I got to spend 5 days learning from Annie Taranto, a TCRWP
Staff Developer who had also taught me during the January, 2012 Reading Coach
Institute. Back in January, we were together at a school in Brooklyn and Annie taught us
how to coach while being in Labsite classrooms all week long.
Now I had the honor to be in a group of very smart Advanced Institute
participants from all over the globe ready to hear more tips from Annie on how to teach teachers to teach writing by using the
structure of Labsites and Meetings.
Here are my notes taken while with
Annie:
Recommended Book: Literacy
Coaching by Katherine Casey, Heinemann.
Two Structures to Use to Teach Other Teachers to Teach Writing?
Labsites – time to try it, practice it
As the coach, plan the lesson and plan the voice overs – YOU
must talk to the teachers so they will value labsite time and understand why
you are doing what you are doing.
Plan the lenses:
— Giving
a lens for teachers to view the Labsite is very important. During the debrief,
hold the teachers accountable and be sure to recall who had each lens and give
each a chance to share.
— Possible
lenses: explicitness, independence, transference, student engagement, transitions…(see emailed
list); a building walk-thru can help you decide on the lenses to use.
Lab Guides can be created to give teachers a place to take
notes and can also be a chance to share content and list the debriefing agenda.
Meetings – time to discuss labsite work, time
to learn together
Four Mini-Lesson Methods can be “taught” using
a labsite structure
- Demonstration
– watch me do it / now you try it
- Explanation/Example
– One thing writers do is ____. For example, _____.
- Guided
Inquiry – teacher names a question and students name what they notice.
- Guided
Practice – you call out the steps while students try it (teach and AE is
together)
The Guided Practice mini-lesson structure was created
to get kids to write independently with more rigor. A pattern was seen where
there was a big gap between strong writing on a published piece (a piece worked
on with lots of time and teacher support) and a student’s on-demand writing
piece. It seemed the parts were being taught slowly, 1 thing at a time but kids
were not pushed to do the whole. This structure gives them rigorous practice
led by the teacher.
Tennis Hopper Analogy: If the tennis coach threw all
the balls at you at once, all you could do is duck and cover. Instead, the
coach hits you one at a time with repeated practice to your forearm and then
moves to your backhand. Then you play a game. This analogy can be shared with
the teacher who is teaching MANY strategies within one mini-lesson.
To help teachers
know the 4 kinds of mini-lessons:
- Show
each of the 4 kinds in a lab through demonstration and voice over
- In the
lab have the teachers practice
- Help T
plan lessons during meeting time
Remember, the lesson plan template is just a scaffold. The
goal is for it to become a part of us so we don’t need it anymore. Just like on
buildings, a scaffold goes up, the problem gets fixed, and then it comes down.
To ensure
that a gradual-release occurs, use JIGSAW
and FREEZE-FRAME in labsite.
Jigsaw/Freeze-frame
helps teachers to practice while working together.
EX:
Conference (each teacher takes a part)
research - Teacher A
decide (freeze-frame and all pick compliment and teach)
compliment - Teacher B
teach - Teacher C
link - Teacher D
In the
labsite, use WHISPERING IN.
This is a
move toward independence. The teacher is teaching. The coach or another teacher
sits next to her and whispers in, telling them what to say.
— Teachers
need to be seen as learners so in a labsite, the kids are seeing this method
and see that their teacher is learning.
EXAMPLES
of What to Whisper In:
Say What are
you working on? Say Show me where you did that.
Say Write
this down Say the teaching point again
Say This
matters because…
Pitfalls:
·
be sure to sit by teacher and not by student and
only talk to teacher.
·
Let the teacher teach and add in-the-moment
coaching
·
Only lean feedback
·
Take notes so at the debrief, you can tell them
WHY you whispered that to them. “I told you to ask them more in the research so
you could learn more and then teach.”
NOTETAKING TIPS
— Make
sure you are taking conference notes during a labsite so they see you modeling
it
— Show
them lots of different methods so they see choices
— Help
teachers see the value in taking notes. When they see you in a labsite return
to a student for a conference and using your notes to help you to say, “Last
time you were working on ___. How’s it going? Show me where you tried ___.” the
teachers can SEE the value of notetaking.
— Have
teachers study notes in a meeting. All bring notes of one student and together
we ask, “Are we helping this student grow as a writer? Bring the student’s
writing. Look at last 5 conference notes and the writing . What do we notice?
— Have
teachers look across ALL conference notes of her class and use it to form small
groups to teach.
Using
On-demand Prompts
— When
teachers say students won’t know what this means (the specific language of the
on-demands), DON’T dumb it down . Instead teach S the vocabulary and teach what
it means. ALL in school need to administer the on-demands in a standard
fashion.
— Remember
that the goal of the on-demand is not an evaluation. It is to find out what
they know how to do and to decide what I need to teach.
— When
4th grade teachers in Sept say “This looks like 3rd grade
work”’ celebrate this. It should. You haven’t taught them 4th grade
skills yet!
— The
on-demand at the end of the unit lets you see what stuck and what still needs
to be taught.
— Ask
“Have they grown as writers?” If not, why? The purpose is to see what is
working in my teaching and what isn’t working. Use this as feedback.
Scoring
On-demand Prompts at a Norming Meeting (described in Pathways book)
- ALL in grade get the prompt and
discuss the importance of giving it by using the scripted directions
- ALL administer prompt in one class
period
- ALL bring writing to the norming
meeting
·
As a group all look at one piece of writing
while looking at the learning progression charts. Using this stem, I would put
it on this level because ___, discuss what level writing this piece is.
·
ALL read another piece and score it individually
and then as a group, see if you agree. DO a few more if needed.
·
Score the rest in the class (optional: can
switch piles with a colleague)
·
Discuss the writing and answer the question:
Where are we going? Based on the answer, plan the unit to meet the needs of
these students.
- If the NF unit is in Nov. give the on-demand in Oct so they can be leveled and discussed and then the unit can be planned based on what the kids can and cannot do.
How to
“test” independence and transfer:
Place a student’s
publish piece side-by-side with their on-demand. If the published piece score is
higher than the on-demand, it is showing that a child can do it with teacher
coaching. The goal, though, is for the student to do it independently on an
on-demand.
Tips
for Great Meetings
- Make the agenda known and clear
- Include how much time will be spent
on each topic
- Think about what might need to be
done prior to the meeting and clearly state these assignments (ex: we will
read the continuum progressions prior to meeting)
- Be a “proficient partner”; do not
dominiate the conversation, Do ask questions to get all to think it out as
a group.
- Name the possible pitfalls ahead of
time to set the tone of the meeting as being collaborative
- Be realistic and don’t overplan
- The meeting time needs to support
the labsite time
- Write minilessons in
meetings
- Practice minilessons in labsites
Annie also
asked us to share scenarios we encounter as Literacy Leaders and she offered
suggestions:
Scenario: “Teachers say they buy in and
think they are doing it but they aren’t.”
— Staff
Developer (SD) needs to talk to administration and make sure they are on the
same page and are making the vision clear.
— Honesty
and feedback w/ teachers is important. Compliment, then teach (don’t just
tell).Tell WHY you are suggesting to do it this way.
— Suggest
studying together around a lens, like independence. It will help them to see
how the big idea is held through the whole workshop.
Scenario: “Test scores…they are fine so we
don’t need to change”
— Discuss
what we value. I don’t value a test. It is the age we live in but the greater
moral purpose is missing. For kids, testing won’t really exist much beyond the
SAT. Kids won’t always be living in the testing world so let’s teach them to be
readers/writers. These are skills kids can transfer to live their lives.
— The
new writing units have kids writing multiple pieces w/in a unit. Instead of one
piece in a month, it is a piece a week. Fast-drafting in a day and then
large-scale revisions are taught. This pacing will help kids when they have a
test.
Scenario: “There is no sense of urgency by
the staff to work with the staff developer.”
— Think
about WHY they aren’t valuing it; are the pre/post meetings productive? Are
they leaving with useful things to help them act. This is feedback to me, the
SD. I need to reflect and act upon it.
— Do
they not see the value in the lenses you are giving them? Does the group of
teachers need to change? Does the “one bad apple” need to be removed?
— Can
they sign-up for working in the labsite so they have buy-in?
— Talk
to admin/literacy team and brainstorm how to help teachers get the most out of
labsites.
Scenario: “A teacher starts out strong but
fizzles. You aren’t seeing it transfer from unit to unit.”
— Ask
was I explicit enough to show them how this can be done in another unit.
“Anytime in a unit…”
— Do
they possess the knowledge of the new content? A meeting can be a content dump
to help them. Pick a mentor text for new unit and together read and mark it up)
— Are
they working with colleagues or alone? It can go faster and better with a group
so burn-out is avoided.
Scenario: “I don’t know what to teach them
in a conference?”
— Show
teachers how to use the If…Then…
Curriculum Book, Part 2 resource to make a cheat sheet to have on
their clipboard.
— Think of the
problems you expect kids to have in the unit and make a chart:
If Then
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No ideas *
pick something you do every day
*
think of places you go to regularly
*
close your eyes and see the day
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Bed to Bed
story * box
out 20 min of story
*stretch
it with I said, I thought, I did
*
box out the heart of the story
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