biographies

My 6th graders are writing biographies for their research papers.  It's been a long process.  I've read a picture book biography to them every day for weeeeeks.  Last week we looked specifically at different ways authors begin biographies.

Each student picked a biography from the basket and reread the beginning.  We gathered in our workshop space, I asked students to raise their hand if their lead contained a date, and we specifically looked at those titles.  We talked about all the different ways authors can start biographies by using dates and came up with these categories: birth linked to other historical event, birthday & what family wanted for them, building historical background knowledge, early life linked to what created fame, date of famous event.

After creating the list of categories I challenged students to settle into a writing space and write a lead for their biography subject using a type of lead from the list.  There was a lot of gathering research materials and settling down and in the middle of it all I remembered I was going to try a transition song to writing (from hearing Ruth Ayres speak at the Dublin Literacy Conference).  Once they finally got settled & writing they worked hard!  They wrote for 10 minutes and then met me back at the workshop space.  Many of them had written more than one type of lead.  It seemed to spark a renewed interest in their subject!

The next day we did basically the same thing, but looked at beginnings that relied on specific word choices (not centered around a date).  While looking at them we also noticed that those beginnings could be divided into two smaller categories- those that started when the subject was young and those that started when the subject was already famous.  This is what our list looked like: young - describe setting of hometown, describe family, description linked to future fame; already famous - a quote, description of piece of fame & linked to setting, build suspense from an important event.  Again, I challenged them to choose one and write.  I also remembered the transition song & the difference was amazing!

These discussions of specific crafts have renewed my students interest in their biography subjects. Even though we had already read all of the books we used, focusing on just the beginnings helped get my students focused on the home stretch of writing their research!

Our Dates chart.  I was digging around in some cabinets in my room and found a huge roll of paper that was like really wide register tape.  I wrote examples of each beginning on a piece and hung them on the wall beside the charts.  That is what is on the wall to the left of the chart.

A small sampling of the picture book biographies I've read to my students over the past several weeks.

Reader's Notebooks

We have had the pleasure of sharing how we use reader's notebooks in our classrooms at two recent conferences - the Dublin (Ohio) Literacy Conference and the East Tennessee Literacy Conference in Morristown, Tennessee.

Over the years we noticed that our middle schoolers needed help organizing their learning as readers. Reader's notebooks are a place to, not only record their daily reading, but a place to respond to what they're reading.

The first thing students do is number their pages in a spiral notebook (hopefully this will discourage them from tearing out pages to use for something else). Then as a group we create a table of contents by using different color sticker dots to note the four sections: response, strategies/workshop, workstations, and wonder (informational).

The first few pages are dedicated to their "Books I've Read" & "Books I Want to Read" lists. The inside cover includes a genre checklist & a monthly calendar to record their daily reading.

We labeled the first section "response." In this section, students are able to respond to what they read by writing a letter, completing a four-square, or summary/response. The next section is titled "strategies" or "workshop." This section becomes a visual reminder of the reading strategies & skills that we practice throughout the year. It is an anchor chart at their fingertips. Items in this section might include: t-charts, Venn diagrams, foldables, sample passages of text, graphs, etc. The "workstation" section is next. This is the section that students can document what they work on is literacy workstations. It keeps them accountable for the work they do while the teacher is working in small group. The last section we included is labeled "wonder." This space is reserved for informational & non-fiction reading strategies. Items in this section might include: informational poems, t-charts, examples of text features, foldables, and sample passages.

A Day in Richmond

We spent a fabulous day soaking in new knowledge from Debbie Diller at her spring institute in Richmond, Virginia.  The day was focused on Adding Rigor to Middle Grade Workstations, and was held at the beautiful Jefferson Hotel. 

We learned and relearned so many valuable things from building classrooms to the five R's: routines, relationships, relevance, rigor, & reflection. She emphasized that building a classroom with high expectations first is key to establishing opportunities for small group instruction. We can do this by being clear about our schedule and objectives, nurturing independence, and "inspect what you expect" (following up on what your want to happen).

Today I re-learned that my "business is to meet the needs of my kids" and to keep standardized testing in perspective by "knowing my enemy." I also need to re-examine...who is doing all the work? I also re-learned that reflection is a step I cannot leave out. With the pressure of getting all the standards in before state testing, this seems to be the area that I struggle with most. I need to make time to ask: How did it go? What did I learn? Next time I will...

Lunch at Comfort: Cheryl ordered pimento chesse sandwich with fried green tomato and homemade chips & Mandy ordered roasted turkey sandwhich with apple mustard and mac and cheese. The restaurant was located close to VCU and completely adorable.

Supper at The Cheesecake Factory! Enough said...total calories for the day? They don't count on road trips, do they?

 

Our favorite quotes of the day:

"Think.  That's my curriculum for teaching reading."

"Do I need a level on every book?  Save your time & read a professional book."

"Assume nothing.  Model everything."

"You're always modeling, even if you don't know you are.  You're always modeling."

Title I Conference

Today we had the honor & privilege of presenting a session to fellow educators at the East Tennessee Title I Conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We chose to share our experience with Expedition Days. Our Expedition Days take place every Wednesday. This is a day set aside for exploring informational text. Students use Wonder Books as a place to organize & gather their discoveries. They also use their books to keep track of topics of interest.

If you are just visiting our blog after attending our session... welcome & thank you! We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did. Be sure to check back every Wednesday for more expeditions!