Words With Friends Lessons

My dad and I enjoy playing Words with Friends. If you are unfamiliar with the game, it's like Scrabble, but we play it on our cell phones and receive a notification each time it is our turn. Though an octogenarian, he beats me soundly about 95 percent of the time. There are a couple reasons for this:  

1.     He does the daily crossword puzzle in his newspaper.  

2.    He is a voracious reader.  

Those contribute to his amazing vocabulary, but there is a deeper reason behind why I am typically trounced. Dad looks for the best move. I just look for a move.  

I am always so happy I can make a word that I just throw it on the game board. Dad looks at all the letters available to him, carefully examines the words in play, and then determines which option will be of greatest benefit.   

This realization led to an educational aha moment. I've had the opportunity to observe many teachers in my 16 years of experience.  Student progress and success has been the goal of everyone I have worked with, yet some teachers have gotten big results, whereas others haven't.  

Some teachers work their way through a curriculum, content just to have a lesson to teach. Other teachers, often the ones getting big results, work at teaching the way my dad plays Words with Friends. They carefully study the students in their classrooms, evaluate their resources, and then make decisions that will have the most impact.  

I want to be like them and like those of you who play the teaching game with such excellence.  If you want to join me, here's what I've learned we can do that will help us win:

• Resolve to pay attention to what assessments are really telling us
• Deepen our commitment to listen with our entire being when conferring 
• Get to know the standards and how our classroom resources fit curricular goals and student needs
• Endeavor to make intentional decisions that will help our students reach their full potential

And if you play Words with Friends,  keep Qi (pronounced Chē)  in mind.  Not only does it refer to circulating life energy, but it's worth a lot of points, especially if you put it on a triple word score.  

Drawing Inferences

Sometimes we have to think fast.

In one of our fourth-grade classrooms, the teacher and I have been working on Common Core State Standard RL. 4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.  

Using picture books for our focus lessons, modeling our own thought processes, and giving partners plenty of time to turn and talk had already led to some great thinking and sharing about inferences. Students were encouraged to continue inferring how characters were feeling or what else authors might be saying as they were sent off to read independently.

I moved to have a one-on-one conference with a reluctant reader who is new to our school.  When I asked her to tell me a bit about the book she was reading, she gave me a preteen pout and complained, "Why do I have to infer anyway?  I'm just going to go to beauty school."

My brain went into hyper-drive, and I responded, "Let's imagine you just did my hair, handed me the mirror, and turned me around so I could see the entire haircut.  Then when you asked how I liked it, I said [with a frown on my face and an unhappy tone], 'It's fine.'"

"Well, you don't really like it," she said.
"But I said I like it," I answered.
"I could tell you didn't."
"That's right.  You combined my words with what you already know about body language and tone of voice and came up with a truer meaning.  That is a life skill that will serve you well.  That is also what we are asking you to do when you read.  Bring yourself into the text and pay attention to what the author isn't saying, and your understanding of the book will deepen.  That's all inference is."

I would love to tell you that she smiled brilliantly and dug into her chapter book with new zeal, but this isn't a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.  To truly capture the literary hearts of our most reluctant readers, we will have to impart relevance and real-world connections over and over.  Sometimes our work leads to giant strides and sometimes it leads to baby steps.  As long as we are making progress, I'm happy.  

They Deserve Us

I recently had a chance to reconnect and visit with an old acquaintance at a conference. After a few years of serving as a literacy coach, she moved to an intervention specialist position. She mentioned the intense pressure teachers in her district are under because of the heavy emphasis being placed on test scores. Like many of us she is working with students who are new to English, have learning disabilities, or for one reason or another came to her significantly below standard.

At first, she talked with pride about the enormous gains her students have made. Then she said she had become extremely discouraged because it wasn't perceived as good enough by higher administration. This master, veteran teacher said she had wrestled with thoughts of quitting, thinking "I'm not sure I can do this anymore." But then she followed up with, "No. I can't do that. These kids deserve me."

She said it with such passion that I got goose bumps. And she is right. She is an outstanding teacher. The students she is working with do deserve her. They have demonstrated tremendous growth and have developed a love of reading under her guidance this year.

How are you feeling? Here in the Seattle area we have something called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD for short). We live in a beautiful, lush, green part of the country, but the many days of rain and gray can dampen the spirits of even the most resilient cheerful souls. Likewise, the current educational climate can easily lead to discouragement. However, if we keep in mind the reasons we became teachers in the first place and if we teach with excellence, passion, and love, we can buoy ourselves up. We can renew our resolve and get back in there, because frankly, these kids do deserve us.

Now I Get It

Meet Roy, a charming young man from Costa Rica. When Roy was younger, his mom said, "Why don't you study the violin?" He tried it, but he didn't like it. He said it was boring.

About four years ago, Roy's mom dragged him to a concert featuring Midori. If you've ever heard beautiful music and felt a stirring in your soul, you'll understand what happened to Roy when he heard the extraordinary performer play. As they left, Roy said, "Now I get it. Mom, I want to study the violin."

Are there reluctant readers in your school, classroom, or home who don't yet understand how wonderful reading is? Maybe they, like Roy, would say, "I don't want to. It's boring."

We have the power to be like Midori for them. Our read-alouds can be the concerts that change how they feel about our instrument: books. When we choose delightful, powerful, suspenseful, hysterically funny, or heartbreakingly moving books, we increase the chances that those reluctant readers will finally say, "Oh, now I get it! I want to be a reader."

It doesn't matter if we teach first graders or twelfth, reading aloud can pull them in and capture them for life.

Back to Roy: He taught himself to play the violin using YouTube videos and won a scholarship to a violin camp in Alabama. While there he went to an orchestra concert and when it was over, he begged the musicians to teach him. They were so impressed with his passion and drive that one of the members, a violin teacher, invited him to live with her family. He is working to get into a performing arts school and hopes to audition for a symphony.

Like Roy, if we can capture a reader, they won't mind the work and drive it takes to become one. In fact, they won't let anything stop them.

Three Tips for Raising Writers

I hunkered next to five-year-old Eric to learn about his writing and immediately noticed the illustration of a woman with a large stomach.  I was joking around when I said, "Wow. I hope that's not my tummy."  Without missing a beat he replied, "Oh, it is, but don't worry.  I gave you a big shirt so it won't show."

This led to my most recent diet motto, "I can have any treat if I can see my feet," but that's getting off the subject.

How do we go about raising writers?

Common Core standards for Eric and other kindergartners say that they should use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose an opinion piece, an informational piece, and a narrative piece.  This is ambitious, but for years the kindergarten teachers at my very diverse school have managed to develop writers who are able to do just that.  How do they do it?  By doing three things well.

First, they operate under the belief that their students, though young, are indeed writers and have something worth saying.  It's because of this conviction that their students buy into the idea.  I've never heard one of their students lament, "I don't know how to write."

Second, they provide focused, intentional lessons that raise the level of writing in the room.  Each lesson is drawn from looking at what the children are doing now and leads them to their next steps.  Picture books and poems frequently become mentor texts.  As attention is paid to author's craft, they discover things they might like to try in their own pieces.

Finally, they provide daily practice time and confer while students are writing.  It is during the individual conferences that differentiated instruction takes place, raising the writing level of struggling writers, prolific authors, and everyone in between.

No matter what the age of our students, if we believe, teach, and confer, we can do our part to raise writers, too.
 

The Fun Theory

Volkswagen has an initiative called The Fun Theory.  It's dedicated to the idea that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people's behavior for the better.  Innovative participants have shared their best thinking and inventions to help prove the theory, submitting ideas like the world's deepest trash bin, a soda machine that functions like a slot machine for recycling old cans, a piano staircase (my personal favorite) and more.

The fun theory is one of the cornerstones of Daily 5 as well.  No matter which Daily 5 we are launching, we build urgency and purpose by letting students know that their choices will not only make them better readers and writers, but will be fun for them.

It isn't just snake oil.  When students have perfectly fitting books and settle down in a comfortable spot to read for an extended period of time, it is fun.  Getting to write about things that really matter to them in forms that fit the topic and audience is equally enjoyable.

If the momentum in our rooms is beginning to sag, it's a perfect time to revisit and reestablish the fun factor.  Have focused sharing around who had fun today with a book, their writing, or their Word Work efforts.  It will be infectious, and could be just the booster shot everyone needs to delve back in with a new sense of urgency.

Collaboration

"There is a tremendous need for trust in a really great collaboration." 

Keyboardist Jeff Johnson was speaking about his partnership with Phil Keaggy, perhaps the most astounding guitarist in the world. They'd worked together to create a musical response to the magnificent beauty of the Frio River in Texas.

Jeff went on to say that he and Phil enjoyed each other, trusted each other, and were willing to try things. Their collaboration was marked by a willingness to respond to each other's ideas and vision.

I can't help but think about how this applies to educators. Some of us work on teams that collaborate well together, each member making the others stronger. Some of us are fortunate to have coaches and/or principals in our buildings who lead, instruct, inspire, and encourage.

If we aren't fortunate to have a climate like that, we may have to find our kindred spirits elsewhere. I'll never forget visiting Gail Boushey's classroom many years ago to learn about the different way she and Joan Moser had organized their literacy block to ensure students had time to read and receive exquisite personalized instruction. I felt like I'd found my literacy soul mates. Debbie Miller, Ralph Fletcher, Peter Johnston, Franki Sibberson, and Lucy Calkins have inspired and mentored me through their books. In recent years, I've made the acquaintance of amazing educators like Donalyn Miller, George Couros, Laura Komos, and Jessica Johnson on Twitter. They share, question, push my thinking, and inspire me to take risks and try new things.

If we are going to be the best we can be, we need powerful collaborations. We need a clear vision that is in sharpest focus and then we need to make sure every action and activity in our classrooms matches that vision.

I'm reminded of the quote "Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world." (It's been attributed to both Joel Barker and Nelson Mandela. I'm not sure who said it first, but it's a great quote.) If we commit to great collaborations with people who share our vision, we can absolutely change the world one student, one classroom, and one school at a time.

Frio Suite