Linking Assessments and Curriculum Planning Volume 1 Number 3 December 2009 Welcome to this month's New Teachers Digest! When I think back on my first couple years of teaching, I am amazed when I compare what was expected of me to what is expected of today's new teachers. This gap couldn't be more glaring when I consider assessments and curriculum planning. New teachers today are supposed to quickly master complicated assessments, and then analyze the findings and use them to plan instruction. It's an enormous task, and no wonder this is where so much of our energy goes in supporting new teachers. This month's digest is designed to help you help the new teachers in your midst as they connect their assessment data to classroom practice. . . . more Mentoring from the Real to the Ideal: Mental Images of Teaching Suzy Kaback When I work with new teachers, I often feel compelled to tell the story of my friend Michelle who was afraid to be a mother. Married for three years, Michelle and her husband David were in heavy talks about parenthood. David was eager to be a dad and Michelle wanted to share his enthusiasm, but she had concerns about her parental fitness. In conversations with me, Michelle admitted that her models of parenting were pretty impoverished. Her memories of childhood were clouded by images of an impatient, tired mother, and a father whose work kept him away from home for weeks at a time. "I know what good parents should sound like, how they should act," Michelle confessed, "but I'm afraid I won't be able to make it happen, that I'll suddenly just become my mom. . . . more Fostering Relationships and Building Learning Environments Volume 1 Number 1 October 2009 Welcome to this month's New Teachers Digest! Early in the year, I find supporting teachers is often about welcoming them to the school community and helping them create comfortable environments for learning. Chatting about room layouts and cozy areas for literacy can be less threatening to new teachers than discussions of assessments and classroom management (though those often come up too). I hope you enjoy these new features and old favorites from the Choice Literacy Archives. . . . more My Colleague Refuses to Collaborate with Us (LITERACY COACH CONFIDENTIAL) How do you work with a teacher who refuses to be a collaborative part of a team? She does her own thing without regard for other team members. Her students are not exposed to the same curriculum as the other students but she feels they are learning at their own pace. She has a literacy coach working with her but doesn't follow through on any suggestions to improve her teaching. She believes kids will learn when they are ready. Any suggestions? . . . more Learning from Coaching Mistakes Heather Rader Inventors understand that early prototypes inform them best about what doesn't work rather than what does. But what about when prototypes are people? It's difficult for me not to feel guilty about the mistakes I made with students' education in my first few years. In the same way, as a third year coach, I find myself reflecting on my missteps with the first set of teachers that I collaborated with as I was figuring out who I was as a coach. . . . more Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Recommending Yourself Suzy Kaback (with Jill Long) When I taught fifth grade, I used writer's workshop time in the beginning of the year to ask students to name their areas of writing expertise. I didn't ask them if they had an area of expertise; instead, I assumed everyone could name something s/he did well as a writer and to claim that talent. . . . more Best Practices for the Youngest Readers and Writers (CHOICE LITERACY CLUSTER) The purpose of this cluster is to help teachers reflect on best practices for teaching young readers and writers. With achievement pressure increasing for even our youngest students, this cluster helps teachers think about the best practices for reaching these young learners. . . . more Relevant Support for New Teachers Jennifer Allen As a literacy specialist and coach, I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about professional development. I am passionate about learning, and am often knee deep in designing and facilitating professional development for new teachers fresh to the profession. I wondered if the new teacher support that we provided within our school was actually relevant to their immediate needs. As a seasoned teacher with almost 20 years of experience I fear I am losing perspective when it comes to what new teachers really need. . . . more More Teaching Metaphors Ruth Shagoury Recently there have been a slew of articles published at Choice Literacy focused on teaching metaphors. Bread-baking, wood-working, and piano playing were all conversation starters, drawing out-of-school passions into our understanding of our teaching lives. I continual to draw parallels between my learning and that of students and colleagues. Specifically, I have been paying attention to what literacy lessons I can learn when I approach something that is difficult for me. . . . more Learning with Intensity: A Study Group Discussion Prompt Ruth Shagoury "I came to our meeting this week dog-tired: preparing for Back to School Night, designing new curriculum, adjusting to changes in our schedule," Lena confided. "But after our discussion tonight, I'm leaving excited about extending these conversations into my classroom." Lena is one of the teachers in our weekly gathering of high school teachers across many disciplines who are all choosing to explore reading comprehension with their adolescent students. . . . more Collecting Stories: Opening Activity and Icebreaker (PRINT DOWNLOAD) Ruth Shagoury The "Collecting Stories" activity is a great way to launch a workshop or new study group on a topic. The one I designed here was used with participants in a workshop for teachers who were new to working with young English language learners. You can download a copy of the two-page template by clicking on this link . . . more From Compliments to Naming the Craft: 5th Grade Writing Workshop Share Session (VIDEO) Jennifer Allen This whole-class share session in Lesley Fowler's 5th grade classroom is the culmination of a nonfiction writing unit. Over the course of the year, we moved from having students compliment their classmates during these share sessions, to writing down specific aspects of the piece they enjoyed or had questions about during the reading. We found adding this brief writing element to the share sessions has made all the difference in helping students connect their writing and that of their peers to the lessons on craft we present throughout the year. . . . more A Library from Scratch: A New Teacher's Tale Erin Ocon A few weeks ago, I saw the walls of my new classroom. And by walls, I mean that quite literally. There are only walls to see: thick concrete, with a hole in the center that looked out onto a wide suburban street. The middle school I will begin work at this fall has experienced an enormous growth in population, and so many new classrooms are being built. My new classroom will match me: a new teacher. . . . more Mentor Interviews - A Protocol of Questions This is the time of year when many new teachers are hired, and not long after that they are assigned mentors. But what do the mentors expect from this partnership? And how might their expectations differ from those of the novice teacher? This series of interview questions can be adapted to many different purposes. . . . more Reorganizing the Classroom Library (VIDEO) The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) In this brief time-lapse video, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser help Carrie, a second-year teacher, begin to organize her classroom library according to themes and traffic patterns in the classroom. . . . more Last Words and Next Steps: Closure Activities for Study Groups and Mentoring Programs The final moments of any professional development activity or school community can be among the most memorable of the year. We like final discussions and reflections to feel authentic and natural. We're not big fans of passing out sheets of toilet paper or rationing M&Ms or distributing wiki sticks so colleagues can meter out their words. Instead, we find all most teachers need is a quiet place away from the bustle of the end of the year, a bit of food and drink, and some sort of simple catalyst to think through and chat about what they will carry away from the year. Here are some easy, natural prompts to use to begin those final discussions . . . more