Select a book, viewing channel, or activity and indicate your choice by completing the 2017 Summer Learning form. Please declare your choice no later than May 1.
As you read and reflect, you are invited to add your sentence, phrase, and word in the comment section below. (Please be sure to include the title of the book in your comment.) Please contribute your sentence, phrase, and word on the corresponding pages if you selected Voices of Diversity or Using Children’s Literature to Build Character Foundation.
I’m reading Mike Flynn’s Beyond Answers.
From the introduction:
Sentence: Our main goal as math teachers is not to help students do math, but to help them understand math. (p. 5-6)
Phrase: …things started to fall apart because we never developed a strong conceptual understanding. (p. 7)
Word: connections (p.5)
I’m reading Mike Flynn’s Beyond Answers as well:
From Chapter 1: Mathematical Practice 1: Make Sense of (Tasks) and Persevere in Solving Them:
Sentence: We want students to see problems as real-life events because contexts are one important way students make sense. (p.19)
Phrase: …perseverance is a life skill that transcends mathematics. (p.29)
Word: entry points (p.14)
From Beyond Answers:
Chapter 3 – Mathematical Practice 3: Construct Viable Arguments and Critique the Reasoning of Others
Sentence: What’s nice about this time (kindergarten) is that students aren’t coming with deeply rooted, preconceived notations of what math class should look and sound like.
Phrase: productive mathematical discourse
Word: ownership
I will definitely be adding more as I finish this book – WHICH I LOVE!
From Beyond Answers, chapter 4:
Sentence
“Opportunities to do this work (MP4) are plentiful and help students develop a mathematical lens through which to view the world around them.” (p. 104)
Phrase
“mathematize the world” (p. 83)
Word
Model (throughout)
From Beyond Answers:
Chapter One: Make sense and persevere
Sentence
“It’s a good habit to take our time and be good thinkers.” [18]
“This work takes time.” [29]
Phrase
“…have a deeper conceptual understanding.” [29]
Word
habits [16]
(develop good habits)
Heart! Fully Forming Your Professional Life as a Teacher and Leaders
Chapter 1: The Happiness Dilemma
Sentence:
“A state of heightened positive emotion.” [11]
Phrase:
“… the wake of your work…” [8]
Word:
Happiness [7]
I shared my sketch here.
From The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook K-2
Sentence: Without mini-lessons or conferring, this shows the writing that students can do independently. pg 27
Phrase: On-demand writng…pg 27
Word: Empowered pg xiv
The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook: Grades 3-6
Ch. 1: Collecting Data
Sentence~ Then, we shifted our thinking and tried to name out every possibility for growth for that student. p.21
Phrase~ Spend time literally just watching your students p.6
Word~ RECORD p.6
From The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook 3-6
Sentence: A child’s attitudes and beliefs about writing as well as her desire to write are the stepping-stones to producing good writing. (20)
Phrase: …writing is stagnant or improving over time. (21)
Word: growth (21)
From HEART!
Part 1
Sentence – They teach you with a whole heart. (p. 20)
Phrase – joy in the journey (p. 37)
Word – gratitude (throughout chapter 6)
From HEART!
Part 2
Sentence – Engaged teachers and leaders tend to answer the question, How good *can* I be? (p. 61)
Phrase – discretionary effort (p. 58)
Word – energy (p. 53)
I finished “Raising My Rainbow”. I learned immensely from this book!
S – Instead of teaching compliance, we should be focusing on acceptance (p. 74).
I want them to be great people with enough competitive spirit and self-
confidence to drive them to follow and excel at their passions…but not so
much that they risk meaningful relationships and become consumed by
their own self-righteousness (p. 78)
I was busy concealing everything that I just came out blank (p. 168)
P – …pretty much anything at all, just not blank (p. 168).
W – nonconforming (throughout the book)
I am reading Heart! It connects with so much that I have been thinking about as a leader, educator, and person. So many sentences, phrases, and words from which to choose. Let me start here:
S – “Hope manifests itself in the growth we experience when we positively redirect the life of so many individuals.” (p 35)
P – “. . . teachers and leaders of positive impact and influence” (p 35)
W – Purpose
From HEART!
Part 3 – A is for Alliances
Sentence(s) – “I saw collaboration by our faculty (and by our students) as a social justice issue for the students. It was a way to erase rigor inconsistencies and inequities in our students’ opportunities to learn.” (p. 105)
“What is the *oughtness* you are pursuing this season? (p. 116)
“Raise your noticing quotient.” (p. 144)
Phrase(s) – “…culture of trust…” (p. 104)
“…working with a pedagogy of presence.” (p. 144)
Word(s) – mindful (p. 135)
– celebrate (throughout chapter 21)
LOVING this book!
I am reading The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook (K-2nd) :
S: “In our attempts to make reading comprehension visible– by having students write about, speak about, or answer questions about their reading– we are limited by the students’ ability to represent her understanding using one of those formats.” p. 18
P: “…provide opportunities across the day for our students to engage in meaningful conversations…” p. 24
W: “lens” p. 3
The Literacy Playbook (K-2)
S: “Be careful to not look for a deficit, but instead for possibility that comes from a strength. One way to do this is to look to see what a child is doing inconsistently that might be helpful for him to do all the time. Look to see what the students strength is so that you can lean on that strength to support the area of need.” p. 67
P: “…within the student’s zone of proximal development.” p. 36
W: “artifact” p. 34 and all over!
From HEART!
Part 4 – R is for Risk
Sentence(s) – “Greatness as a teacher and leader is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point.” (p. 153)
“This cycle of focused *risk and reflection* (where I identify my strengths and weaknesses), *refinement (what different strategies I might try for teaching that standard to students or colleagues), and *action* (okay, I’ll try it) is a dynamic that separates expert educators and teams from good educators and teams, and great schools from mediocre schools.” (p. 166)
“Your greatest concern as a teacher of others – students or colleagues – should be the fear of no longer being relevant; the fear of not being able to sustain meaningful change in your work; the fear that your voice no longer matters; and ultimately, the fear that you are regressing as others around you continue to move forward.” (p. 191) (WOW!!!)
Phrase(s) – “measured risk taker” (p. 152)
– “fights against entropy” (p. 191)
Word(s) – goals (p.155 and beyond)
– vision (p. 174 and throughout)
– relentless (p. 192)
I can’t stress enough how much I am loving this book!
Hey all- I am reading Positive Discipline. I’ve had experience with the book throughout last year as I attended preplanning as a long term sub but I never read the whole thing through.
Highlights:
I love the idea of including the child in conferences. It never occurred to me how beneficial it can be to receive the child’s insight into his/her’s strengths and weaknesses. I can only imagine how enlightening it could be for a parent to hear their child participate in his/her own action plan. Such a win-win-win situation for everyone!
Class meetings- of course, Trinity does class meetings beautifully but as I was reading, I wondered how preK students (especially at the beginning of the year) would add items to the agenda in an effective manner without teacher help. The concern being that prep for the class meeting would become yet another time consuming activity that causesmore trouble than it solves. The book does not address specifically HOW preK children can add to the agenda independently so I consulted the internet! One suggestion I found intriguing is to provide flipchart paper to the children and have them attempt to write or draw the agenda item and their name. So simple! Great idea!
I found the idea of a “positive” time out space in the classroom intriguing as well. I know there is great debate whether removing a disruptive student from the group is helpful or unduly punitive but it is necessary at times. Making the “taking a pause” area an option rather than a punishment is a great idea. Discussing this option in a parent-student-teacher conference can make the option more supportive as a strategy for a child struggling with anger and self control issues.
Donna Broom preK assistant
From HEART!
Part 5 – T Is for Thought
Sentence(s) – “You can be a hero, as you reach out each week to change the path of one student at a time.” (p. 208)
– “We have chosen a profession that chooses to honor each and every one of those students and to love them and seek social justice for them, as we would for our own children.” (p. 236)
Phrase(s) – wise teacher (p. 225)
– “providing a box of support to stand on” (p. 229)
Word – relevant (p. 212)
From The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook K-2 by Jennifer Serravallo
Chapter 1
S: “Without comprehension, reading is just saying words.” [17]
S: “Even before students are able to hear the sounds in words and match those sounds to letters, recording what they want to write, they can still write.” [27]
P: “sample student understanding” [19]
W: engagement [9]
The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook K-2
Chapter 2
S: “…make sure that potential areas of growth we identify are linked to the students’ strengths.” [36]
P: “the student’s zone of proximal development” [36]
W: potential [36]
The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook K-2
Chapter 3
S: “When goals come from an accurate assessment of what’s really going on with a reader, when they are decided upon in conversation with a student and supported over time, readers will accomplish more and succeed more.” [96]
S: “The more we can lead students toward the articulation of their own goals, the more investment they will have in working to accomplish that goal.” [103]
P: seek out patterns [99]
W: triangulate [97]
From “The Book of Joy” because we can’t have too much of it:
Sentence: “A healthy perspective really is the foundation of joy and happiness, because the way we see the world is the way we experience the world.” p. 283
Phrase: …end up, ultimately, at compassion and generosity… p.282
Word: gratitude p. 355 (and throughout the book)
From The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook
sentence: “Leave a tangible reminder – such as a bookmark or sticky note- to support ongoing independent practice.” (p. 129)
phrase: “determining importance: notice places where the character changes feelings in the story” (p. 118)
word: “engagement” (p. 5)
From The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook
Sentence:
“In a week, the child should be able to write two to three complete stories.” (p. 81)
Phrase:
“Focus, elaboration, structure, conventions” (p.87)
Word:
“Goal” (p. 96)
Beyond Answers: Exploring Mathematical Practices with Young Children
Mike Flynn
From our group (Tiki, Charlotte, Robin, Kimberly, Debbie):
Word: Understanding
Phrase: teachers are facilitators of learning
making sense
empowering them by giving them a greater understanding of our number system
Sentence: “The more math you learn, the more math you’ll see.” pg. 199
“Our main goal as math teachers is not to help our students do math, but to help our students understand math.” pg. 5
“If we focus our attention on understanding, then students will develop a level of efficiency and accuracy that goes beyond what those of us from traditional backgrounds were able to accomplish.” pg. 5
“When we teach to efficiency (the algorithm), we are actually robbing children of the opportunity to understand.” – Jill Gough
I read The Book of Joy.
Sentence: We create a lot of our suffering through negative tendencies of the mind, emotional reactivity, and inability to appreciate and utilize our resources within.
Phrase: Take on others’ suffering.
Word: Intention
Going forward, I want to put into practice setting my intentions, both professional and personal. I will find a time that I can reflect on the past week, and set intentions, based upon my reflection, for the upcoming week.