I know there is a lot of buzz about personalized learning these days. Lots of it comes at a cost where some service will assess your students and provide just-in-time learning. It is tempting to purchase one of those and feel comfortable that the curriculum is being covered at a pace that is right for each student. Although I do use many tools and apps, that's really not what personalized learning looks like in my 1:1 language arts classroom.
So, what does it look like?
I don't think I can answer that question in a short post. However, I believe that a little tour through my email inbox may provide a glimpse. It hit me last night when I opened my school email.
Literacy= communication, and I do use email as one tool for communicating with my students.
We read. We write. We edit. We discuss. We think. We reflect. We create. Why would this look identical in a group of unique individuals?
What follows represents a sample from my current inbox. These are waiting for my reply, feedback or next steps. I have not chosen anything on purpose. I'm just sharing the process. This represents the ongoing learning conversation between my students and me.
A 5th grader emails to tell me what salary he would like for the documentarian job. He also suggests two new jobs.
A 5th grader shares his updated narrative writing with me. Below is a short snippet of an 8 page story
Another 5th grade narrative
a 4th grader shares a link to the book quiz he wrote on Goodreads
A 4th grader wrote an epilogue to Wonderstruck using Book Creator
5th grade character trading card
4th grade "visual vocab"
This conversation and creation, this journey, is why I love my 1:1 iPad classroom.
From "Ed Tech" to Literacy…
Although I continue present my work under the brand of "edtechworkshop," my professional interests are moving away from "ed tech." Job-wise I have transitioned from (all titles in quotes because that is how I think of them) "technology coordinator" to "21st century learning specialist" to "Director of Teaching & Learning (as titles go, I like that one best) to my current job title of "4th/5th grade language arts teacher" (as the actual work goes, I like this one best).
When I was working with Silvia Tolisano to transform school culture, we recognized the importance of parent education and responded with monthly "Parent Connect" sessions. We had a small but dedicated group who joined with us to discuss a variety of topics related to changes in learning and how our school was responding to those changes. It was of huge importance to the success of many initiatives, as that small group of parents acted as "ambassadors" spreading vital positivity and understanding throughout the parent community.
So, it was natural for me to turn back to the Parent Connect model as a way to build support and understanding for my non-traditional LA classroom. There is a great deal of fear that goes along with letting go and allowing learning communities to flourish without many of the trappings of the box known as school.
I am lucky to have a great partner in librarian Karin Hallett, and I have really enjoyed preparing for and presenting the sessions.
Our most recent session was, "Authentic Literacy: What is it and why does it matter?"
Here are the slides from that session:
If you're interested in some slide details or related articles, you can find that here.
But what I wanted to share here was the "soup analogy" that I described on slide #4. So many people commented afterwards how this idea really spoke to them.
I realize that at one time, processed, canned food was all the rage and seemed like the answer to all the problems of feeding the people. However, it didn't take long to figure out that an authentic, hand-crafted soup was not only more delicious but was healthier and generally the better all-around option.
I imagine that many kids who grew up eating salty, tinny, canned soup decided that they didn't really like soup. Just like many kids who are growing up on a canned, uniform, pre-packaged reading curriculum believe that they don't really like reading. How sad that they have never tasted the real thing.
Doings-
In preparation for our upcoming "Parent Connect" where our topic will be The Daily 5, I used Piktochart to create this infographic highlighting some of the main ideas of The Daily 5. I am fairly new to using infographics to organize and summarize information. I thought it was an incredibly useful exercise, requiring me to synthesize and evaluate the information from the book through the lens of our school community and philosophy of learning.
I've also been documenting the process in the classroom through photos, videos and tweets. I am experimenting with different tools and forms so that I can expand and hone my skills, as well as find what works best for me as the creator as well as what, if anything, speaks to my "audience."
Last week I played with the movie trailer theme in iMovie 11 to create this video of the students in the building stamina phase of read to self.
My professional goal for this year is to coach and support our 4th/5th grade language arts teacher, Stephanie, in her goal, which is to implement a modified version of the Daily 5 (the Daily 3) with her 4th/5th grade students.
The MJGDS teachers who read The Daily 5 this summer were enthusiastic and positive about this research-based method of structuring literacy instruction to support students in becoming independent readers and writers.
We are off to an exciting start. Working together, we have begun identifying potential obstacles, brainstorming ways to meet those obstacles head on, and strategizing on how we will collaboratively collect data that will help us assess the impact of the Daily 3.
One thing that we have committed to doing is to document and share the process and reflections along the way. We started the "launch" this week, following the detailed process in the book.
This is also an opportunity for me to document and reflect on what it means to be a coach- how I am supporting both the teacher's process as well as being the "meta" for potential school wide implementation in the future.
This week, as Stephanie introduced the program to her students I took photos and video. I hope to be able to do this often. It is a time-consuming process, but I think it will prove worthwhile for a number of reasons. First of all, we are creating a resource for other teachers (inside and outside of our school) as well as interested parents. It also gives us the opportunity to reflect using something more concrete than our memories.
For summer PD, teachers at our school were given a choice of books to read. Each teacher was required to read at least one of the four books, as well as to create a "project" of their choosing to show "evidence of learning." Projects will be shared during pre-planning week as part of book discussion groups. To see all of the book choices as well as more details and rationale of the summer assignment, read head of school, Jon Mitzmacher's post, "Summer Bloggin'."
My book choice was The Daily 5 by Gail Boushy and Joan Moser. I learned about The Daily 5 through my participation in the #educoach chat on Twitter. The following is my reflective blog post for the school ning, as well as my project.
After reading the Daily 5, I decided to create a Daily 5 Pinterest Board to highlight components of the Daily 5 and how they are being implemented in classrooms. Creating the board was a good opportunity to dig deeper by reading blogs and websites of teachers who are using the Daily 5. I felt inspired as I put together a collection of ideas and resources that I felt were uniquely appealing to my sense of how I would want to implement the Daily 5. It also gave me the chance to play around with Pinterest, which was something I wanted to practice :-)
I also created this graphic showcasing the foundations of this approach to literacy.
I think that what I most appreciate about the Daily 5 is summarized in this image. I look at those children, so engaged and content to be sharing a book. This is what I most hope to create and encourage for and in each of our students- a deep, personal love of all that is literacy- reading, writing, learning, sharing ideas, enjoying words and languages.
To my way of thinking, this also embodies the best of what we have been calling "21st century learning." We repeat the phrase "it's not about the tool, it's about the learning" in some form or another, again and again. But I think the Daily 5 provides a great breaking-off point. You could easily do the Daily 5 without using any tech tools or you could use lots of tech tools to provide great enhancements. The foundations of the Daily 5, are the same as the best examples of tech-infused learning: simply "purpose + choice = motivation."
I also loved the lesson using the different types and sizes of shoes to demonstrate "that we must pick books for our interest and purpose and ones that fit for us to be successful." I envision the ultimate classroom as an environment that nurtures each learner to reach his or her potential, inspires motivated, independent learning and allows for personalities to flourish. I believe that the overriding message of "21c learning" is that foundational literacies are more important than covering quantities of information or making sure that every student "knows" certain facts. I think that a system such as The Daily 5 holds a lot of potential for upgrading and differentiating the "literacy block" (reading, writing, spelling, vocab, etc).
I love Shelfari, a social networking site for readers. I am an avid reader, but not a big collector of physical books. I don't have an ereader; I do read books. However, I get a lot of my reads from the public library or borrowed from friends. If I do buy a book and love it, the first thing I usually do is pass it on to someone else I think will enjoy it. Therefore, my bookshelves do not represent my life as a reader. Enter Shelfari. Now, I can have the pleasure of a beautiful bookshelf to display my books. It helps me remember what I have read and when, what I liked, what I loved.... If anyone else is interested in my reading, they can "friend" me and peruse my shelves. I have recently started including on my shelfari shelves the books I read aloud to my children, as well. I'm happy to have a way to remember those precious moments spent each night at bedtime, even after the physical books have made their way back to the library or shared with others.
I am a big believer in using authentic tools and processes to develop habits of literacy with students. One of my least favorite of all "schooly" inventions is the reading log. Real readers catalog and share their reading in a variety of ways, but I have yet to meet the adult reader who keeps a reading log showing how many pages read of a particular book at each reading session. I've even seen reading logs that require children to count how many words they've read and how many minutes they've engaged in reading. What real reader counts pages or minutes? It is ironic that an activity designed to help ignite a love of reading can be exactly what sucks the very life from it. Teachers looking for accountability have devised this tool with best intentions in mind, I am sure. However, as a parent I can tell you that the reading log, besides being inauthentic, is also difficult to maintain and provides no motivation or impetus for engagement. I know I could be fairly accused of being opinionated, however, it's not just me who has thoughts about reading logs. This post from a mom, titled "I Hate Reading Logs" garnered 692 comments!
Upgrading the Reading Log-
As an adult who loves to read, I also love Shelfari. This is the litmus test I use. If I find something motivating and engaging, if it is a genuine part of who I am as a reader, than I believe it is potentially useful for students who are developing their reading-selves and teachers who are helping them to do this. There are many possibilities for using Shelfari with students as a way to monitor what your students are reading outside of class. As an added bonus, Shelfari promotes the social aspects of reading, gives students a place to share with and learn from others, and helps students begin to understand that what they read is part of their identity.
How-to:
In order to create a shelfari account, students must have an email address. Shelfari How To
Once your students have created their accounts, they can create and upload avatars, add friends and start exploring the site. In order to add friends, students should use the "advanced search" and type in the friend's email address. This is easy to do if you use school email addresses with a predictable format. Teachers can also experiment with creating groups and having students add certain books to the group shelf. Students and/or classes who blog have the very cool option to create a widget to post their Shelfari shelf on their blog. Creative teachers will find that there are many ways to adapt the tool for your students. Try things out, explore and have fun. Please share in the comments if you have good strategies, things to watch out for or any other thoughts about using Shelfari with students.
•Browse through the pictures and find one you like.
•Choose "freestyle" from the create menu, and create your poem based on the the format below.
Here is an example:
After you write your poem and read it over, skitch it. Save the skitched image to your server. Print out a copy, making sure that your image is horizontal and fits the page.
If you have time, you may use the drag and drop to write a "found word" poem. Or write another freestyle poem. Explore. Create. Have fun.
Our 3rd graders created this Voicethread showing what it is like to be a 3rd grader at MJGDS. They planned it, took all photos of Sammy, the class teddy bear, and recorded comments in Voicethread.
Please watch, listen and enjoy a peek into our school.
Each 4th grade student read a biography on a person of interest. After watching and discussing several examples of video book trailers, each student created a storyboard for a book trailer about their biography. We used Frames to create the trailers. After they were complete, parents were invited to come to the classroom and watch them. Here are a few examples of our students' work:
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