Inspired by tonight's #wonderchat and always energized by the interesting wonders shared by Wonderopolis I wanted to wonder aloud with you.
Each January a new year brings new hopes, new dreams, and new
expectations for what is possible. No matter what time of year, it is important to nurture the whole community of learners.
Part of that community is the belief that we all have a safe place to make
mistakes, experiment, try new things and wonder about the world around us. All learners live curious lives. Wonderopolis gives students access to mentor texts – digital and print that support investigations and wonderings. As a staff developer, I continue to spend my days teaching and learning with others. We often try to layer students'/learners' questions and thinking with wonders of the day and paired texts as we add to units of study. I also spend a lot of time adapting and revising curriculum units of study. I want the
curriculum to be a vehicle for collaboration, experimentation, and most importantly to be a living, breathing document. A dear friend and colleague, @PeteLitCoach. has remarked on the power of continued revision to a curriculum based on classroom application and
reflection as "collective thinking." He has also reminded me that "our best curriculum is a curriculum that was co-authored with our students."
As we add in hyperlinks and digital texts, teachers often ask for THE list of books that go with each teaching point. What are the best texts to use for ______. Now don't get me wrong, I am like any other nerdy teacher... I live for book lists. But I also know that those "lists" are meant to be spring boards for further investigations. How can we find the time to reflect, create text sets, be book match makers - for student investigations, noticings, or for craft studies? I don't have the magic bullet, but I would like to share some thoughts with you. When we find ways to connect our students' passions, purpose and connect our reading and writing workshops with a deliberate intention, yes, we can be matchmakers.
Yes, we want to make connections and have parallel focus in our aligned units, but what about letting our wonderings guide the way? Can't we find space for that too? We find meaning through the sharing and growing of ideas. Did you know that…? Did you notice…?What do you think about..? How might this influence our students? When we invite the students into the conversation, the possibilites are endless.
As we add in hyperlinks and digital texts, teachers often ask for THE list of books that go with each teaching point. What are the best texts to use for ______. Now don't get me wrong, I am like any other nerdy teacher... I live for book lists. But I also know that those "lists" are meant to be spring boards for further investigations. How can we find the time to reflect, create text sets, be book match makers - for student investigations, noticings, or for craft studies? I don't have the magic bullet, but I would like to share some thoughts with you. When we find ways to connect our students' passions, purpose and connect our reading and writing workshops with a deliberate intention, yes, we can be matchmakers.
Yes, we want to make connections and have parallel focus in our aligned units, but what about letting our wonderings guide the way? Can't we find space for that too? We find meaning through the sharing and growing of ideas. Did you know that…? Did you notice…?What do you think about..? How might this influence our students? When we invite the students into the conversation, the possibilites are endless.
And to grow ideas...Can't we have a connected reader's notebook and a writer's notebook? Why separate the two? How about thinking notebooks? Thinking notebooks can be a place to record our observations, wonderings about the world, our reading, our lives. Like peanut butter and jelly, reading and writing go together and it is hard to separate the two. Students learn to think and record their thinking on the pages of a notebook. A natural place to reflect on the beauty of language, students can have a section for WOW words too. Too often I hear that it has to be done only as part of "reading" units or "writing" units. Wondering about making more connections, we try to include wonders with suggested teaching points that will influence our students as readers, writers and thinkers.
Below you will find some favorite wonders. Maybe they will help add to this conversation as you reflect on your work with student readers and writers. We have embedded these into some of our grade level units of study. Hope they leave you wondering about the possibilities. What are you wondering about?
Are you
a Bookworm #577?
How do
Quilts tell Stories # 124?
How Can
You Become a Better Reader? Get Caught Reading! #226
Do you
belong to any club #869? (building community)
Can
Fairy Tales be True? #926
What
Fairy Tales ending would you change #221
How can four legs help become a better Reader #40?
Why do
they call it a tall tale #269?
When
does nonfiction become fiction #662? http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/when-does-nonfiction-become-fiction/
Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. – E.B. White
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