Fundamental practices for navigating guidance and connection even in highly challenging environments.
CPET has had an ongoing partnership with East River Academy (ERA), the high school on Rikers Island, for many years, and I am one of several coaches who has worked on the Island, providing professional development support to a group of nearly 45 educators.
When you work at a school on Rikers Island, you have to plan your day more deliberately than you do at a typical school or workplace. This means packing your belongings in a clear bag, and double checking you have what you need, because there is no easy way to leave once you go through the four rounds of security checks. At the end of my first day working at ERA as a literacy coach, I finally got to the exit door and tried to open it, but it was locked. I looked back at a correction officer who chuckled at my naivete, “You can’t just walk out of a jail. Sign out here and show your ID.” We both laughed. One of my many rookie mistakes. Before you even get to the school, there is paperwork to confirm you have been vetted and approved to enter the Island. You have to tell all the people who might try to reach you during the day that you won’t be able to communicate until you get back to your car or locker at the end of the day, where you have to leave your phone. No computers are allowed inside the jail; only paper and pens. Actually, I started to bring pencils, because pens are coveted items in the classrooms, and didn’t want to get caught in the position of having a student inmate asking to borrow my pen instead of the golf pencils that students are given. I learned this the hard way, during one of my visits when a student asked to borrow my pen that I was using to take notes, and when I hesitated answering him, he became insulted and said, “What do you think I’m going to do with it? I just want to take notes with a pen!” I felt ashamed because I knew I could not give it to him, but also believed him that he wanted it for classwork. I shoved my pen back into my bag and apologized, preventing a potential issue for the teacher or even the correction officer in the room. From that point on — only pencils for me. Reaching for connection
I wish I could enter the schools inside Rikers Island with tools in my clear backpack to reach every single student and help every teacher.
The one who doesn’t speak but comes to class and keeps his head down; the one who only speaks Spanish but can’t read in Spanish, so it’s hard to even help him with translations; the students whose math or reading levels are so low that it is difficult to know what they can read or do beyond simple addition and subtraction; the students who are so insightful when we read a text, but put their head down when we ask them to write their thoughts; the students who are so struck by a visitor they want to talk to you, say hi, and let you sit with them and help them with the work. These students are perhaps the most heartbreaking, because I know I may not see them again when I leave the classroom, and while I don’t know why they are in Rikers at all, I just want to help them as much as I can in the tiny bit of time I have with them, and hope their futures turn around. One of the last students I interacted with asked me if I knew how hard it would be to become a plumber, and if it paid well. I told him he would need training and a certificate, but plumbing is steady, good work, and suggested he talk to his carpentry teacher about this goal. He asked me about it several times throughout the class. I reminded him that although he should talk to his carpentry teacher, all of his classes will help prepare him for plumbing: there is extensive math, science, technical reading, and creative thinking involved in plumbing. Keep going, I told the student, it is not going to be easy, but do the best you can, and let your teachers work with you. Framing my role
One day I was in an earth science class with a particular teacher who always referred to me as “Dr. Rigolosi.” I do have a doctorate, and this is my title, but in schools I tend to not use “Dr.” title because I have found it creates a distance that I’m trying to avoid. On this particular day, a student I was working with perked up and asked, ”Oh wait, you’re a doctor? What kind?” I dread this kind of question from a student because I know what comes next.
“I have a doctorate degree.” “So, are you like a pediatrician?” “No, no, not at all. No medicine, my doctorate is in education.” I could see the excitement on his face fade fast. He preferred the idea that I was a pediatrician. “So you are not a pediatrician or a doctor, but a doctor of teachers?” Saying it this way sounds so over the top. “Well, yes, that’s one way of putting it,” I replied. “So if you are a doctor of teaching, what are you going to teach me?” “I was trying to read with you about the water cycle. Let’s go back to your reading. I’m trying to teach you right now.” He agreed, we returned to the water cycle, but his enthusiasm was evaporating. These are the conversations that keep me on my toes. And humble. The young people who are incarcerated at Rikers are in limbo. Many of them are awaiting a court date. A depressing reality is that Rikers is mainly made up of boys or men of color from low-income neighborhoods of New York City. Some of them arrive at Rikers and begin to attend school more consistently than they ever had. So what on earth can I, or any of the coaches who enter the schools at Rikers, do to help support the teachers who are charged with looking after them? Bearing witness
Remarkably, the retention of teachers at Rikers is extremely high. There are many teachers who have worked there for two decades, and some of those teachers even teach summer school, too. We bear witness for teachers during both positive and difficult classroom moments.
Sometimes you have to be a bit creative to notice the positive moments in classrooms at Rikers. For instance, on a different day in that same earth science class, the teacher was presenting on rocks: igneous, metamorphic, sedentary. We looked at pictures in textbooks and projected on the screen, and noticed the differences between them based on how they were formed. “You know, Mr., this would be so much easier if you could bring examples for us to look at. It’s hard to tell the differences between them on the screen.” The teacher looked at the student with a straight face and said, “Son, I can’t bring rocks into a prison.” “Oh, that’s true, Mr. — good point.” Everyone started laughing and it was a moment of levity. Of course, they joked, the teacher can’t bring rocks into prison! It was a moment of students being curious and engaged enough to ask their teacher for resources, forgetting for just an instance about their reality. In a meeting with the teacher later that day, I reminded him of this class moment — it was a quick moment, and I was happy to have been there to relive it with him. This happens so often in my classroom visits — I am there to review with teachers the small but wonderful moments that happen in their classes. So many micro events happen throughout a day; reviewing some of the moments they may not have reflected on can be empowering for a teacher, helping them to feel seen. Listening or bearing witness to the more challenging moments is just as important. I’ve met with teachers who are overwhelmed by the circumstances — by the students who are there one day but not the next because of court dates or circumstances from their housing, because of the constant underlying tension between the students and the correction officer in the room, or the teacher’s awareness that the wrong look or words could escalate into a fight between students. Listening, witnessing, and staying present for teachers when we meet or when I am visiting their classrooms is a way to experience, even for a moment, the difficulties that the teachers and students endure daily at Rikers. Malcolm Knowles, a psychologist who specialized in adult learning theory, explains how the role of a teacher working with adults can be different from a teacher working with children. In adult learning, Knowles explains that an adult teacher is “more a guide than a wizard.” In Elena Aguiliar’s The Art of Coaching Teachers she takes this idea of adult teacher as guide and extends it even more: “a coach needs to be an expert at listening: It is this skill which we must excel at more than any other.” When working with teachers who are in particularly high-stress schools or working with high-needs students, making space to listen, ask questions, and helping them frame their teaching experiences is a way to coach them. Making space for the teacher to say what they are seeing in their classrooms, and what they are feeling about the often tumultuous environment is a way to bear witness as a coach. Providing tailored support
Every school has a school culture that we are either told about as soon as we enter the school, or we figure out shortly after. At some schools, for instance, we quickly realize the copy machine policy, or that the culture around birthday celebrations is a big deal (or not).
One of the constant challenges at East River Academy is that the student body changes somewhat quickly. Between court dates and issues with student-to-student fighting, the student population can change from day to day; however, some students are there throughout the semester. Knowing this about the particular student body at ERA, we try to tailor our resources so that units can be shortened or extended as needed. Short stories are more popular than novels for this reason, and essays based on a short text are a more realistic assessment than an essay based on a novel. Having introductory lessons for new arrivals is crucial, so helping teachers accumulate resources for this transient student body has to become a part of our professional support. This requires research and conversations with teachers to get an understanding of their needs, challenges, and strategies they have already tried. We also work on adapting curricula they are already using to make it work for their students. This is specialized professional development in and of itself, as we have helped restructure units and lessons to fit the school’s needs. We cannot go into this school (or any school) pushing a particular curricula or series of best practices. Instead, working with the teachers’ needs in front of us and providing resources for their unique population is key to truly supporting their work. Reflecting & moving forward
In one of our last professional learning sessions with ERA teachers, I was charged with providing resources on ways they can incorporate more small group work in classes. This is a particularly challenging topic for teachers whose students can have difficult — sometimes violent —relationships, and may prefer to work alone.
In retrospect, what I wish I pointed out at the time was that their students are actually doing small group work frequently, but in an organic way. Just that day, I had witnessed a pair of students pulling out characteristics in a story, and unprompted, these two students started pointing out examples in the text to each other and writing these examples down. When students were practicing for the GRE math questions, I noticed a pair of students start talking to each other about the problems. This paired group work was happening, but on their terms. My question should have been — what is the best way to handle these positive paired work moments? Should we highlight them in class, or will that ruin the moment, and make it feel too much like “school?” Should we nudge for paired work even if some students like to work in pairs and others don’t? Is it best to just leave the pairs working if they are working well, and perhaps after class, praise the students for working so diligently? Or does that kill the vibe? This is a very nuanced conversation, and one I wish I had with the teachers instead of reviewing the typical reasons and methods for implementing small group work.
The moments I am sharing here don’t really feel like mine to tell. I am not one of the teachers who works 180 days of the year on Rikers Island; there is a part of me that hesitates even sharing glimpses inside the prison. But I also believe these stories have value, and there is a portion of our population who spend a chunk of their youth in prison, and adults who have dedicated their professional lives to helping them.
We need to hear more of their stories, and I am offering a small window into their world. Many schools can be challenging and humbling; they can keep us all on our toes. Working at a particularly high-needs school requires high-level and sensitive coaching. Bearing witness by listening, observing, and holding a mirror for teachers to talk through their classroom experiences is a way to enter the coaching work. Tailoring the professional development and resources is fundamental; it has to work for the particular student body. Finally, being a reflective practitioner and acknowledging how I can improve my craft is challenging and can feel self-deprecating, but it is also an essential step to providing quality professional support. When a school is riddled with challenges, it can be difficult to know how to support teachers and how to help them grow as practitioners. These three methods offer a starting point, positioning the coach as an active listener and observer, and encouraging the coach to be honest about the effectiveness of their professional support, willing to modify and adapt the support to answer the school’s needs.
Embarking on a journey through project-based mindsets and influences, alongside educators in China.
Our mission seemed somewhat straightforward: a weeklong workshop series for teacher educators in Shanghai focusing on PBL, or project-based learning. Considering the many workshops we have facilitated over the past two decades, ranging from topics such as creating rubrics to analyzing data, running a weeklong workshop in Shanghai on the topic of project-based learning is as fun as it gets!
We have partnered with YouCH, a professional development group in the MinHang section of Shanghai for several years, and have already facilitated workshops for YouCH educators on topics such as teacher research, 21st century learning, and fostering teacher leaders. YouCH, which is a play on words for supporting “youth” throughout the “ouch” of adolescence, is based in China, and our CPET team — Dr. Roberta Lenger Kang, Courtney Brown, G. Faith Little, Dr. Lance Ozier, and me — were all returning to Shanghai and looking forward to working with our YouCH colleagues again. Our plan for the week was solid: participants would work on a meaningful, real-life, weeklong project that would end with a culminating celebration. Mornings would be devoted to working on different aspects of our projects so that teachers could experience project-based learning on their own; in the afternoons, we would zoom out to unpack these experiences by debriefing the scaffolds within our lesson designs and teaching strategies; and finally, participants would have independent planning time. Excited for our workshop and visit to Shanghai, we packed our bags and we were ready to go! Cut to real life, post-pandemic. China had recently relaxed all of its COVID restrictions, resulting in a surge of colds and respiratory illnesses. A day after we arrived, we learned that schools were closing for most of the week due to the fear of spreading illness, and it was too late to reschedule our workshops. The best laid plans… A cultural exchange for educators
Instead of facilitating workshops, we found ourselves engaging in discussions and smaller sessions with our YouCH colleagues, participating in more formal meetings with the principal for Minghin High School, on a visit to the Huang Gongwang High School in HangZhou, and in meetings with professors and education officials in the Shanghai district.
Everywhere we went, we were welcomed warmly with tea and coffee, fruit and treats, and with a genuine love and interest in incorporating PBL into more schools throughout China. At the Teacher Education Centre under the auspices of UNESCO, the director inquired about the possibility of facilitating our PBL workshops in the western, more rural region of China, as a part of the “Rural Revitalization” program for teacher professional learning. They shared with us the belief that social and emotional wellbeing are important aspects of teacher education, as well as creativity — both of which are also key ingredients for project-based learning. At the Institute of General Education Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences, we were greeted with Starbucks lattes and highlights from the professors’ research and papers on the importance of PBL. The director explained that PBL should not just be a “snack, but the main meal.” They believe curricula should ask real world questions, and students should be able to express themselves creatively as they research and present the possible answers. Again, we were amazed by the enthusiasm for PBL as a method to be included in all schools. Witnessing PBL in Shanghai
We also had the opportunity to meet teachers at a YouCH conference on PBL, and these teachers were already doing project-based learning units. At this full-day conference, we listened as elementary students showcased their PBL artifacts. We were most struck by Steven, a high school student, who shared his project — “Let’s Break the ‘Wall’ Together” — on period shame, which shines a light on the notion that menstruation is normal, yet girls are made to feel ashamed or embarrassed when they menstruate. This project evolved into a fundraising and social awareness project to combat period shame through education, and to raise funds to provide access to sanitary pads in more rural areas of China.
Not only were these students doing PBL, but the topics were open-minded and refreshing! Talking more to the teachers and students throughout the day, we realized that these student presentations were from a class that was dedicated solely to project-based learning In other words, these projects were not woven into their core curricular classes, but completed through an additional class. This is not to diminish the impressiveness of the projects (we were fawning over them!), but to highlight that including project-based learning into the core curriculum is a different endeavor. John Dewey's influence
Over a brunch of steaming dumplings, fish stew, and noodles on one of our final days in Shanghai, we asked Principal Jian from the MinHang section of Shanghai why he was so inspired and committed to PBL. Where did this inspiration come from?
He responded in Chinese, but we heard a name we recognized well in his explanation: John Dewey. The principal reminded us that Dewey spent time in China — two years and two months, the longest amount of time he spent anywhere abroad. Our Chinese colleague proudly recalled how Dewey not only shared his educational philosophy when he was in China from 1919-1921, but how he learned from Chinese culture, and was influenced by Chinese philosophies and practices. What does this mean for our work? Knowing this now, that at the center of the PBL work is a proud connection to Dewey, how might this influence our workshops, if we are given the opportunity to return? John Dewey believed that we must “give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” (1916, Democracy and Education). We can’t argue against learning by doing, but what does Dewey’s concept really look like in schools, on a day-to-day basis? Lessons from Maxine Greene
One of our CPET colleagues, Dr. Lance Ozier, reminded us all that our late and brilliant professor at Teachers College, Maxine Greene, was a student of Dewey’s. We were the last generation of students to have had Maxine as a professor, and we briefly swapped stories about her. My closest interaction to her was when my Narrative Research class with Professor Janet Miller visited her at her apartment, since she was 88 years old and no longer traveling to Teachers College. I happened to have my baby, Javier, who was just a few months old at the time, with me at her apartment.
Our class of doctoral students had prepared so many questions for Maxine; we were starting our doctoral research and wrestled with issues over perspective, what it means to be a fair researcher, and hungry for any writing suggestions to avoid being total bores. Maxine listened to our questions and nodded, but really could not stop looking at my baby. “He’s so curious,” she kept saying, “He just can’t get enough of the world!” Here we all were, excitedly trying to absorb as much of Maxine as we could, and here was Maxine, mesmerized by a baby. She was in awe of my baby’s curiosity, a spirit akin to her own. This is the kind of curiosity at the heart of research, teaching, and learning. And at the heart of project-based learning. What I remember most about our afternoon with Maxine is not her answers to our questions (we had so many!), but her authentic curiosity and interest in what was happening in front of her, and on that particular day, that happened to be watching my baby interact with the world by touching and poking at everything in his range. When we return to Shanghai, it is this curiosity that we will have to bring back with us, this curiosity that is at the heart of PBL, and at the heart of Dewey and Maxine Greene’s work. How do we infuse this deep curiosity and learning into our curricula, and our daily lessons? This will be our charge on our return. The realities of PBL
Although we did not have our weeklong workshop series, we did spend one afternoon with 75 teachers from the MinHang School, and gave them a taste of our PBL plans. One of the takeaways from that group of teachers was the importance of teaching students to ask questions, and then using student-generated questions to drive a curriculum. But we also can’t ignore some of the concerns we heard from the teachers, specifically: “PBL sounds like a lot of work, and who is going to support us?” We appreciated the real and honest question, and agree this needs to be ironed out. A new way of curriculum planning requires professional learning and ongoing support from colleagues.
We arrived in Shanghai with a plan to invite teachers to experience and then deconstruct project-based learning. It was a solid plan, but if we return, we may also invite teachers to reflect on the roots of PBL in China, namely, how do you plan with John Dewey’s philosophy in mind? We will keep our workshop practical, but also return to Dewey’s research: What does the constructivist teaching model look like in real life? How can we allow for more discovery for students? The interest in PBL is palatable, as we discovered in formal meetings and informal conversations with our YouCH colleagues. Our colleagues at the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences said it best: how do we make project-based learning the meal and not the snack? This is our collective charge.
Empower students to assess their own learning and take charge of their educational experiences.
One of the most exciting things about project-based learning is that it lets students take control of their learning experience, allowing them to lead their educational journey. However, understanding what this truly means and visualizing what it might look like in practice can sometimes feel unclear and ambiguous.
For me, the above means fostering student discovery and embarking on a shared journey with students to achieve specific goals. One way I support teachers with this approach is through collaboratively establishing success criteria with students, rather than dictating them. Moss and Brookhart (2015) advocate for this process, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that students comprehend the learning goals and have a clear understanding of what exemplary work on a project looks like. This ongoing process involves teachers regularly monitoring and assessing students' understanding of learning goals and addressing any misconceptions that may arise.
Empowering student discovery
The significance of success criteria lies in empowering students to assess their own learning and take charge of their educational experiences, fostering a sense of self-efficacy. Students who believe in their ability to succeed are more likely to persist in their work, even in the face of challenges (Bandura, 1997). In essence, success criteria become a means to provide students with an opportunity to actively drive their own learning. Teachers play a significant role in this process by posing essential questions such as: What do I want my students to learn? How will I teach it? How will I know they got it? Similarly, students are encouraged to inquire about their own learning: What will I learn? How will I learn it? How will I know that I got it? When it comes to communicating success criteria, we can tell students explicitly, show them through modeling, offer examples, or support them in discovering the criteria themselves, whereby students are actively exploring, uncovering, and understanding concepts or knowledge on their own. Student discovery leads to deeper understanding, greater intrinsic motivation, longer retention of knowledge and skills, as well as promoting student ownership over their learning. To facilitate this discovery, I want to share four promising practices.
Promising Practice: Questioning
Engage students in questioning to ensure a deep understanding of project goals. Techniques such as putting learning targets in their own words, Think-Pair-Share, and an iteration of KWL (what we know, want to know, what we will need, what learning/skills we can lean on) can be effective. An example of series of teacher-facilitated questions as part of a project on the water cycle could sound like:
Promising Practice: Envisioning
Support students in visualizing their goals and the final project outcome. Creating planning charts, breaking down tasks into smaller parts, and involving teachers in the planning process can enhance students' understanding and success. Here is an example of a student-created planning chart for a high school social justice project:
Promising Practice: Using exemplars
Expose students to examples of past work, encouraging them to analyze and describe its traits, features, and styles. This inductive approach allows students to discover project expectations through inquiry and exploration, promoting a deeper understanding. This could look like:
Promising Practice: Rubrics
Utilize rubrics not just for evaluation, but as a guiding tool throughout the project. Students can assess examples, rephrase or recreate rubrics in their own words, and use them to evaluate their own work and that of their peers, informing revisions. An example of this could look like:
The journey toward student-driven project-based learning is marked by the collaborative establishment of success criteria, enabling students to actively participate in their own learning. By implementing these promising practices, educators can create an environment where students not only understand the goals, but also take ownership of their educational path, ultimately promoting continuous growth and exploration.
Offer students the essence of project-based learning, within a condensed timeline.
“I’d love to do project-based learning, but there just isn’t enough time.”
I hear teachers say this all the time and it's understandable. Between the pressure to “cover all of the content,” days of instruction lost for testing, unexpected snow days and power outages, the uncertainty of student attendance, and uncertain access to computers and other technology — project-based learning (PBL) can feel like a logistically impossible feat. With that said, the concept of project-based learning appeals to many teachers, especially those who have used it with success in the past. The Buck Institute describes project-based learning as “[a] teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working together for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem or challenge.” When students respond to authentic challenges, we often see an increase in student agency and engagement. Students embrace the process to respond to a problem or challenge that affects them directly or indirectly, striving to acquire skills not out of a desire to pass a test, but rather to achieve a self-determined solution to a problem that will have a greater audience and impact outside of the classroom.
Condensing your timeline
In the Buck Institute’s description of project-based learning, they describe it as an approach that requires “an extended period of time to investigate and respond.” For teachers who are confident and able, project-based learning might take shape as a complete redesign of their units, allowing for 4-6 weeks of extended time to research as part of an ongoing investigation. For teachers who feel like an entire unit of project-based learning might be impossible right now, the models I share below show what a project-based approach might look like in a more condensed timeline. These are not prescriptive, but rather imaginative, illustrating how just one 40-minute class period that follows a workshop model (with a mini-lesson) could be approached with the spirit of inquiry. At its core, I suggest that a project-based learning approach asks students to take on the roles of problem-solver, investigator, collaborator, and innovator. Let's imagine a project in which students are asked to develop a school policy around the use of artificial intelligence — what can that look like in one unit, one week, or even one class period?
One unit
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 1
Students start with a real-world problem or issue that is far away or close to home with a real-world audience.
Week 2
Students research potential solutions and/or gather relevant information.
Week 3
Students research potential solutions and/or gather relevant information, collaborating with others.
Week 4
Students synthesize their findings and create some demonstrations of their solutions, written and/or multimodal.
Week 5
Students present or share their findings with others, gathering feedback and revising.
One week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Monday
Students start with a real-world problem or issue that is far away or close to home.
Tuesday
Students research potential solutions and/or gather relevant information.
Wednesday
Students research potential solutions and/or gather relevant information, collaborating with others.
Thursday
Students synthesize their findings and create some demonstrations of their solutions.
Friday
Students present or share their findings with others, gathering feedback and revising.
One lesson
Do Now
Mini-Lesson
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Exit Ticket
Do Now
(5 minutes)
Students start with a real-world problem or issue that is far away or close to home.
Mini-Lesson
(5 minutes)
Students acquire background information on the issue.
Guided Practice
(10 minutes)
Students deepen their understanding of the issue by reading a credible source.
Independent Practice
(15 minutes)
Students collaboratively write a short solution.
Exit Ticket
(5 minutes)
Students present or share their findings with others, gathering feedback and revising.
Takeaways
As an approach, project-based learning empowers students to be agents of change, capable of gathering and synthesizing information, creating solutions, and sharing their findings with others. The more time that students function in our classrooms as these agents of change, the better. Why? Because the real-world is full of problems and, as teachers, we are empowering young people to be confident that they can envision impactful solutions. Whether you embrace the spirit of PBL in a comprehensive unit, a week, or even just a single lesson, you are contributing to the growth of a new generation of change-makers — and there’s always enough time to get started.
Thinking critically about ChatGPT's role in developing culturally relevant ideas for our students.
I have a confession to make: my daughter has not seen Cinderella. She hasn’t seen Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas…not one of the traditional Disney princess movies. Why? I worry about some of the messaging. I don’t want her to feel responsible for fixing a beast or think that her voice is unimportant in relationships. I don’t think she’s ready yet for those complex conversations. I understand that eventually, we’ll watch them, and I’m okay with that — these stories and messages are everywhere, and if they’re accessible for my daughter, then I want to be there with her to help her think critically about them.
I feel the same way about generative AI, such as ChatGPT. We know that it’s an accessible resource for anyone who has the internet and a device, and as a professional development coach, I wonder how using ChatGPT as a thought partner or resource might be harmful without critical reflection. In my work, I help teachers plan lessons, units, and themes, and we discuss how we can make the learning opportunities they provide for young adults more engaging, relevant, and culturally sustaining. What is ChatGPT’s role in that? I explored this with a few prompts.
What are some relevant books for young Black boys in high school?
As I read through these suggestions, I highlighted some commonalities (here’s the researcher coming through). Four out of the ten books explicitly state police brutality, violence, and incarceration, and I know that these are also included in a few of the books listed, although not explicitly stated in the summaries. Five of them mention themes related to the civil rights movement and the struggle for equality, and of course, one has to be about basketball, one of the most common stereotypes about young Black boys I’ve heard.
Am I saying that these texts might not resonate with some of our students? Absolutely not. Am I saying that these texts are not valuable, worthy of reading, or address real and troubling systems of oppression both in the past and currently operating? No. What I am saying is that these texts essentialize what it means to be a young Black boy, and if these are the options teachers give their students based on ChatGPT without any critical reflection, we run the risk of essentializing our students.
What are some relevant books for young white boys in high school?
These suggestions, many of them labeled as “classic” novels, are about coming-of-age rather than not aging at all. Although one “addresses social injustice,” it does so through the perspective of a young white girl. Many of the texts also highlight friendship and camaraderie, the last one on the list emphasizing leadership and strategy. It was concerning for me to see the differences between the texts ChatGPT generated that were considered relevant for young Black boys in comparison to the texts generated relevant for young white boys.
Relevant vs. Essentializing
Let’s say a new teacher working in a segregated neighborhood entered the same prompts I did into ChatGPT with the very real and positive intention of making their instruction more relevant. Without the conversations they might have with a colleague or an instructional coach who has experience cultivating strengths and embedding joy within our classrooms, they might copy and paste ChatGPT’s generated suggestions for independent reading. Down the road, another teacher in a primarily white neighborhood continues to teach canonical or “classic” texts, providing the history of racial injustice through the eyes of white authors and potentially never addressing current systems of oppression. Which class is going to have an easier time discussing more canonical or classic texts in AP or college settings? Which class is going to have a better understanding of the civil rights movement and systems of oppression? There is harm in following ChatGPT’s suggestions for making learning experiences relevant and culturally sustaining without critical reflection, but I also understand that not everyone has access to instructional coaches. So what can we do? One starting point, in the absence of direct support, is to lean on experts in the field who are already engaged in these critical conversations. Here are some incredible conversation partners for educators looking to critically reflect:
It is incredibly important that all our students read texts that challenge and disrupt systems of oppression, like the prison-industrial complex, while learning about history through different perspectives. It is also incredibly important that our students are able to read stories of joy. Our young Black boys should read texts that center on coming-of-age, friendship, camaraderie, and leadership. Our young white boys should read texts about racial injustice from the perspective of someone who faced racial injustice, not another white person.
Perhaps educators can use ChatGPT’s generated responses in the classroom, critically looking at what the world deems “relevant” for certain groups. Yes, these are complex conversations, but unlike my four-year-old, our students are ready for them. ChatGPT is accessible, and we should help our students think critically about the worldviews ChatGPT perpetuates.
Simple shifts that help introduce racial literacy skills in developmentally appropriate ways.
It was a Friday evening, and my kiddo and I were putting her books back on the shelf after some reading time. The ideas that were swirling in my head all week about narrative inquiry and professional development had finally started to settle. Leave it to a preschooler to stir the pot.
“Mom, why didn’t MaVynee and her family get to go to those other beaches?” You see, we had just finished Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch by Heidi Tyline King and illustrated by Ekua Holmes. In this beautiful picture book, King and Holmes tell MaVynee’s story through her connection to American Beach, a place her grandfather bought during the Jim Crow era when Black people were barred from other beaches due to racist policies and the racist politicians who made them. Although we've discussed segregation before, as my daughter has gotten older, she has asked more and more questions. It was clear that she was having trouble understanding segregation, as it goes against our deepest family values of inclusion and love. She was starting to see outside our family, and I knew these were conversations in need of great care and thought. In the coming months, I would love to share some of my wonderings and conversations with you. We’ll start off with conversations sparked by Black History Month, but of course, I encourage you to celebrate Black history all year round, as Black history is our history. We begin this journey together at the library, working through a stack of books suggested by librarians and websites. Below you’ll find a few guiding suggestions that allow you to introduce racial literacy skills in developmentally appropriate ways for preschoolers.
Be aware of the language you're using
The language we use and have available to us allows us to interpret the world, and for this reason, I am always curious about the ways authors choose to tell stories. In a few of the picture books we encountered about enslavement, the Civil Rights Movement, and remarkable people in Black history, I noticed there were some terms I wanted to switch. For example, I changed the term “slave” to “enslaved” when we came across it in a text about Harriet Tubman. Changing the term “slave” to “enslaved” preserves the humanity of those who were enslaved; when we use the term “slave,” we are making it sound like a pre-existing condition, while when we use the term “enslaved,” it can spark important conversations about power and racism. Another example is when one text stated that Black students could not attend school with white students because they were Black. This is incorrect. We want to be sure that we are not using language structure that puts the blame on the color of someone’s skin; Black people were not allowed to do many things not because of the color of their skin, but because white people in power were racist and created racist rules. I was able to switch these terms out and rearrange language because my kiddo cannot read yet, but if you have kiddo(s) and/or students who can read, take the opportunity to talk to them about why we’re critically thinking about the language used, something important to highlight when developing racial literacy skills.
Introduce new concepts, like segregation, through familiar vocabulary and visualizations
Although my kiddo and I have read books centering Black history since she was born, she really wanted a concrete understanding of the term “segregation” as evidenced by her continuous questions. We began first by discussing different skin colors, bringing up an episode of a TV show where they mixed paint for different people in the neighborhood and re-reading a picture book that explains melanin. She felt satisfied with that, and so we discussed how that is connected to “segregation” using their diverse set of dolls.
First, we discussed all the different skin colors in her doll collection, and then I separated the dolls with darker skin tones from white dolls. Some of the books we were reading discussed racial segregation in schools, so at this point, I took a young Black doll and a young white doll and moved them across our train rug to show that they would have to attend different schools if they were segregated. When my kiddo asked why, I was sure not to say, “Because they were Black,” but rather, “There were some white people in power who thought that they were better than people with darker skin. That’s called racism. They did not want to have their kids go to school with people who had darker skin, and so they segregated the schools. Because they were powerful people, they were able to make up these rules.” I asked my kiddo if she thought this was “fair,” a term I know she has access to, and we had a conversation about why it’s not fair. My child also attends a diverse school, and she was able to bring this learning to her experience and note that she would never want her friends to have to go to another school. When she asked why people followed these rules, I read her books that centered Black Joy and resistance.
Celebrate Black Joy and resistance!
Have you ever heard of Congo Square in New Orleans? How about Hush Harbors? Or maybe you learned about the ways enslaved people would map out escape routes in their hairstyles? I did not know any of this until after I graduated with a Master’s degree — a fact that I am a bit ashamed of — but I never stopped learning. As a parent, it was important for me to reflect on what I learned, how the stories silenced harmed my racial literacy development as a white-assumed person, and think through ways I can share my learning with my kiddo. My K-16 schooling experience included the devastating effects of enslavement (rightfully so), but I never learned about the ways Black people resisted and continued to fight for their humanity in the face of violence. As I watch my child grow, I know that foregrounding how oppressed people fought their oppression and oppressors and found joy is imperative in her racial literacy development. Here are some titles that my daughter and I have read:
This is just the beginning, but there is something remarkable about that. There were many things I was not taught, and there were things that my teachers hyper focused on that told a story very different from the stories I know now. I am grateful for my learning, mostly due to the work of Black women and trans scholars, and I look forward to developing my daughter’s racial literacy much earlier than mine.
As my daughter and I work through these stories, we’ve begun discussing the ways racism and segregation are still a part of life in America, but that is an article for another day. I hope that sharing my thoughts, considerations, and conversations with you can help spark some story shifting and new learning for you and yours.
Creativity flourishes in an environment where exploration is encouraged and individual voices are celebrated.
Genre-based writing is the art of crafting narratives within distinct literary genres or categories. Literary genres, such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and romance, are defined by specific stylistic elements, forms, and content.
Engaging in genre-based writing involves intentionally aligning one's writing with the conventions, themes, and structures associated with a chosen genre. This process includes utilizing storytelling techniques, incorporating stylistic elements, and exploring themes relevant to the selected genre. For instance, a mystery novel might feature a central crime, a detective, and a resolution, while a romance novel centers around a key romantic relationship within the plot.
Why genre-based writing matters: a deeper exploration
Recognizing the significance of genre-based writing goes beyond the conventional understanding of major genres such as narrative, argumentative, and informative. It involves delving into the unique sub-genres, including speculative memoirs, flash fiction, Ted Talks, infographics, Op-Eds, and more. This exploration involves immersing oneself in an inquiry-based study of specific texts, a process that reveals nuances that often transcend traditional genre boundaries. Within this exploration, the promotion of creativity takes center stage. By encouraging students to engage with diverse sub-genres, teachers foster an environment where creativity can flourish. This approach not only sets clear expectations for writers, but also enhances their ability to communicate effectively with their audience. In doing so, it allows readers the freedom to choose works that are tailored to their preferences, fostering a deeper connection and appreciation for the art of writing. The Student Press Initiative (SPI), a signature initiative at CPET, strongly advocates for genre-based writing as a meaningful framework that not only expands literary possibilities, but also nurtures the creative spirit within each student.
What does genre-based writing entail?
SPI serves as a guiding force for both teachers and students in the realm of genre studies, employing a close examination of exemplars — often drawn from a diverse array of published texts, ranging from poems and essays to PSAs. In this process, students engage in a detailed analysis of these texts, examining content, structure, and craft through the lens of a writer, taking in all of its attributes and conventions in the process. The collaborative nature of this exploration lays the groundwork for creativity. Through shared discussions and the creation of charts, students collectively share insights into the genre and its unique characteristics. Rather than prescribing what or how to write, teachers adopt an empowering stance, encouraging students to explore and discover, thereby nurturing the development of insightful ideas and observations. This student-driven approach not only empowers individuals but also transforms the teacher's role from knower, to that of a facilitator or provocateur, cultivating a powerful space for exploration, self-discovery, and creativity. In a recent workshop I facilitated, SPI coaches immersed themselves in a genre-based study of the poem "What For" by Garret Hongo. While I’ve used this poem many times on many different occasions, I’m always impressed by the new ideas, observations, and questions that arise, underscoring how readers engage uniquely with texts. Collective discussions delved into content, form, and structure, highlighting original stylistic moves by the author. For instance, one coach noted changes in stanza lengths, sparking a discussion on its intentional contribution to the poem's meaning. Another coach made note of his powerful auditory imagery, and another made content connections to the American Dream. This exploration set the stage for coaches to embark on their own creative journeys, crafting "What For" poems inspired by Hongo's content, form, and craft, including elements such as repetition and reiterated structures. Reflecting on the similarities and differences among these poems further deepened the collective understanding of this specific genre, demonstrating how creativity flourishes in an environment where exploration is encouraged and individual voices are celebrated.
Unleashing creativity and self-discovery
In summary, genre-based writing is a powerful tool for creativity, independent thinking, and self-discovery. Embracing this approach turns educators and students into skilled explorers of various literary genres, creating a collaborative and empowering learning space.
SEL doesn’t need to be one more thing to add — it can enrich all that you’re already doing.
If you’re a teacher, parent, administrator — or anyone who works with children in any capacity at all — you’ve likely heard about social-emotional learning.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines social-emotional learning, or “SEL,” as “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions” (“Fundamentals of SEL,” 2023). Reading the definition of CASEL, I am struck by just how delightful it sounds. Imagine a world full of young people (and adults) who can learn and demonstrate new knowledge, regulate their emotions, achieve their goals, and show care for others. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful world? I can almost hear the productive dialogue, see the best friends hugging one another after a particularly awful disagreement, and touch the letters on the page of a student’s list of dreams for their future — are we doing anything important today? I forgot my computer! Sam pushed me and he – Can I have extra credit….even though I didn’t do the last five assignments? What were the directions? I wasn’t listening. As a teacher, I often felt like I was oscillating between these extremes: my hopes for bettering the world, uplifting and liberating the voices of tomorrow, remembering my “why,” repeating the directions for the fifth time in a row, begging students to stop touching one another, frustratedly handing out computer chargers and searching for usable outlets. Too often, I’ve seen social-emotional learning presented as the catch-all solution for every problem that teachers are facing in the classroom today. Social-emotional learning can feel like one more thing to add to teachers overly long to-do lists.
Integrating reflection skills
Teachers know better than anyone that young people need help: to learn, to manage, to care. But, they also know firsthand the weight of hundreds of expectations. So, if you’re a teacher who wants to embrace social-emotional learning, but you are also feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of adding one more thing, our social-emotional learning resource is for you. This resource includes 41 prompts that can be used for your own reflection or with your students as they reflect and build their social-emotional skills.
The prompts included here are organized into five themes, drawn from the core social-emotional competencies identified by CASEL. The themes and their explanations are as follows:
These prompts don’t need to be added, but they can be integrated into the practices that you already have in your classroom: in writing, in discussion, in reflection. Here are some places you might integrate the prompts into what you are already doing:
I said it before and I’ll say it again: teachers know better than anyone that young people need help: to learn, to manage, to care. But, they also know firsthand the weight of hundreds of expectations.
SEL doesn’t need to be one more thing to add. It can enrich all that you’re already doing, and you’re doing so much. Thank you to every teacher, past and present — I am because of you.
Support emerging readers' vocabulary with a balance of explicit instruction and in-context learning.
This is the fifth installment in our Science of Reading series
Vocabulary is a crucial component of reading comprehension and literacy development. Understanding vocabulary and its significance is essential for educators as they work to support emerging readers on their journey to becoming skilled and proficient readers. In this fifth and final installment focused on the science of reading, we will unpack what vocabulary means, why it is important, and provide three promising practices that teachers can implement to effectively support emerging readers with vocabulary development.
What is vocabulary in the science of reading?
In the science of reading, vocabulary refers to the collection of words that a reader understands, recognizes, and can use effectively in their reading and writing. It encompasses both oral vocabulary (words we understand and use in speaking) and print vocabulary (words we recognize and understand in reading). Vocabulary development is a multifaceted process that involves word learning, comprehension, and retention.
Why is vocabulary development important?
Vocabulary serves as the anchor connecting various critical reading skills, fostering a deeper understanding of phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. In phonological awareness, it enhances recognition and discernment of sounds within words, ultimately aiding in the decoding and pronunciation processes. When it comes to phonics, a robust vocabulary equips learners with the ability to detect word structures and pronunciation nuances, enabling them to effectively apply phonics rules during reading. Additionally, vocabulary ensures swift and accurate word recognition, which significantly contributes to reading speed and fluency. But perhaps most importantly, vocabulary enhances reading comprehension by giving readers the capability not only to recognize words, but also to understand their meanings within a text. Without a strong vocabulary, readers will likely encounter difficulties in grasping the core of what they are reading, ultimately hindering overall comprehension.
Promising practices for vocabulary development
Plenty of vocabulary strategies exist, but issues arise when one approach is excessively emphasized or prioritized, potentially leading to minimal or even neglected use of others. For example, overreliance on explicit vocabulary instruction may lead to isolated word memorization without a deeper understanding of word usage in context. An effective approach strikes a balance between explicit instruction and in-context learning. Below, I present three promising practices, as well as concrete examples of how I implemented these practices in my classroom. I believe these examples encompass various methods for explicitly supporting young readers' vocabulary development. Ideally, teachers will utilize all three practices, at different times, to create a comprehensive and holistic approach to vocabulary instruction.
Vocabulary development is a fundamental aspect of reading and literacy. In the science of reading, understanding what vocabulary is and why it's important is crucial for educators. By implementing explicit vocabulary instruction, contextual learning, and engaging word play and games, teachers can provide effective support for emerging readers, helping them build a strong foundation for successful, lifelong reading.
Incorporate active comprehension strategies that allow students to deeply engage with the texts they encounter.
This is the fourth installment in our Science of Reading series
Throughout our science of reading series, we've been exploring the crucial aspects of reading proficiency. In this installment, we will delve into reading comprehension, a fundamental skill that transcends the mere decoding of words on a page. Comprehension involves understanding, interpreting, and making meaning from the text. This ability is essential for success because it enables readers to connect prior knowledge with new information, make inferences, identify main ideas, and draw conclusions.
In the context of the science of reading, which emphasizes evidence-based reading instruction, reading comprehension holds a critical position. It recognizes that reading is not a single skill, but rather a complex interplay of various cognitive processes. Furthermore, it acknowledges that reading comprehension is built upon a solid foundation of phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency, as discussed in our previous articles. These foundational skills are essential for developing proficient readers, as they provide the necessary groundwork for understanding the content of the text. Now, let's delve into the significance of incorporating comprehension strategies alongside fluency and phonics, highlighting how they enhance the reading experience for students.
The power of active reading comprehension strategies
While fluency and phonics lay the foundation for reading proficiency, active comprehension strategies are the key to unlocking the true potential of these foundational skills. Fostering deeper understanding: Comprehension strategies encourage students to dive deeper into the text. When they actively make predictions, ask questions, visualize scenes, or summarize key points, they engage with the material at a greater level. This not only aids in grasping the surface level content, but also enables them to explore underlying themes, character motivations, and the author's intent. Bridging gaps in proficiency: Active comprehension strategies bridge the gap between students who excel in fluency and decoding, and those who struggle. For those proficient in these areas, comprehension strategies provide the tools to dig deeper and extract more meaning from texts. Meanwhile, students who may struggle with decoding and fluency can still make powerful inferences and predictions when they engage with comprehension strategies. This inclusivity ensures that no student is left behind in their reading journey. Promoting critical thinking: Comprehension strategies encourage students to analyze information, draw connections, and evaluate the significance of details within a text. This not only enhances their comprehension, but also equips them with valuable life skills that extend beyond the classroom. Building lifelong readers: The integration of comprehension strategies nurtures a love for reading. When students actively engage with texts, they become more invested in the reading experience. This can lead to a lifelong passion for reading and learning, setting the stage for continued growth and success.
Effective strategies for promoting comprehension
Incorporating comprehension strategies alongside fluency and phonics is essential for developing well-rounded readers. Below are three strategies I found to be particularly helpful for supporting comprehension in my young readers.
Explicit comprehension instruction
One way to promote comprehension is to provide explicit instruction of evidence-based strategies, such as making predictions, asking questions, visualizing, summarizing, and making connections while reading. Encourage readers to actively engage with the text by discussing their thoughts and insights. Model these strategies and provide ample opportunities for guided practice. By equipping students with these tools, you empower them to extract deeper meaning from the text. When I was in the classroom, I leaned on pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies and exercises that were focused on the asking of questions. By teaching my students to ask questions about the story, I helped them become active readers who think deeply about what they're reading and develop a better understanding of the text. An example lesson might look like:
Vocabulary development
A robust vocabulary is crucial for comprehension, as it bridges decoding skills like phonics and the ability to understand and enjoy texts fully. When students encounter unfamiliar words while reading, a well-developed vocabulary allows them to unlock the meanings of these words, making the reading experience more enjoyable and meaningful.
By integrating vocabulary instruction into reading lessons with a focus on context clues, students not only enhance their comprehension skills, but also strengthen their phonics abilities by recognizing and deciphering unfamiliar words within the context of the text. This holistic approach ensures that students not only decode words accurately, but also understand them in the broader context of the story. Building a strong vocabulary enhances comprehension by enabling students to grasp the nuances and subtleties of language.
Independent reading
In my classroom, I embraced the power of independent reading as a key component of our literacy program. Independent reading, also known as "personalized reading time," was a daily activity where my students had the freedom to choose books or materials that both matched their reading levels and piqued their interests. Studies have found that when students are allowed to choose their own reading materials, they are more engaged and invested in the reading process, resulting in improved comprehension (Guthrie and Humenick (2004)). To support independent reading, I ensured our classroom library was stocked with a wide range of books and magazines. This diversity catered to different reading levels, genres, and topics, giving each student ample choices. During independent reading time, students had the autonomy to select their reading materials, which fostered a sense of ownership over their reading experience, making it more engaging and enjoyable. I worked closely with each student, mostly through conferencing, to ensure they selected books that matched their reading levels. This ensured that the material was neither too easy nor too challenging, promoting comprehension and confidence. To enhance comprehension and encourage reflection, I periodically organized book discussions or "book talks." If multiple students were reading the same book, we would gather for a group discussion. In these sessions, students had the opportunity to share their thoughts, insights, and favorite parts of the book. It promoted a sense of community and enthusiasm for reading. After each independent reading session, I encouraged students to reflect on what they had read and set personal reading goals. This reflection helped them track their progress and set targets for improvement. Lastly, students kept reading journals where they recorded the titles of the books they read, brief summaries, and personal reflections. These journals served as a valuable tool for tracking their reading journey. By incorporating independent reading into our daily routine, my students not only improved their reading comprehension, but also developed a genuine love for reading. It was a practice that empowered them to explore diverse texts, share their reading experiences, and become lifelong readers.
Elevating comprehension
By integrating explicit comprehension instruction, vocabulary development, and independent reading, educators can establish a holistic approach to literacy that extends beyond fluency and phonics. This approach ensures that students not only read accurately, but also engage deeply with, analyze, and appreciate the texts they encounter, equipping them with the full range of skills essential for reading development and proficiency.
Five guiding questions to help you take stock of your professional processes and priorities.
It was early on a Friday morning, and Mr. Bower and I looked at each other through our screens. He had just stated that he felt like he was living in a pinball machine...and he was the pinball. This was not the first time this year I had heard an educator voice this feeling, and if you’ve said any of the following terms, you might be feeling the same way: scattered, not enough time, too many buckets, tired.
Although some call teaching a labor of love, it helps to highlight the labor part. I have seen many educators tackle new curriculum, leadership roles, and multiple club advisories due to vacancies at their schools, and all of these additional responsibilities can leave educators, well, feeling like a pinball. So what can we do? Every situation is different, and I don’t have all the answers, but I want to offer a few reflection questions that I have used in my coaching sessions with educators for your consideration.
Is there anything you can pull back on?
List out all of the responsibilities you have, including committees, lesson planning, clubs, etc. Take stock. I find that by the middle of the year, some educators don’t even realize everything they have said yes to. If there is anywhere you can pull back — whether that means delegating tasks to someone else or requesting to leave a committee — the break provides some time for you to think on it. Is there anything you can ask for help with? In one of my coaching projects, many department leaders mentioned the same thing: lack of co-planning time. In their school, they were able to make time in their weekly meetings for this, and co-planners have been able to tackle plans for the week ahead. If that’s not possible, is there a way to split up planning with someone teaching the same courses as you? Where are you spending the majority of your time? By keeping track of how much time you are spending on specific tasks, you can compare this with the tasks that you want to prioritize. If you are a teacher leader, make sure your meetings are run efficiently with an agenda and a clear plan to split up the work. Although this is more upfront work, it will save you time in the long run. As a teacher, take a look at your daily routine. Are you spending more time grading than planning? Perhaps consider cutting back on how many assignments you are grading; you do not have to grade everything that comes across your desk, nor is it equitable to! Consider which assignments can be designated as practice or process and which assignments should be graded to demonstrate growth and mastery. Then, move to question #4. Are there any systems that might streamline some of your tasks? An example of this might be something as simple as creating Exit Ticket reflection questions that can be repeated for multiple lessons, such as “What is something new you learned today?” If you’d rather keep your Exit Tickets specific to each lesson with comprehension questions, doing so on a Google Form by using a quiz template or creating a multiple choice bubble sheet to use with a scanner can help save time and provide live data. If you’re a department lead, consider data inquiry cycles that have set agenda templates for each meeting rather than attempting to create new ones on a continuous basis. I’ve also suggested that department notes be kept in Google Sheets rather than a running Google Doc with each tab named as the date of the meeting. This avoids the dreaded scroll and keeps meetings organized and easy to access for reflection. Are there any webinars for curriculum that might help you navigate new resources? Most of my coaching is within New York City, and most districts are being required to select curricula from a list of choices. If you’re working with an unfamiliar curriculum, check out its website for possible webinars. I also encourage you to ask your administration if you might be paid for attendance, and definitely ask for funding if the webinar requires payment. Another way to get help is through contacting a representative from that curriculum company and seeing if they are available to pop on a Zoom to answer questions.
The most important question to ask yourself is: What are you doing to take care of yourself? Are you setting time boundaries for work? Are you able to see friends and family? Are you making time for your hobbies? I would hope that the answers to all of these questions is yes, but if not, working through some of the above questions might help you reorganize your schedule in order to make time for whatever brings you joy.
Find inspiration for classroom discussions that encourage students to make their voices heard.
“So, what are your thoughts? Talk with each other.”
I remember asking this question many times, always expecting it to be greeted immediately and enthusiastically by the voices of many students, clamoring to share all at once. In some classrooms, that was the case. In most others, a deafening silence would stretch for several minutes. Eventually, I’d ask a new question or encourage them to write down their answers and turn them in so that I could read them. Most students had an abundance of thoughts, I discovered, when they handed in their written responses. I desperately wanted to create a culture of discussion in my classroom, one in which students could not stop talking to one another about our texts and topics of study. But, this open-ended question asking them to share their thoughts never seemed to stimulate the kind of discussions that I was searching for. The question for me became, how can I begin to create a culture of discussion in my classroom?
Questioning
To explore that larger question, I began with a smaller one: what kind of questions were the most exciting for me to answer as a learner? We all may have different answers to that question, and I encourage you to take a few moments to think or to write about what your unique answer might be. In my own process of reflection, I discovered that I am enthusiastic to answer questions that are open-ended: those that invite many different perspectives and clearly do not have one “correct” answer. I also love questions that get me thinking about something that hasn’t occurred to me before: thought-provoking questions that feel relevant to me in some way, connecting to my interests, my recent thought patterns, or some facet of my identity. And, most especially, I love answering questions when I can be assured that someone else around me will answer, too. There is something vulnerable about sharing thoughts and ideas in a classroom space, especially when there is no guarantee that others will do the same. Out of my own reflections came clear pathways forward — new things to try.
Paired discussion
The first protocol that I embraced consistently became the turn and talk. Rather than invite students to share in front of the whole class, I’d invite students to turn and talk to one person next to them, taking turns to share their responses. I can appreciate how many teachers mock the turn-and-talk discussion protocol as a favorite of administrators who believe that this discussion technique will solve all educational dilemmas. As teachers, it can be easy to become cynical quickly about those strategies most commonly suggested. With that said, the turn-and-talk protocol transformed academic talk in my classroom. By the third or fourth time that I implemented the strategy, I was stunned by all the ideas my students were willing to share with each other that they wouldn’t share with the whole class. But, it also made sense once I implemented the protocol, as so many things in retrospect often do. It’s much easier to share with a peer than with one’s teacher. It’s much easier to share with a peer when you know that they will share in return with you. Eventually, I knew that I wanted the turn-and-talk to grow into small group discussions. So, how?
Small group discussion
“Save the Last Word for Me” was introduced to me by a colleague who was devoted to building a culture of discussion in her classroom. Her explanation was simple, and I do my best to recreate it here:
I never implemented the protocol to fidelity, but it inspired lots of small group discussions in my classrooms. What if I tried it with images? With documents? With word problems? What if the groups were slightly larger or smaller? To me, one beautiful thing about teaching is that every protocol is an invitation to create and to re-create things until they feel like our own. I invite you to do the same — what small group discussion strategies might this one protocol inspire?
Whole class discussion
I never gave up on my dream of whole class discussions. As many English teachers can appreciate, the Socratic seminar is often celebrated as the pinnacle of literary discussions. After many months of paired and small group discussions, I was terrified that our first Socratic seminar of the year would be a return to the silence. Students are always full of surprises. “But did you look here at what she says on page 23? It makes me think that….” “I’m not sure I agree, but that’s an interesting point. Have you thought about….” “That’s a good point. Maybe we should think about….” The voices, the laughter, the thoughts swirling around — it was everything that I had hoped for my students in a whole class discussion. I described this moment of success with a fellow teacher, expressing my surprise and amazement about how successful our first Socratic seminar was. He laughed, “I’m not surprised. Your kids are always talking.”
An invitation
Creating a culture of discussion was not a linear experience for me as a teacher. I learned from the wisdom of fellow teachers and, no matter what protocols I used, there were days in which silence felt inevitable. But, I did get my students talking. If you’re interested in thinking more about how to create a culture of discussion in your own classroom, I invite you to join me online at Keep the Kids Talking, where you can reflect on your own experiences, and also acquire new, implementable discussion strategies. I hope to see you there.
Nurture confident readers by blending phonics into the fabric of your literacy instruction.
This is the third installment in our Science of Reading series
When it comes to early reading instruction, few topics have sparked as much debate and controversy as the teaching of phonics. Over the years, the pendulum has swung between extremes: some advocate for phonics as the exclusive focus of instruction, while others argue for its complete exclusion from the curriculum. However, the crux of effective literacy education lies in finding a harmonious balance. As part of my series dedicated to unraveling the science of reading and nurturing young readers, we embark on a journey into the world of phonics. What exactly is phonics, what role does it play in reading development, and how can early childhood educators incorporate it into their classrooms through a balanced approach?
Defining Phonics: The Foundation of Reading
At its core, phonics is the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters that represent those sounds in written language. It's the code that unlocks reading comprehension. Phonics instruction involves teaching students how to connect the sounds of spoken language (phonemes) to the symbols (letters or letter combinations) that represent them (graphemes). We dig deeper into this topic in my previous article, which examines how to nurture phonological awareness in emerging readers. Phonics equips young readers with the skills needed to decode words — without phonics, the process of learning to read would be like trying to solve a complex puzzle without understanding the individual pieces.
The Purpose and Importance of Phonics
Phonics serves several crucial purposes in the development of young readers: Decoding Words: Phonics provides the key to unlocking unfamiliar words in texts. When students understand the relationships between sounds and letters, they can sound out words they haven't encountered before. Building Fluency: Proficiency in phonics helps build reading fluency. Fluent readers can read with accuracy, speed, and expression, which enhances comprehension, as we have discussed in previous articles. Spelling Proficiency: Phonics instruction also contributes to spelling skills. When students know the sounds associated with letters and letter combinations, they can spell words more accurately.
Balancing Act: The Key to Phonics Success
A balanced approach to phonics instruction is essential in literacy education for several reasons. Firstly, it facilitates a well-rounded development of essential reading and writing skills, encompassing phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing proficiency. This holistic perspective acknowledges and embraces the diversity of learners, accommodating various learning styles and individual needs. The integration of phonics within authentic reading and writing contexts is a critical aspect of this approach. By immersing students in real-world applications of phonics skills, it not only reinforces learning, but also enhances reading fluency. This equips students with a range of word recognition strategies, lessening their reliance solely on phonics, and thereby improving reading efficiency. Furthermore, a balanced approach recognizes that the ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. It weaves phonics instruction together with comprehension strategies, ensuring that students not only decode words, but also understand and interpret the text they read. Creating a balanced approach to instruction can offer essential support for struggling readers, tailoring instruction to meet their specific needs and providing a scaffold for their literacy development. Ultimately, it fosters a deep appreciation for literacy, nurturing lifelong reading and writing habits, and in doing so, it aligns with evidence-based practices in literacy education.
A Balanced Approach In Action
As a third-grade teacher, I often recognized the need to teach phonics to specific groups of students, even though it wasn't a part of the standard curriculum. One approach I used was phonics through literature, where I selected books featuring specific phonics patterns, and integrated phonics instruction within shared reading sessions. For example, if I wanted to focus on the long a sound spelled with the silent e pattern (e.g., "cake," "gate”), I could use a book like Jake Bakes Cakes, which prominently features words with this pattern. I would then use this text to engage in a shared reading session, where I read the book aloud to the class, pausing at words with the target phonics pattern. For instance, when we encountered the word cake, I might emphasize the long a sound and point out the silent e at the end of the word. After reading, I would engage the students in a discussion about the phonics pattern, asking questions like, "What sound does the e make at the end of the word cake?" or "Can you find other words in the story with the same pattern?" To support word recognition, I would encourage students to identify and read words with the target pattern in the book. They might take turns reading sentences or identifying words on specific pages. I would also have students use magnetic letters or word cards to demonstrate how changing the vowel sound (e.g. cake to make) affects the word's pronunciation and meaning. Students would then manipulate letters to create new words following the same pattern. If there was time, I would also ask students to engage in word play activities related to the phonics pattern, such as creating rhyming words or making word family charts, to reinforce the concept. As a follow-up activity, students might be encouraged to write their own sentences or short stories using words with the target phonics pattern. The key idea behind phonics through literature is that phonics instruction is embedded within the context of enjoyable and meaningful texts, fostering a love for reading and connecting phonics to authentic language usage. I found that my students were highly engaged in these activities, and they proved to be beneficial to their development as readers.
In summary, the teaching of phonics is a foundational component of early literacy instruction. It equips young readers with the tools needed to decode words, build fluency, and enhance spelling skills. However, the key to effective phonics instruction lies in balance — it's not about choosing between phonics all the time or not at all; it's about blending phonics into the fabric of literacy instruction.
By incorporating phonics into shared reading, fun activities, and explicit instruction, early childhood educators empower their students to become confident and skilled readers. In the next installment of our series, we will explore comprehension strategies, bringing us one step closer to unlocking the full potential of our young readers. Stay tuned!
Navigate a four-part cycle that will help you develop effective assessments and determine students' needs.
Adapted by G. Faith Little from CPET’s Handbook: Design Your Own ELA Assessments, by Courtney Brown and Dr. Roberta Lenger Kang.
As educators, we assess our students in multiple ways for many purposes: to evaluate what they know and can do based on the skills and content that we teach them, to make instructional decisions, and to reflect on teacher practice. Quizzes, in-class activities, homework, and writing assignments are all opportunities to find out how our students are achieving. By analyzing and interpreting the results of these tasks, we can determine the needs of students and adjust our teaching to help students succeed.
Periodic assessments are low-stake assessments designed to provide timely and detailed information on students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as their progress over time. The results from the assessments are used by teachers as data to inform instruction. They can also be used to start and deepen communication with parents / caregivers who can support their students’ learning outside of the classroom.
Establishing learning goals
The assessment and rubric development cycle begins by establishing learning goals. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) pose these helpful questions: "What content is worthy of understanding? What enduring understandings are desired?" Addressing these questions will help teachers establish learning goals for the entire year, as well as individual units. Periodic assessments should be designed to measure students’ progress in these learning goals and relate directly to the content of teachers’ instruction, i.e., books, plays, stories, etc. These goals, in ELA, for example, should relate to the reading process, knowledge of literary conventions, making meaning (analysis), and communicating in writing. When teachers develop learning goals together, there is cohesion and focus in how the school supports students’ learning. In any content area, learning goals specify the crucial understanding teachers expect students to develop and the key skills or competencies students should demonstrate. Learning goals for periodic assessments can be developed by teachers, often working together within a school, and referencing important resources, including state mandated learning standards and performance indicators, schoolwide learning standards, disciplinary criteria, and teachers’ own expectations for student performance. Articulate learning goals by answering the following:
Ready to begin mapping our your goals? Download our Learning Goals worksheet.
Developing assessments and rubrics
Assessments Formative assessments are those that focus on the students’ performance as they develop important knowledge and skills — they’re meant as benchmarks or milestones along the journey rather than the final destination. Teachers can use the data from these assessments to determine future instruction. Periodic assessments should be aligned with student performance standards, learning goals, and the curriculum in each unique learning community. While each assessment (Fall, Winter, and Spring) may look different, designers should carefully consider how the assessments measure students’ growth throughout the entire year. These assessments will provide valuable feedback for teachers to improve instruction, align to standards, and measure student growth. These curriculum-embedded assessments have great potential to inform teachers and schools of the students’ progress toward established standards. Curriculum-embedded means an assessment is designed to reflect the actual curriculum being taught in the class. This is in contrast to most standardized tests, which generally do not pertain to the curriculum taught in individual classrooms. The chosen approach often influences the type of data accumulated. Aligned assessments
Description
Each assessment maintains the same format and requirements. Many teachers have used similar persuasive writing prompts with the same requirements for each assessment. This approach allows for consistency and assessment routines. Data information Since each assessment is very similar, teachers are looking to see students’ scores increase on each assessment. Longitudinal score results are reliable because the assessments are similar and the same rubric is used for each one. Teachers can identify areas where scores do not increase as areas in need of additional instruction. Progressive assessments
Description
The assessments become progressively more difficult, to reflect the growing knowledge and abilities of students. The assessments are designed to reflect the latest content unit as well as yearlong learning goals. This approach allows for flexibility and takes a snapshot of student learning. Data information Since each assessment gets progressively harder, maintaining scores indicates students are learning and growing. Score results directly reflect the most recent instruction and show what information students did not fully grasp. Teachers can make determinations about what should be reviewed or revisited from a new approach. Project-based assessments
Description
The assessments are inextricably connected to the classroom units and allow for students to express learning in multiple forms. Project-based assessments are designed to reflect the latest content knowledge through authentic (real-world) projects. Data information Since many of these authentic assessments include a publication or performance, an early draft of the project may be used as the assessment because it represents the students’ own work without additional assistance. Teachers see scores as reflective of “live knowledge” and immediately use the data to identify important lesson topics and share feedback with students so they can revise. Responsive assessments
Description
The assessments are designed to measure growth in specific areas, based on information learned by analyzing the data and student work. Responsive assessments attend to the needs presented by the students and they inform specific areas where instruction should be elaborated. Data information Since these assessments are designed as a response to the data, the support structures in each assessment may increase or decrease, depending on the time of year. Areas where students are scoring poorly may indicate that increased support is necessary for the next assessment. When analyzing the data, teachers are primarily interested in how students are performing in these specified areas where they’ve made changes in an effort to increase student performance. Rubrics The rubric, a scoring guide that uses descriptors for every performance level, is an essential component to any assessment. While rubrics may come in many shapes and sizes, the most effective rubrics are those that encapsulate the focus dimensions of the assessment and clearly describe the strengths of the performance at every level. Rubrics are most effective when they are assessment-specific because they are created for the precise task and requirements of the assessment, unlike all-purpose rubrics, which are often broad or ambiguous to account for a wide variety of assessments. The following ten criteria (adapted by Dr. Roberta Lenger Kang from the work of Dennie Palmer Wolf of the Rethinking Accountability Initiative at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University) mark the foundations for creating an effective rubric that reliably evaluates student work:
Frequent pitfalls of rubric design
Too much / too little information Too much information and the rubric bleeds on to too many pages, the expectations are barely read, and it can be difficult to use. Too little information leaves too many qualities of the assessment undefined, and therefore, difficult to score. Consider aiming for 3-6 dimensions and performance levels with 3-5 consistent qualifying statements for each. Vague, ambiguous, confusing or contradictory language Consider using descriptions that clearly explain what the student did. Professional or exclusive language vs. inclusive language Be careful not to exclude students from understanding the rubric by using ultra-sophisticated or academic language. The most popular buzzwords don’t always make the best rubric descriptors. Use student-friendly language that capitalizes on words and phrases commonly used in the classroom. Expectations for assessment misaligned with the rubric Be sure to align the rubric with the learning goals and the assessment. It’s crucial that designers pay close attention to the assessment requirements and the rubric language because if something is not on the rubric, it cannot be used as a factor for evaluation. Scoring is inconsistent with performance levels If scores seem inconsistent with the performance levels (for example, a student earned “Proficient” but only earns a score of 2 or 65%) it may be necessary to revise how the scores were assigned to each level. Consider testing the rubric scoring system to be sure numeric scores or percentages are accurate to their performance level.
Designing assessments & rubrics is important and challenging work. Partner with CPET to create customized materials and support successful implementation of effective tasks, assessments, and rubrics!
Scoring assessments
All assessments must be scored in order to produce the data used to inform instruction. When scoring assessments, we recommend that schools use a team approach, which may include both teachers from the specific content area and teachers from other disciplines. This promotes school-wide collaboration, builds community, and supports reading and writing across the disciplines. Team members should prepare to score by taking part in a “norming” process, reviewing and discussing the task to clarify what the students are asked to do and what teachers expect to see in their work and become familiar with the rubric. Next, it is useful to have a “norming discussion”: everybody reads and discusses several samples of student work from the assessment task, each teacher scores the work individually, and then group members share scores and discuss how they used the rubric to score the student work samples using evidence from the papers to justify their scoring. Once teachers feel comfortable with using the rubric, teachers should score the students’ work from the assessment. We suggest building in a “reliability check” process to make sure that the students’ work is being scored fairly and consistently so that the data will be reliable. Periodic assessments are most useful when scored as soon after the administration of the assessment as possible, so the data is relevant and timely. The longer the gap between students’ taking the assessment and the data report, the less useful in informing instruction the data will seem to teachers and administrators. SAMPLE: An approach to collaborative scoring
Two important common principles: (5-10 minutes)
Clarifying the task (20 min)
Norming (30 - 45 min) Distribution of copies of assessment #1
Scoring (duration depends on task content / length) First Scoring
Score comparison (duration depends on how scores match up)
Mediation (if necessary)
All assessments with final scores should be returned to facilitators. Woohoo! We did it!
Analyzing data
Data comes in many forms and is used every day by teachers to help plan instruction and adjust our teaching. Quizzes, essays, homework, standardized tests, and attendance records are all data. Teachers’ observations of students at work are also an important form of data. Students’ responses and behavior are data. No one form of data will give a complete picture of a student’s achievement. There is no shortage of usable data; however, it is how we collect and analyze the data wisely to inform teaching and learning that matters. This step in the cycle specifies a systematic process, one that allows us to look closely and analyze the data. A careful analysis of the data will yield important information about our students’ strengths and weaknesses. Based on this information, schools and teachers can develop or revise learning goals, and teachers can plan specific instruction for a class and/or individual students to best address students’ needs. We suggest that data discussions be carried out among specific content area teachers and with colleagues from other disciplines. This will allow teachers across the curriculum to identify and address students’ needs — for example, organizing an argument in writing, using evidence to support their thesis, articulating rationale for a solution to a problem or a hypothesis, etc. Data is any form of information collected together for reference and analysis. Another way to understand data is as evidence of desired results. In the case of periodic assessment data, scores from student work provide data for understanding how students are performing related to specific learning goals. This is where curriculum-embedded assessments can be most powerful. You actually have to anticipate the kinds of data that will be useful as part of developing a unit of study. The data may be used to answer questions about whole class performance and individual student performance. The data reports will also help teachers to adjust instructional strategies to address students’ needs — e.g., what might need to be retaught or taught differently?
Ready to communicate with a student about their strengths and goals? Download our Individual Plan for Improvement Sample to use when sharing data with students.
Continuing the cycle
Assessing students is most valuable as part of a cycle that begins with establishing student learning goals and involves developing curriculum-embedded assessments and rubrics, administering the assessments, scoring them, and analyzing the data they produce to inform instruction. Keep the cycle going from baseline to end of year assessments!
Create clear and consistent procedures that communicate classroom expectations to students.
The list of a typical teacher’s responsibilities is long — in addition to curricular work, lesson planning and implementation, monitoring and assessing students’ learning, offering feedback to students, parent communication, and so much more, teachers are also responsible for making sure that all aspects of learning and the classroom are organized and safe. The work can feel endless.
It is a hefty responsibility to plan for and implement procedures for all transitions or movements in and out and around the classroom. However, once you have developed and implemented some simple, clear, and consistent procedures, the work can feel less daunting and move more smoothly!
Locating routines
The initial notion of the Three Rs — Reading, (w)Riting and ‘Rithmetic — as the foundation of learning and education is clearly too narrow, especially as we move more firmly into the 21st century. Instead, reinterpreting the Three Rs as Routines, Rituals, and Relationships makes more sense as guiding principles for today’s classrooms. First, let’s take a closer look at how routines, rituals, and relationships help us make key decisions as we cultivate our classrooms. Rituals are different from systems and procedures, because their main goal is to create and sustain community and support an inclusive culture where all students feel welcome, safe and appreciated. Rituals may be instilled as you start up the year, and they will also develop authentically as you get to know your students. Relationships include the development of connections between teacher and student, and also amongst students and their families. This includes developing and maintaining relationships with students, restoring relationships when conflicts or tensions arise, and sustaining positive communication. Routines are often where we begin, as they are a crucial starting point to creating the classroom culture. They may be defined as systems for managing the complexities of a classroom space and any procedures for making the class run smoothly. I like to think of classroom management not as managing students, but rather as managing the space, whether it is digital, hybrid, or in person.
Setting up the space
Before we establish classroom routines, we need to set up the physical space and make choices about how best to use it. The way we set up our classrooms creates not only organized and smooth classroom operations, but lays the groundwork for a welcoming environment for all our students. Many factors determine the set up of the classroom, including how much space is actually available! Remember to be flexible and adapt your classroom setup — including your students’ seating — based on how your students work best together, your instructional goals, and your students’ evolving needs. Considerations & examples
Shaping seating charts
Just as important as how the basics of your classroom space will function is where your students will sit. Some of us may be ambivalent about using seating charts, as they might conjure up old-fashioned, controlling images of classrooms and teaching. Some teachers, on the other hand, swear by a seating chart in their classrooms. I encourage all teachers to start with a seating chart, even if it is simply alphabetical, so that you can get to know your students and also observe their interactions and dynamics. Then, after you’ve gotten to know the class better, you can make adjustments as needed. These adjustments can stem from observations about student behavior, but also from your instructional goals, as mentioned above. Ashlynn Wittchow reminds us to “let the space work with you, not against you,” and she encourages teachers to let students know that the seating and layout will change over time. Imagine Schools also offers some inspired ways to maximize classroom space while remaining flexible and student-centered. Considerations & examples
Shifting to routines
During my time as a teacher, I learned pretty quickly that not only setting up routines, but discussing and practicing them with my students, was key to making them meaningful for my classroom. Once my space was set up, I needed to consider how students would enter and exit the classroom, how we would handle the distribution or collection of materials, and even how students would re-enter class after being absent. Each of these pieces have an influence on students’ understanding of the roles and expectations within a classroom, which in turn, can impact their learning experience. Below are some typical categories for classroom routines, as well as some factors to consider as you make decisions, and examples of what these routines can look like in practice. Entering the classroom
Starting class
Distributing & collecting materials
Engaging in digital learning
Evaluating additional procedures
Ideally, we establish classroom routines at the beginning of the year, during a period in which both we and our students are engaging in a fresh start. However, it is never too late to re-evaluate or re-establish routines with your students, if you discover gaps in classroom management or that your students have outgrown existing structures.
Encourage meaningful reading habits as you ask students to engage in a dialogue with their text.
Over the past few years, I have heard more and more middle and high school teachers agree about how difficult it is to “get kids to read." I have observed myself that few students seem to be reading full length books independently, and by choice. Of course, there are so many reasons for these observations.
Let’s zoom out a bit to think about the state of reading for most of our students: in the past, reading was not only a major form of entertainment, but a crucial source of information. Time for reading was not in competition with an expansive, alluring digital world offering games, web surfing, Tik Tok, Instagram, endless TV and YouTube channels, etc. Even as adults, we know how easily accessible and comforting these modalities are. Technology offers us so many easy, even addictive options. Technology has also made it easier for students to “read” or pretend they have read an assigned text by scanning summaries of chapters, Googling quotations from the text, watching video versions, etc. Information that we may have needed to access by reading a book is now available at the click of a finger or by saying a few words to AI. We have all been there — we even have a term for this, tl;dr, or too long, didn’t read. Research confirms my own observations that few young people are reading on their own or consider “reading for pleasure." The Pew Research Center asserts that, “few late teenagers are reading many books” and a recent summary of studies cited by Common Sense Media indicates that American teenagers are less likely to read ‘for fun’ at seventeen than at thirteen.” The pandemic also seems to have derailed some students’ academic reading habits, which have proven to be like muscles that need to be exercised more regularly than we previously knew. All of this means that if we want our students to read, to become strong, confident readers, and maybe even enjoy reading, it is crucial for educators to make reading meaningful and relevant for our students, and not simply “cheat proof."
Encouraging students to read
Offering students choices of relevant books to read and discuss together in book groups or pairs is a fantastic way to encourage them to engage in reading. However, most educators agree that reading a book together — as a shared “anchor text” for the whole class — can also be important and lead to powerful discussions and collective learning. Mike Epperson — a teacher with whom I work closely in the South Bronx — took the opportunity to bring a shared anchor text to his 10th grade classroom, introducing his students to Elie Wiesel’s Night. While Night is a riveting, significant story and a relevant choice for 10th graders, who are concurrently learning about World War II and the Holocaust in history class, that doesn’t guarantee that students will engage in the reading. Mike was concerned about ensuring that his students were both engaged deeply and personally in the important subject matter and took it seriously. He decided early on that he wanted students to read the entire book. Mike strategically layered his teaching unit with Night at its core, along with supports and entry points to encourage high engagement, including: background building about the Holocaust, Anti-Semitism, and Judaism, and a careful sequence of lessons that focused on a key topic in a section of the book. Additionally, to encourage reluctant or less confident readers to read daily and remain engaged in reading the whole book, Mike emphasized and taught annotation. Since the school had copies of the book left over from ordering during the pandemic, Mike was able to give each student their own book to write in and keep. These two simple pieces — students having a book of their own and an opportunity to talk back to the text through annotation — created an environment ripe for close reading and high engagement.
Encouraging students to annotate
Getting students to annotate in their actual books wasn’t as simple as Mike had expected — he recalls that “when we first started annotating, some students expressed resistance because they didn’t want to make the nice-looking book look ugly. One student compared it to writing on a beautiful painting with crayon.” However, as time went on, students were “able to find a way to annotate that helped them preserve the beauty of the original text. I believe that as students took on a self-appointed role as the book’s preservationists, they ended up developing a deeper respect for the content of the book as well.” As the students connected more personally with the book and the character of Elie, Mike began to see that the act of authentic annotation was offering students an unanticipated opportunity for creative expression. He shared that “a lot of students like drawing, and there’s a similar appeal in annotation. While annotating is not drawing, a fully annotated page is visually pleasing. Some students’ annotations are neat, symmetrical, and visually appealing in a way that suggests that students take pride in how their annotations look. I think this fosters a sense of pride in the content of their annotations, too.” Mike’s observations of his students’ annotations confirm the belief that writing as you read makes your thinking visible, and can create an engaging conversation as we talk back to the text. He puts it simply: “Annotation gives the students a more active role in reading. They get to have a voice, even if no one else will see their annotations.” The students are no longer alone with a book. They are in dialogue.
Suggestions for successful annotation
When I visit Mike’s classroom, students eagerly show me their annotations and explain the significance of both specific lines on a page and their connections to larger themes. A number of students also tell me how much annotation is helping them “remember’ and “understand” past parts of the story. They are clearly proud of their text marking and meaning-making. Based on my observations of Mike’s classes, I’d like to offer some simple tips for making annotation a successful approach with your own students:
Hopefully, you will feel inspired to introduce or continue using annotation in your classroom! As you encourage students to read with their pen and engage in a dialogue with a text, feel free to adjust any of the strategies above to match the readers and annotators in your classroom.
Equip readers with the tools needed to recognize and manipulate sounds embedded within language.
This is the second installment in our Science of Reading series
As the science of reading becomes more influential in the field of education, it is important for us to not only accept and incorporate the principles in our practice, but also make sure we fully comprehend the essence and significance of what it means. Because I am an elementary educator and instructional coach dedicated to nurturing emerging readers, my commitment lies in breaking down the intricacies of the science of reading, while providing support for our young readers' development.
Phonological awareness — much like fluency, the topic of my previous article in this series — serves a crucial role in shaping a child’s reading journey. In this article, I intend to define phonological awareness and offer practical insights for fellow educators. Drawing from my experiences in the classroom as well as my own reading and research, I will explore its significance, its alignment within the science of reading, and provide guidance on fostering it effectively in early childhood settings.
Defining Phonological Awareness
Through my pre-service training, my experiences in the classroom, and ongoing reading and research, my understanding of phonological awareness has crystallized as the capacity to recognize and manipulate the sounds embedded within spoken language. Imagine it as a playground of sounds within the mind, where children identify rhyming words, dissect sentences into syllables, identify individual sounds (phonemes), and play with the rhythm of language. Like fluency, this skill is crucial, serving as the foundation for reading readiness. Strong phonological awareness equips children with the tools to decode words, comprehend texts, and eventually become proficient readers and writers. In essence, phonological awareness is akin to the scaffold that supports the acquisition of language, empowering children to construct sentences, paragraphs, and stories with confidence. It encompasses the following micro-skills:
Strategies for Supporting Phonological Awareness
Recognizing its significance, I have dedicated considerable time to identifying effective strategies and promising practices to support phonological awareness. Drawing from strategies I utilized as a third-grade teacher, coupled with observations from visits to flourishing early childhood classrooms, I want to share three promising practices:
These practices, while adding an element of enjoyment to learning, lay the groundwork for phonological awareness, preparing the stage for successful reading development.
Embracing Phonological Awareness
In the world of reading science, phonological awareness plays a vital role, mixing together words, sounds, and understanding. Just as fluency helps connect understanding and reading, phonological awareness serves as a crucial link between grasping the tiniest sounds within words (phonemic awareness) and linking these sounds to letters (phonics). When we nurture this skill, we help kids confidently deal with reading challenges and build on the fluency we talked about in article one. By recognizing the importance of phonological awareness and finding effective and engaging ways to teach it, we ensure every child embarks on their reading journey with a strong foundation, unlocking the power of literacy and lifelong learning.
Overcome common language learning myths to view multilingual students as assets, not liabilities.
Multi-Language Learners, or English Learners, are one of the fastest growing populations in our nation. Whether students are immigrating to the US anywhere in their journey from Pre-K to 12th grade, or English is not their primary language at home, educators are in need of support when it comes to language learning across grades and content areas. We examine this topic, dispel common myths, and discuss how to support these students in our Support for Multi-Language Learners episode of Teaching Today, where our host Dr. Roberta Lenger Kang is joined by Maria Garcia Underwood, Founder and CEO of M. Ideas Consulting, and yours truly, Lead Professional Development Coach here at CPET.
All terms for language learning are the same
In the episode, we highlight three key terms and define how they are different. Although these terms all have something to do with language learning, they are not synonymous. Here is a quick breakdown of what some language learning terms mean:
Throughout the rest of the episode, we use the term MLLs.
Teaching a foreign language is the same as teaching English
How we teach language matters when considering the context in which we are teaching. Teaching English when English is the dominant language of instruction requires different teaching practices than teaching a foreign language to students. Maria asks us to consider the motivator behind language acquisition when we learn our first language: communication. When thinking about our MLLs, their main goal is to “acquire English for communication purposes, for their everyday reality, for their everyday survival, both in those six hours at school, and outside.” This is very different from acquiring a language for the purpose of being able to communicate abroad when you’re on vacation or a business trip. Unfortunately, some of our teaching practices for English learning do not always mirror this basic need. Think about a one-year-old. Are you teaching that child grammar and verb conjugation? I hope not. That’s not how language is exposed to children. We focus on communicating, forgiving their mistakes, and ensuring their access to language grows. How can we use this model for our MLLs? Consider their basic needs. What do they need to understand and communicate throughout the school day to feel comfortable and safe? This ranges from understanding the school schedule to how they indicate the need to use the restroom. This contextualizes the language for them and creates the space to continue learning. We also need to consider the role of language when accessing content. As a high school English teacher, not only was I responsible for helping my students acquire a new language, I was also responsible for helping them learn how to write a personal essay for college applications. I worked with my bilingual students to create instructions on how to write personal essays and research papers in Spanish (the primary second language spoken at my school) because as far as I was concerned, the English could come later. Of course I wanted my students to feel confident in their English language abilities, but they also needed to understand the reasoning behind a thesis statement or how to use supportive evidence clearly. This content was essential, similar to the elements of a lab report or explaining a proof in math. Learning a language to access content is very different from learning a language as content.
It only takes a few years to master a language
To dispel this myth, we turn to the work of Dr. Stephen Krashen, an American linguist and Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. He outlines five levels of language acquisition (different from state determined levels for testing) and an average timeline for transition:
As educators, we must consider how long it takes the average language learner to reach the Advanced Fluency level. We might hear students having conversations with their peers in the hallway, but those social situations require what Dr. Jim Cummins, professor for the Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, considers Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, or BICS. These conversations require different skills from classroom language, which Cummins considered Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, or CALP. Students who are able to use conversational language are moving through the levels of language acquisition, but educators must be careful not to assume that just because a student is fluent in social language, they are also fluent in academic language. For more information specific to BICS and CALP, check out Colorín Colorado’s page. If students have had interruptions in their education, you might hear the term SIFE associated with them, which stands for Students with Interrupted Formal Education. Interrupted schooling can contribute to slower fluency timelines and lower levels of literacy. Without strong language foundations, it can make learning another language more difficult.
“Exiting” means 100% fluent
Many states have different indicators that students are ready to “exit” language services, but this does not mean that they have reached the advanced fluency level. Usually, when students are deemed ready to exit, they are just broaching the intermediate fluency level. What does this mean for teachers? This means that every teacher is a language teacher and needs to consider the supports and scaffolds they are providing their MLLs throughout their curricula.
Literacy skills in a native language can’t transfer
As mentioned above, it takes about 7-10 years on average to become fluent in another language. What might speed this up? If students have proficient literacy skills in their native language(s), this understanding can help unlock another language. For example, they might understand how language functions, and know how to follow certain rules. The rules might be different, but understanding a language system and how it works is transferable knowledge.
It takes longer for older students to learn a language
It is a myth that older learners are not as competent at learning a language as younger learners. This myth is centered around the language that we hear. Younger students might feel more comfortable taking risks and producing verbal or written language more quickly, while older students might take a bit longer to demonstrate their learning. It is also important to note that older students — those who are around 13+ years of age — are more likely to retain their accent when speaking. This might make older students feel less confident or comfortable speaking, and talking with students about their accents and challenging the stereotypes about accents in our classrooms can help our older learners feel safe to take language risks.
You need a certification to support your MLLs
If you are new to language learning and want to serve your MLLs to the best of your abilities, we highly recommend checking out the work of Stephen Krashen and Jim Cummins, which is linked above. Need something to start with tomorrow? Here are some actionable steps you can take: Make your content comprehensible. You can do this in a variety of ways, but an easy way to do this is to use visuals. In my classes with MLLs who spoke three different native languages, rather than attempting to translate everything in those languages, I used pictures. I embedded videos. I had students create visuals for vocabulary words. This is something educators can do quite easily, and it has an incredible impact. Contextualize language. Think about how to show students when and where they might use this language. You can provide sentence stems, have students act out the language in short role plays, or attach physical movements to certain words. This also looks like providing a rich language environment, whether it’s encouraging discussion, think-pair-shares, or providing labels for students both in the classroom and within content instruction.
Shifting your mindset
At the end of our episode, we spoke about shifting our mindsets when it comes to our brilliant MLLs. I brought up a tweet I saw:
I think this ultimately comes down to a first language. For example, a native English speaker who is learning Mandarin and Spanish is seen very differently from a native Spanish speaker who is learning English. There are other biases that come into play, but that’s an article for another day. For now, I encourage educators to acknowledge that knowing multiple languages is an asset, not only for our students, but for our communities.
Five ways to frame care and appreciation in your professional partnership.
How do you like to receive care? What makes you feel appreciated in a partnership? When you want to show appreciation for someone, how do you communicate that?
These questions are often posed in the context of romantic relationships, but they are just as important to ask in the context of our working relationships with our teaching colleagues. Investigating the ways in which we like to receive and express support in a relationship can be especially valuable in the context of co-teaching partnerships, as humorous as that may sound. Teachers navigate high expectations and, often, high-stress situations on a daily basis. We support one another, forming community and connections through meaningful relationships. With that said, we all have different preferences and needs when it comes to how. In a romantic context, a common way to explore these preferences is the theory of five love languages, a concept proposed in Chapman's book The 5 Love Languages (1992). Chapman researched patterns in couples he was counseling and realized that many couple’s points of contention derived from a fundamental misunderstanding of each other’s needs: namely, how to receive and express affection. And so, he proposed the idea of five different love languages, paraphrased briefly below:
Caring for your co-teacher
One pathway to learn how to better support your co-teacher is to consider each other’s “love languages” in a school context. Let’s look at some examples of what these five love languages might look like in a co-teaching relationship: Words of affirmation: After a lesson, complimenting something that your co-teacher did particularly well, like asking thought-provoking questions of students or circulating the classroom consistently. These could be verbal or written comments that express your gratitude or valuing of your colleague. Quality time: During co-planning meetings, focusing only on each other and the agreed-upon task at hand; not opening or discussing emails, text messages, calendars, or other lists of tasks that must be completed at a later point (unless there is an emergency). This is always a good norm, but can be especially valuable to those who appreciate “quality time” as their language of appreciation. Physical touch: Agreeing upon a level of comfort with physical contact, like high-fives, fist-bumps or supportive hugs. I have met teachers who value hugs after especially long days, but I have also met teachers who don’t want any physical contact in a professional setting; everyone is different, and it’s important to respect individuals’ boundaries when considering this love language in a teaching context. Acts of service: Offering some additional support to complete necessary tasks, especially when we feel like with have the bandwidth and motivation to do so. This might look like offering to cover a colleague’s lunch duty or doing just a little bit of extra lesson planning to remove it from our co-teachers to-do list. Receiving gifts: As teachers, we don’t often have a lot of disposable income for gifts, nor should we feel expected to buy our colleagues gifts. With that said, I’ve given and received gifts from my colleagues in the form of borrowed books, shared classroom resources, and small pieces of favorite candy — often inexpensive or free gifts that communicate thoughtfulness and general support. Chapman makes the point that love languages, once identified, do not necessitate that we buy gifts every day or provide endless amounts of quality time. Life happens, relationships change, and we often appreciate more than one of these love languages in our relationships. The same reminders ring true for considering languages of appreciation in teaching partnerships.
I hope that this article serves as a silly starter to a conversation with your co-teacher about what their “language” of appreciation might be this year. Brainstorm together what each of these languages might look like in your particular co-teaching relationship and school context.
There’s no need for us to “love” our colleagues, but we can certainly benefit from developing supportive relationships within our professional learning communities. Let’s give and receive a little more appreciation this school year.
Three areas of focus for designing rigorous tasks that promote engagement and perseverance.
This article is part of our Close Up On CRSE series
“What motivates people to do hard things? Can you think of a time that you persisted in a difficult task, even if repeated efforts to reach your goal weren’t successful?”
This was a question we posed in a recent workshop as we were exploring the challenges of increasing student engagement. Why do people do hard things? In response to this question, we got a wide range of amazing responses. Educators shared examples of everything from finishing their master's thesis, to running a marathon, and even childbirth. The common factor across these and the many other examples provided was that people persist through challenging tasks when they are able to make a clear connection to a personal goal, believe that they have the potential to reach that goal over time, and seek the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes as a result of hard work. The factors that motivate students to persist in challenging tasks are exactly the same! Whether it’s practicing for a sport, exploring a special interest or hobby, or even staying up all night to get through the next level of the video game, we do hard things when the task is motivating, relevant, and gives us a sense of agency or pride.
Articulating the attribute
Centering Students: A Deep Dive into CRSE Practices outlines Rigorous Instruction as one of the five principles of culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy. It states: “To ensure instruction is truly rigorous, teachers need to be attuned to the specific learning needs of their students and be able to design and implement a wide range of instructional strategies and materials that are responsive to these needs.” One of the key attributes of Rigorous Instruction is Embedding Intellectually Challenging and Diverse Content into curriculum, unit, and lesson plans. This means that teachers implement challenging tasks and use relevant resources that are responsive to the unique learning needs of their students. It also means that they're designing tasks and activities that are diverse, and reflect the real issues of the world in which we live today. This is important because learning occurs when students are intellectually engaged in culturally diverse and relevant content. In book Drive, Daniel Pink brings together decades of psychological research on motivation theory and helps us understand the mindset that cultivates intrinsic motivation, which leads to perseverance and pride. He outlines the three criteria of purpose, autonomy, and mastery as the keys to unlocking personal drive in adults. For students, this might look like relevant purpose, mastery moments, and structured autonomy. This sounds nice on paper, but what does it mean in the real world? How do we create these conditions intentionally for our students?
In the classroom, the first step to embedding intellectually challenging and diverse content is to design an intellectually challenging task connected to our students’ identities, interests, and instructional goals. This means making connections between our content area and critical thinking tasks that include the demonstration of higher order thinking skills, as found on frameworks like Bloom's Taxonomy, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, or The Cognitive Rigor Matrix, which is a combination of the two. Setting an intellectually challenging task that taps into students’ ability to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate content information takes time and practice. Choosing an entry point and topic from diverse source material is a key to making the task personally relevant.
After setting the task, then we can begin creating the conditions that cultivate motivation and perseverance.
Relevant purpose
If we look back at the conditions that create perseverance through challenging tasks, we’re reminded that the common factor is people seeing the task as personally relevant to a specific goal or skill they want to achieve. So often in school, the goals we set for students are outside of their own interests. The state sets the goals on high-stakes exams, our district might set the goals for curriculum or course outcomes, and teachers set in-class goals for what students should accomplish, and why. There are almost no formal structures for students to engage in the process of determining what they want to learn, and for what purpose. While there are real constraints that we’re working with when it comes to content standards, there are many opportunities to tap into students’ interests, and to create relevant purpose for the tasks we ask students to engage in.
Mastery moments
Creating mastery moments means that as we look at our arc of instruction throughout a lesson, a week of lessons, or a unit plan, we identify key moments of the learning process and identify those as micro-targets or mini-goals along the route. Creating some built-in celebrations or rewards for hitting these targets inspires a growing confidence and positive pride that comes from meeting a goal.
Structured autonomy
Autonomy is the ability for a person to choose their own process. Students may not have developed all of the skills needed to stay productive with unstructured autonomy, but structured autonomy is empowering and cultivates skills to help students learn how they work best. Structured autonomy means creating pathways that maximize student choice, preference, and independent work with increasing time on task.
When it comes to student engagement, in an effort to create student-friendly tasks, we often associate more engaging with easier. We don’t want our students to struggle or get frustrated during the learning cycle. But easier isn’t necessarily engaging — and it rarely builds the critical thinking and content knowledge that students need to motivate them to take on the next learning challenge.
Embedding intellectually challenging and diverse content into curriculum is critical to engaging students in a productive learning experience that is equally intellectually challenging and engaging. We can all do hard things when we see the purpose, own the goal, and believe that our success is possible. |
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