#cyberpd Week 2

This summer I'm participating fully in CyberPD!  There is a great hashtag on Twitter.  There is also a Google+ community.  Come join us!


I want you to know as I get into this book, I am working not to simply summarize what I'm reading.  I too,  am making connections and looking for deeper meaning and implications for my own classroom teaching.  So, if you are new to this blog, feel free to ask questions if I seem to have gone astray!   Let's work on deeper meaning together!

As I began chapter 5, I was struck by work I have done around Marie Clay and her studies.  When we begin with what they know, we can increase their curiosity and increase their engagement and motivation.  In Reading Recovery, teachers are trained to Roam around the Known for several teaching sessions.  This is careful observation in which teachers are watching for known literacy patterns and then use these as teaching points to guide us.  This was encouraging to me because as I started reading, I wondered if this read would be relevant for me as a First Grade teacher.  

I keep thinking about the why.  Why would I begin to put such an emphasis on questioning this way in my classroom?  Because I want to put that spotlight on thinking.  I want the thinking to be a part of the culture in my classroom, as well as making that thinking visible.  How great would it be if students could get to the point where we are not only talking about why they are thinking a certain way, but how they arrived there as well.  

There is a sense of fear, if you will, about this line of work.   Maybe not fear, but apprehension?  What if they go off course?  How do I keep myself from jumping in and "correcting" their thinking if it goes off course.  I loved these words:  Hold onto your purpose.  If you slow the purpose down, students Can put the pieces of a text together to see connections, relationships and interaction.  I'm blessed to work in an environment that allows for slowing down.  

As I think more about the How behind this work, I was pleased to be reminded of Turn and Talk, as well as Low Stakes Writing.  As I consider other reading I've done this summer, I am seeing I need to renew a place for Low Stakes Work.  This doesn't mean low accountability.  It means a safe place to share curiosity and thinking without the apprehension of doing it right.  

Where are you at as you work through this book?  

Joy!
Kendra