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Thursday, December 10, 2015

People Ask: What do you do all day?

It's Dianna here with you today from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching! Hope everyone is surviving the final days before the holiday break! Click on my button below to follow me along my journey.

As many of you know I'm no longer a classroom teacher, I am a Literacy Coach. So I often get the question or look, "What do you do all day?"

So today I am here to give you an answer of what my job consists of. Not every Literacy Coach is the same, it really depends on the county and school they are at. But, I am pretty clear on making sure that I still feel and act as an educator. I don't make a different salary than teachers, and I don't ever want to make teachers feel like I'm better than them because of my position. It's a team effort, so I always want to be a part of the teacher's and student's daily activities. Which is hard because there is only one of me and so many of them. But, if I need them to do anything or need to ask anything of them I can because I feel comfortable in our relationship.

So I use this tool from my Effective Literacy Coach Planner to keep my organized each week at my school. Each week can look different but I sit down prior to the start of each week and put in writing my schedule for the following week.Of course, things pop up daily or the day before that I go and do. Those things I don't have written down, but when you our without students you are always needed at random times for random things. It's mostly the things that nobody sees, but it helps with the day to day operations of a school.

Before I go into detail, we are currently in our middle of the year assessment window and I have a teacher out on maternity leave. So I have been devoting a chunk of time daily to that Kindergarten classroom to assess. Okay, here we go...

Daily:

8:00-8:30 a.m.: I have a first grade classroom I visit to assist with each morning. I help the students stay focused on their morning routines and I also pull a small group of students.
8:30-9:00 a.m.: I take a small group of students for the Kindergarten Intervention time.
1:45-2:15 p.m.: I take a small group of students for the First Grade Intervention time.
Every Monday is WAVE day at my school. I really don't know what that stands for, it was the name before I got here. But it means extended planning. Two grade levels a Monday meet for 2 1/2 hours. I have a part in these meetings where I check in on Literacy needs and wants. We discuss assessments, data, planning, etc...
Every day I take a chunk of time to sit down and plan for a grade level or find/prep resources. I put one team or teacher down a day who has asked me to help with something. I like to do this because it allows me an opportunity to connect from a planning point of view when it comes to content, lessons, standards, etc...
I attempt to swing through 1-3 reading blocks a day. I deliberately do not take anything with me to record on. I know how that makes people feel and I don't want to make a relationship uncomfortable. Some days I stay longer in one place and don't get any further but I always try to see someones mini-lesson, work period and small group time each day. I use this as a positive to share with colleagues the great things that are happening that everyone can't see.
I do this each day... LOOK AT DATA!!! I am always pulling up teacher data and looking around at trends. I am continuously thinking of ways we can improve instruction for all students. Not only Literacy data though, as part of the coaching team we are looking at all school data
The most important thing I do every day is walk to each classroom and say hello! That's it, simple. But it is how I build relationships, make teachers comfortable with me and let them know I am here for them! I do want students to see me so they also know who I am.

This Week and Others:

One day a month one of my teachers attends the "Cadre". It's to build capacity in the school as a lead teacher. We all know the funding issues, so there is no sub. It's ME! I absolutely love it! It makes me feel like a teacher again and the class is wonderful. So today, Thursday, I am a third grade teacher all day! I just love doing it, because I do nothing all day but work with kids. I don't deal with any adults, which is a nice break sometimes. But most importantly, the fact that I'm teaching all day, eating lunch in the cafeteria with the students and monitoring recess gives me credibility with my teachers. This is a bonus when it comes to collaborating with them.
Each semester I deliver 10 hours of Professional Development. We have already wrapped up our First Semester which was Improving Written Comprehension through Reading. But, this is usually in my weekly schedule to plan and deliver Professional Development. I also read a book with each Professional Development as between session reading. So I have to read ahead of my participants and plan for that weekly too.
Each week if I'm asked to, I attend grade level meetings or have meetings of my own for Literacy. That is on a rotation with other coaches. Since we are in the Middle of the Year Benchmark window I asked my teachers to use their time this week to grade Spelling Inventories, Writing Samples or continue to assess students without disruption. I quickly met with 3rd grade though to go through some of our Read to Achieve Portfolios.
As far as observations and individual conferences, that really has to do with any specific teacher I'm working with that has asked me to be there, or who our administration has asked me to work with. Seeing that it's the week before Christmas break, I am currently only working with one teacher as "check in status". I am very happy that I many teachers on my campus very casually always ask me to help or come in. It makes me smile because I want our relationship to be that way.
Each week I organize and facilitate the Academic Language School-Wide Initiative each week at school. I send out the newsletter with activities, suggestions and etc. I also keep the front hallway bulletin board up to date.
Each week I contribute to our NWE Game Plan from the school coaches. I use this as a time to give some professional learning as well. Click below to see our newsletters from Smore!
Each month I write the monthly Book of the Month Lesson plans with the help of some fabulous teacher brains and organize all that.
Most importantly I try to be an advocate for the teachers when needed to the powers above us and I try to put out fires and keep nerves calm in a school full of women!

So that is what's happening this week! It can be different each week, it really depends on the time of year, assessments, observations and my teachers most importantly. I help with many other spontaneous tasks and duties at school, along with the Hospitality Committee and Literacy Committee.

My planning pages help me keep my days organized and successful. I try to get as much face-to-face time in each day with the students and teachers across campus.

Here are some photos of my life at work this week! Of course I'm not able to snap pictures of me and I always forget to grab my phone but here are a few that I got. Sorry I didn't get any of my cute Kinder or First Grade groups, but I LOVE them all! I'll have to get some and post those. I also of course don't take photos of me and teachers meeting.

Let's start with my plan for the week. You can click HERE to see and read about all the details...

The main part, assessing....

My day in 3rd Grade consisted of lots of reading and writing activities. We worked twice on written response. Once through their science content with text structures and once through literature with inferences that our librarian led. We also had a little holiday crafts and attended the school performance!

Hour of Code, if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you probably saw the Flipgram I posted earlier this week my time in 4th Grade...

You can click HERE to see and read about my Literacy Coach planning tools. You can click HERE to see some of the tools I use as a Literacy Coach that could help you too!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Teaching Students to Construct Written Response to Text!

Welcome friends! It's Dianna here with your today from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching! Today I am talking about constructing written responses and why it is important!

Written response is viewed as the highest level of comprehension because students are able to communicate in writing their learning and viewpoints. With this assessment format students are forced to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge. Having students explain their thinking is an assessment that is more valuable to teachers. Most importantly, teachers can provide constructive feedback to students and confer over it to improve students abilities rather than the use of a multiple choice assessment.

Whether your students are ready to construct written responses or not, YOU SHOULD still model frequently! Even if you have little ones that are not ready to write, still do it! Little learners are sponges and will soak up bits and pieces each time. You always want to set the bar high and continue modeling for students!

Modeling should be done through: Writing Aloud, Shared Writing and Interactive Writing.
During instruction use the "I Do", "We Do" methods!
I do: Modeling followed by discussion.
We do: Practicing written response together with input and assistance from students.

Steps for Constructed Response:
1) Understand the prompt/question.
2) Restate the Question in your answer.
3) Provide a general answer to prompt/question.
4) Go back into the text to find evidence of your answer.
5) Provide text evidence to support your answer.
6) Wrap up your response with the final piece of information to support your answer.
7) Review your answer by re-reading it to yourself.

Below are 2 examples from working with a group of 1st grade students. We have implemented written response at the end of our guided reading lessons each week. I begin with a think-aloud of understanding the question. From there I move into the deconstruct and reconstruct method using students thoughts of word meanings in the question as we break them down. We re-read the question multiple times to gain a better understanding. These responses are guided and shared based on student input. Students also show others where they find information in the text when responding, which is another process I value. I color code the responses to help students with answering all parts of the question.

10 Effective Tips to Implement:
1) Help students understand the purpose for writing by modeling think-alouds on paper.
2) Model your mental process of constructing written responses using think-alouds.
3) Use open-ended questions or question frames from oral conversations in written format so students are more comfortable responding.
4) Use written prompts from oral conversation in written format so students are more comfortable responding.
5) Teach students the academic vocabulary of the standards orally and in written format so they understand what the question is asking them to do.
6) Model for students the deconstruct and reconstruct strategy to help comprehend the question itself.
7) Color code the question parts and answer parts to match. Students are visual.
8) Model and demonstrate for students during a think-aloud how to go back in the text to find evidence.
9) Teach and model the meaning of the word because to students and how to include it in oral and written responses.
10) Include written responses in your reading block frequently so students have multiple learning and practicing opportunities.

An instructional strategy I continue to use is the deconstruct and reconstruct method. I love this strategy because it allows students to gain a better understanding of word meanings and the academic language in questions. When using this process students learn how to attend to all parts of the question along with understanding the question in student friendly language. We do this every time, all year long. Here are some close ups of some examples:

Remember, a goal of teaching is to teach students to read and write like adults. Continue modeling frequently at the highest level and with written responses. In time you will see students abilities and comprehension grow!

Even though the above examples has been done with 1st grade students, you can apply this to any grade level of students with any content area. It is awesome with math word problems as well as written response questions in Science and Social Studies.

I hope you find this information helpful and don't forget to follow me along my journey by clicking on my blog button at the top of this post!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

BOO-yah! You've Been BOOed! [FREE!]

Happy Halloween! It's Dianna here with you today from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching! Click my button below to follow me along my journey!

It's the season to spread some BOO! So get started SPOOKING a few! Start a little fun this season, put smiles on faces & TREATS at their places!

It's a great activity to build school morale with the entire staff! You can also play with your friends or neighbors too! Keep it a SECRET, nobody will ever know who BOOed who!

It's simple to get started, just BREW your SPELL! Take a day to make 2, 2 treat bags & 2 copies of each!

Join the fun, the season is here. So spread the BOO & keep the CHEER!

Click on any of the photos or HERE to grab this for yourself!

Happy BOOing!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

School-Wide Initiatives from a Literacy Coach [Book of the Month & Academic Language]

Hello Primary Pack Friends~

It's Dianna here with you today from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching!

Today I wanted to share with you two School-Wide Initiatives I help lead as a Literacy Coach in my school.

Book of the Month

The first focus is something I shared with you all here last school year. It was about starting a Book of the Month program at your school. You can read all about that post HERE & grab a few FREE RESOURCES & IDEAS.

This is our second year here at my school doing this. My teachers really enjoy receiving mentor texts each month that can lend themselves to many literacy & character lessons. To me it's a no-brainer, having a program like this helps build a literacy community & a love for literacy in all children. Reading aloud to children is so important at any age. Plus what teacher doesn't LOVE a fresh, crisp, shiny new book each month with a prepped lesson plan for them?!?!

Academic Language Newsletter

Midway through the 2014-2015 school year, after meeting with some of my Literacy Coach colleagues from the county, a few of us decided to start a School-Wide Academic Language Initiative. The reasons for this I could go on & on with, but the bottom line is student's need to be immersed in this formal language so they can make sense of it on assessments. Almost all assessments are a vocabulary test in a sense. We new our students were better than what the test scores showed. We also knew they couldn't read & comprehend words like: determine, evaluate, analyze, etc... I made it my goal to bring awareness to my teachers as well as starting a school-wide weekly initiative. Our goal was for students to make meaning of these words in different contexts, so that when it came to assessment time they would be able to answer the questions.

Here is some of the critical information I include in the weekly academic language newsletter:

WHAT?: One of our Literacy Focuses is a school-wide initiative: Teaching Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core. This weekly newsletter will help us immerse our students in a linguistic pool of vocabulary K-5.
WHY?: Not only do we want our students to acquire vocabulary to promote language skills, such as reading, speaking, listening & writing in their everyday lives, but standardized tests are based on the vocabulary of the standards. In fact, 85% of test scores are based on how well students know the vocabulary of the standards. [Marzano, Tileston].
HOW?: A word of the week will be emailed out prior to the start of a new week. There are many ways to integrate the “verbs” into daily classroom instruction & routines as well in Art, PE, Music, Library, Guidance & Lab. Suggestions will be given on how to help students process the critical verbs in a variety of ways to store them in the brain in multiple places. The idea is that the more students are exposed to the words & engaged with them, the more they will make meaning of them.

We are in our second year with this initiative. Each Friday I simply send out a weekly newsletter for the upcoming week with a new word or it can be a review word after a few weeks. The newsletter states the reasons for this initiative, because yes, you will have teachers think this is something "extra" to do. When in fact it is just about teachers retraining themselves with more formal questioning words. The newsletter also states various other information as well as ideas for resource teachers. It's very important that all teachers, including non-homeroom teachers, are involved in things like this.

Here is a sample of what my newsletters look like:

School-Wide Initiative Bulletin Board:

So here is my bulletin board, it's smack in the front of the school for all guests & visitors to see when walking in. If you clicked above to visit my post from last year of implementing a book of the month program, you saw what the board looked like previously. This year I split the board in half to show both focuses. It also serves as a reminder to students & staff when passing.

For the Book of the Month side... Each month the new book cover goes up with book information. The previous book covers are moved to the borders, as you can see with August's Book of the Month.

For the Academic Language side... Each week the new word & formal meaning is added to the center of the board. Previous words are placed on the edges for reviewing purposes.