The Importance of Struggling in Reading

I just finished reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens for my book club. I must admit, the first few chapters had me struggling. The sentences were so long! Some of the words were unfamiliar. And the cadence with which the author wrote and the characters spoke was so unconventional. Ugh! I thought I would never get through it. Then, surprisingly enough, I found myself getting in the groove. As I became more familiar with the author's style and word choice, reading became easier. As I became more involved with the characters and their struggles, reading became more fun. When the last page was turned, I wished I could read more!

"Wow," I thought, "that must be just how my fourth grade students feel." It was a true ah-ha moment for me. 

Here's what I learned:

1. I must give my students difficult reading assignments. Not so hard that they're drowning, but hard enough that they're struggling. That struggle demonstrates growth.
2. The reading assignments need to be long enough to get them to the point of "got-it." In other words, an excerpt is just not going to do the trick. It needs to be a substantial piece.
3. The texts I ask them to read need to be engaging. That engagement will help them get through the difficult piece.

The Common Core State Standards have raised the bar for texts read by students. At first, when I looked at the Lexile level required for students in fourth grade, I thought it was a bit too high. We heeded their advise and got rid of some of the easier novels our classes were reading. This year, my students struggled with some of the more difficult texts. But in retrospect, that struggle was worth it. My students were growing! They were becoming better readers.

If you want to learn more about the CCSS's push for greater text complexity, it's all spelled out in Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards and Supplemental Information for Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: New Research on Text Complexity. 

Let me know what you think about the push for greater text complexity by commenting on this post.

When the Tail Wags the Dog

I'm a big believer in standards, assessment, and accountability. But you know what they say about too much of a good thing!

The tail is now wagging the dog.

Let's use fourth grade science in the state of Indiana as an example.

• Indiana adopted new science standards a few years ago. At that time, our state was going through its science textbook adoption cycle. As expected, my school district purchased new books to go along with the new standards. That makes sense, right? We boned up on the new standards and planned instruction using our new textbooks. About half way through the next school year, I happened upon some startling information: the high-stakes state science tests (ISTEP) for 2011-2012 would reflect the old standards. What??? We quickly changed gears, got out our old curriculum, and started cramming. The tail was wagging the dog.
• Next we verified that the 2012-2013 ISTEP tests would reflect the new standards. Yep. Whew! After another summer of planning, we were ready to hit the road running. Then we downloaded the new "Science Blueprint, " a document describing the content of the test in detail. Guess what? Half of the fourth grade ISTEP science test would cover third grade standards! We realized that we would need to teach all of the fourth grade material and review all of the third grade material before March, when the first of our two rounds of testing would occur. Nothing like teaching material a mile wide and an inch deep. The tail was wagging the dog.
• Our state is also really into teacher assessment. Its new RISE evaluation system is state-of-the-art. It's a real humdinger! Very thorough. Since my grade takes ISTEP tests, much of my evaluation would rest upon my students' English Language Arts and Math test scores. In addition, I was required to set a goal to project how many of my students would pass the science portion of the ISTEP (on standards for two grade levels). But that really wasn't enough. I also had to identify which of my students fell into the high, average, and low ends of my class; create an additional assessment for my low students; project how many of the low students would pass the new assessment; and report that data. I spent hours and hours and hours working on my RISE evaluation. Those were hours that I could have been preparing for instruction. The tail was wagging the dog.

This set of examples illustrates how politics interfere with the learning process. Assessment has become more important than instruction. How can this be fixed?

• Federal and state policy makers need to choose one set of clear, consistent standards and stick with them over time. This is not to say that these standards cannot be fine-tuned; however, constant replacement of standards (especially big changes that switch out entire sets of content) is disruptive to the educational process.
• Federal and state testing need to address standards for that grade level. If tests fall before the end of the year or more than one test is given per year, policy makers must clearly communicate which standards to teach before each testing session.
• Teacher evaluation needs to be concise. When teachers and administrators spend too much time assessing teaching, the quality of the teaching becomes compromised.
• Finally, let's just use some common sense. What is the purpose of public education? Learning, of course!

Assessment is simply that which comes at the end of the learning cycle. Learning is the dog; assessment is the tail. Let's not let the tail wag the dog!

Just So Writing

My fourth grade students' narratives, modeled after Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, are finished! These kids really dazzled me with their character development, word choice, attention to audience, and skillful use of repetition. Let's look at a few examples.

The students were asked to give their writing some voice by planning how each character and the narrator would speak.

•  From "How the Seahorse Came to Be":

"Let's go paddle in the pool! Come on! Let's go! I want to go! I'm ready! Are you? Come on! Let's go now! Hurry!" barked the annoying dog.

• From "Why Penguins Don't Fly":

"Pennie," suggested Mother, "oh dear Pennie, your father and I would like to go to the North Pole! Will you come?"

"Why no! I wanna fly on my own two wings for once. I wanna go somewhere warm, like the warm waters of Wyoming!"

• From "Why Cats and Dogs Fight":

Ox woke them up and gruffed, "Workin' in the fields is becomin' harder an' harder every day. I'm gettin' older an' older. Will you two help me plow the fields?"

"Ha!" laughed Dog. "Work? Us do work? Never ever will we do work! Move along, you big, ugly Ox!"

 Ox's fur turned bright red. He rushed to Master gruffing, "Master! Master! Cat an' Dog ain't helpin' me plow the fields!"

In their planning, each student made a word bank with specific nouns, active verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These "wow words" are sprinkled generously through their writing.

• From "How the Dolphin Got Its Tail":

So the Seahorse went home feeling very melancholy.

• From "How the Crab Got Its Claws":

Fish was devastated when he got back to his house.

• From "How the Polar Bear Came to Be":

PLOP! The Grizzly slouched down against a tree, later falling asleep and dreaming about being more like Penguin. 

Kipling addressed his audience directly, and some of my students tried this too.

• From "How the Tiger Got Its Stripes":

So yes, my dear, dear friends, the tiger was defeated. But! There is something more important than that! If you are mean to others, you will be punished.

• From "How the Dalmatian Got Its Spots":

To this day, young one, the Dalmatian still has his spots. But yet when they are born, they are still crispy, wispy white.

Although I generally steer my students away from repetition, Kipling was able to improve his writing by repeating himself. Some of my students used repetition effectively as well.

• From "How the Bird Got Its Wings":

Farmer never wanted to work so he always said to his animals, "Go catch some corvina fish. Cut der scales off den deep fry 'em."

"Yes, master," said Bird.

"Neigh," said Horse.

"N-oo," said Cow.

* * * later in the story * * *

When Bird got home Farmer yelled out, "Go harvest de crops."

"Okay," said Bird.

"Too tired," said Horse.

"N-o-pe," said Cow.

As I have mentioned before, Kipling only used the word "said" in his dialogue tags. The student-author above continued Kipling's tradition, but many students varied their dialogue tag verbs after a classroom brainstorming session, which was summarized with collaborative posters shown below.

 Using Kipling's work as a model for writing has really paid off for my students! How was this accomplished?

1. We first read and analyzed adaptations of three fables from Just So Stories. The students answered questions (RL.4.1), analyzed characters (RL.4.3), summarized and found theme (RL.4.2). Everything you need for this set of activities (including the stories) can be found in Just So Stories Reading Bundle - Grade 4.
2. We read the original version for each fable aloud and carefully analyzed Kipling's style, including perspective, the use of "said," repetition, voice, word choice, and language used by each character.
3. Each student planned his/her own Just So story using a three-page guide. All materials for analyzing Kipling's style (including printable versions of three original stories) and planning a Just So story can be found in Just So Stories - Writing. These activities are appropriate for students in fourth through seventh grades.

In addition to multiple reading standards, the writing activities directly address the following Common Core State Standards:

• W.4.3, W.5.3, W.6.3, and W.7.3 (writing narratives)
• W.4.4, W.5.4, W.6.4, and W.7.4 (developing clear, coherent writing)
• W.4.5, W.5.5, W.6.5, and W.7.5 (planning, revising, and editing)

Just So Stories

For the past few weeks, my students have been exploring Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. Published in 1902, these stories tell how the camel got its hump, how the armadillo got its scales, how the elephant got its trunk, and more.

Since Kipling's work is now in the public domain, I was able to take three of his stories and adapt them for two different reading levels. This way my students can all read the same story, regardless of reading level. "How the Camel Got Its Hump," "The Beginning of the Armadillo," and "The Elephant's Child" (my personal favorite) were adapted for readers in the 4-5 and 6-8 reading ranges.

For the first week we used the adaptations to polish a few of our Common Core State Standards. First we read "How the Camel Got Its Hump." Since it's the shortest story, I used it to model RL.4.1 (answering questions), RL.4.2 (both summarizing and finding a theme), and RL.4.3 (describing characters). You can see an example below:

After modeling with "How the Camel Got His Hump," we moved on to guided and independent practice with the other two stories. It was some serious fun!

In the second week, we looked more carefully at Kipling's writing style. We analyzed his use of "said." (This author never used a synonym for said. He used said and nothing more!) And, of course, we had to spend some time brainstorming and listing oodles of synonyms. My favorites were the animal sound synonyms: barked, squeaked, quacked, etc. We also analyzed how he repeated key phrases (and even sentences) and his word choice, such as "scalesome, flailsome tail." We talked about the author's voice and how he established his characters' personalities by they way they spoke. 

Today the students will begin planning their own Just So stories. I'll keep you updated on their progress!

You can find complete lesson plans for Just So Reading - Grade 4 and Just So Writing - Grades 4-7 at my Teachers pay Teachers store.

Informational Texts

I am pleased to be a guest blogger at Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergartners today, and my topic is kids and research writing.

When I was growing up, kids didn't start research writing until high school. When I began teaching, kids didn't start research writing until middle school. Who's researching today? All kids---big and little! Even kindergartners can read and write informational texts.

How can little kids do this? I've published a free document, Animals! Animals! Animals!, to give you some ideas and show you how research writing provides natural opportunities for differentiation in your classroom.

Bigger kids need bigger projects. Students in Grades 4-6 are ready for note cards, outlines, and works cited. This Animal Research Packet is one example of how big kids can handle research writing.

Gathering and synthesizing information is a big part of our daily lives. It's now second nature for us to google a topic, scan the available websites, select the most applicable, skim a few pages, and go on our merry way. Whether we realize it or not, that's a lot of high-level reading and thinking used in a matter of minutes! Our students, who are growing up in the Digital Age, need to know how to find, sort, and present information. Let's get started on those research projects!

Estimation Station

Estimation Station provides a fun, motivational way for students to practice and conceptualize measurement topics.

Each day for the past few weeks, a student in my class has been assigned a unit of measurement (for example, pounds). He or she chooses something for others to estimate (such as a filled backpack). In the morning, the student sets the item on our Estimation Station table and creates a record sheet. At the top of the page, he or she writes a question, such as "How many pounds does this backpack weigh?"

Students are allowed to visit the Estimation Station and write their answers on the sheet in the morning. When we return from lunch, the student in charge looks at the record sheet to establish the winner(s). Of course, we must then pull down the class prize box, and the winner gets to select a prize.

This year I've also added a Power Point presentation. As students are estimating, a corresponding word problem is displayed. Students must conceptualize, draw upon knowledge of measurement conversions, and practice multiple mathematical strategies.

After students have enough time to estimate, they answer by holding up their fingers (one finger for answer A, two fingers for answer B, and so on). I can immediately discern who understands and who does not. What an easy way to gather formative assessment data!

One strategy and solution are displayed. Then students are invited to discuss additional ways to approach the problem. To me, this is the most powerful part of the lesson. Learning to approach problems in different ways stimulates mathematical connections and deepens understanding.

Estimation Station is now available in my Teachers pay Teachers store! This five-week activity addresses the following Common Core State Standards:

• 4.MD.A.1 - know relative sizes of measurement units
• 4.MD.A.2 - solve measurement word problems
• 4.MD.A.3 - apply area and perimeter formulas
• 5.MD.A.1 - convert standard measures
• 5.MD.C.3 - recognize volume
• 5.MD.C.4 - measure volume
• 5.MD.C.5 - find volume with formula

Online Skills Resources

This week my class and I are gearing up for Round #2 of state testing. We held a class pow-wow and decided that we could use some practice on specific skills. One of those was simple, compound, and complex sentences. That's all well and good, but where would I find the proper resources? I turned to my favorite twenty-first century teacher helper: Google.

Thankfully, I found a great resource from Parade magazine. This handy sheet asks kids to search for simple, compound, and complex sentences in news articles. Aha! A parent had just sent me a cute article, "Oh Rats! Why Rodents Are Becoming Increasingly Popular Pets" (also from Parade). Since our class hosted two rats this spring for a nutrition experiment, my kids would love it! Today my class will search for simple, compound, and complex sentences in the rat article.

In addition to the activity on simple, compound, and complex sentences, I also found these helpful sheets from Parade:
Editorials: Fact vs. Opinion
Summarize the News
Understanding Cause and Effect
Newspaper Main Ideas

You can find oodles of skills resources at http://www.parade.com/paradeclassroom/skills_sheets.html. Thanks, Parade!