Observing Other Teachers

Hi Guys!

I hope you had a terrific vacation - if you were lucky enough to have this whole past week off, are you ready to get back at it on Monday?  We went back on Thursday - while I didn't really feel ready to give up my spot on the couch, in front of the fire, it was nice to come back to a two day week.  I swear my students grew two inches when they were gone...we hardly fit on the carpet!!!!

By far, my favorite professional development is observing other teachers at work.  I love looking at their classrooms, listening to their instruction and just absorbing it all.  This coming week I'm hosting a group of teachers in my classroom during Daily 5 and the next day I get to observe my pal, Barb, in action.  Let's just say I'm a little more excited about being the observer than the observed.

I could think of something wild and crazy and wow-ful but I decided to go with business as usual.  That just feels more natural and I think we'll all get more out of the experience if that's the way I approach this little slice of fun...

We're working on using our schema to make connections - right now we're focusing on text-to-self connections.  If you're using the common core standards you may be thinking "Hmm, nowhere in the core does it mention text-to-self connections, or nowhere does it talk about activating prior knowledge" - I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this news.  I can't imagine teaching reading comprehension without activating prior knowledge and cannot imagine leaving out how using your schema as you read helps you relate to and understand the story better - so if you'd like to chime in below in my comments with your opinion or understanding of this I would LOVE to hear from you...I'm open, but currently standing firm{ish}...

So, my students know what schema is and have just started learning about using it to make text-to-self connections. They've put little sticky notes on their pages to notate where they've made a connection and have even taken the plunge and shared their thinking with their reading partners during read-to-someone and during our sharing after workshop. 

We made an anchor chart that explained how they'll know they've made a text-to-self connection - I wish I had a picture of it.  Essentially we noticed that when you make a t-t-s connection you usually say or think the words "It reminds ME of" or "I remember a time when" or "One time I..." the key words being "I" or "Me". 

My next step {Early next week} is from Debbie Miller's book Reading With Meaning where we will  read a story, make connections, jot them down on chart paper and then go through each one and discuss which ones are helpful to us as readers...helpful connections help us understand the story better and typically they help us understand the feelings of a character. They also take us back into the text rather than away from it. 

I found this anchor chart on Pinterest that I just love...

Source: joyin6th.blogspot.ca via H on Pinterest

This happens to be from one of my bloggy friends, Kim, over at Joy in 6th - LOVE!

So, when  my teaching pals come visit on Thursday we'll be ready to talk about this anchor chart by connecting it with our thinking the day before {where we decided which connections help us to comprehend the story better}.

I can't wait to see how ready my kids are to understand this BIG thinking...I have faith in their big, busy brains!

What I love about how our literacy coach organizes these observations is that she has the teacher who is being observed meet with the teachers who will be in her classroom before the observation - we talk about the lesson and the observed teacher can share with the others what they would like the others to cue into.  I'm thinking I'm going to want them to walk around and talk with the kids about their connections and whether or not they feel the connections they've made have helped them understand the story better and HOW.  That's some big thinkin'!

After the lesson, we get a chance to debrief, which I love too!!!!  I get feedback from the teachers and find myself growing the most during these conversations...

I'm curious if other districts afford their teachers the opportunity to observe their colleagues...please share!!!!

On a different note, my friend Megan, over at Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade is hosting a great giveaway in celebration of her birthday...head over and enter!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!