TCRWP Fall Reunion October 19, 2009

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

presents the

Saturday Reunion

October 24, 2009

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Join the entire Project Community as we open our doors to thousands of educators from New York City and around the world for more than 140 free workshops, keynotes and closings throughout the day on state-of-the art methods in the teaching of reading and writing for grades K-8. Special guest speakers and literacy leaders from all over the country will join us to discuss such topics as: Help Students Think, Talk and Write Well About Reading, Teach Higher Level Comprehension; Use Assessment to Inform Instruction, and dozens and dozens more….

Katherine Paterson
The day will open with a keynote by Katherine Paterson, the author of young adult novels that have uplifted generations of children.  Her stories of perseverance in the face of impossible odds and her treatment of weighty topics, such as death and jealousy, have earned her numerous awards, including the National Book Award for The Great Gilly Hopkins, and the Newbery Medal for Bridge to Terabithia, and Jacob Have I Loved.

Speakers Include:

Lucy Calkins, Founding Director of the TCRWP is the author of many professional books including The Art of Teaching Reading, A Principals Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing, and two series about units of study for primary and upper grade writing.  Her upcoming Units of Study on Teaching Reading for Grades 3-5 (Heinemann, 2009), co-authored with Kathleen Tolan, is due out from Heinemann soon.

Kathy Collins is the author of Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom. Kathy is a frequent guest lecturer at national conferences.  Her latest book is titled, Reading for Real: Teach Students to Read with Power, Intention and Joy in K-3 Classrooms.

Mary Ehrenworth is the author of Looking to Write: Children Writing Through the Visual Arts and The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language. Mary is the Deputy Director for Middle Schools at the TCRWP.

Amanda Hartman is Lead Coach at the Project and has co-authored three works with Lucy Calkins: Authors as Mentors, The Conferring Handbook and One-to-One: The Art of Conferring with Young Writers, as well as a CD-ROM: Conferring with Young Writers.

Laurie Pessah is Senior Deputy Director at the Project and leads study groups for principals, assistant principals, staff developers, and teachers, and she is co-author with Lucy Calkins of Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports and A Principal’s Guide to Leadership in the Teaching of Writing.

Kathleen Tolan is Senior Deputy Director of Reading at the Project.  Kathleen co-wrote a FirstHand series on literacy coaching and co-authored with Lucy Calkins the upcoming Units of Study on Teaching Reading for Grades 3-5 (Heinemann, 2009).

Having found the “storytelling” behind history, our Closing speaker, Joy Hakim, author of the ten-volume series A History of US, will speak about shedding a new light on the teaching of history.  She put “the story” at the center of nonfiction again with her subsequent book, The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension.  Her passion and style have brought her wide acclaim and recognition, and her awards include: The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Award for Education/Teaching/Academic, and the 2007 USA Book News’s Best Book in General Science Category.

The Morning Keynote will be held at Riverside Church, 9:00 a.m.

490 Riverside Drive (between 120^th and 122^nd Streets)

The remainder of workshops will be held at Teachers College, 525 W.120^th Street, NY NY 10027

No registration required.

For more information, visit our Web site at: readingandwritingproject.com

I find a school visit to be one of the most powerful professional development tool October 17, 2009

We are taking the following books to Public School 41 when we go for our school visit next Friday. A small thank you token to the teachers, administrators, and staff…We are going to take 6 copies of each so teachers whose classrooms we visit feel appreciated.

Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson & Kadir Nelson

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Only in Dreams: A Bedtime Story by Paul Frank

We are also taking along copies of Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Interesting Items About their school:

• There is a School District Parent Coordinator whose job is to facilitate communication at the front-line between parents, teachers, and staff
• There is an Extended Day option for students who need extra instructional support in a small group setting that can be mandated or voluntary from 8:00-8:50 Monday-Thursday
• Reading Recovery is a reading intervention program used with First Graders
• 2 times a month there are Family Mornings-families are then invited to stay after drop-off to observe literacy and math
• Cluster classes are part of regular classroom instruction throughout the school year and include: Science, Physical Education, Art, Music, Computer, Theater and Movement.
• Choice is an additional double period cluster class chosen by the students in 4th & 5th Grade. Past offerings have included Expression Art, Computer, Violin, Physical Education, Chess, Art, Science, Math Enrichment, Music and Chorus.
• There are two part-time literacy staff developers  and one full-time math staff developer assigned to the building. In addition they have a TCRWP Staff Developer who comes in and leads classroom lab sites in reading and writing as well as study groups
• Collaborative Team Teaching Class (CTT) -Their CTT class is a model for the entire New York City school system. At PS41 each grade has one CTT class, which has one full time general education teacher and one full time special education teacher.
  • In the CTT classes, the ratio is approximately 60% general education students and 40% special education students. Our inclusion classes provide the same curriculum as our other classes, with the added benefit of a higher staffing ratio and a great deal of support.
  • The Committee for Special Education (CSE) places the children who are on the special education side of the CTT class. The school administration places the children on the general education side of the CTT class. Children on the general education side are “model” students — they must model excellent behavioral and learning habits — and cannot be receiving any special services themselves to be in a CTT class.

Fall Reunion TCRWP October 13, 2009

10 days and counting until a Lucy Calkins /Teachers College Reading and Writing Project fix…

Chuckled to myself when obnoxious teacher told me she doesn’t use Lucy Calkins –that she is too “loosey-goosey” and not based on enough research. Chuckled even more when she said uses Katie Wood Ray.

Obviously didn’t know Katie Wood Ray was a staff developer for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and that she and Lucy Calkins have great admiration for each other’s work.

Wish I was obnoxious enough to point that out to her in front of a whole group, but decided my private inner chuckle was more appropriate.

Get on board…the train has left!

Lucy Calkins-Teaching the Inner Writer: Putting Our Lives on the Line-Opening Keynote TCRWP August 12, 2009

Have I mentioned that I adore Lucy Calkins? Even my husband knows of my adoration, something that would be easy for him to miss in all the “teacher/school” talk I do that is without context for him. On the phone yesterday, he even joked that I can have some additional spending money while I am in NYC in case I need to get a lawyer to represent me just in case Lucy gets word of my adoration and presses stalking charges. Ha!

I do believe that one of the greatest gifts a person can have is the ability to be a wonderful public speaker with presence and grace.

Lucy Calkins has that, as do many of her staff developers.

In July I learned that Donald Graves, THE Donald Graves, was of all things, her youth minister. Donald Murray was her mentor. How could anyone else come to the knowledge about the teaching of writing that her life has led her to? I don’t think the cosmos could have conceived it possible.

Lucy Calkins shared that she always starts each institute the same way. “You come from Michigan and Montana…” which is the same way Donald Graves started the sermon at her wedding. I personally find that very moving.

She makes me want to be not just a better teacher, but a better person-more reflective and better connected to the universe– not just moving through it.

Second Grade Writers, Lucy Calkins and Professional Development August 5, 2009

This week I’ve been teaching a workshop for first through sixth grade teachers this week on Writing Workshop with a focus on conferring. We’ve been looking at the Primary and Intermediate Units of Study by Lucy Calkins and Carl Anderson’s Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations That Move Young Writers Forward Grades 3-6, Reading and Writing Projects’s Workshop Help Desk-A Quick Guide to Teaching Second-Grade Writers with Units of Study by Lucy Calkins and Workshop Help Desk-Making Your Teaching Stick by Shanna Schwartz.

Second Grade Curricular Calendar from the Quick Guide (see earlier post)

September	Narrative Writing-Revising and Re-energizing Small Moments
October	Raising the Level of Narrative Writing with Authors as Mentors
November	Writing and Revising Realistic Fiction
December	The World of Wonder: Fairy Tale Adaptations and Original Fantasy Stories
January	Writing to Grow Ideas (Inculding Ideas About Books)
February	Expert Projects: Writing to Learn and to Teach About a Topic of Personal Expertise
March	Persuasive Writing: Persuasive Letters and Reviews
April	Poetry
May	Expert Projects in a Content Area: Writing to Learn and to Teach About Science
June	Revision and Assessment

Carl Anderson’s newest book set is a gem! It is targeted at grades 3-6 teachers, but the first and second grade teachers are finding it just as valuable. At $82.00 it’s not cheap, but it does include 3 books and 2 DVDs with a Teachers Guide. It’s just what you need to prepare for your best writing conferences with students as you head into the new school year.

Making Your Teaching Stick is another $8 gem from the Workshop Help Desk.

After teaching the workshop this week it’s back to New York City for the 16th Annual August Writing Institute at Teachers College to help grow my understanding of the teaching of writing even more. I am definitely more prepared for the week in terms of how to get around, shoes to wear, lunches to pack, and clothes that sweat well in (if that is possible).

Day One… The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project 16th Annual July Institute on the Teaching of Reading: Teach Me in the Key of Life July 6, 2009

Whew! What a great day! I am now sitting in my very dorm-y dorm room. Two major differences from when I was last living in an dorm room: A-it’s much nicer with AC and my own bathroom (although the mattress had me wishing for a hotel last night), and B-I’m drinking a beer while doing my homework (or avoiding it I guess by typing this).  

This is the largest TC Institute with people from 24 countries including Sweden, China (Shanghai, specifically), Iceland, India, and Kuwait; 38 states; and includes 90 principals, 6 superintendents and a total of 1374 participants! Wow! 

The day started with a Keynote by Maurice Sykes (Executive Director of Early Childhood Leadership Institute titled “The Courage to Teach the Joy of Teaching”. He was a FANTASTIC speaker and started with a poem by Mimi Chenfeld (from Columbus, OH!)

Teach Me in the Key of Life
by Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld

I am waiting for you
I have been waiting all my life
to spend this time
with you.

I am full of questions, adventures, wonder, curiousity,
imagination.
I am full of fears, doubts, confusions, nightmares, dreams.
I am the Cowardly Lion. I need a badge for courage.
So do you.
I am the Tin Man. So tight. I forgot about my heart.
How’s your heart?
I am the Scarecrow. Hangin’ so loose my brain feels unhinged.
Does yours?
Sometimes I’m
GrumpySleepyDopeyBashfulDocSneezyHappy.
Sometimes I’m seven new dwarfs as yet unnamed.

I love to sing.
I know the words to 2,437 songs.
Teach me through songs.
Let me paint, doodle, scribble, draw, carve, fix, sketch – DO.
I can’t keep still.
I’m a spaced-out, far-out, Star Wars, Superman IV, rock ‘n’ roll, disco,
punk, psychedelic, tuned-out, right-on, cool age, 
electronic, stereo, video games, computerized, technicolor, ten-speed kid!
I need action!
Keep it moving!

I love to read baseball cards, album covers, TV schedules, movie ads,
license plates, T-shirts, buttons, posters, cartoons, cereal boxes,
recipes, highway signs, historical markers, magazines, picture books, 
sad stories, weird poems, animal histories, lost-and-found boards…

Let me ask my questions – even if you don’t know the answers.
Dumb questions, like who started numbers?
Do caterpillars know they’re going to turn into butterflies?
Where does the white go when the snow melts?
Why does time fly?
How do we see?
What do you see?

It’s not my birthday, but every day can’t we celebrate SOMETHING?
Colors, seasons, Tuesdays, Mexico, circles, houses, maps, our names, numbers, one seed, our journals, favorite books, inventions, rivers, peace!
Can we celebrate our country on the fourth of October or the twelfth of May?
We don’t have school on the fourth of July!
Every day let’s celebrate SOMETHING!
Life – the wonder and power and miracle of Life – of being here, learning together, with all our fantastic powers.

Surprise me.
Amaze me.
Startle me.
Challenge me.
Try me.
Laugh with me.
Love me.
Teach me
in “the key of life,”
and I promise I’ll
surprise, amaze, startle, challenge, try, enjoy and love YOU!

 

 

 

Is it possible for the day to get any better than that? It did-next up was a large group session for Grade 3-5 teachers, principals and school leaders. Lucy Calkins walks on water for me-need I say more-I know there are at LEAST 1300 other people who agree with me (and that is probably a low count just for this 10 block radius!).

I skipped lunch to attend a session by Joe Yukish entitled “Looking Closely at Levels A-G”. I will post more about this separately, but I think it’s the most clear view of early levels I’ve ever heard.

We then had a small group session (about 22 people) with Tifany Davis Nealy that was also fabulous (even the assigning homework part! My husband says I’m the only one who could ever get excited about receiving homework-I don’t think he is right). I will also post separately about what we learned in small group session.

The closing session was “Creating a Richly Literate Culture in a Classroom and a School: Ten Transformational Ideas” by Mary Enrenworth, Deputy Director for Middle Schools of the TC project. 

There was then a welcome reception for out-of-towners in an outdoor courtyard. Who did I get to sit next to and talk to?  You probably won’t be too surprised when I say, Lucy Calkins of course, but I did not stalk her! She was at a table by herself and everyone was too intimidated to sit down at her table of 10. Well, that wasn’t going to stop me! Her table’s theme was How Can a School or Person Connect to the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Especially if You’re Outside of NYC? The second or third person who sat down was someone Lucy greeted by name with a question-The woman was so flustered she got red and had to compose herself for a second-why? Because she also recognizes the greatness of Lucy and getting to have a conversation with her in person. It’s good to recognize yourself in someone else-it makes us all feel more connected.

Books for Teachers June 24, 2009

I had the privilege (really read-giant blast) of purchasing books for teachers again. I’m not sure there is much greater fun for me in the world! These are books for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade independent reading within classrooms. 

Here are some of the newest gems I am so excited about:

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look

Mudshark by Gary Paulsen

The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

City I Love by Lee Bennett Hopkins

The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School by Laurie Halse Anderson 

Billie Standish was Here by Nancy Crocker

Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papers by Angie Sage

 

 I am embracing the idea put forth by Lucy Calkins in The Art of Teaching Reading regarding independent reading-(Oops-you can tell I got distracted during writing. The reference to Calkins’ Chapter 17-September in a 2-8 Grade Reading Workshop: Reading with Stamina and Comprehension)-One of the sections is titled “Reading Easy Books with Understanding”. Calkins recommends that “every teacher of reading starts the year by steadfastly directing children toward reading a lot of easy book, and reading these books fluently and smoothly, with clear comprehension, and at a good pace” (p. 339). Calkins states that this is a TEMPORARY goal-I loved this section! It so clearly puts in words what I have known about students, but had a hard time explaining to parents who fret about their fourth grader loving Babymouse or insisting that they are ready to reading Twilight at the beginning of fourth grade.  Often parents’ sense of self is so tied to their child being a good reader that they have a hard time seeing the trees in the forest. This has continued to be a big issue every year I taught fourth grade.

Calkins also has a great section in this chapter about how often students use their desire to be a good reader by picking books to “read” that showcase their future selves, rather than their current reading selves.  

 

Here are some of the other titles I bought for their classrooms.

Percy Jackson and the Olympiads series by Rick Riordan

The Warriors: Code of the Clans by Erin Hunter

39 Clues Series   

Babymouse Series by Jennifer Holm

Castaways of the Flying Dutchmen series by Brian Jacques

The Mysterious Benedict Society #1 & #2 by Trenton Lee Stewart

Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism Series by Georgia Byng

Patricia Reilly Giff books

 

For my own reading pleasure I picked up When Readers Struggle by Pinnell and Fountas and plan on reading all the new books I can before giving them to the teachers in August. 

My daughter picked News for Dogs by Lois Duncan, the sequel to Hotel for Dogs and The Pocket Daring Book for Girls: Wisdom & Wonder by Andrea Buchanan.

My son picked by Roscoe Riley Rules #6: Never Walk in Shoes That Talk by Katherine Applegate, Magic Tree House #34, and The Curious Boy’s Book of Adventure by Sam Martin. He is still obsessed with us reading all the Hardy Boy original books aloud to him, but he sometimes takes a break for other things

3 Weeks and Counting June 14, 2009

Heading back to Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for the 16th annual Reading Institute. 

Keynote Speakers include: 

Katherine Bomer, David Booth, Lucy Calkins, Kathy Collins, Nikki Giovanni, and Maurice Sykes

The brochure states:

“Upper grade participants will be divided into sections that reflect both grade level 

and the participant’s background with the Project. All upper grade teachers attend- 

ing their first Teachers College reading institute will attend a large group section led 

by Lucy Calkins and a small, grade/experience-specific section that will cover such 

topics as: comprehension strategies, read aloud and accountable talk, small group 

work, writing about reading, book clubs, and methods of teaching. ”

 

Should be a fabulous learning opportunity! I’m trying to reread most of The Art of Teaching Reading before leaving. 

Teacher Hero April 23, 2009

 Kristine (Bestbook), Lucy Calkins, Maren Koepf (author of Synchronizing Success and new friend from Coaching Institute) 

Teaching Second-Grade Writers by Lucy Calkins April 8, 2009

The entire title of this little gem is Reading Writing Project Workshop Help Desk: A Quick Guide to Teaching Second-Grade Writers with Units of Study by Lucy Calkins and is available from Heinemann. I picked it up when I was at TC in March and I can’t find it on the website yet, but if you are a second grade teacher, literacy coach, staff developer, or curriculum director I highly recommend picking it up as soon as you can. This 76 page pocket-sized professional development resource ($8.00) would be great to add to your Primary Units of Study set. Even if you aren’t using UOS, I still think this would be a valuable resource.  Something I love in the first chapter is the proposed overview of the year (also known as a shared curricular calendar). Each chapter then goes on to explore each month’s unit of study more closely. It has some great recommendations for modifying the UOS if your first grade and kindergarten teachers are also using UOS.

The second grade study group of writing workshop is going to start reading this as soon as we can get additional copies. All are game for trying their proposed calendar. With the research and thinking that is behind all TC Reading and Writing Project work, I don’t know how their calendar can do anything but help us work together to get even better.

I think it’s an exciting time to be a teacher of writing and reading. What a gift this little book is!