Monthly Archives: June 2011

Fear of Commitment: Looking for the Perfect Bookmark and File Sharing Site

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I have a fear of commitment…to bookmarking sites.

Maybe I’m too picky. I’m waiting for the “Holy Grail” of sites: The free site that easily organizes both documents and websites and then pushes those items to my mobile devices. I want to put everything in one place – for free. I dream that this perfect system will one day appear on my dashboard and it will be love at first sight.

Then again, maybe I’m not “getting out there enough.” How can I meet the perfect site if I keep haunting my favorite hangouts?

I’ve ventured out a bit. I subscribed to iCloud, Delicious, and Dropbox. I suppose my interactions with those sites were more like speed-dating. I haven’t taken time to switch all bookmarks and files to an online format. Some of my grad school bookmarks are in Delicious, some are not. I can’t remember which ones are where. I have lists of links in document files that I may or may not have dropped into Dropbox. If I dropped by those sites, would they still remember me?

So, as I read articles like Summer PD: A Primer on Compiling Digital Resources by Mary Beth Hurtz, I wondered if I will ever find the perfect match. Can one site keep all my files and bookmarks in a single location where they can be shared with colleagues and students?

But the question extends beyond me: Am I passing this fear of commitment on to innocent students? If I can’t keep my own bookmarking systems straight, how can I teach my students to fall in love with a system of digital organization?

What do my students (and me) really need? Here are a list of my “Must Have”s:

  1. Simplicity. The fewer clicks, the better. More clicks = more potential for distraction.
  2. Shared access so that both teachers and students can add links. My email box is already flooded with emails. Many of my students are eager to share links with me. They email the links and I generally add them to a second, third, and fourth email that is re-sent to all my students. I’ve also added links to my classroom website or my school intranet page. Given Web 2.0, I no longer want to manually do what students are fully capable of doing.
  3. Global access. I’m an expat teacher working with students who travel extensively. The first semester, my 5th grade students are not allowed to take their laptops home. They need to access their bookmarks so they don’t have to email site links to themselves.
  4. Longevity. I wish I had a crystal ball that could tell me which sites will be around forever. I don’t want bookmarks to disappear when computers are re-imaged. I don’t want to switch bookmarks from site to site.
  5. Student anonymity. I get nervous about anything that requires email sign-in. I become hypocritical if I ask students to be careful with personal information and then ask them to use their email address to sign up for a bookmarking site.
  6. Ideally, both files and bookmarks can be shared in the same place.
In an attempt to “get out there” and look for my organizational love, I have analyzed some options:
File sharing:

Bookmarking sites:

Combination file sharing and bookmarking sites:

I see some potential mates. But, my ideal would probably be a combination of LiveBinders (with free, unlimited storage) and Diigo. Until those are combined, I’m most tempted to continue my relationship with Dropbox, adding documents that students can access/share for the sole purpose of adding links (and descriptions of the links).

That said, I’m always open to input from my colleagues and readers. I need to know two things:

1. Are any of my tables (above) incorrect? If so, let me know.
2. Am I missing anything? What have been your experiences with file sharing and bookmark sharing?

Also, I realize tables are difficult to read. Sign up for updates by email and I’ll send you a .pdf version.

Independent Writing: One Teacher – Thirty-Two Needs, Topics, and Plans (Colleen Cruz)

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Two student statements resonate with me like fingernails down a chalkboard: I don’t have anything to write about and I’m done. In Independent Writing, Colleen Cruz argues that students need to learn to write independently as much as they need to learn both the writing process and the objectives of teacher-directed mini-lessons.

Cruz emphasizes three major components of student writing independence:

  • Identification and use of mentors and mentor texts,
  • personal choice in the use of writer’s notebooks, and
  • responsible participation in a writing community.

Finding and Using Mentors
Colleen Cruz uses the term mentors in a variety of ways. Commercially published authors can be mentors. Individual texts can serve as mentors. Classmates mentor other classmates.

Cruz outlines mini-lessons that help students choose a mentor text and use a mentor text. To help students who struggle to find appropriate mentor texts, Cruz carries a folder of photocopied writing that may be applied to multiple student needs. Students are explicitly taught to read from a writer’s perspective, analyzing choices that authors make and applying similar techniques to their own pieces.

While not explicitly stated, the use of mentor texts aligns with Robert Marzano‘s suggested strategy of Identifying Similarities and Differences. Cruz’s suggestions might be supplemented with a review of Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement.

Personalizing Writers’ Notebooks
Cruz argues that many students view the Writer’s Notebook as something students keep to fulfill teacher requirements at school. She cleverly shows students a regular writing notebook that she uses in class alongside a “secret writing notebook” that she carries in her purse. This lesson emphasizes to students that writing notebooks can serve a variety of purposes. One notebook might be used solely for a large project. Another might contain notes, observations, and lists. Students are encouraged to manage multiple notebooks for individual purposes.

By analyzing their own notebooks, students articulate their pre-writing and drafting styles as they progress through the writing process. Some may write lists, sketches, and outlines. Others may handwrite full drafts or write checklists in the margins. Cruz also suggests students analyze famous authors’ uses of notebooks as detailed in Speaking of Journals.

Becoming Part of a Writing Community
In her chapter about building a community of writers, Colleen Cruz discusses various types of student groupings. A class is described as a colony of writers. A salon is described as a permanent or semi-permanent group of six to eight student writers. A writing club is a temporary grouping focused on solving a particular topic or problem. Partnerships may be temporary or year-long. New to me was the idea of seminars, where groups of three to eight students ask the teacher to give a specific lesson on a particular topic. After the seminars, students leave with new information and new mentor texts that help them address their particular needs.

Cruz believes that these groupings should be chosen and organized by students themselves. She specifies procedures that help group formations run smoothly. She suggests specific mini-lessons that facilitate productive student to student conversation. Also, Cruz mentions that students may lead seminars.

Personal Reflection
I was happy to see how Colleen’s mini-lessons are built off the Columbia Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and lessons from Lucy Calkins’s materials. Colleen Cruz worked with leaders at the Reading and Writing Project to refine her practice in a way that covered state-mandated curriculum and also facilitated student choice in writing. Not only am I familiar with the Columbia Teachers College philosophy and Calkins’s books, my school has adopted Lucy Calkins materials as the primary curricular resource for writing instruction.

The additional student independence adds to my current writing instruction in two potentially powerful ways:

  1. Students are able to manage multiple projects at once. Rather than doodling or finding distractions while waiting for me to help them with essays or stories, students can re-engage in their independent projects.
  2. Students learn more about themselves as writers. As they explore preferred genres and formats, they are able to identify strengths and weaknesses that would not be apparent through traditional units of study.

I like how Colleen Cruz emphasizes that teachers need to help students think of what their piece is about (the content) before thinking about the format of presentation. The content must be worthy of the presentation.

If I could add something to this book, I would address the use of technology in writing instruction. I found myself making margin notes about ways classroom management could be enhanced with the use of Interactive White Boards, Google Calendars, online resource lists, and the creation of webinars. I thought about ways Folderboy.com might be used for the brainstorming of ideas, learning logs might document the writing process, and a classroom blog might publicize final projects. I will explore these ideas in future posts.

In Independent Writing, Colleen Cruz discloses her frustrations when students continue to struggle with things to write about. She admits that some students will never love writing, but that student choice makes the writing process palatable for ever-reluctant writers. Hence, while students may still say I don’t know what to write about, they will be far less likely to say, I’m done.

My 3 Biggest Mistakes and 3 Biggest Successes as a First-Year Teacher

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June 2011

This week I had the privilege of visiting my first classroom. The room looked and smelled exactly the same as it did back in 1993. I, however, look completely different. I think differently too.

I was flooded with memories as I walked around. I began thinking of my mistakes and successes in that first year.

September 1994

Mistake 1: Arrogance
This is tough to admit. I came in with all my notes from college, from student teaching, and from courses I had taken over the summer. I believed the methods I had learned were superior to the “traditional” methods I saw in my colleagues. I was going to amaze everyone with my ideas and my results.

I didn’t listen well to advice, especially advice about my environment – my number 2 mistake.

Mistake 2: Not Considering My Environment
A classroom may feel like a solitary place- you close the door and the classroom is yours. I learned that my classroom was part of a bigger system of expectations. My principal, many of my colleagues, and most of the parent community expected traditionalist teaching. Many came to my private school to avoid the Outcome-Based Education movement. My principal at the time went so far as to call it “A government conspiracy to control our children.”

Had I better considered my environment, I would have maintained my beliefs about pedagogy beyond textbooks, but I would have spoken more carefully and made some compromises (using textbooks a bit more at first) until I had gained principal and parent trust.

Mistake 3: Taking Criticism too Personally
The day of my first parent-teacher conferences, I was excited to talk about the students. I had grown close to each child and was ready to share all the great things I had seen. In short, I had good news for every parent about every child.

I was completely unprepared for a few parents to say, “There are a some things in my child’s work that concern me” or “I wonder if my child really deserves a high grade with [these particular errors]” or “My child says you don’t teach reading, you just let them read” or “We’re not seeing much work coming home.”

Looking back at those statements, parents wanted an explanation of why I was doing what I was doing. Honestly, I was doing what I was doing because my professors and workshop leaders had told me the methods would work. I bought into philosophies without thinking them through carefully. Worst of all, I felt like parent questions were criticisms and personal attacks. I needed two things: maturity and perspective.

Success 1: I Adored the Students
I can remember the names of almost every student in my first class. I remember enjoying the workdays as much as the weekends. A colleague said to me, “Enjoy this year. You have great kids. And, you have more energy this school year than you will ever have again.”

She was correct. Every lesson was new. Every holiday and celebration was new. I embraced everything. I told great stories and couldn’t wait to make students smile. I still keep in touch with many of them.

Success 2: I Managed the Classroom Well
For some reason, I instinctively knew that the trick to classroom management was thinking through transitions.

What routines would students have when they arrived in the morning? Between lessons? After recess?

Where should I place supplies so that students could easily get the materials they needed with the least amount of disruption?

What behavioral issues might hinder the lesson? How could I proactively discourage such behaviors? How could I set them up for success?

How could I communicate with students so that they understood I still cared about them even though I didn’t always care for their behavioral choices?

Success 3: I Learned from my Mistakes
The old adage That which doesn’t kill us serves to make us stronger summarizes my early teaching career. As a result of my mistakes and my determination to prove I was a good teacher (yes, it took awhile for my arrogance to die), I altered some ideas and honed my craft. I learned:

  • Traditional teaching methods are not necessarily evil. First of all, textbooks can be a good starting point for scope and sequence – especially in a school without clear curriculum documents. Second, it doesn’t hurt to ask kids to sit still and listen as long as the expectations are reasonable and the information is formatively assessed through conferences with individual students.
  • The two most important people to know (at first) are the secretary and the custodian. Next, the principal and your new colleagues need to know you’re a team player. It’s okay to test out some of their ideas and philosophies as long as you know the students are learning what they are suppose to learn and students feel safe.
  • Always consider the philosophy and research behind instructional methods. No one program or method will work for every lesson or every student.
  • Parents are not the enemy. They want to know why you do what you do. They may also need a bit of education about your philosophy and methods. School doesn’t look or feel the same as it did when they attended classes – which is a bit scary for some.
  • If students know you care about them and their learning, students will respond.
  • If you manage a classroom well, you greatly increase the rate at which students learn.
  • You will mess up. Be humble. Pick up the pieces: Make things right with the students. Make things right with the principal. Solicit help from colleagues. Make things right with parents.
What were some of your mistakes and successes?

When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead): Compacting the Fiction Unit

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I’m always looking for ways to challenge my higher readers. In the beginning of the year, I formatively assess students’ ability to summarize (not just retell with “and then…and then…and then…”). Without summarization skills, students remember many events, but cannot separate important elements from the unimportant. Later in the year, I want to know students can pick out finer details and literary elements than indicate themes or parallelisms.

Knowing Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was at a high reading level for 5th grade students, I wondered if it could be used in conjunction with When You Reach Me to compact and extend the fiction reading unit. I re-read A Wrinkle in Time, noting the relatively high vocabulary and complex sentence structures. I also noticed how it followed a classic fantasy pattern (magic + time jump + “good vs. evil”). I noted that the book could formatively assess students’ ability to concisely summarize chapters.

I then began reading When You Reach Me, knowing only that it built off A Wrinkle in Time. I expected to see the same sort of literary structure. Surprisingly, the first chapters read like realistic fiction. Then, the structure resembled a mystery (What was the tragedy? Who wants the letter? Why? Who is the real antagonist?).

Not finding structural similarities, I looked for similarities amongst the main characters in the two books. I found relatively few.

The books are held together by the idea of time relativity and the possible consequences of time travel. In A Wrinkle in Time, Meg learns about tesseracts, or bends in time and space that allow for travel throughout the universe. Miranda, the main character of When You Reach Me, reads A Wrinkle in Time over and over again. In her life, she discovers that someone she knows has traveled through time and space to save a loved one from something unknown.

How would I use this in my classroom? Together, the two books allow for extended learning (or “gifted”) differentiation known as compacting. While mainstream fifth grade students practice with the Who, [Did] What, Where, When, Why, and How of fiction chapters, the extended learners would:
1. Summarize chapters of A Wrinkle in Time, first using a graphic organizer, then summarizing independently (See Summarizing, created by former colleague Brian Kissman).
2. Construct a definition of “fantasy” by comparing and contrasting A Wrinkle in Time with other fantasy books they have read.
3. Students would then read When You Reach Me, focusing on building profundity through character analysis (See Profundity Matrix Character and Meaning, also created by Brian Kissman). Given the complexity of the main character, her changing circle of friends, and her family relationships, the character analysis could be shared. Each student could analyze a character, and share using a format similar to jigsaw reading.
4. Compile a list of questions students had as they read each chapter. What questions does the author want the reader to struggle with? When are the answers revealed? How might this information be used to construct a graphic organizer for writing mystery stories? Does the graphic organizer work for other mysteries they have read? What scientific knowledge (research) would help out understanding of the story?

Assessment (for discussion and agreement within teaching teams)
In a 5th grade fiction unit, students “Meet Expectations” if they can summarize chapters of a fiction novel that has a predictable story structure. Students “Exceed Expectations” if they can use chapter summarize to construct story structures of novels in various genres.

Students also “Meet Expectations” if they can analyze a single main character throughout a fiction novel. Students “Exceed Expectations” if they can analyze actions and decisions of multiple characters within a novel.

Word After Word After Word (Patricia MacLachlan): Uses For Two Writing Units

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In Word After Word After Word, Patricia MacLachlan answers the questions students ask when she visits schools, but the answers are in the form of gold nuggets to be mined.

Rather than writing the book as a Q and A or as chapters covering the writing process, MacLachlan explores the writing lives of five fictional children: Lucy, Henry, Evie, Russell, and May. Each child has a life event or struggle that serves as an inspiration for writing.

Word After Word After Word can be used by classroom teachers throughout the school year. At the beginning, it can be used during writing workshop to answer three essential questions:

  1. Why do we write?
  2. What do we write about?
  3. Where do we write?

While reading the book aloud, I would ask students to analyze each character’s life and predict how each character would answer the three essential questions. What literal facts lead them to make those inferences?

Later in the year, I plan to use parts of the books within the poetry unit. Reminding students of the five main characters, students can blindly match the character to the poems he or she wrote. How did each character use words to communicate ideas? How did stories in prose turn into poetry? How do the poems sound when read aloud? What word pictures come to mind?