Speaking of Disrupting our Thinking ...

I mentioned in my last post that our 5th grade teachers are reading aloud Ban this Book by Alan Gratz. And that the students are really finding moments that they are connecting to the book with their head and heart. And if you feel deeply enough with your heart, the next step is taking action, right? 

Well, yesterday, one of the teachers noticed the kids buzzing around a locker, so she peaked inside and got this wonderful surprise. One student has connected so much that she did, indeed, take action. (Sssh! The kids don't know we know!)  How can you not love it?

Is there a way we can get every student to connect this deeply with a book this year? The challenge is on!

Disruption in the hallway!

It has begun and it is awesome. My 4th and 5th grade colleagues and I read Disrupting Thinking by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst this summer and are determined to disrupt the thinking of our students this year! So, the first time I went into the classroom to do book talks, I announced that "I am here to disrupt your thinking!" Puzzled looks ... tilted heads ... crickets.

So I proceeded to tell them that a good book should disrupt your thinking ... it should make you stop and ask "What?" or "Did I really just read that?" or "This character is just so awesome!" As I finished each book talk, I asked the students what part of the book talk "disrupted their thinking" and why? Students began talking about this and even using the word "disrupt" while they were talking. We were feeling pretty excited. In addition, teachers have been reading Ban this Book by Alan Gratz and they are continually asking students to disrupt their thinking about the events of the book. The kids are totally into it.

But the real excitement came the next day when we heard a student say, in the hallway and totally unsolicited by a teacher, that the poem they read "really disrupted my thinking." And she was right on the money because it was a poem that had you believing one thing and by the end of the poem, it twisted to a different idea. Score!

And then, on Friday, I was doing some work with a small group. This is a group that gets reading support from our Reading Specialist. She and I are working together this year to ensure that these students find books that they can read and enjoy and, most importantly, finish and be able to talk about beyond the obligatory summary. Once we had gotten books in the students' hands, they sat down to read for the final 10 minutes of our group. Suddenly, I heard "Wait! Where's Mom?" from a student. Then with a look of total surprise on his face he said, "Wow! I just disrupted my thinking. I was wondering how come Mom wasn't in the car with Brock and his dad." Man, I wish I had that on film.

Will you be the Wild Card?

And off we go! Another year has started and I am determined to be the Wild Card! Last spring, Megan Halverson (my instructional coach) and I did a book study on this incredible book by Hope and Wade King. And all summer, I've been thinking about how to change things up in the library. And now the time is finally here! And I'm not going to lie ... I'm scared. I'm out of my comfort zone. That joker in the back of my head is saying "Just do things the way you've always done them. It won't be as risky. It won't be hard because you already know the routine."

First up: each 1st and 2nd grade library class is going to establish a team identity, because team members respect each other, listen to each other and help each other (the rules of the library.) Once they have determined their identity, that's going to help with our theme for the year. We're also working on getting better at listening to each other "with care." So, we are practicing our "Call and Response"

Edgar LibraryFrog is our library mascot, so the Call and Response cues are all about him. So, when one of our classmates is talking, the call is "Rachel is on the Lilypad!" and all eyes should be on Rachel. Students respond with "Yes." When the class needs to come back together, the call is "Catch a Fly!" Their response "Got it!"

So far, these are working well. Next up: Team identity. All the classes are voting this week. Stay tuned.