Diving In: Book Studies and No More "Sit-n-Get"

We have had one round of meetings with all of the book studies.  My role varies from serving as a facilitator for discussion in three buildings to which I am assigned to after-school consulting with teachers who act as facilitators in the buildings to which I am not assigned.

I am continuing to learn more and more about adult learners and how to keep them motivated for sharing and talking in a collaborative setting.  In three of our buildings, the K-2 staff is reading one text while the 3-5 staff is reading another--though they are related texts, they are different.  I am finding, however, that regardless of the text(s) read, it is generally helpful to use varied strategies so that teachers have time to talk with their own grade-level colleagues and across grade levels.  This seems to help with building deeper thinking as we consider how our professional decisions impact our students now and in the future.

One text that has proven particularly useful is Marcia L. Tate's "Sit and Get" Won't Grow Dendrites:  20 Professional Learning Strategies to Engage the Adult Mind (Corwin Press, 2004).

Here is a link to Marcia Tate's own summary of this book:

http://www.acacamps.org/campmag/0601dendrites


Here is a link to Marcia Tate's website, "Developing Minds":

http://www.developingmindsinc.com/

Here is a link to the related Facebook page, which contains some dazzling photos of some of the strategies in use:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sit-and-Get-Wont-Grow-Dendrites/142420002437187


Every meeting has included activities that allow staff members to work/think independently, with partners, and with small groups--all in 45 minutes (or less).  I have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from teachers, saying that they enjoy the activities and the structured purposes for thinking and talking about the texts.  It's clear that the more "global" learners appreciate activities like "musical shares" and "whip shares" while the more analytical learners appreciate activities like completing comprehension constructors (reading/thinking graphic organizers) to summarize their thinking before discussing.

Reading Cris Tovani's work with comprehension constructors has been helpful.  In grad school, I spent time creating some tools like these to assist readers in holding their thinking during reading.  Since then, I am getting better at finding these tools online, as well, and modifying them to meet the needs of the learners with whom I am working.

http://tovanigroup.com/

A few of the ideas for activities during workshop that I have put to use so far have included:


--Whip Shares:

Each person jots a word, phrase, or sentence from the text on an index card.  (This brings focus, as the writer must carefully consider what s/he thinks is most important; it also prevents last-minute additions/deletions, which can happen if they are to read from the text itself). Then everyone stands in a circle, facing in.  Be sure to direct everyone to read in a loud voice and to emphasize words as they see fit.  We cannot ask you to repeat if you reading is too fast to process or too soft to hear!  Moving around the circle, one person at a time takes turns sharing his/her card with the group.  No one is allowed to comment--it's simply a listening time.  As you hear the ideas, you hear themes developing about interests, concerns, strategies, etc.  When the sharing is complete, have the learners turn and talk to a person beside them to share  what they've noticed about what the GROUP had to say.  Then they can turn back to face the inside of the circle and share their thinking.  This often causes us to deeply consider others' thinking and to see a bigger picture of how the group is processing the subject.  When discussion seems ample (or time for the activity has expired), thank everyone and send them back to their seats.


--Timed Shares:

After completing a comprehension constructor (a graphic organizer that holds thinking about reading), tell the learners that they will have a set amount of time (generally 1-2 minutes) during which one person from the group will share ONE thought (one line, one box) from their organizer and dives deeper into his/her thinking about this topic.  (They may refer to the text, teaching experiences, concerns, etc.)  During this time, no one else from the group speaks/shares--they listen.  When the set amount of time for this individual's sharing time has expired, signal that it is time for the group to share their thoughts on this same topic, responding to what the individual has said.  Again, there is a set amount of time for this group share (generally 2-5 minutes).  When time has expired, signal for the individual who started the share to thank the group for their responses.  Then move on to the next individual and repeat this cycle.


Timing can be controlled by how much time you have for the activity, group size, number of turns in sharing, and how much time you give individuals/groups for talking.  Planning ahead with time is what keeps this activity interesting and moving!  It gives everyone equal time to talk, so that the conversation doesn't bog down with one or two people's interests.  It always leaves them wanting more!




Board Games:

Like the activities above, this was a hit!  I bought blank boards from our local school supply store (about $7 each); however, if you're not pressed for time, you can order them online from places such as:

https://www.barebooks.com/gameboards.htm

I programmed the boards so that the staff could have fun with each other while playing--there were some blank boxes, while there were boxes with directions, such as:

• trade places with someone else's token on the board
• have two other players trade places with their tokens
• move forward/back ___ spaces
• go back to start
• have everyone else move back ___ spaces

This created interaction, even when it wasn't someone's turn and really caused everyone to pay attention!

For the actual game, I asked teachers to copy a statement from the book (something that they highlighted or underlined during reading and that they thought was important to remember).  They could leave the statement as it was or subtly change it to make it false.  Either way, they had to cite the page number for evidence.  They each had 5-10 index cards (I bought "pretty" cards with borders/lines) to complete before playing.  (This caused them to revisit the text, decide on what was most important to remember, and then to consider whether to leave it as is or to change it.  Believe me, discussion would ensue when someone missed something!)

When play commenced, the person whose turn it is would turn to the person to their right who would read a statement from one of their cards.  The player had to say whether the statement was true or false.  If s/he missed it, the reader would show them where it was in the book and explain why it was true/false.  Then the player's turn ended.  If the player guessed correctly, s/he would roll one die, move his/her token, and then follow the directions (if any) on that spot on the board.  Then play would move to the next player.  This cycle was repeated until someone won by reaching the "goal" at the end.  Winners won prizes from the teacher section at our local Dollar Tree store (Target's $1 - $3 area is great for prizes, too).

What we really noticed was that this promoted looking back into the text, re-reading and discussing key points, and having old-fashioned fun with our colleagues.  While there was a lot of book review (from our book study texts) going on, there was also friendly competition and laughter--something much-needed in our meetings!  Remember, emotion while learning helps it to "stick."  :)