I referenced my latest adventure, Genius Hour, in my last blog post. I find myself talking about the Genius Hour over, and over, and over- to my husband, my mom, my colleagues, the cashier at Wegmans, basically, anyone who will listen. And so I decided to leave some info on the project here addressing some of the questions my husband, mom, colleagues, and Sara from Wegmans asked me. If you’re looking for something cool, exciting, incredibly uncomfortable and authentic to do with your kiddos, this is the thing.

How did the Genius Hour happen? 

My teammates and I were looking to create an assessment for a unit on Social Bias, where students read the novel Out of My Mind, by the lovely Sharon Draper. We had 6 Essential Questions that we knew we wanted kids to mull over throughout the unit:

• How can we show respect?
• How do we overcome challenges?
• Why should we accept differences?
• How can appearances be deceiving?
• What impact does our behavior towards others truly have?
• How important is the ability to communicate?

I had recently read this article and we just started brainstorming all of the possibilities. At one point we started to ask ourselves, Could we hold a Genius Hour around these questions? Could our kids be geniuses on these topics?  With only one way to find out, we went forward.

How did you plan the Genius Hour?

Carefully, with copious amounts of chocolate and caffeine. I work with 3 talented teachers, and we are all different. It was hard to strike the balance of what we all wanted and what we thought the Genius Hour should be for all 117 of our 7th graders. Plus, we had never done it before. Plus, I get overexcited. Like REAL EASILY I get overexcited. One minute we´re talking Genius Hour, then next I´m believing that our 7th graders will solve the water shortage crisis in African countries, save orphans from Eastern Europe and calm the most volatile flashpoint locations in the world.
The easiest way to explain how we started is to say we started at the end, really. We created a rubric inspired by Writing Pathways, by Lucy Calkins, zeroing in on the Grade 7 Information Writing Rubric and Writing Behaviors (which is inspired by the Writing Process). The components we assessed were Expertise, Craft, Organization, Punctuation/Sentence Structure, and Work Behaviors. The rubric really guided our work and our teaching points. The teaching points were a blend from The Writing Strategies Book by Jennifer Seravallo, a couple of lesson we wanted to reteach from an earlier Information Writing Unit (Writing about Reading, Unit 2, Writing Units of Study), suggestions from the article referenced above, and data from our students. As the work drew to a close, our students’ work drove our decision-making for whole group lessons. We decided that Tuesdays and Thursdays would be Genius Hour Days, instructional time devoted to lessons, research, time, creation.

How did students know what to do?

When we began this project, we gave kids a choice of their final product. We spent a lesson devoted to showcasing different mediums where they could share their work and had them choose from a menu. Once they knew what their final product would be and what question they had to answer, with the rubric in hand most were self-sufficient.

So…you just let the kids ¨go¨? They could do whatever they wanted?

Pretty much. JUST KIDDING!!

I think one of the misconceptions of Genius Hour is that you let kids choose their own pathway, a teacher lets them do whatever they want,  create what they want, and your classroom becomes the nucleus of unicorns and rainbows.

We did let kids choose their own pathway, with guidance.  

We did let them research and answer whatever question they wanted, with conferencing.

We did let them create whatever product they wanted to, with small group instruction on how to create, and what it should include. 

There was a lot of daily discussion among my team of teachers, with our conference notes. We are lucky enough to have 10th period planning every day, and that time is sacred. During the Genius Hour month, it was a cross between show and tell (¨I have to tell what Zoey came up with!¨) and horse trading (¨Will someone please take Eric tomorrow? I´m not being successful with him. I will take Aiden instead?¨).  It was definitely exhausting because we had 117 kids completing 117 different projects. Some of our students needed pre-selected text to use, because letting them loose on the internet to research…was not working. We were not experts on the topics, or on the products we gave them a menu on, but our novice helped our teaching.

We decided early on that to connect to the novel we read, we wanted them to include a scene from Out of My Mind as support to answer their question.

Exhausting. Messy. Totally worth it.

What did they come up with? 

One student created a Google Slide on How to Overcome Obstacles? Namely, PTSD, because he has PTSD.

One student created an Animoto on How to Show Respect? He focused on how important it is for adults to model respect in the community.

One student created a TED Talk on How Important is the Ability to Communicate? and interviewed one of our school counselors.

One student created a PowToon on How to Show Respect? He is a BoyScout, and used his experiences and values.

The awesome thing about their projects is that we were able to celebrate them holding a Genius Hour Celebration. We invited all adults in the building, and we held in in Social Studies classes where the English Classes would visit. This way different kids would be able to see each other´s products.

This sounds interesting. But I´m not sure I can do this with the restraints of my curriculum.

I believe you. But I also think you can modify and adapt to fit your curriculum.

In my very first blog post, I wrote about how as teachers, we need to ¨spring clean¨. We cannot try new things and keep the old things. Take one unit, just one unit that you´re not in love with. Maybe you could hold a Baby Genius Hour, where you have the kids research ¨Is War Necessary?¨ during your World War II Unit. Give them one week, and give them the resources or text you would normally use. BUT, swap out old lessons for the Genius Hour. I would never suggest a cookie cutter, and do exactly what we do for your teaching. But take a part of it, and grow forward.

Give yourself creative power.

That, my friends, is genius.

 

 

Yesterday Bear had his 3 year old check-up at the doctor´s office. It was right after school, so I had very little time to buzz to the sitter and then to the appointment. His daycare friends went ¨pretend fishing¨ earlier in the day and ended up getting soaked (all clothing and outerwear included).

Long story short, Bear went to the doctor´s appointment without socks or a coat. All I could think of was, What will the doctor say?! What will people think?! I jokingly texted this to a friend, ending with ¨#hotmessexpress¨.  But…no one even noticed. No one said anything except the nurse, who didn´t even bat an eye, just remarked ¨Oh, look…no shoes for you!¨ If they did notice, I would have said ¨They are all wet because he went pretend fishing with friends!¨ And really, how great is that? An enjoyable imaginary experience with friends for my toddler. How about #perfect? With the mess comes the beauty.

Today we held a Genius Hour Celebration where our 7th grades (SO VERY AWESOMELY) shared their Genius Hour Products. They had to choose from 1 of 6 questions and could answer it any way they wanted. It was blood, sweat, tears, and exhaustion for about 2 weeks but I´m proud to say that the work resulted in 113 different geniuses. We opened up our classroom doors for staff and students to celebrate. My teammates and I were a little nervous; would our colleagues see what we saw? Would they see the beauty within the mess? Would they see the risk-taking? Would they see the effort our kids put forth?

The truth is that no one will see exactly what we see because we are with our students every day, while a visitor sees them for a moment. Visitors see the slice of pie, not the entire pie. But whether we are visitors or hosts, we must embrace the mess. I can´t think of anything great that was delivered perfectly polished, without grit or bouts of failure along the way. Not only must we model this for our students-but also for each other. There is no such thing as the perfect classroom, perfect teacher, or perfect lesson plan. There is beauty along the way if you choose to see it. No doubt a ticket on the Hot Mess Express will take you there.

 

Personalized Learning. Learning Personalized. PL. You´ve likely been hearing this whisper of a buzzword (buzzterm?) crescendo into a full on expectation. The sticky spot for most teachers is that the definitions of Personalized Learning are jargon-charged, vague, and several sentences long.

Personalized Learning is not something necessarily new, but neither is it the case of the ¨pendulum swinging¨. If you have a philosophy that is founded on student-centered, or needs-based learning, then you are aligned with Personalized Learning and going to drill deeper. If you have a different philosophy, cool. Believe it or not, you could still be executing some of the components of Personalized Learning.

I can practically hear you thinking, ¨Really? How?” Let me introduce the ¨Core Four¨. Not the Yankee baseball players of 1995, but Digital Content, Targeted Instruction, Data Driven Instruction, and Student Reflection/Ownership. ALL OF THOSE THINGS??? My goodness, probably not. Because of my teaching philosophy, it already makes sense to me to strive for all of these things. But honestly? It will be a career goal to attain all of them and consistently implement them. But for you…maybe you are going to go gangbusters and implement all four. Or maybe you are only interested in Digital Content. Perhaps you are into Data-Driven Instruction and Targeted Instruction. You could also be a teacher who wants to read intensely about all of them before choosing, and it might be awhile before you even implement. Air high-fives all around.

Because if learning is going to be personalized, so should our teaching.

Whether you personalize or generalize your teaching, don´t forget the most important resource you have at your disposal: you. Do not ever underestimate, even for one moment, what power you hold in front of your students. We are the change makers, the match strikers, voice finders, and if we truly love our content areas then our kids can, too. It is not for the faint of heart. It takes a cocktail of energy, perseverance, time, thought and intention. We are all in different places with it, just as our students often are.

Really, it´s personal for each of us.

 

I have had a blog post whirling around in my head about authenticity, but then I heard about our beloved author Mem Fox and her  (unnecessary, wrongful, inappropriate, etc ) detainment at Los Angeles International airport. I try to see stories from both sides, but I struggle with this one. My heart sunk to depths well below my toes when I read ¨I am old, white, innocent and educated, and I speak English fluently…imagine what happened to the others in the room, including an Iranian woman in her 80s, in a wheelchair.¨ (The Guardian Feb 24)

I am a sensitive person. I don´t know why, but when I feel things I always feel them in this really, big way. Seriously, my heart might as well be where my brain is. The experience that Ms. Fox went through made me think of others who have been in this situation, but also people who may feel lost and confused because they do not understand or cannot make sense of what is going on with them. In short, it made me think of struggling readers. I mean this in a purely metaphoric way, and in no way wish to downgrade the severity or intensity of being detained.

If a highly literate and gracious woman struggled in this situation, it moves me to sorrow to think of what an uneducated, illiterate, or non-English speaking person must feel in that situation. What happened to Mem (and others) is not what America is about, not at all what our founding fathers ever desired. The fabric of America was woven from the ideal that we meet people where they are at and help each other out for the betterment of our country. Believe it or not, this can begin in our classrooms.

No matter what grade level or subject area you teach, at this moment I need you to think of your students who struggle with reading. They may feel like an immigrant in another country-confused, unsure of what they´re supposed to do, not really sure of what you´re saying to them. If I am trying to teach The French Revolution but I have a student who struggles with cause and effect relationships or text structures…then it will not matter how hard I try to teach them, or if I teach it to them in 32 different ways. It will not help (in the long run) if I teach it to them in an auditory way if they are an auditory learner. I need to teach them how to navigate causes and effects in the text by using a strategy-and I can use text on The French Revolution as the vehicle. We need to find out exactly what skill our students are struggling with and teach them to use a strategy with independence. This will boost their confidence and engagement while reading.

I can hear you guys thinking right now, ¨…but Crazy Teacher Lady, how do I find such a perfect strategy?? How do I find the right strategy for the right kid??¨  WELLLLL it just so happens I have the perfect solution! Enter, Jennifer Serravallo´s The Reading Strategies Book:

 

 

If I´m not using this book with my students, I´m recommending it to teachers. If any of my colleagues are reading this right now, they must be thinking, ¨Give it a rest already with this book! Wait, just kidding. Listen to her. It changed my life!¨

Reading strategies are the key for students to be successful in your class…whether you´re teaching ELA or Science or the 3rd grade. If we teach reading strategies, our students will become more confident and able to make more sense of our instruction and their everyday life.

After all, our students are conceivably part of a generation who could grow up to be closely reading VISAs to see if travelers need to be detained, asking questions to those needing to be detained, or traveling and hoping that they will not be detained. My hope is that they treat others with dignity and respect, being as helpful as they can be in whatever path they choose. What´s yours?

 

True Confessions: I make a lot of mistakes during the course of my day.

Sometimes I print color instead of black and white. I never ordered a stapler last year and THANK GOD FOR NICE SECRETARIES. Sometimes (um, maybe all the time) I leave my water bottle, clipboard, or pencil case in my colleagues’ room when they graciously allow me to teach in their sacred space. I became distracted and missed a meeting with my boss two weeks ago. BUT. I have this really, really, great redeeming quality: I am loyal to a fault when I work with kids. And I work with a lot of ém.

I work with kids who I´m positive are going to change this world for the better.

I work with kids who make me laugh so hard I snort.

I work with gifted kids.

I work with some kids who play with baby dolls and matchbox cars, and some who wear makeup and vape in the bathrooms.

I work with kids who are so polite I will pay their parents to teach me how I can teach my children to be so courteous.

I work with Type-A kids.

I work with Type-B-Surfer-Dude kids.

I work with kids who are not going to bloom on my watch but need my nurturing right now.

…I also work with some really, really, REALLY, needy kids. When I stop and think about the stuff their childhood was made out of, I feel relieved that they make it into school every day.  Some face hunger, abuse, neglect, or the unfair responsibility of helping to raise and look after younger siblings. Some face a grain of the aforementioned while others face a walloping combination of them. It is unbelievably hard to be a young adult in the most normal of circumstance-our kids need us to be tireless advocates who can teach them how to be really awesome humans. And for those that are facing adversity on a large scale, they need us to believe in them. The gross fact is that our kids need more and more socio-emotional support than we would like to believe they need. I know many teachers who refuse to let kids leave their classrooms for music lessons or guidance counselor appointments. I admire these educational giants who are relentless about delivering high-quality craft to their kids. Let me say again, Educational Giants-I admire you. But I also wonder…does it matter? If they don´t get that music lesson to get through the day, if they don´t get that support group that only meets period 2…does our lesson even matter?

I think I said ¨More kindness,¨ about 1000x this week. I said it when students became impatient with one another, themselves, or with a teacher. They are so quick to rip themselves down, which is scary to me. If I can get them to be more kind and internalize some self-worth, I´ll feel proud of myself come June.

And this, my friends, is why I had my cell phone out in class this week! (Stay with me, I promise.)

I´m in the throes of teaching Writing: Units of Study over multiple grade levels, and coaching/cheerleading/begging teachers not to throw in the towel when it gets really tough. Because like all good things in life, the very best writing instruction comes with the very hardest work. I had a major problem this past week: my mini-lessons….not so ¨mini¨. They were creeping into the (CRINGE) 15-17 minute range, which left less time in the precious allotment for writing.

Enter, my cell phone.

I literally set the timer on it for 10 minutes, and when it went off…I knew I had to shake my tail feather. It was incredibly helpful for my time management, even though I had promised myself that keeping an eye on the clock would suffice. Spoiler alert: it didn´t. The architecture of the minilesson is so precise, that I need all brain cells operating on the connection, teach, active engagement, and link components.  I cannot rely on my eyes watching the clock. When I tell my kiddos ¨Off you go!¨, I really need it to be a ¨wheels to the rail¨ situation. And when I can accomplish this in 10-12 minutes, the wheels are. Kids write longer and stronger, and their hands fly across the paper, filling up pages. Each small group I worked with this week was curious why my phone was out because this is a pretty major taboo school rule. The cool part of this is that when I explained why it was out (¨Your writing is so important that I need to make sure you get at least 30 minutes of today to do it¨) their reaction was palpable. They sat up taller, and they were more self-assured. I treated them like writers, so they acted like writers.

Our kids deserve this. They deserve a tight minilesson so that they can have protected space to read, write, and share. In that moment, it does not matter if they forgot a pencil because they were busy making breakfast for a younger sibling. It does not matter if they have been on Superior Honor Roll every marking period since Pre-K. It does not matter if they never remember their locker combination. In this moment, they are all writers. They are all writing. And they know they can.

18 months ago I came home to a box sitting on the island in my kitchen.

¨What´s this?¨ I asked The Husband.

¨A chromebook,¨ he said. ¨So you can start writing¨ (Swoon).

I wrote, and I wrote and I wrote. I created Google Doc after Google Doc. I got smarter about my teaching. I decided to start a blog. And then I stopped.

I got nervous. It´s intimidating to write all the feels, and put them out there for the world to see (or, for the 13 people that currently read this). It´s easy to think you don´t have much to say.

I also lied. I said, I´ll do it tomorrow.

Do it this weekend.

Do it in the morning.

Do it next month.

Do it over the school break.

Might as well be, won´t do it.

If I wait until I´m ready, until I have the ¨perfect topic¨, until I have enough time to proofread, until I am done revising each blog post…I´ll never do it.

This year I´m co-teaching an ELA class, and I´m coaching teachers in Middle School on writing instruction. The two things I say over and over to teachers are ¨Audience matters. Confidence matters.¨(they will actually tell you I that also say ´teach the writer not the writing´ pretty often). The more I blog, the better I relate to my kiddos. The more I blog, the smarter I get. So I´ll be doing more of this. You can probably expect typos.

The time is now.

I’d like to dedicate this blog post to my 6 year old, Buddy, who announced the title of this blog to the entire Barbershop on Elm Street this morning.

There’s nothing like summer to put a kick in teachers´ steps (along with a hop, skip, and heel click). June, with her ugly Regents exams, consuming graduations, cleaning of the classrooms, report cards and other transitions can be full of so much angst and shouty caps (“I’m switching to WHAT grade level?” “WHO am I co-teaching with next year?” “We’re coming back BEFORE Labor Day this year?”). But once July hits, there is a haze of calm and serenity that descends upon teachers and spreads like spilled ink. The mist takes up residence until about August 15, when we start seeing “Back to School” ads and suddenly gain an eye twitch. Then Labor Day weekend hits, and forget the eye twitch-we´re basically one, giant, exposed nerve ending.

Earlier this week my district had our Opening Days, where only staff attended (our little cherubs arrive on Tuesday). The first Opening Day was the first time my family left our house at Normal School time since June 24. Normal School time means that all lunches are made, all First Breakfasts are consumed (Buddy and Bear sometimes have ¨First Breakfast¨ at our house, and ¨Second Breakfast¨ at our sitter ‘s house), Scout is in her crate, and humans are in the vehicles.

At Normal School time on my Opening Day no lunches were made, a Lara bar was being transformed into crumbs, Scout was in her crate, and all humans were inside the house. Then Buddy asked if he could go look for 5 matchbox cars, and Bear decided he was NOT wearing shoes. I wish that I could tell you I expressed to Buddy in a calm, quiet voice that we did not have time to look for matchbox cars. In reality, I snapped like lightening and expressed my frustration that we were late and can´t he use some of the 32 matchbox cars in the backseat of our car? Turns out, no, because he was looking for police matchbox cars and we only had Fire Station, Old Timey and Construction matchbox cars. His little face was crestfallen, and my heart dropped.

¨I´m sorry, Buddy. I shouldn´t have used my voice that way. I´m feeling a little nervous about school, and it´s coming out in a sharp voice. But I should not have spoke to you that way, I´m sorry¨

¨That´s okay, mom. Still love ya. Hey, can you turn on The Backyardigans CD?¨ Sure thing. No muss, no fuss (side note: I smuggled Bearś minion crocs into the car when he wasn´t looking).

I tried to be so laid back this week but truthfully, my brain is at school. It´s thinking about the Writing: Units of Study for Narrative that I haven´t read in a few weeks. It´s thinking about the New Teachers I´ll be mentoring, and did I forget to mention anything to them? It´s thinking about, and dreading, how I notoriously forget things at my Middle School office when I´m at the High School and forget things at my High School office when   I´m at the Middle School. It´s thinking about the Music Curriculum summary I still need to write, and the New Teacher Week things I want to finish up. It´s thinking about the new 7th grade team I´m working with, and how I can hard to work with. It´s thinking, did I read enough Kate DiCamillo and Rick Riordan books to connect with my kiddos?

And I´m thinking about the dog hair on my floor and dirty dishes in the sink, and how do I make the First Day calm and smooth for Buddy? He´s joining the big leagues of first grade, and I know his wheels are turning about new teachers, classmates, etc.

Today Buddy woke up and was argumentative, which is not his normal self. I could tell he was either tired, or the First Day Jitters were starting to come out (the past two Labor Day weekends he has set an all time record for Most Time Outs in one weekend). While in the barbershop to get his hair cut, he informed me that he was NOT getting his haircut. My patience was thin from explaining to him earlier that morning that he WAS brushing his teeth and he WAS changing his underwear and he WAS going to eat breakfast. I calmly, through gritted teeth, said ¨Buddy. We are here. We are getting a hair cut. It is your turn¨. He hmmphed! off to the barber chair. Our hairdresser gently asked how he was doing, and he rolled his eyes and said ¨I´m fine, but excuse my mom-she´s stressed about the first day of school¨. Everyone in a ten foot vicinity choked back laughter, and you know what?

That´s what I needed.

I needed to see and hear myself through Buddy´s. I needed to laugh at myself. Aren´t we all living this moment this weekend? My husband just said to me ¨Hey. Stress is written all over your face. We´re going to clean up the kitchen, and get the groceries, and it will be okay. Okay?¨. Hugs to the husband.

Teachers, be gentle this weekend. Our job is hard because kids deserve the best. But we shouldn´t delve into a crescendo of neuroses this weekend in anticipation of it. Drink the wine. Run the mile. Bingewatch the netflix. Buy the clothes. Practice some self-care; no doubt your family, your 6 year old, and perhaps your local barbershop will thank you for it.

 

 

In Be Mine, Mentor Text <3 I spilled my brain on how powerful Mentor Texts are. Not just for the K-5 crowd, but for content specialists, too. This past week some colleagues let me borrow their classrooms so that I could try out some Mentor Text moves, and I’m ready to share some ups, downs, and tips.

To preface…

• I used the Mentor Text of a video documentary, VICE: Unnatural Selection for a 10th grade Biology class. The kids were learning about Genetic Engineering, and the teacher and I were working on getting kids to craft opinions on genetic engineering for an authentic audience. So, we had them create a writing piece that would be read to the presidential candidates on whether the government should promote or prevent genetic engineering.
• In a Senior ELA class, I used the picture book “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. They are embarking on a “Call to Action” paper, where their charge is to get their audience to not only agree with them but change their behavior.

Ups

• I’ll start with the obvious-the kids! Every class I was in had such great students. They were earnest and kind, polite and attentive. Even the kids with the hoodies up and even the kids who couldn’t sit still. Even during my awkward moments, they didn’t give up on me.
• Mini-lessons! Wow, were they potent. This was a “have to” for the classes I was guest teaching in. On Day 1 in the biology class, students were obedient while I was leading the lesson. But I couldn’t see if the learning was taking place. On Day 2 after I began with a mini-lesson (a write aloud on “how to start your opinion”) the engagement was tenfold. There is such cavernous space between “I taught it” and “They learned it”, and I was setting up shop in the cavern after Day 1. The mini-lesson on Day 2 was a leverage point to demonstrate strategies and elicit more participation. While I was circulating and working 1:1 during the writing time, the Mentor Text was a concrete frame of reference.
• Using a Mentor Text helped me to refine my purpose and intention in the lesson. Something that started out so small really grew into a complex thinking exercise around many components of opinion writing in Biology and strong persuasion in ELA. The more I used the Mentor Text, the more crystallized my language became.

Downs

• If I’m going to be honest, the lessons were longer than I anticipated. When I was planning the lesson plans I thought this might be the case. I was frustrated during planning because I couldn’t fit in everything that I wanted to fit in during the 40 minute period. I’m wondering if the decisions, teaching points and pacing will become smoother with more seasoned experience. I would not label my lessons last week as “savvy” (nota bene: clunky).

Tips

• Be flexible…this goes back to my very first baby blog post about how we use our time, and that when you try something new you must rid yourself of something old. You just can’t keep all of your teaching moves-you need make space for new ideas The teachers that were gracious enough to lend me their classrooms rid themselves of some previously used organizers and altered another assignment (insert round of applause, fist pump, and raise the roof gesturing here for their awesomeness:__________________________________).
• Keep the Mentor Text hanging out in your classroom, and keep referring back to it. Reference the author/characters as if you are a personal friend. If I had stopped after Day 1 in the ELA class, it would have been a really great lesson in isolation and the teaching points would have died a very short life. BUT. The subsequent lessons yielded more profit (as did the anchor charts).
• Read aloud the Mentor Text. Not just read it aloud, but give your students the gift of a read aloud! They deserve it! This is a real bedrock of reading instruction no matter what age your students are. Propel the enthusiasm and shine a spotlight on the language.
• Really know your teaching points and commit to them. In the beginning I went down the shady path of “Let’s produce stronger writing pieces by using the mentor text!” Um, way too vague. I should have known better. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I confess this so that you tighten your thinking cap on when you go to plan. My teaching point in the Biology class became “Developing your claim” and in ELA it was “How to come up with your topic” [for a Call to Action paper]. We referenced back to the Mentor Texts heavily in both classes, and the kids wielded a lot of the cognitive workout.
• Anchor charts, people. It’s all about the anchor charts. This helped me narrow down my teaching point ahead of time, FYI. Prior to class I had thought out the strategies I would be demonstrating, and what writerly moves the author used.
• Choosy teachers choose the best and most appropriate Mentor Texts they can find. Do not get stingy here. Recruit a colleague/librarian/etc to chat about what Mentor Text you are thinking of using, reread it and ingest it so that you know it inside and out. Why are you using it? What do you want kids to glean? Why is this an exemplar of what kids should produce? No need to entrench yourself in print text. That’s a typical go-to, but I used a film documentary and it worked great!

Thanks for giving this an eyeball. Please feel free to share your experiences in using Mentor Texts in the comments section!

Lesson Plans used in Mentor Text lessons:

ELA Lesson

 

Biology Lesson

 

 

 

“Snow, snow

Shiver and blow

Icicle popsicles,

Drip drip dropsicles”

-Jane Yolen, Sing a Season Song

Isn’t that beautiful? I’m drooling. I double dog dare you to hate winter after reading this excerpt. These words make me want to wrap up in a cozy blanket and enjoy a hot beverage near a fireplace. I have fallen in love with the text Sing a Season Song, by Jane Yolen (Who am I kidding? I love Jane Yolen. Period. Her book “How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” changed my life). In this particular book she demonstrates the beauty that all seasons have to offer and reminds us to appreciate good in everything. Each time I read this book to Buddy and Bear, Jane has us climbing into each season and pulling out memories. She causes us to do this! She has power, Jane does!

But I should tell you-and this is a secret worth sharing-that any mentor text that you choose holds the same power.

Some of you may be saying, “Hmmm. Mentor text. What’s this crazy blogger lady talking about?” A mentor text is anything that you want your students to eyeball and discern characteristics from so that they can emulate it. It may be an essay. It may be a sculpture. It could be an excerpt that uses dialogue if you’re working with students on dialogue. It could be an equation or formula. Or a lab demonstration. I tried to recreate my living room from an episode of Love it or List it-in that scenario, the episode was my Mentor Text (FYI, turns out my living room was destined for John Deere tractors and rogue crayons with a Thomas the Train blanket artfully draped over an arm chair). You’ve heard of Pinterest, right? Pinterest is a Mentor Text to the max. If you’ve ever looked at something on Pinterest and tried to create it, then you have used Pinterest as a Mentor Text. If you’ve ever looked at something on Pinterest, tried to create, and catastrophically failed, then you’re me. I’m  using the word “text” prettttty liberally here, but in most cases it does translate to print text.

My sales pitch on Mentor Texts begins with the notion that a mentor typically inspires you to do something. A mentor is your wise and trusted adviser, reminding you of your purpose. A mentor text hopefully does the same thing, inspiring students to create.  As an 8 year old girl I had an affinity was slightly obsessed with the American Girls series. Reading the books even inspired me to write a book about a girl who was a slave and found freedom (aka, Meet Addy Part Deux). There was not a lot of difference between the two stories, but if I had brought the story to a teacher I’m certain that with proper coaching and conferencing I could have developed my own story.

Writing in our content areas should have similar affects on students that the American Girl series had on me (now that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write). We need to show kids strong and awesome pieces of writing from our content areas, write in front of our kids, and feel confident about it. I promise you-yes, you, who perhaps hasn’t hashed out an essay or written a piece since the college days-YOU are the very best writer in your room. You know what a person in your discipline needs to include in their final product, whether it’s a mathematician, sculptor, chemist, journalist or literary consultant. Or maybe you know best that “Helper E” makes a vowel say it’s name and how to correctly hold the pencil-this is just as important.

When we model our writing we are really modeling our thinking, which turns into modeling thinking about your content area. Most teachers that I know are incredible direction-givers, and while the power of giving clear directions is certainly a good thing it doesn’t get students to synthesize in the way that it moves them to record information. We need to share our thinking and not be stingy about it for this reason alone: background knowledge helps determine comprehension. If you’ve done something an awful lot then it’s easy. Kids have not taken your class before (hopefully). They will need modeling, coaching, guiding and a mentor text to refer to and look back on throughout the writing process. If you want your students to craft a persuasive piece, then think of some of the most persuasive texts you’ve ever read. Put them in front of your kiddos. Dissect the pieces together. Keep going back to the pieces, and in the end their work will be stronger. It will emulate the mentor text with their own voice weaving the piece together. Using  a mentor text can help student’s work to become more substantial, beyond a regurgitation of notes.

I’m often faced with this statement from colleagues: “But I don’t have time to teach writing.  I need to teach my content area. This just isn’t in the curriculum”. Nonbelievers, take comfort. The best thing about using mentor texts is that you do not have to choose between teaching content and teaching writing. Using a mentor text packs a powerful punch in your lesson and allows you to accomplish both. Kill two birds with one mentor text, if you will.

This is a lot to digest, and I’m going to leave you with a challenge: go seek out a mentor text for your class. If you teach Middle or High school, try choosing one class period. Think about an upcoming topic in your curriculum. What do you want your students to create? What would show you that your instruction worked? Once you’ve got the end in mind you can search for a text that would help put both content and craft on display.

Spend time marinating on this, and once you’ve got your ideas…come back and visit. If you have questions, throw ’em in the comments section. My next blog post will be a lesson where you can see how a Mentor Text is implemented.

**The Meet Addy Part Deux typed manuscript can be found on my parents MS-DOS, which was recycled several years ago. Rough Draft is in the green spiral notebook (wide ruled) under the canopy bed in my childhood bedroom.

My Kindergartener (Buddy) has been learning about, and writing, “How to” books at school. He’ll come home and say “Today I wrote a ‘How to play lacrosse’ book!” or “Our class wrote a ‘How to Open A Present!’ book”. This has prompted a lot of conversation around our house about “how to” do various things and impromptu “writing in the air”  moments, as one of my idols Lucy Calkins would say.

Yesterday my husband and I took Buddy skiing and we were discussing how next year Bear would be 3, and old enough to come with us. This prompted a “How to Ski” discussion, and it led me to this place of mental gymnastics where I saw several similarities between skiing and reading. Voila! We have a genesis for this post.

My husband has been skiing since he was 3. I had never been, so shortly before Buddy turned 3, my husband took me (at the ripe age of 29) to hit the slopes for the first time. I’m not exactly the most coordinated person and therefore it was an interesting experience. By interesting, I mean several encounters where my face was filled with snow and lots of sore muscles thereafter. I do enjoy it-but it definitely took some time for me to get the hang of it.

The first run of the season is always a bit rusty for me, but not for the boys. Yesterday I was nail biting through my gloves watching them zoom down the  mountain, and it was as if they had never stopped skiing from last season to this one. This alone made me think of reading-for some, it is pure enjoyment and an experience where we enhance ourselves and skills each time we encounter text. But for others-rusty at first. Perhaps even rusty each time.

And now, for your enjoyment, I’d like to present “5 steps to Better Skiing…and Reading”.

1) Have all the equipment you need.

Gloves, hats, helmet, etc for skiing. Comprehension toolkit for reading. Buddy uses strategies such as”Chunkey Monkey”, “Stretchy Snake” and “Tryin’ Lion” to decode words and decipher meaning while he reads. Bear even uses strategies-he may be 2, but he uses pictures to loosely retell. In my classroom, I taught my students thinking strategies as outlined in Strategies That Work, by Stephanie Harvey and Ann Goudvis (excellent read, by the way-I keep this one at arm’s length). Whatever you choose, make sure you teach your students that reading=thinking. Equipment is important! Yesterday I forgot my under armour, and, well…brr! I’m still shivering! Don’t send your students off to read without their gear.

2) Be ready to faceplant.

I’m talking a face filled with snow. Time and time again. And then, you might actually make sense of what you’re reading. The first time I try a new ski trail, I usually fall. HARD. Skiing is not natural for my body. I’m still learning. If you’re asking your students to read from a disciplinary lens, chances are it’s not normal for their brains. You have got to be able to get up and try again-literally if you’re skiing, figuratively if you’re reading. It is part of our well-earned paycheck to normalize this for kids. Reading can be hard-if you didn’t author the text, you have to really put your thinking cap on to internalize the information. You, or a student, might have to reread several times, or chunk text to make sense of it. Own that, and shine a spotlight on it. I was recently at a workshop where the presenter likened reading to “a construction project”. We need our kiddos to really see what this looks like, and tools from Step 1 are the key to success here, my friends.

3) Faster does not always equal better.

While my son is flying down the mountain, I’m behind him frantically shouting in my head “STAY TO THE LEFT! THE LEFT! WATCH OUT FOR THE 3 YEAR OLD IN THE PINK SNOW SUIT! SLOW DOWN!” (or maybe it was out loud…). Meanwhile, he’s smiling from ear to ear, footloose  and fancy-ski boot-free. But I’m cautious when I ski. I like being IN control, and when I ski too fast I feel OUT of control.

Likewise when reading, faster does not always equal better. The experience will be different for each student-and we need to honor each student’s pace. Some may want to read fast and then go back and reread to determine importance. Some may go slow, enjoying and savoring each written word. Some may go slow stumbling over each word. It’s good to remind kids that faster does not equal “better”. As long as they’ve got their equipment and are ready to faceplant, they should be good to go.

4) Talk, talk, talk. Then talk some more.

Yesterday evening at home my husband was commenting on my ski style. He was concerned that my constant snowplowing would cause sore hips on the following day (author’s note: he was correct). He suggested that I turn my feet a different way, and gave me explicit instructions on how to bear my weight on the ski differently. It was very useful but chances are, I’ll forget until we go skiing again. I asked him if he would remind me, or coach me in the moment next time we go (author’s second note: he was more than happy to glean permission to tell me what to do in our next ski adventure).

When students are reading it is helpful to provide the same coaching. A very typical structure in my classroom would be to ask my students to read, say, pages 73-75 independently, with a peer, or in a small teacher-led group. Even if they all chose to independently read, I would not go sit at my desk and grade. I would walk around and ask them questions about the reading and what they were thinking. The conversations provided information as the unit progressed, and were especially helpful for a whole class discussion. This was twofold-I could also help them navigate text.

5) Behold, the power of Book-it.

When I was in 3rd grade my teacher, Mrs. Boudreau, introduced my class to this fabulous program called Book-It. Everyone received a hologram pin with 5 white stars on it. If we read enough books during a month, then Mrs. Boudreau would give us a star sticker to put on one of the white stars AND a certificate for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut!

Is it ANY wonder I turned out to be a bookworm?!

Myself, my friends, probably any 3rd grader at La Fayette Intermediate School was excited to show off their pin. Anybody who was anybody was sporting star sticker pins on their puffy winter coats or Jansport backpacks.  We were given the chance to be successful in public and we were literally wearing badges of success. To enhance this even more, Mrs. Boudreau would totally blow up our spot. I vividly remember her presenting the stickers and certificates to us in class as if we had just discovered how to eliminate world hunger. I don’t say this in jest; she truly made us feel as if we had power because of our reading. Greatest gift ever.

My  husband is always encouraging me and telling me how much better I’m getting at skiing. That makes me want to keep trying and improve. He’ll tell people in conversations “Oh, yeah, we ski” implying that we’re both good at it when in reality, I suspect it’s him and my son who possess talent.

In the classroom we need to give our students these same “Book it” moments. I’m not talking about pizza as much as I’m talking about opportunities to be a reading champion. Even the tiniest glimmer (a student asking what a vocabulary word means when they typically skim over it, or a student who attempted to make inferences) deserves recognition. Whether it’s the student who reads above grade level or the student who has their heads down and hoodie up, we need to be equal opportunity Book-it distributors.

And there your have it. The Top 5 ways to become a better skier from a non-expert. And, bonus: those ways are also ways to grow readers! They may be obvious to some. Ground breaking for others. Hopefully you found a nugget of an idea or a spark to carry your instruction even further.

In reality, I don’t think it is really as simple as boiling down the act of reading into 5 “how to steps”. But-it’s a start, and I hope it greased your wheels for the upcoming work week. And may your four day week include the proper equipment, many a faceplant, chatter, and several Book-its!