LLED BLOCK Summer 2012 @lledblocksummer2012-blog - Tumblr Blog

Calkins Ish Yo

Okay so I was just about to submit a longer version of this and it asked me to log in before posting aka we just erased your stuff, have a wonderful day. My thoughts turned to my prior experiences in elementary school and how all of my teachers used post its in their teacher copies of the text, BUT THEY NEVER ENCOURAGED US TO DO THE SAME!! I think this is a great organizational tool to keep students' thoughts pre, during, and post reading in order where they can be revisited and reflected. I think that teachers could review these, and there you have millions of built in mini lesson ideas that are, wait for it: STUDENT BASED/LED!

#john mcfarland

Calkins

I swing between using post-its too much and forgetting they exist. My mom taught me to be a 'list' person and often those go on sticky notes because they are so darn easy to put everywhere. I don't often use stickies in books though. I think it is an interesting point, because right now I rely on highlights and writing in the margins. And it is impossible to find my notes later. Teaching students to use post-its early seems like a great organizational tool and helps discussion and learning. When students don't have to search for the section they need, you get more engaged learning time. Plus, maybe I'll learn something too.

#Aarin

I agreed with Calkins in the beginning when he was talking about being a good reader doesn't just mean that you read the words mindlessly. In order to be a good reader you need to understand the meaning behind the words, and follow along with what you're reading.

Suggestions given by Calkins included: using post-its at points that make you laugh or parts that stand out, using a highlighter, using a plain book cover to jot down notes, or any variation of such. I thought that this was very true, because if you stop to even jot down one memorable word about what you just read, it is more like to stay with you and aids full comprehension. I think quite often students get caught up in giving the "right" answer or go into robotic form. This may help to get them out of their routine and think about what is being said rather than reading it perfectly. Just like Bailey.

The reason I chose this picture is because it's a utensil that combines both post-its and a highlighter. I don't know about you, but if I had these when I was a young student I would have loves to write notes or tag my favorite parts. This would provide motivation to outline and aid students to respond as "good readers".

#vip

The use of sticky notes to the maximum is a helpful tool for me...

Calkins:

It is very useful to teach students not only how to recall what they have been reading but to also understand and be able to comprehend what has been read. I thought the idea of using sticky notes while reading in the classroom was a great idea. Not only for students to use while they are reading on their own, but also while a teacher in reading to the class. The teacher can stop after each page and ask if students have any questions about something or any confusion, then the teacher can take the time to make the sticky note -- or even have the students make them so that she can place them on the page. I found it interesting that Calkins mentioned how some students may tend to use the sticky note idea to a "higher extension" and fill the entire book with sticky notes which may turn out to be less effective. However, I disagree with this statement because the student is simply making more connections while making the time to take notes on each aspect of the book. I personally am one to fill up my entire book with sticky's. I usually organize the sticky notes in color coordination and use about 3 to 4 colors for each book. Each color will represent a different topic and I use that color to make little notes for myself about what I'd like to use in my writing, or things that I may not understand. While taking Literature about King Arthur in college, I found it very useful to use sticky notes and go back to class the next day and ask the professor about each topic or some sentences that I did not quite understand. Although my books were filled with sticky's they were of much use to me. Therefore, teacher's may have to be concerned about the overuse of sticky notes while reading, but I personally would not care. I think it's a process of learning in itself and it should take students some time before they begin to understand how "they" want to use this tool to their advantage. Overall, I think Calkins makes a great point but I did disagree with this one idea and I think that students should certainly be given some time to figure out their own ways of using sticky's before a teacher steps in to help them make some changes.

#Donna Patel

sticky notes

I'm a big fan of using post it notes to remind myself to do something or to make lists for things I need and other uses. I'm not a big fan of using them for reading usually though with leisure reading and also text book use, but after reading this article I can see myself using them in my classroom to help with students reading comprehension and other reading strategies. I like the use of kids using sticky notes to write out what they say and the teacher can get a look inside their brain, see what they are thinking and see how they are developing in their reading and comprehension and understanding of the book/article being read. I think color coding the sticky notes can be good as well. Having the student use different colors to show us their opinion of the story, ask questions about what is going on in the story, and also highlight words that they don't understand or have trouble pronouncing.

#erin jenkins

http://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-ideas/grant/teaching-idea?app=11837&grantId=51

While reading Calkins' article I was kind of skeptical when I saw that it was about post-it use when reading, but as I read on I saw just how much post-its can do for your reading. How it can bring you back to parts and show your train of thoughts and predictions, and how cool they really are to use when reading. Whenever I was told to use post-its in school it was only to mark important parts and quotes, not really much about my thinking, but finding what I was "supposed to" in the book. This article showed me a totally different concept and application of post-its so that I feel I would use them in my own classroom in the future. It was also to cool to see how students could take a single post-it and just expand on it into longer journal entries. It just shows how one idea can branch out and develop so many more new thoughts and insights.

One of my favorite parts was when Calkins' quotes Wells on page 372 saying, "We write-we put our thinking onto the page-so we can hold onto our fleeting thoughts" (Wells, 1999). It is so true how our thoughts can be easily accessed and processed when they are written. I love how these thoughts can start from something as simple as a post-it and expand to an entire essay. I found a lesson plan on weareteachers.com that showed an introduction of using post-its as a way to "talk back" to the book, which I thought was an interesting way to put it. It also shows how many different subjects you can use post-its for and how the objective is to help improve comprehension. It's just one look at the use of post-its, but I thought that it was a good start that could expand into the many facets that Calkins gets into.

#traci jones

Please excuse the profanity...when Jenna Marbles gets on a soap box, it can get pretty crazy. However, I think that this is a funny(ish) way of representing the Calkins reading. Calkins stated that, "Our hope is that when we give children tools for thinking we help them to think and read with new depth and a new sense of possibility." I think that if we have students delve into what they "read", then they can get a lot of great discussion out of the material. Marbles draws connections between disney movies, she challenges the moral messages of the movies, and she shares what she thinks/feels with others. The whole point of Calkins' emphasis on post-it notes was to get students using the text to talk about the readings and to make internal connections; that, I think, is something Jenna did.

#paige rommel

Calkins

Story Map

^ example of a chart

"We encourage children to use charts, graphs, diagrams, lists of page numbers, Venn diagrams, matrixes and anything else that helps the generate ideas together, but we do not want to see these as new forms of reading project" (page 381).

Good readers: (pages 363 and 364)

1. find connections between one book and another

2. relate to their own lives

3. speak as the character would speak

4. predict

5. develop a big idea

6. notice, admire, and critique

7. develop theories about characters

What is a good reader? I think this depends on the individual and that there really is not one definition for a good reader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5urWXX6Kgks I really like how this teacher gets students thinking about what might happen next. I think this is a great way to test comprehension as well without students knowing they are being evaluated.

#Britiney Dauberman

In its interpretation of reading as a language process, miscue analysis shows that "mistakes" aren't really mistakes; they are merely phenomena that occur in most any act of reading. (Goodman) I think that this is perhaps the most important thing to remember during miscue analysis, and I think that it is equally important to teach this to teachers who are not as familiar with miscue analysis and who might, instead, judge students off of the miscues in their reading. Everyone makes miscues, not just children. This is essential to understand when delving into the world of miscue analysis, because then you can start to see the reasoning behind the miscues. For example, in Shari's case (from the Goodman reading), she understood the text, but she was using some of her own language to help describe it. If we pay attention, we can learn a lot about the child and the child's past experiences that may have shaped their reading experiences. Children make sense out of things in their own ways, and sometimes insertion or omission in reading may be their way of making sense out of the text. Although this should definitely be addressed, it is helpful to get down to the root of the problem before we try to fix it.

#Ali Barazotto

Stenno Notebooks and Reading

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=stenno+notepads&hl=en&biw=1323&bih=635&tbm=isch&tbnid=JeJX4gTurt_ZMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.govgroup.com/green-gregg-ruled-steno-notebook-sprg69-2173354-prd1.htm&docid=65LsmjeXbAhdlM&imgurl=http://www.govgroup.com/images_products/2173354_large.jpg&w=500&h=500&ei=6YMMUKDZEdSnqQG6pM2eCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=485&vpy=167&dur=352&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=107&ty=135&sig=116914665908538061121&page=1&tbnh=119&tbnw=122&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:83

The link above is a picture of a "stenno" notebook. That was what I can remember using to take notes about a story when I was in third grade. My teacher gave us each one of these and we were supposed to write key words on the left side and elaborate on it on the right side. In the reading it talks about stenno notebooks and the author states that when students write in these kinds of journals "they are writing for no audience except the teacher-as-evaluator, for no purpose except to prove they did the reading, with no models of good writing, and with no support for revision." (page 364). I really like the idea of students using post it notes when reading. It helps them to take hold of their own learning, and I especially like the idea that the students get to choose 2 sticky notes to leave in their permanently. I'm sure this motivates the students, since they know people will be seeing them in the future, and it will mean something to someone else. This way its not just for the "teacher-as-evaluator". This lets students get their thoughts out while their reading, rather than reading the entire book and then writing a response where they may have forgotten some of the things they wanted to say. I give the post-it system two thumbs up!

#Laura Reed

Calkin's states, "We write-we put our thinking onto the page-so we can hold onto our fleeting thoughts. When we write, we can hold our thoughts in our hand, we can put our thoughts in our pocket, and we can bring out yesterday's thoughts. When we write, we can give our thoughts to someone and combine our thoughts with someone else's thoughts..." (p. 372). I thought this was an interesting way to talk about all of the different things that we can do with writing. I know this article was about developing ideas together, especially through the use of post-its and writing, but I thought that Calkin left out a crucial way that we use writing. To create. Our ideas sometimes come from things that we have read, or we use what we have read and respond to it through writing creatively. In this video, Pie Corbett discusses how reading impacts our writing. I think it's interesting to think how what we give students to read can actually impact their writing. Sharing what student's come up with in response to a reading, such as they could write their own sequel, would be a creative way to share ideas between students in the classroom.

#Maggie Siegler

When I was reading Calkin, I thought that it was very interesting that Post-It notes could be used for learning. When I read a book I usually just put a Post-It note to place as a book mark. I never used it to take notes or write down any questions that I had about that particular part of the story. I also liked how students can use various tools to help them to respond to texts, which I found on page 362. I really liked the idea of using paper clips to mark pages in the book that are interesting or pose as questions to the reader. Also, I liked the idea of using paper book covers to write down pages numbers and writing down thoughts that the reader has about the story. I would definitely use these tools in my classroom because it allows the students to jot down thoughts, questions or pages numbers that allow the student to learn as much as they can from the reading. I like it because it is something different then just using a pencil and notebook paper. Students are able to mark up or jot down or even post-it note something that they think is important to them because it is something new that they learned or they have a question about. I also liked the idea about leaving the post-it notes and sketches in the book so that when other students read that particular book they can add to the collection.

#Rebecca Ingram

Calkins

"If we encourage children to think as they read and to register those thoughts by leaving a stick-on note on a particular page, a whole social culture soon develops. When they start a new book, some children pave the inside cover of their copy with small stacks of Post-its. Other wear or carry little Post-it pouches. Children in several classrooms I know have adopted the rule at the end of the book, they can each look back and choose two (and only two) Post-its that will remain in the book forever."

As nerdy as it sounds, I love the idea of Post-it notes. When I was younger, I caught my aunt reading a book. She would use color coded post-it notes to bookmark pages. Each color represented something different. She explained to me that the colors represented things she didn't understand, words on the page that she wanted to look up later, favorite quotes she wanted to record, and page numbers that she wanted to remember for when she wanted to discuss the book with someone else. I loved the idea so much that I started doing it as well. I feel like once you get into the habit of using them you find yourself using them for almost every new book you pick up. To this day, I still keep post-it notes for some of the more challenging books that I read. I use them for studying as well. I love the idea for kids to use them because it's a way for them to write down any unanswered questions. Using post-its gets to think about what they are reading as they go. It's also a good way for kids to mark up a book without actually having to write in it. I can see using post-its in my classroom. From what I have seen, kids love to use post-its as well.

#Jenna Malone

Calkins

"We absolutely must teach readers to "talk back" to texts. We teach children to read, and judge their reading according to accuracy and their ability to recall what they read. Both skills are fine but clearly a good reader is more than a copy machine or a tape recorder"

I really liked this quote because it immediately reminded me of the video we watched in class (girl with the big long blonde bangs/babygail) That video showed me that reading is so much more than reading the words on the page. The girl in the video was able to recall and talk about what actually happened in the story. I originally judged her by how she sounded throughout the book but found out that she actually knew what was going on in the story. It is very important to keep this in mind and think about how children respond to books-- see what they get out of it. Students can respond to texts in many different ways such as making predictions, big ideas, making theories, noticing and critiquing the writing, and much more.

I think the idea of using post-its notes for children to respond to books is a great idea. Something in particular that I especially liked was that the teacher allowed the students to leave 2 post-its in their book and pass it along. This gives ownership to the students, they are even allowed to write their name on the post-it. It becomes something that they have passed along, and for other classmates to find later on. It would be fun for students to have someone approach them about their old post-it in a book-- this could spark some discussion on the book or idea that one student left behind. Another quote from the article that I like was that "It trains your mind to think when you're reading". I like this because thinking while reading is vital. By having post-it notes in random places in a book, it will allow students to stop for a second, read the post-it, and think further on the ideas that are presented to them. Overall, I really like the use of post-it notes and think they really could be helpful in a classroom for raising the level of thinking and talking about texts.

#Ashley Iovannoni

"If we encourage children to think as they read and to register those thoughts by leaving a stick on note on a particular page, a whole social culture soon develops." I never thought of using sticky notes for literacy. I personally love sticky notes and use them for almost everything, but providing each student with a stack of post it seems like an amazing idea. I can remember when I was in elementary school and when I was asked to read. I always felt that all of my great thoughts or questions left my brain before I got the chance to ask about about them or before I finished the page I was on. With using sticky notes, students can write down whatever it is that they need to remember about the book or things that interest them so that they can keep the story close with them. On that same note, I think the use of sticky notes are great for assisting in comprehension. Students can write down key points to help them remember things in the story that are of importance when comprehending the passage.

#kayleek

This video showed ways that not only students can use post-its in reading, but also teachers. Teachers can use poems to plan out their weeks, and simply throw them away once the task is completed. It’s a great visual checklist. Students could even use this in place of an agenda book. This way they would learn visually and kinetically how to plan their lives, rather than just writing it down. This is great for reading in classrooms. I would give students post its to put next to the words they may not know. This way they can go back and realize what they did no know, and put a definition, or pronunciation key. This will help them learn the more difficult words.

#kirstie reese

Talking & Writing to Develop Ideas

"Reading is nothing more or less than thinking, guided by print" pg. 359

When reading this article I found myself most relating to the beginning when post-it notes are used a reading tool. Students are given post-it notes to keep recordings of their findings while reading. As a class, students can revisit those notes to discuss their reading and expand on their thinking. I also have found in the past that post-it notes are a great way to engage students. During student teaching I was placed in a 5th and 6th grade emotional support classroom. Many of my days consisted of behavior management and redirecting. However, one day I promised a student I would send a letter home to tell his mother what a great day he was having. At the end of the day I wrote a quick note on a post-it and put it on his book. The next day was even better because of how his mother responded and he had memorized what I wrote on the note. Because this student knew I had these fun shaped post-it notes he would ask to write on them all the time. I began to Incorporate them in our reading group from time to time. Students' were on task more and I felt like they were more engaged when we had post-its. Other ideas the article uses are reading notebooks, highlighters, index cards, and plain paper book covers. I can remember using these reading tools through my own education. I think the most important part of this section was when it states how important it is to expand on these ideas. It is great to see students engaged and enjoying reading while jotting notes down, but it is important for them to be expanding on those thoughts. It is also important to hear what others might think and different opinions on different topics. That's why the teacher must bring everyone back together as a group and expand on their ideas and guide them to deeper thinking.

#Amanda McGonigle

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