The 2015 #cyberPD Book Is....

Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and I are more than a little excited to announce this year's #cyberPD title.  It's never easy to choose a title, and this year was no exception.   Our stacks are filled with professional reading we hope to do across the summer.  The stacks shared by participants in the #cyberPD Google Community made it even harder for us to decide.  So many possibilities.

We are beyond excited to announce that this year's #cyberPD title will be Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass.  There's always a title we really want to discuss with other readers to learn more about a topic and Digital Reading seemed perfect for conversation.  We know we will learn much from the authors, as well as the participants in our community, in thinking more about digital reading in our learning communities.

We wanted everyone to have time to get their copies ordered before our July conversation.  The book can be ordered through NCTE.  The title is available in book and eReader formats.  I purchased the eReader version and was happy to see it merge nicely into my Kindle app.

In the coming days - as our end of year busyness slows - we will be sharing more details about this July event.  We hope you'll join us!

You can find out more about #cyberPD here, here, and join here.

Getting Students Ready for Summer Reading

I updated my door for summer reading.
It seemed the perfect place to share
professional books, middle grade books,
early chapter books, and picture books.
Of course, we had to have a coming soon section.
There was a lot of excitement over these
"coming soon" titles.

As a classroom teacher, I've always looked forward to our end of year conversations about reading as we reflect on all we have read with an eye toward summer reading.  Each year we spend the last weeks creating posters of our favorite books and characters for the next year's class, reflecting on the reading we've done together (using our class library and Shelfari), discussing books/authors/characters we've loved, and using this information to create lists for summer reading.  In the classroom we've also talked about ways to stay connected across the summer.

This year I have been working with students in first and second grade who need additional reading support in their classrooms.  I still wanted to be able to prepare students for summer reading and have these important end of year conversations, but I knew this year it would have to be different.

Here are a few ways I tried to build summer reading conversations in our school community:

Parent Information Meeting:  To help parents to hear about new book titles, ways to keep their children reading across the summer, and to share other information, I invited parents to school to hear more about summer reading.  The ELL teacher and our media specialist jumped in to help.  We offered two different times for parents in hopes of making it possible for more parents to attend.  Key discussion topics included:  getting kids excited about summer reading, places to find books, ways to connect with other readers, using our reading website for updated information across the summer and strategies for supporting young readers.

Our Summer Hub:  Since going digital, I've kept a hub at Weebly for my classroom.  When I moved to a reading support position, I knew I wanted to continue this.  For summer, I updated the hub, merelyreading.weebly.com, with information for parents and pages for students.  I wanted parents to know how to access these resources so we spent some time going through the site.

Reading Lunch:  Reading lunch has become a popular part of our reading community.  Students I support were able to choose a friend to come to reading lunch to talk about books for summer reading.  We ate lunch, shared titles, and exchanged books.  There was also a prize drawing for students which included books, writing notebooks, and fancy pens/pencils.  We've had several reading lunches across the year.  It's something I hope to continue next year.

Classroom Visits:  During the last few weeks, I have been able to spend time with the classrooms I have been working in this year.  During the time I shared new books students might want to read this summer, talked about our reading hub, campaigned for guest book bloggers for our iRecommend site (let's hope this works), talked up Shelfari and Mystery Shelf, and of course, read a book.  I had to read my current favorite to classes:  My Grandma's a Ninja by Todd Tarpley.

You have to love being able to spend the last days of the school year spreading reading love everywhere you go.

What's in Your Professional Reading Stack?

One of my favorite all time lines from a picture book is, "You can be happy and sad at the same time."  The line is used in The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster and illustrated by Chris Raschka.  In the book, the character is sad to be leaving Nanna and Poppy's house, but at the same time is happy to be going home.  The line speaks to so much in our lives.  It is perfect for the end of the school year.  I'm always a little sad to see communities, the way we know them, end.  They're never quite the same so I cherish those final days together.  However, I also look forward to the days of summer to have time to catch up on reading, spend some time writing, ponder professional books, and join professional conversations that will help to improve my practice.

One of my favorite summer professional opportunities is #cyberPD.  This year will be the 5th year for this global professional conversation.  Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and I are excited to hosting this annual event.  The conversation takes place in July, but we like to choose our book early so we know which one to save for the conversation and professional learning with this diverse group of educators.  We're in the process of making that decision now, and there are so many great books to consider.  #goodproblems

Share Your Stack 
We'd love to hear from you.  Which books are in your professional stack for summer reading?  Do you think there are particular titles that would be perfect for discussion?  We hope you'll share your stack this weekend.  We'd like to have stack suggestions by May 25th so that we can announce this year's title on May 30th.  You can share your stack in our #cyberPD Google Community and on Twitter using the hashtag #cyberpd (obviously...lol).

Here is Michelle Nero's stack.

We'll announce the title for July's #cyberPD conversation by May 30th.  We hope you'll join us!

The 5th Annual #cyberPD Event

Yep, it's time.

It's time to determine the book that will be read for this year's #cyberPD discussion.

#cyberPD Beginnings
If you're a professional book junkie, like I am, you're probably already planning the books you will read over break.  My guess is that your list is longer than the time you'll have to read them all.  There are so many new professional books to be read.  Reading professional books helps me to improve the work I do with children, but reading a book with other educators increases that learning exponentially.  That's why I love #cyberPD.  (More about #cyberPD:  Growing Professional Learning Conversations with #cyberPD)

It started with book stacks.
I think this is the tweet started
the conversation in 2011.

In 2011 Laura Komos, Jill Fisch, and I were having a conversation about professional reading.  We had many of the same titles planned for the summer, but wanted to be able to learn and talk about them together.  Though we lived too far apart to meet over coffee, we began to wonder if there wasn't a way we could learn together.  After some discussion, we decided that not only could we find a way to discuss a professional book together through our blogs, but that we could grow the community.  We chose a book and asked others if they'd like to join.  The response was amazing.  Many people joined the first #cyberPD, but I don't think any of us realized how much we would learn in this unconventional format.

#cyberPD Featured Titles

• 2011 Conferring:  The Cornerstone of Reader's Workshop by Patrick Allen
• 2012 Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• 2013 Who Owns the Learning by Alan November 
• 2014 Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
• 2015 To Be Determined  

What's New
Fast forward to 2015.  This year will be the 5th anniversary of #cyberPD.  Since 2011 things have changed a bit.  Michelle Nero joined our host team.  Our community has grown.  Jog the Web, the hub of our previous conversations, has disappeared so we've moved to a Google Community.

In the past participants have needed a blog to fully participate in the conversation, but with the move to our Google Community it will be possible for participants to respond in greater detail within the community if they do not have a blog.  We're excited about that because it provides an opportunity for those who do not want to commit to a blog to still join the conversation.

Getting Started
The #cyberPD event always begins with sharing our book stacks.  Though #cyberPD doesn't begin until July, we like to pick our title at the beginning of the summer so we can save the book for the community conversation.  So what's in your book stack?  We're hoping you'll share the professional titles you plan to read this summer on our Google Community.

Laura, Michelle and I will look through stacks, and then choose the title to be featured in July's #cyberPD event.  We hope to have the title to announce by Saturday, May 30th.

Join Us
Anytime:  Join #cyberPD Google Community
By May 25th:  Share your book stack
May 30th:  #cyberPD book announced
July:  #cyberPD conversation  (3 weeks, with one reflection each week)

DigiLit Sunday: Digital Connections with Poet, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Poetry Across Spring

So It Began
It began in a poetry unit planning session.  It was one of those team conversations where one person says something, then another person adds to that, then another person links the ideas, and before you know it all of the talking and adding and linking creates an unbelievable plan.  This was the way poetry planning went with first grade teachers Carolyn Carr, Deb Frazier and Marie Nixon.  Though I have moved to a primary intervention role, these three still let me crash literacy planning parties.  (The benefits of this, both personal and professional, are a topic for another post.)

As we were planning the learning for the poetry unit, we began to talk about how we would create excitement around poetry.  What would hook readers from the start?  Many ideas were discussed, but in the process we began to talk about a Skype session with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, author of Forest Has a Song and contributor to many other poetry books.  Amy's poetry is often used in first grade with students as Amy shares poems daily on her blog in addition to writing about her process in her poetry and sharing tips for poets.  Amy's Poem Farm is often a part of our mini-lessons and shared reading in our workshops.

Planning a Skype Session 

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater her decisions
as a poet.  Will she write about, to, as
or with?

Having a surprise Skype session would be fun, but we wondered if there was a way to help students get more from talking with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.  We knew she had much she could teach us.  So we talked and crossed our fingers and hoped we could make this work.  In conversations between the four of us and Amy it was decided that instead of one session, we'd arrange three sessions.  The sessions would stretch across the spring to give us time to work from what we had learned in between our learning conversations.   We wanted the sessions to accomplish these things:

1. Session One:  get students excited about poetry and put the sounds of poetry into their ears  
2. Session Two:  help students to understand the craft of writing poetry
3. Session Three:  to celebrate student work  

There are no words to describe how grateful we are to Amy for taking on this role in our poetry study.  There are no words to describe how excited we have been to learn from a poet with such experience.  There are no words to describe the way it unfolded even better than we had hoped.  Every time we talked with Amy, her words carried into our lessons and inspired our young poets.  

As I reflect I think these things helped to make our Skype sessions a success (this is not an exhaustive list -- and I am sure Amy would have different points to add -- these are just parts I noticed from my point of view):

Learning with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Learning from Experts

Digital literacy is changing the way we learn, communicate, and live in our world daily as adults, but it is also making huge shifts in the way we work in our classrooms.  Digital learning gives students a voice today.  Digital learning provides new opportunities to connect with experts, collaborate with others, and learn in new ways.  When I was in school, communicating with an author was rare.  If you did get to touch base with an author, it was often by sending a letter and maybe - just maybe - getting one back.  

the entire first grade in a session
with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

In our work with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, we were able to move beyond the excitement of talking with an author to using our time on Skype to learn from her.  Amy helped us to see the fun in reading poetry and playing with words (lesson 1), in ways to think about our poetry (lesson 2 writing about, to, as and with --- point of view of a poem), and in celebrating our work (lesson 3 listening for the parts of poetry that catch us and make us pause).  

There was also the additional advantage of being able to follow her blog and tweets to continue to learn from her.  We were able to continue our conversations between Skype sessions on Twitter and in student blogs.  Students enjoyed, and learned a lot from, her Sing That Poem! project in April.  They learned about topics, rhythm, rhyme, and craft (and a little about music too).  Students were able to share their poems digitally and comment on the poetry of their peers.  Digital literacy opens new doors and creates new opportunities for young learners.  

A HUGE THANK YOU TO AMY LUDWIG VANDERWATER!  XOXO

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections

End of Year Assessment: A Closer Look

The end of the year is fast approaching.  I always find these last days to be a roller coaster of emotion as we celebrate all that has been accomplished while experiencing those sad moments where we realize this community will never be together again just like this.  All the conversations that have supported us, all the work that has defined us, all the times we've held each other up, are memories we will cherish.  Each year our experiences teach us new ways to learn, to work, and to support one another.

Additionally, the end of the year is busy with closing out rituals.  There is reflecting on the learning from the year as we look at artifacts from September to now and marvel over how we've changed.  We take time to make plans to continue to connect and learn during the summer months.  For teachers, there are end of year inventories, progress reports, and assessments.  Of course, there's the putting away --- all of the putting away.  We work hard to keep our to-dos from taking over and keeping us from getting the most of our last days with our students.

Looking Back - Looking Forward
In the last two weeks, I've been completing end of year literacy assessments in small pockets of time.  It would be easy to race through assessments to get them checked off my list.  The purpose of these assessments is often to measure growth of students across a year.  We look for numbers and letters to place in boxes to show what has been accomplished.  Our team has been talking about the way end of year assessments are more than that for us; we are finding end of year assessments help us to see patterns across our classroom of the learning students have experienced.  Sometimes those patterns are cause for celebration, and sometimes they speak to changes we want to make in the coming year.

While we are spending time reflecting with the students who sit in front of us this year, we are learning about adjustments we can make to improve our instruction next year.  As I complete the assessments for my students I am taking time to notice more than the numbers and letters I am placing in boxes.  I'm asking myself these questions:

Considering Changes

Looking through assessments I am taking the time to notice the areas I feel my students were stronger in as they read, and those I want to think about changing in the coming school year.  My focus remains on what I can learn in moving forward.  

As I look back I find the biggest commonality among students who discontinued was a connection to reading.  Though not measured in assessments in concrete ways, each of these students were students who managed to connect the reading we did together into their personal reading.  These were students I was able to find ways to bridge our conversations about reading beyond the time we spent together.  Each of these readers made some kind of connection whether it was with other readers, with books, with authors or, as was often the case, with a series of books.  These readers connected with reading beyond the required time we met, beyond the time their teachers spent with them, beyond the reading they were asked to do.  These readers began to read because they chose to read.  This will be important to think about over the summer as I look for ways to better build bridges between readers and reading in the coming year.  

As we bring closure to this year of learning, finding time to use what we've learned to look forward into the new year allows us to continue to grow in the work we do for children.  

DigiLit Sunday: Running Record Calculator

My entire day is spent working with small groups of readers needing support.  In this work, I find there are key essential components to maintaining progress.  Our lessons feature time for familiar reading, word work, new book (comprehension/strategy instruction), and writing.  In this work I also work to maintain daily assessment to guide instruction and work toward new shifts.

As part of my assessment practices, I try to take a short "check in" running record of one student in the group each day.  I really have to push myself to maintain this habit and there are times I have to get myself back to this important practice.  There are also times I will focus on particular student in collecting this information for several days in a row.

One tool that I find helpful in continually monitoring progress with running records is The Running Record Calculator.  It's not the be all, end all, of running records, but it does allow me to collect information quickly and on the go.  Usually I pick the passage I want to use for the running record (typically 150 words), and then grab the app when the reader gets to that point in the text.  

To use the app:

1.  Press "start timer" and the app will record the reading and keep time for fluency measurement.

2.  As the child reads, press buttons for substitutions, omissions, and rereading.  You can also mark self-corrections.

3.  When the reader reaches the end of the text, stop the recording.  The app will give you reading rate, accuracy, and self-correction rate.

4.  I then email the recording and information to my Evernote account.

What I like about running record calculator:

1.  Easy to use.

2.  Seamless part of my work alongside students.

3.  Helps me collect data on reading rate, accuracy, and self-correction rates.  This information is very useful with particular reading goals focused on these outcomes.

Running Record Calculator Limitations:

1.  It's tricky when students make an error, read on, and then return to self-correct.

2.  It doesn't have in-app saving ability (which might matter if you don't have a digital record keeping system).

3.  It doesn't let you look at types of errors and cueing systems being used.

4.  You cannot continue to record comprehension conversations as it makes reading rate invalid.  Readers with comprehension goals are best recorded in Evernote.

*note:  I use the FREE app and am unsure of benefits of paid version

I like using the app for quick check-ins, especially those related to reading rate and self-correction.  It is a quick way for classroom teachers to take quick checks as well.  As digital as I am, there are still many times that nothing beats a hand written running record.  When looking closely at cues used and reading behaviors to sustain reading, paper is often still the best tool for me.  This tool, however, remains an important tool in my daily assessment toolbox.

As part of a continuous collaboration among educators interested in digital learning, Margaret Simon hosts a weekly Digital Learning round-up on her blog:  DigiLit Sunday.  Stop by Reflections on the Teche (today's link-up) to read, discover, and link.