I know it’s silly, but as my students leave each day I sing to them (decidedly off key), “Oh, it’s crying time again, you’re gonna’ leave me.”  Many of them beam with joy that I’m going to miss them.

It’s that time of the school year for reflection–for us and for our students.  Here’s a visual created by Peter Pappas for a taxonomy of reflection that would be helpful for all of us.  Read more about it on his blog.

I don’t know if you’re as bad at acronyms as I am, but PISA is the Program for International Student Assessment.  I’d read about the assessment before, but this really clarified things for me.  Enjoy!

Characteristics of Poor Readers        

• Thinks understanding occurs from “getting the words right,” rereading
• Use strategies such as rote memorization, rehearsal, simple categorization
• Are poor strategy uses
• They do not think strategically about how to read something or solve a problem
• They do not have an accurate sense of when they have good comprehension readiness for assessment
• Have relatively low self-esteem.
• See success and failure as the result of luck or teacher bias.

Characteristics of Successful Readers

• Understand that they must take responsibility for construction meaning using their prior knowledge.
• Develop a repetoire of reading strategies, organizational patterns, and genre.
• Are good strategy users:
• They think strategically, plan, monitor their comprehension, and revise their strategies.
• They have strategies for what to do when they do not know what to do.
• Have self-confidence that they are effective learners; see themselves as agents able to actualize their potential.

Source:  http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/str_read; 23 Oct. 2001

This morning I was reading some research about reading and came across some information about how our brains turn print into language. The idea that sent fireworks exploding in my brain is the very last step when words receive meaning: ”Reading a word such as stagger, limp, or tiptoe activates the motor areas in the brain that are involved in controlling the legs and feet, whereas reading a word such as chop or carve activates those controlling the hands. Whereas understanding a sentence about eating activates the areas related to gustatory sensations, understanding a visual description activates areas of the visual cortex (Adams, 2011, p. 8).

How cool is that!  The next step is a response or completed circuit.  Doesn’t that just give us all the more reason to include kinetic learning in our reading repetoire?

Samuels, J. & Farstrup, A., Editors (2011). What research has to say about reading instruction.  Neward, DE:  International Reading Association.

From http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2012/03/just-because.html

I just found out about this program full of success stories about people learning to read.

When my sons were very young, I read the book Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons. We began to stalk not just wild asparagus, but violet blossoms with which to make pancake syrup, nasturtium flowers with which to make salad, and rose hips with which to make tea. As embarrassing as all this may be to admit, I find that I have the same satisfaction when I forage for sentences that I had twenty-some years ago foraging for wild foods with my sons.  Today’s post is directly from my Sentence Stalking Blog.

Why Stalk?

1. Because teachers can use model sentences to teach grammar and punctuation – and more than that, how grammar and punctuation help us write well. For example, when you teach coordinating conjunctions, scan through the stalked sentences to find great examples to teach with. Let students learn from great sentences.

2. Just to appreciate good writing.

3.  Students can learn to appreciate good writing and articulate what makes a good sentence.

This morning, I saw a hawk outside, memorized his features sitting on the telephone wire, and then banged on the window so I could see him in flight. He didn’t move, just kept looking around. When I came out and stomped he flew away, and then I saw fresh blood where he had caught something and then lost it. I went to school, got out a guide book, and was so surprised to find this powerful sentence about the Bicolored Hawk in a bird book:

After you’ve researched and decided, it’s time to teach.  I generally start with pointing out something that the student is doing well.  “I like the way you _____, because ______.”  Then I choose a concise teaching point that I can write down on a sticky note.  I give the student a copy and have a copy for myself on my clipboard.

I always limit myself to one teaching point.  This could be anything from a grammar point to a point about how writers have to think like readers.  Here’s a sampling of teaching points from last week:

• Writers have to continually ask, “Do my readers have the background knowledge to understand what I’m writing?”  If not writers have to explain more about what they’re writing.
• Writers need to be careful of strings of adjectives and find the perfect adjective to describe something.
• Sometimes writing goes on and on without letting the reader pause and take a breath.  Writers use punctuation to give those breaks to readers.
• Some verbs are irregular in the past tense, like the verb put.  You can use the anchor chart about irregular verbs to find the correct way to write verbs in the past tense.

I just decided my old theme was a bit uninteresting.  I was shooting for a clean look when I designed it . . . but I’m afraid it was just blah.  You’re not lost, though.  Stay here and let me know how you like the new theme.