11 for 11: THE END

This year I'm writing about 11 things that are on my mind as we begin the 2011-2012 school year.

THE END is a lousy way to end a story. Likewise, "Put your books away and finish questions 2-5 for homework" or "Look at the time, we need to get to lunch" are lousy ways to end a lesson.

Lesson closure means that we set aside 3-5 minutes at the end of a lesson so students can reflect on learning and figure out where to file away new information in their mental file cabinet. When we ask students write or draw about what they've learned, we can determine whether or not they've "hit" the learning target.

John Dewey reminds us, "We do not learn from our experience. We learn from processing our experience." Don't spend time and energy designing a dynamic learning experience only to finish it with THE END.

11 for '11: The Great Homework Debate

You've likely seen the controversy around the "homework" shirt that JCPenny wisely pulled from their inventory. But even before the shirt, homework has always been a controversial subject. Marzano advocates for homework, while Alfie Kohn makes compelling arguments against it. But it's Fisher and Frey who suggest that the homework debate can't be answered with a yes or no.

Before you assign your next homework assignment, I hope you'll read this thought-provoking article by Fisher and Frey and reflect on a few big questions:

1. If students already demonstrate competence with a given skill, should they be required to do the same homework?
2. Do I have well-defined purposes for homework? Do I articulate these purposes to my students? (See Fisher and Frey article)
3. Do I currently analyze student performance on homework or just check it as complete?

11 for '11: Less is More

It probably started with good intentions. At Parent Information Night, one teacher disputed a list of class rules, 55 to be exact. Let me say that again...55. I thought my friend was joking until she sent me a copy.

The rules ranged from "If someone gives you something, say thank you within three seconds" to "Be the best person you can be." Just reading the rules was so exhausting. I can't even imagine trying to stay in compliance.

If we're interested in long term character development, instead of short term compliance, we don't need a military grade book of rules. We just need two:

1) Do the right thing.

2) Treat people right.

Less is more.

11 for '11: Doing Away with Student Engagement

This is post four in the 11 for '11 series. I'm writing about 11 things that are on my mind as we begin the 2011-2012 school year.

I've decided to delete the phrase "student engagement" from my vocabulary. I think it confuses more than it explains. Is the boy sitting in the back row, doodling in the margins of his notepad, engaged? Maybe he is. Maybe he's connecting and synthesizing new information as he doodles. Then again, maybe he's not. The problem is that you don't know. The problem is that "student engagement" isn't measurable or observable.

Interaction, on the other hand, is both measurable and observable. You can check for understanding as students interact with each other and with you. You can check for understanding when a student writes about his or her interaction with a text. Interaction is teachable, observable, and measurable.

Make this year less about educational jargon and more about interacting.

11 for '11: What's Your Plan?

This is the third post in the 11 for '11 series. I'm writing about 11 things that are on my mind as we begin the 2011-2012 school year.

Last week, on the second day of school, I heard a teacher say that she already felt behind. It's true. At the end of the day there will always be one (or ten) more things that you could do before you go home. But should you?


Priorities are fragile.

I know you've put considerable thought into your classroom layout. You've written lesson plans and starting building a community with your students, but have you given any thought into how you will live an authentic life this year?

Maybe you'll decide that Wednesday a is "bag-free" night, which means that you don't take a single school bag home with you, not even if you leave it in the car. Try it and I bet you'll be more focused and effective on Thursday night.

It's a choice and if you don't make it for yourself--right now--the stacks of paper will continue to taunt you for the remainder of the year.

11 for '11: Charting Our Progress

The second post in the 11 for '11 series comes from Alan Wright, an educational consultant and blogger from across the big pond. His blog is a favourite of mine. (I much prefer the Australian spelling of this word. It seems so much fancier.) I loved this post when it was originally published and I'm thankful that he has allowed me to share it with you as a reminder to document your learning journey--from start to finish--this year. What "footprints" will your readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists leave behind?

Charting Our Progress: Using Anchor Charts

Anchor charts are important tools for students to use during Writers' Workshop and aid them in remembering procedures, craft strategies,ideas and expectations. When teachers co create such charts with their students, the students frequently develop a sense of ownership because the recorded information reflects their ideas, their language. Once constructed, charts can be copied in a smaller format for students to place inside their writer’s notebook or writing folder as a further point of reference. Charts should be added to over time. This reinforces the fact that knowledge grows across time and space as we investigate and discover. Anchor charts should be removed when no longer needed. They could stored as flip charts. Anchor charts need to be posted in the classroom where they are easily accessible to students in order to serve as a resource for their writing.

Teachers who develop anchor charts with their students and refer back to said charts frequently throughout writer's workshop lessons, significantly enhance the impact of their teaching. Anchor charts represent clear evidence of the learning tracks a class is following. They have the potential to be valuable learning resources when:

~Teachers consistently refer to them

~Teachers encourage students to return to them across the course of a particular writing study.

*However, it is important not to allow anchor charts to morph into ‘wall paper.’

Teachers at Sunshine North Primary are employing a great strategy to determine the use by date of classroom anchor charts. They periodically provide students with post it notes and have them mark up those charts that are still holding their attention. Students walk the room identifying those charts they believe are supporting their learning. Any charts that have ceased to provide support for learners are taken down and added to the flip chart collection. This is a form of ‘de-cluttering.’

Anchor charts are like footprints left by the learning journey we have undertaken with our students.

The ONLY Resource You Need to Teach Writing...

is a library card.

I know there are plenty of products out there that promise to help your students write proficiently. The problem is that it's a promise a pre-packaged product can rarely deliver. If you want your students to love to write, and write well, the best investment you can make is in yourself. Until you become cognizant of the thinking processes you use when you interact with a book, it will be virtually impossible to help students do the same.


We wear several different hats that influence how we experience a book. When we Read Like a Reader, it is a bit like being a detective. (By the way, don't you just love Natalie's "thinking" face?) We pay careful attention to what has already happened to predict what might happen next. We use what we know about words to figure how to read and understand new words. We connect, visualize, sythesize.

But when we Read Like a Writer, we use different skills. We notice the 6+1 Traits. We ask questions like "Where do you think the author got the idea for this story?" and "Why do you the author decided to..." We pay very careful attention to the decisions a writer made so that we can use these same tools as we "construct" our own writing.

The thing about kids is that they're usually much better at noticing than we are. I'll never forget the day Natalie and I were reading a Clifford book and she asked "Why do the adults have five fingers, but the children only have four?" And while I had no idea, it did serve as a reminder that so many of our learners are visual. So when we Read Like an Illustrator, we notice the cover page and the picture on the dedication page. We notice the use of texture, colors, and style. We notice when the illustrator zooms in to give us lots of details and when they zoom out to show more of the setting.

This year, I hope you'll spend more time noticing. As you share your favorite read alouds, try on each hat and see what new teaching possibilities you, and your students, discover.

{This is the first of the 11 for '11 series. I'll be posting (with a little help from a guest blogger or two) 11 things that I've been thinking about as we begin the 2011-2012 school year.}