Further Reflections on iPod in the Classroom

I am sad to say that the only real use I got out of the iPod this quarter was for my benefit in the classroom and out.  At the beginning I had such grand plans, percolating ideas of splash, creativity and color for the kids in my classroom; thinking of many possibilities for  differentiation and for helping less literate students express themselves.  I had apps downloaded and ready, but had little time to share them with my third graders, and felt that it would take too much time to get them up to speed with it.  Looking back now, I wish I had chosen one or two kids to work with over a period of weeks.  I am sorry that it didn't occur to me until now.  That might have worked.

I will say my students did enjoy being in charge of it, holding it gingerly as it were some sort of holy grail, when I needed to record them for literacy assignments. And the dictionary came in handy on more than one occasion.

There were novelty functions too: a stopwatch, a compass, a level, google world, word play games and math games.  The difficulty was the small key pad which makes typing time consuming, the small screen which limits collaboration; and the lack of video capabilities.  In my own classroom some day I can definitely see making daily use of that feature alone.

I should mention that my kids loved it.  Through their gaming I came to realize how big some of the games are - especially Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.  Their symbols are becoming part of our culture.  Personally I enjoyed Unblock Me and Peggle, not that I had much time for them this quarter!

Final Reflection for Math

Here I sit looking back at all of my math blogs this quarter and thinking about the lesson that I taught today to my third graders.  I had to teach them about equivalency in fractions, and how to make equivalency chains, something I had trouble making relevant for them other than the learning it will lead to.  I wish I had read my blogs last night before my lesson - I may have tried to figure out how to do it in groups.  I was trying to allow each student to have their own "Aha" moment, and somehow group work didn't seem to fit it.  Now looking back, and thinking about how I learn, those moments can happen anywhere, and probably faster when in kid speak for them.  Oh well, a missed opportunity.

Back to my learning this quarter - the thing that stands out for me to carry to my teaching of math (and other) lessons next week is reflection.  Taking this moment now to think about what I taught from the standpoint of what the students actually learned is illuminating.  It makes clear for me where I want to go next. There are a few cultural things I want to work in over the next little while: group work with roles that make everyone active and responsible in the group; asking questions - no "I can't" or "I don't know."  Having students explore their curiosity and savor their learning explicitly - this is the culture that I want to create.

My tool belt of online resources has grown exponentially from this course as well from the likes of discovering Kahn Academy, Geometer's Sketchpad, and Fathom to playing with online maniupulatives.  And the data sites are extraordinary playgrounds for interdisciplinary lessons - especially Gapminder and Tableau.  It was instructive and fun to see Robin's excitement about and use of apps to make class management easier, from attendance checking to RSS feeds of our blogs.

I also appreciate the readings, which I will keep: Creative Writing and Math; Creating Meaningful Work, Group Worthy Work, Orchestrating Discussions and Don't Say what a Kid can Say.  Each one easy to read with many doable and worthy ideas.  Thank you for those.

Lasting Math

Today we reviewed the 4 key parts of a lesson plan:
1.  What do the students already know?
2.  What do I want them to know?
3.  How do I want to get them there?
4.  Did they get there?  How do I know?
If we cover these bases well and keep coming back to them at the end of each day as assessment of our instruction, our students will surely benefit.

The wolframalpha website is terrifying and wonderful in the same moment.  If students have access to this "computational knowledge engine" in class or elsewhere, they may never actually have to learn the how of math.  This inspires me to further my explorations of relevance.  If I use this ready access to computational information as an impetus to make the students want to learn how to do it, to help them find how and why this math is used everyday, perhaps even talk about how and why it was dreamed of in the first place, I might get interdisciplinary in a very engaging way.

This relates somewhat to the reading for today as well (Exploring our Math by Leatham and Hill).  Helping students to "broaden their views of the nature of math" helps them see its value in real life activities and jobs.  This alone could draw their wonder toward deepening their own understanding.  I also appreciated how the authors talked about students expanding their own beliefs when they hear "other students express beliefs about math that differ from theirs."  I love those moments in particular where we actively take in information from someone else, evaluate its significance for us, and decide to change what we think.  Very Powerful.

Geometer's Skethpad!

OK - I have to admit that this is one of my favorite pieces of software that I have seen for having students play with complex ideas on a computer.  For a virtual manipulative - it is far and away the best I've seen (not that I have actually seen that many; and most of the ones that I have looked at were free).  I could have played with it quite a bit longer.  It was fairly easy to use, playful, useful and insightful once I got the hang of it.  In the Cohort, our ever efficient brains eventually led many of us to strategize about what shapes to use first and what versatile ones to save for last.  I can see how this would be a very effective adjunct to teaching geometry in class; actually better than most physical manipulatives I've seen.  If my school district does not already have it when I get there (have to be optimistic), I will lobby for it!

Technology in the Classroom

So what do I think of the itouch in the classroom?  Honestly, I have used it very little beyond recording student interviews and literacy assessments.  For those ends it has been very helpful to track information.  The students have enjoyed handling them while helping me record their work.  I would make more regular use of them if they had video capabilities. I can see videoing presentations, readers theater or other fun antics and sending them home to parents or to student files that they can keep for a portfolio.  I would also like to see students use them to create stories, but have not made it happen yet.  At the moment, I feel very limited by time constraints and have a hard time giving up the time it would take a student to get up to speed with an app that might be useful for them.  I can do so much with them in that amount of time, and let my assessment of their work guide my future instruction.  Perhaps these are the whinings of someone who feels overburdened at the moment.  Cheers to better uses of the itouch in my classroom by the next time I write.

Ideas for Supporting S in Literacy

1.   What have I learned about my buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?

When I first met S, her open face and ready smile put me immediately at ease.  She is excitable, talkative and eager to please.  When I first asked her about herself she told me that she liked penguins and pandas, M and Ms, painting with watercolors, reading and science.  She also told me that she likes to be clean and organized.  When she went on to share some of her writing with me, I noticed that she likes to move fairly quickly over the text (familiar because it is hers), reading with some expression in her voice.  A few times I heard her use a past tense verb where present tense was appropriate, and I thought there was a slight mispronunciation of a “d” or “t” as a “b,” but I could not confirm it as it was not consistent. 

Then she read from a text they were reading in class.  I have a sense that she is rushing her reading a bit, adding endings to words and naming similar sight words that don’t make sense, but moving on anyway.  When I stopped her and asked her what was going on in the story, she could not quite figure it out either through words or in the pictures.

I asked her about what she likes to read.  Immediately she said, “Ramona.”  When I asked her to tell me about the story she described details with interest and characters with insight.  There is a bit of a conundrum for me: she clearly understands some things, but completely misses others.  She gets the overall gist of passages, but not the details.

In subsequent reading time together I discovered that she loves to read and is proud of it: “I read 130 words per minute!”  As we began to do our own assessment I found that she can read some passages fairly quickly (just over 100 wpm) with fluidity and expression, but others are quite slower, sometimes even in the same passage.  This overall inconsistency seems to be related to decoding unfamiliar words, especially names and words over 3 syllables long.

In both the spelling and reading inventories I found that she likes to do them as long as she feels successful and wants to stop the moment it gets hard for her. When asked if she would like to go back to the text and look for the answers she didn’t remember, she politely says “No.”

Most intriguing to me over these past two meetings with her is her choice of reading materials.  She chose to read one of several “Hannah West” novels written by a local librarian and set here in the Seattle area.  The author writes with suspense that is difficult for S to understand, yet she reads on.  It surprised me that she continues to read when she seems to be missing big chunks of the plot.  (Then I just read Tovani and she tells the story of her friend that likes to read Anna Karenina every year and see what new insights he finds.)  I like puzzles, especially real-life ones like this one!

2.   As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your next lesson?

If given the opportunity I would work with S on several fronts.  The first is the strategy of asking questions as I read.  This is a valuable skill to start growing for all readers and could be especially helpful to S right now.  I would model how I do it right from the start by looking at the title and through the pages of the text.  As I go on to read the text, I would stop to ask questions aloud.  Ideally, we would then move to guided reading groups so that students can give each other insight from their perspectives as well.  For the text, I would ask Maggie, her teacher, for guidance on a grade-level text and a group of students at similar reading levels. As they stop and voice their questions, I would write them down.  As they find answers I will ask for their evidence (informal assessment that will guide further instruction).  I want to make explicit the many clues we find in what we read. I would like to do this with both fiction and non-fiction.

Second, I would like to do a reading inventory of words that begin with “b,” “d,” and “t,” as well as a list of verbs, to see if I can pinpoint the problem in what I hear.  It may not show up in her reading a list of words, but I would like to see if it does.

Third, I would like to help her find a just-right book for her independent reading and check in regularly to see if she is understanding the text. She is very excited about reading and likes to think of herself as a good one.  I want to do what I can to support her where she is and promote her growth and development.  Any suggestions?

Mathematical Meanderings

Wow, I learned a few things today in math.  I've thought about using math journals both as an interdisciplinary tool and as a way to check for understanding, but must confess that looking through all of them each week, sounds daunting, not to mention potentially out-of-date with where they are now.  Today we talked about using online journaling thru RSS feeds.  That makes them seem more relevant to me.  I can find out the same day they write about their confusion and address is readily.  I appreciated learning that they should never be graded - I hadn't thought about that yet.  I mainly wanted them to help inform my instruction.

We also learned a few more tools to add to the toolbox:
* Fathom - a very dynamic graphing software that can even use data sets from the web!
* Data and Story Lab - on the web for finding interesting data sets.  I liked the idea of inspiring our students to be "data detectives."
* Geometer's Sketchpad - we hope to get a demo of it next week.

We talked more about the "Using Creative Writing and Literature in Mathematics Classes" article today. The idea of using multiple disciplines to get students to show their understanding excites me.  I'd love to give groups a video camera and have them tell their story or even explain how to do the math, so that the writing isn't even a block for them.  It could be illuminating and entertaining!

Reflect on Your Teaching Everyday

I like that.  At the end of each lesson, or the end of each day, taking a moment to reflect on how students are progressing and what I can do to further their learning; to make a real study of my effectiveness as a teacher and of my students as learners.  At first this feels burdensome, a heavy brick added to an already back-breaking load (I went for drama because I liked the alliteration!).  The sooner we tend to this however, the sooner we can stop wasting time and resources on an unproductive path and find something that works better for our students.  The best way to get the information we need is to have very regular assessments of all kinds that don't feel like assessments to the kids.  We need to pay attention, formally and informally, finding many ways to check for understanding everyday.  We should also pay attention internally; maybe have some sort of engage-o-meter.  We can feel when the students are engaged, and keep notes about what really works.  I wonder if this comes naturally after a time?

I appreciated Robin's categories on her lesson plan: Share and Summarize; Application and Extension; and Assessment that is followed by Reflection.  Working these right into my lesson plans will help me make a habit of it.

Be an Agent of Change

"Be an agent of change by teaching critical thinking" in your classrooms; a direct quote from our math teacher last week.  That is a powerful statement.  How do we teach critical thinking?  By checking for what students might already know that might help them in this problem; for application of the previous knowledge; for what predictions can they make; challenging them to engage, to connect; to become problem solvers, detectives? 

How do we wake up their minds? It has to be safe. It has to be relevant, interesting, or funny.  Once we get them to connect with the work, we have to help them develop analytical thinking habits - some basic questions they can ask themselves (and each other) to check what they already know and see how what they learned fits or shifts the prior knowledge.

I think maybe I don't like the term "critical" thinking because of negative associations I have with the word critical.  For me it connotes judgement and more of a closed mindset.  I want to cultivate open, distinguishing thinking in my students.  Distinguished thinking.  I like the sound of it!

iTouch for my Classroom

Reflecting on educational uses for the iTouch in my classroom, the first thing that comes to mind are my students who struggle to keep up with the rest of the class and appear to be embarrassed to participate because of it.  There are 5 computers in the class already that have assigned times for each student, allotting an equal share of opportunity for each.  The problem is that some students could benefit much more significantly than others, and that being on the computer in the front of the classroom becomes a distraction for other students during work time.  That is where the specific value of the iTouch comes in.  It is small enough to be used at student's desks with a small screen that cannot draw other students' attention away from the task at hand.

The first student that I think might benefit from using one is by far the squirrelliest in my third-grade class and the one that refuses to read in front of others, although he can clearly read to himself and find answers to questions asked of him, and hates writing. It is as if he hates the physical act of writing.  Given the opportunity I would start him with StoryKit so that he could write a few stories with pictures.  Ideally he would have an iTouch with photo taking abilities, so he could take and use photos from his school life.  I think this might get his creative juices flowing enough to overcome his shortest-stories-ever syndrome.  My daughter appreciated being able to draw her own pictures with this one as well.

Next I would make good use of math games at Math Drills Lite for my student with LD that struggles with working memory.  He really needs to practice, practice, practice, and this app is very customizable with useful tips to help the students learn more about the operation that they are working with at the time.  This would be an easy, discreet and fun way for him to get his practice. Another good math app for multiplication is Timesby.

Last, I would have a slew of easy to access brain, math and word games available for all students to play with when other work is finished or they need a brain break.  So far I like Word Spy, Word Warp, Shakespell, Hangman, 3D Words, Bright Puzzles, Brain Blaze and Finger Physics.  Mostly I want to expose the students to many ways to play with our knowledge making our brains much more interesting, entertaining and playful places in which to live.  What I like about having these games at the ready is that each student can find their interest and level and still be learning. Learning should be fun after all!

Analysis of S's Writing and Lesson Plan

Analysis

My analysis of S’s writing is based on a final draft to a writing prompt entitled “The Real S”, a first draft of a story, conversations we’ve had, and a spelling inventory that I did with her.

Ownership and Meaning
From the sparkle in her eyes when she shyly describes and reads her writing, I sense that S feels ownership of and enjoys her self-expression in her writing. While she is trying to follow all of the rules and guidelines of writing, her voice and ideas are budding. In her piece about herself, she surprises me with some personal details: “it makes me feel as clean as soap”; “I need to be by myself”; and “the insects tickle my hand.” Her story, however, tries to move her meandering plot along without as much interesting detail.

Six Traits Assessment
When looking at S’s ideas I found them to be reasonably clear and working toward developing more details and personalization. She is beginning to learn how to move from general observations to specifics; experimenting with ways to draw the reader into her ideas and story (use of simile and words like “suddenly”); and stays on topic fairly well. If I were to pick one thing for her to focus on in ideas, it would be to flesh out more details in the story line.

S’s organization was better in her self-portrait than her story; perhaps because it was a final draft. She demonstrated logical and effective sequencing, decent transitions and an inviting introduction. The structure was predictable and the conclusion was recognizable, but repetitive. In her story, transitions were unclear, the sequencing had a few problems that detracted from the story, and sometimes the pacing felt awkward.

I have a sense of voice emerging from S’s work – shy and wanting to do things right. As described in Ownership above, she does add a few personal details that offer some personal insight and playful description. She is earnest and attempting to connect with her audience – “Just ask my third-grade teacher!” Finally, she is aware of her purpose and does attempt to use content to support it.

Her teacher tells me that she was in ELL until last year which may explain her why her verbs are often misused and mostly passive. Overall, her word choice lacks originality and refinement. Words and phrases are functional with a few shining moments. Words are adequate in a general sense. In our conversations she uses more interesting adjectives. I suspect that her writing will blossom in this area this year.

In the area of sentence fluency S has much work to do. Sentences are sometimes choppy, incomplete or awkward. Many sentences begin the same way, although some interesting variety is attempted. Mostly her sentences are functional; she has not yet developed creativity or fluidity in their flow, individually and together. I would encourage her to read her work aloud and think about how it sounds, flows and entices the reader to keep reading.

Conventions on her rough draft reveal a student with some sense of punctuation: periods, commas and quotation marks are attempted, and often are correct. Her grammar is challenged most in her use of verbs – knowing how to phrase a verb and in what tense. She knows to indent a paragraph, but not when to start a new one. She also knows to capitalize some words, but has some confusion over which ones. In her final draft there are only a few mistakes showing that she paid good attention to her edits. The presentation of her final draft is neat and organized.

Spelling
In her final draft S misspells the following: “finnaly,” “my self,” and “shoulded.” I did notice that “finally” and “myself” were misspelled on the rough draft of her other story and remained uncorrected, so perhaps they have not yet been brought to her attention. Also in the rough draft of her story were some different errors: “squrill,” “chating,” “scearmed,” and “knok.” Not bad for 6 pages of writing that included words like: kitchen, suddenly, mouth, chicken, jealous, heartbreaking, and curious. She is facile with consonants, vowel patterns, most diagraphs and blends. She uses but confuses double consonants and could learn the milk truck trick for “ck.” Overall, S appears to me to be in the middle of learning “Syllables and affixes,” as confirmed on the Bear & Barone Spelling Inventory(1989), especially with unfamiliar words like pleasure, fortunate, and civilize (spelled plesher, forjenit, and sevleise) . Because LWSD uses the Wordly Wise books for spelling and word work (which does great things with prefixes, suffixes, bases, roots and meaning) I would add one or two frequently misspelled words to her list each week. The reading from Cambourne has impressed me to the point that I would like mostly to encourage her to keep writing and editing, only then adding my edits, which, so far, she pays close attention to. Through this process she will naturally acquire the skills she needs.

Lesson Plan

I will demonstrate moving from first-draft writing to second-draft, concluding with an opportunity for students to practice the skills.

Objectives

Students will be able to think about their reader(s) and how they want to communicate the information to them. Using a rubric like Routman’s “What a Good Writer Does” (Writing Essentials, 2005, page 151) students will be able to read, and reread, their first draft to make edits: moving parts around to provide more clarity and keep ideas together; providing more details in places that are lacking; and adding more interesting ways to say things.

Standards
EALR: 3 The student writes clearly and effectively.

3.1. Develops ideas and organizes writing.

3.2. Uses appropriate style.

3.3. Knows and applies writing conventions appropriate for the grade level.

Materials
Lined paper and pencils.

Instructional Strategies

Depending on time, this may be a two or even three-part lesson.

I will start the lesson by writing in front of the class demonstrating my thinking and edits as I read and reread along the way. I will pay particular attention to my intended readers, brainstorming and then moving like ideas together, thinking about details my reader may need to know, and writing in a way that draws my reader into the topic. When finished, I will check the rubric and reread again checking things off as I go.

We will then do one together entitled: “What a Substitute Teacher Needs to Know about this Class.” I will have them contribute edits along the way, and checking the rubric at the end.

They will then work on a piece by themselves entitled “What New Students Need to Know about this Class,” going through the same process.

Assessment
I will do mini-conferences with students while they work checking for organization of ideas, paragraphs centered on one idea, clarity of information for the “new student,” interesting descriptions.

Afterwards I will check their drafts for editing marks showing that they changed things to make them better: organization, word choice, and meaning/clarity of information. Specifically, I am looking for evidence of edits: things crossed out, circled and moved, inserts, etc.

Gapminder.com

We had another visit with Gapminder World.  Our in-class, small-group project of finding something of interest and creating our own way to display the information was thoroughly enjoyable, albeit a bit overwhelming - too many choices and such different questions in our small group.  Nonetheless we found something that we could all invest in and then had to find a way to display the information.  Interestingly, our questions led to more questions that led to more research outside of the gapminder website.  We had to answer why (education spending flatlined in 2001 with the inception of NCLB) and that led down some controversial paths that had what appeared to be very conflicting information.  Given more time I think students would begin to ask more questions about what is actually being asked and answered in the research, broadening their understanding of how difficult it is to be clear, concise and as "objective" as possible.  This looks to me to be a potentially very inter-disciplinary study of how we get information, how we look at it, and what it really means.  I think this could be very valuable across all content areas.  The implications are very broad and far-reaching in this "Information Age."

Questions

Math class was fast-paced and fun today.  Robin underscored the gift of using group-work projects and problems as easier and more efficient ways to address standards in the curriculum.  This is a familiar refrain in our classes, but the problems she gave us literally had us asking for more.  At the end of class we looked at the standards that we covered - fabulous.  The math curriculum in my district is highly prescribed down to the worksheets due on each day to the unit tests that get sent to the district.  I will eke out time to do some of these group problems.  I still have questions about how to implement groups wherein each student is engaged and responsible . . .

Speaking of questions - I thoroughly enjoyed the article: "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!"  The essence for me spiraled around questions, and how to ask thought-provoking, process-oriented questions that lead the students to their own answers and the differences between their answers.  I especially enjoyed thinking of a class where the questions matter as much as the answers, where more students are engaged thinkers.  The little nugget that stood out for today was requiring students to ask questions instead of saying "I don't get it."  Brilliant.

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.