Close Reading and a Choice: Laugh or Cry

     I have always had a love-hate relationship with Close Reading. I mean, it is a challenge (read: often impossible) to get struggling readers to read, much less have them read dreaded material more than once. I know, I know - the benefits are innumerable. The thinking is deep. The strategies that can be applied in these opportunities are endless. But - if you hate to read it the first time, how in the world am I going to get you to read it a second time? Well, I am working on the "hate to read" part. Work. In. Progress.
     I introduced Close Reading to them this past week and went ahead and acknowledged the groans when they saw the "reread" direction. I started simple with some whole group practice and then gave them a chance to try it independently with a paragraph I had selected for each of them based on their level.
     I need to write a disclaimer here.... Teaching high school is a trip. I love it. I laugh every single day. These kids are a riot. I adore them. In situations at school, I very often say: Laugh or Cry!. That stems from years of teaching EBD students and enduring situations in which the choice of what to do is unclear. I also say: I choose to laugh! Because I usually do. Not in a laughing at them way, but in a laughing with them way. Besides, I am an ugly crier and my Mary Kay would run. That's expensive. So - it is with laughter that I share with you this situation with the post today. My paragraph had the word dam in it because it talks about flooding. Well, since these 17 year olds are basically 8 year olds in bigger bodies, when I read the word, they all fell out laughing. "Ooooo! You said dam!" "I'm tellin' my mama!" "You mad, Miss? Why are you cussin' today?" So of course, every time I read the word dam, I read it with passion. And we laughed. I took my pictures of the lesson for the blog, and we moved on. Fast forward to this morning and I upload the pictures to the computer and guess what. Ya'll - one of my darlings changed the annotation in the margin of my lesson to damn rather than dam. My first thought: How proud I was that they knew how to spell it correctly to get the desired effect. And I laughed. My second thought: "OH MY GOOD LORD! I left that on the board over the weekend! People are going to see it and think I did that! We may even have a church that meets there. More fuel to the "public schools are corrupting our children" debate!!!" Whatever!! So, I am not going to change it and retake all the pictures. Instead, you will just have to see it and smile. Or laugh. I did. (PS: This is by far the most tame thing I have laughed at all week...)
     The paragraph we read together is an excerpt from an article off of the site Reading A-Z. Note the spelling of dam in the paragraph....

     I then shared the anchor chart I made for what to do in a Close Reading. I adapted it to fit my kids better from some of the charts I have seen. They copied it in their journals.

     We read the paragraph together, and then I modeled the steps one at a time with their help. The board ended up looking like this:

     We only briefly discussed how to summarize because I am focusing on that a lot next week. I also like how they used their schema to support their thinking. They were able to apply the strategy of using context clues to define the word levee. We learned that last week. They relied heavily on questioning for understanding which we also learned together. It's so nice when they actually use what I am teaching. Am I right?
     I then gave them each a paragraph I chose for them based on their level of reading. All of these are 1st to 4th grade level texts. The sticky notes have their names on them, but I folded them up to protect their privacy in the post picture.

     I then had them put the paragraphs in their journal and go through the procedures as we had done.

     I worked with this student. He hates to read. He refuses to read. He cannot read, so go figure! I did the writing in the beginning and he wrote the summary. We discussed this paragraph a lot.

     Another mini-lesson I did last week was on visualization. I gave them a paper folded into 8 squares. We defined visualization and discussed how everyone's unique schema forms the support for their visualization. I then gave them the words: sun, flower, dog, and car. They had to draw a picture of each of these in a square. Afterwards, we shared them ans discussed the similarities and why they occurred. We also discussed the variances. Only one sun had clouds. Two were drawn in the corner. All were round. I then read a 4 sentence paragraph aloud that described a bug that uses it's large pincers to get ants. They drew that and we compared the drawings. All were eerily similar. Then I read my favorite paragraph from Charlotte's Web. You know the one - where she describes the smells and sights in the barn for the first time. They drew the picture they created in their mind. All were very detailed. Myself and another student had pictures that were almost identical because we had seen a barn. Every one else relied on drawing the animals because that is what they knew, having never been to a barn. It was a great example of schema and how it helps with mental images and supports comprehension. Here are a few of the end products. 

      All in all, the week in Reading was a success. I was going to share one of the lessons I did in my EBD class, but this post got lengthy so I will save it. Never a shortage of information, always a shortage of time!

      Here is to a week of laughing and NOT EVER crying, friends! We have Spring Break the week after this one coming up. Five days until it's beach time! Happy teaching, learning, and laughing.
      Mrs. Beck

Introducing CAFE to High School Students

     One of the things that I wondered when I volunteered to teach this Reading class was: I say I can do this, I feel like I can do this, but wait - CAN I DO THIS?! Refer to the diving in head first post if you don't believe me! But as I also have said before, these teenagers struggle with the same things that younger, newer readers struggle with when attempting to read. Somewhere along the way, though the instruction didn't stick. Who knows why, and truthfully the reasons are all vastly different. But at this point, I am not in the business of their why. I am in the business of how, as in HOW CAN WE FIX IT? I had amazing success with younger readers using the The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. These sisters do a great job of laying out the basics of what most teachers of literacy know, but can't exactly articulate as succinctly as is done in the book. It also offers specific strategies, prompts, and ideas that are practical and immediately useful for students. It honestly changed the way I taught reading. All of that said - I wondered if it could transfer to high school students. Once I did my  initial assessments on them and discovered none of them were proficient readers above a third grade level, I started to look for patterns. Just as with younger readers, each of these students had their own specific area in which they struggled. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. If you look back to some of my original blog posts, you will see that I taught this as Starbeck's CAFE in younger grades to play on my name. (We also drank hot chocolate during Reader's Workshop, but that is a story for another day. It was amazing....!) I taught my high school students the CROP-QV (Connections, Reactions, Opinions, Predictions, Questioning, Visualization) first to give them strategies to fall back on immediately. It was harder than I thought because they were not familiar with any of them. Honestly - as I have checked in with them throughout the semester, they report that they are using the strategies and have been able to tell me when and how. That's a good sign. All of the CROP-QV strategies are listed on the CAFE menu, so the progression is seamless. I also introduce those first since they are fairly simple to grasp. Another plus is that when I give them the CAFE menu they are not overwhelmed with all we are going to learn. They can already mark a few off and have some familiarity even before we begin. It makes the task a bit more surmountable for them, if you will.
     I started by defining the areas of CAFE on the board, one letter at a time.

     We discussed what each of them meant, and I defined the level at which a proficient reader would perform. I did IRIs on each of them at the beginning of the semester, so I was also able to share with them their specific data. They were all floored when I said 120 words per minute, especially when they saw where they performed. (I have two who read 28 and 32 WPM on a third grade level text.) Later in the period when I read from our current chapter book aloud, I had them figure out my WPM. They were able to more realistically grasp how fluency at around 120 WPM would actually sound. One of them said, "And you sound like you always do, so that was real. You weren't playin' us." No, Buddy. I would never. Now let's get you right there with me!
     I gave them a CAFE menu and had them cut it apart into the four sections. They then added the definitions we had written on the board.

     We will highlight the ones we learn as we go. I gave them each their own Reading data (comprehension ranking, accuracy percentage, and Words per Minute) and let them decide which area they felt they needed to start with. The conversations were very honest. Some were clearly comprehension. Others felt that their accuracy was the reason their fluency was so low. (Thank you, Reading gods!) We recorded who was setting which goal, and low and behold... they all fell right where I would have put them. (Again I say... Thank you!!) We will continue knocking out strategies next week. Our CAFE is up and running.
     I also wanted to share a quick lesson I taught last week that was adapted from the amazing Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. I use this book all the time. You need to buy one if you haven't already. We have done a lot of work with making inferences, and this lesson tied in a lot of our previous ideas. We were trying to determine ways to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. I used an article that was on a third grade level so everyone could read it. It told the story of the sinkhole that formed under the National Corvette Museum. I chose it because it had several strategies that were obvious teaching points for inferring meaning for unfamiliar words. I had them read the article independently and circle words they didn't know the meaning of in the text. I then read the atircle out loud. They then called out the words which we recorded, looked for clues, and wrote the sentence in which the word was used. Only then did we go back and fill in the actual meaning. I had them record all of this on a four column foldable.

     I then gave them one of three articles that I had pre-selected for them based on level. They used the same foldable that was had used for the whole group lesson and just added their new words to the bottom. After we discussed which strategies they used, they added the foldable to their journals.

     I also made an anchor chart for reference. We will add to this as we identify new ways to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

     On Friday, we summarized all of our inferring strategies under the Inferring Umbrella. This is also adapted from Strategies That Work.

     Funny story about this... You guys know how I worry about insulting them with ideas, texts, graphics that are too elementary. I mean, they are already non-reading 17 year olds. I don't want to pour salt in the wound! When I wrote this umbrella on the board, one of my older boys said, "What is this? It looks too simple." Well of course I thought he meant babyish, so I asked him to bear with me and explained we were adding some higher level wording and it would make more sense. He said, "No. You need to add raindrops or something to make it look more real." Oh. Here I was thinking the dot bullets I was adding would be more grown up.... So, I dug up a blue marker, and raindrops we had! They really are the same struggling readers I had in elementary school, just in bigger bodies. I'll have to post a picture of his umbrella. It has raindrops, and it is beautiful.
     The only other thing I wanted to share is that I will be solely teaching Reading next year! I am doing this with mixed emotions because I do so love my EBD students. LOVE them. But - I also love to teach Reading. I'll still have plenty of EBD love available to share. Win-Win!!
     Have a great week, friends!
Mrs. Beck

Needing a Nap, Questioning Strategy, & Determining Importance in Text

    The week before last was one of those weeks that left me in need of a nap. And by nap, I mean the kind bears take... also known as hibernation. For me that would look like a dark room, cool temp, comfy bed, and blissful silence except the subtle whirring of the fan.... All drama aside, we have all had those days (or weeks) at school. I think it's good to admit we need the break, but not good to actually take that break in class and let the kids down. I did not have a well planned week of solid, focused instruction.   Every time I teach staff development on classroom management, I reiterate how important the actual planning is and the role it plays in making life easier and more productive for the teacher. Obviously it is best for the student! But - we are human. We all have things outside of school that interfere with our ability to be our best. I recently had a situation just like that. A situation that threw me for a loop, totally out of my control, and throwing my A-Game out the window. I endured three days of poorly planned instructional time, and it left me frustrated, exhausted, and needing to hibernate. Aka: Avoidance. So, if I felt that way, imagine what the kids felt like! I wasted their time. Not easy to admit. Shameful, really. But remember: Teachers are also human. I noticed their behavior was worse (of course - they weren't engaged!), the days seemed to go on forever, and they noticed I was preoccupied. I heard: "Are you okay? What's wrong? Did something happen? Want me to beat somebody up for you? (yes, they asked me that...)" And as much as I tried to hide it, laugh it off, smile, and act like all was right in the universe, they knew. And it affected every aspect of the longest three days of school this year. So at the end of those three days, I came home and reevaluated. I went ahead and planned the last two days of the week with some solid lessons and vowed to make the next week count. Back on my A-Game. And of course, this week was much, much better. I guess it's good to revisit those lessons we all know every once in a while. It keeps us humble, accountable, and makes us refocus. And reminds me that I am way too old to let school make me that tired....
     This week, I want to share what I taught on using Questioning as a strategy to support comprehension and Determining Importance in text. I once again took ideas from Tanny McGregor and adapted them for high school and my students specifically. I started by asking the students if they had ever started reading an assignment, highlighter in hand, and at the end realized that they had highlighted everything in the reading. Of course, they laughed and admitted they had all done this and basically still do. I explained that determining what is important when you read helps get rid of extraneous information that takes up valuable space in your brain. I told them about when I was little and had to put away folded laundry. I hated doing it. I'm not sure why, especially considering how OCD I tend to be, but I would open the drawer, and cram - I mean cram - those clothes in there until it took all my might to squeeze the drawer closed, edges of shirts and balls of socks bulging out the top. I literally had drawers that the bottoms had come apart from my attempt to cram things in there. As an adult, I would look at that and say: Do you really need all those clothes? Do you even wear them all? Do you need bigger drawers? Can you leave some of those things out and make the drawer a more productive use of storage? Basically, prioritize what's important.
     I started the lesson by letting them listen to the song Smile by Kirk Franklin. I asked them to tell me what the song was about by giving examples of lyrics they thought were important (clues). They did a great job of filtering out repetitive information and getting down to what was important. I did not get a picture of the list they generated. Oops. Next, I defined the objective and had them add it to their journal. We then read an article together and practiced answering the stems I had offered on the board by highlighting information that fit them.

     After modeling the skill and discussing how it worked, I gave them each a copy of the Scholastic magazine for the week and asked them to choose an article and highlight the important information. I let them work with a partner. They recorded their facts on chart paper, shared with the class, and justified why they chose what they did as being important. This is how they turned out:

     I also had a partner. This is a particularly reluctant learner at times, and lately I have seen a crack in his tough shell. He asked me to be his partner, and I eagerly agreed. One on one instruction without them knowing = PRICELESS!!! Ours looked like this (he chose me as the recorder), but he chose the facts. Nicely done, Sir.

     You will see me use Scholastic magazines in class a lot. I paid for the subscription myself just so I could have solid text to use for them to practice skills I teach in class. You've heard me say it before - finding appropriate text for high school readers that actually read on early elementary levels is a daunting task. These articles are also short enough to keep their interest,usually  relevant to their lives, and leveled appropriately. 

     I revisited Questioning by showing them the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes. I asked them to tell me what they thought as they read the poem. We then recorded their questions. 

 

     We discussed how the questions caused us to dive deeper in to the meaning of the text and make us think further than what is explicitly written. For independent practice, I gave them a graphic organizer and an article from Scholastic. They had choices on which article to read, but I knew each of them would generate a lot of thinking and questioning. Here are some examples of what they turned in to me. 

He read an article on banning Rainbow Bracelets. He asked:

Is this even worth fighting about in school?
Why don't they just tell the kids to put them away?
Why do they let kids bring them anyway? This is school!
Does every school have his problem?

He read an article about a child who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for Muscular Dystrophy.
He asked:

Is he doing this for people who have Muscular Dystrophy to get money?
Is this for somebody he knows or is he just a good person?

She read an article on segregation. She asked:

Why couldn't they attend the same schools?
Why weren't the conditions the same?
Why did the girl have to walk so far and her not be allowed to ride the bus?
Why did she go to that school if it was worse?
Why did the US Supreme Court say "separate but equal" if they never went to a white school and a black school to see if they were equal?

      You can see by these examples that the questions they are asking themselves will lead them to think more deeply about the text. It's a work in progress, but I really hit questioning a lot. It leads to some of their best thinking. We also did a lesson on how those questions get answered and that sometimes - they don't. More on that later. 

     I leave you with a picture of a basic lesson that many elementary school teachers have taught. I forget that sometimes these basic skills are lost on my students in this class. It started when I sent a student to get a book from the Media Center. He returned and I asked what he had chosen. He said, "I don't know. Some book, I think it is about baseball or something." Wow. Talk about a book he was excited to read.... NOT! I asked him how he chose a book. He said he goes to the shelf, looks to see if there is one with a baseball or sports picture on the side, and checks it out. Hmm. And I wonder why I have never seen him finish a book. I open it up, and I kid you not, it was on coaching strategies of college bowl game contenders. The type was microscopic, the dust cover almost put me to sleep, it had vocabulary in it that even I had to really think about (no schema on coaching strategies and maneuvers/drills!), and it was published in 1997. I said, "I think I want to do a lesson on how to choose books that you may actually read and enjoy." From the other side of the room, my reluctant learner said, "Yeah. I need that. I'm for real!" Thank you once again, Reading Gods. I'm for real, too. 

Have an amazing week, friends. 

Mrs. Beck

Connection Circles and Evidence Supported Inferring

     One would think that having had four days off for ice and snow last week, I would have gotten this post done earlier than tonight. But alas, I enjoyed the days off with Mr. Wonderful, cooked a lot of good food, read a few wonderful books, took a lot of great naps, and basically enjoyed the down time. Now it is Sunday night, and I am once again joining the real world.
     In my last post, I paid homage to Tanny McGregor and must do so once again. This post is based on lessons taken directly from her book Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading. As I have said, go buy this book! The book is geared mostly towards instruction with younger students, but I have both adapted parts and kept parts for the high school level seamlessly. As I mentioned before in my blog post on January 16, 2014, these are teenagers reading on 1st to 3rd grade levels. (PS: That is my favorite post ever. I think it captured the challenges of teaching this class while also conveying the challenges the students themselves face. Admittedly, much greater a challenge to be in their shoes than to be in mine. I learn from them everyday, and they aren't even trying to teach me!)
     After introducing metacognition and the concept of having them think about their thinking as they read, I did a lesson on Connections. I had taught Connections in it's most basic form already, but I wanted to dig a little deeper and define the different types. Enter Ms. McGregor's Concentric Circles of Connections. I made one on the computer that looked like the one below. The next picture is what it looked like added to their journal.

     After explaining the types of connections, we went back through the ones we had posted previously on the class CROP-QV for Wonder by R.J. Palacio (our current class read aloud) and sorted them by type: T-S, T-T, and T-W. I then gave them all sticky notes and did our read aloud for the day. I asked them to jot down their connections, but to also code them as to what type they thought they were. After reading, we shared the connections and posted them by code (type) on the board. We had slightly more T-S, but they were pretty even. The next day, I gave them a sheet and asked them to make one connection of each type from their independent reading. I also asked them to choose a fourth connection and tell me what type it was. Additionally, they were to not only share the connection but what the text said that caused the connection. (I took pictures of these, but the camera got stuck at school over the snow day. I'll share them later...) My reasoning behind this was to see of they actually understood the different types and could apply them appropriately as they read. Typically, I would not make them use a certain strategy. I tell them all the time, strategies for comprehension are specific to each person and some work better than others for each individual reader. I personally rely strongly on Visualization and Questions as I read. Some students don't get any mental image at all, but rely on Predictions or Connections to help support their comprehension. Each reader is unique. I am simply trying to find the options that will work best for them. I do like to get an idea, however, if they are with me. It was clear based on the evidence of the practice sheets I gave them, that they were. Just one more strategy in their comprehension arsenal. 

     I had taught schema (basically - background knowledge, unique to each individual) about two weeks ago. I revisited it, and Questioning as well, with a short mini-lesson from the book. I compared McDonald's, a place all of the students are familiar with, to a restaurant in Florida that my husband and I visit called Ponce Inlet. I knew none of them had ever been there. I began by asking them to call out everything they knew about McDonald's in 30 seconds and I recorded it on the left side of an anchor chart. Then on the right side, I gave them 30 seconds to call out all they knew about Ponce Inlet. 

     

     We reflected on the fact that their knowledge based on schema was plentiful, and they could have called out things much longer than 30 seconds. We also discussed how they relied on Questions to try and build some knowledge of the unknown topic. I also discussed with them that even before the 30 seconds was up, and the calling out had gotten quiet, I heard two of them start talking about a girl that they thought was cute who had just walked by the door. Aha! So... see how easy it is to get off topic when it is unfamiliar and uninteresting to you!?! (PS: Thank you to the reading gods who allowed this perfect example to happen.... I love when that happens!!) They all laughed when I pointed out the off topic conversation, but one of the boys who had done it said, "That really happened. How did you know?" (Again... thank you reading gods...)

     I made this anchor chart (thanks, Ms. McGregor!!) and posted it in class. 

     They added it to their journals, we discussed each element of the equation, and we were all set to start making evidence based inferences. I started by defining what exactly it is to infer and how inferences can support comprehension. Before they arrived, I got a clean trash bag and collected a few items from the class trash can as well as printed some staged ones offline. I used some ideas from the book and threw in some of my own to make it relevant. As I took out the items, they were to tell me what they were and then explain what that item told about the person to whom the trash belonged. Here is the chart we made. 

     These were the items and the grey wording is what they said the items meant. (PS: I think Cosco may be spelled Costco... I should look that up...) They had a great discussion about these things and some really good ideas. For the next lesson, I displayed the anchor chart again and discussed how we could use their ideas as solid evidence to support their inferences. We made a new chart. We put our evidence based on schema in pink. 

     I then sent them on their merry way with a supply of sticky notes (larger ones, folded down the middle, hot-dog style) and asked them to practice making an inference on the left and offer support for that inference on the right. We displayed these on the board and discussed each. They really did a fabulous job!! 

     I have been so focused on Reading on the blog, that I have neglected my EBD friends. I thought I would share the lesson we did on anger last week. I found a wonderful article on anger and how it can mask other emotions. (The article is at school, but I promise to give credit to the author in the next post.) I drew this graphic on the board:

     We read the article and discussed examples of times when anger may have masked these emotions in them. I didn't take a picture of the examples we wrote under each emotion because they were personal to the students. I am nothing if not respectful of each of them and their confidentiality. Suffice to say, the examples were numerous. We added it all to their journals. 

     I just have to say, I am enjoying teaching so incredibly much this year. It was a scary - no terrifying - move to come to high school, but I am so excited that I took the plunge. I LOVE it!! I had been hoping to do it for a few years, but the need for change wasn't crystal clear until last year. Coming to a Title I high school of 3600 students has been 100% different than anything I have ever imagined. But different in an amazing, inspiring, challenging, and wonderful way. I thank these kids every day for the lessons they teach me and the time they allow me to spend with them. Treasures. Each and every single one of them. 

    I leave you with a picture of my board from last week. If you have read my earlier posts from this year, you know that I actually teach in a closet. (That may or may not be a slight exaggeration, but slight if at all...) And I hate (with a red hot passion) clutter. I hate it. It makes me hyperventilate. Well, take a look at this....

     As I walked in the other day and looked at this board, I sighed and wondered how I was going to use the 5 square feet of wall space I have left to display my most important things. I mean, I don't leave at the end of the day until everything is put away and my desk is 100% clear. It helps me start the next day fresh, people! But then, one of my kids came in behind me and said, "Look at all that stuff!" And I, thinking she was disturbed by the level of clutter, sticky notes, and anchor charts said, "I know! I have got to get this under control!" And do you know what she said to me? She said, "No, Mrs. Beck. That just shows how much we learn in this class. That's why we all come here every day and no one ever skips your class. This stuff really helps us. You really help us. Thanks, Mrs. Beck." And she left. I closed the door, sat at my desk, actually shed a happy tear, and silently thanked the reading gods once again. That really happened. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THIS JOB!!!!! PS: I left the board. Just like that. 

    Have a great week friends. I hope to get the next post out in a few days on Questioning. Stephanie Harvey is going to be so proud. 

Mrs. Beck

Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking

     First of all, I need to do a major disclaimer here. I have relied on (and by relied I mean totally used, stolen, adapted, stolen, and used again.....) Tanny McGregor and her book Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading for my instruction over this last week and a half. Some of the pictures from my classroom are going to look very familiar, and in some cases exactly like, the anchor charts she has in this book. I feel guilty only long enough to realize that 1) That is why she sold the book, 2) That is why I bought the book, 3) Teachers are idea thieves - accept it, 4) Sometimes my brain is mush and I am doing good to match my shoes much less design an anchor chart that is already fabulously designed and in the book that she sold me and I bought. Okay. Enough justification..... (But you really should go buy the book!)

     I love the idea of teaching students metacognition (thinking about their thinking) mostly because I want to make them aware of when it is that their thinking breaks down. They have to understand that when you look up at the end of a text and realize you read the whole thing but have no idea what you read... you needed to fix that before you got to the end. This sets me up to teach strategies on how to fix the thinking later. In the book, she starts with an activity in which you have sets of cards marked "Text" and "Thinking" and a basket or box labeled "Real Reading Salad". I adapted this for high school and it looked similar, but like this: 

     I read When the Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, and modeled thinking as I read. Some thoughts were directly from the text (Text card) and some were me thinking based on my schema and other connections I had (Thinking card). I had the students determine which card went into the basket. Low and behold, we had many more thinking cards at the end than we did text cards. We discussed the reasons for that determined it was that we think while we read and we don't even know it. Wa-La... Metacognition! (Is that even how you spell "Wa-la"? I have never written it. In my whole life. Hmmm. If not, feel free to correct it as you read.) I then gave them the Venn type diagram that is used in the book and had them fill it in for their journals. 

     

     The graphic shows how thinking and explicit reading overlap. I love it. I have it hanging in my room as well. I then gave them each a card marked "Text" and "Thinking" and we practiced this whole group. I would model thinking as I read from an article I had on our basketball team, and they would hold up the card  that they thought showed how I was thinking. We would briefly discuss if they were right and why, then I would continue reading.  They wanted to keep the cards so I let them add them to their journals as a visual reminder of the lesson. 

     The next thing I shared with them was thinking stems for metacognition. This anchor chart is 100% copied from the book. (But I had on matching shoes that day, so I was already spent...Judge Free Zone, remember.)

     I discussed the thinking stems and modeled how to use the them based on the reading from the day before. We recorded these on the board. Then I put them into groups and gave them each a Shel Silverstein book of poems. I had them use the thinking stems to record their thinking and then we added them to the chart and shared our thinking. 

     Our next metacognition topic was to tackle depth of thinking. I used paint cards from Lowe's to model this, just as the book suggests.(I asked them if I could have them first even though they are free because I felt bad just taking them. I mean, we remodeled an entire home in Florida and used Lowes for it all so it isn't like they couldn't spare a few paint cards... but I HATE to be in trouble. And what if that sweet old lady at the door called me out for stealing free paint cards!? No way was I risking that. So, I asked. But it's up to you.) I made an anchor chart and then they added their cards to their journals. 

   

     I modeled how to use the colors to understand my thinking as I read excerpts from the book I am currently reading, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.  I then had them practice using these cards to show how they were thinking as they read using their independent texts from their book boxes. The recorded this thinking in their journals as well. 

     Obviously, Ms. McGregor's book will give you much more insight into these processes, and I wish I had time to share it all. The students really did a great job of grasping the concept of metacognition and have applied it well so far in isolation. The goal, however, is to have them use it without even having to exert that much effort, seamlessly as they read. Work in progress, friends!

     Oh - I also started reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio out loud to the students. I only read a little bit each day, and I think it has such a valuable lesson for them all to hear. I told them I wanted to model fluency and thinking out loud for them and hoped they didn't mind. They were all on board (with the exception of one, but I am working on him...), which is good because I was going to do it anyway. We have an ongoing class CROP-QV that they each add to after I have read and we discuss what they are thinking. My hope is that it will help solidify some of these basic strategies.

     The next post will be on schema and making connections. The lessons went really well and I cannot wait to share! I leave you with one of my favorite pics of the week of one of my favorite kids in the world. He is funny, smart, and going to do something amazing one day. I can't wait to see it!!

Have a wonderful week, friends!!

Mrs. Beck