Gone, Gone, Gone

Between teacher's inservice days and the Pumpkin Show, I am going to be mighty scarce for the next 10 days. This comes at a time when students have been working hard, but are coming up on a break. Want to know more, check out these posts about the Pumpkin Show , and a past Where Am I?

I will be back on October 22. Many thanks to all who have been reading.

I Hate Reading

The assignment was for students to write a note or letter to me about themselves as a reader. The directions were intentionally vague. I really wanted to hear what students felt about reading.

The student that wrote this note has been working fairly hard this year, with a good attitude. He participates in class. He is friendly to me, though not so much so to peers. He wrote this letter honestly, with no intent to be mean--according to him, these are his true feelings.

So, where do we go from here?

Gary Paulsen Interviewed

For all of you Paulsen fans (of which I am one), have a listen to a great interview. My favorite quote from Paulsen is, "kids should read like wolves eat." Enjoy!

Do You Say Hello?

Emily and Heather, two of my daughters and Jason were talking and as I listened in on their conversation , I heard:

H:  David saw you Thursday at the cafeteria.
E:  He is so nice.
H:  He said he didn't come over and sit beside you because you looked so grouchy.  He thought you were in a bad mood.
E.  I wasn't in a bad mood.
H.  He said he really likes you, but you never speak to him.
E.  I always say hi if he says hi to me.
H.  Do you ever say hi to him first?
E.  Well, no, but I like him and always talk to him when he says hi.

At this point, I couldn't stand it any more and had to butt in.  I asked Em how come she never tries to be a friend to him.  She said, "I really like him a lot.  I just don't usually talk to people first."

How many people limit their friendships?  Emily had no idea that David felt this way.  She was shocked when she found out.  I'll bet she speaks to him the next time she sees him.

As I start to think back on my morning, I wonder, did I miss out on a chance for friendship?  Who did I not speak to?  Who is wondering why I didn't speak?  Are you missing out on a chance to make a friend?  Or to make someone's day? 

Connections when Reading

The process of reading is when a person reads text and their inner voice makes connections between the meaning of the words, and relates it to their life and prior knowledge. The more closely the reader connects to the text, the higher the level of comprehension.

At times connecting is simple. At others, especially when the text is not in an area that the reader has background knowledge, comprehension is difficult. As students build their ability to connect with text, monitor their understanding of a passage, and compare it to things they already know, their ability to understand what they read increases.

Students should concentrate on their inner voice and connections.

1. Visualize. Picture yourself in the story and think about how the setting and characters look.

2. Focus on the characters. Compare them to yourself and people you know.

3. Put yourself in the story and think about how would react, and how you reacted when you were in a similar situation.

4. Look at problems. How do they compare to problems you have faced?

5. Ask yourself questions as you read. Think about how the story relates to your life, and things that you know.

6. When reading nonfiction, think about ways the information relates to what you already know.

7. If you are reading a book, and don't connect with it, ditch it and find one where you can make connections.

Please share a connection you have with a book you are reading.

Zero Tolerance for Errors

This is a new type of zero tolerance set up specifically for Reading Workshop. Students are expected to write without mistakes. Each student has tools available, including a computer with word processing and spell check, a dictionary, online sites like Answers.com and Dictionary.com, peer assistance, and spelling buddies. There really is no reason for writing with mistakes, other than a lack of effort.

Students are expected to use correct punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar. When an assignment is turned in with errors, students will redo it until it is correct. Amazingly, in only three days, the writing has improved dramatically. Students have begun to edit with attention to detail. What seemed to be a totally unfair demand, has shown astounding results.
Surely students would not have been trying to slide by with a minimal amount of effort! Once again, students show how they can rise to the level of expectation. With the drastic improvement already, I cannot imagine the quality of writing I can expect in a few weeks. I anxiously await some of the phenomenal pieces of work that will be produced this year in Reading Workshop.

Carnival of Education

The Carnival of Education is at Mathew Needleman’s Creating Lifelong Learners. If you want to read the latest ideas and information in education, this is a great place to start.

Editing Until it's Right

I was reading the NYC Educator's Blog when I came upon this post. He told this story about one of his students.

I looked at the kid's paper, and there wasn't a capital letter on it. This freaked me out a little, since I know for a fact they use them in his native language.

"Didn't your first-grade teacher tell you to use big letters when you start sentences?" I asked, pointing to the first letter of the first paragraph, a plainly lower-case "t."

"Yes, but I forget."

"Well, remember," I said.

15 minutes later I went back, and the kid had corrected only that first letter.

"You want me to do all of them?" he asked.

"Of course," I told him.

He resigned himself to the miserable task. When I came back, he had capitalized the first letter of every line, without regard to where the sentences had begun.

He probably didn't anticipate my being cruel enough to make him rewrite the whole thing. But goshdarn it, it's all part of the learning process.

As students finish up letters today, I wonder how many will turn in papers with simple mistakes, that they know how to correct?

Based on the grades that students have been earning on their weekly WTC (Words that Count) assignment, I imagine there will be some low grades due to lack of effort editing.

Maybe we should take a page from the NCY Educator, and just keep doing it until they are done correctly.

I am Reading. . .

Students, please complete the following in the comments section. Replace the red with information about your SSR book.

I am reading Soldier's Heart written by Gary Paulsen . I have 65 pages before I finish my book. It will take me 4 days to finish.

The best thing about this book is ...

The best thing about this book is how it brought me into it. I feel like I am Charley. When he faces the enemy in battle for the first time, I felt myself tighten up with the anticipation of what was ahead. When the battle is over, and Charley must face his shame, I felt defeated and sad. Paulsen took me through all of the feelings, just as Charley experiences them. In every step of Charley's journey, I could picture myself, in his place, living his life.

Read Aloud to Revise

Kara M. said, "When you go through your essay, you see it like you think it's supposed to be. When you read it aloud, you find the mistakes." Her experience with reading her letter aloud today showed why students learned this writing tool.

As explained in the Reading Workshop Notes:

Reading Aloud to Revise

To revise your content, read an essay aloud. Have the listener alert you at any time when your writing does not make sense, or they have a question. Highlight that part, and after you are finished, go back and rewrite. Then read aloud again to a different person. Repeat the process until your essay is easy to understand and interesting to read.

For this to work, the listener must be actively involved, and not afraid to speak up whenever the essay does not make sense, or has grammatical errors. He must also listen for pauses, and be sure appropriate punctuation is included.

Courage, Do You Have It?

When you are facing something impossible and unknown, do you have the courage to stare it down and succeed? Can you overcome the challenges to be a winner?

The biggest problem facing students that regularly get bad grades is the fear of failure. Bad grades are a habit that is usual and comfortable. No one really expects them to do well. When they do, they get a pat on the back from teachers, who hope it will last, but they don't truly expect it to. Let's face it, a reputation for bad grades is usually earned from lots of assignments either not done at all, or so poorly done that they might as well have not been done.

I think it is interesting how these students that often fail in the classroom, are some of the bravest in the school. They face down bullies with no problem. Teachers and principals constantly punish them, yet they come back every day. Sometimes they go home to situations that would scare any adult. But "doing school" is just too much.

In order to get ahead, students need to know what is holding them back, and leave it behind. What does it take? How do they make this happen? What will give students the courage, judgment and the power to face down their fears until success is a habit.

Monday Morning

Know Any Good Books?

We want to know all about great fictional books! Write a comment about your favorite book. Tell us why you like the book. Or what you think of the book. Make sure to include the title and author of your book.

You can also tell who you would recommend the book to and why you would recommend that book. What happens in your book? Why does it happen? Who is your favorite character?

But, don't give away the ending!

Today's post was written by a guest writer, Lily W. Thanks for the good idea.

Letter Introduction and Conclusion

Students finished their first major writing project last week--a letter about the book they were reading. This was quite a learning process for some, and as we start the second letter this week, students have definite areas that need focus.

One student's letter stood out above all last week because of her introduction and conclusion. In fact, just the wrapping at the beginning and the end was enough to set her letter apart.

Here is Sarah's introduction:
I'm reading a book called Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Akazban. Hopefully I can read all seven books by 8th grade. Have you ever read any of the Harry Potter books? Or read any books by J.K. Rowling? I hope you end up reading some of these books after you read my review.

This sets an upbeat positive tone, introduces the subject, and gets the reader involved in the letter.

Here is Sarah's Conclusion:
I really like this book. It's very different from other books. I highly recommend this book to others because its so easy to understand and read. If you like reading about magic and risking your life to save others, these books are for you. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

Again, there is a positive tone, she wraps up the letter, states the reason for writing, and closes with a thank you for the reader. Great job Sarah B.!!!!

Using a Dictionary & Other Tools

The Head Monkey from Canada posted this as a comment, but I thought maybe it should be posted.

Okay, Ohio Monkeys, how about this one?? I just gave my Canadian Monkeys a vocabulary test today to see where their strengths and weakness are (Gates-MacGinitie). Should I have let them use a dictionary???

To add to this thought, when is it OK to use all of the tools available? When should students show what they know without the help of tools like dictionaries, thesaurus, word processing and other technology, peer help, teacher help . . .?

Smart or Cheating?

Students were at their computer working on Study Island, the online learning program. They were doing a session on context clues. When I walked around the room, I noticed that Jacob was using the computer dictionary. Was this cheating? Or, was he the smartest kid in the whole sixth grade?

This S.I. session focused on using the words and sentences around a word students didn't know, to figure out the meaning of the word. Context Clues are hints that the author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word. The clue may be in the same sentence as the word, or it may be in a preceding or subsequent sentence.


This is an example of a context clue:
The difficulty of the assignment forced the student to work hard to complete the tough task. By reading the sentence, you can figure out the meaning of the word difficulty.


Jacob was doing his best to be successful. In no way was he attempting to cheat. His intention was to get the best score possible on Study Island. But, the whole point of learning about context clues is to better reading comprehension by figuring out the meaning of words without using a dictionary. But, as one student said, "if I use the dictionary I am learning the meaning of a lot of words I don't know."


Should a student be punished for using all of the tools available to get the best score? Should all of the students be encouraged to use the dictionary? What about using Text-to-Speech to read words aloud that they don't know. Although Study Island is mostly a tool for assessment and remediation, if students might learn more using these tools, should they be integrated into the daily routine?

Students won't be allowed to use these tools for the Achievement Test, so should they use them every day in class?

Regardless of the decision about the use of these tools during Study Island, good job to Jacob for being creative, and figuring out the best way possible to get a high score.

Writer's Block

When I have writer's block, I just write some hooey. I just put some words down, knowing that it ain't gonna be to good. What the heck, it's just a first draft, so it don't really matter. First drafts are supposed to suck.

Sometimes I will crank up the music. Sometimes I will read a little, or surf the net. But the main thing I do is just keep trying to get words down. Good, bad, or ugly, I just keep adding a word here, and then a word there until I have a sentence. Before I know it, I have written another post on the blog.

Now, my brilliant young students, I am sure you are asking, "what does this have to do with me and Reading Workshop?"

I have noticed that some of you are sitting there, looking like the keyboard might electrocute you. It won't. I promise. Just put down some words. Any words. You are allowed to make mistakes. You are allowed to not make sense. Go ahead, screw up. We can fix it. If you are not sure about the assignment, ask.

If you are not quite sure, just throw some words out there. Before you know it, the assignment will be done. You will be a success. Your teacher and your parents will be proud. They will smile and tell you that you are wonderful. You will get A's and be on the honor roll. You will win all of the awards.


P.S. Even if all of that doesn't happen, at least you will get the assignment done.

Blog Topics

We were sitting in the circle talking about the Writer's Block post, when Amber asked, "do you ever ask for suggestions about blog topics?"

"Great idea," I replied.

Amber, other students, parents, and teachers, please comment. Give me your ideas. I am especially interested in ideas about reading, books, Reading Workshop, education, and our class at Laurelville. However, I will most certainly consider any topic relevant to what we are doing. In fact, you never know, I might consider any topic, whether relevant or not. So, throw out your ideas. If I use a topic you suggest, you will receive a prize that may be worth millions of dollars.

Reading at Home

Each week students have an assignment to read at home. Students choose a book that they want to read from home, the library, or the book room. The only requirement is that they log the date, title, time read, and pages. Students are responsible for filling out this chart each week as they read, logging both at school and at home. Occasionally, students will have longer than a week when the school schedule is affected by holidays.


Students can choose to earn the grade they want. The more they read, the higher the score. This is the grade scale:

A = 180 + Minutes
B = 120 - 179 Minutes
C = 60 - 119 Minutes
F = 0-59 Minutes

Although students have no direct assignments associated with Read at Home and the Reading Log, many of the activities and projects in class are based on the book they are reading. The recent project of a Dear Mr. McGuire letter is an example. When students write about their book, it is easy to monitor comprehension and see if students are "getting it." The fact that students can pick their book to read helps because they can find a book that interests them.


The emphasis on reading is largely based on the research from Richard Allington. Allington cites four "background factors" associated with why students have difficulty with reading. According to the author:

1. the amount of reading that students do in and out of school was related to reading achievement;
2. children who spend more time on workbook activities versus reading text are more likely to have difficulty reading;
3. children who come from homes where reading is not modeled have difficulty reading; and,
4. students who have difficulty providing details and arguments to support interpretations of what they read have difficulty with reading.

According to the author, time on task is the best predictor for reading success in students. Put simply, more reading is equal to greater academic achievement.

The best part of this system for monitoring reading, and increasing reading time is how students can control their grades. If they are willing to work hard, their grades will show it.

Are You on the Road to Smarter?

I had an interesting conversation with a student yesterday. We were talking about being smart or being dumb. Is it a choice? It seems to me if you make smart choices in school, you will learn and become smarter. If you make dumb choices like not doing your work, not studying, and don't learn, you won't get any smarter.

What do you think? Will making smart choices as a student make a smarter adult? Can you control how smart you are? How much does hard work and responsibility have to do with getting to Smarter. Or, do you just get so much brain power and that is it?

Can you choose the road to Smarter? If you don't choose, do you crash into Dumberville?

What about when you choose the right road, you are getting smarter, and then this happens?



Have you mapped out your road to success? Where are you headed? Do you have a goal of someday living in Smarter? It may just be a rumor, but I heard that the people in Smarter have better jobs, make more money, have nicer houses, and drive newer cars. Anyone know if this is true?