In the beginning of August, I attended Teachers College Summer Reading Institute. The best part of the institute was making connections with other educators. I even was able to reconnect with educators from my hometown of Montgomery who helped shape me as an educator. Shout out to Mr. Richards (Principal at Montgomery Lower Middle School), Mr. Delgado (Principal at Montgomery Upper Middle School), and Mrs.Wachtel (one of my former 6th-grade teachers!)
Below are some highlights from the week:
Monday
Tuesday
Kylene Beers presented a keynote called “Shifts Happen: Thinking about Literacy Demands.” She brought up the idea that old schema dies hard and we need to embrace shifts. Throughout time, literacy in this country has always been about separating people. Those who are literate hold the power and the privilege.
She shared that we need to help students understand the complex messages in texts. One way to do this is for students to get close to texts by asking dialogical questions that we don’t know the answers to. Students view these questions as authentic instead of monologic questions which tend to be inauthentic. As educators, we need to change from talk to check for understanding to talk to create understanding (awesome sneak peak chart from Reading Nonfiction.) The final concluding point she left us with was that the volume of reading can outweigh an ineffective teacher. We know that research tells us that an ineffective teacher can set a student back two years! As educators, if we can ensure that our students are being provided with authentic reading opportunities we know that they will have the opportunity to continue to grow.
Kylene Beers presented a keynote called “Shifts Happen: Thinking about Literacy Demands.” She brought up the idea that old schema dies hard and we need to embrace shifts. Throughout time, literacy in this country has always been about separating people. Those who are literate hold the power and the privilege.
She shared that we need to help students understand the complex messages in texts. One way to do this is for students to get close to texts by asking dialogical questions that we don’t know the answers to. Students view these questions as authentic instead of monologic questions which tend to be inauthentic. As educators, we need to change from talk to check for understanding to talk to create understanding (awesome sneak peak chart from Reading Nonfiction.) The final concluding point she left us with was that the volume of reading can outweigh an ineffective teacher. We know that research tells us that an ineffective teacher can set a student back two years! As educators, if we can ensure that our students are being provided with authentic reading opportunities we know that they will have the opportunity to continue to grow.
Wednesday
The keynote on Wednesday was presented by Mary Ehrenworth, which focused on “Remembering Grant: Innovating ‘Teaching for Transfer.’” Grant Wiggins was and is a truly amazing educator that has left an impact on education. His article “What is transfer?” talks about providing specific cueing system for students to assist in skill transfer from one part of the curriculum to another. We “can provide students with training in a dozen reading strategies… provide help verbal cues, etc, and yet, when asked to read on their own, they may neither activate the strategies by themselves nor make meaning of unfamiliar materials.” (Wiggins) He continues to explain “students will typically not cue themselves to use all their prior learning or recognize how the “new” situation reflects prior learning unless they have been given lots of training and practice in thus cueing themselves.” (Wiggins) Mary took this information and explained how to teach transfer of a skill set from one reading experience to another. Here are some of her suggestions
- Layer strategies in ways that make sense- develop bigger skill sets and work on when to apply them
- Create opportunities for kids to apply and adapt these skills in new experiences, that are not exactly the same (shift in text, in genre, in context)
- Use charts, touchstone texts, common language as cueing systems.
- Invite kids to practice and study how they can apply strategies across situations
Thursday
One of the breakout sessions I attended was with Cornelius Minor, the TCRWP’s technology guru. Cornelius urged attendees to devote ten minutes per week to learn two new things as well as by the end of month use once for self and twice with students. This will help you to take the time to master and explore new tools effectively. Cornelius explained the difference between Literacy 1.0 and Literacy 2.0 tools. Literacy 2.0 tools encourage collaboration, are multimodal, provide feedback, and help to create knowledge. He shared the following teacher tools
The tools he shared for students were
In Ellin Keene’s keynote, she spoke about “Your Instructional Fingerprint: Revisiting our Most Powerful Reading Tactics in a Content Driven World.” I love that she clearly stated that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) does not prescribe instruction and does not mean teaching commonly. This is such a powerful point that many educators need to hear because of all the misconceptions that surround the CCSS.
We know from research our key instructional moves are thinking aloud, modeling, demonstrating, conferring, engaging students, and creating an authentic environment. While we know by heart that our beliefs, rituals, and presence as a teacher will shape our instructional fingerprint. Eliln left us by challenging us to
- Think deeply about instruction
- Engage in meaningful discourse about instruction with colleagues
- Visit each other and watch for the key moves, thinking aloud, modeling, demonstrating, conferring, etc
- Find our fingerprints as teachers
Friday
The highlight of Friday for me was collaborating with Basia Kiehler, Becky Doyle, and Erica Steinitz in my small group session for School Leaders. We were given scenarios to discuss as administrators conducting walkthroughs in the classroom by providing a compliment and teaching point to help move instruction forward. This time to collaborate and learn from each other was one of the most valuable part of the institute. We even came up with a sample form to use for walkthroughs.
 |
| My small group friends at TCRWP. |
Notes from TCRWP
No comments:
Post a Comment