“So what should we say when children complete a task—say, math problems—quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, “Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can really learn from!”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Having a 2-year-old is not only fun, but mind-blowing at the same time.  I find myself thinking about what lies ahead for him; the obstacles he faces, the successes he will feel in all parts of his life, friendships that will come and go, etc.  It's at these times that I also reflect on my experiences from the classroom and wonder whether I truly motivated my students to learn or if I rather gave them false hope without even knowing.  I now find myself searching for a balance between being a father and being an educator.  In my son's life, I want to do whatever it takes to motivate and challenge his cognitive growth in the years to come.  The following article delves into four essential qualities connected to student motivation (autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance).  I hope that you find it as informative and compelling as I did.  Without question, I now have a broader view of what to consider moving forward as a father and an educator! 

 

Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves

The Role of Automaticity in Reading and Test Taking

The discussion of fluency instruction is nothing new in the elementary world, but lately middle and high school teachers are beginning to see the benefit of a fluency awareness at this level as well!

In a webinar by Dr. Timothy Rasinski, a well-known expert in this field, he begins to lay out the importance of focusing not just on the idea of fluent reading, but more importantly on automaticity.  He stated that:

• ·      67% of students who perform poorly on state mandated high stakes reading comprehension test exhibit difficulty in reading fluency (specifically word recognition which equals automaticity).
• ·      25% of the variance in silent reading comprehension on a state assessment given through sixth grade attributed to fluency (word recognition/automaticity).
• ·      25% of young adults lack basic literacy skills required to get a job.

Could a lot of this be prevented from a more focused instruction in word recognition and automaticity? Dr. Rasinski suggests providing students with “guided wide reading” as well as “guided deep reading”. To best develop automaticity a student must experience “intensive, wide and deep, guided and targeted instruction and practice.” Students at all levels must be able to read text in a reasonable amount of time and fully understand what they have read. This impacts a student’s development as a reader as well as their ability to complete high stakes assessments in the mandated time frame. To learn more about this follow the link to the free webinar and article.

Free webinar at http://www.scilearn.com/blog/tim-rasinski-reading-fluency

Wiesen, N. (2013, April 23). Why Dr. Timothy Rasinski Thinks Reading Fluency Should Be "HOT!" Retrieved March 27, 2015, from http://www.scilearn.com/blog/tim-rasinski-reading-fluency

Review: Concepts & Tools to Develop a Collegial, Credible, Student-Centered Coaching Cycle

 Reviewed by Janet Kaylor

Professional reading has always been the investment I make in myself to stay on top of my practice as a reading specialist, instructional coach, team member, and leader. Fortunately, my spouse merely smiles when I hand him my personal work expenditures (the professional book bill) at tax season. And since it is an investment in my work with districts, leaders, teachers and students, I want to get the most out of any book I read professionally.

Student-Centered Coaching: A Guide to K-8 Coaches and Principals (2011) by Diane Sweeney was an impulse purchase. The draw for me was strictly the title, “student-centered.” (Read Sweeney's introduction.) As always, I made sure to read this informational text with these three questions foremost:

1. What will I learn and be able to do after reading this book?

2. What logistical considerations in this book will help me apply new learning to my practice?

3. What potential does this book have for impacting the longevity of my work?

With these questions in mind, I want to share some highlights from my learning.

Do you want to read more?  The full review can be found on the Alabama Best Practices Center Blog.
http://www.bestpracticescenter.org/blog/review-concepts-tools-to-develop-a-collegial-credible-student-centered-coaching-cycle/

The 8 Minutes that Matter Most

Some recent coaching conversations sparked my interest in looking deeper into designing effective lessons.  We all have separate tools we use, various ways to prepare, an almost innate systematic approach, etc. when it comes to lesson planning.  So in my 'web' travels I stumbled upon an article written by Brian Sztabnik, an ELA teacher from New York.  His take on what matters most really sparked some connections to what I've experienced when planning for standards based instruction, both past and present.  Below is an excerpt and link to the article.

"If we fail to engage students at the start, we may never get them back. If we don't know the end result, we risk moving haphazardly from one activity to the next. Every moment in a lesson plan should tell. The eight minutes that matter most are the beginning and endings. If a lesson does not start off strong by activating prior knowledge, creating anticipation, or establishing goals, student interest wanes, and you have to do some heavy lifting to get them back. If it fails to check for understanding, you will never know if the lesson's goal was attained."


The 8 Minutes that Matter Most -- 8 Ways to Make it Magical

The Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of reading is comprehending or understanding the text. Teachers are always trying to support students with “fix-up” strategies like “re-read”. But, do our students truly understand what to do when they are merely told to “re-read” it?

These strategies have to be taught in connection with thinking strategies. It is not only the act of re-reading, but what are we actually expecting them to think and do when they reread the text?

The link below leads to a blog that goes in-depth with the importance of sharing our thinking with our student so that they can better understand what these “strategies” really look like, feel like, sound like, and think like!

“Maybe we don’t understand what readers really do - and why it matters”

This blog shares great examples, like the one below, that help us better understand why the students are still struggling.

Lexile Levels, Readability, Text Complexity?

The College and Career Ready Standards are designed to increase rigor for the students of Alabama through the use of complex text.  Educators and parents would gain a greater understanding of rigor and how to help their children grapple with elevated learning expectations by gaining more knowledge about Lexile Levels and text complexity. Learn more about how they work together to build a better reader:• https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/• https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/downloadable-pdfs/• http://www.readingrockets.org/blog/55202• http://reading.org/General/Publications/Books/BK478.aspx