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DigiLitSunday: The Dog ate my Homework

Posted in #cyberpd, Digital Learning, Teaching, tagged Dynamic Teaching, gifted education on July 23, 2017| 1 Comment »

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Not really, but I didn’t get the DigiLitSunday post up this morning. I have my excuses. Don’t we all? But the basic reason was self-doubt. I battle this as much as anyone. Even some of my favorite authors go through this, so why would I expect anything different of myself?

I’ve been trying to keep up with #cyberPd. This group is reading and responding to Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading by Vicki Vinton. This week’s posts are around chapters 7 and 8. I just now finished chapter 7, so I didn’t do all of my homework. I was reminded by a friend that this is a self-made assignment and if I don’t want to do it, nobody will care. That is true, but then I had to re-assess why I am reading and writing in the first place.

I want to be a better reader, a better writer, and a better teacher of both reading and writing. I believe that I should practice what I preach. So, for better or worse, here I am. If you did write a digilit post, link up below. It’s not too late.

Chapter 7, Creating Opportunities for Readers to Interpret, begins with this epigraph:

We search for patterns, you see, only to find where the patterns break. And it’s there, in that fissure that we pitch our tents and wait. –Nicole Krauss

Readers do not build interpretations on what is obvious in a text. We sit in the fissure of broken patterns, wondering, questioning, testing out our theories, and peeling away the layers the author has set up for us.

I feel I have done a disservice to my gifted students in not helping them understand that we don’t always understand. Julieanne Harmatz wrote in her reflections about Chs. 7 & 8 that we must embrace confusion as part of learning. Vicki Vinton shows me how to honor my students’ thinking and hold onto it in order to promote engagement, a sense of agency, and ownership. They need to understand that not knowing is part of the thinking process. And what’s wrong with going back to the text to re-read?

Have you ever had an Aha moment while reading, and turned back to say, “Oh, that’s what that was about!”? Of course you have. Because that is how authors grab us and make us want to read more. By focusing on the process rather than the product (test, essay, whatever), we can mold our students into problem-solving thinkers.

Reading is a transactional act. The text comes alive in our minds when we interact using our own interpretations and our own hearts. Then a story becomes real and meaningful. We can encourage this flexibility of thought within our classrooms. Vicki Vinton helps show us how.

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DigiLitSunday: Open and Write

Posted in #cyberpd, Digital Learning, Writing, tagged reader response on July 16, 2017| 2 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Along with many others, I am reading and reflecting on Vicki Vinton’s book Dynamic Teaching for Deeper Reading. This week’s assignment in #cyberPD is chapters 5 and 6. In these chapters, Vicki gets down to the nitty gritty of reading instruction by taking us with her into a classroom and watching her guide students through a read-aloud. So often we are given theory without practical application. In this book, I feel I am a fly on the wall in Vicki’s classroom.

We are invited to use a Notice/ Wonder chart. A few years ago when I participated in the Global Read Aloud, this was the way I had my students enter into a Voxer conversation with other classes. By using notice and wonder, students can engage in the text without the stress of “text-based questions” or a “literary essay.” It’s low-stakes reading.

Ralph Fletcher makes a case for low-stakes writing in his latest book Joy Write. Low-stakes reading, like low-stakes writing, is necessary to build critical thinking skills as well as to honor our students for who they are as readers and writers. All ideas are accepted so all become active participants in the discussion.

In chapter 6, Vicki writes about low-stakes writing prompts for fiction. She gives a list of the values of this kind of writing. I want to add to this list. I agree that the writing can give you a glimpse into the minds of the students, but I contend that the act of writing itself helps to solidify that thinking. By writing down thoughts about reading, students engage their core thinking. They focus and process at a higher level.

Turn and talk can become open and write. Adding the low-stakes writing component will help me build my students’ muscles for longer high-stakes writing. I require a reader response each week about independent reading. Some students struggle around what they should write. By using read-aloud and low-stakes writing about reading alongside notice and wonder, my students will be able to practice writing about reading.

Curiosity puts the brain in a state where it is ready to learn, according to Albert Einstein. Vicki goes on to say that curiosity is nurtured in a classroom from the inside. No outside motivators will make this happen. We must cultivate a classroom atmosphere that welcomes questions. Wonder should be at the forefront. Perhaps my daily journal prompt should be “What are you wondering about today?” Keep curiosity alive around reading and students will lead themselves to the joy of learning. You can just stand by and watch.

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