Billie Wixon and Stephanie Remberg interactive notebooks would be extremely easy to incorporate in a primary classroom. They introduced many drawing techniques and provided research based evidence that supported the use of them in the classroom. I think April Niemela’s workshop on Ekphrastic expression would be difficult to implement in a kindergarten or first grade classroom because it involves conceptual thinking which I think kindergarten or first graders would find difficult, but it would be very fun to try it with them.
I agree that the interactive notebooks would be a great tool and could be used with primary students. If they could learn such a skill, think of the study habits you would be building. The session was such a great reminder of how to involve students in their own learning.
I would be interested in hearing more about the interactive notebook session, especially how it applies to the primary grades. As our students get older, they seem to lose their fascination and enjoyment with writing, and perhaps if the interactive notebook peeks their interest and can be carried on throughout their schooling, they will continue to be active writers.
ekphrasis- verbal or written artwork that describes or responds to a visual artwork; practice of using art to comment upon art.
That is the definition taken from the handout April handed out during the session. She incorporated it in her classroom by exposing children to a piece of artwork, poem, literature, or music and then requiring the students to respond to the piece with some sort of composed response such as single words, written pieces, or other creations.
I loved all the cutting and pasting! I felt totally engaged and was impressed with how quickly we made the notebooks our own. I would like to have been able to spend a little more time with each project to complete the task.
I did not get to attend the interactive notebooks workshop, but I wish I had! I have been wanting to implement something like this in my classroom, and I think it will allign well with common core. I think notebooks would keep my fifth graders engaged. I have done some notes for an interactive notebook in math and science, and I think it would also be very helpful for language arts.
My colleagues said the same thing about the ekphrastic expression workshop. I think it is difficult for our literal little guys to see or hear something and then create something abstract to encompass how they feel about what they've seen, heard, or felt. It's tricky just to get them to write about their family traditions! Let me know if you come up with any ideas of how to do this in the primary grades!
I wish I would have found time to go to the Ekphrastic workshop! If it's offered again next year, I'll have to do it. I wonder how similar it was to the "Enacting the Common Core While Engaging Students in Collaboration and Critical Thinking" session? That session really inspired me to immediately integrate more music and art and video into my classroom discussions and analysis of literature.
I think they would tie nicely together, especially in an older classroom. this work shope was all about writing in the common core by responding to differnt artistic forms.
I attended April's workshop last year on ekphrastic expression and truly enjoyed incorporating it into my classroom. I am going to try to use it this next year with art and author pics as I go into American Lit.
The workshop that would work for me is the class called “Implementing the CCSS with Common Sense Argument.” One of the struggles I have with teaching high school is to find creative ways to teach students to think critically and laterally. This class offered many suggestions that I am excited to use…using mysteries or art or articles to get students talking and developing an argument. The one that would be a challenge is the revision workshop. It had good ideas (although I was already familiar with half of them), but I think that developing that sense of “the journey is more important than the destination” in the students and their writing is big challenge! They just want to say “I’m done.”
I think using a mystery to ignite critical thinking about arguments would be very fun to do with a high school class. I also agree with you the inspiring students to focus on the journey of writing versus the destination would be very difficult, especially if they have had prior negative expresses with writing.
I appreciated the thought after leaving the revision writing workshop, how could I use this? I agree that it made you think of the whole process (journey).
I went to the wordplay session and enjoyed it very much. The presenters,Charley and Joanele Hoce, were very entertaining. They gave us a great resources list, with children's picture books that model different types of figurative language. Examples are "Parts" and "More Parts" to teach Literal vs. figurative language. very funny. Kids love it. They also had some great follow up activities for helping kids use figurative language to enhance their own writing.
As a drama teacher I am thrilled with the turn back towards art, music, and theatre as a resource to teach general content information. History is influenced and has influenced all art forms. We are doing the students justice by bringing these valuable tools back into the classroom.
I, too, think that revising is the hardest part for students to do because they want to be done so badly. I think that part of it is because in the primary grades, revising isn't as big a deal because teachers and students are focused more on getting something down on paper, and that in itself can take a long time. Plus, student vocabulary in the lower grades is not where it needs to be, so coming up with the language to use during revision is a struggle as well. I think it just takes determination and consistency by the teachers to pretty much demand that students go through a quality revision process.
Lisa, I agree. I loved this workshop, too, and have used it within my classroom and with other adults! The strategies were so simple, creative, and effective.
Building an interactive notebook with my current classroom is an activity that could work for me. The presentation was listed for grades 7-12 but I think it could be used in any educational setting with any grade level. The different methods presented would be valuable to keeping students organized, taking into account different learning styles, and involving students with a hands on approach to their own learning. Loved this session! The presentation on wordplay is challenging me to think of wordplay as not just applying to language arts. By implementing a more hands on approach with words you can meet a lot of common core standards and cross over into many different subject areas. Now it’s a matter of taking some of his interactive ideas and applying them to a younger grade level.
How did the presenter say to use workplay in other subjects? What activities did the presenter give you that were hands on? I'd be interested in learning more about that one.
I have contacted him since the conference to get more information in relation to his presentation. He sent me his blog link and it is excellent. Take a peak: http://joeaveragewriter.blogspot.com/2012/09/article.html
I agree that the interactive notebooks could be used at any age level. Today I was working with some kindergarteners in their notebooks, and thinking of how easily some of the techniques that were presented in that workshop could be used even with this age group. I also like that idea of organization that can be controlled within the confines of a notebook. I would like to hear more about what grade you teach and how you plan on using it in your classroom.
I also liked the idea of the interactive notebook. I am going to use it with my students who range from 9th - 12th grade. I love the idea of the physical engagement and a finished product at the end.
Based on your discussion of the interactive notebook, I now want to find out more about it and see how I could use it effectively in my classroom. Thank you for the link, too. I had a hard time thinking about how I would use the strategies in my classroom. This helps.
Annotating to improved reading comprehension is a strategy that I have already found to be effective in my Language Arts classroom. The instructor engaged us in an activity that had us pair up and annotate a short article on literacy. After annotating our section, we then jigsawed the information by presenting the information each individual group had gleaned. The practice annotating for information, paired with the direct example of classroom uses for this strategy provided a clear basis for starting this in my own classroom. I found that this sort of workshop that directly targets the practical side of teaching can be a powerful tool for a new teacher such as myself.
I think annotating is a very important skill and strategy to have. I know that students at my school struggle to take effective notes, write summaries, or share out what they found was important in their reading. It is a bit like close reading, although not as intense. It would be beneficial for my 2-8 students to practice this strategy.
Another cool thing about annotating for comprehension is that it can be simplified for almost any grade level. The act of finding important information in a text can be applied to a variety of texts at a variety of levels.
It sounds like it was a great and effective workshop. Annotation seems to be something that many students struggle with and yet, I know that I forget that it is a skill that needs to be taught, and it sounds like this workshop gave you a map to follow in your classroom; I would like to hear about how your students respond to it.
This does sound like a good idea for having students glean meaningful information from text. My students are doing a fairly good job of taking notes but the jigsawing idea would really engage them in finding meaning for the notes.
This sounds like a good thing to start in earlier grades as students are reading the informational text (especially next year since it will be one of the first times for most). Annotating will help students also pull out the main idea, which is something my class needs to work on!
I like this idea as well, of annotating while reading. From what you all have said here (I didn't attend this workshop), it sounds sort of similar to what Wilhelm did with his model text during his presentation. Could annotation be that free? At the 9th grade level I've tried using post-its that students just put right in the textbook. They use them to summarize, ask questions, note important facts, etc. Developing this idea sounds very interesting to me.
I also liked the idea of annotating while reading. I also like Lisa's idea of using post-it notes while reading. In the past, I have sometimes had kids put sticky notes at the front of their novels while reading. I also like the idea of using a coding or color system.
One workshop that would work for me is the Ekrphrastic Expression workshop. I can visualize my teachers having the students do the Art Walks around the room and coming up with words to describe the pictures and then create a poem. I think that I am going to use the fifth grade students to model this lesson in the coming weeks. The most challenging workshop for me to wrap my head around and implement in my school was Dr. Wilhelm's session. They were fantastic workshops, but so overwhelming in where we need to get our students and how we need to adapt our curriculum and raise the bar in the next year or so.
I also feel like the changes are overwhelming. I am focusing on one thing at a time and am pleases that even the little bit that I am doing is making a large difference in student achievement and performance. I believe that it is worth the massive amount of work that we will have to put into these new strategies.
I agreed with so much that Dr. Wilhelm said and he spoke with such passion about our need to alter our methods of educating students. It was powerful to me, but because it was powerful, it was also overwhelming, as Flyinhighrc stated. I feel a little like I'm floating down river, while trying to grab onto floating branches so I can build a raft before I drown. I'd like to get out of the current, have a route plan and a craft that feels sound before I set out to float the river. Not a luxury we have right now. That is why many educators feel panic. It's not that we don't embrace the Common Core, It's that we've been given mandates without support, a sound framework or secure means to measure whether or not we are getting our students to where they need to be. I feel like the consortium (The Common Core Gods) should have spent an equal amount of time building measures for student learning as they did the standards, before rolling all of this out. This would be infinately better to administer to our students. We would have a direction then, a sound craft, and the journey down river would be exciting, not anxiety inducing.
Doing an art walk around the room sounds intriguing. Sometimes I feel so caught up in the daily routine that creativity slips. Getting kids up and moving is a good reminder. .
I too think the ekphrastic expression art walk would be so fun to do with a class. I would love to hear about how it works out for both you and your students.
I think that idea sounds great. I did something very similar with my 8th grade students. We were right in the middle of a poetry unit and it was a great way to get students to engage in poetry thoughts.
While reading, I teach a lot of visualizing and verbalizing. While reading the "Lightning Thief" last week, we visualized a minotaur from the story using the words Rick Riordan gives to describe the creature. After visualizing, I gave students a few quick minutes to draw the minotaur. Then we did an art walk. Just this movement while learning gives students enough of a break to be completely engaged the entire lesson. We also used art vocabulary to help students describe their art work. What a great way to increase comprehension and creativity! I wish I could have gone to this class. It seems like I would have enjoyed the work they did.
These are such great ideas that are simple enough to do. I think that challenging the old teaching methods and getting students out of their seats, experiencing visuals, and connecting to other sources, are experiences that can be invaluable in the learning process. Often just a simple break for the routine such as the art walk mentioned above are what I would like to become better at implementing.
I hear you! The whole idea is overwhelming in itself, but I really appreciated hearing Dr. Wilhelm's perspective on the Common Core being that we are teaching the students how to think instead of teaching them content. We will be using content to encourage them to be critical thinkers. I like that idea...and knowing that we're all in this together and hopefully, we'll all be collaborating, sharing, and leaning on each other while we transition!
I agree with you especially about the last part! There is a comic that makes me laugh when I think about how it could apply to implementing CCSS. It shows a guy looking at a map, and the map says, "You are here", "You thought you were here", and "You need to go here". However, I think that what April says about us all being in it together and that Dr. Wilhelm's perspective about the students should be doing the work is really important to remember.
One workshop that I found to be difficult for me to implement in my classroom was the interactive notebook. I love the idea of a hands-on way of journaling, but I found this way to be a bit too paper intensive. If I were to use this I would consider reducing the amount of paper handouts and rely more on visual prompts and artistic responses. Any ideas?
I did not attend this session, so cannot really say that it was or wasn't too paper intensive, but I can state my view on worksheets. I believe in educating with as little paper as possible. Worksheets do not engage students. They can capture understanding to a degree, but I'm with you, there are usually more effective ways to measure understanding. Written response/expression on paper is, of course, a valuable exception.
Not sure what grade level you teach, but at any grade level I think the interactive notebook could be utilized with fewer handouts. Much of the students learning could be them drawing or writing information. Since the conference, I have heard from a teacher who used these in math. Fewer handouts, and a great place for them to work problems and have notes all in one place.
You could use sticky notes and other small pieces of scratch paper to cover areas and make the notebook interactive without the large number of hand outs.
I agree with Jeannie... They could be responsibe for more writing, and sticky notes that are used throughout the lessons could be used in the notebooks, too! I think this would help students to be more accountable for the lessons where I use sticky notes as we read.
I use the interactive notebooks quite often with my second graders. They LOVE them. I also think that they love the paper part of these because sadly, they don't get to cut and glue as much as they would like to. I just try to prep as much as I can beforehand and pare down all the foldables to the ones I feel are essential. We don't use them all the time, so they are still novel when we do and worth all the paper and work:).
Aaron, that was my hesitation too, and consequently I didn't attend this workshop. I feel like too many papers cross my desk already, but hearing everyone's positive comments about the interactive notebook does make me wonder if I should be using them more. On the other hand (again), it seems like the notebooks might work better at lower grade levels instead of high school based solely on the amount of reading/grading that would be involved.
I also thought there was an excess of handouts used in this technique, especially for an older classroom. I kept thinking as I was cutting and pasting that I would introduce different styles and annotation techniques and then let the students create these techniques in their notebooks by drawing them in or getting creative with cutting and pasting the notebook pages themselves. I think this would allow students to master a particular annotation skill or vocabulary technique while creating a greater sense of ownership in their work.
A workshop that would work for me would be Enacting the Common Core while Engaging Students in Collaboration and Critical Thinking. I think I could easily use the ideas from this workshop because I could easily integrate their ideas into the units we are working on now. I think it would help students to visualize the stories we are reading in our classroom, and help me to teach main idea and comprehension strategies. The Peer Tutoring Workshop would challenge me because we would need a group of students willing to be tutors and to find tutors for our advanced writers.
It sounds like you have a really solid grasp of how to connect the common core standards to your current curriculum as a way to meet the adaptation of them by the state and as an enhancement tool in your classroom. You sound at ease about the implementation of them; I think that is a very awesome tool to walk away from a workshop with.
Our school has quite an active peer tutoring program. Most of the tutors are National Honor Society students who are working toward their community service hours. The students needing help are able to meet and get to know the more academically advanced students and the advanced students learn how to explain their knowledge in multiple ways. The whole program is a win-win.
Do you have any ideas of how to get this help at an elementary level? Since fifth grade is the oldest grade at our school, I am having a hard time seeing who could tutor my advanced students.
One school I worked at had a program that paired high schoolers with grade school students and allowed them to meet and work on reading and writing once or twice a month. This worked quite well at this particular school dust to the close proximity of the high school to the grade school and the age and ability differences between the students. I am not sure if this sort of idea would work between the middle school and advanced high school students, but it would be one way for the 5th graders to be involved in peer tutoring.
A teacher in our school used this peer tutoring with his seniors for the senior research project/paper. The students could earn extra credit (I think) by sitting down with other students and working through revision ideas. I'll have to ask him how this worked logistically speaking and if the tutored students felt the advice was worthwhile.
The workshop which would work in my curriculum is the interactive notebook workshop. The information was timely for me as I was considering how to engage my students more in theatre history and technical theatre. I think the notebook information will fit well with the actor's notebook they already have. The workshop I found most challenging was Dr. Wilhelm's. I was so engaged in the information he presented and I wanted to implement everything, but I felt overwhelmed by the work ahead to better align parts of my curriculum.
Jeannie, I agree that Dr. Wilhelm's ideas were overwhelming, although very engaging! I've been wrestling with this idea since the conference, of how to begin to implement some of these changes, especially this late in the year. It almost helps to make a "what to do differently" list for how I want to set up a few things next year to make implementing some of the ideas.
It's nice that you found a workshop full of information that you can take right back into your classroom. I like the notebook idea. I have my students keep a notebook of ideas and quotes they respond to in class. It would be nice to use those notebooks in new and different ways. The workshop you attended would probably have had some great ideas to implement.
I attended the graphic organizer workshop. My students like to get their thoughts started for writing using a graphic organizer so I was looking for new ways to get them motivated. I liked the use of trade books and organizer forms to help students find commonality between two sometimes uncommon subjects. It's a good way to start students thinking outside the box. I also attended the Write Like a Lawyer workshop. I like the ideas presented but it will take a bit more planning to work them into my classroom routines. The activities, when used as part of the classroom lessons, will be beneficial for following the common core. Brandy Price and Rachel Garfield gave very good examples of how their methods are working right now in their classrooms.
The graphic organizer workshop was another that I wish I had time to attend. I love using graphic organizers to help all of my students write and organize ideas. I have also found them helpful to use as they read to help them summarize stories or find the main idea. I would like to hear more about how you used graphic organizers to find commonality between two uncommon subjects.
I wanted to go to that one, too, but didn't because it was for the upper grades. What grade do you teach? Did they give some good ideas that could be applicable to second grade? We use graphic organizers often and would love to have seen what they presented. Like Nicole, I would like to hear more about finding common ground between to uncommon subjects. It happens a lot in science and would love a bridge to look at similarities between the two.
The books we used in class were elementary level. We briefly read through the books and found areas that could be considered similar. Two books that really stand out were horseback riding and knitting. They seem so different but the participants found quite a few commonalities: both are hobbies, take practice to become good, can be done in a group. We stopped in class at filling out the graphic organizer but there were plenty of ideas listed to give students a solid start for writing. With younger students I think I would choose books that were close in subject matter.
As of now, we do not do much with creating arguments at the elementary level. Although we will be next year with the implementation of common core, I wish I had thought of it sooner. We have read different sides of stories and had discussions taking different sides, but never have we made the kids actually own their argument. I think they would really enjoy this!
I was definitely blown away by all of Dr. Wilhelm's activities with persuasive argument writing! His presentation was so geared towards high schoolers and college readiness that I was having trouble thinking about ways to bring this into the primary grades. But, I do think that the whodunit starters or statements such as "I think all cars should be yellow" or convincing someone to buy your junk could definitely be starting places for the primary grades. I'm excited to try some of it out, too!
One workshop that would work for me easily, would be the Take the Bull by the Horns and Write ‘Til the Cows Come Home” Using Figurative Language as a Springboard to Writing by Charley and Joanele Hoce. I read out loud to my students everyday and am an avid lover of children’s literature. I use children’s stories as much as I possibly can throughout the disciplines and being at a science magnet, have been busy putting together a science library of children’s books. I have also used Lucy Calkin’s writing lessons in my classroom and she is a big fan of using authors as mentors for children’s writing. I appreciated all the titles that Charly and Joanele showed us, some of which are on my shelves now and some of which are ones I am planning on getting soon. I also appreciated how much science they infused into their presentation. Lots of good stuff!
Dr. Jeff Wilhelm’s presentation on Wednesday would challenge me mainly because it was geared towards high school aged children. I had to work hard throughout his presentation to try and adapt his material for my second graders, but felt there were some great ideas that I could adapt. I liked his breakdown of powerful persuasive argument writing with Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation and have been working on how to adapt this to my second graders.
Is there a list of books that they suggested from their Take the Bully by the Horns workshop? How did they use it as a springboard for writing? I've done some figurative language activities, but more along the lines of taking idioms and drawing pictures of their literal meanings and their figurative meanings.
I did not attend that workshop but have heard great things from others as well. I would also be interested in hearing about some related literature. I could see how figurative language could be used as a starter for many writing activities, and that providing regimented requirements for prewriting often creates writer's block, but were there any ideas that jumped out?
I have been trying to do more writing as part of my science curriculum. I use the National Geographic Extreme Explorer magazine as extra reading and have found some great uses for their articles. I would be very interested in some of the titles suggested in the workshop and how they put the books to use.
Another comment I wanted to make was how exceptional Dr. Wilhelm's presentations were. I found confidence in what I already do in my classroom, inspiration to try new ideas, a feeling of I can use CCSS in my classrooms, and a person who could help us to develop writing across the curriculum program in my school.
All of your comments and ideas and sharing have been so exciting! I love reading, peering over your shoulders as it were, to see where teachers take their ideas!
I like using the Ekphrastic workshop ideas in my senior English classes. I was very intentional about introducing it the first time I tried it, and the kids responded well. I was inspired to try it again, and the kids noticed we were "addressing strand 7", which was a miracle! The best? Now they come to class with related songs, artwork, and ideas for ways to make even more lessons ekphrastic. I can't profess its impact on the classroom--I never thought one idea would be so big in my teaching! I hope this doesn't sound like cheating, but I honestly found something useful from every session I attended. :) I am especially motivated (though intimidated) to employ some of Dr. Wilhelm's instructional strategies. That guy was great.
Billie Wixon and Stephanie Remberg interactive notebooks would be extremely easy to incorporate in a primary classroom. They introduced many drawing techniques and provided research based evidence that supported the use of them in the classroom. I think April Niemela’s workshop on Ekphrastic expression would be difficult to implement in a kindergarten or first grade classroom because it involves conceptual thinking which I think kindergarten or first graders would find difficult, but it would be very fun to try it with them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the interactive notebooks would be a great tool and could be used with primary students. If they could learn such a skill, think of the study habits you would be building. The session was such a great reminder of how to involve students in their own learning.
DeleteI would be interested in hearing more about the interactive notebook session, especially how it applies to the primary grades. As our students get older, they seem to lose their fascination and enjoyment with writing, and perhaps if the interactive notebook peeks their interest and can be carried on throughout their schooling, they will continue to be active writers.
DeleteI would like to know more about this also.
DeleteThe term Ekphrastic is new to me. Anyone have a great working definition?
Deleteekphrasis- verbal or written artwork that describes or responds to a visual artwork; practice of using art to comment upon art.
DeleteThat is the definition taken from the handout April handed out during the session. She incorporated it in her classroom by exposing children to a piece of artwork, poem, literature, or music and then requiring the students to respond to the piece with some sort of composed response such as single words, written pieces, or other creations.
I hope that makes sense.
I loved all the cutting and pasting! I felt totally engaged and was impressed with how quickly we made the notebooks our own. I would like to have been able to spend a little more time with each project to complete the task.
DeleteI did not get to attend the interactive notebooks workshop, but I wish I had! I have been wanting to implement something like this in my classroom, and I think it will allign well with common core. I think notebooks would keep my fifth graders engaged. I have done some notes for an interactive notebook in math and science, and I think it would also be very helpful for language arts.
DeleteMy colleagues said the same thing about the ekphrastic expression workshop. I think it is difficult for our literal little guys to see or hear something and then create something abstract to encompass how they feel about what they've seen, heard, or felt. It's tricky just to get them to write about their family traditions! Let me know if you come up with any ideas of how to do this in the primary grades!
DeleteI wish I would have found time to go to the Ekphrastic workshop! If it's offered again next year, I'll have to do it. I wonder how similar it was to the "Enacting the Common Core While Engaging Students in Collaboration and Critical Thinking" session? That session really inspired me to immediately integrate more music and art and video into my classroom discussions and analysis of literature.
DeleteI think they would tie nicely together, especially in an older classroom. this work shope was all about writing in the common core by responding to differnt artistic forms.
DeleteI attended April's workshop last year on ekphrastic expression and truly enjoyed incorporating it into my classroom. I am going to try to use it this next year with art and author pics as I go into American Lit.
DeleteThe workshop that would work for me is the class called “Implementing the CCSS with Common Sense Argument.” One of the struggles I have with teaching high school is to find creative ways to teach students to think critically and laterally. This class offered many suggestions that I am excited to use…using mysteries or art or articles to get students talking and developing an argument. The one that would be a challenge is the revision workshop. It had good ideas (although I was already familiar with half of them), but I think that developing that sense of “the journey is more important than the destination” in the students and their writing is big challenge! They just want to say “I’m done.”
ReplyDeleteI think using a mystery to ignite critical thinking about arguments would be very fun to do with a high school class. I also agree with you the inspiring students to focus on the journey of writing versus the destination would be very difficult, especially if they have had prior negative expresses with writing.
DeleteI appreciated the thought after leaving the revision writing workshop, how could I use this? I agree that it made you think of the whole process (journey).
DeleteI went to the wordplay session and enjoyed it very much. The presenters,Charley and Joanele Hoce, were very entertaining. They gave us a great resources list, with children's picture books that model different types of figurative language. Examples are "Parts" and "More Parts" to teach Literal vs. figurative language. very funny. Kids love it. They also had some great follow up activities for helping kids use figurative language to enhance their own writing.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAs a drama teacher I am thrilled with the turn back towards art, music, and theatre as a resource to teach general content information. History is influenced and has influenced all art forms. We are doing the students justice by bringing these valuable tools back into the classroom.
DeleteRevision is where my students struggle most also. I am trying to get them to understand that the final product can take more than just one sitting!
DeleteI, too, think that revising is the hardest part for students to do because they want to be done so badly. I think that part of it is because in the primary grades, revising isn't as big a deal because teachers and students are focused more on getting something down on paper, and that in itself can take a long time. Plus, student vocabulary in the lower grades is not where it needs to be, so coming up with the language to use during revision is a struggle as well. I think it just takes determination and consistency by the teachers to pretty much demand that students go through a quality revision process.
DeleteLisa, I agree. I loved this workshop, too, and have used it within my classroom and with other adults! The strategies were so simple, creative, and effective.
DeleteBuilding an interactive notebook with my current classroom is an activity that could work for me. The presentation was listed for grades 7-12 but I think it could be used in any educational setting with any grade level. The different methods presented would be valuable to keeping students organized, taking into account different learning styles, and involving students with a hands on approach to their own learning. Loved this session! The presentation on wordplay is challenging me to think of wordplay as not just applying to language arts. By implementing a more hands on approach with words you can meet a lot of common core standards and cross over into many different subject areas. Now it’s a matter of taking some of his interactive ideas and applying them to a younger grade level.
ReplyDeleteHow did the presenter say to use workplay in other subjects? What activities did the presenter give you that were hands on? I'd be interested in learning more about that one.
DeleteI have contacted him since the conference to get more information in relation to his presentation. He sent me his blog link and it is excellent. Take a peak: http://joeaveragewriter.blogspot.com/2012/09/article.html
DeleteI agree that the interactive notebooks could be used at any age level. Today I was working with some kindergarteners in their notebooks, and thinking of how easily some of the techniques that were presented in that workshop could be used even with this age group. I also like that idea of organization that can be controlled within the confines of a notebook. I would like to hear more about what grade you teach and how you plan on using it in your classroom.
DeleteI also liked the idea of the interactive notebook. I am going to use it with my students who range from 9th - 12th grade. I love the idea of the physical engagement and a finished product at the end.
DeleteMonique, thank you for sharing the website. It really helped me see what you were talking about.
DeleteBased on your discussion of the interactive notebook, I now want to find out more about it and see how I could use it effectively in my classroom. Thank you for the link, too. I had a hard time thinking about how I would use the strategies in my classroom. This helps.
DeleteAnnotating to improved reading comprehension is a strategy that I have already found to be effective in my Language Arts classroom. The instructor engaged us in an activity that had us pair up and annotate a short article on literacy. After annotating our section, we then jigsawed the information by presenting the information each individual group had gleaned. The practice annotating for information, paired with the direct example of classroom uses for this strategy provided a clear basis for starting this in my own classroom. I found that this sort of workshop that directly targets the practical side of teaching can be a powerful tool for a new teacher such as myself.
ReplyDeleteI think annotating is a very important skill and strategy to have. I know that students at my school struggle to take effective notes, write summaries, or share out what they found was important in their reading. It is a bit like close reading, although not as intense. It would be beneficial for my 2-8 students to practice this strategy.
DeleteI wish my own kids had a better idea of how to more effectively use these strategies. I would really help them in High School now.
DeleteAnother cool thing about annotating for comprehension is that it can be simplified for almost any grade level. The act of finding important information in a text can be applied to a variety of texts at a variety of levels.
DeleteIt sounds like it was a great and effective workshop. Annotation seems to be something that many students struggle with and yet, I know that I forget that it is a skill that needs to be taught, and it sounds like this workshop gave you a map to follow in your classroom; I would like to hear about how your students respond to it.
DeleteThis does sound like a good idea for having students glean meaningful information from text. My students are doing a fairly good job of taking notes but the jigsawing idea would really engage them in finding meaning for the notes.
DeleteThis sounds like a good thing to start in earlier grades as students are reading the informational text (especially next year since it will be one of the first times for most). Annotating will help students also pull out the main idea, which is something my class needs to work on!
DeleteI like this idea as well, of annotating while reading. From what you all have said here (I didn't attend this workshop), it sounds sort of similar to what Wilhelm did with his model text during his presentation. Could annotation be that free? At the 9th grade level I've tried using post-its that students just put right in the textbook. They use them to summarize, ask questions, note important facts, etc. Developing this idea sounds very interesting to me.
DeleteI also liked the idea of annotating while reading. I also like Lisa's idea of using post-it notes while reading. In the past, I have sometimes had kids put sticky notes at the front of their novels while reading. I also like the idea of using a coding or color system.
DeleteOne workshop that would work for me is the Ekrphrastic Expression workshop. I can visualize my teachers having the students do the Art Walks around the room and coming up with words to describe the pictures and then create a poem. I think that I am going to use the fifth grade students to model this lesson in the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe most challenging workshop for me to wrap my head around and implement in my school was Dr. Wilhelm's session. They were fantastic workshops, but so overwhelming in where we need to get our students and how we need to adapt our curriculum and raise the bar in the next year or so.
I also feel like the changes are overwhelming. I am focusing on one thing at a time and am pleases that even the little bit that I am doing is making a large difference in student achievement and performance. I believe that it is worth the massive amount of work that we will have to put into these new strategies.
DeleteI agreed with so much that Dr. Wilhelm said and he spoke with such passion about our need to alter our methods of educating students. It was powerful to me, but because it was powerful, it was also overwhelming, as Flyinhighrc stated. I feel a little like I'm floating down river, while trying to grab onto floating branches so I can build a raft before I drown. I'd like to get out of the current, have a route plan and a craft that feels sound before I set out to float the river. Not a luxury we have right now. That is why many educators feel panic. It's not that we don't embrace the Common Core, It's that we've been given mandates without support, a sound framework or secure means to measure whether or not we are getting our students to where they need to be. I feel like the consortium (The Common Core Gods) should have spent an equal amount of time building measures for student learning as they did the standards, before rolling all of this out. This would be infinately better to administer to our students. We would have a direction then, a sound craft, and the journey down river would be exciting, not anxiety inducing.
DeleteDoing an art walk around the room sounds intriguing. Sometimes I feel so caught up in the daily routine that creativity slips. Getting kids up and moving is a good reminder. .
DeleteI too think the ekphrastic expression art walk would be so fun to do with a class. I would love to hear about how it works out for both you and your students.
DeleteI think that idea sounds great. I did something very similar with my 8th grade students. We were right in the middle of a poetry unit and it was a great way to get students to engage in poetry thoughts.
DeleteWhile reading, I teach a lot of visualizing and verbalizing. While reading the "Lightning Thief" last week, we visualized a minotaur from the story using the words Rick Riordan gives to describe the creature. After visualizing, I gave students a few quick minutes to draw the minotaur. Then we did an art walk. Just this movement while learning gives students enough of a break to be completely engaged the entire lesson. We also used art vocabulary to help students describe their art work. What a great way to increase comprehension and creativity! I wish I could have gone to this class. It seems like I would have enjoyed the work they did.
DeleteThese are such great ideas that are simple enough to do. I think that challenging the old teaching methods and getting students out of their seats, experiencing visuals, and connecting to other sources, are experiences that can be invaluable in the learning process. Often just a simple break for the routine such as the art walk mentioned above are what I would like to become better at implementing.
DeleteI hear you! The whole idea is overwhelming in itself, but I really appreciated hearing Dr. Wilhelm's perspective on the Common Core being that we are teaching the students how to think instead of teaching them content. We will be using content to encourage them to be critical thinkers. I like that idea...and knowing that we're all in this together and hopefully, we'll all be collaborating, sharing, and leaning on each other while we transition!
DeleteI agree with you especially about the last part! There is a comic that makes me laugh when I think about how it could apply to implementing CCSS. It shows a guy looking at a map, and the map says, "You are here", "You thought you were here", and "You need to go here". However, I think that what April says about us all being in it together and that Dr. Wilhelm's perspective about the students should be doing the work is really important to remember.
DeleteOne workshop that I found to be difficult for me to implement in my classroom was the interactive notebook. I love the idea of a hands-on way of journaling, but I found this way to be a bit too paper intensive. If I were to use this I would consider reducing the amount of paper handouts and rely more on visual prompts and artistic responses. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteI did not attend this session, so cannot really say that it was or wasn't too paper intensive, but I can state my view on worksheets. I believe in educating with as little paper as possible. Worksheets do not engage students. They can capture understanding to a degree, but I'm with you, there are usually more effective ways to measure understanding. Written response/expression on paper is, of course, a valuable exception.
DeleteNot sure what grade level you teach, but at any grade level I think the interactive notebook could be utilized with fewer handouts. Much of the students learning could be them drawing or writing information. Since the conference, I have heard from a teacher who used these in math. Fewer handouts, and a great place for them to work problems and have notes all in one place.
DeleteYou could use sticky notes and other small pieces of scratch paper to cover areas and make the notebook interactive without the large number of hand outs.
DeleteI agree with Jeannie... They could be responsibe for more writing, and sticky notes that are used throughout the lessons could be used in the notebooks, too! I think this would help students to be more accountable for the lessons where I use sticky notes as we read.
DeleteI use the interactive notebooks quite often with my second graders. They LOVE them. I also think that they love the paper part of these because sadly, they don't get to cut and glue as much as they would like to. I just try to prep as much as I can beforehand and pare down all the foldables to the ones I feel are essential. We don't use them all the time, so they are still novel when we do and worth all the paper and work:).
DeleteAaron, that was my hesitation too, and consequently I didn't attend this workshop. I feel like too many papers cross my desk already, but hearing everyone's positive comments about the interactive notebook does make me wonder if I should be using them more. On the other hand (again), it seems like the notebooks might work better at lower grade levels instead of high school based solely on the amount of reading/grading that would be involved.
DeleteI also thought there was an excess of handouts used in this technique, especially for an older classroom. I kept thinking as I was cutting and pasting that I would introduce different styles and annotation techniques and then let the students create these techniques in their notebooks by drawing them in or getting creative with cutting and pasting the notebook pages themselves. I think this would allow students to master a particular annotation skill or vocabulary technique while creating a greater sense of ownership in their work.
DeleteA workshop that would work for me would be Enacting the Common Core while Engaging Students in Collaboration and Critical Thinking. I think I could easily use the ideas from this workshop because I could easily integrate their ideas into the units we are working on now. I think it would help students to visualize the stories we are reading in our classroom, and help me to teach main idea and comprehension strategies. The Peer Tutoring Workshop would challenge me because we would need a group of students willing to be tutors and to find tutors for our advanced writers.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a really solid grasp of how to connect the common core standards to your current curriculum as a way to meet the adaptation of them by the state and as an enhancement tool in your classroom. You sound at ease about the implementation of them; I think that is a very awesome tool to walk away from a workshop with.
DeleteOur school has quite an active peer tutoring program. Most of the tutors are National Honor Society students who are working toward their community service hours. The students needing help are able to meet and get to know the more academically advanced students and the advanced students learn how to explain their knowledge in multiple ways. The whole program is a win-win.
DeleteDo you have any ideas of how to get this help at an elementary level? Since fifth grade is the oldest grade at our school, I am having a hard time seeing who could tutor my advanced students.
DeleteOne school I worked at had a program that paired high schoolers with grade school students and allowed them to meet and work on reading and writing once or twice a month. This worked quite well at this particular school dust to the close proximity of the high school to the grade school and the age and ability differences between the students. I am not sure if this sort of idea would work between the middle school and advanced high school students, but it would be one way for the 5th graders to be involved in peer tutoring.
DeleteA teacher in our school used this peer tutoring with his seniors for the senior research project/paper. The students could earn extra credit (I think) by sitting down with other students and working through revision ideas. I'll have to ask him how this worked logistically speaking and if the tutored students felt the advice was worthwhile.
DeleteThe workshop which would work in my curriculum is the interactive notebook workshop. The information was timely for me as I was considering how to engage my students more in theatre history and technical theatre. I think the notebook information will fit well with the actor's notebook they already have.
ReplyDeleteThe workshop I found most challenging was Dr. Wilhelm's. I was so engaged in the information he presented and I wanted to implement everything, but I felt overwhelmed by the work ahead to better align parts of my curriculum.
Jeannie, I agree that Dr. Wilhelm's ideas were overwhelming, although very engaging! I've been wrestling with this idea since the conference, of how to begin to implement some of these changes, especially this late in the year. It almost helps to make a "what to do differently" list for how I want to set up a few things next year to make implementing some of the ideas.
DeleteIt's nice that you found a workshop full of information that you can take right back into your classroom. I like the notebook idea. I have my students keep a notebook of ideas and quotes they respond to in class. It would be nice to use those notebooks in new and different ways. The workshop you attended would probably have had some great ideas to implement.
ReplyDeleteI attended the graphic organizer workshop. My students like to get their thoughts started for writing using a graphic organizer so I was looking for new ways to get them motivated. I liked the use of trade books and organizer forms to help students find commonality between two sometimes uncommon subjects. It's a good way to start students thinking outside the box. I also attended the Write Like a Lawyer workshop. I like the ideas presented but it will take a bit more planning to work them into my classroom routines. The activities, when used as part of the classroom lessons, will be beneficial for following the common core. Brandy Price and Rachel Garfield gave very good examples of how their methods are working right now in their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteThe graphic organizer workshop was another that I wish I had time to attend. I love using graphic organizers to help all of my students write and organize ideas. I have also found them helpful to use as they read to help them summarize stories or find the main idea. I would like to hear more about how you used graphic organizers to find commonality between two uncommon subjects.
DeleteI wanted to go to that one, too, but didn't because it was for the upper grades. What grade do you teach? Did they give some good ideas that could be applicable to second grade? We use graphic organizers often and would love to have seen what they presented. Like Nicole, I would like to hear more about finding common ground between to uncommon subjects. It happens a lot in science and would love a bridge to look at similarities between the two.
DeleteThe books we used in class were elementary level. We briefly read through the books and found areas that could be considered similar. Two books that really stand out were horseback riding and knitting. They seem so different but the participants found quite a few commonalities: both are hobbies, take practice to become good, can be done in a group. We stopped in class at filling out the graphic organizer but there were plenty of ideas listed to give students a solid start for writing. With younger students I think I would choose books that were close in subject matter.
DeleteAs of now, we do not do much with creating arguments at the elementary level. Although we will be next year with the implementation of common core, I wish I had thought of it sooner. We have read different sides of stories and had discussions taking different sides, but never have we made the kids actually own their argument. I think they would really enjoy this!
ReplyDeleteI was definitely blown away by all of Dr. Wilhelm's activities with persuasive argument writing! His presentation was so geared towards high schoolers and college readiness that I was having trouble thinking about ways to bring this into the primary grades. But, I do think that the whodunit starters or statements such as "I think all cars should be yellow" or convincing someone to buy your junk could definitely be starting places for the primary grades. I'm excited to try some of it out, too!
DeleteOne workshop that would work for me easily, would be the Take the Bull by the Horns and Write ‘Til the Cows Come Home” Using Figurative Language as a Springboard to Writing by Charley and Joanele Hoce. I read out loud to my students everyday and am an avid lover of children’s literature. I use children’s stories as much as I possibly can throughout the disciplines and being at a science magnet, have been busy putting together a science library of children’s books. I have also used Lucy Calkin’s writing lessons in my classroom and she is a big fan of using authors as mentors for children’s writing. I appreciated all the titles that Charly and Joanele showed us, some of which are on my shelves now and some of which are ones I am planning on getting soon. I also appreciated how much science they infused into their presentation. Lots of good stuff!
ReplyDeleteDr. Jeff Wilhelm’s presentation on Wednesday would challenge me mainly because it was geared towards high school aged children. I had to work hard throughout his presentation to try and adapt his material for my second graders, but felt there were some great ideas that I could adapt. I liked his breakdown of powerful persuasive argument writing with Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation and have been working on how to adapt this to my second graders.
Is there a list of books that they suggested from their Take the Bully by the Horns workshop? How did they use it as a springboard for writing? I've done some figurative language activities, but more along the lines of taking idioms and drawing pictures of their literal meanings and their figurative meanings.
DeleteI did not attend that workshop but have heard great things from others as well. I would also be interested in hearing about some related literature. I could see how figurative language could be used as a starter for many writing activities, and that providing regimented requirements for prewriting often creates writer's block, but were there any ideas that jumped out?
DeleteI have been trying to do more writing as part of my science curriculum. I use the National Geographic Extreme Explorer magazine as extra reading and have found some great uses for their articles. I would be very interested in some of the titles suggested in the workshop and how they put the books to use.
DeleteAnother comment I wanted to make was how exceptional Dr. Wilhelm's presentations were. I found confidence in what I already do in my classroom, inspiration to try new ideas, a feeling of I can use CCSS in my classrooms, and a person who could help us to develop writing across the curriculum program in my school.
ReplyDeleteAll of your comments and ideas and sharing have been so exciting! I love reading, peering over your shoulders as it were, to see where teachers take their ideas!
ReplyDeleteI like using the Ekphrastic workshop ideas in my senior English classes. I was very intentional about introducing it the first time I tried it, and the kids responded well. I was inspired to try it again, and the kids noticed we were "addressing strand 7", which was a miracle! The best? Now they come to class with related songs, artwork, and ideas for ways to make even more lessons ekphrastic. I can't profess its impact on the classroom--I never thought one idea would be so big in my teaching!
ReplyDeleteI hope this doesn't sound like cheating, but I honestly found something useful from every session I attended. :) I am especially motivated (though intimidated) to employ some of Dr. Wilhelm's instructional strategies. That guy was great.