November 3 Update

Happy November!

Can you believe we are already at the end of quarter 1?  As much as we've had challenges and tiring days, I want you to take some time to think about all the successes and celebrations from Quarter 1 alone.  I've seen growth in our students (academically and social emotionally) and strong relationships and routines built.  Kudos to all of you for making McKinley a place for all!

Carry the Banner!

This week, how did you carry our banner and share the great things about McKinley? 

Talk Read, Talk Write (Guest Blogger - Katie Demmer)

Many of you may remember this from a few years ago.  One of our building goals is to have teaching staff engage in two Talk Read, Talk Write structures during the year.  We will be offering a PD session around this in the next month.  Below is some background from guest blogger, Katie Demmer! 

Talk, Read, Talk, Write:  Part 1

Talk, Read, Talk, Write is a classroom structure that gives students an engaging way to interact with content.  

Talk, Read, Talk, Write allows for students to do the talking, reading, and writing about a topic to deepen their understanding. It increases the amount of “student talk” and provides opportunities for productive struggle and student collaboration around a topic.  Talk, Read, Talk, Write lessons can be done with any content topic. In a Talk, Read, Talk, Write lesson, there are 4 main parts.

• Talk #1: Students engage in a brief, structured conversation with peers and the teacher.  The purpose is to build background knowledge, ignite thinking around the topic, and set a purpose for reading.

• Read: Students actively read an academic text.  This text provides the basis for the information they need to learn the content of the lesson.  This replaces the majority of the direct instruction and “teacher talk” of the lesson.

• Talk #2: Students engage in dialogue with each other to discuss what they read and prepare for writing.

• Write: Students write about the content to deepen their understanding.  Sometimes a “draw” component might be added before or with this component.

This 9:00 minute video gives a good example of what a Talk, Read, Talk, Write lesson could look like.

We will dive a little deeper into these components, as well as share some ideas for uses within your setting, content, and grade level in the coming weeks.  We already have some amazing educators in our building using this structure as well.  If you have used Talk,Read, Talk, Write in the past, I would love to hear about it. If you would like to collaborate around planning or leading this structure within your classroom or grade-level, please reach out to Katie Demmer.  

Stress Response in Kids:

The graphic below is a great reminder for us on all the ways that stress appears in students that may not appear (to an outsider) as "typical" stress. I saw this and was reminded of my (the adult) response. Students may be appearing to show refusal, defiant, or off-task. However, when we think of what is really happening, could it be stress? Personally, when I ground myself in that, I think my response to the situation changes greatly.

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Have a great weekend!

-Justin