I had a great time this week teaching a Children and Adolescent Literacy Course to graduate students in the Reading Program at Viterbo University. I met so many awesome, motivated, passionate, and knowledgeable teachers. I know I learned as much from them as they learned from me – what a win-win!
We started each day by reading a children’s book and discussing how we might use this in our own classrooms. We looked for concepts, language, intertextual connections, and how to use the literature to encourage joy and a love of reading.
As a class, we also read “Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher and “Book Whisperer” by Donalyn Miller as our textbooks. We had many discussions about the challenges we face in education today, and what we can do now to start a grass roots movement to begin a positive change.
Each day, every teacher took a turn sharing a favorite literacy resource. This was maybe the most powerful and informative thing we did all week. If you put a group of passionate, driven teachers together in a room and ask them to share their favorite resources, you are going to walk away with an amazing list of classroom-tested ideas to try. I have so many cool new tools to try in the fall!
Other topics we discussed this week included Independent reading, close reading, incorporating reading and writing, using technology effectively, multimedia, vocabulary, and encouraging a school wide reading culture. We put all of our resources and ideas on a wiki so that we could reference them throughout the year.
For their final project, my students had to create a literacy unit that they could use in their own classrooms next year. It had to include an anchor text, intertextual connections to another expository text, multimedia, vocabulary, close reading, prior knowledge, and text analysis. They made some really great units that they should be so very proud of!
It was an exhausting week, but in a really great way. I met so many wonderful people and I’m so very reinvigorating for teaching reading in the fall. I can’t wait to teach this course again!
This Saturday, I will be presenting my research at the Reading Research Symposium at Cardinal Stritch University. I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity to share my research and findings with other professionals in the field. Conducting research and writing a dissertation is one thing, but being able to collaborate, get feedback, network, and gain a new perspective really makes all this hard work feel worth while.
The following is my poster presentation for this session:
I will be discussing my investigation of online reading comprehension via the ORCA assessment tool created by the University of Connecticut.
Below is my favorite (and most informative and interesting) flow chart created from the results of this research. I think it is very telling about the kinds of navigational habits that are found to be most successful for online reading comprehension:
Summary of Findings and Visual Representatino of the Effectiveness of Four Navigational Profiles Used by Phase 2 Participants
And here are a few more flow charts and figures that help to visually explain the results of this research. Fascinating stuff, right? If you have any questions about my research, I’d be happy to answer them – please ask away in the comments below.
Pie Charts Representing the Number of Participants who Engaged in Specific Navigational / Reading Style – by Percentile Grouping. For each chart, N = 4
Flow Chart representing the Number of Participants in each Percentile Third Group That Engaged in a Reading Strategy or Behavior (N = 12)
Summary of Findings Regarding Variables that Influence Online Reading Comprehension
Fellow teachers, you will totally understand where I am coming from with this post. We get so excited for summer – not because we plan to sit around all day, but because we’ll finally have the time to catch up on all of the ‘life’ we miss out on during the school year. We get to take care of ourselves, take care of our homes, and reinvest in our relationships. I don’t know a single teacher who doesn’t push themselves even throughout the summer to be the best they can be.
Most of us, in fact, continue to work on our teaching practice throughout the summer. We tutor, plan, research, collaborate, and create. I don’t stop thinking about my students and my classroom at all throughout 10 weeks. In fact, I will be doing something school related 5 days per week. The best part, of course, is that I get to sleep later, work at my own pace, and work anywhere I like (including my sunny backyard, the library, or a coffee shop).
I have many things I’m really excited to do this summer. I also have things I know I need to accomplish. To ensure that I maintain a healthy balance, I’ve created a Summer Bucket list. I’m happy to share it with you. I’d love to hear about your summer goals, whether or not you are an educator. What are you most excited about? What do you hope to accomplish?
Yesterday was my last day in the classroom for the 2013-2014 school year. I said goodbye to my empty classroom for the summer. The lockers are empty, the hallways are eerily quiet, and my students are gone 🙁 I miss them already! At least my heart is full with the memories, and I look forward to them visiting me next year to tell me all about their freshman year (so glad our high school is just right across the street).
I’ll still be posting throughout the summer. As a true teacher, I will never really stop working. I am teaching a college course on reading, tutoring a student, and researching writing workshop for curriculum hours over the summer. I’ll also be schooling myself in new reading interventions for the fall – I’ll be sure to post anything I think you’ll find interesting.
I’m also excited to have somewhat of a life this summer! It’s just me and the two dogs with a whole lotta sunshine. I’ve got a huge stack of books to read, 2 summer crafting projects. an empty fridge that needs to be filled with my cooking, a basement that needs organizing, the gym I’ll be frequenting (so many classes I’m excited to try – especially Zumba!), friends to visit, parties to have, movies to watch, and so much more. I’m thinking of making one of those summer bucket lists – I just love lists! Here’s to a great summer!
BTW I’d love to hear your summer plans! Please let me know below.
This is my last High Five for Friday for the 2013-2014 school year. We made it!
1. Intertextual Connections – This week my students watched “The Book Thief” and made intertextual connections to our novel, Spite Fences. I asked them to notice connections in Conflict, Main Character, Supporting Character, Plot/Events, Resolution, and Theme.
2. Student Growth – We recently updated our data wall to reflect student growth in MAP Language Arts scores. Wow – isn’t it just amazing? Look how many students moved from the left (below grade level) to the right (high) over the course of the year. Inspirational! Way to go you hard working students!
3. Countdown – There are 3 days left of school. THREE! Monday and Tuesday are business as usual, Wednesday is our field trip to Great America Six Flags, and Thursday is only a half day to practice the 8th grade promotion ceremony.
4. I Ph.inisheD.!! – So the big news this week is that I successfully completed my doctoral defense. I’m Dr. Dembroski now, yay!
5. Weekly Eats – I love sharing the delicious foods I make each week. I was pretty busy last weekend! I made a Broccoli Egg Bake, Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Bars, and my own recipe of Mango Banana Pineapple Freezies – a staple for summer!
