Addicted to Google Hangouts

I joined Google Plus right away when I first got an invitation. I played around a bit but never got to involved with it. Then at NCTE, Bill Bass told me I needed to do more with Google Plus. When I pushed for what it had to offer that I didn't already have access to in my other social networks, he said, "Google Hangouts".  I went home and didn't think much about it until it was time to write our NCTE 2013 Convention proposal.  Bill organized a Google Hangout for the three of us writing the proposal (Ann Marie Corgill, Bill, me).  Since that first Google hangout, we've met about our proposal, I had other meetings for projects scheduled and in our classroom, we had a visit from Ruth Ayres via Google Hangout. In January, I have participated in several Google Hangouts and I am hooked!

If you don't know anything about Google Hangouts, they are similar to Skype--real time live chat to whoever you want to talk to in the world.  But Google Hangouts provide for lots more than just a live chat.  First of all, you can chat with a group of people. From what I understand, one Google Hangout can accommodate 7-8 people.  At first I thought this was overwhelming but the talk that you can have with a group from all over the world is definitely a plus. I have had many conference calls in my life but to sit and see people and talk as if you are all sitting in the same room makes a difference in the thoughtfulness of the work.

There are also ways to work on a Google Doc together in a Google Hangout. So, if you are creating a proposal or a piece of writing or a presentation, the Google Doc can be shared in the hangout and participants can work on it live in the Hangout. It is easy to share Google Docs and other things from your screen directly to the Google Hangout.

I see huge potential for Google Hangouts with classrooms. Connecting a few classrooms for an event or conversation could be really powerful in helping kids see the connectedness and globalness of our work.

And then there are the "toys". The sound effects and props that are just plain fun.  Katie DiCesare was at my house working on something a few weeks ago and so we visited a bit with Ann Marie via Google Hangout. Since it was new to us all, we played around with the props. For a very long time.  The playing part was very fun and we realized Google Hangouts are not only great for professional work but great to just visit with friends who live far away.

Ann Marie, Katie and I playing around with the props in a Google Hangout!

I am a phone girl. I like to talk while I am doing 10,000 other things walking around the house. But Google Hangouts has helped me realize the power of live chatting--how much better the conversation is (whether I am working on a project or just visiting with friends) when we are kind of sitting in the same room.  If you haven't had time to try out Google Hangouts, I would definitely give it a try.

SMARTER CHARTS by Marjorie and Kristine Mraz

I picked up the book Smarter Charts K-2: Optimizing an Instructional Staple to Create Independent Readers and Writers last month. Although it is a K-2 book, it has helped me think about the ways in which I use charts in my classroom. I love charts. I think they matter in classrooms for so many reasons. I love that they capture our thinking and make our thinking visible. I love the anchors they provide for conversation. I love the things they say about the thinking we are doing. This book helped me rethink and build on what I already know about the power of charts.by Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz a last month.  Although it is a K-2 book, it has helped me think about the ways in which I use charts in my classroom.  I love charts. I think they matter in classrooms for so many reasons.  I love that they capture our thinking and make our thinking visible. I love the anchors they provide for conversation. I love the things they say about the thinking we are doing. This book helped me rethink and build on what I already know about the power of charts.
The authors of this book are grounded in good instructional practice. They understand literacy and great classrooms. They understand the power of charts. But they have also taken the time and energy to take apart the the design, language, tools, etc. to make the charts in your classroom more purposeful.

This is a happy book too. The colorful cover is the first clue. The authors' photo on the back also tells you that this book will be a fun read. The charts are colorful and fun to look at and then to learn about.  There are photos throughout the book that make the book a quick read, but one that you want to revisit.

After reading this book, I realize that all of my charts look the same. Oh, I may use a different color marker or it may be set up a little big differently but the teaching factor of the creation of the chart is missing. The interactivity with kids is often not as purposeful as it should be. And I tend to use charts mostly within the whole group setting.  With the classroom examples and tips from this book, I can see change happening for my classroom charts! And although the focus of this book is literacy, it has sparked me to think about more purposeful ways to use charts in math.

The authors of this book also have a great blog called Chartchums. Love when I can keep learning from authors after I finish their book. 

Open This Little Book (One More Time)

I  know we already reviewed Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier (illustrated by Suzy Lee)  and we even gave one away for our 7th Birthday Celebration. But I just received this great video that shows the brilliance of this little book.  Enjoy! This book makes me happy!




And if you want to see how much kids love it, go over to Colby Sharp's blog , you can get a sneak peek of Mr, Sharp's children enjoying the book while he shares his thoughts on his Newbery Challenge book A Gathering of Days.

Poetry Friday: iPad Poetry App

iF Poems

by Clickworks Limited

available on iTunes

270 Classic Poems

Categorized

Searchable

Some have audio, so you can listen.

But the best part is -- 

you can record YOURSELF 

reading one of the poems!

Violet has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Violet Nesdoly / Poems.

I Wish I Had Written This Book

You Are My Wonders
by Maryann Cusimano Love
illustrated by Satomi Ichikawa
Philomel Books, 2012
this book was a gift from a former student

My love of 5th graders is a little on-again off-again these days. You know how they get; what it's like to try to keep their focus. But you also know about their razor-sharp wit and their amazing insights.

I need to read this book every day so that I can remember that they are truly my wonders.

"I am your teacher;
you are my school child.

I am your welcome;
you are my running wild.

I am your bell;
you are my ring.

I am your notes;
you are my sing.
.
.
.
I am your story;
you are my wide eyes.

I am your lesson;
you are my surprise.

I am your stillness;
you are my jiggle.

I am your straight line;
you are my wiggle."


Really. I need to read it every day.

And did I mention how much I wish I had written this book?

Poseidon: Earth Shaker

Poseidon: Earth Shaker (Olympians)
by George O'Connor
First Second, on shelves March 10, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher


George O'Connor's series of graphic novels about the Olympians have taken my classroom by storm.

In each of my classes I have a student who is deeply interested in mythology (one boy, one girl), and there are lots of others who enjoy mythology because of the Percy Jackson books, but there are plenty of others who are simply attracted to the "super hero" factor of these characters: Zeus, Athena, Hades, and Hera (so far). I'm going to have to start a sign-up sheet for Poseidon, I'm sure.

When I finished this book, I said to myself, "Poseidon is a really hard character to understand." And then I read George O'Connor's author's notes, and he said pretty much the same thing. The author's notes really helped me to understand the book better, and they sent me back into the book to re-read some parts.

The sequence when Theseus, Poseidon's son, goes into the labyrinth to kill the minotaur is absolutely brilliant, graphically. That's what I like best about George O'Connor's books -- the combination of great art and good storytelling.

Digital Reading Workshop

I created this list of questions a year or two ago as I thought about the idea that a digital reading or writing workshop was not about one unit of study or the idea of letting kids read ereaders. That as we figure out how the whole idea of reading has expanded, are we making rooms for all kinds of reading in our classrooms. I revisited this list last week as I am thinking about the ways in which my students use digital tools and the ways in which they are growing as readers and writers. Definitely questions I'll come back to that help me think about the messages I am giving students about what counts as reading these days. As always, I feel pretty good when I ask myself a few of these questions and with others, I have work to do.

What role do digital texts have in your reading workshop?

Read Aloud

Do I choose to read aloud only texts from traditional books or do I share digital texts, audio books, blog posts, etc. during read aloud?

Do we use web resources such as author websites and book trailers to help us dig deeper into the book we are reading?

Do I read aloud from websites and blogs?

Do I utilize keyword tags, comments, links, and search features while reading aloud?

 Independent Reading/Reading Conferences

Do we use online resources for book previewing and book selection?

Do I limit students' independent reading to traditional books or do they have a variety of options for their reading time?  Do I place equal value on reading on e-readers, reading websites, reading short pieces, etc. as I do on reading traditional books?

Do I help my students use online tools to support their lives as readers? Do I value annotation tools, bookmarking tools, RSS feeds, etc. as part of my readers lives? Do I model these tools in minilessons?

Do I introduce digital pieces and discuss digital reading when conferring with students?

Have I updated my reading interview to include questions about digital reading?

Do students have ways to add a social component to their lives as readers? Are they connected to others because of their reading?


Reading Minilessons

Do I use digital pieces, as well as traditional texts when teaching minilessons?

Do I rely completely on traditional text or do I use film clips, blog entries, podcasts, etc. when planning minilessons?

Do I share process in my minilessons? Do I tend to share process only as it relates to creating text-based pieces?

Do I teach minilessons that are universal, regardless of format of piece?

Do I share my own  process, consuming and composing in several types of media?

Do I use minilesson time to demonstrate tools tools that support deeper reading with a variety of texts?

Shared Reading

Have I reflected on the resources I rely on for Shared Reading?

Do I include web reading and viewing when thinking about Shared Reading experiences?

How can I include a variety of texts for students to process through together?

Content Reading

Have I found sources for content reading that go beyond textbooks and traditional text?

Do I rely on newspapers for talk around current events or do I tend to focus more on sites like DOGONews, Time for Kids,  and other sites that combine text and visual features?

How am I supporting the importance of visual information in the content areas?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thanks Jen and Kellee at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for hosting IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

I finally feel like I am back in the habit of consistent reading.

H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden was my #bookgapchallenge book that was assigned by Tony Keefer.  I enjoyed the book although I did learn that I am not a fan of "assigned books" so being a little bitter as I read did not help.  I don't often read plot based adventures so Tony thought this would be  a good one for both Katherine and I.  I enjoyed it and shared it with my 4th graders right away. It is a good adventure for kids looking for a new series.

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson is a gorgeous new picture book biography. I love anything by Kadir Nelson and was thrilled to see this new one.

Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed was a huge surprise to me. I LOVED it and wasn't really planning too. I had heard so much about it that I wanted to read it but couldn't figure out what all of the hype was. The book is gorgeous.  It is about ice but also about family and tradition and home. The writing is gorgeous. I am not sure this is one kids will pick up on their own but it is definitely one I hope to share--so many possibilities with this as it is a pretty amazing book.

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer is a YA book that has been on my TBR stack for a while. I enjoyed it. It is a great story about a teenage girl and a bonobo that she befriends in the Congo.

Babymouse #17: Extreme Babymouse by Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm. I am happy every time a new Babymouse book is published. I ordered two copies of this for my classroom and I am so glad I did. It is busy making its rounds!  (And there is a fun little surprise in the book that kids are discovering as they read:-)

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman is a new picture book that younger kids will enjoy.

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet is another picture book biography that I am happy to have in my collection.

Black Dog by Levi Pinfold is becoming a new favorite. Every time I read it, I love it a little bit more. This is definitely one I'll share with kids in the next few weeks as we talk about theme. Such a sweet story with a big message.

Currently Reading

I am currently reading Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. I am trying to take my time so I can take it in. If I speed through it, I am afraid I will miss some of the brilliant things the authors say. This is definitely a must-read for teachers in grades 4-12. Lots of important thinking here.

My friend, Larry Swartz recommended the adult novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel. I ordered it immediately because Larry knows books and I started it yesterday. Love it so far but a little worried about having started it. I don't have much reading time this week and this is not one I want to drag out!  I'd love to sit all day and read it cover to cover but I know I can't.

Wow. How did I not know about this?

It pays to read to the end of the Poetry Friday roundup.

The last link this week (at least as of this writing) is to PaperTigers Blog. Great review of a new-to-me book of poetry by Francisco X. Alarcón: Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems.

And then I am blown out of the water by a link to The International Children's Digital Library.

How did I not know about this site?

You can read books in Swahili there. Or in Farsi. Or Hindi. Or Spanish. Or Arabic. Oh, yeah, and in English, too.

Spread the news -- this is an AMAZING site!

Poetry Friday -- Careerhymes

Flickr Creative Commons photo by  /Sizemore/

TRAFFIC COP

Drivers think the traffic cop
is totally about the, "STOP!"
Standing hours in twelve below
what I need to do is GO!

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Good think I spent a few minutes browsing my Google Reader feeds yesterday. Blog after blog featured Careerhymes, a new form invented by (who else?) J. Patrick Lewis.

I started reading the HUNDREDS of comments on the original post at David Harrison't blog, and they were all so dang CLEVER that I almost gave up before I even tried. However, this one practically wrote itself on the way to school (seed idea captured with voice memo on my phone), and now I'm hooked! You should try one, too! Here's the form:

"...light verse, in which the name of an occupation appears somewhere in the first line."

Couldn't be easier, could it? So what's holding you back? Write one!!



Renee has today's roundup at No Water River.