writers workshop

Learning Walks Grow Learning

~ mrsprairie ~ Leave a comment

Are Learning Walks part of your school’s culture? What do you look for on a Learning Walk? How can Learning Walks improve every school’s climate?

These were some of the questions asked of our team (several years ago) when Martin Skelton came in and got us “Looking for Learning!” His advice allowed me to step back and notice the learning environment, as well as my routines and daily objectives. Fast-forward a few years and in comes another wise consultant who deepened my understanding of looking for learning through Learning Walks. It was clear that teachers could make small tweaks to what they already do to encourage visiting students, parents, administrators, and the community to see what their students were learning, not just what they were doing.

What Do You Look For on a Learning Walk?

On Learning Walks, you look for learning. What does learning look like? That’s the harder question. There are a few simple ways that I look for learning in our school’s hallways.

  • I look for authentic student work displayed along the corridors.
  • I look for the process of the work, not just the final product. Where did their learning begin and where are they now?
  • I also look for the purpose of the learning (the objective or “I Can” statement).
  • I also look for reflections of the learning, either written by each student or a shared class reflection.

Within the classroom, I look for learning in many different ways. It’s important to first get a feel for each individual classroom’s environment. If each classroom was expected to have the exact same set-up and the exact same routines, then teachers’ creativity and passion would be stifled- we don’t want that. However, if you were a new student and this was your first visit, what would you need to look for to know that you could learn in this room? There are a few simple ways that I look for learning in classrooms.

  • I look for today’s schedule.
  • I look for what we are learning today (and hopefully why and how).
  • I look for instructions of routines (How do kids choose books from the library? What are the steps of the writing process? How do we solve problems? What to do if you’re absent?).
  • I look for varied learning spaces. (Can some students stand or sit on the carpet? Does learning happen in different places in the classroom?).

Learning Walks can also be focused on a specific initiative. Emily DeLiddo of languageisliving.com, is a literacy consultant who narrowed my focus of Learning Walks to Literacy-Rich Environments. Emily drafted a Learning Walk that focused on 7 sub-topics: environment, halls, word walls, materials, charts, library, and environmental print. She recommended that we should share the Learning Walk document with teachers, revise it if needed, then chunk the sub-topics into doable actions. Since most of the teachers already had their classrooms set up for the workshop model, we could celebrate the positive documentation of ENVIRONMENTS.

Environ

This quarter, our elementary teachers are going to implement Learning Walks as part of their professional learning.

learning walk 3

Teams can decide when they’re ready for other teams to visit their team for a Learning Walk. Hopefully, this will allow teachers to be confident in their work, while also giving praise to colleagues.

learning walk 2

Each grade level has an Apple Tree (I know it’s corny; I can’t help it). They simply stick the apple (possibly the Word Walls apple) to their tree and the other grade levels know that they are ready to show off their Word Walls. Everyone has a different take on Word Walls and how to use them, so teachers can get lots of ideas from their colleagues that may help them learn a different way.

WW

Learning Walk1

Teachers will have a chance to share what they’ve learned from visiting other classrooms during staff meetings. It’s a great chance to take a few minutes from the agenda to celebrate learning.

How Can Learning Walks Improve Every School’s Climate?

Learning Walks, when used as a learning tool and never as an evaluation, will focus the entire staff on learning and feedback. They allow teachers and students to be more comfortable and confident with what is happening in the classroom. When the school community can easily look for learning in the hallways and classrooms, the school becomes a museum of learning and an art gallery of understanding.

Reaching Reluctant Writers

~ mrsprairie ~ 1 Comment

How do we inspire kids to be writers when they just don’t want to? This is the case for lots of kids. English Language Learners, perfectionists, those with insufficient experience or knowledge of a subject, those who prefer to tell stories rather than write them… the list is endless. Some kids (and adults) just don’t want to write.

Teachers can easily Google strategies to help reluctant writers- and find a plethora of resources to guide their lessons. The surest way to inspire writers is to be one… and share your ideas, your struggles, your stories. When I show a student the way I have used a certain strategy, in my own notebook, it shows them that I am in this with them- not teacher to student… but writer to writer. That is deep.

My Writer's Notebook. I need to fancy it up with pictures and ideas for stories!
My Writer’s Notebook. I need to fancy it up with pictures and ideas for stories!

This morning, I was asked to model a lesson in a sixth grade ELL class. The students participated in a Week without Walls experience last week, and their teacher, Mrs. Garrick, wanted them to write about it. Knowing that these two students were reluctant writers, I decided to show them a strategy that took the overwhelming pressure of staring at a blank page of many lines, and turned it into a fun way to hold on to memories.

The Model: I attended the EARCOS Leadership Conference last week in Bangkok. Looking back on my notes, I chunked my learning around 5 topics. I have 5 fingers, so I thought that if I traced my hand in my writer’s notebook, then not only do I have a place to brainstorm, but I have taken up some space, and won’t have to write as much (this is my middle school thinking). Genius!

Modeling the strategy
Modeling the strategy- trace the hand
Modeling the strategy- brainstorm the topics
Modeling the strategy- brainstorm the topics

Interactive Writing/Shared Writing: After I modeled my topics and journal entry, I asked the students to think about how they could divide their writing into topics. Since the subject was their Week Without Walls trip, they considered these topics-

  1. What was the best part of the week?
  2. What was the worst part of the week?
  3. What was most fun or most embarrassing?
  4. What did I learn?
  5. How did I make new friends or show leadership during the week?
Sharing ideas about topics
Sharing ideas about topics

Independent Writing: Hands were traced, ideas for each topic were jotted in the fingers on the page, and the writing began. They wrote topic by topic until they wrote to the very end of the page. “Now what?” they asked. “Turn the page and keep going,” we smiled.

"This was the best day of writing! It was so much fun! Look how much I wrote; can I finish it at home?"
“This was the best day of writing! It was so much fun! Look at how much I wrote; can I finish it at home?”

Sharing Time: I was barely able to get them to stop writing before the lunch bell sounded. My question was simple- what was different about today’s workshop, than other days? With smiles from ear to ear, they exclaimed…

“This was fun!”

“The topics made it easy to know what to write next!”

“The hand in the middle of the page meant that I didn’t have to write as much (even though they actually wrote more than any other workshop this year).”

This made us grin from ear to ear. Today we reached the most reluctant of writers.

My journal entry.
My journal entry.

Thank you, Mrs. Garrick, for sharing your wonderful students with me. I love spending time writing with you all and learning with you all.

Mrs. Garrick- fellow teacher, fellow learner, fellow writer.
Mrs. Garrick- fellow teacher, fellow learner, fellow writer.

Teams with Poor Coaching Don’t Win the Big Game- in learning, every day is the Big Game

~ mrsprairie ~ 1 Comment

Some people work better on their own; I am not one of those people. I like being part of a team. I like everything that being on a team means… building a plan together, stretching together, practicing together, playing together, succeeding together, failing together, reflecting together, and improving together.

As a teacher, I was so blessed to work on some amazing teams of teachers and students. A few that come to mind are the grade 6 team at ACS Beirut (2001-2003)- we were energetic, passionate about learning, and made learning fun! The Dream Team of Seven Springs Middle School (2003-2005)- we took interdisciplinary learning to a whole new level, looping allowed us to really bond, and I worked with master teachers. DEMS (2007-2011)- I found my philosophical twin, and we team taught the heck out of grade 8- always keeping the students’ emotional well-being ahead of everything else!

Sometimes I was being mentored; other times I was the mentor. That’s what teams do- everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and everyone helps their team improve. No one is better than anyone else. PS- I am including students in my definition of team, so should you.

Being part of a team was what made teaching and learning so meaningful, but here I was, an administrator- with no team. I was lonely.

Then something happened… Something significant… Something that gave me goose bumps. I realized that being an administrator meant taking on the role as the coach of a team. A coach’s job is to inspire as a team, set goals as a team, learn as a team, communicate and model effectively as a team, play-succeed-fail as a team, reflect and improve as a team. Every team needs good coaching or the players are just playing for themselves.

This realization came last week during a professional development day. Grades K-5 team leaders assembled with their principal and me to develop division-wide Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions for the writing units of study. Here is how we worked as an effective (and totally awesome) team:

  • We built a plan together- What are the lifelong learning goals of writing?
  • We stretched our thinking together- What do we already know, and what do we need to know, about the significance of being lifelong writers?
  • We practiced and played together- What work have we done that is meaningful and should be honored?
  • We succeeded together- What are we doing well and is worth continuing?
  • We failed together- What should we stop doing, and why?
  • We reflected together- What did we used to think and what do we now know?
  • We improved together- When can we do this with other subjects? This was powerful!
K-5 Teamwork! Photo credit: Krista Roll
K-5 Teamwork! Photo credit: Krista Roll
K-5 Teamwork- Succeeding Together! Photo credit: Krista Roll
K-5 Teamwork- Succeeding Together! Photo credit: Krista Roll

Think about the inspiring coaches and teammates that you’ve had over the years. If you don’t have that same inspiration and passion to win the Big Game, then make some changes. Your team, whether they are colleagues or students, need a quality coach. Don’t let them down!