I am enjoying following all of the thinking about Peter Johnston’s Opening Minds at #cyberPD on Twitter. I am new to this form of professional development and am still learning how to navigate through Twitter, but so far it’s been a fascinating experience. I had started reading Opening Minds a few months ago, but felt I really needed to talk to someone about it. Although I knew many others who were reading it, there just wasn’t time for a lingering discussion. Being able to share ideas with so many outstanding professionals and incorporate the thinking of others into my thinking has most certainly helped me to deepen my understanding of the book. Thank you to Cathy, Jill, and Laura for hosting the discussion.

As I read Chapter 4 I kept picturing myself in front of my students and thinking about how many times I tell them they had good thoughts, or said that’s what good readers or writers do, or told them I liked how they did something. I even thought that perhaps Peter had secretly been eavesdropping on my groups because he certainly nailed much of the language I use. Hopefully I’m not too old to change my ways, because now, thanks to Peter, I understand how the use of more process-oriented feedback instead  of person-oriented  praise can make all the difference. Katie Keier (Catching Readers Before They Fall) talked about using a cheat sheet until the language becomes more natural. I love this idea, and will definitely be creating one.

One of my goals with all of the reading groups I see is to make kids more aware of their process. I tell them they need to know lots of strategies for getting unstuck as they read. We make charts of different strategies and I’m always asking them how they figured something out or what they could try. But…once they are successful, I never asked them to go beyond, to think of an alternate strategy. I didn’t build in the opportunity to understand the flexibility I wanted from them. Perhaps that is why I see students using the same strategies over and over again, even when they aren’t working. This was a huge aha moment for me and will influence the interactions I have with my students as I listen to them make sense of text.

Some favorite quotes from Chap. 4-6:

“…the more process talk becomes part of classroom conversations, the more strategy instruction will be occurring incidentally, without the teacher having to do it.”

“The purpose of feedback is to improve conceptual understanding or increase strategic options while developing stamina, resilience, and motivation – expanding the vision of what is possible and how to get there.”

“The heart of formative assessment is finding the edge of students’ learning and helping them to take up possibilities for growth. Assessment isn’t formative if it doesn’t influence learning in a positive way.”

        Towards the end of June, schools in PA eagerly await the results of our state tests. At my school we anticipated the release of the scores this year with some hesitation and much anxiety. Over the past few years our scores had stagnated, especially in the area of writing, and this year we worked very hard as a team to improve our practice. But, what if there was no improvement, or worse yet, what if the scores went down?

            The call came late one afternoon, just as I was returning from a family vacation. I turned on my phone and noticed a voice mail as well as an email from my principal. As I listened to the sound of her voice, I knew right away that the hard work had paid off. Our students had made gains in all areas, but especially in writing! It certainly was cause for celebration, but with the improvement came more questions – What did we do differently this year than in past years? What factors could we identify as contributing to the gains? How might we continue to build on our success?

            For the moment, let’s just consider the writing since that was the area where we saw the most growth. I truly believe that one of the biggest factors in our success was the high expectations the teachers set for their students. They approached the teaching of writing with a sense of urgency that I had not seen before. We worked as a team to identify strengths as well as the greatest areas of need. We sought the advice of outside professionals, incorporated useful professional development whenever possible, engaged in team teaching and collaboration, and held conversations centered on change. But mostly, we all held fast to the expectation that our students could and would grow as writers. And, I believe, that sense of urgency and high expectations filtered into other areas as well.

            There are many opinions about the value of and emphasis put on state testing. While I feel we need to keep these tests in perspective and continue to consider students rather than just scores, these tests can provide a way into thinking about our practice and how to improve it.

            Yes, we are celebrating, but we know we have more work to do as we continue to refine our teaching practices.