I'm always thinking how to do things better. Not only in my classroom, but in my communications with other people, whether it be parents, students, or other teachers. This new blog idea has been on the middle burner (not the back 😁) of my brain for a couple of years. It usually doesn't take me this long to act on an idea. I guess there are just too many distractions in life to follow through with all the steps it takes to basically re-brand your work. All that said, this quarantine...and re-quarantine (ugh) has me typing on this old blog again wanting to make it new and more descriptive of my passions in teaching.
If you scrolled through the blog on past posts, what you might see most often are words about communication, oral language, stations, and SOCRATIC SEMINAR. With all of this online school situation, I'm excited about the new look of Socratic Seminar in my classroom. It looks like the possibility is high for not starting in-person school as planned. Texas is currently surging with very high COVID numbers. It's gonna take awhile to calm down and school may not start August 17 as planned. TEA has already said that parents will be able to choose if they want kids to go to school in the building or online. Who knows. It's early July, and it's just too soon to tell.
Regardless of what we end up doing, a huge part of my job is using Socratic Seminar to work with my students regarding what we are reading or learning. I have used it in so many ways. We have discussed current events, books, feelings, and whatever can be discussed using the Socratic Method. I may be Socrates biggest promoter. He would probably think I'm a stalker. I am such a fan.
So stay tuned for all things Socratic. Look for book ideas, discussion topics, tweaks for your seminars, and some other stuff as I just turn what I do into what I share. Look for a new look and a new name. I can't wait!!!
Showing posts with label posts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label posts. Show all posts
7/4/20
11/20/18
Level Up
All of our kids love to "level up" in video games. How about leveling up in your classroom? Take your students to the next level of literacy learning. Perhaps your kids can answer any questions you ask them. Perhaps they are great on the district level tests and state tests. That is awesome!! My guess is that at least some of you are trying to find a way to move your students forward. I'll tell you a way to do that!
I have listened to many teachers ask their students things like, "what questions do you have over this story?" Those types of general prompts are not going to generate good responses from students. I've never seen a high level question that shows critical thinking generated through this method. In defense of those teachers, they are generally following a prescribed/mandated type of reading program for small group instruction. Students are not equipped to come up with a great question or a critical thought over a text without some training! Students in primary grades generally have great difficulty composing/wording their own in-depth, critical-thinking questions. The older kids I've observed could generate a fair question about their reading based on experience. However, those questions may not be very strong questions, usually at a literal level requiring one correct answer.
Here's the thing. Unless we teach our kids how to phrase their questions, compose great discussion topics, give them some stems and tools, they will not be able to generate the types of questions or discussion topics we hope they will.
Being able to answer questions is wonderful. Being able to ask those questions or think of ideas for discussion topics is even better. If they can create them, they can answer them. I teach my students to create great, deep, thought-provoking topics that have multiple answers, and I explain to them that this gives them a "super power" over test questions.
Next step is not hard. TEACH your kids some Bloom's verbs. Tell them what they are and what they mean. Explain to them that you use them and that Bloom's will help them figure out how to compose their own discussion topics! I've done this with kids as young as second grade! They ROCK at it. I give each grade level an appropriate number of verbs for them to have in their own discussion topic "toolkit." For example, I use about 3-5 verbs for second grade. I use 7-10 for third, and increase that for fourth. The fifth and sixth graders get the whole list. They pour over the whole list finding the best verbs for their questions. I use direct instruction for teaching how to use the verbs correctly. I encourage them to stick with the last three levels of Bloom's for the best ideas.
What happens next. is. AMAZING.
Your kids, once they learn how to use the verbs through your direct instruction, practice, and examples, will begin to think more critically about their reading. When they are privy to the meaning of critical thinking and how to analyze literature, they become "insiders" to higher level of questioning and thinking! Let them experiment, then guide them to the right words for their discussion topics. They will use them to ask and write better discussion ideas than you could imagine!
Here are my verb suggestions:
First grade: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict
Second grade: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer
Third and fourth grades: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer, evaluate, justify, compare/contrast, explain, adding more as the year goes on and they are successful with these.
Fifth and sixth grades: The entire list (chunking the words as mini-lessons)
When we have some amazing topics for discussions written by students...we have a Socratic Seminar. THAT'S an entire post in itself. Please check it out! There is a product in my TPT store that would help you get started! I am passionate about Socratic Seminar, so you can find many posts here about my journey with this method.
I have listened to many teachers ask their students things like, "what questions do you have over this story?" Those types of general prompts are not going to generate good responses from students. I've never seen a high level question that shows critical thinking generated through this method. In defense of those teachers, they are generally following a prescribed/mandated type of reading program for small group instruction. Students are not equipped to come up with a great question or a critical thought over a text without some training! Students in primary grades generally have great difficulty composing/wording their own in-depth, critical-thinking questions. The older kids I've observed could generate a fair question about their reading based on experience. However, those questions may not be very strong questions, usually at a literal level requiring one correct answer.
Here's the thing. Unless we teach our kids how to phrase their questions, compose great discussion topics, give them some stems and tools, they will not be able to generate the types of questions or discussion topics we hope they will.
Being able to answer questions is wonderful. Being able to ask those questions or think of ideas for discussion topics is even better. If they can create them, they can answer them. I teach my students to create great, deep, thought-provoking topics that have multiple answers, and I explain to them that this gives them a "super power" over test questions.
Writing their own discussion topics is empowerment for our students.
Start your kids where you as a teacher start...or maybe should think of starting.
Download a copy, keep it at your desk with your plans, and as I've suggested on several posts, pre-plan your discussions for your students. No matter what subject, pre-plan your prompts for discussion.
Next step is not hard. TEACH your kids some Bloom's verbs. Tell them what they are and what they mean. Explain to them that you use them and that Bloom's will help them figure out how to compose their own discussion topics! I've done this with kids as young as second grade! They ROCK at it. I give each grade level an appropriate number of verbs for them to have in their own discussion topic "toolkit." For example, I use about 3-5 verbs for second grade. I use 7-10 for third, and increase that for fourth. The fifth and sixth graders get the whole list. They pour over the whole list finding the best verbs for their questions. I use direct instruction for teaching how to use the verbs correctly. I encourage them to stick with the last three levels of Bloom's for the best ideas.
What happens next. is. AMAZING.
Your kids, once they learn how to use the verbs through your direct instruction, practice, and examples, will begin to think more critically about their reading. When they are privy to the meaning of critical thinking and how to analyze literature, they become "insiders" to higher level of questioning and thinking! Let them experiment, then guide them to the right words for their discussion topics. They will use them to ask and write better discussion ideas than you could imagine!
Here are my verb suggestions:
First grade: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict
Second grade: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer
Third and fourth grades: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer, evaluate, justify, compare/contrast, explain, adding more as the year goes on and they are successful with these.
Fifth and sixth grades: The entire list (chunking the words as mini-lessons)
When we have some amazing topics for discussions written by students...we have a Socratic Seminar. THAT'S an entire post in itself. Please check it out! There is a product in my TPT store that would help you get started! I am passionate about Socratic Seminar, so you can find many posts here about my journey with this method.
5/31/18
Who Invented That?
So I wonder how all of these companies make so much money on their programs? When you break down some of the programs (language arts, for instance), they are basically all the same. For example, Guided Reading, Daily 5, Literature Circles have some similar basics: vocabulary study, small groups. teacher/student led discussions, and literature. It is almost like all you need to make a million dollars is some research and an idea that recycles current teaching practices. I always wonder, "why didn't I think of that?" Actually, we did think of that. Certainly not to take away from the research and development that goes into a specific program, I have to ask, why are there so many that are almost the same? A college professor or a teacher with a good head for business turned what we all do into a brand. Teachers have been doing centers for decades. My mom taught elementary from the early 1960's to 1995, and she did centers every year of her teaching career. She had a routine that worked. But really, it's not about the program or the fact that kids are doing different things around the room all at the same time. It's what goes into those small groups, the discussions kids have, the things we choose for them to practice. The reason districts invest in the structure of programs is that we need a consistent guide. We need a framework. I get that. But honestly, I don't believe it's some magic program that a district chooses to spend money on, but instead, it's what goes on in your classroom. Your interpretation and implementation of what is determined important and relevant to your grade level standards. We tweak what we bring back from professional developments to make it our own. We also tweak the frameworks we've been given. No teacher I've ever met follows exactly what they've been handed. We do what works in our own classrooms within the framework we've been given.
My questions are...
If you answered "no" to any of those questions, fix that right away. Find your "thing" that makes it all work. Create your plans so that YOU love them. Find activities that you can't wait to share.
My life as an LA teacher went in a new and strongly positive direction when I started Socratic Seminars in my classroom. They've been around for, well, since Socrates. When I heard about Socratic Seminar, I read up and studied it online. I was a little discouraged because everything I read was geared to middle or junior high and high school. I saw the simplicity and genius in the method and thought my kids could handle this. After searching and viewing several sites, I created common rules that would work for younger, primary kids.
In my class, we had the respect thing down for the most part with a few rogue moments. My kids LOVED to talk (not about books, but they loved to talk,) and they loved things that were not test practice or worksheets.
With the current language arts structure in place (Daily 5...which was really Daily 10, but that's another post <here>), I still felt there was a missing piece, or lots of missing pieces. I did two things that made me VERY HAPPY as a teacher.
My questions are...
- Are you happy with what goes on in your language arts class on a daily basis?
- Do you LOVE your lessons?
- Do you feel fulfilled as a professional educator after a week of planning?
- Do you look forward to coming to school each day so that you can do what you have planned?
If you answered "no" to any of those questions, fix that right away. Find your "thing" that makes it all work. Create your plans so that YOU love them. Find activities that you can't wait to share.
My life as an LA teacher went in a new and strongly positive direction when I started Socratic Seminars in my classroom. They've been around for, well, since Socrates. When I heard about Socratic Seminar, I read up and studied it online. I was a little discouraged because everything I read was geared to middle or junior high and high school. I saw the simplicity and genius in the method and thought my kids could handle this. After searching and viewing several sites, I created common rules that would work for younger, primary kids.
In my class, we had the respect thing down for the most part with a few rogue moments. My kids LOVED to talk (not about books, but they loved to talk,) and they loved things that were not test practice or worksheets.
With the current language arts structure in place (Daily 5...which was really Daily 10, but that's another post <here>), I still felt there was a missing piece, or lots of missing pieces. I did two things that made me VERY HAPPY as a teacher.
- Five stations were totally boring. I'm not nearly as timid to say that as I was five years ago. I was okay with the Daily 5 at first, but quickly thought, "SERIOUSLY, we cannot stamp spelling words all year!" What does that do anyway? I created a form that offered choice with 10-12 activities each week. (TPT and my own creations to the rescue!) I had a few activities for EVERY topic I covered for the year. I rotated them through the choices my kids had each week. My kids did daily practice of the big objectives we worked on all year. You know the ones that they need to constantly practice - inferring, summarizing, drawing conclusions - to name a few. I had things they "had to do" and when finished, things they "could do". One of the things my kids "could do" was states and capitals. I'm not sure why, but that was a hot item in my stations all year. It wasn't necessarily in my ELA TEKS (Texas's own Common Core standards), but what a great "early finisher" station! I created Webquests based on those social studies units that were so hard to work into my ELA block. They combined informational texts and Social Studies skills. (Linked HERE) You can read my post about how I expanded my stations to give my kids more choice HERE. I'm going to link some things below that will be a great start for you if you want some new things in your stations.
- I researched and implemented Socratic Seminar. It was my finest hour as a teacher when I started the Socratic Method in my classroom. I'm dead serious. It's the bread and butter of my ELA time. It's the cream in my coffee. It's the gift that keeps on giving. One day, I had a "teacher epiphany." I was reading a book (which I never read professional books, I'm sorry, but I don't have time.) instead of a blog or some quickly researched article that I skim through. I don't even remember what book it was. A quote shot through me like an arrow.
Let that sink in a moment. When do we truly focus on oral language? Kindergarten? Maybe first grade? In my opinion, it's the "missing link" to our ELA instruction for all grade levels. Oral Language is the thing we've all been searching for in every grade level, in every subject. After that revelation, I set out to intentionally and strategically utilize their innate ability to talk nonstop all day long. I turned that need to talk and share into some heavy duty language arts potential. I learned all that I could about the Socratic Method. It was mostly geared toward older students, sixth grade and up. I decided to modify it to fit younger kids (I was teaching third grade at that time.)
We learned all the norms and pitfalls that first year together. We dug deeper and learned how to write our own Socratic questions for the Socratic Seminars. Remember the days when kids had no idea of what they were going to learn, why they were learning it, and took very little responsibility for their own learning? We were the only ones privy to the standards and we just spooned it out to them. We all know things have changed! I taught directly about Bloom's verbs. Blooms is not just for the teachers. It's for the kids. Teach them how to write their own questions about their reading.
We started out learning these five Bloom's verbs. They have served us well in grades 2-5 (remember, I teach GT kids and have multiple grade levels.) All of your kids can be successful at this with practice. I give them a sticky note while we are reading the text we are going to use for Socratic Seminar. They learn to jot down their question during or after we read. They post their note on the board, I go through them quickly and use the ones that are the most powerful. I don't really point out the best ones, they know if I'm using their question! It's not a contest, it's an attempt to write a powerful question that the group can deeply discuss.
Want to learn more about Socratic Seminar? Here are some links:
The product on TPT
Use the time you have this summer to incorporate great discussion time into your ELA, science, math, or social studies blocks!
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