Digital Citizenship in Action by Kristen Mattson {Professional Read}

My district has implemented Coffee and Conversations to bring grade levels together and it's done virtually before the school  day starts. I really enjoy the information shared relevant to our grade level or district initiatives and connecting with other teachers also teaching third grade. This year they added a drawing a professional development book and I won - Digital Citizenship in Action - Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities by Kristen Mattson.

The intended audience for this book is 6 - 12 educators, curriculum directors and library media specialist. I almost passed this book along to a friend and since I won it at a third grade meeting I thought there might be something in here for me to learn. I'm really glad I didn't pass it along.

I remember when digital citizenship was all the buzz and students received a lot of safety messages with don't do within the idea. This book nudges us to help students become "participatory citizens." Participatory citizens engage with others in meaningful ways that foster relationships to collaborate, share ideas, foster understandings, and make changes. Each chapter highlights a story showing the ideas in action and then offers suggestions for you to give something a try in your classroom.

I took ideas away from each chapter so I would expand the intended audience to include grades 3 - 5.

When I read professional books, I look for nudges I can try in my own classroom.

- modify the "Getting to Know You" Digital Citizen Survey

- involve the students in an expectations and norms discussion

- discuss the difference between consuming and contributing - modify activity

- anchor chart for effective and ineffective online discussions, sample provided

- mentor students as they navigate and connection in discussion boards

You will find my favorite quotes on my instagram account - mandyrobek_edu

Learning with The Literacy Connection & John Schu

This past Saturday I had the pleasure to join a local group of educators; The Literacy Connection as they launched their year long book study of The Gift of Story by John Schu. John is full of energy, insight, and inspiration. He is truly a book ambassador and brought many books to give away to the audience. As he shared a bit about the book and why he was recommending it he asked the participants who needed this story. A few books he already knew who needed this book by listening in earlier in the day. I can't wait to dive in to The Gift of Story and think about the affective side of our reading lives.

Here are some tidbits I'm taking with me into a new week.

"A book can become your best friend." 

John was a great mentor for knowing books and sharing stories about how he shares books with people when they need it. I think I have some close listening to do and reading to help find best friend books for my students.

"Do you finish the book or prolong the experience?"

We spend a lot of time talking about reader identity and growing it across our third grade year together. This isn't a question I have pondered before myself or with my students. I was also reminded of a reading conference I had a couple of weeks ago. A student had abandoned a book in the Chicken Squad series and I was surprised. He had been reading the others in our classroom library after I read the first one for a chapter book read aloud. When I asked him why, he told me this was the last book we had and he didn't want the series to end. My whole body took a deep sigh and my heart radiated. I suggested we look up if we owned all the books in the series and discovered there were two which were quickly ordered. This third grade reader prolongs the experience.

"Be open to stories"

As I think about being open to stories, I find myself thinking I need to slow down and pause building in moments for stories to emerge. I think being open to stories fosters matching books to readers, guiding writers, and ignites connections. 

I love spending time with our local group of educators each year. It not only grows my thinking and work as a teacher it nurtures my soul. The energy in the room is always positive and welcoming. There is time built in for connecting with old friends and making new ones. The day is relaxing and fun. I can't wait to spend another day with John in March and you can too, if you are near Columbus, Ohio - just visit The Literacy Connection website.

Choral Counting and Counting Collections {Math Monday}

At our recent state math conference I heard positive reviews for Choral Counting and Counting Collections written by Megan L Franke, Elham Kazemi, and Angela Chan Turrou.  I had previously read a little bit about counting collections and as I pondered about my current mathematicians I wanted to explore these two activities further.  I think curriculum changes have de-emphasized the importance of choral counting and looking for number patterns which foster number sense.

This book is written for K - 5 classrooms and I'm thrilled to share there are plenty of examples in the text stretching what might appear as K-2 activities.  I'm quite fascinated about the visual recordings and the different decisions a teacher can make to help foster number thinking.  Discussing what students notice is a great tool to make thinking visible and supports striving mathematicians.  I'm pondering how the ideas in this book help mathematicians work with fluidness through the CRA model; Conrete, Representational, and Abstract with the Choral Counting having us work through this in a backwards manner.

Nudges I found to try within my own work

- make a visual record of choral counts 

- rearrange how these choral counts and records are recorded

           (horizontal or vertical and how many numbers in each row)

- implement counting collections

- ponder whole class counting collection day or as a menu activity

- discuss what we notice from choral count records and celebrate noticing

Quotes that are sticking with me

"When we leave the activity open for young mathematicians to reason about structure, quantity,and organization, we allow them to problem-solve, to build on their own ideas and those of their classmates, and to grapple with what makes sense."

"While accuracy is important in counting, we caution agains making accuracy the ultimate focus...too narrow of a focus on accuracy can zap that joy and wonder."

"In the same way that reads learn to select just-right books, young mathematicians learn how to set just-right challenges for themselves."

Thinking Together 9 Beliefs for Building a Math Community {Professional Read}

Thinking Together 9 Beliefs for Building a Mathematical Community by Rozlynn Dance and Tessa Kaplan is a book worth having to start a new school year with and one to revisit during the school year.  It's an easy book to read and won't take long if you are feeling the back to school crunch or starting right now, like many of us in Central Ohio.  

I love their child centered belief statements.  They are worded in kid friendly language and get to the core of classroom community for math workshop;  Good mathematicians are brave and try new things and it's not just about the answer are two I can't wait to focus on and believe all of our students need help with.  Questions from the teacher helps us grow and learn is one I don't know if I've really spent time on in the past and realize it's an important belief to help build their confidence and chase worries away.  

Nudges I found to try within my own work

- read the book,Chrysthanemum - discuss disrespectful treatment more in-depth
- model and post sentence stems to help develop language
-use their math attitude survey p39
-instead of thumbs down for disagreeing, tap your brain
-use this sentence stem to help students to help students explain their exact steps..."First I _____, next I ______, then I ______.
-teach the difference between a question and a statement


Quotes that are sticking with me
"Simply put - the process is more important than the product."

"We let our students know that disagreements are not a negative thing but something wonderful, as they show that we are thinking deeply about math, allowing our brains to grow stronger."

"The structures we set up in our classroom and the community we build can support our students as they persevere through productive struggle, encouraging them to continue to persist when things get tough."

Kids 1st From Day 1 {Professional Read}

I've had a lot of first days of teaching.  I was blessed to get my first classroom in August 1993.  When I first heard about Kids 1st from Day 1, I was excited for new teachers.  I love the work Kristine Mraz is putting together and really enjoyed her first book with Christine Hertz.  I didn't know if I needed it.  I love professionally reading and have an enormous stack of to be read books. I kept seeing this book on social media with positive reviews and couldn't resist when I had a gift card come my way at the end of the school year.  I began reading it last week and at first I didn't know if I needed it.  I was reading about classroom set up and I loved what they said but honestly I didn't feel anything new.  I have always had live  plants on each table and around the room and highly support this suggestion from Kristine and Christine.  I'm a reader who doesn't like to abandon books and believes there's always a nugget for me if I keep going.

I am so thrilled I did!  I found this book to have something old, something new, and naming things I've done that might not quite be the current buzz word tot he masses of educators.  For example, mini lessons have different structures; direct instruction, story telling, and inquiry.  I've felt in the past on the days I might tell a story or ask a question I may not have been "teaching" to someone walking in. I also found group formats during workshop described in concrete ways to help me articulate my thinking; guided reading, strategy group, shared experience, and independent coaching.  Conferring is one of my favorite things to do in my day and again there are different formats; teaching, goal-setting, and coaching. 

The chapter on emotional development stretched my thinking.  I found myself nodding my head and saying, yes we do that to prevent this... or that makes so much sense.  

Nudges I found to try within my own work

- add brain break cards to our daily schedule
- look at my plans and include structured activities AND unstructured activities
- movement, movement, movement in our day
- visualize and role play more
- p114 use their checklist for observing children's progress during a unit

Quotes that are sticking with me

"Community building, like all teaching, is slow and steady, but so is the act of growing a compassionate and critical thinker."

"Ryan Dunn, math coach extraordinaire, taught us that everything we teach has a social goal, language goal, and content goal, and we cannot just plan for one."

"We know the job is messy, the days are long, but our undertaking couldn't be any more timely or important."

Please, please, please read p94 a section called, Upstairs Brains, Downstairs Brains, and the Science of Challenging Behaviors - good for everyone

No More Independent Reading without Support {Professional Read}

I picked up No More Independent Reading without Support by Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss because I wanted support.  I was hoping to find validation for my independent reading block.  I was hoping to find suggestions for conferring individually with readers.  I was hoping to find new ideas or nudges to improve one of my favorite times of the school day; independent reading.  Chapter two is packed with easy to read review of research to support independent reading along with stating guided reading as it's place and time too.  It was fascinating to read study after study supporting students reading on their own.  If you struggle finding time for independent reading there's a few pages to help you look at some scheduling changes that could be made and of course tips for navigating independent reading with a classroom of readers.




Nudges I found to try within my own work

- create genre studies, there's not just fiction and nonfiction
- comprehension strategies need to be taught and can differ from genre to genre

- complex text isn't harder text

- read nonfiction daily as a read aloud 

- involve students with goal setting more

- strive for reflection and sharing each day to end the workshop

Quotes that are sticking with me

"To grow, our students must read lots, and more specifically they must read lots of 'complex' texts - texts that offer them new language, new knowledge, and new modes of thought."

"Successful teacher intervention behaviors included 1. teaching responding to student questions, 2. teacher led discussions and 3. teacher monitoring and modeling of comprehension strategies."  

"Conferring is differentiating at its finest."

No More Culturally Irrelevant Teaching {Professional Read}

I knew I wanted to start my summer professional reading with global ideas and No More Culturally Irrelevant Teaching by Mariana South-Manning and co-authors was the perfect match for my reading goal.  I love the organization of the not this but that series by Heinemann.  They describe and identify the problem, then describe why current things aren't working, and finish with suggestions to support change.  I found myself thinking about stereotypes, surface cultural understandings, along with mirrors and doors.   I also found myself reflecting on what it means to truly understand cultures that are different than mine and pondering ways to help my own mindset and bring an awareness of the cultures within our classroom community.

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.
- explore our identities as we start the school year together in the first month
- create a class book to share the history of our names
- have the students share cultural artifacts and listen to their stories
- explore and find culturally relevant text from sources sited on p73 
- learn and talk with families about their cultures more


Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"Becoming "culturally competent" takes time and requires us to position ourselves as learners."

"...what they think qualifies as culturally relevant may in fact be perpetuating certain stereotypes."

"After all, culturally relevant teaching requires us to see teaching for justice as an ethical imperative we must take on and not just something we do."

Developing Natural Curiosity Through Project Based Learning

A few years ago I took a week long course on project based learning and had the opportunity to hear Dana Laur speak.  When I saw she had a new book out; Developing Natural Curiosity Through Project Based Learning focusing on K - 2, I knew I wanted to hear more from her.  If you are trying to find something to anchor your work with students to their interests, their passions, and their wonderings then this book is for you.  I'm afraid we've gotten away from listening to student's voices first and jump right to content units of study using standards.  Some other great features in this text are the five stages for finding solutions; authentic challenge and purpose, information and prototyping, perspective and point of view, actions and consequences, and considerations and conclusions.  There's a great deal of information guiding the reader through these stages to always include the child and foster their growth. Bloom's taxonomy is heavily discussed and modeled through the book.  There's a whole chapter devoted to authentic reading and writing opportunities to support project learning.  Yes, skills are taught but not in isolation and with a purpose.  

This book did take me a bit of time to get through.  It's small in size and font with lots of text.  There are some examples to help you visualize what the content could look like in a classroom.  

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.

- spend time asking students what they want to learn, I use to do this

- look for local connections to share our learning with

- allow moments of play to listen for the students natural curiosities

- weave projects throughout the day

- take each stage of the planning one step at a time

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"This approach moves us from a standards-based curriculum for passive learners to a standards-based curriculum for problem-solvers, question-askers, and active participants in their real world."

"Authentic challenges tap into what is relevant to our children in their present world and what intrinsically motivates them."

"Authentic projects end with final products that are designed for use somewhere other than the classroom."

"The classroom community supports the creativity and innovation promoted in an authentic project approach."

"If you view your entire teaching day as one full opportunity to extend a learning experience, rather than as a segmented one, it increases the depth in which your learners delve into an authentic learning experience."

"Our young learners flourish in environments that foster their natural curiosity and build their skills while giving them autonomy, safety, and flexibility."

But Why Does It Work?

written by Russell, Shifter, Kasman, Bastable, Higgins

Heinemann, 2017

But Why Does It Work? Mathematical Argument in the Elementary Classroom has a great title but I found it a little misleading.  I think the word, intermediate needs to be inserted before elementary.  There is much goodness in this book for third, fourth, and fifth teachers.  I love reading about teaching mathematics but found this book a bit challenging.  It's written with a bit more technical wording and research sitings.  If you are familiar with Number Talks, I think this is a nice extension  to that body of work.  I've never heard the phrase "productive lingering" and boy did I fall in love with it.  

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.

- encourage and allow productive lingering

- engage in mathematical argument by noticing patterns 

- encourage describing what they notice

- model and guide making conjectures

- work on representing patterns observed with math tools and resources

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book mor

"Lingering" on students' ideas about important mathematics content had, they asserted, enabled their students to engage with mathematical ideas fundamental to their study of numbers and operations."

"Teachers found that after developing the habits of noticing patterns and regularities, students extended those habits to regular math instruction as they articulated conjectures about the mathematics they were studying."

"Through these explorations, students develop a stronger sense of how the number system works with different operations."

"By seeing the same idea represented in different forms, students develop a deeper understanding of the mathematical abstractions embodied in their conjecture."

"In sharing mathematical authority, a teacher must be open to the prospect of following students' thoughts as they unfold, knowing that sometimes these ideas could lead to a faulty conjecture or a winding route to the expected destination."

Every Child a Super Reader

I'm so excited to study and work with the text, Every Child a Super Reader this upcoming school year through The Literacy Connection. (stayed tuned for updated information this year at www.literacyconnection.org.)  I've heard both authors Pam Allyn and Ernest Morrell speak at different conference and I always walk away feeling inspired in my work and inspired to be a better person.  

It makes me sad to admit, I've had students leave my classroom not loving or very engaged with reading and I can honestly say I've given it my best shot with each one.  I've found books of interest and even written simple books about something they like.  I've been flexible in the different types of reading and genres they can read.  I've modeled being a reader and when we do find a reading hook, I get more books by the author or in the series.  With all this effort, I still feel sad I just couldn't hook that child.  But what if...they understood more about being a reader?  What if they experienced and saw modeled strengths of a super reader?  Pam and Ernest have outlined and shared  those strengths with readers; belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope.  

Each strength has it's own chapter and begins with examples and defining the strength as a reader.  Ideas are shared for promoting this strength in your classroom.  There's a focus lesson with an action students can take for the specific strength being discussed.  Then there's a close reading lesson and directions to think through the specific strength using a mentor text.  There are suggestions for using technology with each strength and ideas to help families promote the super reader strengths at home.  

For teachers who love some details for instruction or ways to apply what they have read the last third of the book is just for you.  Concrete examples for different reading structures are discussed.   There are language stems to help discussions and each strength is described in the different reading structures and examples for what each strength looks like.  For example; in reading about reading partners courage looks like this; I work with different people in my class - even if they're not my best friends.  I could go on and on about the valuable ideas but will be sharing more about this text as we work through it this year.  

I would like to share with you another invaluable component of this text, picture book lists for each strength gathered in collections of K - 2, 3 - 5, and 6 - 8.  


These are nudges I found to try within my own work.

- throughout the year show students how 7 strengths are apparent in our/their work as readers
- focus more on building a social community around reading within our classroom
- make heart maps earlier in the year to get to know children and not just in a poetry unit
- celebrate small reading steps and more often with my readers
- explore http://www.scholastic.com/super-reader/

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"Super reading impacts every aspect of a child's life: the personal, social, academic, and civic."

"The child who reads gains comfort, community and connection to the wider world."

"The lack of questions in classrooms is a direct consequence of children's disengagement from reading, writing, and a love of learning."

"Choice is crucial.  It is important to give children the agency to discover their interests, likes, and dislikes as readers in order to build their identities as readers."

"Stamina is the most underrated yet crucial element of how super readers build their muscles."

joy write by Ralph Fletcher

I love when I find books that nurture my soul and not make me worry or panic there's more to learn or do.  Ralph Fletchers words in joy write are gentle, kind, encouraging, and offer nudges to make students and writing the focus of our work.  As I read this book, I kept reflecting on the work I read by Donald Graves when I began my teaching journey.  Ralph has created the phrase greenbelt writing to help us understand writing and writing time should be protected in it's natural environment.  This writing from us and our students should be real, authentic, informal, comfortable, personal and filled with joy/passion.  If you are feeling you need support to balance units on narrative, opinion, and informational writing then this book is for you.

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.

-give my writers moments of freedom, finding a balance genre standards

-use greenbelt writing as a way to get to know my students, as people

-remember writing workshop was not intended to be formulaic or extremely structured

-encourage, embrace, celebrate low stakes writing

-find the humor and try to enjoy feral writing students may produce

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"I believe Piaget was right: we learn by doing, from our own experience.  We learn to write by writing on a daily basis."

"Blanket compliance to any program is dangerous.  Compliance doesn't allow for our intelligence, thoughtfulness, or professionalism."  (find this on page 18 for more)

"I believe it's important for kids to begin developing their own internal standards for what makes good writing."

"When you work with a reluctant writer, it's helpful to expand your definition of writing to include drawing, sketching, and doodling."

"But for many students, this low-stakes writing will have higher impact than any of the "school writing" they produce."

The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros was my first summer professional read and lifted my soul.  It gave me hope and reminders why I became an educator.  I read it on my Kindle and have over two hundred notes.  I can't think of another book I've read recently that had so many thoughts I wanted to refer back to help my overall thinking.  The premise of the book - "I'm defining innovation as a way of thinking that creates something new and better...innovation is a way of thinking.  It is a way of considering concepts, processes and potential outcomes; it is not a thing, task, or even technology."  This is a book for classroom teachers and administration.  Often there are things mentioned for the whole of a district but as I reflected on those thoughts they apply to a classroom setting.  

If it's in your stack this summer, move it up.  If it isn't in your stack stop what you are doing and buy it or borrow it as soon as possible!  If you've already read it, you might want to revisit it.

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.
-start things slower, establish relationships with students and between students
-make growth mandatory for myself as an educator and my students
-create things with the knowledge we are acquiring, taking a growth mindset a step further
-adjust to my learners, don't let them fall into a pattern of compliance
-teach about resiliency, try and fail and try again
-try some new or different things at a district level to "lead"
-blog more again, share and connect with others

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"Change is an opportunity to do something amazing."

"We forget if students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them."

"...relationships are at the crux of everything we do"

"But to develop these traits in our people, we must empower them; we must inspire innovation, rather than demand compliance."

"Change is inevitable.  Growth is optional."

"I believe it's possible to have kids who are deep thinkers, creators, and innovators, and still do well on their exams, but I do not want to forsake those critical elements for the latter."

DIY Literacy Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence

Last month I travelled with DIY Literacy Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence by Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts, enjoying it all.  I had recently heard Kate speak at our local Literacy Connection session and wanted to dig in deeper.  If you are looking for a little professional nudge, over the upcoming winter break then this book might be for you to look at.  I felt more positive, hopeful, and gathered some tips to make my own work and the work of my students more meaningful.

These are nudges I found to try within my own work.

- start demonstration notebooks to show students how during conferencing and not just in literacy, try one for math

- get the teaching tools off the walls and into the hands of students with bookmarks

- personalize bookmarks with strategies and steps to help students own the learning

- carefully think about the how to demonstrate bigger strategy ideas

- try micro-progression to show the desired outcome and journey learners can take

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

"True learning happens when students get the instruction that fits their needs, have the agency and motivation to work hard, and remember and recycle what they've learned."

"Research also shows that people who write down their goals and share them with others are 33 percent more successful in accomplishing these goals."

"Each tool focuses on a skill students need (what they need to learn to do better) and strategies (ways to help students learn and perform that skill on their own).

"Your students can be more thoughtful about what strategies they use in their reading and writing, and they can hold onto your teaching as time goes on.  They just need a little help."

"When we find ways to differentiate our teaching the conserve our energy, we are able to do more than just deliver lessons."

Amplify Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom

There’s been a lot of discussion this year around Amplify!Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom by Katie Muhtaris and Kristin Ziemke and I’m so glad I included this in my stack of summer professional reading.  This book focuses on constructing and sharing knowledge using technology.  This book kept reminding me about the possibilities for student ownership and how independent students can be with some guided initial instruction.   There are so many nuggets within this text; ideas to try tomorrow, sample anchor charts, ideas for using technology within literacy learning, and ideas to help you as a teacher learn more to help your students.  This book is a must read because it's about creating, sharing, and empowering our students.  Their voices, ideas, and thoughts need to be shared beyond our classroom walls.

These are the nudges I found for the upcoming school year.

-        try to make a vlog myself and with my students

-        technology instruction can be framed in the a workshop format

-        model online reading and offer guided practice

-        expand our blog audience sooner and bigger

-        do a mini lesson on symbols to know, creating an anchor chart

-        combine technology with normal ideas I have to curate learning

Here are some quotes that are sticking with me and might interest you in looking at this book more.

- “Connecting with an audience is essential.”

- “Technology is a tool, not a panacea for fixing problems.”

- “The simple act of giving ourselves permission to stop and watch opens our eyes to the rich fabric of learning in our classroom.”

- In reading about pairing media with text, “We explicitly teach them to watch with a wide-awake mind by noting and naming the differences between viewing for enjoyment and viewing to learn new information.”

- “Oftentimes we combine this structure with unstructured experimentation by allowing students some time to play with a new tool before the lesson begins.”