As teachers, we know the importance of reflecting daily on our own teaching. We look carefully at the teaching moves we make, so that the next time we teach, we are a tiny bit better. But how often do we do the work we are asking our students to do, and then reflect on how it went? How often do we “give it a go” ourselves before evaluating their efforts to learn? This past summer, I was lucky to be a part of a virtual book club that did just that.
I learned of the book club from Julieanne Harmatz’s blog To Read to Write to Be. I had been following Julieanne’s blog for months, so I knew that participating in a book club with her and others would be an amazing experience. I was not disappointed! The goal of the book club was to read the book A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord, write in our journals, and share our journals and our thinking in Google doc. We read and wrote both as students and teachers. As students, we responded to the reading with writing, in whatever way felt authentic. As we read and responded, we also listened to our teacher voice, and asked ourselves “Is the writing growing my understanding of the book?”, “How does it feel to be a student?” and “How might this work in the classroom?”
As a teacher, my takeaways from this experience were many:
Perhaps the most helpful insight was this (interestingly, this was shared by many of the readers in the club!) - I wanted to just read. I wanted to get lost in the story and not have to worry about writing on sticky notes or in my journal. A reminder that while we need to push students to deepen their thinking through writing at times, much of their reading needs to be for personal enjoyment. Otherwise, we risk turning them off to reading!
To check out my final entry to the virtual book club, click here.
These insights and lessons stay with me as I begin another year with my fourth grade students. The power of learning and collaborating with others is an experience I look forward to repeating when I work with teachers through NGID. And as I plan my LDC unit, a first priority will be to “give it a go” as a student.
How will you learn by collaborating with others? What are the ways you gain insight as a student?
I learned of the book club from Julieanne Harmatz’s blog To Read to Write to Be. I had been following Julieanne’s blog for months, so I knew that participating in a book club with her and others would be an amazing experience. I was not disappointed! The goal of the book club was to read the book A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord, write in our journals, and share our journals and our thinking in Google doc. We read and wrote both as students and teachers. As students, we responded to the reading with writing, in whatever way felt authentic. As we read and responded, we also listened to our teacher voice, and asked ourselves “Is the writing growing my understanding of the book?”, “How does it feel to be a student?” and “How might this work in the classroom?”
As a teacher, my takeaways from this experience were many:
- Sharing my thinking with a group of teachers that I didn’t know was intimidating and a little scary - a reminder of how important it is to develop a trusting learning community in the classroom. By collaborating, though, I deepened my understanding of the story and ways I might help my students learn.
- My first reader’s response was in the form of a letter to the other readers. This form of writing was helpful to me, because it personalized my purpose. I could think of it as beginning a conversation. Might this also help my students?
- Having choice in how I responded was huge!
- Using an anchor chart of sentence starters helped me kick start my thinking and writing. I need to make sure these are available for my students!
Perhaps the most helpful insight was this (interestingly, this was shared by many of the readers in the club!) - I wanted to just read. I wanted to get lost in the story and not have to worry about writing on sticky notes or in my journal. A reminder that while we need to push students to deepen their thinking through writing at times, much of their reading needs to be for personal enjoyment. Otherwise, we risk turning them off to reading!
To check out my final entry to the virtual book club, click here.
These insights and lessons stay with me as I begin another year with my fourth grade students. The power of learning and collaborating with others is an experience I look forward to repeating when I work with teachers through NGID. And as I plan my LDC unit, a first priority will be to “give it a go” as a student.
How will you learn by collaborating with others? What are the ways you gain insight as a student?
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