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Disrupting Thinking
Book Study at Ruth Ann Monroe Primary
Part 1 The Readers We want
Read Chapters 1 and 2
Quotes from the text to think about:
- They need to be flexible thinkers who recognize that there are will rarely be one correct answer, but instead there will be multiple answers that must be weighed and evaluated.
- We must teach students to read with curiosity.
- The responsive reader is present in mind and heart, when he is reading the text.
- Without responses and thoughts of other readers, the isolated reader has only his own resources to draw upon.
- If the reader is not responsive, if she doesn't let the text awaken emotion or inspire thoughts, then she can barely say she is reading at all.
- Responsiveness is critical for understanding, even more critical for close reading
- How often do you ask your students "How has this reading changed who you are?"
- "What is happening in your classroom and in our school to encourage responsive reading?
Want to watch videos to review the chapters?
Take Two - introduction to the book
Take Two Chapter 1 - Chapter 1
Take Two Chapter 2 - Chapter 2
Read Chapter 3 BEFORE OCTOBER FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about:
- Our democracy is best served when we encourage students to begin at an early age to pay close attention both to what the text says and to what they feel and think as they read.
- Asking the "three big questions" requires students to think about their own responses, but they are responses that come directly from the text.
Ask yourself:
- How can you incorporate the "three big questions" into your reading instruction? social studies instruction ? science instruction?
- How can you encourage students to use the "three big questions" during independent reading?
Activity for the "Big Three"
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two:Three Big Questions - Chapter 3
Read Chapter 4
Quotes from the text to think about:
- Compassion should sharpen the readers' ability to see other points of view, other perspectives, and imagine the feelings of those who hold them.
- High stakes tests, Lexile levels, searches for evidence, dialogic notes and sticky notes galore - we have demanded of readers many things we would never ourselves while reading. We have sticky-noted reading to death.
- Nonfiction offers us the chance to learn not only about the world and the people in it, but about ourselves.
Ask yourself:
- How will you encourage your students to be compassionate?
- How will you use nonfiction to give students a chance to develop compassion?
Want to watch the video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 4 - Chapter 4
Part 2 The Framework We Use
Read Chapter 5
Quotes from the text to think about:
- The most important reading we do gives the chance to find ourselves.
- We want them to realize that reading should involve disrupting their thinking, changing their understandings of the world and themselves.
- ... the reader must be responsive to the thoughts and feelings awakened by the text.
- Reading should be disruptive.
Ask yourself:
- How will you encourage students to think not only about the evidence from the text but how the text is important to them?
Want to watch the video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 5 - Chapter 5
Read Chapter 6 BEFORE NOVEMBER FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about;
- ....we need to pay attention to the text, to our thoughts about it, and to what we feel and how we might have changed, no matter how slightly as a result of reading.
- when we teach kids how to write Somebody Wanted But So statement - a single sentence summary - we are again helping them focus on the book.
- Book. Head.Heart.Three words. Use them as a framework for talking.
Ask yourself:
- How could you use the BHH framework as a reading frame for your students?
- Do you think it is important for students to think about how a text is changing them? Do you share with students how reading changes you?
Book. Head. Heart. Poster
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6zZ9CRPrdOKVjRsUFY3XzFHa00
Mary Oliver's "The Journey" by Glenda Miles
Want to watch the video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 6 - Chapter 6
Chapter 8 pages 78- 81 Chapter 9 BEFORE DECEMBER FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about;
- It will sometimes be helpful to remind students to go back into the book for evidence or clarification.
- ...it will sometime be helpful to ask them what they can infer or what they wonder about or what surprised them....
- ....using words they noticed in the text to feelings and thoughts they noticed in themselves.
- Do the conversations in your classroom reflect these three aspects of the reading experience? If not, what aspect needs attention?
- What strategies do you use most often - other than teacher questions- to help your students think about what is in the book?
Want to watch the videos to review the chapters?
Take Two: Chapter 8 - Chapter 8
Take Two: Chapter 9 - Chapter 9
PART 3 The Changes We Must Embrace
Read Chapter 10 BEFORE JANUARY FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about;
- ... sometimes we want to say we are doing research based best practices, but other times too many of us are willing to ignore what we know from research.
- We want to disrupt the thinking of these kids. And we want these kids to welcome the disruption that reading might bring to their thinking.
- Numerous research reports explain the critical importance of dialogic (question that do not have a quick and easy answer; they require discussion) talk and yet most classrooms are still based on monologic (questions where there is a right or best answer)talk.
- Innovation is the lifeblood of progress. it does not let us merely survive;innovation is what lets us thrive. And innovators are what is needed.
Ask yourself:
- How do you define best practices and what best practices do you follow?
- Are there practices that you follow that cannot be supported by research? Why do you use them? Should you reconsider?
Read Chapter 11
Quotes from the text to think about:
- When the purpose motive for school is to help kids become confident, passionate, life long learners... then the profit motive has less to do with test score and more to do with engaged students.
- Differentiation must be grounded in equity.
- Differentiation that results in diminished educational experience for those kids is not only wrong, it is shameful.
Ask yourself:
- How do you monitor student growth?
- In three years what would you like your school to be known for? What needs to happen this year, next year and that third year for that to happen?
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two Chapter 11 - Chapter 11
Read Chapter 12
Quotes from the text to think about:
- When they discover relevance, their energy for and attention to the task will soar. Getting their attention is about interest;keeping their attention is about relevance.
- "Letting go" might well be a critical skill for educators in this fluid and rapidly changing world.
Ask yourself:
- Where do you want to be three years from now regarding relevance? What small steps this year could lead you to where you want to be in three years?
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 12 - Chapter 12
Read Chapter 13 BEFORE FEBRUARY FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about:
Ask yourself:
- If you want kids to be better readers, they must read. And if you want them to read a lot, much, perhaps most, of what they read must be what they choose to read.
- DEAR and SSR without guidance, supervision or feedback does not improve reading.
- ...supervision, guidance and feedback are what offer us a better chance for growth.
- Nine Reasons to Read More. (page 134)
- Simple prompts can help teachers quickly assess if the time spent reading that text in class is well spent.
Ask yourself:
- Are you satisfied with the amount of silent reading that happens in your class?
- What reading logs have you seen that you like? How might you incorporate a reading log in your classroom?
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 13 - Chapter 13
Read Chapter 14 BEFORE MARCH FACULTY MEETING
Quotes from the text to think about:
- We want to avoid situations in which children believe that they, not the book, are a level.
- Listening is not reading. there is value in listening, but listening uses and hones different skills from reading.
- if you choose such a difficult book for students that they are struggling through it, then recognize that you aren't improving decoding or building fluency or helping any other aspect of their reading.
- if students will be listening, it's best if they have a copy of the text in front of them and are following along.
Ask yourself:
- How do handle different ways of reading the same book?
- How do you ensure that your students have time to read, are actually reading the books they choose and are being responsive to their reading?
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 14 - Chapter 14
Read Chapter 15
Quotes from the text to think about:
- The easiest way to look at our classroom talk might be to consider the nature of the questions we raise.
- Dialogic questions are questions that may not have a quick and easy answers, but are usually more discussable. You don't know the answer before asking the question.
- Questions should serve as invitations to the students to raise their own questions.
- Do we ever consider how talk helps students become engaged, deepen understanding, explore nuances, learn to listen, learn to change, learn to rethink?
Ask yourself:
- Do you have a list of questions for children to answer before a discussion begins? an outline? or do students set the topic and raise the question?
- Where do you want your classroom to be in three years with regard to talk? What would you like it to look like, sound like? What would you need to do this year to get started in that direction?
Want to watch a video to review the chapter?
Take Two: Chapter 15 - Chapter 15
Final Thought
We want kids to realize that reading should involve disrupting thinking, changing their understandings of the world and themselves.