Amelia UoS Reflection

Something I worked on due to this class was the students use of sticky notes and discussing them during conferencing.  This helped me to see the growth of comprehension in one of the students.  This student is below standard for reading but making very good progress and continuing to move up reading levels.  When conferring with him and discussing the use of sticky notes I could see the progress he was making in comprehension and relating what we were doing with our mentor text.  He was using the sticky notes accurately.  He was marking places that gave him clues to the type of person his character was, recurring objects, and mood of the story.  I was very impressed with his progress and the gains he has made.     

UoS Libby

One thing I wrote about in my reflection of the UoS was my use of assessment. At the beginning of the year I did not do much assessment, instead I just sped along and went through each session assuming all students understood. Once I started diving deeper into the UoS, I realized the importance of assessment. I started creating small formative assessments that I could use at the end of each mini-lesson. I believe this affected my teaching style because I started learning how to modify lessons based on student results. It affected student learning because they were able to show what they know and I could focus on the areas that needed further instruction. As I have started my second unit, I have really been focusing on assessment. If even two-three students do not understand something we will go back and cover the topic again. This is something I plan to do for the rest of my teaching career. I am glad I have had the opportunity to observe the benefits of observation within the UoS. 

Karie UoS Reflection

What I have enjoyed so far about using the Units of Study with the Kindergarten class, is that they are already starting to see themselves as readers. The first few days of Reading Workshop, when I brought out books and had kids actually sit with their own books in their laps and were asked to look at them, I ended up having a few of the kiddos just completely refuse to pick a book and sit with it. I am now a few weeks into the units, and all of the kiddos know just what to do and ALL of them join in and are able to sit with a book on their own. (Of course we are still working on increasing their stamina!) And not just sit with it but read and reread it. They are starting to develop this sense of seeing themselves as readers, and that's so important.

The conferring piece has been, and still is, the biggest change for me as far as how I interact with students as they read. I had previously spent student's private and partner reading time with reading groups (with older grades), so adding that component with this group has been a nice addition, Although I am being more mindful of this aspect of the workshop, I still find it difficult in that I am working with young students that have shorter attention spans so it can still be a challenge to ensure that I routinely and consistently am able to get that piece in.

Shelby - (UOS) Reflection

Since I began  using the reading units of study, I have always known that one of the most important ways I could set the scene for our workshop time is to carefully plan overarching instruction.  Through this class and developing a greater knowledge of and experience with this curriculum, I have gotten to know my students more deeply and feel more confident to make careful decisions about how best to proceed from day to day.   All of this decision making and planning is enhanced by having time for reflection.  It's always so hard to have the time for reflection and even when given the time, it can be difficult to decide  how to best go about this task. Having the time for reflection and collaborating in class has helped me to deliver a higher quality of instruction. 

I have so many different takeaways from this class, but the two that stand out the most are using the learning progressions with the students and bands of text complexity. Immersing the students in work with  micro-progressions has helped to provide suggestions for ways they can reach reading goals. Also, using writing samples helped to show them how others might have reaced similar goals. These concrete examples provided individualized and doable ways for them to make their own reading lives stronger.  

I also began using information from the bands of text complexity when working with small groups and individuals.  I specifically focused on using this with two readers who seemed stuck at their current level.  Feeling more knowledgeable of instructional focuses for teaching them to read at the next band has helped take the guess work out of planning for their guided reading group.  

UoS (Sarah)

I noticed the affect the workshop model had on a small class I had last trimester. One student in particular made such great strides in his work, and I could see the influence this success had in his belief in his abilities. Following the structure helped him and others focus on the specific work for that day. I also think reflecting on the progress they made, using conferring as a way to talk about their improvement, allowed them to verbalize and listen to themselves talk about their success. After seeing this one student grow over the trimester, and moreso his pride in his work, I’m definitely going to continue to use the workshop model and conferring with students about their progress. It was incredibly beneficial and I’m really looking forward to using this in my new seminars. 

Laurie---UoS
Even though I have used the Units of Study for three years over the past months I took a new look at the units and how best I can use them with my students.  I really enjoyed delving more into conferring.  I feel as though this is an area of my teaching that needs a boost.  I am forcing myself to try a little bit of all the ideas given so that I can find the one that works best for me and my current group of students.  I received so many great ideas about different tactics/strategies that I tried using.  I thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk to fellow primary grade teachers and share thoughts, ideas and  strategies.    

Kristina- UoS Reflection

One of the biggest take-a-ways I got from working with the UoS was the idea of book clubs instead of book groups. I have always allowed my students choice when they were silent reading and then I would put them in small book groups to meet with at a certain level to focus on specific skills. Now, I am excited to revamp my "book groups" to allow more student choice. Today, after Thanksgiving break, I reviewed some reading expectations with my students and talked a bit about some new expectations I will have for them now that we are 1/3 of the way through the year. Almost all them seemed eager and willing to rise to the occasion. They got really excited when I told them I would be going to the book room to pull out some collections of books for them to choose books from. I can't wait to start book clubs!

Amy D. UoS Reflection

Allowing students to have plenty of time to read independently in class created (and continues to create) anxiousness for me because I feel like I should be doing more word work or vocabulary and grammar teaching. The big difference is how engaged and involved in independent reading my 4th graders really are! When I introduced personal timers, students immediately began using them and polished their readers log recording! The results were students really paying attention to the amount of minutes and pages they were reading which pushed them to read a little faster. Of course, we talked about not reading too fast and forfeiting understanding for speed. One other reflection is exchanging book groups for book clubs. Students responded much more positively when given book choices (book tasting) rather than being plunked into a group with a book chosen for them by me. Taking time to help students understand levels of text complexity, rather than a letter level guided students to make good choices when offered a range of books to choose from. I will continue to use book clubs with book tastings to encourage rich book talks rather than traditional reading groups. There is so much more that I've discovered during this course, but these are a couple of things that really changed my thinking about teaching reading.

Meissa McNeil-UoS Reflection

After working with the Reading Units of Study over the last trimester, I am looking forward to starting with a fresh group and a fresh start to the unit.  I enjoyed using the lessons and believe they are valuable, but my sixth graders were not ready to tackle the rigor of  the first unit: A Deep Study of Character.

I realize that as the years pass, students will have the vertical knowledge and experience with the units; they will understand the vocabulary and be familiar with the scales.  This last trimester was challenging because they did not have the background skills and knowledge to support the lessons in the first reading unit.

It is frustrating that the middle school units of study are 6-8; they are not differentiated, so they are not leveled.  Having experience with the writing units, I anticipated that the lessons would be challenging, but in the future, I need to be mindful of how to modify for each grade level.  Not only are the lessons challenging, the anchor books seem to be inaccessable.  And...we all know what it takes to change to anchor books in a Lucy Calkins' unit...uggghh...

I am going to use the 5th grade unit for the second quarter; I am excited to fill in some of the gaps the kids have and look forward to the successes that my 6th graders will experience.  I am going to focus on giving them more time to actually read, but I also need to work on assessing them and collecting more data.

Phew...it's a lot, but it is my first time through this unit; I am not discouraged!

Eileen UoS Reflection

I have 2 big take aways from this class and studying the Lucy Calkins approach.  My first is conferring more with students and really identifying what they need.  I think this has helped create better small groups and use the time I have for small groups better.  I feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck during that time.  Also I find that I have shorten my mini-lessons to only take a few minutes like is recommended.  This has freed me up to read more with individual students and gives them more time to read. My final take away is reading responses.  This was something that I was not doing. These responses are allowing me to identify more about my students' needs as readers as well as help my students begin to think "deeper" as readers.  It also another way to assess my students' ability to comprehend. 

Liz - UoS Reflection

This is my second year using the reading UoS, and the fourth with the writing.  I feel like having a year of experience with the reading units behind me, and then coming back to them again this year has been helpful to my students. Because I already had some knowledge about each lesson, I was able to tweak and scaffold each lesson a bit better than I was able to do last year. My growing knowledge of the units and the most important parts of each have benefited all of my students, because I feel I'm able to support each one in more specific, targeted ways. Additionally, making more of an organized effort to conference with students, with more structured questions and prompts, helps to give me more information about my students' reading, and also gives them more ownership of their independent reading time. The use of assigned reading (and writing) partners has also been helpful in supporting students to always have someone with whom to share their thinking and ideas. Overall, I've seen growth in students who, at the beginning of the year, didn't really like sharing their ideas - now these students are beginning to open up during class conversations and turn and talks.

Steve - UoS Reflection

While teaching these reading and writing units, I have seen some tremendous growth in the learning of my students. The idea of choice is what stands out the most to me. By giving my students choice in texts, they are able to choose topics that they care about, all while challenging themselves to become stronger readers. What shows this growth the most is when I see a student who has struggled with reading in the past, but who is now reading texts independently and thoughtfully. It is a great feeling to know that these units are working. I want to continue challenging my students to improve their literacy, which will impact their entire lives.

Although there have been times of challenge, as mentioned in previous posts, I continue to identify  the greater benefit of this work. By conferring with my students throughout the process, I have been able to locate specific areas to work on with each. One area that has been a struggle is keeping this all in a concise record. However, the template that the middle school team is using seems to work well, which I will continue to use. I am excited to see where this work goes in the future, and I especially look forward to using the nonfiction unit!

Jess-A Fall Full of Reading Units of Study (UoS)

Since I am not teaching reading this year, I don't have a share for reading, but I do for writing b/c  I am teaching the LC writer's workshop.  Since I am teaching only writing, I have about a 55 minute block, which means once I have taught my mini-lesson I have about 45 minutes left for the students to write.  This is by far more time than I have ever had before.  Some of my students are writing for this whole time and doing well, others are having a great deal of difficulty sustaining for even half that time.  However, this gives me plenty of time to float around and confer with them.  What I have seen working well is that at least in this second unit, the reading and the writing align, in that the students are reading and writing non-fiction.  I am hoping that in the future, when I am teaching both, that I can better connect them.  The other thing that we really have down, is they now know the routine, and the ones that are invested in writing do the routine well, the ones that don't are the wanderers, trying to continuously move away from their writing.  I am working on how to get them to stick to it.

A Fall Full of Reading Units of Study (UoS)

Now that you've delved into the UoS for several months and tried out some new teaching techniques take some time to reflect on a student or students and think about how this approach (or something new you've tried if you've already been using UoS) has affected this/these learner(s). Explain what you did differently and why you think it worked (or didn't). What might you change or what will you definitely continue based on this experience.

Title: (Name) UoS Reflection

My example: Mine has to be an observation. Something I see working very well in the younger grades is the amount of time that children are focused on independent reading and then talking about their books. When I go into a room I see kids spread out with book boxes reading. When I sit down they love to read to me and tell me about their book. Sometimes they tell me it is silent time so they can't talk! More time reading text.

Units Jess-"Aha", "Uh oh", and/or "Really"

Well my Uh Oh is that I forgot to post this last week, so now I have had time to read over lots of posts and I can connect with many of them.  I am not teaching reading this year, only writing, but still have used the units in the past.  I think my first one would be "Really Lucy?!"  She has to be the queen of wordiness.  The lessons were so long, and extremely intimidating at first.  I commented on Amy's I think, noting that we spent our first year summarizing the lesson's into shorter versions, but always keeping the teaching point.

I also tend to forget about the online resources.  Last year one of my awesome teammates always printed out the posters for us to make the anchor charts. and then I laminated mine and only tape them on, so I can re-use them yearly. I file them away with the lesson they are needed for.  This year I am teaching only writing and have moved up to second grade, so everything is new to me.  I have consulted the online resources and I downloaded and saved to my own computer, the scoring rubrics, checklists and some student samples.  I need to go back on and see what else I can find for my new unit.

I think the Aha is that this doesn't always go as planned, so sometimes the lessons need tweaking.  I've learned after many years, that you don't have to follow it exactly.  You know your students, and their needs.  You may need to make modifications to lessons, or create ones of your own that supplement what has been taught or address the needs of your students; and that is okay!

Karie - Ahas & UhOh's

This is my second year using the Units of Study, but my first year using the Kindergarten / 1st grade  Units. Implementing the Units and the Reading Workshop model is the first change I wanted to make in this classroom and already I am very grateful that I have. I am loving the Kindergarten unit as I am seeing my students already identifying themselves as readers, and being excited to read books, even though they can't read quite yet. I love how Lucy put it, having students view themselves as kids that had always been read to, to being the ones that are doing the reading. Most of my students are taking to this new approach, working on their private and partner reading, marking WOW! pages and putting a "pinch of themselves" into their reading. I still have a couple of kiddos that are struggling picking up a book and sitting with it, but we are working on it!

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read the K-2 guide as it helps put some more pieces in place for me. I enjoy doing the mini-lessons, but as a new teacher I am still trying to figure out how to put all the pieces together to ensure that I have a full reading / literacy program. When and how do you fit in word work, writing, read-alouds, handwriting, writing about reading, fluency, comprehension. speaking, listening, guided reading groups, conferring, etc. etc.? I still find it all a little overwhelming and I don't want to miss anything, but I like the structure that the LC program provides so I feel that if I am trying to follow that structure then I can't be too far off!

Shelby Units of Study

I was so excited to create additional lessons for the students to further explore the learning progressions.  I've always believed in their importance, however never really knew how to use them in an engaging way.  I honestly felt like the times when we learned about them, it was somewhat (to extremely) boring for both the students and myself.  Also,  the students did not often refer to them independently.  Then I had an "aha" moment when we watched the video and had the learning progression activity in class.  It showed me a way to make it more interactive and engaging for the students.  I was so excited to break it down and explicitly teach how to use these progressions to raise the level of their own work.

So, after spending all that extra time...I gave a formative assessment!  I was so excited to see what they could do on their own! However, after looking at the results, I once again found myself feeling like the worst teacher ever! Proficient scores were 5/20 in one class and 8/18 in the other.  I am fully aware that the progressions have high expectations for the students, but when only 25% meet the standard, I feel like it's a teaching problem more than a student one.

Question: What do you do to lift yourself up during these moments?

Eileen - Aha

The major "Aha" moment that I have gotten from this class is ways to check-in and track progress.  Reading responses is becoming  a part of my monthly routine.  I am also starting to track students better as they read. Although I'm still not finding enough 1:1 time with kiddos, I'm more aware of individuals during small groups. This is something I had stepped away from because I just couldn't find a system that worked for me.  All tracking was occurring in my head!  I feel re-energized that this can be done efficiently.  Both of these progress monitoring system is giving me a better understanding of my students as readers. 

Units of Study- Holly - Aha and Really?!

I think taking this course during my first experience with the Lucy Calkins units has been overall a huge learning experience. Even though I have been at times overwhelmed with the readings, they have been so beneficial in my understanding and development as a teacher in teaching these units. I think one the best aha's has been discovering the learning progressions and how to use those with students and their work. It has shown me who understands how to lift the level of their thinking using the progression and who needs assistance. It has also resulted in richer whole group and partner conversations. I found it really beneficial when we did the activity with the One Green Apple book and sorted our sticky notes into the progression. I have started doing this with my students, using the progressions Shelby and Merrin have created, and I can see a difference in their understanding.

What has changed has been my understanding of conferences. They do not need to be these extensive meetings where the student comes to you, but rather a brief check-in following the guidelines we have learned. I have found that in doing so, I am getting to more students during the week, have a better understanding of them as readers, and am starting to see a more positive experience when I meet with students. They want to be reading their books, so it's important to keep the conferences brief, but rich as well. That has been my biggest change in my teaching and understanding.

Units of Study - Liz - Aha! and Really?

When I switched from a district-created Reader's Workshop to Calkins Reading Units two years ago, I felt relieved that we had a planned-out curriculum, aligned with CCSS, to complement the Writing Units of Study I had started using a couple of years before the reading. The progression was an "aha' for me - the lessons made sense, and helped to guide my readers to think more deeply. I enjoy the accompanying mentor texts for each unit, and my students are generally engaged.

My "really??" moments come more often than I'd like. I alternate between teaching the reading and writing units, and I wish there were more opportunities to integrate the two.  Units 3 of each meld together seamlessly, and I would love for the others to do so more easily, as well.

I also find myself asking "really?" when I look at the learning progressions and rubrics. Sometimes I feel that the expectations are really high (which is good, of course), but that there isn't adequate support or lessons to help the students get there. At times it seems that the lessons in the units don't totally align with what students are expected to know or be able to do by the end of the unit.

Units - Amelia

The year I did my student teaching was a trial year for Lucy Calkins. The year I started teaching Lucy Calkins was being used by all the teachers.  The format of the Calkins Units is all I really know as a teacher.  In this way, the Calkins Units have not changed how I teach but formed my teaching.  Having students turn and talk was something I often saw in observations of other teachers and before I started teaching and in my student teaching.  When I first started using the Calkins Units is when I fully understood the reasoning behind them.  Not just to get students talking to each other, but for the teacher to be able to listen in on what multiple students were thinking, instead of getting an answer from one student in a group discussion. 

Another aspect of the Calkins Units that I started using last year and plan to use this year is the sample student work.  The students are able to use a rubric and grade work.  This has helped my students to better understand the rubric and what is expected in their work.      

Libby- A bit of every feeling

While using the units of study, I feel like I have grown as a teacher. Before using the units I felt like I didn't really have an exact structure to follow. I have learned how to introduce a mini lesson using the connection, teaching point, active engagement and the link. I believe having this structure gave me an "ah-ha" moment because I have been able to use this structure within other areas of content as well. I feel like I have learned a lot through different lessons as well. I have learned what sessions may not be as important as others, and what sessions students really enjoy. While teaching the units I have had the opportunity to expand my creativity and make the lessons exciting and my own. 

My oh no's are that I wish that there was a specific recommended amount of time to spend on each session. I know every class has different needs, but as a new teacher I would have liked to have a general time frame. One thing I find myself doing a lot is spending too much time on the mini lessons, so I need to work on cutting down the amount of time I spend on connection and teaching and spend more time allowing students to share their work and get into the material. 

Laurie ---Really!?---

I have been using Lucy's approach to both reading and writing for 2-3 years and each year I am learning something new and adding new pieces to my ELA teaching time.  I have gotten much better at keeping my connection and teaching point really short so that I can focus more time on the Active Engagement and Conferring time.  I also know the units well enough that I am able to add bits and pieces of my own that I find necessary in teaching the students that I have.  I think that each time I teach a session I find new pieces in the lesson that I enjoy or don't like at all.  There is a lot in each session so I feel okay if I don't do every piece of the session/lesson.  I look forward to continuing with Lucy's approach and finding and using different ways to help each child be successful.

Units--Sarah's Aha and Question

Something I've learned that has been a particular "aha" learning moment for me is the structure of the workshop model itself.  Each part has a specific thing to contribute, and I could see after trying it in my classroom that each part builds on the other.  I was also happy with the structure too because it was working with 9th graders as well; one particularly successful mini-lesson ended with all their hands shooting to the air to answer a question.  In a large adolescent class, with big personalities and voices, seeing the students so engaged felt victorious. 

My question about this is in regards to the time spent on the mini-lesson; the book and other recommendations say around ten minutes, but I have been struggling to keep that.  With 55 minute blocks 3 days a week, in can be really challenging to make the timing work.  What have others experienced with the time spent on the lessons?  Any tips or tricks to keep from monopolizing the entire block?

Units - Darby Ahas & Uh ohs

Ahas!
I can do this! Reading the lessons and taking the dynamic step into trying with the kids has been a challenge for me. The more I try it, the comfortable I feel. I feel like if I can hop on the train, I can move to smoothly. One of the hardest things for me is moving things along. I am quite far behind my colleague and I attribut this primarily to my feeling for unsure about how to implement the lessons.

Uh ohs...
I wish that Lucy Calkins had included specific prompts for journaling with each lesson. The hardest thing so far is getting the kids to write about things in their journals. They are so stuck on writing summaries! I think that a good prompt makes all the difference.

Amy D. Units

This is my first year of using LC Reading and Writing Units. I must say, it's a lot to take in all at once and I do find myself getting lost between the Reading and Writing units at times. This is also new for my 4th, 5th, and 6th graders this year doing an authentic workshop format. They have responded extremely  well-especially the 4th graders-and are spending more time than I'd imagined reading and writing independently. There are certain students (mainly 5/6th) who struggle with finding a just write book and sticking with it, but using the conferring model is helping them see that I'm invested in their learning and want to see them succeed. Choice has been a huge factor in achieving buy-in from students, so I try to keep that in the forefront of everything we do. The LC books and lessons are extremely WORDY - although, I was warned, but man, oh man, it takes a while to get through all the words to discover what is most important to use in my mini-lessons. I'm looking forward to year 3 when I feel more confident to deliver all this great learning to my students :-). In the meantime, one issue I've had is getting my online resources registered!!! I tend to find the time to do things like this at home and then my UOS are at school or vice versa. So, it's been tough to register because they make you enter the last word of page such and such when you register. I use the CD's in my room so if anyone has a shortcut to register the online resources, I'd love to know. I have my RUOS for grades 4 and 5 registered. Now, I just need to get the WUOS registered.

Units of Study - Steve "Aha"

Being involved in this reading and writing course has fundamentally impacted my teaching of 8th and 9th grade students. There have been some relatively easy transitions, such as adding more choice in my classes, conferring more often, and adding read aloud texts. However, some transitions have been more difficult. For me, I have struggled the most with following the mini-lesson format presented in the Calkins' books, yet I see improvements every week!

The struggle for me is keeping the mini-lesson short and to the point. I always want to spend an exorbitant amount of time in front of my students showing them the teaching point. As I ponder the reason for this, it seems to go back to when I was in college and when I was a student teacher. The thought was always that the educator was supposed to be in the front of the room, and that learning happened the most in those moments. I have had to change my thinking substantially in order to understand that the real teaching happens when the students are working on their own and when I can work with them one-on-one. Yes, conferring has always been an aspect of my teaching, but it is now an even more essential component.

My mini-lessons are much shorter now and more concise. Although there are still days where they seem to take too long, I continue to notice this more and work to get better. In the end, isn't the pursuit of improvement the essence of being a strong educator? This is my "aha" moment.

Units-Traci-Uh-oh/Aha!

                    This is my second year using the Units of Study, this course has really helped me to spend more time not only in the units but also given me the time to read The Guide to Reader’s Workshop. This year I started using the units at the beginning of the school year. I believe the units help to create a real focus on the importance of spending time reading.  I believe this is why my students have built such a strong foundation and stamina. One uh,oh and/or aha is my classroom library; I have leveled text in my classroom that I use for guided reading groups as well as a classroom library. The classroom library in theory is filled with books that children can select and read, however, many of the books are not within their text level ranges, and honestly I do not believe many of them are high interest. So, my summer project (if not before) is to create a 1^st grade friendly classroom library (one that has many high interest texts that range in level from A-M) I hope to use my Scholastic points to order some of these books.  I would love to hear, or see pictures of others classroom libraries, or find out what some of your favorite titles are.

One of the things I still struggle with is the mid-workshop teaching. I find that it can be very difficult to fit this in, in the way the book describes.  I continue to try weaving this teaching point into my lessons at some point, but I do not feel like I am doing it justice.  I would love to hear how or what others are doing for the mid-workshop teaching. 

Units of Study Melissa Aha with a question

I have always held writing conferences, but very rarely have I done the same with reading.  What I have come to realize is that the reading conferences are more effective than any strategy I have taught.  Conferring with students has made such a difference in the attitudes of students, their perseverance and their production.  They actually get excited when I come to check in with them.  

Over the last couple of years, I have noticed a shift in the attitude of reading workshop.  The 5th grade language arts teacher has been using the Lucy Calkins' model, and it has made a difference in their skill level and production during workshop time.  They are much more independent and make it easier for me to meet with others.  I look forward to meeting with each student; the dialogue we have is significant and helps develop a stronger working relationship.  It does wonders for my differentiated instruction.  

What I still struggle with is running book groups; I feel traumatized by my past experiences:  Students arguing about each others' progress; students not staying on task because they dislike the books they have chosen;  students looking at each other without being able to engage in meaningful conversation.  I have tried so many different book club strategies; I love being in book groups, but I just do not know how to run a successful one in class.  Any pointers?

Units Becky Uh Oh

I find the Units of study very helpful. I use the on line resources available too. My biggest problem is, and has been assessments. I still struggle with, "which one should I use for this", "should I create a new one for that", etc.
I always fear that whatever I choose isn't the right thing, or "formal" enough.

Units Kristina-Uh Oh

I am in need of some advice on how to best help my students, especially my struggling students. A little more than half of my class is struggling to stick with books that are just right for them. Some of these students are struggling readers and are just having a hard time finding low readability, high interest books that they feel comfortable reading in front of their peers. That is something I feel like I can help them with by accessing special educators and using other teachers, who teach younger grades, as book resources. Where I am really struggling is with my students who can read just about anything but can't seem to stick with anything or pick books that are way too easy and only take them 10 minutes to read. These are the students who seem unmotivated to put their best foot forward. I feel like this is the unanswerable question of "how do you make students motivated?" What are some ways you all help students who struggle to stick with books or read just right books to become better readers?

Units of Study - Ahas, Uh ohs, Really? !

We're past the half-way mark in the class and you're all trying moves learned in the units. Now it's time to share something you've learned, question, or has changed you as a teacher because of the Units of Study. Feel free to post a question, why you question it and ask people how they are responding in their teaching!

This week you need to get a post done before class on Wednesday and comments done before the class on Thursday the 16th. So instead of visiting once and posting/commenting in one visit you will post and then wait a few days to revisit and comment when there are plenty of posts to read and leave comments.

Title: Units (Your name) -- feel free to add "Aha", "Uh oh", and/or "Really" to the title if you want to highlight your particular focus.

Units Lindy Uh Oh

My uh oh is remembering the online supports in my Heinemann account. As I prepared for last class I wanted to use a chart I saw in the guide but it was small and not reproducible. I searched the units, started creating my own, and then because of something else went to the online resources and there it was! I ended up creating my own because I was using it for K-2 homework but it was much easier to work with when I had the full page version versus the little inset. There is a lot in these resources and it is worth registering them and using them. If you aren't sure how let me know.

Libby- Informational texts

As a young student I had difficulties reading nonfiction texts. I have never really enjoyed reading facts about specific topics and I would always find myself very distracted as I was reading. I remember being in elementary school and reading books on animals, states, different people and food. In elementary school all of this was exciting to me. I was learning about things I was interested in that I encountered daily. I loved my “state” project, where I had to read nonfiction texts to get information on Texas. I also remember reading a “how to cook eggs” book and taught my class how to cook scrambled eggs!

As I got into middle school and high school I started to dislike nonfiction texts. History was always something I struggled with, so assignments based on reading from a text were difficult because I was not interested in the material. Science was boring to me, and reading about different things like the life cycle of a plant or the layers of the earth was never fun for me. I dreaded classes where I had to read informational texts. I must say, however, I did have teachers who brought some fun to these texts. I liked doing hands-on activities that related to what we read because it would help me grasp the concept I wasn’t understanding through reading.

As an adult, especially in college, I really enjoyed informational texts. These texts had to do with teaching and different ideas and methods teachers have used in the past. Reading informational texts I was interested in was amazing! I felt like I gained so much information in regards to my profession, and I can always rely on informational texts for more suggestions and help when I am stuck. I think informational texts can be interesting at times, but when forced to learn about topics that may not interest you can be a challenge.

Karie- Nonfiction

I have found that  my interest in non-fiction has grown tremendously over the years. As a child I do not remember reading a whole lot of non-fiction. As a 4th grader we had to do an animal report, I chose penguins, and I used mainly hefty encyclopedias to get my information. I hated this assignment, even though I loved penguins. Looking back now I don't remember using any of the great non-fiction books for this project that my students are able to use now. Maybe I did, but I don't really remember it. I just remember having the encyclopedias and trying to find information out of this huge boring (or so I thought) book. As I got older my source of non-fiction reading was in the form of a text book, for the most part. I'm not sure why I didn't read more of the non-fiction books available, as I'm sure our library was filled with great books, but I didn't. I'm not sure whether it was because my teachers really weren't introducing me to these great books, or was it that they tried but I  just wasn't interested?

I do remember reading some great historical fiction and biographies that really helped me to step inside a certain time period. Reading about different places and times is something that I have always enjoyed, but we didn't do a lot of this at school. As I have gotten older I have really gotten into reading and researching local history. The local library, and the internet too of course, has wonderful first-hand historical archives of where we live. I am fascinated by old pictures of how things used to look when this area was just getting settled. I have found many first hand accounts of different events, such as the flood of 1927, that I have shared with previous classes. I even had a student bring in her grandmothers written account of the flood. It's great when history starts coming to life.

I am reading and looking at "real-world" books with the Kindergarteners and they love these books! Not only are there some wonderful non-fiction books for them to choose from, but non-fiction books speak directly to their natural curiosity about the world around them.

Shelby & Nonfiction

When I think back to my nonfiction life as a young reader, I am immediately brought to science and social studies classes where I had to read a chapter and answer the questions at the end.  Quite honestly, I found this to be quite painful.  I attended to basic comprehension, but never became overly excited by much of the content.  I didn't ever really preview the text or use text features to help me become more engaged, and I don't believe that I was ever explicitly taught how to.

We read all of the time in our house, but the texts we shared were primarily fiction.  Although, Lindy's posts did remind me of how much I enjoyed the encyclopedias when we got them!  We also were surrounded by my "parent's nonfiction", such as professional reading, newspapers, magazines - Reader's Digest, hunting magazines, National Geoprapic, etc.  However, I don't remember ever really reading those with them.

In school, we also had current event work.  I did enjoy this time because it allowed for the element of choice, not something we were regularly given!  However, I also remember this feeling like the same assignment EVERY week for entire decades at a time!

As an adult nonfiction reader, I really enjoy professional texts.  These come in many forms, such as paper copies, Kindle, Audiobooks, internet based articles, apps, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  I also love historical nonfiction and narrative nonfiction.  I tend to gravitate mostly toward topics of interest, and also to avoid reading texts that are bogged down with heavy academic/scientific language.  Lastly, I've really begun to enjoy books about self-help and making life changes.

Darby & Non-Fiction

Nope, not a fan. Given a choice, I will choose a novel every time. Even my immediate choice for our non-fiction book group was Night because of it's narrative style.

Do I ever read non-fiction? Of course I do. When I scroll through social media, I click on a dozen articles every night. Things that draw my attention are professional, political, mindfulness, environment, but truthfully, I scan these pieces looking for the most saliant bits of information.

As a student, I remember the first research paper I had to write in 6th grade. It was on sheep. I was in 4H at the time and my family had just acquired a couple of sheep, and we were all about raising them. I remember the stack of books I took home. Frankly, in class, the larger the stack, the more impressive. Encyclopedias, old books with yellowed pages and black and white photographs. They even had a funny smell. Using the table of contents, the index, trying to take notes on the most important pieces. It all seemed important. The most useful book want called Raising Sheep the Modern Way. Again I was most drawn to the pictures and diagrams of different breeds, how to build feeders and hay racks, and fuzzy lambs grazing the hillside, but for the most part it was dry and uninteresting. I read it because I had to and I could make some connection to what was in my back yard.

Jess & Non-Fiction

When I think back to myself as a student and reading non-fiction I feel that it was mostly during science and social studies time.   I remember pulling out that thick text book and reading as a class round robin and then answering in writing the questions at the end of each chapter.   When I was reading during a reading block, I really remember only reading fiction, but I'm sure that at some point I did read non-fiction but not for enjoyment..   I too remember using encyclopedia's.  I don't think I was lucky enough to have a set at my house, but my grandparents did.  I remember accessing them for school reports.  I can't say I was really interested in non-fiction or an avid reader.  Howefver, now as an adult. I find myself reaing a lot more non-fiction.  I will read how-to articles about how to make things, (food and craft related).   My son loves to read non-fiction books about animals, and watch videos/documentaries, etc.  I feel that in this day it is so much easier to learn about something of interest than it was many years agao.  YOu would have had to take out a big old encyclopedia, page through to get to the part you needed read it and take notes.  NOw, with the push of a button, you can talk into your phone with your question and within 5-10 seconds have a world of information at your finger tips.

Sarah & Nonfiction

Reading nonfiction as a student was like pulling teeth for me. Fiction let me use my imagination to create movies in mind about what I was reading, and I liked working through rhythmic language.  Nonfiction reading just seemed really boring to me. Unless I was very invested or interested in the topic, it was a real struggle.  When I was in second or third grade, I wrote about Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph, and I can remember using library books and encyclopedias to do research about her. I did the same in sixth grade when I had an assignment on a deep sea creature, the cuttlefish.  In ninth I wrote my first real research paper about Army Ranger and NFL player Pat Tillman based on the nonfiction reading I did on the Internet.  I was really interested in these topics, so much so that I can still recall information about Wilma Rudolph twenty years later.  This made the reading interesting and engaging to me.  It didn't hurt that a lot of these nonfiction texts had pictures and captions I could interpret.  As I got older, nonfiction reading let me access a wide variety of topics I'm interested in, but the engagement piece was imperative.  Depending on text complexity, accessible text features like images or charts were necessary for my understanding, too. 

As an adult, I continue to struggle with nonfiction, because I still have to be deeply engaged with it.  I always look for significant images, charts, and captions within the text.  With the increase in access to this information, I'm learning not only more deeply about previous interests, but new interests, like MoMA artists.  Additionally, I'm reading a lot of news--both local and national.  This increase in access to news sources is sharpening my critical thinking skills, mulling through all the "fake news", "alternative facts", and "click bait" that are out there.  This validates how necessary that skill is for our students!  

Amelia & Nonfiction

I remember using encyclopedias when doing research in fourth and fifth grade. The school I was at during that time did not have computers.  I changed schools in sixth grade and started (very minimally) learning how to research a topic online.  I do not remember having to do much research on my own in middle school.  When we were studying a topic, books and articles on the topic would be provided.  It was not until high school where I really had to research on my own.  I was not a fan of using the internet because I was unsure of the sites authenticity.  I often checked out books on the topic and did my research that way.  I was not a fan of reading nonfiction on my own until I discovered Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres.  Every since then I have loved reading memoirs and search out new ones.

In college I majored in Psychology and read mostly scholarly articles.  After having to read easily hundreds of them during my time at school, I felt I could go the rest of my life with never reading another one.  Now, when I come across a topic I am interested in I have found myself looking them up to see what research has been done.

Steve & Nonfiction

It's interesting to think about how my reaction to nonfiction has changed since I was a student. I can distinctly remember what is was like to have a nonfiction text dropped in front of me during high school social studies. These would often come in the form of lengthy printouts, which were probably written at least ten years in the past, or a giant text book with colorful images scattered throughout to unsuccessfully distract me from the tedium of the reading itself. As you can tell, I was not a fan of nonfiction reading in high school.

However, this has changed so much now that I am an adult. I find myself spending hours on end reading contemporary nonfiction articles about subjects that really matter to me (such as sports, politics, etc.). Honestly, the reason for this explosive increase in interest is probably because I can now pick what I want to read, but it is also because I can use the internet to access these texts with ease. Also, if I don't like an article, I will stop reading it and move on. All of these factors have helped make me a strong reader of nonfiction.

I have tried to increase the usage of nonfiction in my classroom for years. One website that I use often is NewsELA, a site dedicated to contemporary events. Instead of assigning a specific reading for my students, I often let them find readings that they are interested in. Not only does this help them to read the article fully, it also helps them comprehend the text more consistently. Since there are reading levels included for each article, I use this reading time to talk with my students about how important it is to push themselves as readers. 

As you can see, I am now a strong advocate for nonfiction reading in the classroom. It is through these readings, as well as literature, where students learn about the world around them and develop valuable positions on issues. 

Melissa and Nonfiction

I awoke with a smack, as my cheek caught the corner of my desk.  My copy of Richard Hofstadter's The American Political Tradition clunked to the floor and I quickly wiped the drool that had collected at the corner of my mouth.  Eighth grade civics class was not my favorite class, to say the least, and sleeping through most of it was not uncommon.  

Reading nonfiction has always been a challenge for me; as it is, I am easily distracted.  I am a daydreamer, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot focus on the facts in front of me.  As a student, I spent hours reading and re-reading, only to find that I could not absorb the information necessary.  My "go-to" strategy was reading out loud and jotting notes about what stuck with me.  It was infuriating and daunting.

As an adult, I try to embrace my nonfiction challenge.  Over the years, I have found a genre that has been kind to me:  Historical Fiction.  If I can read a story, I can interact.  Historical fiction has opened doors into the world of nonfiction that I would never approach.  When my role as a teacher shifted to include history and politics, I was prepared for the challenge.  Instead of tackling Richard Hofstadter, I grab a novel like the Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, or an edgy spy adventure by Ken Follet.  These books pique my interest and pave the way for me to venture out into the more challenging nonfiction texts that follow.  

Honestly, over the years, I have worked hard at developing my nonfiction tolerance.  And I have come to realize that, as an adult, I am more interested in the world around me.  I am intrigued by the lives that my peers have led; reading about the Pilgrims and the sacrifices they endured; putting myself into the shoes of Malala Yousafzai and Saroo Brierley, two incredible individuals, to say the least...I feel that these perspectives have helped me become a more tolerant, compassionate, and overall, better person.  So, if reading nonfiction enables me to interact with the world in a more positive manner, you can bet that I will keep working on my endurance.  Bring it on, Hofstadter.

Amy D. and Non-Fiction

My first recollection of non-fiction reading was the Children's Encyclopedia set our family had, which was an extreme extravagance for a farming family, but my dad was adamant about having information available for us kids. I was the only one of five children that consumed every one of those volumes! There was a volume of fairy tales, so I guess that one doesn't count. I was also given the Reader's Digest every month and had to at least do the Word Power section. Oh, my! Hard to believe I actually remember that. In school, non-fiction was limited to encyclopedias, biographies, and autobiographies. Currently, my non-fiction experiences are mostly teaching resources. I also read a fair amount of online blogs and forums when learning new things such as computer apps/programs and charting courses for boat travel. It's much more interesting to watch a Youtube video rather than reading a boring manual, right? I love today's non-fiction books available for children and find myself drawn to them similar to the colorful Children's Encyclopedias I used to flip through as a child.

Kristina & Nonfiction

As a child I remember having a set of encyclopedias at home, but I don't ever remember using them. I think it's because they were such big books and the amount of information was actually overwhelming. I also loved anything relating to geography. I loved maps, pictures, and atlases; anything that allowed me to learn about different places and cultures around the world. Scholastic News days were my favorite days at school. I was only ever interested in specific nonfiction topics as a child- geography and animals. If I wasn't interested in the topic I wasn't going to read about it.

Now, as an adult, I still like to read about animals and geography but I have branched out slightly to include biographies. However, now I feel like a read nonfiction more out of necessity than interest. I need to keep up on the latest teaching practices, I need to be aware of what is happening in the country and world, I need to make dinner. All of these daily activities involve reading and understanding nonfiction. Of course I still like it best when my nonfiction reading comes with maps, graphs, pictures, charts, etc.

Holly- Nonfiction

Well I don't think it's a secret that nonfiction is my favorite type of literature, since History is my favorite subject and it's basically all I talk about! I remember from a young age being fascinated with different periods in time. I vividly remember fourth grade being rich with information on Early American history. We also participated in a Colonial Tea in fourth grade, where we learned all about colonial America, invited our families to an actually tea and dance where we learned a classical dance. I even wore a colonial dress and bonnet that my neighbor sewed for us. Most of my literature during my early years dealt with history. My favorite series were the Magic Tree House and American Girl Doll. I then moved on to reading several biographies and historical events (the Hindenburg Disaster), which I can vividly remember being introduced to in fifth grade. If it wasn't for my teachers, I don't think I would have become so interested in these different subject matters. I still to this day love learning about colonial america, the American Revolution, the Civil War, and my favorite president John F. Kennedy, who were all introduced to me in fourth and fifth grade.

As a reader now, I read mostly nonfiction texts, but have also been getting into historical fiction. It really wasn't until college and immersing myself in my history classes that I began to really expand my interests. Through certain assigned texts or certain new topics, they ignited a desire to learn more. It also paid off that I had wonderful teachers who presented the information so well. Today, I am much more invested in reading nonfiction, because I love gaining more and more knowledge about a topic or event. It's really fun to fit all those new pieces of information into what I already knew and even change my perspective on what I thought I knew. Nonfiction is fun because it is an endless cycle of continual learning.

Eileen - nonfiction

One source of nonfiction text that I remember as a kid is text books (especially history ones).  I remember doing the 'popcorn' reading of those texts - it was so boring!! I didn't think nonfiction could be interesting.  It was at the end of middle school when we read The Diary of Anne Frank that realized nonfiction could be really fascinating.  Like Lindy, I also remember using encyclopedias.  I really liked looking up the information in those books. Looking back, I liked finding books on topics when I had to do projects or write reports.  Of course, it is so much easier now with the internet - but I look fondly on finding books on topic in the library. As a reader now, I enjoy nonfiction.  I especially enjoy reading about how people persevered during difficult events. When I read nonfiction, for a class or that I know I'm going to discuss, I tend to pay closer attention then when I read nonfiction.  I'm afraid I might miss important information. 

Traci -Nonfiction

     As a child I remember having two sets of encyclopedias at home. I remember that I liked to take them off the shelves and sit and look at them, I remember feeling like they were 'important' books, maybe because of the size, or because they came in a set. I would spend time  browsing them and comparing the two sets. I also remember having a couple of assignments where I had to look up specific topics in the encyclopedia and write what I found. I do not remember reading other nonfiction books as an elementary student, although I am certain I must have.  As an adult I find that I choose fiction more often than nonfiction, however when I do choose a nonfiction book it is typically about a person who has preserved during a difficult situation. For example the book Into Thin Air or A Child Called It.

Liz - Nonfiction

As a child, I remember reading nonfiction both for school and for pleasure. I had a set of Childcraft books in my room that I loved to flip through to learn interesting facts about all sorts of things. I enjoyed magazines that had true stories about kids my age, and I also enjoyed reading the obituaries and birth announcements in the newspaper.  One of my favorite books when I was young was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I remember reading it for a third grade assignment in school, and that sparked my interest in biographies and memoirs. Even now, the nonfiction I gravitate toward is that of stories about real people or events. I have to admit, as an adult, I don't choose nonfiction for pleasure reading - unless it is a memoir or collections of essays. For many years, I have made it my goal to read more nonfiction, and it just hasn't really happened. I love fiction so much that I find it hard to choose a nonfiction book that I may or may not enjoy. I do find that when forced to read some nonfiction (for example, our book club for class), I generally really enjoy the books and find them interesting! This is a goal I will continue to work on for years, I think.

Laurie--Non-Fiction
I used to love sitting and looking through our encyclopedia set at home.  I think it was a Britannica set.  Haha.  I loved reading anything non-fiction that told me about animals-especially horses.  As I grew older I enjoyed reading about life in each era in time, the roaring 20's, the hippie 60's, the Vietnam war and the disco era in the 70's.  I still love reading non-fiction.  I was so excited to pick the book about Mt. Everest and I learning so much.  I continue to enjoy reading non-fiction but I prefer history reads about people and major events.  I am not one for lots of dates and technical reads . 
I try to surround my students with both fiction and non-fiction books.  Most of the boys are driven to non-fiction and the girls are most often wanting to read fiction books about animals, however, every now and then they will pick up non-fiction about animals.    

Becky- non fiction

I too did my research as a child using encyclopedias and the dewey decimal system at the library. I remember enjoying non fiction as a child. I am, and always have been an animal lover. I loved reading about the different kinds of animals around the world. Sea turtles were a favorite of mine. I was also always intrigued with biographies. I have always had a fascination for JFK and Abe Lincoln.
As a adult, I do not read as much non fiction as I use to. I read a lot to my students. I like the fact that their books now have colorful pictures that accompany the text. This is very helpful. It helps some students get hooked. It is also helpful to our lower level students.

Conferring-Jess

Sorry this is so late!  I think I'm in the same position as many.  I do confer with students for writing and when I was self contained, for reading as well.  However, like others mentioned, the meeting goes undocumented.   I am spending my time focusing on talking with the students and engaging with them that I don't seem to write it down like I should.  I have created binders, notecards, etc. to try, but it doesn't seem to work out.   I think if it did, I would certainly know my readers and writers better than I do now.  I am focusing on the skills I want them to have and that they need to work on, but I have no record of what I have talked about with them.

Lindy & Nonfiction

This week the post is a direct reaction to some comments last night as the book groups were meeting: One person chose a book based on what her friends were choosing and then regretted it! Another had a book chosen for her by a colleague and was not very pleased but then found she loved the book (made her think about students and choice!).

For this week reflect on yourself as a reader of nonfiction text. Think back to you as a young person (during school years) being faced with nonfiction as assignments, learning on your own, or reading for pleasure. In addition, think about you as a reader of nonfiction now. Write about how it felt as a student and now as an adult when faced with nonfiction reading (think about the options for accessing information).

Title your post (Name) & Nonfiction. Please fill this out in the little box above your post so you have a title!

Lindy's example:
I'm old enough that I remember using encyclopedias and having them at home for homework. If you asked a question you were directed to the encyclopedia! Teachers used Scholastic News/Weekly Reader type materials for our "Current Events." I remember liking this time and wanting to pursue science as a career. The other nonfiction I remember in elementary school was biographies! I loved biographies and learning about people. Our house was rich with magazines so I would look through those as well.

As an adult I am constantly searching out information on the internet and reading a lot of articles online. I also love paper magazines and subscribe to too many! Some are fluff and some newsy. What I don't like being faced with is very technical reading with a lot of jargon so I avoid it. If I have to read an article that is too academic in nature I peruse the headings, charts, introduction, and conclusion but don't always read the whole thing.

One of my favorite nonfiction authors for young readers is Sy Montgomery. Her recent book (adult) on Octopuses (yes, that's right, I learned that in the book) The Soul of an Octopus is amazing.

Conferring - Shelby

I can not say enough about how the Confer App has changed my life!  When I first began using the workshop model, I spent countless hours creating gigantic binders with copies and sections for each student.  I would lug the binder around with me all day at school and then to and from home most days of the week.  Even though I spent a great deal of time focusing on conferencing with readers, I often shared far too many teaching points and spent too much time on each one.

Then I found Confer. Confer allows me to spend more time focusing on what really matters...discussing reading with students. It affords me the chance to take the time I would normally spend sifting through papers, and truly get to know my students as readers, while efficiently tracking their goals and progress. With Confer, I am able to quickly access months worth of data in order to make informed decisions regarding where to go next with my students. I am also easily able to filter my data to form reading groups based on reading level, or targeted skills and strategies.

Confer has also changed the overall "feel" of my literacy block. I am easily able to move around the room with my iPad and meet with students in their chosen spots- spots where they do their best work (usually). This makes our conference feel a bit less formal, and more like they're just talking about a great book with a friend. I've noticed less anxiety related to conferences, and the general flow of my workshop has improved. I would never have guessed that an inexpensive app. could make such a HUGE difference in my teaching. Now though, I can't imagine how I ever got by without it!

Conferring - Karie

Last year was my first year teaching and my first year using the reading workshop model. Conferring is not something that I had actively planned and focused on in a consistent way. I was fortunate to have support with reading groups, so there were kiddos that I was able to meet with daily on a one-on-one basis due to their high level of need. I did my best to make time to check in with students individually, but I did not have a consistent or routine system, and it was hard to keep track of as it was usually an in-the-moment occurrence rather than a planned and purposeful event.

As I just started, this week, in a K/1 classroom, I am trying to find ways that I could more systematically make conferring a daily ritual in my classroom. As ten of my students are Kindergarten students and pre-readers, I'm feeling that a nice place to start with conferring would be with my four 1st graders, at least to begin with.

I just started the 1st Kindergarten Lucy Calkins unit with the class and they all really seem to be enjoying it so far. Since the unit of study is directed toward the younger students, I am feeling that for the 1st graders that it will be important to focus instruction for them within their reading groups, and with one-on-one conferring. I am noticing posts and ideas about how to keep track of conferences and am very open to ideas on how to go about doing this!

Conferring- Libby

This is my first year teaching so I haven’t really had many opportunities in the past to work with students one on one as readers and writers. I do remember during my student teaching I was able to work one on one with students during writing time, and it helped me understand the different areas that my students needed to focus on and the areas they excelled in. For example, I was in a class when they were writing personal narratives. I was able to see what the students knew about punctuation, paragraphs, character traits, and the message of the story. I have been continuing to do what I learned in my student teaching this year with my ELA classes. One thing I really need to change and work on is  having more conferences. I feel like we have been working more on writing lately, but reading should be just as important. I really enjoyed this conference guide sheet because I was able to follow a structure that I would like to continue using to help set goals for my students. I think overall, I am confident when it comes to writing conferences. I feel comfortable suggesting editing comments and pushing students to try new ideas while writing. In reading, I need to get into the flow of the conferences and really take the time to sit down and listen to them read and provide helpful suggestions to make them the best readers they can be.

Conferring- Kristina

In the past, I have learned most of what I know about my students as readers from giving them the Fountas and Pinnell assessment. I actually really enjoyed sitting with each of my students 1 on 1, hearing them read, and then discussing the reading. Most of those discussions turned into real life conversations about them. Occasionally I would "conference" with each of my students but it wasn't in an intentional way. It was more as a check-in rather than an opportunity to teach. This is the biggest thing I want/need to change about my current conferring practices. I am still a little worried about the time piece; worried I will spend too much or too little time conferring with my students. Now that I have learned to have a focus and teaching point when I confer with students I look forward to sitting with each of them. I even hope that I might learn something from them!

Conferring - Amelia

For me, conferring with students as they read their silent reading books is the easy part.  I am trying to find a good way for myself to keep track of what I have discussed with those students and what I want them to work on.  I usually discuss with them what we just worked on in the mini lesson and see how they are applying it to their just right book.  I have not yet found a way to keep track of past and current discussions with each student that works for me.  I had a notebook to write in but I did not like that my notes for one student were not all together.  It was by date and I didn’t like flipping back and forth pages trying to find a certain student.  This is one of my goals for the year, to find an organized way that works for me to keep track of conferencing with students.  

Conferring- Becky

I use a template that was similar to the one that was given to us at class last week. I will bring in to class and show people what I use. My problem with one on one conferring is finding the time in reader' workshop to squeeze everything in. Often times I do not get to confer with the students that need it on a daily basis. I have 2nd graders on F&P reading levels C-Q.

Conferring- Holly Palmer

With this being my first year teaching the workshop model, I am still learning how to confer. I have really only been getting around to 2 a day, because I tend to confer with my students for a while! Time seems to slip away when we're working, so that is one of my goals. I need to make my conferences effective, but also concise. In terms of keeping track of what I confer about with my students, I am using pencil and paper with a class list, as of right now. I am planning to try out the different forms we received, but also give one of my co-worker's digital conferring programs a try. It will be nice to have our notes of conferences in a easy access, portable system.

As of right now, I am proud of the content of my conferences and how I have been using the guidelines we have learned about in the Guide book. Asking students, "What have you been working on?", listening to them read, providing a compliment, and then a goal, has been really beneficial and gives me a better sense of how my students are developing as readers.

For now, my goals are to cut down my conferring time to 5-10 minutes, see about 4 students a day, and find a more effective way to store and manage my conferring notes. 

Conferring (Sarah)

In the past, I have tried a couple of different practices for conferring with students with writing. It’s always been a struggle for me to teach skills that help them with their editing. Like many, I tried making the corrections for students on a rough draft, pass it back, they fix it, and resubmit. And like many, I learned that doesn’t teach them anything about editing at all. I have most recently tried meeting with each kid independently, asking them to read parts to me I’ve already identified need attention. We try to make the corrections together, but I look back and feel like I’m really leading them through it, and the goal is to help them gain that skill themselves. 
Currently, I had the chance to do some “conferring” around the banned book reading with   groups in the 9th grade class, albeit informally. I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian with two students from one section of our class, and because there were only two, we could talk about individual thoughts and strategies, and discuss what we needed to consider and practice. It wasn’t one-on-one, but it felt effective as they were engaged with the book, and have since structured argumentative writing pieces about the validity of the book being banned or challenged. Based on this, I am striving to implement a strong, consistent conferring process in order to help the kids gain necessary skills. 

Conferring - Liz

Bottom Line - I need to do more conferring! I genuinely feel that my practices with this change every year. I used to focus much more on conferring during my first couple of years of teaching. It really was the best way for me to listen to my students read, talk about their books, and connect with them one-on-one.  Even though I was meeting with my students regularly on an individual basis, and trying to track our conversations with a template I created, there wasn't as much substance to the conferences as I wanted there to be, but I wasn't sure how to get there.

As the years went on, and we had some PD/PLCs around small group work, I shifted my focus. I hadn't been doing any small group meetings during reading or writing workshop time, so I really put a lot of effort into trying to make that work. I observed other teachers, read a lot on the topic, and tried a number of different organizational strategies to get small groups to work. I feel as if I've been successful with skill-based small groups. For example, if I've noticed that a group of students need work with identifying author's craft in their reading, I'll pull them and do some focused work on those skills. Same with writing.

After the work we've done with the Units of Study, I am excited about working toward more focused conferences this year. I appreciate the outline given for the different steps of a conference, as well as the various formats for recording notes from conferring. While I've only just started to re-vamp my plans around conferences, I have been able to get 3 conferences done in a workshop period, and I'm working toward conferring with 4-5 students each class period eventually.

Conferring-Melissa

I remember when reading and writing workshops first became popular.  I used to "conference" with students, which meant that they would come to my desk and read their entire piece of writing.  Then we would go through the writing, paragraph by paragraph, and spend a great deal of time editing.  I would work hard at throwing in a couple of short grammar mini-lessons, and maybe a couple of pointers on voice.  By the time I finished the conference, class would be over.  One down, 20 more to go. 

Needless to day, conferences did not occur often.  Five minute meetings did not occur and the list of students that needed attention was endless.  It was self defeating and ineffective. 

Over the years, I have learned how to focus my conferences; I am far from perfect, but I must say that I have definitely improved my practices.  Last week's reading really hit home when it pointed out that the best way to assess students is through conferring.  Students do not look at the corrections or comments that we painstaking scrawl across their work; most of them toss it into the recycling, ready to move on to the next project.  The true learning comes through the conversations that we have with kids; not the 30 minute tutoring sessions, but the 5 minute, focused exchanges that are focused, meaningful, and skill based. 

I still struggle with time management.  I still get distracted by the students that are whispering about what they brought in for lunch, or what they wanted to do after school.  However, I am definitely noticing results as I travel around my classroom and touch base with each student.  Not only does it reflected in their writing, but it also shines through in their workshop perseverance.  It's only taken me a couple of decades...that's not too bad, is it?

Conferring-Traci

This is my second year teaching first grade, previously I taught preschool and was an early childhood special educator, and therefore did not confer with my students about their reading. Last year I did small group guided reading and instruction. I did some conferring with students during these small groups about the strategies for solving hard words, or ways to scoop up more words and increase their fluency. This year I have found that my students are reading longer.  I am able to sit and listen to individual children read.  The handout on conferring is great for guiding me in these conferences.  One thing I have not been good at in the past is having/creating individual student goals. Although in the past I would be prepared for my small groups, knowing what they needed to work on as a group, and providing experiences that supported the group to read and move forward. This year, I will have conferences with all of my students to understand their individual successes and their challenges.I will also work with the students to create individual goals. I hope this will set up clear expectations about what I want them to work on during their independent and partner reading time. One other thing I hope to change is my method of record keeping and documentation.  I found a couple forms online this weekend and I hope to try one out this week. It if works (and even if it does not) I can bring it in to share. 

Conferring Amy D.

I've noticed, in the past and presently, great results come from regular conferring with my students. I've used a few different methods to keep track of individual student notes, but most times I find the forms either cumbersome and lengthy or too small to contain enough information. The other problem I've found is picking up where I left off and having the notes handy for my next conference. My goal now is to use one of the forms this week from our class and find a good way to follow through for weekly conferring. Time and numbers have also been an issue that I'm attempting to improve. My schedule for conferring is Monday - Thursday with a goal of conferring with 4-6 students a day. That can sometimes be a challenge depending on interruptions and needs from other students during Readers/Writers workshop as questions need answering and providing help/encouragement for students less engaged. I hope to have some time to take a look at Shelby's "Confer" app which she uses on her iPad. Students respond very positively when we spend time conferring, so I will continue to tweak my methods to improve timing and note taking!

Conferring -- Steve

Conferring is an essential component of my classroom, as seen in my Argument Writing II seminar with 9th grade students. The students have worked on argumentative structure throughout this seminar, and I am getting to the point where conferring with each student feels like second nature. The students know that this is a time when I will be discussing certain aspects of their writing, so they are usually willing to work on suggestions in order to show growth. For example, I worked with a small group of writers on outlining today during class. Although this was a struggle for some of the students, they worked diligently, took suggestions, and finished the outline in its entirety. I was impressed with what I saw!  It is my goal that these students will have the same success when we confer about reading more next trimester.

One area where I am still struggling a bit is keeping all of the students on task when I am conferring with an individual student. Although I am bouncing around the classroom, it seems like many have questions while I am conferring with other individuals. I may work on establishing even more expectations around writing workshop next week in order to keep the momentum moving forward. Overall, I am impressed with the conferring process this school year.

Conferring - Eileen

Most of my conferring occurs in small reading groups. I know exactly what those students need to work on before starting the group.  This information is collected during previous small group lessons, F&P testing, or observations during O.G. For example my low group needs to work on blending sounds and identifying trick words. Other groups need to work on reading strategies and strategies to solve hard words.  While others are working identifying key information, retelling and thinking beyond the text.  It is during this time that I collect more information to determine how to move my readers forward.  What I need to work on is a tracking system so the information about the students is out of my head and onto a form that I can share with others. At one point I was trying to do this with individual students like I do during writing but I just couldn't keep up. This week I plan to do conferring notes with my small groups and see how that works out.

Conferring -- Laurie

I have been conferring with students in regards to their reading and their writing, but I have not and am still not very good with documenting my every meeting with them.  I know that this needs to change and I fully understand everything about conferring but I get so wrapped up in the teaching part and always say to myself "I'll write it down after" and after never comes.  I can tell you what each small group or individual child is working on but my documentation of it stinks.  I am excited to use the sheet with my groups that are actually reading.  I know I need to improve so I am making it my goal this year during reading groups to be better about documenting my conferring.  I am also excited to use some new language when it comes to asking questions and seeking more information from my readers.

Conferring -- New/Old

Please create a post entitled: Conferring (your name)

As we teach using the Units of Study think about your teaching over the years and how in the past you have learned about your students as readers and writers. (Perhaps this is what you are currently doing as conferring is new to you.) Please post a practice related to this that upon reflection you feel needs to change, has changed, or will change and why. In addition if there is something that you are doing that you have not seen addressed that you firmly believe in or want input concerning post that and explain. This is all about conferring to learn more and move students in their learning.

S&L Response - Karie

This morning we focused on Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5.  Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. Together we reread the story Ghost in the House. We then discussed, as a group, the different characters that appeared in the story as well as the spooky noises that they each made. Their job was to then think of a new, different character that they could add to the story to come to the house. Each of them drew their new character and created a noise for them to make and write in the speech bubble. Afterwards, we came back together on the rug and they took turns sharing and describing their new character to their classmates. This closing activity also hit standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1A Follow agree-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

In Kindergarten we are spending a lot of time focusing on Speaking & Listening as we set expectations for large and small group discussions. We are working on taking turns to speak and listening while others speak so we can add onto the conversation. This last part tends to still be pretty difficult, to actually continue a conversation on the same thread.

As the students are not writing independently, it gives us time to be able to do verbal storytelling and expanding on our drawings and ideas by expressing these ideas to others vorally. I try to capture as much of their stories and write them down for them as I can.

S & L Response---Laurie

In 1st grade we do so much reading aloud that it is nearly impossible to steer away from the speaking and listening standard.  We are especially drawn to ELA-Literacy SL 1.2 which is ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.  In order for children to grow as learners, readers and "information gatherers"  it is vital to a read aloud session to have a discussion time.  During this time students and me as a teacher we can discuss all the important information that was given in the read.  For those students that struggle this is a time when they can listen, gather information and possibly find something in their own lives that can relate to what was read. 

Read alouds also lend their way towards ELA-LITERACY SL 1.1 Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion and ELA-LITERACY SL 1.3 Ask and answer questions about what the speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood. 

Currently we are headed into the non-fiction Lucy Calkins reading and writing units so this will be perfect for lots of speaking and listening and offering information and asking clarifying questions.