Making grading about more than grades

Now that school is back in session for most of you, I am guessing that you are preparing to begin hauling bags of papers home in order to spend your weeknights and weekends grading.  Keeping with idea of my post earlier this week, I thought I would let you in on a secret I learned during my sixth year of teaching that has changed my teaching life ever since!

When I was in the middle of completing my Masters degree in Reading, I read the fantastic resource Words Their Way.  In this book, it recommends using a rubric similar to the one below to assess students' work in their Word Study Notebooks.  As I tried implementing this idea, I found that these three simple categories were just what I needed to put a grade on student work when it was difficult to calculate a percentage.  

After becoming such a fan of using these 3 symbols for grading spelling, I decided to try using the same method for grading work in other subjects.  For example, that math assignment with 20 double-digit addition problems?  Did I really have to grade every single one?  NO!!!  What I really want to know is whether the child has a basic grasp of the concept.  By randomly picking 6-8 of the problems to grade, I could get a good idea.  If they got almost all of them right, they got a star.  If they got some of them, they got a check.  If they got none or just a couple, I wrote a N at the top of the paper.

What I loved most about using this system was that I could do it so fast.  You see, historically, my M.O. for grading was to carry papers back and forth every night but never actually grade them.  Planning lessons was so much more fun than grading their results.  Weeks would go by without me getting any grades until progress reports or report cards were due and then I would stay up all night frantically grading papers.  Grading for me was just about having a number to give to parents.

Using my new system, grading become more than a number for reporting, it became a tool for my teaching and planning.  Instead of hauling papers back and forth for days, I started sitting down every afternoon to grade all of the day's work.  In 15 minutes, I could quickly get perspective on how well each students had grasped all the objectives for the day and could make plans for how to reteach or move forward the next day.  I stapled a "Super Grover" raffle ticket to every paper receiving a star.  The next morning, as students arrived, I had their papers already laid out on their desks.  Raffle tickets were celebrated and put in the Super Grover box. Students that received a N were asked to put their papers on my kidney table so that I could call them up throughout the day for reteaching.

Now, you are probably wondering how I eventually got a number grade from 3 symbols!  I really wish we could somehow overhaul this old number percentage method but I don't have the power to do that.  So, I just chose to work within the rules.  You will have to figure out what the rules are for your school and district.  My district gave very little specifications about grading so I took the liberty to make a star equal to 100, a check equal to 80, and an N equal to 60.  I found that the symbols made  much more sense to my students and their parents than a random 76, 82 or 99.  The averages of these grades worked out to give a fairly accurate representation of the depth of the students' understanding for the objectives we had addressed during the grading term.

I also made a practice of writing out the student expectation from our TEKS standards on every worksheet or blackline master.  This helped me make sure that the assignment was actually aligned to the standards AND it showed the parent what concept I was specifically grading for.

I just finished reading this book with my girls and it reminded me of the importance of grades.  When our students put their work in our basket, it deserves our immediate attention and not weeks of sitting in a bag in our car!  I hope my grading system may add hours to your personal lives and make the minutes spent with your students that much more productive!

Esperanzas y expectativas Linky Party

Have you ever created a chart similar to this one?

FYI, these charts are not mine.  If you are a MISD teacher and you recognize your chart, please let me know and I will be happy to give you credit!  

These are all charts that I have photographed during first week of school visits over the past several years.  

Whether you are a first year teacher or an experienced teacher, it is always helpful to have the opportunity to peek into others' classrooms and get some ideas.  If you would be willing to let us see your Esperanzas y expectativas (aka "Reglas" o "Normas"), please link up with us here!  Thanks so much for sharing!

You only have so much time...

In the past few weeks, I have observed the Pinterest trends move from exciting summer activities to back to school gifts for teachers.  These gifts tend to be full of puns and are all very cute but they don't look anything like the back to school gifts I have received in my time as an educator.  My favorite treats were things like a styrofoam cup of icy horchata delivered to me at afternoon dismissal, a single wilted carnation that was presented with pride, and this note that was left on my desk at the end of the first day of school seven years ago.

I love how this simple note from a seven year old reminds me of what children really want from their teachers.  They want us to be nice to them ALL DAY (that's the kicker there! :)) and they want access to the resources we possess that are so often unavailable to them from any other source.  They really don't care how many times our classroom photo gets repinned on Pinterest or how cute our fonts and clip art are (although there is nothing wrong with any of those things).  But, at this time of year when there are just not enough hours in the day, I believe it is worth remembering what our students really care about.

I read a lot of books about education but the author that most touches my soul is Regie Routman.  I know that sleep is important these days but her Essentials books are the few books I would say are worthy of losing a few hours of sleep in order to read at this time of the year.  She truly knows how to bring us back to what is essential and what are the non-essentials.  

In her book, Reading Essentials, Regie reminds teachers to "live an interesting life" because "you can't come to work each day enthusiastic about teaching if all you did the night before was grade papers."  She goes on to say:

Staying till six or seven each evening doesn't necessarily make us more effective teachers.  Our students will not become better readers because we create fabulous projects and centers, give them lots of paperwork, and grade lots of papers.  They will become better readers if they receive excellent instruction and have lots of time to read and talk about books.  

As bilingual/dual-language teachers, you may often feel that you are doing even double the work of the teacher next door.  If you feel like the school year has barely started and you are already overwhelmed, please take time to remember what is essential because you only have so much time.

De regreso a la escuela: ¡Yo puedo leer con los ojos cerrados!

Mientras más libros leas 

más cosas aprenderás.

Y mientras más aprendas, 

más lejos llegarás.

As I wrap up my summer-long De regreso a la escuela series, I thought I would include this book that I came across at my public library today.  While I always prefer to use authentic Spanish literature, this is another Dr. Seuss book translated by Yanitzia Canetti who is widely recognized for her great translations.  

The first few weeks back to school often include a lot of discussions about reading and its purposes.  Why do we read?  What do we read?  How do we read?  

While my favorite book for prompting these discussions is still ¡Qué locura por la lectura!, ¡Yo puedo leer con los ojos cerrados! is another fun book that can serve a similar purpose.  

Are there any other books that I am missing that you use to kick off literacy for your class?

Another Dual Dilemma: Self-Selected/Independent Reading

Student above is NOT the student described in the story below but I am a sucker for pictures of kids reading and I captured this one in a PK class near the beginning of the school year last year.

Había una vez...there was a seven-year-old boy in a second grade classroom.  He was one of seven children and neither of his kind, hard-working parents could read.  Anytime I needed to communicate with his parents, I had to drive to his trailer or request that he ask his father to add more minutes to his cell so that we could talk via phone.  

This seven-year-old entered second grade as a struggling reader.  I did all sorts of the typical interventions with him including daily guided reading and additional support during word work and writing workshop.  While I'm sure those probably helped him some, I am confident that there was something else that really stopped the cycle of family illiteracy with this child.  

One morning in late fall, I read aloud the book Souperchicken by Mary Jane and Herm Auch to my class.  There was something about this book that resonated with this little boy and he learned that there is such as thing as falling in love with a good book.  He begged for the book right off my stand and asked to put it in his self-selected reading box.  For the next several weeks, Souperchicken was "read" every day by the same little boy.

While his reading gains were slow throughout the year, he did improve.  At the end of the year, he was very close to reading on grade level.  I followed his progress over the next several years and, while he continued to need some additional support, he also continued to demonstrate success on the state reading assessments.  

One day, I was observing his fifth grade classroom.  As the teacher was in the middle of a lesson, I was delighted to discover my sweet little bigger boy hiding a book under his desk because he was just that into it!  Now, I know that he should have been obeying his teacher and paying attention to his lesson but I can't tell you how it warmed my heart to see that kind of reading mischief!

So here's the Dual Dilemma.  I taught in a one-way 50/50 model where Mondays and Tuesdays were taught completely in Spanish, Wednesdays and Thursdays were taught completely in English and Fridays were used for reteaching and assessments in both languages.  If I followed the model exactly, my little lover of Souperchicken would not have been able to read this book on Mondays and Tuesdays because it is only available in English.  Now that some seems like torture, doesn't it?

The same problem would occur for a girl who had just begun reading Me llamo Maria Isabel on a Tuesday.  Do I tell her to put it down and wait until the following week to finish it?  Preposterous!

Well, my conclusion was this:  When a child is given a choice about what to read, he/she is also given a choice about the language in which to read.  

Self-selected reading became a time of flexibility within our 50/50 model.  Students could choose to read books in just one language or in both languages during this time.  Of course, just as I would conference with a child who ONLY ever selected the same book (like Souperchicken) or books from the same genre and gently nudge them to expand their choices, I would also conference with kids about maintaining a balance between the two languages as they made their selections.

So, how do you deal with this Dual Dilemma?  Have you observed the magic of Self-Selected reading impact your students and create real readers?  I would love to hear your stories!

Milo Educational Books & Resources Giveaway

Thus far in August, we have learned how to support our readers' strategic reading behaviors with the Fountas & Pinnell Prompting Guide in Spanish and we have met Attanasio & Associates, a wonderful provider of leveled readers in Spanish & English.

This week, dear readers, you will meet yet another provider of amazing resources for your classroom.  Do the two words "BIG BOOKS" make you swoon?  Okay, well then how about these THREE words: "SPANISH BIG BOOKS"?  Yeah, I thought so!  Well, these books provided by Milo Educational Books & Resources are truly beautiful creations.

In my previous school district, the bilingual coordinator and the science coordinator placed a joint order to provide each bilingual campus with a couple of sets of all of Milo's Big Books related to the science topics that were a part of our PK-5th grade curriculum.  The teachers fought over them LOVED them!

The text in these books is simple but rich and effective.  The photographs and illustrations are carefully chosen to scaffold understanding of high level content.  As I shared these books with teachers in grades PK-5th, every grade level wanted to claim the books for their rooms.  Even though some pages just carry short repetitive sentences, they can still provide a great foundation for introducing content and building background.  These books are perfect for teaching nonfiction conventions and would make great companions to my free Bilingual Nonfiction Conventions Notebook.

So, wouldn't you love to start the year with 2 new big books, 8 assorted small readers, two reading pointers and a bilingual poster (everything in the picture below)?

Visit Milo Educational Books & Resources' website: http://www.miloeducationalbooks.com/ and leave a comment on this post telling which nonfiction titles would be most useful to you in your classroom.   Follow the rest of the directions from the Rafflecopter below for additional entries!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway: 78 Spanish/English books for Early Readers

Last week's giveaway featured a resource designed for supporting readers as they acquire strategic behaviors for literacy.  Now...what else does a teacher need?  Why, BOOKS, of course!  

The wonderful company, Attanasio & Associates, is offering one lucky I Teach Dual Language winner their set of Early Spanish/English Single Copy Set which includes 39 books in Spanish and 39 books in English (a $495.35 value).

Want to win?  Visit Attanasio & Associates' website: http://www.attanasio-edu.com/ and leave a comment on this post telling us about one of their products that you would love to have in your classroom.  Follow the rest of the directions from the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

De regreso a la escuela: Pepita y la peleonera

As we near the beginning of school, I will be winding down my "De regreso a la escuela" Spanish read-aloud series.  If you want to see all of the books that have been recommended this summer, please visit my Pinterest board here or click on the "Back to School" tag in the right margin of the blog.


This week's book is not one for the first day but it would be a worthwhile read for later in the first week.  Pepita y la peleonera is the bilingual story of Pepita's first week at school.  She is bullied by another girl in her class named Babette.  After getting advice from several friends and family members, Pepita decides try out her father's counsel: "Así es que mañana si Babette te vuelve a jalar las trenzas, debes decírselo a tu maestra.  Pero si Babette te dice algo malo, puedes responderle de manera cortés o alejarte.  Pero hagas lo que hagas, debes ser cordial."

He goes on to explain that cordial means about the same thing as amable.

The next time Babette bullies her, Pepita confronts her with kindness and Babette decides to change.

Since I brought this book home from the library, my daughter has asked for it to be read aloud to her no less than three times and she has kept it in her bed to "read" at nap time.  My mom was here last week and had been the one reading it aloud to her.  She thought it would have been better if there was one more page at the end telling a bit more of the story.  Either way, the story sure resonated with my four-year-old.

Pepita is the character in several other books by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman and this book is a great way to introduce your students to characters in a book series as well as begin a discussion about friendships and avoiding bullying.

Have you read any of the Pepita books before?  Which one is your favorite?

The Guided Reading Dilemma

During my first year of teaching in a one-way dual language program, I had the ambitious goal of doing guided reading with all of my students in both languages.  I carefully assessed my students' levels in Spanish and English and then organized six Spanish groups and six English groups.  On Mondays and Tuesdays (Spanish days), I would meet with as many of my Spanish groups as possible and then on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I would try to meet with all of the students again in their English groups.  Crazy, loco, insane in the membrane!!!

My English groups did not necessarily mirror the Spanish groups.  This made for many complications when I would call groups.  Juan would come up with Valeria but then we would remember that he was only in her Spanish group but not her English group.  I ended up meeting with my highest groups so infrequently that we rarely finished a book in either language.  

Guided reading became one big headache!  

That spring and summer, I was working on my Masters in Reading.  The more I read, the more I was convinced that I needed to resolve my guided reading issues.  In order to do the kind of guided reading instruction that I was reading about in my classes, I felt that I needed to focus my small group instruction on one language.  

As I began my second year, I had a new plan.  Using my district's "Guidelines for On Level Reading Performance" (below), I examined my students' Spanish reading levels.  Any student who already met the Spanish expectation for the end of second grade became a candidate for small group instruction in English.  The rest of the students received small group instruction focused in Spanish.

Every six weeks, I would assess my students' levels in Spanish and rearrange my groups.  The Reading Specialist on my campus would assess my students' English levels and supply me with their results (see chart below).

By the end of the spring semester, 8 of the students were receiving small group instruction in English and 14 were receiving small group instruction in Spanish.  So...imagine my surprise when the Reading Specialist showed up at my classroom door in May to tell me that 15 of my 22 students had tested at the expected end of year level for monolingual English students.  

But I had only done small group guided reading with 8 of those 15!  What happened?  

Biliteracy transfer, my friend.  Biliteracy transfer!

The research from Dr. Kathy Escamilla's Project Literacy Squared says:  "Learning to read first in Spanish when combined with oral proficiency in English is the best predictor of success in English literacy for second language learners." 

Isn't it nice when we can actually see the research play out in our classroom?  While I was strategically working on developing reading strategies and behaviors in their native language, we were also building oral language in English during whole class instruction on English days (50% of our week).  That combination proved to accelerate my students' English levels even when I wasn't doing guided reading with them in that language.  

Please know that I share this info not to brag about my scores!!!  I still have so much to learn and want to do better.  However, I read many of your comments  regarding the challenges of guided reading in our Fountas & Pinnell Spanish Literacy Resources Giveaway and I wanted to share my experience.  I have seen this same data duplicated over and over again in the classrooms of other teachers that have tried out similar methods.  

What are other ways that you have simplified your guided reading and seen positive results?

Giveaway: Fountas & Pinnell Spanish Literacy Resources

Do you have a A-list of celebrity educators?  You know, the people whose names have earned your respect throughout your classroom tenure because you know that they know what they're talking about.  Their words are tried and true.  

Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas are definitely on my A-list!  Ever since I read Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Students in college (1998!) and Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6 a couple of years later, my teaching philosophy and literacy practices have been unmistakably shaped by these two women.

Two years ago, I was E-LA-TED when my district's literacy specialist gave a training on Fountas & Pinnell's new Prompting Guide and then she said those magical words, "We also have copies in Spanish for the bilingual teachers!"  Seriously?  So, so happy to get my hands on such a useful resource that literally takes me step by step through the reading behaviors my students need to successfully interact with Spanish text.  

You can view a few sample pages of the prompting guide at this link as well as read one dual language teacher's review of this product on her blog.

Tell me you are not excited about this!!!  But wait, there's more!  Pinnell and Fountas also provide the Continuo de adquisición de la lectoescritura Grados PreK-2: Guía para la enseñanza.  This is the Spanish adaptation of The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades PK-2: A Guide to Teaching.  The first half of the book includes an explanation of the many instructional components that interact in the classroom to build literacy.  The second half of the book walks through each of the F&P guided reading levels A-N and describes the behaviors and understanding to notice, teach, and support.  An especially useful part of this section is the gray "Planning for Word Work after Guided Reading" box that includes many specific examples for explicitly addressing Spanish word analysis.  You can see a sample of this resource at this link.

Now, because I love my ITDL readers SO much, I have contacted some of my favorite providers of bilingual resources to ask them to consider donating a resource to one of you.  My wonderful friends at Heinemann have offered to give one lucky ITDL both of the resources described above.  Want to win?  Just follow the Rafflecopter directions below (giveaway is limited to US residents only).

a Rafflecopter giveaway Just in case you aren't the lucky winner of these resources, you can download eBooks of the English and Spanish prompting guides for the iPad here for just $9.99 each.

Activating Prior Knowledge: Alphaboxes/Cuadros del alfabeto

According to Stra-tiques (which you still have a chance to win TODAY), "Alphaboxes is an activity that expands vocabulary and supports critical thinking on a given topic."  Similar to using the familiar K-W-L chart, Alphaboxes invite students to brainstorm words related to the topic of which they are about to read and study.

What preparation do you need?  Just a big ol' sheet of chart paper (I think chart paper is always the most expensive line item in my class budget...that AND sticky notes!) and markers.  Draw a 5x6 grid and write one letter of the alphabet in the top corner each of the squares.  You'll only actually use 26 of those 30 squares so don't stress if you find yourself with a few leftovers!

With younger students, I recommend having the class meet together on the floor to brainstorm aloud as you think through words related to the topic one letter at a time.  Be warned that this can take a LOONNNGGG time the first few times that you do it.  Learning to quickly activate one's own schema is a skill.  You may receive lengthy pauses as little minds try to skim through their mental file folders and locate relevant information.  Students, even the young ones, will get better and faster at doing this the more you give them the opportunity.  If needed, brainstorm part of the alphabet one day and come back to it the second day.  While it may feel like you are losing instructional time, you will definitely see the benefit in the long run of teaching your unit.

With older students that have experience doing Alphaboxes, let them work in small groups on their own charts.  After allowing them a set time, have them post their charts around the room and then have the students move in carousel format around the room from chart to chart.  They can read and discuss words on the chart as well as add in even more words to their classmates' charts.

Just as you would with a K-W-L chart, an Alphaboxes chart definitely becomes an anchor chart for your unit of study that you will continue to revisit throughout the entire study.  Words may eventually be crossed out if they are determined to be irrelevant and new words should definitely be added.  You might even choose to assess students' individual growth at the end of the unit by having them complete their own mini-Alphaboxes chart.

You can see below other ways that teachers have used Alphaboxes:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Alphaboxes completed with computer clip art by 4th and 5th graders
• Lori @ Conversations in Literacy explains how she uses Alphaboxes charts with small groups in K-5th grades to boost vocabulary and comprehension.

Have you tried using Alphaboxes in your own classroom?  If so, please leave a comment here with any tips or ideas you may have.  Have a post about Alphaboxes?  Leave a link here too!