Chapter 5 takes us into using current events in our classroom to fuel wonders.
What, if any, news sources do students access in your classroom? What considerations or concerns come to mind when you think about encouraging children to explore what is happening in our world today?
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Chapter 4 is filled with great ideas for starting the day with student engagement. Soft starts are an "investment in the rest of the day"!
Do you have any memories of how your school days started? If so, what stands out? Think about how you currently start your time with students. How might you incorporate a "soft start"? Chapter 3 focuses on how we can organize to capture the questions our students ask. Finding ways to help us keep track and make time for student questions is important.
What questions or take aways do you have from this chapter? "What makes you itchy"? Was there a system or idea for housing questions that sparked your interest or you feel you could adapt for your students? Chapter 2 offers some amazing ideas for helping our classroom communities figure out who "we" are. The two big ideas behind all of this are identity and acquaintance.
What questions or ideas did you take away from this chapter? What ideas are you wanting to try? Were there any students in particular you thought of as you read this chapter? Please introduce yourself in the previous post (click on title to access commenting).
I am looking forward to discussions on the intro and chapter 1: Demonstrate Your Own Curiosity Here are some discussion prompts:
It's time for OCTELA's summer book study! Use #OCTELASBS (for OCTELA Summer Book Study) to share with colleagues on Twitter!
Each week I will post a new discussion thread by chapter. Feel free to comment on any thread. For those seeking CEU credit, be sure to let me know by July 1st so I can track your participation (Heidi Weber at [email protected]). For credit, be sure to post your reflection in each thread and comment to at least 3 other people. This will keep the discussion lively and active! Please take time to introduce yourself here in this thread! Get ready... OCTELA's summer book study starting soon!
Before you start, check our Noah Waspe's interview with the author, Harvey "Smokey" Daniels here: https://www.octela.org/octela-podcasts/ Big thanks to Harvey for agreeing to join us at some point! Make note of your questions for him as you read! Each chapter features an amazing "extra": Sketchnotes by Tanny McGregor! I encourage you to try this visual thinking strategy yourself...These are some sketchnotes from Noah's podcast interview: Heinemann offers a 'study guide' that readers might find helpful... Lastly... contact Heidi Weber at [email protected] if you are seeking CEU credit by July 1st Conclusion and final reflections...
As we wrap up this book study, please take a moment to consider how reading this text disrupted YOUR thinking! Join us at #OCTELA18 for "live reflections"! Friday 3:15-4:00 German Village Week of July 31
I did a presentation on "Reimagining How Students Talk About Texts" that ties right into chapter 15. Link to Google Slide Deck Week of July 24
There is so much to consider in these chapters! (I'll post my podcast reflections soon...still trying to catch up from being out at ILA!)
(posted early as I will be attending and presenting at #ILA17)
Week of July 17
Week of July 10
Last week as a "learner" I used BHH to examine song lyrics from a "sun" playlist. Intrigued by exploring a different way to share thinking, I experimented with voice notes. This provided me with an alternative to let students try. While I would still prefer to annotate or sketch note, recording voice notes of thinking is an option I want to give my students. I found a Chrome application called Mic Note that my students can use with their Chromebooks. It was easy to use and will be easy for my students to share their thinking with me. This week I invite you to start considering how you can introduce your students to BHH. I would also invite you to consider the "big questions" and signposts (if you are familiar with them). They will thank you for it... (My reflections on these chapters are included in Disrupting Thinking #4 podcast)
Week of July 3
For week 5, I intentionally planned an opportunity to pause and reflect (and catch up for those who need it). If you haven't already, I encourage you to try using BHH as a reader yourself. That is my plan for this week. While lounging in the pool with my 22 year old daughter Brooklynn, we were joking about the sun hiding behind the clouds. I started singing a song I used to sing with preschoolers: "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me..." This led to a medley of songs that had "sun" in the title! As we sang and giggled, I started thinking how neat it would be to curate a playlist of "sun titled songs" as a soundtrack. This led to some searching when I couldn't think of any more and I found there are hundreds of songs with "sun" in them. Then I remembered how the topic of song lyrics came up in many posts and I thought... why not examine songs with "sun" in them! So I have curated my own playlist (I made sure I picked student-friendly ones)! I am going to enjoy applying BHH to these songs for my reflection! This should be fun and I can't wait to share what I discover! If interested, here is my file of lyrics
Week of June 26
We received an "invitation" to use the Book Head Heart framework ourselves for the poem The Journey on page 73. In this thread, I invite and encourage us to be learners as we consider our thinking. For further "practice" as a learner, I invite you to read the "Dung Beetle" article Kylene referred to in the Take Two video and participate in a "digital discussion" on a web tool I use with students for discussions: Now Comment. My 3rd and 4th grade students love to "talk about texts" this way; I can upload text easily and we can comment back and forth. It is easy to use and typically I set discussions to private so only students to access (for us, this discussion is open to anyone). Check it out and if you are interested in using Now Comment in your classroom, let me know how I can help you! Can Dung Beetles Battle Global Warning? Note: My podcast here reflects on chapters 7, 8, an 9 thus including week 5-6 topics.
Week of June 19
I must confess...I had a rare opportunity to explore BHH in my classroom with students before the book came out. My reflections focus more on the experience of exploring the framework... I also "tweeted" about the experiences we had: https://storify.com/MrsWeberREAD/using-bhh
Week of June 12
And a podcast... Feel free to use the "Turn and Talk" questions to reflect or add your own insights here! Continue the discussion... Here is the chart of prompts I used with my students on the 3 Big Questions:
Week of June 5
Only 23 pages in and I have so much thinking myself! I like to reflect with sketch noting and "talking" so my thoughts are in the accompanying podcast episode. Feel free to use the "Turn and Talk" questions to reflect or add your own insights here! Let the discussion begin! Welcome to OCTELA's summer book study! This summer we will be reading and discussing Distrupting Thinking by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. We encourage you to join in throughout the summer to add your insights and ideas. If you are joining us for credit please see the earlier thread for more details. This is an asynchronous discussion. While threads will be started/posted on a weekly basis, feel free to post at a pace that suits you. Just remember to scroll down for older threads. Before the first section of discussion starts, please take a moment to introduce yourself here! We would love to know where you are from and what grade(s) you teach or work with! To post to a thread, click the title/heading of the post. Anyone is invited to join the discussion, however if you want PD credit two options are being offered:
"Distruptions start with a thought that something needs to be better" -Pg. 7 Right away Kylene and Bob push our thinking! I am already overwhelmed with thoughts about this text and cannot wait to start diving in! If you are reading this post, I hope you will consider joining this book study and discussion. Feel free to join in informally when you like or if you are interested in Professional Development credit, more info on official credit will be coming soon. (1 semester hour or 3 CEU's)
Here is the general outline (primarily for those seeking credit): Week of June 5
Join us this summer for an online study of Distrupting Thinking by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. From Amazon pre-order info: "According to master teachers, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst, if teachers want reading to have the potential to change students’ thinking, giving them more information about a subject, perhaps a new perspective—thus enabling them to disrupt and reshape their assumption and beliefs—then teachers must encourage students to interact with the text and with one another even before they begin to read; in short, they we must turn the thinking over to them. This book includes strategies for: • Creating engagement • Encouraging thoughtfulness • Solving confusions" Tweet your excitement at #OCTELA17 to enter to win a copy of this book when it comes out!
Pages 148-178 dealt with 3 more signposts: Numbers and Stats, Quoted Words, and Word Gaps. Here are some things to consider:
This section gets us started with the signposts (Pages 112-147). The "Contrast & Contradiction" as well as "Extreme or Absolute Language" signposts are described. Here are some prompts for thinking:
This section examines the "questioning stance". (Pages 76-111). Three big questions are detailed. Here are some questions about questions to consider:
In this section, more issues to consider were brought up: research findings, invitations/intrusions, rigor & relevance, complexity & readability, classroom conversations, disciplinary literacy, and challenge & change. Each gives us plenty to consider. Some questions for thought:
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