Tomorrow, May 6th, is Teacher Appreciation Day. The kindergarten kids I work with wrote thank you cards for me last week. They were really sweet. Obviously copied from the board, but sweet anyway.

Tomorrow I will likely get some other Teacher Appreciation cards - possibly a gift or two. Typically, though, as a “special area” teacher, I don’t get the gifts that classroom teachers get. And that is good with me. I’m just a 30-minute a day, 4 times a week teacher. I wouldn’t change back to being a classroom teacher for anything in the world.

If you have a child in school, write a Teacher Appreciation card for his/her teacher. Make it specific. What specifically do you appreciate about the teacher. Words are support are what teachers value the most.

April Fools’ Day is my least favorite day of the school year. I’m always happy when the date lands on a weekend. For a teacher, it’s a matter of trying to respond appropriately to “There’s a spider on your back!” over and over and over again. I don’t know why, but that seems to be the prevailing “joke” that kids like to play on teachers.  It’s usually followed by uncontrollable laughter - as though the line was completely original.  And perhaps, for that particular child, it is, which is why I always try to keep a positive attitude about it.

Here’s a poem I found that the kids enjoy reading on this momentous day:

Good Morning, Dear Students
~By Kenn Nesbitt~

“Good morning, dear students,” the principal said,
“Please put down your pencils and go back to bed.
Today we will spend the day playing outside
Then take the whole school on a carnival ride.

“We’ll learn to eat candy while watching TV
then listen to records and swing from a tree.
We’ll also be learning to draw on the walls,
to scream in the classrooms and run in the halls.

“So bring your skateboard, your scooter, your bike.
It’s time to be different and do what you like.
The teachers are going to give you a rest.
You don’t have to study. There won’t be a test.

“And if you’d prefer, for a bit of a change,
feel free to go wild and act really strange.
Go put on a clown suit and dye your hair green,
and copy your face on the Xerox machine.

“Tomorrow, it’s back to the regular grind.
Today, just go crazy. We really don’t mind.
So tear up your homework. We’ll give you an A.
Oh wait. I’m just kidding. It’s April Fools’ Day!”

Are you interested in getting a degree in industrial engineering, business, mechanical engineering, computer engineering or dozens of other subject areas for major or minor areas of concentration?  Kettering University has a leading Co-op program that works closely with students and businesses to place Kettering studens in their freshman year.  That’s right.  There’s no waiting till your junior or senior year to have that co-op experience.  And then you’ll be rotated between the school and your co-op job - alternaing every three months in order to gain practical experience - right from the beginning of your time with Kettering.  So, whether you’re looking for engineering co-op programs or programs in business, Kettering might be the place for you.  Kettering’s Co-op program began in 1919.  That means it has been around long enough to be finely tuned.  The purpose is to combine the theory that’s taught in the classroom with the experience gained in the workplace.

As a matter of fact, U.S. News and World Report has ranked Kettering University as “the #1 University in the nation for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering” in its annual “America’s Best Colleges Guide for 2008″.   That’s an impressive ranking from one of the major magazines in the Unied States! 

Last month I attended the February Institute at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City.  The week’s topic was the use of touchstone texts to teach reading and writing well.   Here’s a brief summary of what I learned - just hitting the high points.

What is a touchstone text?  A touchstone text is a text that a teacher reads with his/her class repeatedly throughout the year.  The teacher and students know the text very well.  The community of readers uses the touchstone text to practice various reading and writing strategies and/or to work on fluency.   For example, “What’s the most important thing about your story you’re working on?  Let’s look at Shortcut by Donald Crews again to see how he showed us what was important in his story.”

When selecting touchstone texts for mini-lessons, the teacher should keep in mind that the best touchstone text is one that has the potential to be used numerous times throughout the school year for MANY different mini-lessons. The teacher’s greatest consideration: “How much can I teach my students about reading or writing using this piece of (touchstone) writing?”  Make sure that the strategies you teach (mini-lessons) are transferable to other reading and writing.  You’re teaching the strategy – not a particular book.

What’s the difference between a touchstone text and a mentor text?  Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably,  a mentor text typically refers to a text that an individual uses while a touchstone text is used by the entire community of learners.

Shared writing from the class can become a touchstone text for the class.

Through the use of touchstone texts, we can get our students to start reading like writers - noting the how the author used words to convey meaning.

A teacher who regularly uses touchstone texts typically keeps a basket of touchstone texts nearby to use when he/she confers with students.  However, we learned of one teacher who used a single text, When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, as the only touchstone text for an entire school year.  She used it for teaching both reading and writing strategies. 

Use the connections that children make when they’re reading as a springboard for their own writing.  E.G. “Reading Shortcut made me think about trains, but I don’t have a story about trains.  However, it also made me think about a time when I did something I shouldn’t have done. I can write about that.”

Use strategies you know and can name from touchstone texts to help with other books and with own reading and writing.  It is important for children to know the language of reading and writing.  They should be able to identify by name the strategies they’re using (inferring, questioning, making connections, synthesizing, etc.)

Readers have work to do before reading a book: title, front and back covers, author’s notes, dedication. Use these to make predictions and to drive conversation (accountable talk) before reading.

Here is an activity to use with a touchsone text.  I’ve personally used this activity with five different reading groups over the past two weeks (first through fifth grades), and I also had my faculty do it last week when I did a presentation about using touchstone texts.  The activity has several purposes:   (a) to relate the text (narrative, informational, expository) to poetry;  (b) to determine important information, main idea; (c) to foster accountable talk among students; and (d) to practice expression and fluency.

Touchstone Text Activity

(1) Before reading the touchstone text again, give each child a sticky note with the instructions to write down the one line or phrase from the touchstone text that made the biggest impression on him/her (an “ah!” “oh!” or “aha!” moment) – a sentence or phrase that stood out.  They write the exact words from the text.

(2) Read the story to the class again.

(3) Have children “turn and talk” to a neighbor about their line, how it affected them, and how the author accomplished that effect.

(4) Then have the children stand in a circle around the room and read their lines. The first child reads the title of the book and the book’s author. Then he/she says: “a poem by _______(class name)” and then reads his/her line/phrase. Continue around the circle with each child reading his/her chosen line/phrase.

(5) You can then write the poem on chart paper to display in the room. It becomes a poem of the book.

I’m very excited about the potential of using touchstone texts in my teaching of reading and writing.

I was at Teachers College of Columbia University in NYC this past week for their February Institute for teachers.  When I was packing for the trip, I had my laptop in its carrying bag and ready to go when I decided that I didn’t want to deal with a laptop in the airport or have to carry it with me everywhere - especially since the room where we would be staying didn’t have internet access.  So I left my laptop at home.  I would take notes the old fashioned way - with pen and paper. 

I found it fascinating, though, to see the number of laptops in the sessions I attended.  “School” has sure changed since the last time I took a university class four years ago.  Laptops were everywhere, and I watched as other students took notes, created charts and otherwise used their laptops efficiently and effectively to organize and save the information from each class session.   More than once I wished that I had brought my own laptop so I could make my notes more complete. 

One laptop user sat beside me during one session and glanced over at my notebook in which I was writing my notes by hand.  “Does that really work for you?” she asked me skeptically. 

At the first of this school year I was asked to be on a committee to study R.T.I. and come up with an implementation plan for our school system.  Quite frankly, I wasn’t thrilled to be on the committee because it meant I would miss working with my students for a day each month when the committee met.  Plus, anytime a teacher is part of a committee or attends any type of inservice, then that teacher is responsible for bringing back information to the school or providing training on the topic.  Simply put, it meant more work for me. However, R.T.I. is a topic of interest to me, and I wanted to learn more.  So I said yes.

The committee consists of principals, reading specialists, teachers, tech coaches, curriculum specialists and others.  It has been an interesting ride.  We already have two schools that use the R.T.I. model, and more will follow suit next year.  By the following year, it will likely be system policy - especially since it appears that it will become state/national policy.

Since I’m the only representative from my school and only one of two reading specialists on the committee, I’m frequently asked for information about R.T.I. and what’s in store for us in the coming year(s).  So I’ve developed what I call a “quick and dirty” primer on R.T.I.  By necessity, this primer leaves out a LOT of information.  However, it hits the highlights for anyone who isn’t sure what R.T.I. is and what it could mean to a school or school system.

The purpose of R.T.I. (Response To Intervention - or as our school system has decided we prefer, Response To Instruction)  is to identify struggling learners as early as possible in order to put interventions in place to help the learner get up to speed.   Previously we used the “discrepancy” model which meant that a child must have a wide enough discrepancy between his/her ability and his/her performance before official intervention (i.e. special ed) could take place.  The R.T.I. models holds that the earlier children are identified and interventions are in place, the fewer children will fall through the cracks, and the fewer children will end up in special education.

Of course, even in the discrepancy model,  educators don’t always wait until that required level of discrepancy is reached before making interventions.  Good teachers recognize when a child is struggling, and they make sure that the child receives the interventions needed as soon as possible.  Teachers seek help from teacher assistants, parent helpers, curriculum specialists and others who might be able to provide the needed help.

R.T.I. can be configured in many ways.  We have decided on the three tier model.  Tier One consists of interventions that the classroom teacher will implement within the classroom.  Tier Two might include utilizing the reading specialist, other special area teachers, parent helpers and/or teacher assistants to work with the child on specific areas of need.  Tier Three would mostly consist of referring the child to Student Support Services (aka Special Education).

How do we decide which students need intervention?  This is done as result of a universal screening, which is one of the main components of the R.T.I. model.  A universal screening is given to all children regularly to monitor their progress.  A helpful metaphor is that a universal screening is a thermometer.  It shows that there’s a temperature - something is wrong - but it doesn’t inform us about what is wrong or what is needed to get better.  When a child has a temperature, then we use our knowledge and other assessments and strategies to make him/her well.   

In our school system, we’ve chosen AIMWEB as our universal screening.  We selected it over DIBELS and others because it has  reading, math and spelling components.  It is also cost effective when compared to other screening tools.

That’s it in a nutshell - just hitting the high points with enormous amounts of information missing.  However, if you’re interested in learning more, you’re in luck because there is an abundance of other information available on the topic.  Our school system has found two books that have been helpful to us.  One is No Quick Fix and the other is The RTI Guide: Developing and Implementing a Model in Your Schools:

If you search R.T.I. at Amazon, you’ll find dozens of books on the topic.  You can also Google it and find good information online. 

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems in one of my favorite children’s books. It was a Caldecott winner a few years ago - and it very much deserved to win. Absolutely wonderful illustrations. The background of each page is an old black and white photograph. However, there are illustrations of Trixie, the little girl who loves her Knuffle Bunny, and Trixie’s family on the old photographs. Very clever. The story is also very heart-warming. It’s a story most children can easily connect with. Trixie and her dad goes to the laundromat (great lesson on that vocabulary word), and accidentally leave Trixie’s Knuffle Bunny there. I believe this is a book that every early reader should have in his/her personal library.

Willems has just published a follow-up book called Knuffle Bunny Too in which Trixie goes to school only to find that another child has a Knuffle Bunny, too.

Welcome to the 155th edition of the Carnival of Education.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Now, on with the Carnival!

Around the Classroom:

Mrs. Bluebird describes a Teachable Moment at Bluebird’s Classroom.   If this is typical of her teaching, she’d better be careful if she starts teaching a unit on life cycles.

Darren discusses the recent topic of Maternity Leave For High School Students at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher. 

Dave Saba presents Great Teaching Defined? | American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence at DoE- Dave on Ed, saying, “A great interview with the New York Teacher of the Year demonstrates what great teaching is all about.”

Mamacita at Scheiss Weekly needs some quick and learned advice on a related topic.  Click over there and see if you can help her.

M. Cruz presents The Chocolate War - Disturbingly Truthful Fiction posted at NOIRLECROI.COM: “A review of the classic book The Chocolate War from the perspective of a current educator”

Scott McLeod presents Within-School Segregation: Reflections on MLK Day posted at LeaderTalk.

Mister Teacher presents Is a 50 good?? posted at Learn Me Good.

Denise presents The game of algebra posted at Let’s play math!: “My pre-algebra class hit the topic of equations just as the NFL season moved into the playoffs. The result was this series of class notes called “The Game of Algebra.”

Maria Fernandez presents I’m too old to learn a foreign language, right? posted at Learn a foreign language - blog, saying, “Not so. Language learning has a lot more to do with motivation and perseverance than with age.”

Seth Pearce presents The Student’s Role in Society posted at NYC Students Blog, saying, “A Student’s thoughts on our role in NYC Education and society in general.”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Plasticity, Health and Fitness Books posted at SharpBrains, saying, “Enjoy this list of 20 great books on the brain and learning.”

Andrea presents Remedial Learning Lessons posted at Andrea’s Buzzing About…, saying, “why do we keep insisting that when students have problems learning by a particular method, what they need is to learn how to learn the “right way”?”

Elias presents Mathematics as the science of reasoning posted at Ramblings of an Australian teacher.

Dr Martin W. Russell presents Procrastination Case Study posted at Dr Martin W. Russell.

History is Elementary presents Get Out of the Box posted at History Is Elementary.

The Teaching Life
Justine Mize presents What are you reading? posted at Random Thoughts of a Teacher, saying, “With all the articles I have read about reading lists for 2008, I am curious how lists are organized and tackled.”

Joel presents Loving My Job; Hating My Work posted at So You Want To Teach?

Justine Mize presents Classroom Discord posted at Random Thoughts of a Teacher, saying, “A peaceful classroom is a nice place to be.”

Pat presents Class Size – Learning to Live With It posted at Successful Teaching.

School Policy and Red Tape

eduwonkette presents It’s Our Secret! The NYC Teacher Experiment posted at eduwonkette

Mike in Texas presents I’m No Reading Expert But This Seems LIke THE MOTHER OF ALL BAD IDEAS posted at Education in Texas, saying, “My submission is about some really bad decisions some administrator at my district made regarding a reading curriculum for struggling 2nd graders.”

Greg Laden presents Clay County (Florida) School Board Adopts Pro Creationist Standards, Breaches Ethics posted at Greg Laden’s Blog.

Oldandrew presents The Theory of Multiple Fitnesses posted at Scenes From The Battleground.

Matt Johnston presents Going to the Mat: Teachers, Pay and the Labor Market posted at Going to the Mat.

Joanne Jacobs presents Hallway culture posted at Joanne Jacobs.

Jennifer Ward presents Research Matters -or- Making Research Matter posted at Et cetera, saying, “integrating authentic and formative assessment techniques into the teaching of research.”

Scott McLeod presents 2008 Education Blogosphere Survey is now open! posted at Dangerously Irrelevant.

Michael Umphrey presents Now what? School reform after NCLB posted at Michael Umphrey’s Blog, saying, “Politicians are running education? How did that happen?”

John Holland presents Teaching from the standards not to them posted at Circle Time “Lead From The Start”, saying, “A post on how standards have changed the nature of teaching.”

woodlassnyc presents Bring back school uniforms — for teachers posted at Under Assault: Teaching in NYC.

Dave Johnston presents NCLB Poster Child posted at Friends of Dave.

Dana presents P16Plus, or Who should be in control of education? posted at Principled Discovery.

Scott McLeod presents School law blogs posted at At the Schoolhouse Gate.

Nancy Flanagan presents DIVERSITY IS ITS OWN REWARD posted at Teacher in a Strange Land, saying, “What was Jay Greene thinking? Musings on multiculturalism and crummy research…”

Chanman presents Teaching indoctrination posted at Buckhorn Road.

Homeschooling and Parenting
Miss Profe presents Top Ten List For Parents posted at It’s A Hardknock Teacher’s Life.

Marjorie presents Where Experts Fear to Tread posted at Life Without School.

Vjack presents Guest Post: Teaching Lies Jeopardizes America’s Future posted at Atheist Revolution, saying, “Thought-provoking discussion of the impact of “Christian” education (home, parochial or ‘bible’ schools) on the future of America.”

Higher Education
Mark Montgomery presents Why Go To Harvard? One Man’s Story posted at Great College Advice.

Bob O’Hara presents The Collegiate Way Comes to Birmingham posted at Higher Education News from the Collegiate Way, saying, “Recommendations for improving undergraduate life at a large pubic university.”

Patrick A. Sizemore presents 10 Ways to Improve Note Taking Skills posted at College Information for Smart Students.

Matthew Paulson presents What to Do When You Can’t Afford to Pay for College Anymore » American Consumer News posted at American Consumer News.

Richas solis presents Choosing a Dissertation Topic posted at Customessays.co.uk Blog: guide on how to write essays, courseworks, dissertations, assignments. Essay help, Dissertation Assistance, GCSE Coursework, saying, “A person who is not really familiar in sentence construction may have a hard time in communicating with other people. This is also the same when it comes to writing papers.”

Carol Richtsmeier presents Semester Exemptions, Counting Computers & Singing Kanye West (Again) posted at Bellringers.

Resources

Larry Ferlazzo presents The Best Websites For Learning About Civic Participation & Citizenship posted at Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL.

Daniel Lafleche presents A fascinating clip from the film Malaria Parasites posted at Film and Video Marketplace Blog, saying, “Why is it that 30 years ago malaria in Africa was no more serious than the flu? This 5-minute educational video provides an overview on what has happened. Can be a useful resource for related lessons.”

Bill Ferriter presents Twitter-ific Success… posted at The Tempered Radical, saying, “This piece describes the valuable role that Twitter can play in the development of an individual’s personal learning network.”

Mathew Needleman presents Inspiration for Filmmakers and Film Teachers posted at Open Court Resources.com Blog.

Elsom Eldridge presents Create and Publish Your Book NOW posted at International Guild of Professional Consultants and Coaches.

Ted Reimers presents Using Wikipedia in Research posted at CampusGrotto.

Alex presents Essays Examples – A Typical Essay posted at Customessays.co.uk Blog: guide on how to write essays, courseworks, dissertations, assignments. Essay help, Dissertation Assistance, GCSE Coursework, saying, “When it comes to essay writing there is an overload of information. But there is nothing like a few essays examples to show the reader what an essay is all about.”

 Carnival Business
That concludes this edition. Thanks to EdWonk for sharing the Carnival of Education with us all.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Carnival of Education using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of education, blog carnival.

I feel like I’m grasping for straws to find a topic for this week’s Thursday Thirteen.  So here are thirteen things on my desk at work.

(1) One apple (gala - uneaten)

(2) eyeglasses in a faux-fur lined glasses case

(3) bottle of lotion (Christmas gift from a student)

(4) box of thank-you cards (I WILL catch up on all my thank-you notes this Friday)

(5) roll of paper towels (use ‘em all the time)

(6) tape dispenser

(7) stapler

(8) box of Kleenex

(9) 3-hole punch

(10) walkie-talkie

(11) school supply catalog (actually about a dozen of them.  I have to finish up all my orders for the school year by the end of next week)

(12)  Clipboard with my schedule and students listed

(13) a small clear business card holder filled with my business cards.

I’m an elementary school reading specialist, and so I’m always reading.  I also love quotes.  Thus I’ve done Thursday Thirteens on various topics related to reading and quotes.  There are Thursday Thirteens on quotes about Mothers, quotes from American History,  poems to read with children,  quotes to write in the sand,  my favorite read-aloud books for children,  my favorite quotes about reading, and thirteen books for Read Across American week.  Here is a second set of quotes about reading that I love:

(1)  “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all of the miseries of life.”   ~W. Somerset Maugham~

(2) “The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”  ~Christopher Morley~

(3) “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” ~Emilie Buchwald~

(4) “A house without books is like a room without windows.”  ~Horace Mann~

(5) “To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.”  ~Cicero~

(6) “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”  ~Richard McKenna~

(7)  “To read is to empower;

To empower is to write;

To write is to influence;

To influence is to change;

To change is to live.”

~Jane Evershed~

(8) “The more that you read,

The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

The more places you’ll go! ”

~Dr. Seuss~

(9)  “There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.”  ~Mary Ellen Chase~

(10)  “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.”  ~Chinese proverb~

(11) ”Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” ~Sir Richard Steele~

(12)  “Books, I found, had the power to make time stand still, retreat or fly into the future.”  ~Jim Bishop~

(13)  “A book is a like a garden carried in the pocket.”  ~Chinese proverb”