What is schema?

We had an important talk on Wednesday. We talked about schema.  

What is schema? 
I use a book by literacy expert, Debbie Miller as my guide. Reading With Meaning is one of those books I come back to time after time in my literacy instruction. Debbie Miller is *that teacher*. When I was a kid, I wanted hair like Blair from Facts of Life. As a teacher, I want to be just like Debbie Miller. 

Schema is all the stuff in your head. It's your experiences, your likes, your dislikes, your friends, your knowledge, all that good stuff. Basically, it's the prior knowledge that you bring to the table when you read a book, watch a movie, have a conversation, just about any experience you have. 

When we read, we use our schema to connect with the text. It's really the deciding factor in whether or not we like a book. If you can't connect to a text on some level, you likely won't enjoy it.  Without our schema, we're just reading words and not relating, we're not constructing meaning and having a conversation with our self.

You have more fun with a text when you can relate to it. We can likely all think of a story that we just never got "into" (hello Harry Potter...I'm looking in your direction).

When you use your schema, you say to yourself, "Hey, that happened to me once" and you can appreciate how the character must feel, you can put yourself in their shoes.  

So now that the boys and girls know what we mean when we talk about schema, we say it a lot. In fact, even when dealing with challenging situations that arise throughout the day, I might say to a child, "Now you can add this to your schema, so you'll know what to do next time." We don't only use our prior knowledge to assist with reading. I get a lot of mileage out of this word! 

As a youngster, I loved reading Judy Blume books because I could so easily relate to many of the themes in her stories.  I didn't realize it at the time, but that connection, that use of my schema, is why I devoured every one of her books. When we use our schema, we tend to see reading as a more pleasurable activity.  

The boys and girls learned and reviewed all kinds of new words: schema, connection, relate and prior knowledge. It was a great Literacy Block and as we move through the year, my hope is that the students will see how using their schema takes reading to a whole new level.

Reading With Meaning by Debbie Miller  

Fabulous fluent readers!

Each morning, students are responsible for volunteering to read something from our Morning Message.  You can read all about Morning Messages from an older blog post here.  I've tweaked and updated things since then, but the overall purpose remains the same.  

Here are some screen shots from a recent M.M.    

Students are invited to identify new (and often fake) events I post on our calendar as a way to develop oral communication confidence.  They are required to speak in full sentence (e.g. "I notice that on Saturday September 9th, we're going to a baking class.) 

I purposely design my messages so that there are reading opportunities for every level.  The focus is on participation, developing fluency and building skills in quick, short, commercial-type bursts of information.   

We also review our T.O.T.W (Text of the Week) each morning. We read the text together and then students respond to a variety of questions that help prepare them for the test that Friday.  

One area where I would like to see the boys and girls grow, is around fluency.  I would like to see oral reading sound more smooth, like the way we talk.  What exactly is fluency?  I would like to refer you to the photos below from Jennifer Serravallo's "The Reading Strategies Book". This resource has greatly influenced the way I teach reading for the last few years. I can't recommend it enough to teachers and to parents who are interested in supporting their child at home.  Please click on the photos to read what she has to say.  

To help support my students, I wrote this story over the weekend. 

I'm asking that parents have their child read it aloud each night.  The text is quite simple and most students should be able to read it with little support. Please encourage your child to: 

• group words into phrases so it sounds natural when read aloud
• try to sound like the character (he doesn't actually speak in the story, but there are opportunities to express his exasperation and excitement) 
• avoid reading word-by-word (we call that "robot reading") 
• pay attention to punctuation! Pause at commas and show excitement at exclamation points.
• monitor pace: we don't want to read too fast or too slow 

I think that with practice and a little bit of nudging from the grown-ups who love them, my students will be able to become very fluent readers! 

Two very important chats!

Last week, we talked a lot about how to show initiative in the classroom and school.  I explained to the boys and girls that within our little community, when they see a problem they can (within reason) solve (e.g. sweeping up a mess they didn't create) they are invited to do so.  Asking me, "Mrs. M, would you like me to hand back those agendas?" is another way children can show initiative in the classroom.  Taking it upon oneself to tidy up some papers on an absent classmate's desk shows initiative, so does straightening up the carpet pillows while waiting for Evening Meeting to begin.  These are all safe and reasonable ways children can begin to develop their leadership skills.  

On Thursday, we talked about another important trait: being accountable for our actions. I explained that when we're accountable, we accept responsibility for what we've done, apologize if necessary and don't blame others for our actions (e.g. "She did it too" or "It was his idea"). We also don't deny what we've done as this causes confusion for others, especially teachers and parents. 

Being accountable means being responsible and owning our...um...less than "5-star"decisions (guess who's been shopping on Amazon?).

I believe that even in grade three, children can develop their leadership skills. By explicitly teaching kids how to show initiative and role playing accountable talk, we can (and I know this sounds cliche) help children be the best version of themselves,  but we also provide them with a foundation on which to build even stronger skills, and those are the people that change the world. If you can admit you were wrong when you're 8 and fully own and apologize for the decision to eat the teacher's lunch,  AND you think to organize an absent classmate's desktop full of papers, what does that look like when you're 18? While you might have a hard time keeping your hands off someone else's sandwich, you're likely a person who is confident, compassionate, creative, dependable and responsible.

And of course, we have Brag Tags for this! 

     

It still smells so good!

A new school year, new teacher, new classroom, new expectations, new, new, new!  It can be hard for an 8 year old to keep up with all this new-ness!  They're even on a new floor in the school!  

I don't know about you, but I can't do my best when I'm feeling overwhelmed, so this year, I'm trying something different: Play Doh.  

In addition to initiatives such as Brag Tags, morning handshakes, lots of singing and happy notes in the agenda, I'm  using Play Doh first as a confidence booster and community builder, and then as an actually learning tool.

Here's a bit of our backstory: each student had to "earn" their Play Doh this week and I'm proud to say, that by Tuesday afternoon, they've all done so.  By copying their agendas neatly, correctly, and in a timely manner, they were able to choose their color from the reading table. Students were told to put the Play Doh in their desks and that at some point this week, an explanation would be given.  The curiosity started building right away!  

On Tuesday afternoon, the boys and girls learned the rules around the Play Doh:  

• it stays in our desk until we're asked to take it out
• using the Play Doh will require a great deal of listening 
• we're likely not talking when we're using our Play Doh 
• if expectations are not followed, the Play Doh is put away for the session and one becomes "an observer" 
• little bits of Play Doh are not to be removed to play with at our leisure  
• natural consequences will be experienced if the lid is not replaced correctly and the PD dries out 
• we can't be pounding our desks with the PD because the purpose of our sessions is to relax our mind, focus on developing our listening skills, overall self-regulation and support our learning

Finally, around 1:55 on Tuesday afternoon, the boys and girls were told that if they "Took out their agendas, retrieved their lunch bags from the shelf in the classroom and lined up quietly to pack their school bags for the night" I would have a big announcement. They knew where this was going.  See what happened right there? A common goal to work toward and they succeeded! 

From there the instructions were, "You may open your Play Doh and play with it. Please do not talk, just enjoy your time. If you want to communicate with someone, you must find a way to do so without actually speaking."  That was their challenge and once again, success!  

When they couldn't get their Play Doh out of the container, they silently asked for help and a table-mate assisted (relationships building!). From start to finish (including the trip in the hallway to pack those school bags) this all took about 6 minutes and it was well worth it. Everyone went out for recess with a huge smile on their face and I believe it was the highlight of our day. 

I'm really excited about all the different ways we can use our Play Doh in the classroom.  I found some great ideas here to support my students' learning, but right now, the focus is on simply developing our listening skills, showing responsibility for our own success and learning materials, along with building relationships.  I'm hoping it helps my students relax, and because they're able to follow my simple instructions and expectations, they feel like they're succeeding in grade three, regardless of their reading level or math skills.  

I think we're on to something here! And I couldn't resist, there's 19 students in my class, but I picked up an extra can for myself, just to take a whiff and go back in time!