Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer

Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer

by Kathleen T. Pelley

illustrated by S.D. Schindler

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010

review copy provided by the publisher

This is a fable that will ring true to anyone who needs to find a little more balance in their life.

This is a fable that will ring true to educators who are tired of measuring, measuring, measuring (testing, testing, testing) and who long to get back to the true experience of joining hands with children and learning together.

Magnus Maximus measures "wetness and dryness, nearness and farness, and everything else in between." He counts "clouds in the sky, petals on a geranium, freckles on a nose, measles on a tummy, or raisins in a bun." He becomes the town's official measurer and measures "all kinds of NESSes" (like the wobbliness of a jellyfish) and "all kinds of ESTs" (like the stinkiest socks).

Then one day, he accidentally steps on his glasses and he can't see to count or measure. He goes down to the sea, where he meets a boy named Michael who invites him to play in the waves and make a sandcastle.

The next day, when his glasses are ready, Magnus Maximus begins to measure again as usual. But at 6:00 that evening, he takes his glasses off, makes a pot of tea, and sits in the garden and enjoys the end of his day...without measuring a single thing.

The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching and Learning

I have had a great week of learning. Last Friday and Saturday, I attended a Literacy Connection workshop featuring speaker Samantha Bennett. On Tuesday of last week, I was able to attend Ohio's 21st Century Skills Summit. Even though the topics of the two workshops were different (one on workshop and one on 21st Century Skills), they came together in a way that is helping me think through my own work. Both really helped me get my mind back into what matters in education. It is getting harder, as teachers, in this age of testing, to remember the big picture of our work. Both of these workshops helped me to think hard about being more intentional and prioritizing.

One of the speakers I was able to hear at the Ohio Summit was Christian Long. His talk was on Learning Environments and it was amazing. I had not heard him speak before and was incredibly inspired by his talk. One of the books that he recommended was THE THIRD TEACHER, which I ordered immediately. I spent this weekend reading the book and I LOVED it. I am so happy to have discovered it. I intend to go back to it over the next few months.

I have been struggling a bit with the environment of the library. I have quickly realized that it is a different kind of challenge to create a community for an entire school population than it is to create a classroom community. Thinking about a space that supports all members of an entire school in different ways has been on my mind this year. Much of my thinking during my last several years in the classroom was about creating an intellectual community in the classroom. So much of my thinking comes from moving beyond merely a feel-good environment for kids, but one where a community can come together as thinkers, learners and doers and how to create that sense for every member. I have been trying to figure out how to use the library resources, time and space to create a similar environment for the entire school community. It is my new big question and this book is helping me begin to think differently about these issues. It is a great book if you are thinking about environment of any kind connected to kids and education. Whether you are thinking about classroom environment, school environment, etc. this book gives you lots to think about.

I have too many sticky notes in the book to begin to tell you about, but the book is filled with so many things to think about in the ways we must change the school environment by thinking about design, if we want to meet our students' needs. Many of the case studies in the book are about schools that were started from scratch or schools that were built with a vision in mind. For me, reading this book was more about thinking through making the best of space that is already there and it gave me lots to think about.

Even though I was thinking a bit about space, this book is about so much more than space. We hear from Howard Gardner in the book, who reminds us, "The actual materials, or layout of the spaces are less important than the provision of ample opportunity to use these intelligences."--The book is about being intentional about the environments we create for children based on what we believe. We hear from experts like Raffi, Ken Robinson and others who each bring a different expertise to the conversation.

Some things in the book that have helped my current thinking:

#14 Multiply Intelligences: Allow students time and space to choose what they want to do-their choices will illuminate their individual strengths."

#15 Post learning: Posting student work, both current and past, up on the walls tracks progress in visible ways.

#23 Make classrooms agile: A learning space that can be reconfigured on a dime will engage different kinds of learners and teachers.

#62 Put the fun in fundamentals: Injecting a learning space with playfulness and humor creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

The book explores so many aspects of environment including school lunches, playgrounds and the role of technology in schools today. And the design of the book itself is amazing. It is designed in a way that not only invites you in but gives you so much to think about on every page. The combination of text, quotes, photos and case studies creates a unique read.

So many things that I want to learn more about--projects and people I was introduced to in the book. I want to explore THE THIRD TEACHER site and blog a bit more and I also want to go back and find the sites for many of the schools and experts that I read about in the book.

This book has just been put on my "must recommend to everyone I know" list. (And I like it so much that I don't think I am going to be able to lend it to anyone--it is one that I want to have with me for a while!) I have read so many good things lately but this one stands out a bit for anyone who wants a way to think through the ways in which the environments we create in schools impact teaching and learning.

Poetry Friday -- Eh?

photo by Ségozyme

April showers

bring separation of powers.

What's good for the goose

is the summary of the story.

A thing of beauty

is a decimal place value.

An apple a day

comes off one of the three branches of government.

Those who live in glass houses

compare and contrast the theme of another story.

A bird in the bush

is worth a three in the hundredths place.

All work and no play

makes the teacher cross-eyed when she's grading papers.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

Diane has the roundup this week at Random Noodling.

(Sorry about the comment moderation -- spammers are becoming annoyingly tenacious.)

New Nonfiction

Cover to Cover sold books at The Literacy Connection workshop this weekend. I picked up quite a few books and the ones I am most excited about are some of the new nonfiction titles.

THE HIVE DETECTIVES: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE by Loree Griffin Burns
I have not had a chance to read this whole book yet but have read quite a bit of it. I intend to read it cover to cover soon. This book fascinates me. The science of the recent bee disappearance is so stunning and the way that the author makes this story accessible to kids is amazing to me. The book is a longer nonfiction book--about 65 pages. There are gorgeous photos throughout (done by Ellen Harasimowicz). And I am amazed at how much information is included in the book.

The book begins with the work of a bee keeper. Early on in the book readers learn much about the bee community in general and then quickly moves onto the 2006 event. Dave Hackenberg's story of finding hundreds of totally empty hives begins the story. The book goes on to share the dilemma faced by bee scientists in seeing something they had never seen before. Theories of what could have happened and the ways the scientists tried to discover the root of the problem is an amazing story.

Included in the book are profiles of bee scientists,the process of discovering the underlying problem of the vanishing bee colonies and the ways that the scientists solved problems together. Much bee-specific vocabulary is defined and the accompanying photos help to make things clear. Readers learn about the honey production process as well as interesting facts about honeybees. There is an extensive glossary and a great resource list at the end of the book. The resource list shares books, movies, documentaries, magazines and websites that readers can go for more information.

I love any story that shows real scientists at work solving real problems. I can see so many implications for this book in schools. I think it would make a great read aloud. Because it is a narrative, kids would enjoy hearing the amazing story, I think. I also know that so much of our science curriculum deals with ecosystems and habitats. What a great addition to readings about that for older elementary students. This is also a great model for nonfiction writing.

I think this is a good anchor book to think about when we think about our goals for our elementary readers. For me as a 5th grade teacher, this is a book that I would have wanted students to be able to read and understand by the end of their 5th grade year. Having the skills and stamina to do this can be built throughout the elementary years but this book is a great one for kids who read nonfiction for pleasure.

(A interesting article was published this week connected to the book.)

LOOKING CLOSELY AROUND THE POND by Frank Serafini is the newest in the LOOK CLOSELY series. A close-up photo begins each segment and the reader guesses what it is that he/she sees. The answer comes with the full picture as well as a few paragraphs of information about it. A great series for elementary students. For anyone who does work with outdoor labs, this series could be key. This one would also make a great read aloud and a great model for writing. Serafini's photography is stunning, as always.

FOR GOOD MEASURE: THE WAYS WE SAY HOW MUCH, HOW FAR, HOW HEAVY, HOW BIG, HOW OLD by Ken Robbins is an amazing book that focuses on the language of measurement. The book focuses on standard units of measurement of all kinds. Ken Robbins shares information about lengths and distances, area, weight, capacity and more. Within each section, Robbins shares information about the different ways we can measure each--going from smaller units of measure to larger ones. For each unit of measure, Robbins defines the unit and gives readers a great visual to help in understanding. Information about where certain vocabulary comes from and how certain units of measure came to be are included. I think this book can really hep make this work interesting for kids and help them make better sense of it. As always, Ken Robbins is brilliant in his work.

HOW TO CLEAN A HIPPOPOTAMUS: A LOOK AT UNUSUAL ANIMAL PARTNERSHIPS by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
I buy everything by Steve Jenkins. This new book is another great one. Jenkins and Page explore the relationships between animals and the authors make the concept of symbiosis clear to readers. The book explores several animal partnerships that work and explain why they do. The artwork is what we have come to expect from Jenkins and Page but this book has a bit of a different look because lots is packed onto every page and the background colors are a bit darker than other recent books. The layout is almost graphic-novel like which I am sure will appeal to kids. This allows lots of information per page. I so love the way these authors organize the information in their books. Such smart models for our students as writers but also such a brilliant way to make complex concepts accessible to kids.

Samantha Bennett: Author of THAT WORKSHOP BOOK

If you ever have a chance to hear Samantha Bennett, author of THAT WORKSHOP BOOK, speak, take full advantage of it. I attended Samantha's workshop on Friday and Saturday. Both days were filled with lots of thinking and learning.

Her book THAT WORKSHOP BOOK is a powerful one. Through her work with teachers, she has discovered the power of workshop and the power of our planning and our talk with kids.

I can't begin to share all that I learned over the weekend.. Sitting by friends always helps too. So much conversation from our learning. I am sure our talk will continue based on what we learned. Instead of sharing everything I learned, I decided to share my "Top 10 Samantha Bennett Quotes." I could have shared a hundred but decided the Top 10 makes sense. These are my personal highlight quotes of the day. These were the quotes I will continue to use to push my own thinking.

TOP 10 SAMANTHA BENNETT QUOTES FROM THE WEEKEND

"It's loud. It's messy. It's really, really fun."
Samantha said this when talking about workshop and workshop planning. She makes no claims that workshop teaching is easy or neat. She knows that a good workshop is complex and that it takes huge planning. This quote sums it up well, I think.

"It's not about liking things."

Friday's part of the workshop was spent visiting classrooms and learning from those. We visited via a live feed/camera, Katie DiCesare's 2nd grade classroom and Karen Terlecky's 5th grade classroom. During the prebrief session with Samantha, she was clear in telling us that she did not want to hear what we LIKED at the end of the session. She wanted us to begin to label practice with theory and to ask ourselves "What about this struck me?" She put this right up front and pushed our thinking before we even began. This changed the way we observed the classroom.

"If you only do something for one reason, don't do it. You should be able to label things in multiple ways."

Part of the work we did observing classrooms was labeling what we saw with research. So much of the challenge of teaching has to do with time and Samantha talked a lot about having lots of reasons for everything we do in the classroom. She believes strongly that every minute of every day for students has to be purposeful and there are so many things to accomplish, that we can't accomplish only one at a time.

"Remove the layers of crust to what matter most. You see what matters most to her. My job is to help her get more of that."

In talking about her role as a coach, Samantha shared the importance of helping teachers get to their core beliefs about education--about helping us see what it is that matters to us most when we get rid of the "crust". Then helping us think about how to get more of that. This was a huge piece of thinking for me. How do I get more of what matters into my days? A question that helps us be more purposeful in our work with kids, I think.

"You can always get better, every minute of every day."

This is the reason I am still in education after 20+ years. So much to think about and such interesting work. The fact that as teachers, we will never "get there" and that we can continue to learn and grow is what gives me energy. When I realized early on that I'd never have it all figured out, I started to enjoy the learning journey so much.

"They should not have to defend practice but we do want them to articulate it. Knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it every single minute of the day."
When we were ready to visit classrooms and Samantha was sharing the purpose, she was clear in saying that teachers in these classrooms did not need to defend their practice. We aren't there to judge it, but rather to learn from it. This philosophy would change so much about the way we talk to each other about our work. I think we, as teachers, often feel so under attack, that we get immediately defensive when asked about our practice. But being asked to articulate our practice is key to doing good work with kids. Articulating practice is something I try to get better at because it helps me as a learner. And it is good for the soul, I think. To know you are doing what you believe is right for kids.

"Stop asking what I am going to do tomorrow. Ask what students are going to do tomorrow. That should be the guiding question."
I loved this guiding question. So much of the day on Saturday was about the planning process and the need to teach for understanding. The belief that student work and learning is what we are about was a thread throughout the two days. This guiding question helps me to think a little differently when I plan. Keeping my eye on what kids will be doing is key.

"Kids knowing why they're there, every minute of every day."
Just as we have to make every minute worthwhile, it is critical that kids know the purpose of everything they are doing, everything that we are asking them to do. Kids have to own that learning so that every minute of every day piece is so important. A good measure to hold ourselves accountable to, I think.

"When kids are telling you no, listen. There is a reason they are telling you no. And you better figure it out. Take their reluctance seriously. What does this kid need that he is not getting?"
This was such a powerful thing to think about. When I think about kids who are not willing to do the work, kids who act out rather than take a risk, etc. this is something to remember. What does this kid need that he/she is not getting? Instead of blaming the child, this is about taking ownership that a child's reluctance is something we need to listen closely to.

"Unless you release kids to work, there is zero way to differentiate."

LOVED THIS! A thread through the two days was the need for teacher talk to be minimal. Kids need to be doing the work and if they aren't out there working, there is no way we can meet their diverse needs. I think sometimes we feel guilty if our minilessons are too quick, etc. but by remembering this, we know we are doing the right thing.

As you can tell, it was a great workshop. I hope to get a chance to learn from Samantha Bennett again soon. Very inspiring and powerful.

For other posts on the workshop:

Enjoy and Embrace Learning

Wordle of our Class Constitution

We are studying government in social studies right now. Here is a Wordle of our Class Constitution.

Here's the one I made of last year's Class Constitution.

Something Else That Happened in April

On April 18, I received this note:

Here's the link to the Independence Hall page of the Schmap Philadelphia Guide. And that picture in the top right corner of the page? I took it last November while in Philly for NCTE!

Moving Toward a 21st Century Library

Moving Toward a 21st Century Library

View more presentations from Franki22.

I had the opportunity to talk via Elluminate to a class of students across the country last week and the week before. I have participated in many Elluminate sessions and I love them but I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about actually being the person who shared my thinking in an elluminate session. As a presenter, I tend to feed off the group's energy and I rely heavily on conversations and active participation. But it was definitely a learning experience and I continue to be amazed that we can all be sitting at home and learning with people so far away.

These visuals probably don't say much without the talk that went with them, but pulling this session together helped me reflect a bit on my vision for the elementary library--where we've been, what my goals are. Talking to others and making my work visible always helps me see the work differently. I always appreciate the opportunity to articulate my own thinking because it helps me become more clear for myself about where it is I am trying to grow and learn.

It took a little bit of work to create a presentation that I could share publicly like this, but as part of my own learning journey, I wanted to make it public. (my first slideshare:-) These slides show the space and events in terms of the bigger goals of the library--but it cannot begin to share the day to day conversations and learning that the children have. I would need a different format for that, I think.

Embedded in this slide show is the slides that I used early in the year to begin a yearlong conversation on "Who are you as a learner?" I don't know if the students would even remember that first conversation but looking back at it and reflecting on those initial thoughts, I love the way the kids are now beginning to use the library to support who they are as a learner.

April Mosaic

April began with cupcakes and ended with guacamole.

The oak flowers looked so dainty against the blue sky when they were new. Then they streaked my car yellow with pollen and now there are so many on the ground that we will rake up gobs and mounds.

In answer to your question, yes, I wrote a poem yesterday, and no, I'm not going to post it here.

I do, however, have a few final observations about my NaPoMo poems. Remember the one-word poem? Did you follow the link to David R. Slavitt's poem? Did you realize that the discussion questions were part of my parody?

And that sprouting apple seed? I found it INSIDE my apple when I cored it. As much as I liked the poem it inspired, I was far more impressed with the idea of a pre-sprouted apple seed. I have planted it in a small pot on my windowsill and I anxiously await its reappearance.

The "If-You-Were" poetry form is the one that has inspired the best writing from my students. We will continue writing a poem a day for each other this coming week -- we have four friends left whose names haven't been picked yet. In the end, we will have written close to 300 poems total.

As the school year winds down and the students get itchy for summer, it is sometimes hard to get them to be smart and thoughtful (not to mention hardworking and productive). I will keep the Xs in the sky in my heart to remind me of the creative potential that exists in every child if they have the time to look and if I take the time to listen.

Poem #30--Looking Inside (and Poetry Friday)

Inside the month

I found the challenge.

Inside the challenge

I found the discipline.

Inside the discipline

I found the joy.

Inside the joy

I found the poems.

Inside the poems

I found my world.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH 2010!!

The round up this week is at Great Kid Books.

All 30 of my NaPoMo poems are here.