Shadows Dancing on the Eaves

Lounging dockside in this glorious first fall weekend weather, I am humbled by God's goodness.

I have so much to be thankful for, yet I take so much for granted, rarely realizing how drastically our situation, like that of others, could change in a single moment.

So many around us are sick and in pain; the bad news has poured in lately - students, colleagues, friends, and friends-of-friends.  My prayer list has grown longer nearly every day over the past couple of weeks.

As I flipped page after page through my Bible this weekend, I became more aware of my shortcomings.  God wants us to thank Him, to praise Him.  Do I do this enough?

My prayers seem to begin with "God, please do this and please do that . .  ."  After all, I firmly believe in His healing power and I pray for healing for these people.

But have I been expressing my gratitude to Him?  His Word reminds me that we no longer have to make sacrificial offerings of slaughter; instead, our sacrifice is in the form of thankfulness.

Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.  Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.  Psalm 50: 14-15

But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.  If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.  Psalm 50:23

Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.  Philippians 4:6  

Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior! For each day he carries us in his arms.  Psalm 68:19

 You thrill me Lord, with all you have done for me!  I sing for joy because of what you have done.  Psalm 92:4

 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.  He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.  Psalm 103: 2-3

It's really nice when someone says "Thank you" for something I've done; it warms my heart, makes me smile inside.  It feels good to be appreciated. On the flip side, it's disappointing to work hard, to do for others time and again and never hear a word of thanks.  Makes you wonder if anyone even noticed you did something for them.

I suppose God can feel the same way.  He does for us over & over, yet our thanks and praise is haphazard.

As I continue on this joy journey, practicing my attitude of gratitude, I am grateful

• for a husband who's easy going, takes me camping to get away from home on the weekends, enjoys the quiet of our company
• for a daughter who's finding her calling in the work of patient care, whose medical knowledge far surpasses anything I could ever hope to know, whose kindness and compassion for others is evidenced in her work every day
• for a son whose sense of adventure, confidence in himself and willingness to work have taken him far from home
• for a family who shares so we could enjoy the beauty of the lake, the shade of a cozy dock and the quiet calm of the water this weekend
• for a job I look forward to every morning, that challenges me to continually grow
• for health, for annual doctor visits, for follow-ups with "no findings," for His healing
• for Spider Lilies that pop up once a year en masse
• for shadows that dance on the eaves
• for a gentle God-nudge reminding me to express my gratitude, to be thankful, to praise Him

In a Nutshell

Recognize God's goodness in every part of your life.  Thank Him and praise Him continually, for even shadows dancing on the eaves are a gift from Him.

For what are you thankful today?

Working through Revisions in Student Writing

Story lead 1: I tip-toed into the kitchen.  It was early Saturday morning. I had a secret plan.

Story lead 2: I wanted to do something special for my mama.  I cooked breakfast for her on Saturday morning.

Which story had you rather read?

.

Writing instruction is daunting.  How do we teach students to craft stories that are interesting for others to read?

Students need many examples and lots of opportunities to create if they are to become writers who produce captivating stories.  Today I'm sharing a process that you might find helpful to use with your students. 

Idea generation begins generally; these are often too large for a story.  However, there may be many stories embedded in those big ideas, just as the chart above shows.  For example, I want to write about my trip to the beach.  Listing several events that occurred during the beach trip leads to small moment ideas: catching a fish, building a sand castle, playing mini-golf.

The big idea story is a typical retelling of a weekend trip: we did this, then that, then something else. We want our students to go far beyond this type of storytelling, but it is a starting point.  When students write a story such as this, help them pull out the one sentence that should be the idea for the small moment story. In this case, the writer pulled out the idea of fishing and wrote a story.

There's a lot of set-up to this fishing story.  Does the reader need to plow through this to get to the heart of the tale?  There's also a lot of telling, not much showing; the description is definitely lacking. It is doubtful a reader will be captivated by this story.

What's different in this revision?  For one, the story begins in the middle of the action: "My line tightened."  Conflict is present.  Setting is implied.  An element of suspense lures the reader.  The dialogue between dad and son recreates the moment with the excitement and tension that were present.  The story ends with a surprising, perhaps humorous, point: "Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico is a shark with my hook in its mouth."

Writers need to work through a process, a series of revisions, to move from idea to story to story-worth-sharing.  Studying examples of this process will help writers develop their storytelling and revision skills.  

Here is another example:

Draft 1 has some good storytelling elements:  dialogue, an element of suspense, conflict, setting, and a point.  Notice the differences in Draft 2.

Between Drafts 2 and 3, the writer fine-tunes several sentences, sharpening description.

In the third draft, the revisions are in place.  How does this story compare with the story idea (the real first draft) and Draft 1?  Is this a more captivating story?  What elements of good storytelling are present?

In a Nutshell

We want student writers to revise their work from "I did this, then that" stories to captivating audiences with in-the-moment experiences.  Provide examples. Model with examples. Create shared examples.

What models are you sharing with your students?

Kindling Curiosity: Knowledge through INquiry Driven Learning Experiences

To ask questions that interest me.
To explore freely within a supportive structure.
To dig deep into existing research.
To develop my own experiments.
To do something meaningful with what I learn.

I wish I had had an opportunity like this growing up.

Our high school students have this unprecedented opportunity: a inquiry driven project based learning experience in which they select a specific topic of their own choosing related to an overarching school wide theme.

We know what Thomas Friedman said is true: "Nobody works harder at learning than a curious kid." In offering students the time and place to pursue an interest in depth, we know they will hone some of the necessary school skills of complex reading, research, writing, speaking & listening.

Through this learning experience we've dubbed Kindle, we are convinced they will practice and apply skills for critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, communicating, and collaborating. They will exercise their creativity, initiative, productivity, and their ability to direct their own learning.  These are essential skills for life in the 21st century workforce; we are building a solid foundation.

Students are asking challenging questions about real problems.  They are digging deep into the available research, asking additional questions to move their ideas forward.  They will take what they've learned and use it for good, whether to improve their own lives, their community or a larger audience.

This work is daunting, not just for students, but also for teachers.  Facilitating student work may sound easy, but it's not.  Teachers probe with questions that help students clarify their ideas and seek appropriate resources and expertise.  Teachers channel student interests toward realistic accomplishments, narrowing and enlarging ideas as needed.

Freedom -- to select a topic, a format, a product -- is daunting, as well. Students - and teachers, too - are unaccustomed to such freedom to direct their own learning.  Where do I start? What do I do? This moves us out of our comfort zone.

Such an undertaking will not be without challenges and frustration.  It will not be easy to steer every student toward a successful, interesting learning path. It will not be easy to have 100% of students fully engaged all the time.  It will not be easy to produce projects of value.

But then, nothing worth doing is easy.  That's why Kindle is so important.

Students need this opportunity.  They need teachers who are committed to a different way of teaching and learning. They need teachers who will support their efforts, teachers who will ask difficult questions, teachers who will encourage them when they're ready to quit, teachers who will celebrate their small successes along the way, teachers who, despite their own frustration, are willing to give it another shot, to stick with it, to persevere in the face of adversity.

After all, this, too, is part of the learning we hope to accomplish through Kindle.

In a Nutshell
Inquiry and project centered learning provide students with an avenue to gain essential skills. Working through frustration - persevering - is essential to

any learning activity, for teachers and for students.

What are your go-to strategies for helping students overcome difficulties in the learning process?

Consciously Cultivating Gratitude

I started listing my "joy moments" and things I'm grateful for in a colorful notebook during the summer.  Nothing huge - just little things that, when I reflect on them, make my heart smile.

More than once, I've reread my entries and experienced those heart-smiles all over again.

"Joy" scripture jumps off the pages of my Bible these days.  "Joy" quotes monopolize my Pinterest feed.  These reminders nudge me toward conscious choices. Every day I have a choice: I can choose joy.

Joy leads me to gratitude.  I have so much to be thankful for.

Because of my Amazon addiction, which is fueled by my research frenzy, three books on gratitude arrived in my mailbox this week.  Can you believe some Ph.D. has spent his career researching gratitude?  It's true.  Empirical research.  Proof.

This paragraph from Robert Emmons' Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier particularly hits home with me; it's a personal call to action:

...gratitude is more than a feeling.  It requires a willingness to recognize (a) that one has been the beneficiary of someone's kindness, (b) that the benefactor has intentionally provided a benefit, often incurring some personal cost, and (c) that the benefit has value in the eyes of the beneficiary.  Gratitude implies humility - a recognition that we could not be who we are or where we are in life without the contributions of others. (p.5)

Emmons alerts us to these points in the first chapter of his book:

• "a person who experiences gratitude is able to cope more effectively with everyday stress"
• "gratitude requires contemplation and reflection"
• "While gratitude is pleasant, it is not easy. We have to work at it.  It must be consciously cultivated."
• "gratitude is morally and intellectually demanding"

I was already on the joy journey. Emmons' research feeds my intellect as well as my emotion, further solidifying my resolve to find joy and to express my gratitude each day.  I choose to consciously cultivate a spirit of joy and a grateful heart.  Will you also consciously cultivate joy and gratitude in your own life?

In a Nutshell
Have you found greater joy in each day since you've been journaling? Share your journey.

Balancing Teacher Talk

Have you ever felt that by your second or third class period your lesson was better? Typically, that's because you've practiced it, you've figured out what needs to be said and what doesn't.

I recently conducted a math class where I first observed the teacher teach the lesson, and afterwards, I taught the lesson to the next class.

The difference in the two lessons:  She knew far more about the content than I did, and provided more in-depth explanations upfront, leaving her students less class time to complete the exercises. I, on the other hand, knew only enough to deliver the essentials for that lesson, so my group started on the problems sooner, had time to check and discuss their work along the way, and finished the entire problem set.

Make no mistake, this experience is not to say that I taught the lesson better; if this were a language arts lesson, I would have been the one lingering with the explanation.

This experience illustrates a Direct Instruction premise on which our reading program is built and our school wide instructional philosophy was developed. The script minimizes and standardizes teacher talk to reduce confusion and keep the lesson tightly focused on the intended outcome.

Sometimes, we teachers talk too much.  Because we know our subject well, we may tend toward overkill on an explanation.  And when that happens, we impede learning.

In planning lessons, consider the amount of teacher talk needed: how much is too much, too little or just right?  Plan your explanations in advance; remove the temptation to "practice" on your first class; they deserve your best, too.

DI experts tell us:  "Students deserve precisely planned instruction.... Students ...  are disadvantaged by instruction that is not carefully planned and well implemented.... If we aspire to reach all the students and teach all the objectives, we must plan instruction very carefully."

Marchard-Martella, Slocum & Martella. (2004).  Introduction to Direct Instruction. New York: Pearson.

In a Nutshell
Too much teacher talk may hinder student learning.  Set a timer to limit explanations and challenge yourself to stick to the limit.  Weed the excess.

What ideas do you have or practices do you use to limit your teacher talk?

Doing the Work of a Writer

"Look what I wrote!" Zealous second graders clamored for me to read their story first.

"My story is about ...," a first grader in the water cooler line offered.

"My grandmother died this weekend and I wrote about that," a fifth grader shared.

Writing is taking a front row seat in our curriculum, and I am inspired by our students' excitement.

I, too, am fired up about writing again, and I'm learning along with our students and faculty.

I joined a third grade class for a lesson on developing a story about a place.  First, we drew that place. Then, we wrote a story, a small moment - a seed, about that place.  The next day we were reminded of dialogue and how speakers can make our writing come alive, to help our readers live in the moment.  We revised our stories to include dialogue.

Hey, pssst ... did you notice I transferred that learning to this new piece of writing?  

A fifth grade teacher asked me to teach one of the lessons from our new program. I was happy to oblige, but first I needed to study all of the previous lessons to know what students had been taught and what work they had already produced. This is not a pick-and-choose curriculum; it is spiral - every lesson builds on the previous one.

Fortunately, I was able to use the stories I had written a few days earlier to demonstrate the revision technique for the fifth grade lesson.  Without that, I couldn't have taught the lesson.

When I observed in eighth grade, the teacher was sharing her writer's notebook with students, illustrating techniques for the students to emulate. She, too, has been writing along with students, and often in advance, to work through the curriculum, to provide models for students, to experience the frustration and the triumph that comes with writing.

I look forward to seeing students' progress from first attempt to strategy experimentation to revision to published piece.

Will you, as the teacher, also put yourself into student mode to take the learning path from first to final draft?

In a Nutshell
We all must be learners.  We cannot become better writers or better writing teachers without doing the work of a writer.

source: https://twowritingteachers.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/mem-fox-quote.png 

Make Joy a Habit

It's been a month since that hot August morning when we met in the auditorium to kick off this school year.  Does your joy journal reflect a month of finding joy in each day, of expressing gratitude for what you have?

I know you've been busy.  I know you're still overwhelmed with the tasks of getting to know your new students, your new curriculum, your new role.  But I'm hoping that you've found joy in the ordinary, that you've recognized your gratitude for even the things that cause you stress.

Maybe you're thankful for 

• that student who seems to have parents who don't have time or interest in their child's schoolwork.  You have something to offer him: understanding, love, good teaching
• that colleague who can't get it together.  She needs your expertise.
• your extra-curricular responsibilities that keep you away from home late into the evening. You have a secondary platform for reaching students; your influence is huge.

Maybe you found joy

• in wiping away tears 
• in finishing a math lesson in one class period!
• in the note a former student sent you saying "thanks"

You will reap the benefits of choosing joy each day, of seeking and noticing the things that give you joy.  Your gratitude will grow and show.

In a Nutshell

Remember to find joy in each day.  Writing it down will help you develop a habit of seeking, of noticing, the little things that give you joy.  If you haven't yet committed to writing daily in your joy journal, make that commitment now.

There's truth in this borrowed phrase:

I'm not telling you it is going to be easy; I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.

Feel free to share your joy moments in the comments section below.