Do mini-lessons make a difference?

Sometimes we wonder if the mini-lessons that we teach make any difference. The Mall-ards (Maria Mallon and Cheryl Dillard) actually show the difference that mini-lessons make by showing student work "before a mini-lesson" and then the results "after the mini-lesson."

This first example shows the change one student made after a mini-lesson that included the teacher reading the great beginnings in Mem Fox books that had time, place and orientation. This student was able to improve on his story openings.

Before: When Jack came to my house, we had lots of fun.

After: One Saturday morning it was Jack's birthday. He invited me to his party.

In this next example, the student's writing benefits from a mini-lesson about using a question as an introduction to a story.

Before: In this story the student just jumps into the action of the sotry, beginning the story without an introduction. First we went between the cones. Then some people knocked down the cones...

After: In the piece written after the mini-lesson the student begins the story by engaging the reader with a question. One really hot day, I had a soccer game. Have you had a soccer game before?

In this example the lesson was simply about using the red line of the notebook paper to line up writing on the left side. The mini-lesson on the following day was about rereading and editing a piece by adding and deleting words.

Before: This example clearly shows a student whose writing habitually slides down the page.

After: Not only does the student move his writing over to the red line but also rereads and edits his paper by adding missing words and changing words to make a better choice.

Other examples of mini-lesson that are memorable are the TD's lesson comparing how to build an ice cream sundae the same way that you build a narrative story. As a student told his story to the class, he got a scoop of ice cream for each event, an M&M for each character and sprinkles for details. A little whipped cream came at the end for a good ending to the story. The memory of this mini-lesson is likely to have students licking their lips as they write.

Another memorable mini-lesson was Cathy Daniels teaching children to s-t-r-e-t-c-h their story while staying in the small moment. As the student told her story during the mini-lesson Mrs. Daniels stretched a piece of yarn until she and the student were on opposite sides of the room. Every student wanted a chance to s-t-r-e-t-c-h their story when they went into the work session of the Writers' Workshop!

Do mini-lessons make a difference? Not every mini-lesson makes a difference to every single student, but our thoughtful lessons do make a difference in the way that students write, how they think about their writing and how they reread and edit their work.

Mem Fox, Our Writing Mentor!

One of the most interesting Standard-based Bulletin Boards this month comes from the TDs (Randi Timmons and Cathy Daniels) first grade classroom. The class opened the year with an Author Study of Aussie Mem Fox. As they have been reading Mem’s books, they have been filling in an attribute chart that focused on parts of a narrative story including: Who? (characters) When and Where? (setting), What and Why? (the events) and Fun Language. As the students filled in the attribute chart with each new Mem Fox book they were able to visually see the ways that the books were the same and different, so they were able to “talk across the books of a single author.”

What came next is an interesting twist. The teachers echoed the Readers’ Workshop lesson with writing narrative stories in the Writers’ Workshop (using Lucy Calkins’ Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing and Authors as Mentors). After completing Mem’s Attribute Chart, they started a new Attribute Chart in Writers’ Workshop featuring two of the young writers in the class. After each of the kid authors wrote his story during the Workshop, the next day's mini-lesson included filling in the attributes of each child’s story. In this way the children could see that a story by Mem Fox had the same attributes as a story written by one of their peers! Mem had characters. The kid authors had characters. Mem included the setting. The kid authors included the setting...The bulletin board displays the Mem Fox attribute chart and the kid attribute chart with the writing of both young men.

The stories are transcribed below:

When I Went to the Mall
One day I went to the mall. We walked a long time. I had a happy time at the mall. I got a dart board. I love my present. You throw the dart at the board. Then it sticks. We ate at the mall. I ate a hamburger. It was yummy with ketchup. My dad had chicken. We started walking. There were a lot of people. My food was good. I loved it. We started to walk away. Then we saw the train. We did not go on the train. The train was red. We looked at the train and the train was going fast. There was a man sleeping in the sand with a butterfly on his nose. There was a croc in the water. There were giant clams and a sting ray. I walked and walked. Then we searched for clothes. We did not buy any clothes. Then we went home. Mom and Dad said, “Isabella and Even, it is time to go.” I was angry that I had to go but I will come back again. Wouldn’t you?

Poland
I visited Bacha for 12 days. Bacha lives in Poland. She is an old lady. One day I went to the mountains and touched the clouds. I went in the hanger up the mountains. No wall. No floors. No ceiling. Just chairs! First I got to the top of the mountains. I saw the people small as an ant up on the mountain. I went on the car down the mountain. The car went really high. One car goes up and one car goes down. I like Poland so much. I go on 3 airplanes to get back to Jacksonville. I want to go again!

Mem Fox Vocabulary

Standard-based bulletin boards are up this week and Meredy Mackiewicz showed the work her class has been doing with the America's Choice Mem Fox Vocabulary Study.


From Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge the students worked on the words admire, precious, errand, memory, favorite, and speckled. One of the culminating activities for this group of words was to give each child one of the words and ask them to use the word in a sentence and then draw a picture of the sentence on the back. The sentence/ pictures for each word were grouped together and hung as mobiles in the room. In the bulletin board example the child wrote the sentence, I saw a speckled fish with dots.

In Possum Magic the children studied adventure, nibble, invisible, visible, expectantly, and miserable. Each student was given one of the words and asked to write examples in their Australian shaped word web. In the bulletin board example the student showed understanding of the word adventure by listing haunted house, climbing a mountain, going on a boat, and going on a roller coaster! Great adventures!

From Tough Borris, the first graders learned stern, scruffy, massive, fearless, sorrow and greedy. Each child was given a word and then asked to complete a word web of words that meant the same. On the example shown, the word was massive. The student showed she understood the word by adding big, heavy, large, enormous, jumbo size and 10,000 pounds to his web.

Koala Lou featured the words fling, spectator, preparations, exuberant, determined, and splendid. The photos show the children acting out the words.






As you can see, the children have studied sophisticated words through their study of Mem Fox books. The activities shown are the culminating activities to show that the children understand the vocabulary and how they were used in Mem Fox's books. The real understanding of course, will be if the students understand the words as they hear them in other books or in conversation and if they use the words in their writing. We will have to ask Mrs. Mackiewicz to keep up with how many of the words get used in kid writing!

All About Mem Fox

This year, unlike other years in first grade, we began the year with an Author Study of Mem Fox. Mem is Australian so this author study fit well with our theme of "Around the World in 180 Days" and our study of Australia. I'd like to invite you to join me as I walked through the first grade classrooms. It is obvious from the pictures below that first graders are not only enjoying Mem's books, but are learning to compare and contrast the books with Venn diagrams and attribute charts so they can talk across the books. It is also obvious that they are also studying the vocabulary from these favorite books and using Mem as a writing mentor in their narrative study. What a wonderful way to begin a year with rich literature and beloved stories!

About Literacy Centers – This I believe…

Readers Workshop is about reading – giving students time to practice comprehension and develop stamina. So… in thinking about how to extend the independent reading time, many teachers turn to Literacy Centers or Stations. In cases where students aren’t quite ready to read for the 40-45 minutes independently, teachers use literacy stations to extend the reading practice in Readers’ Workshop.

What do stations in Readers Workshop look like?
Literacy Centers look like extensions of the reading work that encourage students to continue reading connected text. For instance, the following are good examples of centers that continue the work of reading connected text:
Reading big books
Putting the lines to a poem in order
Reading poems, poetry books or poetry posters
Reading/ singing from song books or books that can be sung to a tune
Reading Science and/or Math books
Reading around the room
Bear Center with a stuffed bear to read as a partner
Partner reading
Listening station
Reading all the books by a certain author, such as Mem Fox
Magazine Center filled with interesting kids’ magazines
Phone Center with PVC phones to read into
Alphabet Book Center or any other topic center, such a Animals, Trucks, Space
Computer Center with programs that read books to children such as Lookybooks
Book in a basket – sitting in a laundry basket with a book!

What makes a good Literacy Station in Readers’ Workshop?
A good reading station requires a student to read connected text but it is also a center that does not have to change often and is easily differentiated. For instance, it is easy to place a big book that you have used as shared reading at a Center. Every student is familiar with the text and it can become reading material for the most advanced readers or a book to retell by looking at the pictures for the most challenged students. The litmus test should be if it includes connected text. Changing out stations should not take on a life of its own.

What about Centers that require writing in Readers’ Workshop?
The point of Readers’ Workshop is to practice reading so writing a response to literature should be done in the Writers’ Workshop, not in Readers’. However, there is a difference between a formal response to literature and responding to what you are reading. To respond in writing during the Readers’ Workshop by making a Venn diagram to help understand how characters compare is an extension of comprehension or writing a chart to try to figure out a vocabulary word is another extension of understanding the text. It is not unusual for first grade students to have a Readers’ Response Notebook with them in Readers’ Workshop to jot notes as they try to comprehend connected text, but a student would probably not be writing in the notebook more than once a week at a Center. If centers contain written expectations and writing takes over the Readers’ Workshop, something is wrong.

What would NOT be in a Literacy Center during Readers’ Workshop?
Skills! Literacy Centers during reading are NOT a time for word work or handwriting, spelling, or phonics practice. Those are skills kept for the Skills Block. They do not allow students to practice reading connected text. Of course, you can argue that phonics is related to decoding (certainly a reading strategy) but the key phrase in Readers’ Workshop is connected text. Students need phonics practice every day but it occurs in the Skills Block - NOT in Readers’ Workshop.

In evaluating our centers we should be keeping our goal in mind of building stamina and reading for longer periods of time. The goal would be to use the centers in the earliest grades to extend and change up the reading time to help students read longer. The goal is to increase independent reading time and decrease center time as the year moves along and to eventually only use the centers occasionally as a treat or to differentiate for students still struggling with focused reading. While this philosophy may differ from that of Reading First schools and even those using the Core Curriculum in my own county, this is what I believe about Literacy Centers as my best practice during the Readers’ Workshop.

Extreme Makeover - School Edition

Ever notice how some teachers just seem to have a knack for decorating? You walk into their rooms and it’s so cheerful and welcoming. The kids just look so comfortable. One of the things I always love about Debbie Miller’s books is the color pages that show pictures of her classroom and pictures of other classrooms that she visits. In her latest book, Teaching With Intention, she even talks about room arrangement. She walked into a room as a consultant with a specific agenda but looked around and realized the clutter and disorganization didn’t make the work space conducive to learning so, before she began teaching, she and the teacher cleaned up and cleared out, thinking through the placement of each piece of furniture to make room for the whole group, small group and individual spaces needed. Sometimes cleaning up the clutter also helps unclutter the mind! How cool would that be – to have Debbie Miller come into your classroom and help you design it for maximum learning?

Maria Mallon has always had one of those classrooms at our school. As you walk into her room it has always been such a cheerful place. This year as she was joined by equally talented Cheryl Dillard and they became the Mall-ards that same comfortable, homey atmosphere surrounds the children. Below are some pictures from the Mall-ard’s first grade classroom this year. One of my favorite things is a green tree that is outside the classroom, full of holes to be used filled with suckers at the Fall Carnival. Because it’s too big to store, each year it is reinvented into the outside landscape. This year it is a tree holding an Australian koala and a beautiful picture of Sydney! Creativity abounds!

Debbie Cothern and Michelle Ellis have the largest classroom in our building so when you walk into their room it always seems so clean and free of clutter. As you walk around you realize that they have thought through every single space and each piece of furniture has a purpose. Karen Meissner is another kindergarten teacher whose room is always decorated for the season and is so welcoming. It smells good too!

Stenhouse Publishers must also realize that a teacher’s environment can make a big difference in learning because they have opened their new blog with a beautiful picture of Debbie Diller’s classroom and a space for teachers to upload pictures of their classrooms to share – Classroom Beautiful! Prizes are being given to the first 10 teachers who take up the offer and there is even an offer that Debbie Diller herself will provide some suggestions for makeovers. How cool is that?!!

September Book of the Month

Each month our principal, Susan Phillips, selects a book and gives it to every classroom in the building so that we have a common piece of literature K-5 for vertical articulation. She uses the book to demonstrate a new strategy for the faculty. This month was no different. Mrs. Phillips chose a book that is an atlas, The Amazing Picture Atlas, in keeping with our theme of traveling "Around the World in 180 Days." She charged each grade level with completing a different activity with the atlas in the 40 minutes that we had for Book-of-the-Month - a travel brochure, a map, a graffiti sheet, a quick write, compass points, an advertisement - showing the faculty how they can take a single non-fiction text and differentiate. Using the atlas, first grade teachers were given a scavenger hunt to do with their continent of Australia. Below are some of the pictures of the team as they worked.

Reading with Intention

When I read Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning in 2002, I couldn't wait to take it to school and show it to my colleagues. She took Ellin Keene's landmark work in Mosaic of Thought to a level that even I could understand. Debbie was a practicing first grade teacher, grappling with the same children and questions that I was. She understood my children. The book quickly became a grade level book study... and changed our practice forever. One of the things that we really loved was the way that she took reading strategies and spent time with each one. She didn't flit from one to another every day but spend weeks really teaching students to understand how to use the strategy in their own reading. We adopted her outline for the year and have loved the depth of her lessons (activating prior knowledge, drawing inferences, asking questions, determining importance, summarizing and synthesizing, monitoring, and creating visual images). Reading with Meaning became the first grade bible for our reading instruction.

When I heard the Debbie had a new book, Teaching with Intention, I was on the list to get the book long before it was released. When the book finally arrived, I took it out that very day and began reading. It was like catching up with an old friend! When she talked about "thoughtful, reflective, strategic teachers," I thought, "Exactly! That's what we have been trying to become!"

In this book, Debbie does not remind us of the specific strategies and yearlong lessons that she has already put forth in Reading with Meaning. Instead, she asks us to align our belief system to what we really do in our classroom. If someone walked into my room one afternoon after the children has gone, would they know that I believe that a literate classroom has to be organized, purposeful, accessible and above all, authentic? Would they be able to see the gradual release of responsibility in the way that I use read-alouds, shared reading, guided reading and independent reading? Could they find artifacts of each easily around the classroom? Would they see my notebook of formative, on-going assessment that includes running records, conferring and anecdotal notes along with teacher-made and more formal assessments and then see how that information is being used to design lessons in my classroom? Would they find the joy that the children and I share each day? This type of practice cannot come out of Teacher's Guide filled with teaching tips, but must be based on an alignment of beliefs. As Debbie says, "it's hard to imagine the circumstances where prepackaged programs and scripts teach children better than I do." That doesn't mean, of course, that as I think through the needs of the children in my care that one of those tips or ideas might not be just what is needed for a group of children but I don't want to get so into the "stuff" of teaching that I lose the art of being reflective and thoughtful. After all it is not the purpose of any program to mandate the joy that I feel in teaching or what I believe. Debbie reminds me to relax, slow down and be present in the moment.

Finally, in this test-obsessed environment Debbie reminds me to trust myself - to not lose sight of my intentions while I am trying to fit everything in. She reminds me to teach deeply and well and to "nix the juggling act." This book was like having a cup a coffee with my favorite teacher friend and leaving our conversation with a smile on my face!

Independent Reading

In these early days of the new school year, each child is selecting books from the leveled library to include in an individual book bag. Teachers use different way to house the individual books for each child such as magazine racks on a shelf or red Target bags on the back of each chair, but regardless of the way the books are housed, each child has his own "just right" books. These early levels are taken from reading levels reported last year from last year's teachers as first grade teachers begin reassessing each child using the new DRA2. Basically each child chooses about 6 books that are on his independent reading level, a couple of easier books to practice fluency and a couple of more challenging books, often books that have been reviewed in guided reading group. The child chooses his own books so that he can select books within the level that are the most interesting to him. Each first grader also takes home a book to practice reading every night. The book is taken from these same "just right" books so that the parent can be assured that the book is appropriate for his child. Happy reading!