Reading in the Wild - A Preview

For the past several weeks, I've had the pleasure of prereading the final manuscript of Donalyn Miller's new book Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits which will be published in November (it's kind of fun, turning over page after page of 8 1/2 x 11 paper).  

The cover... beautiful!

Having a friend like Donalyn is one of the blessings we have as teachers, isn't it?  Whether you've spent time with her at dinner, listened to her speak at a conference, or heard her whisper her beliefs to you as you read The Book Whisperer:  Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child you have, indeed, met Donalyn.  

Donalyn is a teacher's teacher.  She's passionate about her work with readers and in helping us become better at our craft.  What impresses me most about Donalyn is her sincerity.  She believes so strongly in "cultivating" and "awakening" the reading lives of young readers.  I imagine the blood that flows through her veins likely contains "read" blood cells. 

In her new book, she, along with Susan Kelley, share five important lifelong habits that they believe readers need in order to prosper.  They share ways to nudge children to be "readers in the wild."  It's sprinkled with the rituals and routines that Donalyn, and Susan, know from experience will cultivate the types of readers we want children to be and to become, both in the classroom and out of the classroom.

I'll write more about this book as it gets closer to the publication date, but I have a strong inkling you'll want to preorder it!  

I was reading the other day and ran across this marvelous quote by Terry W. Glaspey, "Books provide the most helpful of road maps for (an) inner journey.  They show us the tracks of fellow travelers, footprints left by earlier pilgrims who have trod the path that stretches before us.  Their luminosity helps to light our way.  As we read we realize we are not alone."  

And, that's how I feel about this new book by Donalyn.  She, along with her friend Susan, are luminaries for teachers, no matter our experience.  There's a reasonableness to their work.  It causes us to focus, reflect, and make meaningful decisions about the learners in our care.  Grounded in thoughtfulness, this book will nudge us as teachers... and, in turn, stretch the readers with whom we work.

What are the five habits?  I'll mention those in a future post.  But, for now, know that you're in for a treat from Donalyn (and Susan).  In the meantime, read wildly... think deeply... and discover the habits YOU have as a reader.  After all, aren't the very habits we possess the ones we want our students to emulate?  Then ask yourself, "How am I teaching my students to do the same thing?"  Donalyn has.  As fellow travelers, we should too!

Children WANT to write! - Donald Graves

I wrote a tribute to Donald Graves when he died.  If you know me, you know that I've been a fan of his since my wife, Susan, first introduced me to his groundbreaking work Writing: Teachers and Children at Work.  It is the first book on teaching that I read that "spoke" to me... humbly and sincerely.  It is the book that changed the course of my career path from Speech and Language Pathologist to classroom teacher.  It is the book that still sits proudly in its rightful place among my professional text.  It has since 1984. 

In 1987, I met Don for the first time in Castle Rock, Colorado because my principal, Laura Harmon, had the foresight to send me to a workshop in the old Cantril Building.  A newbie teacher with a heart for reading and writing got to spend time with a master.  I've never forgotten that first meeting.  Thank you, Laura.

Enter Children Want to Write:  Donald Graves and the Revolution in Children's Writing  edited by Thomas Newkirk and Penny Kittle.  It's a collection of "his writing, research videos, and presentations to teachers."  It's a must have for any teacher.  It's a treasure trove of his work with writers and writing.

It's shocking to me how many teachers don't have the name of Donald Graves rolling off their tongue when they speak about young writers and writing.  If it isn't, is should be... he was not only revolutionary, but a visionary whose passion for the craft of writing and the crafters of that writing (children) is unsurpassed.  It's on Don's shoulders that we, as teachers of writers, should stand!  In the first chapter of the book, Tom writes:

"To revisit Donald Graves' work connects us to an extraordinary moment in literacy education, a quiet revolution that overturned assumptions about what children could (and couldn't) do.  It was a revolution that drew on the creative energy--and sheer boldness--of young teachers and a visionary principal.  They did it together with no road map.  Together they learned to observe, ask good questions, and wait for answers.  John Keats called this quality a 'negative capability'--the capability for "being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.
     This uncertainty scares a lot of people, now.  Or it seems an irresponsible luxury in this time of perpetual 'crisis.'  There is no shortage of programs, scripts, or 'alignment' specialists who promise to free us of this responsibility to make decisions.  When I visit schools, I can almost sense teachers ducking and dodging as these programs, tests, and 'data' come their way.  The overcrowded curriculum and the interruptions that Don mocked are even more prominent now.  The testing culture is oppressive.
     So we hope this book is a bracing dose of clarity.  This work still represents a horizon of the possible.  It is still a revolution, one that Don incited with that wonderful, unqualified sentence--'Children want to write.'"

Writing isn't a mystery.  Writing isn't a lock and step sequence of events that magically mixes and matches the 26 letters of the alphabet onto the page.  It isn't a "unit " in which a writer's pencil falls gracefully upon the page and because it's packaged in pretty publisher quality paper, success is guaranteed.  It isn't.  It isn't a rubric-based system of "teach this" and "score this" and watch as the mysterious writing wand suddenly turns children into writers who, because they have a plan, write brilliantly.  It isn't a half hour a day of drill and kill and skill, turning writers words into swill upon the page.  It isn't a five-paragraph essay.  It isn't.  It isn't a clearcut continuum of standards that are scooped out of a pot of "skills and strategies" then thrown upon paper in a neat and tidy sequence by someone who, for the most part, probably doesn't write.  It isn't a program packaged with bells and whistles, "say this" and "model this."  It just isn't. 

Writing is the work that writers do.  Don knew this.  In every word he wrote and from every child (adult) with whom he conferred, Don learned that the work of a writer is... well... WRITING!  He knew that it we have to teach "to the intention of writers, not curriculum guides or standards."  On page 57, Penny writes, "Don defined a writing classroom as a place where we experiment and learn.  The 'we' is critical of course:  Graves believed that the teacher must practice and demonstrate a deep understanding of writing craft, and in fact, called the teacher-writer the chief 'condition' for effective writing."

I don't think Don would have disagreed that we should help writers reach high standards.  In fact, if you ever took a workshop from him, you KNOW that he nudged writers to write.  Over the years, I took several workshops with him and during every one of them I was expected to write, to listen to other writers, to talk to other writers, to experiment, to revise, to "give it a go" with a strategy or skill.  Last week, Susan and I were talking to our friend Jo Franklin about all the times we sat in one of his workshops with clear expectations and notebooks in hand, wanting to write because there was no doubt in his mind that we could!  And, I remember sitting with him on the lawn with my friend, Randi Allison, talking writing and writers, children and learning, people and places.  There was always a natural and sincere curiosity swirling about Don. 

So, it's with excitement and furor that I recommend "his" latest book!  And, I'm so thankful that his dear friends Penny Kittle and Thomas Newkirk went on an archeological dig through his work to put together an amazing tribute.  I needed this book!  When I read "First Grade," I was taken back to 1992 and I heard Don's voice reading this poem to us, here in Denver... I'll be forever grateful for your wisdom in putting this book together.

For those of you who knew Don, you'll reminisce and remember.  You'll hear his voice float through the pages.  The video clips will remind you of a friend who's gone, but not forgotten (I have a sneaking hunch he's still observing in a few classrooms now and then).  The writing will "re-energize" you and perhaps encourage you to write, and more importantly, stand up for writers.  This compilation is classic Donald Graves. 

For those of you who never met Don, you'll get to meet him.  You'll hear the voice that caused thousands of teachers to revision the teaching of writing.  The video clips will give you a glimpse into the heart and mind of the man who taught us well.  The writing will re-energize you and perhaps encourage you to read more of his writing... to see what real writers in real classrooms should be doing.  This compilation is classic Donald Graves. 

Classic Graves.  Thank you Penny and Tom.  Thank you, dear Don!  Children DO want to write...

Book Love - An Interview with Penny Kittle

My colleagues always ask me how I find the time to read professionally.  My answer is, "How can I not?"  It's what keeps me grounded... in learning, in current thinking, in the underpinnings that frame and enhance my beliefs as a teacher.

I often pull Harwayne, Miller, Graves, Fletcher, Ray, Rief, Fox, Tovani, Smith, Keene off my shelve (along with many other important readers and writers who challenge my thinking).  Whenever I need a push, a nudge, a regrounding, a kick in the pants... my old friends are there to greet me, challenge me, and move my thinking forward (or reenergize my core beliefs).

And, I'm so glad I have Penny Kittle on that list as well.  Her new book Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers is a grand read.  In it, she encourages us to think of our students as readers for a lifetime.  Penny nudges us to help students develop the stamina and strategies they need to become readers who read because they want to read.  Using trust as the backbone of her work, Penny emphasizes the importance of becoming a reader who chooses to read and builds the capacity for students to become the kinds of readers who read with purpose and passion.

I am so glad that Penny agreed to let me interview her.  And, I'm glad Book Love is at my fingertips.  It's an important addition to our professional world.  Enjoy our conversation: 

First of all, your acknowledgment page is so endearing.  What was your inspiration for using the photo booth snapshots?

The acknowledgments page came about by accident.  My husband got that filmstrip photo booth strip from my mom laminated as a bookmark on a holiday years ago, and he's used it ever since.  I took a photo copy of it and pasted it in my notebook because I was writing about being five and there was such spirit there in those photos.  I wanted to remember that and write from that place--and my Winnie-the-Pooh stocking hat I'm wearing--I wore it everywhere.  I started writing next to the photos and then it became a place where I was listing all of the people that were helping me get Book Love to print.  Suddenly I just knew--it felt right to include it, since the introduction speaks of my falling in love with books as a small child.  But I wanted to write much more about every person's contribution and tried to, it just wouldn't fit.  No book is written alone--no book that I've written anyway.

In your acknowledgments, you mention both Don Murray and Don Graves.  What would you tell a teacher who asks about their work?

I had been reading books by Don Murray and Don Graves for most of my teaching life.  When my husband was offered a job here in New Hampshire, I remember telling him I'd move because of the University of New Hampshire and the possibility that I could meet the Dons--and Tom Newkirk, Jane Hansen, Linda Rief, Tom Romano.  The Dons wrote many of the most important books I've read about teaching writing.  They were first.  They are the foundation of the writing process teaching we all emulate.

Murray and Graves were best friends for more than 35 years--and spoke on the phone every day after Don Graves retired and moved to the White Mountains (where I live).  Murray created a writing workshop in freshman composition at UNH.  He held individual conferences with his students and showed them what he did as a writer himself (Murray won the Pulitzer Prize while a journalist in Boston).  Graves studied the way young children wrote--from drawings to words.  He had an office down the hall from Murray and the two often spoke about the possibilities of teaching the writing process to young writers.  When Graves wrote Writing: Teachers and Children at Work, it was Murray who helped him find his voice for the book.  That book revolutionized the teaching of writing and established Heinemann as a leader in educational publishing.  The Dons discovered so much together that has taught all of us.  But they also laughed a great deal and were together in the hardest times--Graves conducted the funeral service for Murray's daughter Lee, who died at 19, for example.  They shared their writing almost every day by email and continually pushed each other in writing and in thinking.

It is one of the great gifts in my life that I knew them both so well.  They helped me believe in myself as a writer and also helped in bringing my first book from my notebook to its finished form.  They always welcomed me in--as a writer and a friend.  There were huge shifts in thinking in education because of their work. I hope we never forget it.

In my book, Conferring: The Keystone of Reader’s Workshop, I write a lot about building stamina and strengthening endurance.  Reading Stamina is a huge issue in most classrooms today.  In Book Love you tackle the topic too.  How do you encourage the teachers you work with to move stamina to the forefront of their instruction?

I'm glad you brought up your wonderful book on conferring.  I love that book, Patrick. I've read it twice and bought it for many friends here.  You are a master in the art of workshop teaching.

For years I've been trying to understand stamina in reading in high school.  My students didn't have it.  They didn't practice reading, and they came to me often (much too often) having dodged difficult reading for years.  They Sparknoted their way through English class and waited for content teachers to give them the notes from the textbook, so they didn't read much at all.  One way I help teachers understand this problem is filming my students who share their experiences as readers.  I've also made movies to show what happens when we put idiosyncratic reading lives in a central place in a high school English classroom.  Students are so willing to challenge themselves.  They'll read more than we could have imagined.

I think most high school teachers would say they weren't ignoring stamina, but they believed it could be built by slowly reading hard texts with students.  And I think one kind of stamina is built that way--but it isn't to prepare a student for college reading.  College reading is lots of pages a week and students need to experience that volume before they get there.  Studying difficult texts most often does not build a reading life for a student, either.  None of us do something that is almost always hard enough.

I believe high school English has to have parallel tracks in reading--one track is slow and difficult and often dependent on guidance from the teacher through difficult texts--but the other track should be the opportunity for students to build stamina through finding books that interest and engage them, causing them to read a lot and read willingly.  This isn't casual reading.  It isn't something we can just recommend our students do or pay scant attention to in our teaching and hope that is enough.  We have to monitor their lives as readers and help students reach for more difficult texts they can comprehend and enjoy independently.  It is real work day after day, but the payoff is huge.

One of my favorite chapters is chapter four, “Opening Doors into Reading.”  Maybe it’s all the arches… maybe it’s because I’ve worked hard to develop my own classroom library.  

What do you do to nudge teachers to fill their classroom shelves with books?

Building classroom libraries is a passion of mine.  I make a lot of lists (with students) to recommend to teachers and then I book talk wonderful books everywhere I go.  When I guest teach in a classroom I almost always leave a book behind.  This year I have been building classroom libraries with content teachers.  We have ordered hundreds of books connected to science, math, social studies, marketing, etc.  Now we're booktalking those and kids are reading them.

The last thing I've done is establish a non-profit foundation (booklovefoundation.org) that will provide classroom libraries of 500 books to teachers who apply and are chosen to receive the books by the Board of Directors.  I have big dreams, but it is hard work to pull together.  We are still figuring out lists of books (I have some great helpers there) and shipping and soliciting donations, so it will be a challenge to get our first sets of books out this August as planned, but I'm determined.  I will post updates on Twitter.

Ahh… conferring.  What’s your favorite part of a reading conference?   As you confer, what runs through your mind?

Conferring is the best teaching I do.  It is a daily joy.  It is the opportunity to really listen to what a student is trying to say or what he thinks about a book and then just sharing in that thinking and figuring out how I can move the student a little farther.  As I'm conferring I'm always thinking two things, "Stop talking, Kittle--listen," and "What does this student need?"  Conferring keeps me on the edge because I can't anticipate what will come up and I sometimes don't know the answer--it pushes me as a teacher.  And as Katie Wood Ray said, "It is one of teaching's greatest joys."

I love the term “interdependent readers.”  You clearly have high expectations for learners.  How has your thinking continued to evolve around this idea since you finished writing Book Love?

I love this question... How has my thinking about readers continued to evolve since I sent Book Love to publication?  Right now I am in the midst of two projects in two different classrooms--mine and my colleague's (who teaches 6th grade at one of our elementary schools).  In my classrooms we called it the non-fiction Q3 challenge.  I brought in copies of non-fiction books--about 20 titles in all--and students previewed them and talked about them and gathered in small groups to figure out a title they wanted to read together.  Then I set them up like literature circles with time to create a schedule for reading and time to talk.  It has been marvelous to watch how it unfolds.  In one group they read about 75 pages in and two of the group members were miserable with the book, so they all agreed to change and start over. The students are dependent on each other in ways I hadn't seen yet this year.  It is exciting to be in my room on a book discussion day.

In 6th grade, my colleague got 40 copies of one title so she gave one to each student and just told them to read as far as they wanted to that night.  The next day she organized kids into groups based on where they were in the book and those groups created their own schedules for the rest of the reading.  As they've finished (at different times) they've explored projects they want to do in connection to the book and most are researching things they thought about in connection to the reading.  I love how in both cases how fast or slowly you read is not stopping students from enjoying the reading and learning with other students.

Lastly, we're on year three of challenging my district policy banning goodreads and other social networking sites that revolve around books.  My students have written some compelling letters and this year we're going to break through... I'm sure of it.  My students need connections to readers to feed them during the summer and after high school, interdependent in a larger community of readers.

What’s your greatest hope for the readers of Book Love?

My greatest hope for the readers of Book Love is that they will find ways to open up reading to students--to invite them into a relationship with books that will last for the rest of their lives.  Some of my readers are parents and I hope they will find ways to talk with their children about books beyond just what is required reading at school.  My greatest hope is that more young people will find themselves in books.

What are you most proud of as a reader and writer yourself?  As a teacher?

It's hard to answer this question, Patrick.  I feel blessed, not proud.  Blessed to be a teacher and to still be so inspired by the students I meet each year.  I love that I find books that teach me every month.  I find knew ways to see and understand because a writer had the courage to put it on paper.

As a writer, I just feel grateful that anyone reads what I write.  My writing has brought me wonderful friends and experiences I'll never forget.  I am continually humbled by how hard it is to write.  I am proud that I've been willing to send my words out into the world, though. It has never been easy.  Writing has taught me how to teach, and I know I'm a better teacher because I struggle beside my students.

What’s your current passion, both personally and professionally?

I am working on personal essays--although I'm not sure that's what they're called.  I've been reading Joan Didion and Eula Biss and John Jeremiah Sullivan and David Foster Wallace and studying how they make their essays work.  I've got quite a list in my notebook of big things I want to write about (none about education) and I'm slowly working my way through them in a rambling narrative essay form.  I've found some pretty interesting threads and some real surprises.  I don't have an audience, although I've shared one essay with four people and the others with my husband.  It's writing for me--and it is filled with risk.  I like it.  I feel free of deadlines and expectations.  Sometimes I write things I didn't know I knew.

Professionally, I've made improving my conferences with students a goal of mine this year.  I am filming conferences all the time and trying to learn from what I see and hear.  My students have been very patient.  Conferring is at the center of differentiation in a reading and writing workshop, so it is the right place for me to work.

Why read professionally?  Pick up Book Love or any other professional book and read... think about your own teaching, contemplate the changes that are occurring in education and make a decision about your core beliefs, think about ways to questions the status quo, talk to a friend, blog!  That's why I do it.  And, thank you Penny for helping us better make sense of this wonderful world we call teaching!

An interview with Debbie Miller -

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Debbie Miller first wrote Reading with Meaning.  If you're like me, it quickly became your "go to" resource for thinking strategy instruction and developing understanding with your students.  If you're like me, your copy became dog-earred, sticky-noted, and well-loved.  If you're like me, you often sat with your tattered copy of Debbie's book on your lap as you taught, on your desk as you planned, or in your hands as you talked with fellow teachers.

And now, our profession is once again blessed because Debbie has written the second edition of Reading With Meaning.  In the second edition, she shares some of her recent thinking about comprehension instruction.  She shares new insights into the gradual release of responsibility and how to plan to develop student independence.  For Debbie, it's always been about intentionality and understanding.  Once again, we're taken into Debbie's teaching life... into the classroom experiences that made us all better teachers in the first place.

I've known Debbie for many years.  She's my colleague, and more importantly, my friend.  I couldn't wait to read the second edition and I was excited to spend a bit of time asking her about her latest endeavor... and to share it with others:

Patrick:  What prompted you to revisit and revise Reading with Meaning?

Debbie:  It was an email from Philippa, my editor at Stenhouse, that got me thinking—she asked if I would consider writing a second edition, and in the end, I said, "Yes!"

Patrick:  Writing a book is no easy task, "revisioning" a book is daunting.  What are you most proud of as a writer?

Debbie:  I'm most proud that I stuck with it, and did it!  I'd never considered myself as a writer and the first time around it took me quite a while to find my voice.  I kept trying to sound like what I thought I should sound like and it was getting me nowhere.  Finally, Philippa said to me, "Why don't you try writing the way you talk?

"Funny you should say that," I told her, "that's what I'm always saying to kids!"  And really—that one piece of advice made all the difference.  Once I learned that being me was enough, I got myself going and kept at it.  And sometimes I still can't believe it did...

Patrick:  Thousands of teachers read the first edition of Reading With Meaning and their teaching lives were forever changed.  What are some of the ways you hope this second edition will challenge a teacher's thinking?

Debbie:  I hope it will challenge teachers—as it did me—to think about what we've learned over the past ten years.  What makes sense still?  What have I learned about children, teaching, and learning over time?  I'm always asking the children I work with, "So what did you learn about yourself as a reader today?  What do you understand now that you didn't understand before?  How did you make yourself smarter today?"  

What if we as teachers asked the same kinds of questions—"What am I learning about myself as a teacher?  What do I understand now that I didn't understand before?  How am I making myself smarter?"

So what's new for me?  Instead of comprehension strategies being the organizing features of the curriculum, I see them as the essential tools children need to actively engage with content, construct meaning, and grow their understanding of big ideas in the world.  Comprehension strategies are the how—the specific processes learners flexibly use—to get smarter about big, important topics that are relevant to them and help them become powerful and thoughtful human beings. 

I've also been rethinking gradual release and its connection to agency—could too much modeling lead to conformity and compliance, taking away student energy, engagement, and motivation?

And the the planning documents I've included reflect new thinking—How can I plan so that each child receives a years worth of growth?  How can I do my best to ensure that no child falls through the cracks? 

Patrick:  When you visit classrooms to work with young readers, what brings you the greatest joy?

Debbie:  Walking into a classroom and getting to work with kids brings me so much joy (even when twenty or so teachers are watching)!  I love it when children understand that smart isn’t something they have, but something they get—that they have the power to make themselves smarter by putting forth effort and working hard.  It just doesn’t get better than that.

Patrick:  There's a lot of angst today because of the changes made by the Common Core State Standards, yet in this edition you talk openly and honestly about the positive changes they are bringing to classrooms.  What would you like teachers to recognize as positives about the CCSS?

Debbie:  Remember No Child Left Behind, where comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency and vocabulary received equal importance?  The common core state standards changes all that—now higher-level comprehension work is emphasized for all children, even our youngest readers.  Reading, in the common core, is all about making meaning!  And thankfully, it focuses on results, rather than means, leaving room for teachers to determine how these goals should be reached and what additional strategies might be addressed.

If teachers haven't read The Key Considerations section of the common core—do it!  They'll feel better.  I promise. 

Patrick:  In Conferring: The Keystone of Writer's Workshop, I write about two questions that our friend, Randi Allison, once asked me... What are your guiding principles?  What are you willing to fight for?  As you were working on your second edition, what were you most looking forward to reiterating?  What message carries over most strongly from the first edition?

D:  I love children.  I believe in teachers.  And these are my most important words to all of my dear colleagues...

There are many effective ways to teach children and live our lives. No one has the patent on the truth.  Find yours.  Read.  Reflect.  Think about what you already know about good teaching and how it fits with new learning.  Read some more.  Think about the implications for your classroom.  Collaborate with colleagues.  Try new things and spend time defining your beliefs and aligning your practices.  Once you’ve found what’s true for you, stand up for what you know is right.  Live it every day and be confident and clear about why you believe as you do.  People will listen!

Patrick:  The new edition includes a focus on learning targets and assessments for learning.  How to you nudge the teachers with whom you work to look closely at the ways they are "assessing" thinking?

Debbie:  Assessing thinking is hard. But if we don’t, how will we know where children are and what they need?  How will they know?  Having clear learning targets, or goals, and matching assessments, are the best way I know for children and teachers to understand where they are going, where they are now, and what they need to do to close the gap.  Assessments for learning help ensure that no child falls through the cracks—we have tangible evidence (in addition to conferring, listening in, and observation) of where each child is and what they need to move forward.  It’s enormously helpful.

Patrick:  What else would you like someone reading this to know about you?

Debbie:  I’d like them to know that I’m every teacher—that I have the same wishes, hopes, and dreams for children as they do.  That some days I feel like I am amazing and other days I leave the classroom thinking I’ve lost my touch.  But this is teaching.  It’s not about perfect lessons.  Teaching and learning—real teaching and learning—is messy.  My new mantra?  What’s the worst that could happen?

We’ll never get smarter if we don’t try new things or imagine new possibilities for the children we work with.  I want to be smarter at the end of the day than I was at the beginning.  And I’m thinking the kids I work with will be smarter, too...

• • • 

By the way, I used BOTH editions last week to talk to my 4th graders about Determining What's Important... and how our thinking changes over time.  We looked at both copies of Debbie's book (mainly the back covers) and had an amazing conversation about how Debbie's thinking has changed.  Though inferring, my students were so clear about how important it is to revise your thinking and how "what's most important" can change, depending on your purpose.  Amazing!

 

Making Learning Whole - "Light" Summer Reading

David Perkins is the co-director of Harvard's Project Zero*.  In Making Learning Whole, he introduces seven principals of teaching that take a revised look at wise practice.  Building the book around a baseball metaphor, Dr. Perkins offers a compelling look at what we can do to enhance learning.  Thank you to my friend and colleague, Missy Matthews, for recommending it at our last "Friday Freaks" get-together.

    This is not a "how to" book, it's not filled with easy answers that provide a step-by-step notion of teaching.  BUT, if you're interesting in taking your philosophy to new depth--to rethink how you look at learning and to reflect thoughtfully on your own practice--this is a terrific read.  It's fodder for thought!

     Dr. Perkins develops a framework for teaching that is both practical and research-oriented.  And since it's a framework, it's not explicitly developed as a "do this" type of text, but more of a "think about this" guide.  His seven principles for making learning whole include:

• Play the whole game
• Make the game worth playing
• Work on the hard parts
• Play out of town
• Uncover the hidden game
• Learn from the team... and the other teams
• Learn the game of learning

     Dr. Perkins talks about approaching the complexity of learning with wonder and placing a focus on understanding.  He ends each chapter with a one-page "Wonders of Learning" synthesis related to the seven concepts he espouses.  He talks about motivation and the importance of sustaining learning.  He talks about the importance of knowing and emphasizing sustained learning.  He talks about how to develop self-managed learners.  I think Making Learning Whole is a perfect cousin text to Ellin Keene's To Understand.  
     If you're like me, you plan on spending some time reflecting on your practice over the summer.  If you're like me, you're always looking for research-oriented support for your deeply held beliefs as a teacher and learner.  If you're like me, you're looking for "real-world" applications of learning and trying to identify the needs of the 21st Century learner.
     Some of my favorite quotes from the book are:  

• "Do not read this book too carefully.  By all means look through it, but if you discover ideas that seem provocative, try something soon." 
• "The problem of content is simple:  Teach today what learners will need to understand and act on tomorrow.  Unfortunately, both as individuals living our personal lives and in a larger social sense we only know roughly from trends and guesses what tomorrow ill be like.  Tomorrow is a moving target."
• "Good work on the hard parts is one of the fundamental structural challenges of teaching and learning."
• If much of what we taught highlighted understandings of wide scope, with enlightenment, empowerment, and responsibility in the foreground, there is every reason to think that youngsters would retain more, understand more, and use more of what they learned."
• Here is a simple but surprisingly revealing plan for such a dig: 1) What is one thing you understand really well?  2) How did you come to understand it?  3)  How do you know you understand it?

     I can imagine reading Making Learning Whole with a small group of colleagues and having rich conversation about the purpose and practice of wise teaching... any takers?  I can't wait to dig deeper into this book!  It may just nudge my thinking in a new direction. 

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*Ron Ritchhart also works as a researcher at Project Zero.  His research focuses on understanding how to develop, nurture, and sustain thoughtful learning environments.  He is the author of Intellectual Character:  What it is, Why it matters, and How to get it.  Check it out if you haven't read it!

The Book of Qualities

On December 10, I attended the PEBC's Winter Seminar with Penny Kittle.  Some of my best learning has come about as a result of my relationship with the Public Education and Business Coalition here in Denver (check out the institutes and seminars available on their website - particularly the four-day Thinking Strategies Institute).  The day I spent with Penny Kittle was no exception.  It was a perfect day of revitalization as a writer and a teacher of writers.  I think, too, that Penny's close connection to Donald Graves added bit of light to the day!
     One of the books that Penny shared with us was The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler.  It's a collection of third person pieces written around a variety of emotions... beauty, compassion, discipline, anxiety.  Short vignettes that describe each "quality" with simplicity and complexity... perfect springboards for our own writing or for the writing of our students.  Penny selected a few pieces to nudge us to do a quickwrite in our notebooks. 
     It's interesting that this book is found in the "mental health" section of the bookstore (of course, I went to three bookstores and it was either sold out or on hold, so I had to order it from The Tattered Cover).  The book's original intent was likely to bring clarity to our "emotions," but I think Penny had the "write" idea to use it as a springboard for experimenting with words and language.  We don't often focus specifically on an emotion and have a go with third person writing.  And, we don't often focus enough on building fluency as a writer by doing some writing practice (I learned about the importance of practice from my friend and colleague, Randi Allison, author of Tastes Like Chocolate thoughts from young people).  It was such fun to play around with bringing human characteristics to the most human of all qualities - our emotions - in my notebook.
     My day with Penny was exactly what I needed that December day, not to get into the holiday spirit, but to get into the writing spirit.  If you work with adults or older children, or if you want to revitalize your own writing, this might just be the perfect book for you.  Thanks, Penny, for introducing it to us!

Day by Day... A pre-NCTE interview with Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz

I have been waiting for Day by Day - Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice by Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz for the longest time.  I have been a reader of their blog Two Writing Teachers for some time and when I heard they were writing, I couldn't wait!  And Day by Day is well worth the anticipation!  As soon as I heard it was out, I couldn't wait to interview them for my blog.  

     Ruth's and Stacey's motto on their blog is "Write:  It's good for you!"  And, now they can add, "Read this book:  It's good for you too!"  In the forward to the book, Carl Anderson says, "This is a book that asks readers to take an active stance toward their learning, a stance that will reward them with new knowledge, new teaching points, and new techniques that become part of their teaching repertoire."  

     It is a time in our profession where pundits and programs are slowly slipping into our writing workshops with promises of higher test scores, ridiculously complicated rubrics, formulaic writing, traps and targets, and misconceptions of what it means to be a writer.  Ruth and Stacey take an active stance in their writing and invite us to create writer's workshops where students are writing for authenticity.  Mem Fox said years ago, "I wish we could change the world by creating powerful writers for forever instead of just indifferent writers for school!"  It is colleagues like Ruth and Stacey that help keep that dream alive!

     I asked them to respond to a few "brief" questions.  Here are their thoughts... enjoy!

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Patrick:  Your book is organized in such a thoughtful, purposeful manner.  The book is both practical and reflective… and offers such choice for the reader and his/her teaching.  As you were writing, how did you decide on the organizational structure?

Ruth:  Thank you! The structure of the book was important to us. We knew teachers were drawn to our blog, so we wanted a book that tapped into the short nature of our blog posts. As we looked back at the topics we blogged about, we soon found almost any post could be categorized in one of seven topics: routines, minilessons, choice, mentors, conferring, assessment, and celebration. As we thought more around the idea of pillars of writing workshop, we realized celebration is woven into the other six areas. Voila, the structure of the book was born.

The idea of a daily guide for writing teachers led us to create cycles for each of the six pillars. We met in person for these brainstorming sessions and developed the main topic for each of the three cycles and then the ten discussion topics within each cycle.

Stacey:  We mapped out the chapters and the cycles for the book in advance of writing it.  The only cycles that changed from our original plans were the ones contained in the mini-lessons section.  Originally we had the mini-lessons chapter broken out very differently (e.g., cycle one was going to be about connections, demonstrations and active involvements; cycle two was going to deal with narrative, non-narrative, and poetry mini-lessons; cycle three was going to deal with process, craft and conventions), but we realized our original plan was very messy.  We took a step back and asked ourselves what would be most meaningful to readers of the book.    “Teaching Conventions in Mini-Lessons” is a course of study designed to help teachers embed instruction about conventions into mini-lessons.  Finally, “Making Our Teaching Stick” is designed to make our teaching last in our students’ minds for years to come.

Patrick:  Throughout the book, the cycles you include are rich in skill and strategy.  Is there one cycle that you find more challenging than the rest?  Which cycle is your favorite?

Stacey:  I think the “Peer Conferring” cycle is very challenging because it is about relinquishing control, which is very hard for many educators to do.  With a little faith in the process and trust in your students, this cycle should yield some glorious results.  

My favorite cycle is “Teachers as Mentors.”  I think this cycle is one of the most important cycles in the book since being a teacher-writer allows one to relate better to the young writers they teach daily.

Ruth:  Stacey and I were talking about the book a few weeks ago and one thing I noticed in our discussion is how each of the six pillars is woven around one another – each depends on another for growth.

So when I think about a cycle that is most challenging, it is hands-down assessment. Really, will we ever master assessment? But so much of assessment is woven around conferring, which is one of my favorite parts of writing workshop. I can use my understanding and strength in conferring to improve in assessment.

This year my focus as a writing teacher is to understand the writing process more deeply, which is an element of choice. As I offer more choices to students, my conferring becomes richer, and my understanding of assessment is influenced.

They all wrap around one another. I think this is a comfort to us as writing teachers because whatever area is most challenging it is only a step away from an area we claim as a favorite. Just like we encourage our students to do, we can use our strengths as a stepping stone to growth.

Patrick:  As you were writing Day by Day, what was your greatest new learning?  Tell us about the part of the book that you’re most proud of as a writer yourself.

Ruth:  The part I’m most proud of? Well, it’s done. . . we wrote an entire book cover to cover. I’ve learned writing is about tenacity. I must sit down with my laptop and put words on the page – even when I don’t want to, especially when I don’t want to. It’s about making a choice to write for at least fifteen minutes a day instead of doing something else.

Within the book, my favorite parts are the Closing Thoughts and Dedications.

What surprised me the most in writing Day by Day was the way my ideas developed as I wrote. Now this is something I’ve taught in writing workshop for years; however, writing Day by Day solidified my belief. I love the way new learning can happen simply by putting words on the page.

The other crucial realization for me is how very different Stacey’s and my processes are. In fact, we are almost opposites. However, we are both successful writers. It makes me more determined to help students find an individualized process for themselves.

Stacey:  I had a lot of trepidation about the assessment chapter of the book.  I wasn’t sure how much I had to say on the topic.  While I assessed my students constantly when I taught full-time and understood what meaningful assessments should look like, I was still nervous about writing this chapter since I knew that it would probably be the one most people turned to first (even though it was going to appear last in the text).
   

As the weeks went on when we were writing assessment, I think my confidence about this topic got stronger.  I realized I knew more than I gave myself credit for when it came to assessment and therefore, I’m quite proud of the work we did in this chapter.

Patrick:  The “challenges” and “reflective practice” you suggest throughout offer both depth and inquiry for those of us who work with writers on a daily basis.  How important is it for teachers take a reflective stance in their teaching?  How might you nudge a teacher to be more reflective?

Stacey:  When I was in graduate school obtaining my first master’s degree I heard many professors tell us that we should keep a reflective journal.  I scoffed at the idea because I thought it was a waste of time.  When I started working on my second masters, it was required that we do reflective writing about our teaching.  It was only then, when it was mandated, that I began to recognize the power of reflecting daily on my teaching.  I found it made me more aware of my impact as an educator.  Additionally, it allowed me to take a step back and look at my teaching practice in a more critical way, which enabled me to make better decisions that affected my students’ learning.

I think the best way to nudge someone towards becoming a reflective practitioner is to set them up with a blog.  Blogging allows you to reflect on your own teaching in writing, but it also gives you the power to share your reflections with a larger group of people who can push your thinking (i.e., when they leave comments on a blog post) even further than you could do on your own.

Ruth:  Reflection is the key to evolving as a teacher. It is the difference between being mediocre and great. I believe this is true for any profession, not just education. Those who become great are those who engage in reflective practice.

Reflection comes in a variety of forms. For some it is talking to a friend after school, others it is thinking on the drive home, and for many it is writing in a journal or on a blog. The secret is to slow down and notice the details. Then ask Why and consider many different answers, beginning with Maybe . . . or What if . . .  For extra inspiration, I recommend spending some time with a preschooler in order to develop the panache of noticing details and asking Why.

Patrick:  I love the idea of charting my learning as I read the book and I can't wait to get started.  Reflection is an important part of learning.  I'm always trying to refine my own instruction.  When it comes to your learning process (about young writers, your own inquiry, etc.), what do you "chart" your new discoveries and wonderings?  How do you fit reflection into an already jam-packed schedule? 

Ruth:  I believe reflection is a state of mind and it fills in the gaps of my life. I engage in reflection when I walk through the hall or am driving to or from school. I jot myself notes after a lesson and send an email to a colleague in order to refine my instruction.  

However, I am also intentional about carving out a time for reflection. When I was a classroom teacher, I used the first 15 minutes of my prep to write in a journal I kept solely for reflective practice. Now I blog. Stacey and I are committed to posting daily on Two Writing Teachers, so even when I don’t feel like taking the time to reflect, I have to in order to write a blog post.

Patrick:  Of course, I love chapter three, the conferring chapter.  Knowing children on an individual basis is so important.  What similarities do you see between reading and writing conferences?  Differences?

Stacey:  There are so many similarities between reading and writing conferences. 

The largest difference is that reading conferences usually about trying to make the invisible work of the reader visible to the teacher.  With a writing conference, you usually have a better sense of what’s happening with the writer from the second you sit down beside them since they have some writing in-hand.  However, since writing conferences must always be about “teaching the writer, not the writing,” I believe it’s imperative to ask every writer lots of open-ended questions to learn about their process and intentions so we don’t rely on the writing to tell us what to teach the child. 

Ruth:  It is important in both reading and writing conferences to be an active listener and see the intent behind the student’s work. I love looking for what students’ are attempting as readers and writers and then helping them to do it better. Another similarity I see is in focusing on the student – teaching the student as opposed to the text.

For me, reading conferences seem so much harder. One reason for this is because I’ve had a lot more experience in writing conferences. I’m fortunate to be in a district that has both a writing coach (me) and a reading coach. It just proves the more we confer the easier it becomes. 

Patrick:  Who are your writing mentors?  If you could suggest one professional text about writer’s workshop that’s impacted your thinking, which would you choose?  Why? 

Stacey:  There are many teacher-authors whose writing I looked to while we were engaged in writing this book.  A few, whose books I referred to again and again, were: Dan Feigelson, Ralph Fletcher, Georgia Heard, and Katie Wood Ray.

Aimee Buckner’s book, Notebook Know-How, changed the way I used writer’s notebooks when I was a classroom teacher.  She gave me the courage to make the notebook a tool that writers could use to improve their skills while still finding a way to make it a place to collect meaningful writing.  I hope to meet her sometime in the future since her work really had a huge impact on my teaching.

Ruth: For Day by Day, my writing mentors were Penny Kittle and Katie Wood Ray – I love the lyrical nature of their writing style.  Often I read a portion of one of their texts before I wrote so I could have the sound of their voices in my head.

One text about writing workshop, are you serious? You realize that on any given day I may suggest a different title, right?  So today I choose Public Teaching: One Kid at a Time by Penny Kittle because it is an example of reflective practice in its most elegant form – through noticing ordinary stories that happen every day in classrooms and realizing how they impact us as teachers.

Patrick:  I asked both Ralph Fletcher and Katie Wood Ray this question recently, “What are some of the practices you see being implemented in classrooms in the name of ‘writer’s workshop’ that send shivers down your spine?” 

Ruth:  There are so many resources touting the guise of writing workshop, which teachers can follow the “curriculum” laid out without ever taking the time to reflect on the needs of the students in their classrooms. What sends shivers down my spine (and back up again) is the ease of lock stepping through a pre-determined order of minilessons without ever considering student need.

I’m also concerned with the pressure teachers put on students to write to a specific prompt or assignment for writing workshop. This places the focus on the product and conferring becomes about the product produced, instead of the writer. With the emphasis to perform, some writing workshops have unfortunately become places to produce things perfectly for the teacher’s grade book.

Reflective practice and knowledge of best practices in writing is how we will keep our writing workshops pure. It is important we continue to build our understanding of how students learn to write by reading professionally and then reflecting on our understandings and practices.

Stacey:  Practices that diminish choice send shivers down my spine.  For example, I walked into a school earlier this year that had a beautiful display of fourth graders’ writing.  It was colorful and visually appealing.  However, when I got close enough to read the writing I noticed all of the kids had written about rain.  Apparently, their teacher tasked them to write about rain and took them through the entire writing process (i.e., over the course of a few weeks) writing about rain.  If any of the kids were like me, and weren’t fond of the rain, then I could imagine them being frustrated by this since the writing probably lacked meaning or value for them since it was written for the teacher, not for them. 

Patrick:  What’s your greatest hope for the readers of Day by Day?

Stacey:  I hope educators who read this book will find other like-minded colleagues who will use this book alongside them as a springboard to ongoing reflective practice in their professional lives for years to come.

Ruth: That they teach writing workshop with joy and purpose.

Patrick:  What project is next for you? 

Stacey:  I’m working on a fiction picture book that deals with present-day immigration issues.

Ruth: Two Writing Teachers continues to be a primary writing project and I look forward to seeing how it evolves as more teachers join our community. However, the writing habit I developed while working on Day by Day took hold and won’t let go. I’m playing with all sorts of projects.

Last April, when the manuscript was finished for Day by Day I found myself wondering what to do with the extra time (although sleeping should have been the first choice!). Instead, I set a goal to read and study 100 YA books so I could have a better understanding of the genre. Then at the end of July, around book number 57, a good friend of mine died unexpectedly. He was 20 and made me stare the fragility of life straight in the eyes. My husband and I spoke at his funeral and when we came home, I found myself needing to put words on the page.  

There were so many new emotions and questions inside of me, and I realized the only way I could discover the answers was through writing. On the day of the funeral I began writing and what is emerging (every day, usually at 4:40 am) is a YA novel. I don’t have any plans for it, except to write the entire story and discover the truths I need to learn.

Then I’d like to write another book for teachers of writing. I’ve been collecting ideas on note cards for this project.

And, as always, I collect bits and pieces of my wonderful ordinary life through pictures and words in scrapbooks. Christmas is my favorite season, so throughout December I’m planning to document the holiday each day. This will be my priority, so my other writing projects will slip to the back burner.

Isn’t this the nature of being a writer? The energy for different projects ebbs and flows and it is our job to ride the waves as they come.

 

Patrick:  Thank you both for taking the time to "chat"... Energy, indeed!  I can't wait to hear more about Day by Day on your Official Blog Tour.  Day by Day should be on every writing teacher's must-have list.  

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