One more year down....

Two weeks ago, we held our last regional ELA forum for the year. These forums are a way for the teachers of our region to gather, share their best practices, ask each other lots of questions and hopefully build a network (community?) of fellow teachers. We have had some amazing teachers share what they do throughout the entire year - from reading and writing strategies to school-wide collaboration with artists in residence to differentiated reading instruction. Almost every one contributed to the conversations and the ideas - I know that I walk away each time having learned something new.

The group really drives the agenda and I am excited about the possibilities for next year. We'll continue our talks on summer reading lists and whether or not the students really read, we'll share strategies and speakers we have seen, and maybe, just maybe, we can move the community online to continue to share between face to face meetings (one of my ultimate goals!)

One really interesting example that was shared by one of our high school teachers extraordinaire was how she is plans to use Shelfari with her students. This teacher is one of the all too rare "I let them read what they want to read so that they learn to love reading" types of teachers. She engages her students regularly with different reading strategies, is reflective of her work and is always looking for new ways to engage her students. Since she wants to share what she reads and to track what her students read, she is thinking of using Shelfari to help them create these lists. Then, as the students move from one grade to the next, the teachers can see those and build upon the lists. In my ideal world - the librarian would hook in next and be able to make purchases for the school library that are relevant to the kids, based upon their recommendations!!

I use GoodReads myself - same type of concept but visually, Shelfari seems a bit more appealing. (You can see my bookshelf on the left - if you join, add me as a friend!)Whichever you choose - I think it is a great way to share reading in the classroom and one I am thinking about implementing with several groups this summer and next fall.

All teachers seem to be in continual planning phase and as we wrap up one school year and ready for the next - what are your plans for the fall and what are you reading/doing to prepare? Are you remembering to take some time for yourself and take a trip or visit local sites of interest? Share in the comments section and give me some good ideas!

What really matters?

I've been having some interesting conversations lately with teachers around the issue of editing and revising student work, often lumped in with conversations around grammar. The conversations usually start with strategies for working with students on editing or revising their work (harmless) to when and how to teach grammar (much less harmless).

Inevitably - we end up discussing cliff-hangers such as diagramming sentences ("they are really powerful for visual learners" I am told) to dangling participles (I kid you not - this one happened today!!) My personal opinion is that these lessons in the abstract (i.e. without reference to a specific piece of writing) do absolutely nothing to impact how I write. Unless there is something in MY writing that I can connect the lesson to and then use that lesson to revise, I lose the meaning/importance of lesson. Thus, I believe that grammar is best taught not in isolation but in mini-lessons and as they appear in student writing.

I think that this comes from the writer in me that values ideas over the correctness of the piece - at least initially. As someone who drafts and re-drafts their writing, at first blush I am more concerned with the ideas and how I have put them together than I am about the finer points of grammar, punctuation, and often word choice. I need to put the piece away or seek feedback on the ideas (revision) before I can turn my focus to the editing.

And this - I know - comes from those teachers in my past who, with the power of their red pen and marginalia, reduced my writing to a series of mistakes that I had made, rather than seeing the power of the words within. Feedback - both the focus and how it is delivered - can make or break any writer.

And so I ask you to please read this blog post about how feedback can extinguish a writer's flame and then decide what is really important when we read student writing.

Source Note: The diagram of the Pledge of Allegience at the top of the page comes from the Capital Community College Guide to Grammar and Writing.

Are there alternatives to a 5 paragraph essay?

I was fortunate enough to spend two days last week with Heidi Hayes Jacobs and some of our regional teachers investigating and thinking about "active literacy." One of the comments that Heidi made, among several, that really pushed some buttons in the group is to stop teaching the 5 paragraph essay.

She is right, I think - but that didn't make it any easier to hear. I am preparing for a workshop this week on Step Up to Writing and that structure is one that many teachers apply the color coding scheme to. In working in our region, I hear "5 paragraph essay" stated as if it were a genre. I suppose in many ways, and for many different reasons, it really has become one.

But one of the things that Heidi pushed people to think about with literacy is that people are not just literate in writing and reading. That listening and speaking are critical elements of literacy. And that new technologies open up yet another form of literacy that we need to address.

So it must have been fate that as I have been sitting on everything we discussed last week, my favorite Scottish blogger and someone who really pushes my thinking about literacy posted this on his blog:

How do you measure creativity. How can we work out the struggle of the 'exchange rate' of assessment. What is "the equivalent" of a 1500 word essay?

- an animation?
- running an online discussion for a week?
- scripting and posting a 3 minute podcast?
- authoring an explanation in Flash?
- annotating a week's worth of delicious links?

What are your suggestions of 'equivalence' in an ingenius, creative school system?

I am not going to answer with my thoughts in the hopes of prompting some thoughts around this. Tell me - what do you think?

Lookybooks!

I tend to get lost in book stores. Not literally - but time tends to slip away from me once I cross the doorframe. And I never seem to leave without having left a hefty chunk of my paycheck behind.

I buy all kinds of books. Ones my friends recommend on Good Reads, one that I read about on blogs or other places, ones I just happen to randomly pull from the shelves and read.

I spend hours in the kid lit section as well. As my nieces and nephews learn to read and find out what they enjoy - I try to find other books for them to try out. Kindergarten niece read Fancy Nancy at the Museum on our vacation to Aruba. This book was great for teaching vocabulary a la Lemony Snicket but in a much more pleasant setting!!

So it was my great delight to find a reference to Lookybooks waiting for me in my RSS feeds!! This new site is still in beta but allows you to read the entire book online, not just the cover and selected pages. There are not a lot of books available yet - but it seems that more get added each day. And did I mention that it is free?

Here is one that I stumbled upon that I really like as a mentor text for kids writing about their trips. Having just come back from spring break in WNY - it seemed appropriate!! Great details with interesting pictures - this book is also a strong example of voice. Check out Zoe Sophia's Scrapbook:An Adventure in Venice:



What Lookybook do you recommend?

Random Thoughts on Words

This isn't the blog post that has been stewing for quite some time on connective writing (I promise to post it soon!) but my Bloglines account has been chock full of thought provoking pieces on words that I thought I would share!

First, over at PaperCuts a hilarious post on "crapulence" and other examples of lexicon excess!! Seriously - I am finding a way to work these words into conversation tomorrow!

Then, PaperCuts goes on about the words NOT to use when reviewing a book because they are so overused!! Love it!

Then, a fellow professional developer from the area reflects upon a deep curriculum alignment project they have done and most interestingly on their findings regarding teaching vocabulary. A very powerful series of posts - with more to come!

Finally, in this time of political rhetoric and the ever-lasting election season, comes this cartoon. (I post it here only because of the connection to words and not because of any political leanings that I might have!!)



What is your final word?

Cartoon credit here.

Think Pink!

I recently finished reading Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future. The premise is relatively simple: the "left brain" jobs that people aspired to in the past (lawyer, accountant, software engineer) will fall by the wayside as a new kind of mind (the right brain thinkers) will emerge as a force for the future. The good news is - teachers are considered right brainers!!

More than laying out a different type of plan for future, the book actually contains a very nice "portfolio" piece after each of the six essential R-Directed aptitudes. This book had a high Post-It note quotient, which makes it a really good read. But as I began to digest some of what I was reading, I realized that writers are really right-brained as well and if we develop some of these six aptitudes, well - writers will rule the future!!

Design: Described as a whole minded aptitude, the focus is on an combination of utility and significance. Granted, most elements of design have to do with the aesthetic and the visual. Being useful without words. But with writing, it also has to do with how the work is presented. What type face is used. Cursive or print. The break of lines in a poem. There can be design in writing, to enhance writing, thereby increasing the significance of the words.

Story: This one is obvious - I thought. But what really struck home is the following passage; "When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact." What more powerful reason to create rather than cut-and-paste?

Symphony: The ability to put together all the pieces - to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields - to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair. Metaphors are a piece of symphony, as is every great novel that kept you reading because of the unexpected.

Empathy: The ability to imagine yourself in someone else's shoes and to intuit what that person is feeling. Good writers are able to capture that in their writing - great writers help others to feel it tool.

Play: There is great research in this section about the power of joy and laughter and play. The connection to writing for me was that writing has not become something of joy and laughter and play. It has become something that we make kids "do." Think of how many times a student has been punished by having to write something multiple times (including test corrections.) How can we add more play into writing?

Meaning: According to Pink, it is the search for meaning that drives us all. What better way to do that than thru writing? I think about all the problems I have solved by getting them out on paper, how journaling has helped me to think through what I am feeling, how creating a story has helped me to see the path that I must take. This is the power of writing.

My apologies to Mr. Pink if this is not how he intended his book to be used but I have not been able to stop thinking about the connections to writing and what we can do to inspire and grow these six aptitudes in our students through writing. Any thoughts??


Cross-posted on Grand Rounds.

Reading is Dead!!

For most of my lifetime, I’ve heard that reading is dead. In that time, disco has died, drive-in movies have nearly died, and something called The Clapper has come and gone through bedrooms across the nation.

I thought that might grab your attention! The above quote from an Op-Ed article in the NY Times in response to Steve Jobs' attitude about the Kindle. It seems that Mr. Jobs doesn't believe that this gadget that I covet will change much about reading - that "people don't read anymore."

As someone who spends a great deal of time and money in her local bookstore, who gives books as presents and can't seem to read enough - that statement made me sad. My family has always modeled and encouraged reading and we continue to do so with our next generation. My kindergarten niece, Gracie, is at the stage where she sounds out her words as she reads - opening the eyes of everyone to how we make sense of the written word. My nephew, aged 3, is at the stage where he memorizes the stories that have been told to him time and time again. Unlike his dad, whose favorite was Hop on Pop, Brody has No, David! down pat. Reading isn't dead in our family.

And I don't believe that is is dead elsewhere. I do, however, believe that it is changing. I don't think of "text" as purely a novel or short story or anything with a binding. I believe that it is anything that is written - including this blog. It is the exposure to words and ideas that is important, not the format. So I was thrilled this morning to read that Scotland has released it's new outcomes for literacy. Included in it's definition of texts (which is intended to be broad and future proof!) are the following examples of text:

novels, short stories, plays, poems, reference texts, the spoken word, charts, maps, graphs and timetables, advertisements, promotional leaflets, comics, newspapers and magazines, CVs, letters and e-mails, films, games and TV programmes, labels, signs and posters, recipes, manuals and instructions, reports and reviews, text messages, blogs and social networking sites, web pages, catalogues and directories. (emphasis added)

Now - I did not stumble upon this information by accident. It appeared in my Bloglines feed from someone else's blog and I followed the links to read the documents. That is the nature of reading today - not simply curling up with a book (I do that too!) but curling up with your laptop and challenging your thinking by reading what folks in other places are doing. In the past year, I have learned more about literacy from people in New Zealand and Scotland than I have here in the United States. Some ideas I have agreed with, some I have questioned. But all have helped me to form my understanding of literacy.

Reading isn't dead - but it is changing. Are you?


(Photo of PreK niece and 2nd Grade niece during "reading time.")

The Semicolon Rides the Transit

No - this is not the title of my upcoming best seller but a continuation of what some have called my comma obsession!! I was amused when Jenn told me in response to my comma overload that she would be seeking misplaced commas while in NYC - perhaps I was a bit over the top on that post. However, she can now spot appropriate uses of the semicolon while taking the subway!!

It appears that the long lost semicolon has been used "impeccably" on a NYC transit advertisement asking riders to take their newspapers with them when they get off the train. More importantly - it appears that while many of us have relegated the semicolon to the text world, many others in history have been severely impacted by their use or abuse of semicolons.

While this is an interesting read and one to share with all - perhaps the best part for me was the correction. Of course, it involved the use of those damn optional commas!! ;-)

Summer Reading

"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."- Linus Pauling

I often use this quote with teachers to talk about the brainstorming process or keeping a Writer's Notebook. I know that I froze at times when asked to write and it is far easier to draw upon ideas that I had when the pressure was not on. In fact, I keep a WN for that purpose to this day.

However, I use this quote today to ponder aloud in the global network of blogging about a question posed to me today around summer reading. Many districts, including my own, are integrating summer reading lists for students. After much negotiating, these districts are offering students choice, collaborating with their local public libraries and working hard to select pieces that have literary merit yet also engage their students (is this necessarily an oxymoron?). I give these teachers and districts a tremendous amount of credit because they have reflected on what works and why they want kids to read to create some great choices.



But what do we do with the reading the kids do over the summer? Should we assess it formally? Should it count as a grade? Should we use it in discussion circles? If we don't have an accountability measure in place - will the students read?

These are great questions - hard questions!! What is everyone doing out there on this? Got any research about what works and what doesn't?




Image by donjuanna at Flickr.

Commas, commas, and more commas

We've been scoring the Grades 3-8 ELA assessments for the past two weeks and are finally down to the final two days - if the weather doesn't jinx us for the third time this year!! Seeing the continuum of student writing across these grade levels has been very eye opening and has me thinking quite a bit about the recent conversations around handwriting as well.

Some random writing thoughts from scoring:

(1)The students seem to be writing more than in previous years - which I think is a very good thing!! While they are not always on the right track - they are making great attempts at all grade levels to include more details, provide topic sentences (even for the shorter answers), and connect their thoughts to the reading/listening passages.

(2)Our districts have done a great job in mixing up the teachers at scoring this year. They are not just sending teachers from the grade level that we are scoring, but teachers from the grade before and/or the grade after. This has really opened some eyes and started conversations about the idea of "curricular years" we have been talking about for a while in our region.

(3)Our students are still practicing rampant homophone abuse. Whether they are changing the correct word to the wrong one in the editing passage or experimenting using every possible spelling of "their" the wrong way in an extended response, the just are using the words correctly.

(4)The ability to begin sentences with "And" or "But" still does not sit well with teachers. NYSED does not count this as a grammatical error so students cannot be penalized - but it still panics teachers. I wonder why when it seems to be present in almost everything I read - more as an element of voice than anything else.

(5)I will never, ever understand why so many commas have become optional. My issues with commas are well documented in this blog and I share them openly. I know that I abuse them, I know that I don't always use them correctly, but I do remember the rules from my high school English teacher about when they were required. Apparently, those rules are not iron-clad. Serial commas, commas before conjunctions, and commas following introductory phrases of five words or less are now optional. Huh! That must be why I put them all of the other places they shouldn't be - they are homeless!!

On that note - I'd love to hear what others are noticing as they score. And because I am feeling edgy (can you tell by how I started this sentence?) I share with you this link to a song on the Oxford comma (which according to Wikipedia is another name for the serial comma.) WARNING!! The song does contains a certain shocking curse word which may be offensive!!

Happy National Handwriting Day!!

Please don't rush out to find the Hallmark Card for this holiday - I checked and there isn't one! So instead - share this post with a friend!!

A few weeks ago, our family would have celebrated this day with a cake and festivities. My second grade niece had been counting down the days until Christmas break ended because her teacher told her they would be learning cursive in January. She loved the loops and how "adult" it made her writing look - she would practice her version of cursive every chance she got. Of course - when she got back to school, they never wrote in cursive- they just practiced strokes and swoops and swirls. And instead of her very neat, very legible cursive style being used, she now obsesses over the angle of the slant.

It seems that almost every meeting I attend lately around student writing comes back to the lament that we can't read their writing, that they are too lazy to write when they can text, that we need to revive cursive handwriting instruction. In fact - it made the front page of our Sunday paper!!

What about wanting our students to love writing? Does it matter if it is typed, written in crayon or using perfect Zaner-Bloser cursive? Or does it matter if it is full of ideas and voice, with wonderful, wonderful words that paint a picture and that are spelled correctly?

I love to write. I don't always do it well or effectively - but it helps me wrap my head around what I do or learn and it certainly helps me communicate with others. I think it is a powerful tool for everyone to have - particularly our students. But the how we write is less important to me than the writing.

Our students are growing up in a different world than we did - in a world that changes every day. In our ever flattening world, we have no idea what to prepare them for in terms of jobs. But I firmly believe that if we teach them to read, to write and to think - they will be prepared for just about anything.

So today - I will celebrate writing of all kinds no matter what tools they are written with!

To Cite or Not to Cite....

OK. I've been taking a bit of a breather and trying to beat a nasty cold. After a marathon sleeping weekend - I think I kicked it and the weather is perfect for catching up on my on-line life. Lucky for me - my friend Jenn has not kept her head too low and has sent me many, many happy links today.

The one most appropriate to this blog is on plagiarism. I'm a bit sensitive to this topic, having just finished teaching a graduate course in which two individuals took some liberties with the syllabus and turned in work that was suspiciously familiar. And because it is the number one complaint of teachers when it comes to research projects - that students are just "cutting and pasting" the information into an essay format and turning it in.

Now - we all know that we should cite sources. This world has become a bit more gray lately as there is so much more that is published on the Internet - pictures, blogs, wikis: how do we cite all of those?

And we all know that we should use quotation marks if we lift something directly and at least paraphrase the information without them. Basic writing 101, right?

Strangely - no!

It seems that a pretty well known romance novelist has stolen some key dialogue from a science article. That's right - re-read that last sentence carefully!! The story really is best read from the science writer's perspective (aka "the victim") which is also one of the best examples of voice in writing I have read in a long time.

While the science writer has forgiven the romance novelist (hmmm...is that a plot in the making?) it is sad that plagiarism has sunk to this level. Reading the passages that are in issue - it is hard to imagine the language being that of post-coital bliss. Didn't the editors notice that? Teachers can tell when writing is not that of their students - can't editors? Why did no one check that?

Even more depressing - apparently the romance novelist stated in an interview that she didn't know she had to cite sources. Really?

I mourn for writing today - for original ideas, for playing by the rules, for the spirit of a good story. But on the other hand - I sure did giggle. I just wish I could share this example with students.....

It's like a tattoo....

There is a crop of "word of the year" blogs out there - people selecting words to focus on for the new year rather than making resolutions. I've always been a big fan of Jim Burke's well words so I had my word selected back in July. (FYI - it is "toss")

In teaching writing, we often work with kids on putting to bed their "tired" words. We bury them, we ban them, we circle them in bright red pen as a reminder to select a more appropriate word for their writing.

But what is funny is that we abuse words ourselves. I know, because I hear my nieces inadvertently mimicking their teachers in how they talk. I feel as if I know these individuals long before I meet them because I hear their voices at the dinner table and during play. In second grade, Amelia's teacher must LOVE the phrase "not necessarily" because that is all we hear. In kindergarten, Sydney's teacher is a big fan of "absolutely!" We knew this, of course, because we heard it two years ago when Amelia had her!!

So I found it amusing that Lake Superior State University created a list of Banished Words for 2008. I have found that wordsmithing is the one word on the list that has long been a pet peeve for me and I inwardly cringe whenever I hear myself saying it. "It is what it is" makes the list and has my vote as well: I hate resignation and much prefer pushing the envelope a bit so this phrase is a bit like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Any other words/phrases out there that should be banished?

And in conclusion....

As the year 2007 draws to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to post about writing conclusions. My guilty conscience is also leading me to do so, as I have been thinking about how to teach this element since being asked by a teacher for help earlier this month. (I haven't forgotten you Karen!)

As a teacher, I have always struggled with teaching conclusions to students. This is probably strongly linked to the fact that as a writer, I struggle with writing them!! I have always taught my students what they are NOT versus what they ARE and in retrospect, I wish that I had created samples of each for my students to use as models. For example:

Conclusions are NOT "beach trips"...

"Now that you have read about the causes of the American Revolution, I strongly suggest that you visit the city of Boston at some point in your life. When we went, it had great shopping and super restaurants. But be prepared to do a lot of walking (and I mean a lot!) by wearing your most comfortable sneakers!"

but they DO tie the essay together.

There were many reasons that the colonists decided to revolt against their mother country. Increased taxation to cover costs from a recent war, increased control by England over what could be manufactured/purchased in the colonies, and a sense that the colonists were not considered equal to British citizens all led to a new form of government and way of life in the newly formed United States."

While a list of this type might help students to see what conclusions should and should not look like, writing them can be another story. Teaching, modeling, and practicing writing conclusions often takes a back seat to time. Often, we are leave it out or assume that students can create conclusions once we have taught them introductions, transitions, details, etc. Three ideas to have students practice writing conclusions:

1. Provide students with a short 3-5 paragraph essay without a conclusion and have them draft a conclusion for the paper. Share the draft with a partner and then have them work together to write a third final version. Share with the class and vote on the most compelling conclusion.

2. Find great conclusions in stories/essays and share them with students. Ask them to identify the writing technique that makes the conclusion so powerful and create a class list of techniques. This also works well as a treasure hunt in your library if you are focusing on narrative writing.

3. From local state test anchor papers, cut out the conclusions of several papers. Giving students only the prompt - have them rank the conclusions from strong to weak and provide reasons. Rewrite one of the weaker conclusions to make it stronger.

I'm not sure these are the best ways to help students write better conclusions, and I certainly know that they are not necessarily the best ways, but it is a start!! I'd love to hear how others work with this tricky task!

Find Your Passion....Unleash Your Brillance

Here at the NSDC Conference, the learning opportunities can almost be overwhelming. I tend to overbook myself and then have to stop for a breather. But we had an interesting keynote this week the message won't leave my head.

Simon Bailey spoke to the group about releasing brillance through the power of imagination. We can't be limited anymore by what has always been done or the fact that no one has ever tried that before. If in business the most valuable resource is it's people - then in education, isn't it our kids?

And of course, in many of our sessions it is the "revised" Bloom's Taxonomy that is being used by presenters. In this one - the top level is CREATE!! Although I first read the new taxonomy and rationale two years ago, I have been hesitant to incorporate it into what I do - afraid, I suppose, that it was too unfamiliar to the teachers I work with. No longer! You can bet this is the version you will see!!

Kids as the most important thing. Create as the most important thing to do.

What does that have to do with writing? I came across this blog today - I am not going to say any more about it except that you have to read it. Don't say you are too busy or pass by clicking on this link: READ IT!!!

And then tell me why we can't get that kind of passionate writing within our (real or virual) classroom walls.

What was I hired for?

I am sitting at the NSDC conference in Dallas immersed in learning about learning with thousands of educators from across the world. It is an amazing conference to attend and the highlight of my professional learning each year.

Today, my focus is on Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. While I am familiar with most of the technology tools – it is interesting to view them through the organization of the nine strategies. It makes me think about how I can be more explicit in the organization that I use in my online work.

I was stopped short in my learning and compelled to write this blog entry at a comment made by the presenter. In discussing providing feedback to students, in particular around writing, he commented that as teachers we are not hired to be editors, we are hired to teach.

We are not hired to be editors, we are hired to teach.

I have been thinking a great deal about the activities I have been doing with teachers around examining student work. It is a natural progression after we have developed writing rubrics and determined the methods we will use to teach students to write. And I believe strongly that it is an integral piece of developing writing. However, as we look at the student work – I find that some teachers still make generalizations about the writing (“the good, the bad, the ugly”) instead of using the more discrete elements of the rubric to provide feedback (“that piece had great voice but was weak in organization”). And when the writing is “weak,” we give too much feedback. The student work swims in an ocean of red comments (or purple or orange) rather than providing explicit feedback and how the student can improve.

We are not hired to be editors, we are hired to teach.

We tend to be more comfortable marking up the papers (being the editor) rather than providing the feedback and mini-lessons that would help develop better writers (being the teacher.) Why is that?

Time? What better investment than to spend some time up front working with students on analyzing anonymous pieces, reflecting and getting feedback on their own writing, and revising with that feedback?

Too many kids? One of the best ways that students learn is from one another. Once we teach them how to give feedback using the rubric, we can focus on those who need some direct instruction rather than trying to get to all students in the course of one class.

Too hard? It is hard to plan for writing instruction. Each piece presents a different range of student abilities that we have to address and they generally are not things that we can anticipate. I still remember assuming that my students could write introduction and then being unpleasantly surprised to see my pet peeve intro (“In this essay I will tell you about…”) crop up all over the place –including on the papers of those writers I thought were “strong.” And I had little in my bag of tricks to help fix that problem.

So I had to start becoming a writer again – I had to write everything and think about how I thought about a lead or made transitions. I had to put my writing up for my kids to critique and give me feedback on. I had to write and read and write and read until I could also say that I was a writer to my students. It was hard…it was worth it…and I was a teacher, not an editor.

What do you get a Wookie for Christmas when he already owns a comb?

Members of our family have never really been lucky in a "Whoa - I bought this painting at a garage sale and found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence" sort of way. But we sometimes win at raffles (strangely - mostly we win mirrors) and radio contests. As a young child - "A Star Wars Christmas" was one lucky prize and the top hit? The title of this blog post!!

It made me think about what you get a literacy geek for Christmas when she already owns several blank notebooks, very comfy and colorful writing pens and more highlighters than should be allowed one person. And so - here is a list for all those teachers/literacy geeks in your life!!

1. Where the Wild Things Are Notecards - or other cards from your favorite children's books. This just happens to be my personal favorite!!

2. Mini-magnetic file folders: These are great! I have a habit of making notes on small pieces of paper or clipping out photos to put into my writer's notebook and then losing them. These help catch all.

3. Smencils - yup! You heard me! Smencils!! Imagine writing with a pencil, Number 2 no less, and smelling cotton candy or better yet - chocolate! Makes assessment season a bit more palatable!

4. The T-Shirt that captures it all!! Of course - this is just one of the many shirts that are perfect for the gym or lounging around the house blogging that you can find in this catalog!

5. Kindle!! I have to admit that I am longing for this little gadget!! Best sellers for $9.99 - newspapaers and blogs on demand - same size as a paperback - what more could you ask for?

These are my top five - if you have other ideas, I'd love to hear them!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I don't have anything to write about!!"

How many times have your heard that complaint from your students?

I am a big, big fan of writer's notebooks to help avoid this complaint but I understand that not everyone is similarly enamored. But I do love the idea on this post about coming up with a list of 100. In fact, I love it so much I am going to incorporate it into the trainings I do both for writer's notebooks and for creating blogs to use in the classroom.

I used to do something similar for my students when I wanted them to either think about what they already knew on a topic or what they had learned. We called it a "Three Minute Essay." Using an egg timer, students were to write continuously on an index card to answer the topic (i.e. What do you know about the American Revolution?) The only rules were that they had to continuously write, no stopping to think, for the full three minutes. Even if all they were writing was "I have no idea what I know about the American Revolution and I can't believe that I am continually writing that I have no idea what I know about the American Revolution." I found that the continual writing did help activate the students' memories and they did get some information down eventually. Spelling and grammar didn't count - it was all about getting the ideas out.

When using the list of 100, I will probably set a time limit for the brainstorming session and I am wondering if I will find the same trends:

1. First 30 entries or so: where you escape circular thinking
2. Next 40 entries: where patterns emerge
3. Last 30 entries: where the gems are

What list of 100 can you create with your students?

Arrival

I don't own this book...yet!! But reading about it over at Educating Alice has me hooked.





I love wordless books.