After 3 years of teaching reading and writing workshop in my classroom and after finally starting to get a handle on what I was doing, I started to feel a pull between reading and writing. I didn't like that even though there were so many similarities and so many connections to be made, the units were sometimes so far apart that those connections were not immediately visible to the students. So, on my fourth year, I drafted my own units of study by teaching all the same skills as before but reordering them a bit (and sometimes just rephrasing them) so that reading and writing could be one. In this way, I was able to make the innate connections between reading and writing immediately visible to my students and I believe they flourished. Mainly, they gained a strong sense of genre and purpose. They could think much more flexibly about reading from the point of view of the writer and writing from the point of view of the reader. Because the connections between reading and writing were so transparent, my students were freed up to notice other connections. They carried skills from unit to unit, genre to genre.
Below is a summary of the 8 units my class and I lived that year and for the next couple years that followed- with a few tweaks of course!
September: We are Readers and Writers (habits of readers and writers, daily routines)
In September, I did most of the work, modeling my own reading life, gushing over their writing, affirming their budding literacy identities. In this first month together, what and how they read or wrote did not matter as much as how they looked and sounded when they read and wrote. I had to ratchet up my skills as an actress, and as they mirrored my passion for literacy, they hardly noticed that by the end of the month, they weren’t acting anymore. They were readers and writers. September was the month of identity.
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To celebrate Making Meaning, we placed our published books ina place of honor in our classroom library for all to read (and understand!) |
October: Making Meaning (shining a spotlight on meaning in both reading and writing, asking questions, using schema to make connections, beginning narrative writing strategies)
In October, we looked at what it is to make meaning. Before spending time on the nuts and bolts, nitty-gritty decoding and fluency side of reading, we gave top priority to the idea that Reading Is Thinking. In Reader’s Workshop, we dug into interactive read alouds in which we could connect to our existing schema. Instead of waiting until later in the year, we explored how asking questions can illuminate ideas that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. In writing, we continued writing small moments, but instead of only passionately writing page after page with no acknowledgement of an audience, we thought about meaning. We asked ourselves, “How can I make my purpose clearer? How can I plan the piece in a way that make sense? How can I write details that others will understand?” October was the month of meaning.
November & December: Honing Our Craft (decoding strategies, fluency, authors as mentors: taking small moments to a new level by looking at mentor authors)
In November and December, we honed our craft. On the very first day of this unit, we studied all the kinds of people who hone their craft: dancers, carpenters, basketball players. We defined “honing” as making a skill the best it can be, especially when it’s already really good, usually by studying a more expert model. In reading, we turned up the heat on mechanics. From decoding strategies to word parts to accuracy to fluency, it was clear that reading is a process that happens not only in the reader, but with the text. As we came to the realization that texts were meant to be read in certain ways, we began to look at what our writing said to our audience. We learned strategies for making our pieces readable, including spelling and punctuation. It was in this unit that we learned the word “monitor.” Using a heart monitor as a metaphor, children were constantly reminded to always monitor their reading and writing- not after, but as they read and wrote. We studied more expert author models- our mentor authors. We learned how to notice crafting decisions and how to imitate them to hone our crafts. Our writing soared to new levels. November and December were the months of mentors.
January: Imagining the Possibilities (inferring, revision)
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Meet the Author book signing event |
In January, we imagined what was possible beyond the written text. To kick off the unit, we imagined three jars of play dough as something more than what they were. I showed pictures of ordinary sand dunes, pillars of steel, and large rocks, followed by extraordinary sand sculptures, the Eiffel Tower, and magnificent statues. The message: you can only achieve what you first envision. In reading, we had to dig deeper to find what the author did not state directly in the text. In short, we learned how to infer. We spent the whole month on this strategy, inferring character’s personalities, what would happen next, unknown words, the author’s message, and theme. In writing, we revised. We re-envisioned our October through December pieces as works of art. We identified what we wished they would be and how we hoped they would make our reader feel, and we molded them according to that vision. In our first big parent event of the year, we hosted a Meet the Author book signing event in our classroom. Run like their first grade Revision Museum, the young authors walked their “fans” through their revisions and explained their decisions. What they had first imagined for their pieces, was made real. January was the month of possibility.
February: Read to Learn, Write to Teach (taking questioning deeper, determining importance in nonfiction, nonfiction conventions, writing how-to’s and All About books)
In February, we explored nonfiction in reading and writing. After spending half the year writing and reading mostly narrative, February was our first departure into other genres. Reader’s Workshop was run as an inquiry into text structure. We spent a few weeks making individual charts of conventions we noticed, complete with examples and how they help us as readers. Each child chose a big question and took two weeks studying it, using conventions to guide them. In writing, we split our time between how-to writing and All About books. At the end of the month, we held a Teaching and Learning Festival. To represent Read to Learn, each child shared their big question, as well as the learning journey they traveled to find the answer. To represent Write to Teach, they shared their All About books. February was the month of knowledge.
March: Power of the Pen (synthesizing, integrating all strategies to synthesize, writing persuasive book reviews, letters, blogs, songs, etc…)
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Peacemaker's Tea |
In March, we tested out the power in our pens. After all we had learned about books this year, I don’t think it had yet occurred to my young authors just how much power was in their pens. They were fascinated in reading when they could start identifying books as “power of the pen” books. Never before had they realized that authors have the ability to change the world through writing. As we studied these books, we wove in the strategy of synthesizing. Every strategy was assigned a color of the rainbow and we tracked our thinking as we read, always synthesizing, always growing our thinking. We realized that our thinking could change across a book, but it could also change the way we live and the way we think. Books—authors, actually—have the awesome power to affect change. In writer’s workshop, we wrote in several genres including reviews, letters, blogs, songs, poems, articles, and flyers. Instead of publishing one piece at the end of the unit, we published every piece (as they were shorter and more manageable to revise, edit, and rewrite) and sent them to the appropriate parties. We received responses from the recess aides, another second grade class, The American Girl Company, and Legos… And we finally heard from the President in June! March was the month of change.
April: Small Poems, Big Ideas (sensory images, monitoring understanding, integrating all strategies to understand, writing free verse poetry)
In April, we lived and breathed poetry. In reading, we immersed ourselves in the free verse poetry of Langston Hughes, Myra Cohn Livingston, Valerie Worth, Eloise Greenfield, Karla Kuskin, and others. A new poem greeted us each morning and we started by honing in on the strategy of making sensory images. Next, we collected poems we love in our poetry notebooks and wrote in the margins, using all of our understanding strategies (again, color-coded) to infer deeper meanings. In writer’s workshop, we began by cranking out poems. But that was short-lived, because using the above poets as our mentors, our daily minilessons convinced us that less is more. The music, we discovered, is why we love poems. We looked for parts of our poems where the “energy leaked out” and we were unapologetic in our slashings. This unit unexpectedly took revision to new heights. The month ended with a well-attended Poetry in the Park event. Children read both poems they wrote, as well as famous poetry that they had memorized during our unit. April was the month of words.
May & June: Readers and Writers for Life (weekly book clubs, “turning up the volume” on particular strategies, discussing books and comprehension strategies, revisiting small moments to integrate writing strategies from every unit, reflecting on writing and reading journey to make a year-long anthology)
In May and June, we came full circle. These two months were about packing our suitcases to include everything we’ve learned as readers and writers. For the first time since I started teaching the Units of Study, I had time to revisit small moments. And- WOW- was it worth it! For every day in May, we reviewed a teaching point from earlier in the year and added it to a huge chart on the wall of our room. I chose the most important teaching points from Honing our Craft, Imagining the Possibilities, Small Poems Big Ideas, and others. The take home point: no matter what the genre, our year was spent learning about how to write well. It is all applicable. In reader’s workshop, leveled book clubs chose a just right book each Monday. They filled out a Book Club planning sheet where they planned for which chapters they would read on each day. I met with each group to help them think about the genre and series. Together, we picked one strategy to focus on. We called it “turning up the volume” on that strategy (not turning the others off, just turning one up). I also helped the groups decide on a specific way that they would keep track of that thinking – post-it notes or their notebook or a handmade chart on a large piece of paper. On Book Club Fridays, grasping books that look like they had just survived heavy post-it note attacks, they met to talk. In June, we continued book clubs and we worked on making anthologies that include 15 reading and writing artifacts from our year together. May and June were the months of reflection.
Identity,
meaning,
mentors,
possibility,
knowledge,
change,
words,
reflection.
They came a long way that year. Because we moved from building to using, I hope that my students were changed. As they synthesized, their lives were revisioned. Moving onto other classrooms and eventually other places, I hope that they took this new view with them: that words and text are not just something to be passionate about, but something to be passionate with. They are tools to be used in whatever in whatever direction they are aimed. I hope my students were utterly changed.
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