This post is the fourth in a series about research and writing in Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom. To learn more about this project’s purpose and outcomes, you might want to read the first post. If you are interested in understanding how this project enabled the teachers and coaches involved to position themselves as learners, you can click through to the second post. This post demonstrates the beginning of instruction, where researchers applied strategies that helped…
Today’s post is the second in a series relevant to the learning that has transpired in Lockport teacher Heather Bitka’s kindergarten classroom this spring. I introduced Heather in this post. The prologue to this learning experience, which explains our work as co-learners with greater depth, can be found here. This post speaks to the common questions that began provoking us right from the start and what the adults involved hoped the kindergarteners would know and…
Last week, I introduced you to Heather Bitka, a Lockport Elementary Teacher that I have been co-planning an integrated writing unit with this spring. This experience enabled Heather, myself, visiting instructional coach Sheri Barsottelli, and classroom aide Kay Shanley to pursue a variety of questions as learners. Who were our teachers? A classroom full of very curious and energetic kindergarteners, who were pursuing very similar questions themselves. Here are the prompts that guided every learner…
Fellow literacy coach Sheri Barsottelli and I visited with Heather Bitka and her kindergarten students at Roy B. Kelley Elementary School today, and when we got there, we learned that THEIR CHICKS WERE BEGINNING TO HATCH! As you might imagine, this made for quite an exciting start to the morning. What was even more fun was watching the kids’ reactions when they learned that they could Skype into Molly Koelle’s first grade classrooms to announce…
If you didn’t get a chance to catch David Coleman’s presentation Bringing the Common Core to Life this week, you can still access it here. It’s important viewing for New York State educators at every level. As I’ve begun debriefing with different members of my network and teachers and administrators inside of the schools that I serve, much of the conversation has been about the demands of text, scaffolding complexity, and attending to the needs…
“Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.” CCR.W.6 Last week, I had the honor of visiting Molly Koelle’s classroom. Molly is a teacher at Roy B. Kelley Elementary School in Lockport, New York. I’ve been supporting teachers and administrators there for several years now, and when Molly invited me to drop in and observe her in action during her literacy block, I knew I would…
Conversations continue to unfold about the CCS all over the web. These opportunities allow you to pursue your own curiosities and needs with others who who can inform your thinking and your work. Perspectives are varied. The processes that others are using to understand the purpose and implications of the CCS, the standards themselves, and meaningful ways to work with them are as well. This is a good thing. One thing I’ve realized: teaching with…
Much of this week has been spent in conversation with teachers and administrators who are beginning to unpack the Common Core Learning Standards and determine entry points into meaningful work with them. For this reason, I was happy to find this invitation in my inbox today. Interested in receiving the newsletters in the mini-series described below? You can sign up here. Conversations about the Common Core will begin unfolding on the Learner Centered Initiatives Ltd.…