Extraordinaire!

This is an incredible piece of video montage - definitely worth a look!

Happy New Year!

Let There Be Light

Yes the holidays are upon us again.  This year is very different for me.  In years past I would not have even considered putting any Christmas lights up before Thanksgivinhg.  As is often the case in my life, when I have strong feelings and reactions at one time in my life, I get to experience the "other side" somewhere down the line.  That would be this year. I kid you not; Halloween had scarcely been gone one week, when I began to pine for colorful lights to shine at night brightening our ever-earlier darkness.  The odd thing is that my whole family felt this way - unheard of for each of us!  We made quick work of hanging lights, checking bulbs and setting the timer.  Now as the twilight approaches, lights magically appear chasing away the darkness.  Why might I write this for my literacy blog you may be asking yourself.  Good question. 

I liken illiteracy to darkness.  Each tiny step we take, or help someone else take toward literacy brings light to our lives; the ability to communicate our needs and our gifts with possibilities for ever-more growth.  As my classmates and I grow our writing skills, and our toolboxes for teaching both reading and writing, we carry the potential for bringing light to others - the very light that helps them grow further into their blossoming.  This may be the most significant thing we get to do.  The big idea for me - Let There be Light - and do everything that I can to support it whenever the spirit moves me!

"Data is Where All Subjects Connect!"

Wow!  What a gift!  Our math teacher showed up this great website this week that I definitely plan to use in my classroom some day.  I highly recommend that you take a moment and explore this page in particular.  Be fair warned that it takes a long moment to load, but it very worth the wait!  It is entitled The Wealth and Health of Nations.  There are 5 variables displayed in that graph. Five! They are the geographic region and specific countries, population size, life expectancy, income per person and a timeline.  Each of these data sets can be replaced by any other data set that they have listed there, or a data set of your own.  What an incredible way for us to look at our own stories through data.  With their desktop application, you can enter and graph your own data. Can you imagine all of the fabulous things that students can come up with to record and graph over the course of your year together? Very cool.

I also appreciated our teacher's take on the value of interpreting data for our future.  We all need to be able to do data analysis; interpret the information we get. We all need to be able to sort through questions.  Is the data qualitative or quantitative?  Does it represent measures of spread or measures of center, and how does that change our perceptions? She went on to talk about how sharing data has dramatically improved research using the Alzheimer's research "collaboratory" as a fabulous example.  My favorite quote of hers is the title of this post: "Data is where all subjects connect.  It is social and interdisciplinary."

Writing, writing, writing

What is the dang deal?!  Writing for me feels like such a labor.  I have really enjoyed reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  She is emotionally dramatic and deft at writing about it.  It makes me laugh out loud!  My own problem with writing is that I am not sure that what I have to write about is all that interesting and worth the time to put it to paper.  Don't get me wrong.  I love, love, love to learn.  And I get very excited about many of the things I learn.  I really enjoy the interconnectedness of all the things I learn; the metaphors, large and small, that play out in my mind across disciplines.  It is the putting it to paper that feels like pulling teeth for me. I am just not sure that my meanderings are worth the time and effort.  Once in a while I appreciate a well-turned phrase that falls onto the page from my mind, but overall it feels like so much digging, so few pearls.  And all that work when there are so many other fabulous things to put my energies to.  There. I wrote it.  This is really hard for me.  Now I need to get on to writing some other reflections for other assignments.  Perhaps some more coffee, some feeding of the animals, a breath of fresh air, a snuggle and then some more writing . . .

Emerging Literacy

Wow, what a full week of insight into literacy.  Reading Fox has given me much insight into the emergence of literacy which was then very exciting to take into the classroom with our Kindergarten Buddy (KB from here on out).  I am trying to figure out if she is what Fox would call Alphabetic, perhaps, threshold Alphabetic.  She understands that letters represent sounds, can name them, give their sounds, and even knows what letters are used in her classmates names.  While doing the Emergent Literacy Profile with her, I noticed that she is reluctant to look for picture cues, so focused is she on the words and sounding them out. She shows great perseverance when attempting to decode a word, even unfamiliar names.  She does not use picture cues for clues, is even reluctant to do so with prompting.  It seems that she feels so close to getting the word that she does not want to take the time to look at the picture.  While she is being a word detective, I am in awe of being an emergent literacy detective!

I am excited to spend more time her today to see if she uses the analogy strategy to decode words.  Given that she understood the rhyme and beginning sound part of the ELP so well, I suspect that this will be fun for both of us.

The Fabulously Intricate Web of Literacy

Reflecting on the learning-to-read journeys of myself and my two daughters in light of the reading we did in Barbara Fox's Word Identification Strategies has been illuminating. I have been especially struck by the pre-literacy learning that unfolds for us. Each daughter definitely went through these stages with different strengths and speeds.  I remember one of them at around 3 saying "PCC" when we went to the store.  I was so impressed that she knew those letters (especially the P), and then quickly realized that she knew the logo and what we called it.  That was strange for me to simultaneously appreciate a logo so that my daughter could take another step toward literacy, and to dislike that companies can use this information to try and create brand loyalty at a very young age!  Nonetheless, as parents, we celebrated when our children recognized symbols in our culture; stop signs, walk signs, different bathroom symbols, different animal crossing signs - we especially delighted in the goose and horse crossing signs which then inspired some art projects when we got home.  (Sidebar: It occurs to me that Washington state sends out little developmental postcards to parents of children born here.  They should include ways for parents to help children with the early stages of literacy.)

In the light of my deepening understanding I look forward to working with my Kindergarten buddy today, to think about her stage of literacy which I would guess is on the threshold of alphabetic.

Literacy Just Keeps Growing

The Sulzby and Teale article resonated deeply with the way that I raised my kids - thinking of literacy through our every day lives from lists and love notes, to favorite books and recipes. Writing utensils and media were readily accessible and regularly used. Most of all sharing the pure love of a story well-told and art that makes you pause in awe, wonder or fits of laughter. I guess I am saying that I have personal experience with the efficacy of these methods. What a fabulous idea to do it in the classroom too. I especially love the cozy library and the writing center ideas, perhaps with little mailboxes for everyone in the classroom.

It was timely for me to write this today because my 11 year old just discovered a "journal" that she wrote when she was 4 or 5. It took her a long time to decipher her original meaning from vowel-less spellings and little drawings, but it seemed to return to her with a burst of insight into her young self. Delightful. Her sophistication with reading, writing and oral expression continue to grow exponentially. I am excited to deepen my understanding of their development.

Brain Researcher Andrew Meltzoff and Piaget?

I had the fabulous opportunity to listen to Dr. Meltzoff speak last night.  He is the co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Science here at the UW.  He had many interesting things to say about the work they are doing with young children there and their new MEG (magnetoencephalography) machine that measures the magnetic changes of the brain outside the skull!  Basically children can move around  a bit and still provide invaluable information.

The main thing that I want to share here is that when asked if their work refutes or supports Piaget's constructivist theories of development, he went on at length to say that their research mostly supports Piaget's ideas.  He actually was able to speak with Piaget before he died about one discovery that did refute his work somewhat - the power of imitation in learning.  He said that Piaget took the information in eagerly and waxed on about its implications.

Dr. Meltzoff talked a fair bit about cultural stereotypes and their developmental influence on children from a young age.  He strongly recommends that we think carefully about what we communicate to our children through choices we make in what we say, purchase, place on walls, read, listen to, etc.. They have documented how these pernicious messages can actually change interest and performance!  He recommends a new book on this:  Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude Steele.

That is all for now!

Inspiration of the Week for Me

If you have not watched Sir Ken Robinson, please take 20 minutes and watch this . . .

Up Way too Early

I could not get back to sleep at 3:30 this morning - so here I sit catching up on my Google Reader.  There are so many good things that I want to remember and have access to.  I will share a few here:

A recent article written by Carol Dweck (Mindset) for Educational Leadership

A fabulous TED talk by Brian Crosby, writer of "learning is Messy Blog"

A funny and powerful TED talk by Sir Ken Rocinson on the state of education today

Lastly, a very funny poem about What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali

Perhaps now I will learn how to post the little tv shape for my video clips!

Meritocracy

I would love to have a few discussions here . . .

In your mind, what is the value of competition? And does the inevitable meritocracy that develops best serve us an individuals and as a country?

I live the idea that each of us should strive to do our personal best (compete with ourselves so to speak), and that is what enables us to discover our individual gifts.  By being in community with others we can notice how we are different and the same, and come to understand ourselves better. It helps us to see what others are doing, but not define ourselves by a place on a list that tests what is known.  Those measures should not necessarily narrow the field, but inform us of strengths and weaknesses that we as individuals can decide what to do with.

A little muddled, but you get my drift?  (It's time for me to get to class!)  Any comments?

Hello!

I hope this becomes a rich place to extend my learning in the good company of other brave souls.

Cheers to the Journey!