The Party is Over, But Not Really

When I embarked on a sabbatical last January, I think my family was imagining me being on vacation from work. Maybe this is what some people do when they are on sabbatical, but I had other plans. I was looking forward to a semester of learning, reading, writing, watching. Yes, I could keep my own schedule and plan each day as I chose. This in itself is like a gift of gold. In fact, having my time be my own was so precious that I soon realized that I didn't want to waste a minute, because all too soon the time would come when the sabbatical would be over. It's likely I will not have a chance like this ever again. So I lost patience with wasted time - unnecessary meetings, gossip, and listening to others complain about things that are in their control to change. I looked on every day as a gift. I started with a stack of books I planned to read, a book I began writing, and a desire to learn - especially about technology. Now that my sabbatical has come to an end, I am happy to say I accomplished my goals. I am satisfied with what I accomplished and how I spent my time. I have no regrets!

Lest I seem like a workaholic, let me just say that I did step away from thoughts of teaching and learning to take on a completely unrelated project. I worked with my family to organize a fund raising walk for ovarian cancer - the Whisper Walk for Ovarian Cancer Awareness in honor of the memory of our mother. I could never had given time to leading this event without the flexibility of my sabbatical. Actually this project will impact my teaching in ways I hadn't realized. I believe real-life experiences add to the depth and details of our personal interactions, which is at the heart of teaching.

As my sabbatical has drawn to a close, I am thrilled to be able to say that I recently received a contract to publish my book - Forward Thinking: Language Arts on the Move, a multimedia language arts textbook. It looks like the fun will continue.
I am including a link to the digital essay I have created about my sabbatical. Not only the content, but also the video I created myself speak to the incredible collection of experiences I was fortunate to have over the past few months. Thank you to all of the teachers who let me visit their classrooms and to the children who made me feel at home.

mms://mythos2.emporia.edu/esumedia/edobler/project.wmv

I love being back in a Kindergarten classroom - the grade I last taught before coming to the university. During this last part of my sabbatical project, I specifically searched for a Kindergarten classroom to visit because I know it's such a special place; one that is unique from the other elementary grades. I was fortunate to find Gina Bennett's classroom where I have been reminded of the balancing act Kindergarten teachers play. Gina, and other Kindergarten teachers like her, must strike a balance between mother, nurse, coach AND teacher. They ease children into the transition of the school world and lay the groundwork for future success. They also button pants, dole out kleenex, calm tears, and listen to endless stories - some true, and some not so true. They are constantly modeling, nudging, and guiding, and for their reward, they receive a hug - from a walking germ box. :) But it's worth it!

Is It Noisy Writing or Music to Our Ears?

Writing time in Kindergarten is a noisy affair. Jubilant enthusiasm becomes apparent as students cheer with delight when the teacher says it's time to write. Young learners are a-buzz as they talk to their neighbor about ideas for writing. Little mouths are puckering and sputtering as they isolate sounds make their wonderful early attempts at spelling.

This week I have the pleasure of witnessing writing time first-hand in Gina Bennett's Kindergarten classroom at Meadows Elementary. Gina's classroom is alive with stimuli for writing - caterpillars in the process of becoming butterflies, sprouting seeds magnifying glasses sit in a tray, maracas await the Cinco de Mayo celebration, and even a classroom pet - Moe the therapy dog - may inspire ideas. Gina's Kindergarten students are at varying levels of writing abilities from dictating ideas to Gina, to filling in a word to a sentence Gina has written, to writing 2, 3, even 4 sentences on their own. Gina patiently meets each student at his/her ability level and gently nudges the student on to the next level. For the entire class, she reminds them that periods are small dots, a sentence starts with an upper case letter, and a pencil jumps over when starting a new word. Gina's persistence and patience is paying off as students have made progress by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year.

What a joy it is to see young writers at work! They remind me of where we all began as writers and that progress involves baby steps and practice. They also remind me that writing is not necessarily a silent act!

Fixing the Economy

Imagine where we would be today if the current economic crisis could have been averted or at least lessened. What if we started, in the middle school, teaching students about the financial responsibilities of home ownership? I watched this teaching occurring at Turning Point Learning Center on a recent visit. The students were learning about mortgages, interest rates, foreclosures – the language of economics. Prior to my visit, the students had selected a career, explored degree requirements, colleges, costs, and salaries. They had each prepared a budget and were now ready to purchase a house. The search began with consideration of their housing needs and then proceeded on to a local realtor company’s website, where each student found a house to meet their needs. Considerations included price, size, value, and location.
On the day of my visit, a local realtor had come to visit and share her expertise about buying a home. Together she helped the students explore a mortgage website, where they calculated the loan payments for their home over 30 years. She talked with the students about principle, interest, and payments while encouraging students to remember they may not want to borrow as much money as the bank is willing to loan them. Part of the research for this project included looking up the property value and property taxes, to be included in the budget.
Definitely the fifth graders at this middle school had glassy eyes by the end of the lesson. Several of the older students were “getting it”. I could tell when one student compared paying off your loan early to eating your cheeseburger more quickly. Another likened it to returning in rented DVD back so you don’t have to pay a late fee. These practical comparisons reflect the depth of knowledge generated by these students.
Hmmm, what would happen if some of the adults in financial difficulties had learned these economic principles earlier in life? Maybe there would have been no crisis at all.

Writing on the Table

Imagine my surprise when Scott Ritter actually told the students in his third grade class to write the word algorithm on their tables. That astonishment continued when he asked them to write what they think the word algorithm means – on their tables. Scott actually likes academic content being written on the tables that students have instead of desks. By the end of the day, each table is an amazing collection of the learning that has occurred throughout the day. Besides the obvious saving of paper, I was struck by the notion that writing on the table makes learning seem more like the practice that it actually is. Spelling, math problems, sketches of ideas all become explicit rather than hanging in the air or kept tucked away in our brain. Different versions of an idea or word can be easily shared, easily corrected, and quickly referred to later in the day, if needed. No needless graffiti, scribbling, or otherwise non-academic writing is allowed. And of course, at the end of the day tables are cleaned by the students in preparation for the next day’s blank slate to be filled with new learning.

Writing Process - Warts and All

What a wonderful chance I had today to watch the writing process – warts and all. Before writing, Scott, a third grade teacher, gave the students lots of background knowledge, ways to organize their thinking/writing, setting the purpose for writing, thinking about the audience, and what they want their story to be about, and still some struggled. One could easily see how much mental attention goes into writing. Of course there are the students who just take off and go, barely stopping to show they are aware of those around them. Then there are the ones who stop and start, getting out a few words then stopping, thinking, writing. Some will sit with their hand up, waiting, waiting, expecting some nudge from a teacher that will help them over their writing hump. There is usually a student or two who gets the title down in a quick burst of energy, but then stalls out, with no other ideas coming. And finally there is the student who has nothing but a blank page after 15 minutes of writing time. All of these are normal, and all pose some type of challenge to the teacher of writing.
I had the pleasure of watching this writing time recently at Scott Ritter’s classroom at Scott Technology Magnet School in Topeka. Scott did a phenomenal job of preparing his students to write a story by first giving them a prompt “ A tsunami is on the way, and you are the only one who knows it. Think about how you could warn people of the tsunami and help them escape the giant wave. Now write a story about how you saved the day.” He showed a video clip about tsunamis and discussed this with the students, incorporating much of the same vocabulary from the video into the discussion. He also told the students in the morning that they would be writing the story in the afternoon, giving them a three hour heads-up to think about what they wanted to write. I like this idea, instead of just springing it on them and expecting students to pump out a story. Then during writing time, Scott guided the students through the process of setting a purpose or purposes for their story, considering the audience, and thinking about the most important point of their story. He also gave them a short list of sequencing words he wanted them to try to incorporate into the story so there would be a sense of flow from one idea to the next. And then he did my favorite part of the lesson. Scott gave the third grade students a copy of the six trait rubric he wanted them to use to keep in mind the expectations for their writing. He told students that for this assignment they should focus on the trait of organization. Then he went one step further and talked about each level on the rubric, clarifying the terms as needed. It’s so important to set that criteria for young writers BEFORE they begin. This year I have been battling my son’s high school English teacher with doing this, and I am losing. So I was very heartened to see Scott clearly share his expectations with students. It is a joy to watch quality writing instruction, and I am incredibly lucky to spend time with some fabulous teachers who recognize this!

Meeting Students' Needs

On my visit in a second grade classroom, the teacher, Sarah, and her class made a class book that they had formally published by www.nationwide-learning.com. Sarah saved the book to share with students during the sharing time of writing workshop, which she called “The Big Reveal”. The book is hardbound with color illustrations, and the cover has a photo of the entire class. Each student read his or her page and showed the illustration while sitting in the author’s chair. It was easy to see the pride on their faces from being a part of this publication. There is a fee to purchase individual copies of the books, and not all students bought one to keep; however the teacher has a copy that can be kept in the classroom library for all to see. All students contributed to the book, no matter their abilities. Some of the written pages were short and some long; some of the illustrations simple and some elaborate; some handwriting was neat and some not so neat. The important thing is all could contribute at their level. This concept is at the heart of writing workshop!
Sarah spoke to me about her beliefs in the value of writing workshop. She sees the daily structure of independent writing time as a way for students to freely express themselves – something they may not have the opportunity to do during any other aspect of the school day, and for some, not even outside of school. She tells stories of students whose stomach aches and daily ailments seem to get better during writing workshop. Sarah is an advocate for the use of writing workshop to meet the individual of students, and she definitely has experience in this area. Within her classroom of 23 students, nine students have some type of special need. Four students are learning English as a second language. Sarah is bilingual, so she is able to communicate with the students when English is too challenging. I watched her conduct a writing conference in Spanish when she could tell that the student needed a more in-depth explanation than he could understand in English; however the majority of the teaching and learning is done in English. In addition to these students, there are three students with various challenges to learning, one student with autism who receives Tier 3 special education services, and one student with other health impairments related to behavior. Various adults move in and out of the room throughout the day to assist along with various students leaving the classroom for extra help.
Each of these students is a full participant during writing workshop. One student who is not writing words independently traces over his words that have been written down by another adult. Another student is able to write his story, but has difficulty reading the words aloud. Still another student can say the three sentences of her story, but cannot put sounds and letters together to write the words. While another student talks of being an author when she grows up, writing two-page stories which include vivid details and written conversations. It has been amazing to see what these students can do when given the opportunity to express themselves through writing.