like in other teacher’s classrooms.
This is my first time here, and I'm excited about this community!
The pebble in my shoe, a question I'd love to have answered, is this: When I look for exemplar texts, especially for non-fiction, they rarely follow any formula we might give. I DO want students' persuasive writing (for example) to sound more like a newspaper editorial, but when I think of middle school and below, I feel like they need the suggested 5-paragraph structure with the hamburger paragraph (well done, of course.)
How do you take off the training wheels? What do you do when the bike flies all over the road and you have limited time to get to your destination? I'm excited to make writing less formulaic and more based on what the writer really wants to say, and I'd love thoughts from folks further on this journey than I am.
Weirdly enough, I was just reading through the Moving Writers resource Rebekah provided about storytelling from The Practice Space (in the most recent email) and on page 4, the "Final Takeaway," it says, "Templates, protocols, and rubrics are all still applicable to storytelling, as long as the point is still to open a window into diverse human experiences and outlooks." I think this speaks to using scaffolds with writers (insert writing for storytelling), the hamburger etc...it's the way we use them, maybe later in the process—to open a window for what the writer needs/wants to say? I don't know, but it's making me think about a dilemma I face as well.
I struggle with this too. I provide the mentor texts, but I sometimes struggle to follow student thinking because of a lack of organization. I don’t believe that students need to stick to the formula, but I think established criteria helps all of us. So, after reading the mentor texts have students identify what they see/notice. Make a list of must haves to meet criteria and make sure students can identify them in the mentor texts.
I also have had luck with having students write a memo with their writing pieces. In it, they highlight where they believe they met the criteria (each criteria has a different color) and what they understand about it/learned about it. So, I have them highlight their claim in green, evidence in orange, analysis in pink, etc. That way if I can’t see their thesis/claim, for example, I can see what they believe their claim is by looking for the green highlighted text. They can also articulate what they understand about claims so that even if it isn’t crystal clear, I can “see their thinking” and decide if they’ve shown enough to meet the criteria or if they should revise. I also invite students to explain more if they believe they’ve met the criteria when I don’t. Usually students see how they could make things clearer and revise.
I like both of these ideas! Thank you so much. Color-coding is so simple and yet such a great tool.
I’m always interested in learning about how others are creating summative assessments for reading that are NOT tests and NOT traditional literary analysis essays. I have done the reading responses with a self reflection after reading about that in this group. One marking period I do a mock trial, which is fun. But, I’m sure there are other great ideas that I’m not thinking of. What are you doing in your classroom to let your students showcase their reading skills?
Have you tried Hexagonal Thinking? (There’s a great post about it on cult of pedagogy). It’s a great assessment tool!
I know it. But, I have not tried it. Maybe I’ll give it a go.
Over the summer I read Sarah Zerwin's book Point-less, and it was LIFE CHANGING! I've been thinking a lot about rubrics and how to best assess student writing in a point-less way, while still holding them to a high standard. I'd love to see some examples of how other teachers assess student writing and give feedback!
I read her book during the summer of 2021 and ran my classes without traditional grades all last year. It was a huge success (but not without challenges at times), and I'm doing it this year again. I'm also happy to talk logistics. I'd love to compare notes with others who have adoped this method of assessment or adapted it to more traditional methods of grading.
Can you send me an email mckenzierandall@alpinedistrict.org
I'd love to ask you a few questions!
I agree! We should have a grade-less group chat!
I would be in. This is my third year teaching without points.
I read it a few years ago & just started Year 3 of gradeless teaching. I can't imagine having to go back! I'm happy to chat logistics anytime!
That would be so great! Do you have students choose learning goals to keep track of?
Yes, at first I tried my own version of Sarah's list of 10 or so, but I found that was too limiting. I have 4 Habit goals we all work on (timeliness, engagement, etc.) and then students set 3 academic goals: reading, writing, and something else (critical thinking, speaking/listening, or a second reading or writing goal). I walk them through crafting goals that are specific, measurable, and just-right for challenging. I'm going through their rough drafts this week to give feedback on any goals that need to be tweaked. I was doing semester goals, but this year I'm trying just quarter goals to see if that works better. When we write for next quarter, we'll talk about how to show progressive growth. That's one of the big requirements for when we set what each grade range looks like for report cards--you should show competency and improvement. Progress on the habit goals are often used to indicate moving a letter grade up or down to a + or -. And I set a bare minimum of work (like "these 2 major writing assignments must be completed") for passing as well as specific benchmarks for earning an A.
Ok I keep thinking about this! Is there any way you could send me any of your resources/instructions for how you ask students to write goals? My email is mckenzierandall@alpinedistrict.org :)
I love the idea of them setting their own goals! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I am interested in this, too! Thank you for so generously sharing your letter :)
I want in on that discussion! I also read Point-less over the summer but can't wrap my head around the gradeless classroom. Now that we're back in school, during the first two weeks I have seen some great writing and was able to do some decent early assessment just from reading students' notebooks - but I'm feeling stressed/pressured because I don't have any grades in except for the Notebook Check. I know this is silly - just about everyone in my classes (grades 10 and 12) engaged and put enough in their notebooks for me to feel that writer's notebook time is time well spent. I've told my students I want their grades to reflect productivity and growth, and I know that these first grades are only going to show productivity. But that voice in my head is nagging me to get some grades into the gradebook. I'd love help and advice from someone who has gotten over the grading hump.
I've definitely been feeling this, too. I'm having to re-train my own thinking, as well as the students!
One of the ways I started dipping my toes in was doing more student self-reflections & including those in the grade book. I used Kate Flowers' reflective reading ladder template to have students track their reading (IR & assigned) throughout the quarter & then they self-assessed a grade. That was 10% of their quarter average. You can also put things like "conferences" or "notebook self-reflections" in the grade book and even if you don't have a grade in for it, use the comment box (PowerSchool has an unlimited one) with the assignment to add narrative feedback there. I've really utilized PS's comment boxes & symbols as a way to collect tons of data in one place for all the stakeholders without numbers needing to be added. Here's the letter I send home to parents, which explains all my logistics. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IOucxJf3qABNewQMG3v6r_luDpMtghwzQ3mE92yBupc/edit?usp=sharing I've only taught honors & AP in the years I've done this, but I think it would work really well at all levels with support. I've received no negative pushback, and I have had kids earn Cs or Ds for specific quarters--I think because there's more transparency and clarity as to WHY that grade.
I also freely use the "Collected" Checkmark in PowerSchool as a way of communicating to parents that something was done or undone, met my general expectations of participation (read: trying!) or didn't, etc.
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing letter, it's so helpful!
Happy September!! I am thinking about the shift mandated by our state to an "approved" curriculum. We are starting Amplify very soon. Hoping I can somehow hold onto the joy of reading and writing workshop even in a fixed curriculum.
This is something I really need — and want! — to learn more about!
Very interested in what you all are thinking. We are developing/using a homegrown approach, but that can be a challenge in trying to address all standards and committing to a year long plan. Consistency and alignment can become variable. With Amplify, would you still have a workshop model?
I'm assuming I won't be able to like I could before. I used to have lots of freedom :( I'm not really sure yet, though, because I haven't checkec it all out, but their writing material seems pretty packed.
Amplify is one on our state textbook adoption list as well. I look forward to hearing about this.
I am thinking how are these procedures I am trying to establish, ever going to stick?!
Hahaha. Gosh, I feel this so much. All those best laid plans at the beginning of the year that you have to sustain!
I tried to tackle the research paper last January in my 9H classes and it was...not successful. There are SO many skills and so much to teach. How do I do it justice in under 4-8 weeks?! I'm really re-evaluating whether we NEED to do the whole thing with freshmen, and if I wouldn't be better off focusing on a few key skills within the research paper process to help them master so that they're ready to take another step forward next year. We're lacking in vertical planning in our department in this respect, and aside from "a formal research paper" being a senior year requirement, we don't have other requirements or directives.