Read-Alouds: Little Kids Can't Have All the Fun

Presenter selfie at AMLE

I (Meg) just returned from Columbus, Ohio, where I presented at AMLE's national conference with my great friend Becki.  We have been close friends since our undergrad years at Miami University where we were both middle childhood education majors and cheerleaders.  Though we moved to different states after graduating, we continue to remain close friends.  A constant part of our ongoing conversations always revolves around what we do in our respective math classrooms.  It has always been clear that we mutually value literacy integration in our math classes, so it was only natural that we decided to share our brilliant ideas with the rest of the middle school world.  Our presentation was appropriately titled "Math + Literacy = Rich Learning".  As we crafted our presentation on integrating literacy activities into our math classrooms, we immediately decided that our math read-alouds must be a highlight in our presentation.

In Dr. Steven Layne's most recent book In Defense of Read-Aloud, he delineates so many of the reasons read-alouds have a critical home in any classroom.  In addition to being plain old fun for students, read-alouds in a math classroom are the perfect way to build background knowledge and activate students' schema.  Using a picture book or a portion of a novel for a read-aloud provides students the opportunity to encounter a math concept in a non-threatening context and allows them to make connections between math and a variety of real life events.  Becki and I compiled a lengthy list of some of our favorite math-related books for the conference, so feel free to peruse and start using some of these books in your own classroom.

Mrs. Knapik captivating the crowd on read-aloud Monday

While I love using a read-aloud to launch a new lesson, I have started the new tradition of "Read Aloud Mondays" in my math classroom.  Mondays are difficult days for both teachers and students alike.  Starting class on a Monday with a five minute read-aloud has become the perfect way to ease all of us into another week of academic rigor by focusing our minds on mathematics.  The students are always engaged while I read, and by using a simple turn-and-talk or quick write prompt, the students are talking about or writing about math within minutes of entering the classroom.

Mrs. Knapik's "all math" bookshelf

In addition to reading aloud, I also make it a point to proudly display all my math-related books on their very own *special* bookshelf at the front of my classroom.  This bookshelf highlights to the students that reading about math is valued in our classroom.  My students clearly understand that math and literacy go hand-in-hand; they are not separate events.  Since I let my students check books out from my classroom library, keeping the math-related books on a shelf at the front of the room helps make these books pretty popular selections.

I also highlight *special* books I have in my classroom library.  These are books I have gotten signed by the author or books written by an author I have actually met.  I use a big "Look!" sign and arrow to direct my students' attention to these special books around my classroom.  When I am lucky enough to meet an author, I try to get a photograph with him/her and then tape the photograph inside the book's cover.  It makes the kids think I'm pretty cool!

One of Mrs. Knapik's *special* books!

Some neigh-sayers may ask, "Wait, you read aloud to your middle schoolers?  Don't they think that is kind of babysish?"

The answer is a resounding, "No!"  My middle school students, whether eighth graders or sixth graders, always LOVE being read to!  Never underestimate the power of a read-aloud.  ;)

Higher Level Thinking + Technology = Student Engagement

Helllllllo, world!  After our end-of-summer/back-to-school hiatus, we are back in action on the blog! If you are like us, the summer is full of exciting travel and professional development.  Come mid-August, we are ready (for the most part) to welcome a new group of students into our classrooms. Now that we have gotten to know our students, established our classroom procedures, and are in the swing of things at school, we are ready to turn our attention back to sharing our ideas with other educators and continuing to develop ourselves as life-long-learners.

Changes in Bloom's Taxonomy to reflect 21st century learning

Every year, the Illinois Reading Council hosts its annual conference to bring together passionate educators from all over the state and country to share literacy best practices.  This year, the two of us created a new presentation with our colleague Kirby to focus on how we integrate higher level thinking tasks from the top of Bloom's Taxonomy with technology in order to engage students and enrich their learning experience.  Since Bloom's Taxonomy was revised in 2001 to reflect 21st century changes in learning, we focused on analyzing, evaluating, and creating within the contexts of our middle school English and math classrooms.

Meg, Jamie, and Kirby are ready to present at IRC 2015

Kirby, a sixth grade English teacher, highlighted how she uses Newsela to find quality nonfiction texts for her students.  Her students analyze the part-to-whole relationship of the text structure.  Using the Notability app on their iPads allows them to annotate to help them with this process.  They then evaluate how an author crafts his/her writing to communicate information before creating their own online article via KidBlog or creating their own "how to" video using iMovie.

Jamie, who is a seventh grade English teacher, has her students analyze mentor texts in the form of blog posts.  In breaking down these mentor texts, students are able to see the parts of a quality blog post which ultimately prepare them to create their own blog posts on Kidblog.  Her students also evaluate book reviews on GoodReads and then use these book reviews as mentor texts prior to creating their own book reviews on GoodReads and/or book trailers using Animoto.

Great turn out for our session!

I (Meg), the math teacher of the trio, have my students use Noteability to help them document their hands-on experiences in class as they analyze part-to-whole relationships between numbers, for example how the side length of a cube relates to its volume and the math term "cubing a number". They can capture photographs of their manipulatives, write text to caption their images, and record audio as they turn-and-talk to a neighbor to summarize their analysis.  Students are able to evaluate the best problem solving strategies as they record screencasts of their math strategies using the Explain Everything app. Students are able to create math picture books using the Book Creator app to integrate the writing process with their math knowledge.

How do you use higher level thinking tasks in your classroom?  We would love to hear your ideas!