Thinking Together, Working Together

"We conveniently forget that children's ability to use language as a tool for thinking on their own has its origins in thinking together."  There are times as teachers when we focus too much on what we need to say and teach to our students.  With a demanding curriculum and standards to accomplish within a short amount of time, we are constantly thinking about how we need to provide the information to our students and they need to take that information in and process it.  Have we ever thought to take a step back and allow our students to take over our conversations and discussions?  From large group instruction to small reading groups, the power of allowing students to take lead in questions, comments, answers, etc. can be very powerful.  While it is still important that you provide "talking points" that allow students to remain on the subject of discussion, we will allow that gradual release of responsibility onto our students.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea of an "instructional conversation," it provides a consistent dialogue between the teacher and classmates in which the teacher provides talking points but allows students to challenge, question, comment, answer, etc., in hope that it provides a conversation between the students.  This may seem like a difficult idea to grasp, or even allow in your classroom, but the benefits and results that this type of teaching provides more of an impact when it is done correctly.

One of the most important ideas to grasp from this type of dialogue is that "the collective intelligence of a group is not particularly related to the average, or maximum, intelligence of individuals' in the group," as discussed in Johnston's Opening Minds.  Many teachers find it very difficult to allow their students to take over a conversation based on a variety of reasons.  One of the main reasons is that your students will not be able to provide the type of information and reasoning that you want your students to understand.  Although it is nearly impossible to have all of your students on the same academic level as one another, the intelligence of the group is not based on who the particular individuals are its based on the conversations that your students can produce.  "Individual minds are nurtured in the conversations-the interactive thinking-of the community" (Johnston).  There are many instances in which the students can provide information and talking that the teacher can not create and that is when this type of teaching becomes powerful.  It not only provides constant engagement from all of your students, but it allows for  students, who may not always talk in class, a way to contribute without being called on by a teacher.  "Studies also show a an increase in: comprehension, reasoning ability, expressive language, creative thinking, etc" (Johnston).

There are many important benefits that come with releasing more responsibility upon the students, and one of the greatest accomplishments is seeing the lightbulb light up in your students mind when they are  really engaged within a discussion.  From performing my own instructional conversation within a small reading group, I saw many important comments and questions that arose from a group of 1st graders.  Yes I said 1st graders.  Even though it seems as if conversations and dialogues are only possible with later grades and with a more engaging text, I have realized that a younger elementary classroom also has the capability of performing an instructional conversation, as long as you adapt to the appropriate age group.  By providing important talking points about a specific reading that you are working on, it allows for the students to express their opinions, make a connection with their own life, and even ask questions about things that they may not understand.  It was empowering to allow the students to talk over the group and really lead their own discussions about a topic.  It is important to realize that as long as you are able to differentiate your lesson to the appropriate subject and age level, an instructional conversation can really provide many learning moments.

I have provided a link to Johnston's Opening Minds book that provides many examples and also ideas for leading instructional conversations within the classroom.

http://www.amazon.com/Opening-Minds-Using-Language-Change/dp/1571108165

Writing to Learn for the Rest of Your Life

From a very young age, we learn as writers how to stroke a different symbol to portray what you are meaning onto paper and to make sure that your letters aren’t too tall or too short.  We can categorize the basics of writing as a young student as simple as neat handwriting, spelled correctly and makes sense.  As we develop as writers, we put more effort into the words that we are trying to speak. We develop our own voice that is as powerful written, rather than spoken and we can achieve this level through different strategies such as similes, metaphors and our ideas.  To some writing comes naturally and becomes an escape route for their thoughts, and to others the struggle to even get a pen down on paper is their constant battle.  As an educator it is our goal to have our students develop different strategies and resources to get their point across on paper.  Johnston discusses, “With all of the pressure we feel today as teachers to raise test scores and get students to meet standards, its all too easy to forget to communicate how much we care about them as young people and as writers.”  When we have taught our students and given them all of the tools they need to be a successful writer, we can see that some students will continue to struggle with their ideas and lack motivation to even begin writing.  Where do we draw the line in failing a student based on the product of the writing, and not on the process?  This is something that many teachers constantly struggle with in many aspects of school and not just writing.  What constitutes a piece of writing as an “A?”  Yet again this ties back into my entire notion that I have discussed throughout the semester on knowing your students and making that extra effort to help a student learn, because everyone has that capability. 

In my recent attempt at assessing my students, I was faced with a challenge in deciding how to grade my students.  A rubric seemed like the most logical choice, that conveys a point system and the amount of points that a student receives tells you whether they are an “A” or a “D” student.  To be fair to my students, I created a rubric that consisted of grading based on ideas and tasks that they have been learning throughout their time spent with me.  The different factors included discussions about 2 or more characters, the setting, main ideas and spelling, punctuation and legibility.  I was very happy at the rubric that I produced, but when it came time to actually sit down and place my rubrics on my right and their writing on my left, I found it difficult to give bad grades to students I knew that tried hard.  I found myself giving more points to students who put in more effort and have improved their writing throughout the weeks.  After taking a look at my students work and looking at my rubrics, I knew something was wrong.  I completely disregarded the actual context of the rubric that I created, and was grading my students on who they were as writers, the improvement that I have seen, and if they wrote up to the standard that I knew they could.  All I could think was, what is the point of even having a rubric if I feel confident in this type of grading?  This is where it becomes your decision as a teacher on what route you are going to take when it comes to assessment.  While it is inevitable that we can stray completely away from assessing our students and putting a grade on their work, there are many different ways to grade our students based on who they are individually, as opposed to constantly comparing each student to their classmates.

As discussed throughout “Assessing Writers,” by Johnston, we receive a preview of a teacher who truly cared about the students growing as writers, as opposed to having all exceptional grades in the grade book.  One of my favorite ideas about his book is the discussion and emphasis on conferencing with your students.  As stated by Lucy Calkins, “We teach the writer, not the writing.”  This fits perfectly with my teaching beliefs when I say that every student has the ability to learn because when you take the time to individually talk to every one of your students, you are not only understanding their needs, but you are getting to know that student a little bit better.  If we take note of all of the needs of your students, you will be able to reach not just a few students but your entire class.  As Johnston states, “There isn’t one writing process that guarantees success for all writers and through every day assessment a teacher learns about students as initiators of writing…when a teacher gets to know a student she also imagines what kind of a writer she wants that student to be in a few months.”  The idea of writing about “what the student does and then to write what you can do to help that student” really puts into perspective that every student needs something different and it is our job to find a way to address that need.  With that being known, we already have a start on our assessments with our students.  If we know what we have taught our students and what we expect them to know and do, making a rubric should be simple and same with assessment. 

Assessing is something that we as teachers dread because it is difficult to put a grade onto something that may be so different from someone else’s.  Even though we cant get out of assessing our students, we can find ways to truly address how are students are as writers that will satisfy parents and administration but it will also help our students to learn what they need to work on.  As Johnston said, “The point of teaching writing, ultimately, is to help students become lifelong writers.”