A New Day

The sun is breaking over the horizon, anticipation builds, at the dawning of a new day. School is starting. New faces walk into the building in new shoes that have been waiting in boxes for the first day of school. Bookbags hang from shoulders as students climb the stairs.

Feeling a little nervous? Don't worry. Don't fret. We will have a good year. Your tennis shoes will leave worn out and dirty, but your mind and your heart will be stronger for having spent the year growing and learning.

Welcome to The Reading Workshop.

Image courtesty of http://www.flickr.com/photos/78518624@N00/2283806636/.

Reading Workshop Student Blog Rubric

	Student Blog Rubric
Score	Basis for Scoring
------------------------= = 4 or A	Concise (3 -4 paragraphs) with a specific focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post Specific details support the main idea Has a "So What?", theme, lesson, or specific point that attracts the readers' attention Demonstrates detailed understanding of the blog topic Positive tone engages the reader Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
3 or B	Concise (2 - 3 paragraphs) with a focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post Specific details support information Has a "So What?", theme, or lesson Demonstrates understanding of the blog topic Positive tone engages the reader Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
2 or C	Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening introduces the point of the post Details support information Has a point Shows some understanding of the blog topic Positive tone Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
1 or D	Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus Shares a thought, idea, or opinion Opening introduces the point of the post Limited details Point is unclear Shows limited understanding of the topic Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization has mistakes ---------------------------------------------------------

Grading Students' Blogs

	Student Blog Rubric
Score	Basis for Scoring
------------------------= = 4 or A	Concise (3 -4 paragraphs) with a specific focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post Specific details support the main idea Has a "So What?", theme, lesson, or specific point that attracts the readers' attention Demonstrates detailed understanding of the blog topic Positive tone engages the reader Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
3 or B	Concise (2 - 3 paragraphs) with a focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post Specific details support information Has a "So What?", theme, or lesson Demonstrates understanding of the blog topic Positive tone engages the reader Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
2 or C	Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions Opening introduces the point of the post Details support information Has a point Shows some understanding of the blog topic Positive tone Picture that supports post with attribution Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct ---------------------------------------------------------
1 or D	Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus Shares a thought, idea, or opinion Opening introduces the point of the post Limited details Point is unclear Shows limited understanding of the topic Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization has mistakes ---------------------------------------------------------

The Good Stuff

Recently students in Reading Workshop wrote about the "good stuff" that they see at our school. Sometimes people forget just how much positive goes on every day at school. The student responses serve as a reminder.

* People find money and put it in the lost and found
* People help each other
* Mr. McGuire bugs other teachers
* When our teachers tell us to get into groups no one is left out
* When we work in groups everyone works together
* Teachers are almost always happy
* Kids help other kids get on track
*Kids having good attitudes
*People are always smiling
* Everyone is respectful to each other
* There is a future for my friends and me
* We get to sing
* It's so much better than city schools where everyone always wants to fight
*You can act like yourself without being judged
* People work together to get things done
* Kids give 100% effort on almost everything
* The teachers are really funny
* Kids don't make fun of you, if you can't do what they can
* Teachers make it fun to learn
* No one really cares about looks
* People share stuff with other people
* When a person drops their stuff people help them pick it up
* Kids are happy to come to school
* Everyone can make the right choices and be smart
*People keep their promises
*People get along at recess
*Teachers are so kind-hearted
*Kids don't just eat with their friends
*People compliment each other
*A nice principal
*People encourage other people
*People get along
*Students help students
* Lots of technology
*Great staff, that has a big impact on the school
*People respect each others' differences
*Friends like me for who I am

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Conkle's Hollow Field Trip

The sixth grade visited Conkle's Hollow Nature Preserve in the Hocking Hills as part of a Geology field trip. Students enjoyed the day and the beautiful rock formations.

Noted Naturalist, Paul Knoop explained many facts about the area, how it came to be, and facts about many plants and animals.

What Mountains Have You Climbed?

What challenges have you overcome? What challenges have you faced? As you look back on this school year, 170 days full of goods and bads, what went well? Where did you succeed?

Or, as sung by Miley Cyrus

The struggles I’m facing,

The chances I’m taking

Sometimes they might knock me down but

No I’m not breaking

And as you look ahead, what challenges still have to be faced?

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,

And how will you handle those challenges?

Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I'm going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

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100 Incredibly Inspiring Blogs

The Reading Workshop has been included in a list of 100 Incredibly Inspiring Blogs.  The post on What Makes a Good Teacher leads the list of posts that take a look at what makes a good teacher and will inspire you to appreciate what you do or maybe even improve your style as an educator.

Thank you for inclusion! As I stated in the post, I am not claiming to do these things, but it does give me something to work towards.

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Grading Students' Blogs

Want an A on your blog? Climb the stairs to writing success. Climb the stairs to earning a good grade.

Did you spell everything correctly? I would hope so. After all, who would want to write something that is available to the whole world, and misspell words? Can the reader understand the topic because you stick to it? Following these minimal standards will earn you at least a D.

Did you use correct grammar? Can the reader follow your post in an organized manner? This is still a most basic expectations for writers that want to publish their work. The skills learned in the primary grades are not too much to expect for work posted on the WWW. A C means satisfactory and not meeting this criteria would surely not be sufficient for earning any higher grade.

To build loyal readers, first you must have interesting content presented in a well-written way. Supporting details draw in the readers and give them understanding. If posts are written cleanly, the words illustrate the meaning, and the reader can visualize your ideas, you will earn a B.

Occasionally someone will write something that makes the reader pause, and think, or causes the reader to agree or disagree. Sometimes hours after reading an essay, the reader is still thinking about it. When a blog post has that something special, then the writer deserves an A.

What step are you on? Have you climbed the stairs to writing success?

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Blogging in Language Arts

After eight months of commenting on The Reading Workshop blog and writing an online journal on the Reading Workshop Wiki, students are stepping into the driver's seat. A few students have already had the opportunity to create their own blog as part of this class. Now, all students who have their parents' permission can have a blog of their own.

The opportunity to publish online is a powerful motivator for students because it gives them a voice, an audience, and the chance to get immediate feedback. Students are excited about the opportunity to share their work. Blogs engage every student in the writing process and allow the students to both reflect on their own writing and react to the writing of others. I intend to use our blogs as a platform for a variety of writing exercises. Each student will respond to prompts, share ideas and resources, and reflecting on learning inside and outside of the classroom.

The blogs are accessible to anyone searching the Internet, but I will oversee all student blog contributions, and I will exercise administrative access privileges whenever necessary. By their nature, blogs are designed to allow comments by readers, but for safety reasons, this feature will only be available to our students and approved visitors.

If parents and teachers would like access to be able to comment on the blogs, they can send me an email and I will set up privileges.

The students are excited and I look forward to seeing the results of their hard work and creativity. Links to all of the students blogs are in the sidebar.

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Smile, Enjoy Life, and the Music

Being a student in Reading Workshop is hard work. Keeping up with assignments is hard work. The whole educational process is serious business. But, sometimes, in the rush of life, with unrelenting pressure, we need to stop and find a reason to smile.

This video comes by way of Britain's Times Online School Gate which originally found it at Teacher in a Strange Land.

Enjoy!





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You Too Can Pass the Test

How is winning a basketball game like passing an Achievement Test? It's all about using what you worked on in practice at game time. Students each year start to freak out as the test date approaches. They love to throw out those, "OMG, I am sooooo nervous!"

Give it a rest, already. Good test scores are a result of following procedures and using what you know. Students in Reading Workshop have learned all they need to know to prove their proficiency. When the big day comes, they will be ready to use the skills they have been practicing.

Going spastic and twitching nervously might give people something to laugh about, but it really doesn't have one thing to do with the test. It really just comes down to reading a few passages, and answering some questions. Being a fruit loop and stressing out yourself and your classmates is a total waste of time.

If you don't know the answer to a question, or don't know a word, deal with it. Use skills you have learned. Substitute an easier word, or use context clues to figure it out. If you can't, just miss a question. You will still pass. Basketball players miss shots all the time--no big deal. Miss one, but then get the next one right.

Work hard, work smart, and you will score well. You have spent all year proving your ability, so now just throw it out there one more time. This is your chance to spend 2 1/2 hours and prove that you are a success.
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Achievement Testing Online

The Ohio Department of Education has a portal into all of their Achievement Test Resources. Teachers, parents, and students can access this to meet a variety of needs. Teachers can actually build tests, using previous versions, or based on chosen content standards. Parents can look at past tests to see tests their child has taken. Students can practice for the Achievement Test.

In Reading Workshop, I am using this site to prepare students for the OAT that they will take on Monday. The ability to create lessons, using past tests provides online practice that is directly tied to skills and vocabulary necessary for good results. It allows students to familiarize themselves with all aspects of the OAT.

The practice test also provide immediate feedback on multiple choice questions. This is an example of an answered question.

Question 1

What mood is expressed when Bud closes his eyes in the beginning of the selection?

A. He is unhappy because he just walked to the library and up a tall set of stairs.

If a student chooses A, he or she may not understand that the author is implying that Bud is happy to be in the library. Bud does not close his eyes because he is unhappy, though someone may close his or her eyes if he or she is feeling sad.

B. He is excited to feel the page powder on his face so he can fall asleep.

If a student chooses B, he or she may not realize that Bud’s closing his eyes does not mean that he wants to feel the page powder on his face, though he does describe the page powder in great detail later in the selection.

C. He is comfortable with the mixture of smells in the library.

At the beginning of the selection, Bud says he closes his eyes. It is at this point in the story that he begins to describe the unique library smells, showing his mood of happiness and his feeling of comfort.

D. He is nervous about a plan to find Miss Hill.

If a student chooses D, he or she may know that a person may close his or her eyes when nervous. However, the author is not attempting to show that Bud is nervous or trying to think of a plan until the end of the selection.

The green check designates a correct answer. If the question is answered incorrectly, a red X would be placed by their answer. If students will take the time to read the explanations, each answer is a mini-lesson in itself.

Short answer and extended response questions are available also. The rubric to score them is there, for teachers to evaluate students' work. After using this tool in our classroom, I can't help but wonder, when will we be able to take the OAT online?

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Martha, the Test Grader, Part 3

If you haven't met Martha before, you can read about Martha, the Test Grader, and then More on Martha the Test Grader.

So Martha, the Test Grader is sitting in her cubical and opens your test. She turns to the first short answer and this is what she sees.

Needless to say, her headache screams out and she wants to be anywhere, rather than try to read this mess. But, she really wants to be fair so she starts to fight through the misspelled words, lack of organization, and off-topic response. She quickly realizes though, this just isn't worth it, scribbles down a 0 and moves to the next answer.

Within 3 - 4 seconds, she has decided this student does not deserve to pass any type of test. As she sorts through each extended response, she becomes more and more agitated at the obvious lack of effort. Sorry, but you failed.

Now it's time for the next test and here is the response.

Martha is smiling now. She is thinking, "this is from a good kid. This is so easy. Why can't all of the kids write like this?"

And little does she know, but somewhere in a state far, far away, a student is smiling as she thinks back to that day of the reading test. She knows she passed, because she did her best, and used all of the test taking strategies that her teacher taught her.

There is someone else smiling. As this student was taking the test, a teacher sat at his desk and watched her work. He knew she would pass. He watched her work hard all year. Today as he thinks back, he knows she did a great job, and anxiously awaits the test results that will show a real success story.

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Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx/100366351/

If I Could Be Like That

Recently we were singing a 3 Doors Down song as part of the ongoing efforts to build fluency.  We were singing the song, "Be Like That."

This is the chorus:

If I could be like that,

I would give anything.

Just to live one day

in those shoes.

If I could be like that

what would I do?

What would I do?

If you could be like that, if you could do anything, what would you do?
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Testing and Read Aloud Survey

More on Martha, the Test Grader

OK, so Martha has your test and answer booklet. She doesn't know you, and doesn't care to. In fact, she doesn't even know about Reading Workshop, the name of the school, the town, or the state where you live. You are just a number in a stack. A tall stack of answer booklets that have to be graded before she can take a break.

Whether or not you pass this test means less than nothing to Martha. The things on her mind include sneaking out to get a diet coke, getting rid of this head ache, figuring out how to avoid listening to her sister complain about having to babysit, and about having to do laundry after work, or she will have absolutely nothing to wear tomorrow. She is also thinking about surfing and last summer's vacation.

Now it all comes down to you, the student, and your answer booklet. Will your hard work be in vain? Will eight months of learning be wasted? Or will you be a success story making yourself, your parents, your teachers, and your school feel proud?

The first thing, can she read it? Did you write legibly? Trying to strain her eyes and her brain to read cat scratches is going to irritate Martha. She probably won't even take the time to sort through it. She will just give it a big, fat, zero. Did you write neatly?

Next, if you restated the question and numbered your responses, Martha can easily find key words and information. Using a rubric to score short answer and extended response answers, Martha is looking for specific words and answers. Did you organize your answers to make finding key points easy?

Going back and finding specific details in the passage is paramount. Any time a questions asks for specific details, they are looking for examples word-for-word from the text. Did you go back into the essay and find specific details?

Another factor that makes grading easier is correct spelling. Most of the words that you need to spell are either in the question, or in the passage. It just takes a second to look back and find the correct spelling. Did you use the passage to help you with your spelling?

Did you use the basic test taking skills that you have learned in class?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx/82881549/in/set-1618327/

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx/2487248468/in/set-1618327/

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For the beginning of this story, read Martha, the Test Grader.
For the end of this story, read Martha, the Test Grader, Part 3.

Martha, the Test Grader

Martha is a single mom, with a four year old daughter named Emily. Martha is just trying to get by day to day. This morning, at 6:00 AM, as Martha was getting ready for her job as an Achievement Test Grader in a state far, far, away, her babysitter called and said she couldn't watch Emily today. After three phone calls, she finally reached her sister, who agreed to watch Emily for the day. The only problem was her sister lived 20 miles away, so Martha barely had time to get there, and then make it to work on time.

As she rushed around the kitchen, eating a piece of toast while she picked up, Emily spilled her cereal all over the floor. Five minutes later, after cleaning up the spill, Martha glanced at the clock and realized she was going to be late. She grabbed a cup of coffee to go, snatched up Emily and bolted out the door. She put Emily in the car, and jumped in her seat. As she reached across to buckle the seat belt, she spilled her coffee down the front of her shirt. "Oh @#$#@@#$," she thought.

She unbuckled Emily and ran back in the house to change. She searched high and low, but there was nothing clean to wear. She grabbed her cleanest dirty shirt out of the laundry, shook it out, and slid it on. Once again, she and Emily headed for her sister's house. Naturally, she hit a construction zone two minutes from her sister's. After sitting for 10 minutes, she finally got through. She sprinted in, gave Emily a kiss good bye, and headed off to work. She had 11 minutes to make the 20 minute drive.

She was lucky, the construction only held her up for 5 minutes this time through. Unfortunately, her head pounded with a migraine from the stress of the morning. And work hadn't even started yet.

She reached work, late again. She stopped by the pop machine, but didn't have any change for her daily dose of Diet Coke. As she rounded the corner, there stood her boss, with a mean look on his face, and her daily stack of tests to score. "Late again, I see," he said with a scowl. "Don't even think about taking a break until you get this school's tests scored."

With her head pounding, no Diet Coke, and no time for Advil, Martha reached for the first test. Martha, the test grader opened your test.

How will you score?

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Thanks to my teaching neighbor, J. Stevenson who first told me about Martha.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx/173120800/

Read More on Martha, the Test Grader.

Ohio Achievement Test Survey

Recently Reading Workshop students took the 2006 Sixth Grade Ohio Achievement Test as practice for the actual test. I surveyed students to see their thoughts after taking the test. Here are some of their responses.

What did you learn taking the practice Reading OAT?

Jessika--I learned to highlight important questions. Actually read the passage. Don't skip questions.

Paitaan--What I learned was to underline keywords. Plus reread the questions.

Kyndrah--I learned that if you take your time and slow down you get more questions right, even if you are the last one.

Rachael--I learned that there are going to be some unexpected questions on the OAT, and that I have to be prepared for it!!!! I also learned that if you don't read the question carefully you have a better chance of missing it!

What was easy for you taking the practice Reading OAT?

Kara--The thing that was easy for me was all that I had to do was think back to what we did in class and I remembered what we did and the things you told us to do and so I did that.

Kayla--The easiest part of the whole test is the multiple choice questions. The reason why is because you have things to chose from. If you don't get the questions and you eliminate answers, it is easy to find the right answer.

Desire'--The easiest part was the multiple choice. The multiple choice was the easiest because all of the answers were in the passage.

What part of the test was difficult for you on the practice Reading OAT?

Makayla--The most difficult questions on the test were the extended response.

Trindi--The part that I thought that was difficult was were you had to find out what the word meant.

Sarah--The most difficult for me was the extended response questions because I didn't know if I was getting everything that the question asked. Mainly because I didn't read the passage enough times for it to sink in.

Christian S.-- The fact that some of the questions were hard to understand.

What would help you score better on the OAT?

Samantha--If I reread more and highlight more, that would help me.

Destiny--If I go over and check my answers when I am done.

Bailey--To go back in the passage and to read stuff all the way through.

Ty A.--Candy while I'm taking the test.

What other information should I know about the Reading OAT?

Taylor--I think we should work more on the responses. Because I heard at least 3 or 4 people say that the responses were hard, and they were I can't lie.

Austin--Something that you should know about is that practicing restating the question really helped.

Jessika--I THINK EVERYONE IS GOING TO PASS THE TEST!!!!!!!!!!!

On a scale of 1 - 10, how hard did you think the Reading OAT was?

The average was 5.56.

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What Character Could You Be?

As we continue the read aloud of Larger-Than-Life LARA, written by Dandi Daley Mackall in Reading Workshop, the characters are coming alive. This book has a wide variety of characters, each explained in enough detail so that the reader can identify with them. In fact, Dandi makes it easy for the reader to picture him/herself in the book.

Laney, the main character was described in detail in the post Laney is Larger-Than-Life.

LARA is new student at Paris Elementary School. No matter how mean someone is to her, she is nice. She responds to meanness by being kind with a friendly poem. She thinks independently, and always has a smile. She is huge, so fat that she blocks the light around her coming into the door, and needed a special chair and desk.

Joey Gilbert is a leader. Laney does not like him, but he is a hero to the other boys in the class. He is the class bully. He is mean to LARA and picks on other people. He is a good baseball player, but he won't let the girls play.

Wayne is the class clown. He laughs the loudest, and thinks everything is funny, even when he doesn't know what is going on. He is Joey's sidekick.

Maddie is the class princess. She has pretty blonde hair, and thinks she is all that. She wears all the latest styles, dressing like the high school girls. She wants to be the center of attention. She wants everyone to know who she likes and who she doesn't.

Sarah is a follower. She is insecure and usually doesn't think for herself. She wants to fit in with the popular crowd. Every decision she makes is based on what Maddie says and does.

The brothers (Laney's) are mean, skip school, don't like Laney or appreciate what she does. They argue and fight constantly.

Laney's dad has a bad temper, hates his job (and his life). He drinks way too much.

Good readers can relate to characters based on one trait, or many. To enjoy a book though, the reader must understand the characters. Frequently, one characteristic shared between the reader and someone in the story creates involvement and connects the reader to the story.

What character are you connected to? How are you connected?
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You Can Learn a Lot in 2nd Grade

I had to see Mrs. Sturgell, a 2nd grade teacher about the Relay for Life. When I walked into her room, she was pausing her read aloud for the day to take attendance. I picked up the book, joined her students on the carpet, and finished the read aloud. There sure was a lot of learning taking place today in 2nd grade.

In this case though, the one doing the learning was me. I was reading a book about the water cycle. Although it was a picture book, the vocabulary seemed appropriate for much older students. This was a reading/science lesson that ended with a plea for water conservation.

The first thing I learned was just how smart eight year olds are. They knew a lot of things about a lot of things. Talking about evaporation, one boy said, "you can't see water evaporate because it turns into a gas, and gasses are clear." In fact, in the twenty minutes that I was there, they could jump into every topic, usually with something relevant, and often informative.

I learned that second grade teachers are all about interdisciplinary lessons. This class, although science based, focused on several reading skills including vocabulary, and using context clues. It also had social studies ties about recycling and contributing to society through recycling.

I also learned that second grade is fun. Students wanted to contribute to the discussion. Even when they were wrong, they would jump back in with a comment, or to try to answer a question. Their enthusiasm brightened the room and my day. Today, in just a few minutes, I discovered, you sure can learn a lot in 2nd grade (and the kids can too).

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