Imagine my surprise when I sat down at my first workshop of the conference and saw that I would be in the company of Tony Stead, Sharon Taberski, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (The Sisters), Gail Saunders-Smith, Seymour Simon, Michael Shoulders and Linda Hoyt! The name of this workshop, Informational Literacy: Making It Intentional, Connected, and Engaging, was what attracted me...didn't read the course selections far enough to see who was presenting when registering!Much of what was shared by this talented group centered around nonfiction and its importance as mentor texts for our students to build comprehension and to serve as models for writing. Tony shared that the real world is the world that interests our students the most. Writing workshop should be about active investigating...it should be alive. He went so far as to say that, "All writing needs to be fueled by some sort of research." These students need to be exposed to multiple texts. "Exposure, exposure, exposure."
Sharon warned us that we are starting too early with strategies for comprehension. She charges us as teachers to build background knowledge first. "Background knowledge not only makes children smarter, it makes them exponentially smarter." She calls background knowledge the "missing piece of the comprehension puzzle." The Super Strategy? Inferring. "We need to show students how to use what they know to figure out what they don't." Short informational text is a perfect venue for this.
There is SO much more I could share just from today but here is the last bit. On the shuttle bus back to the hotel, Gail Saunders-Smith sat next to me. She was one of the presenters in this session. We had a great talk about her new book, coming out soon on guided writing, technology in writing, and a new book I am reading on the digital writing workshop. I happen to have the book with me and was able to share a new resource with this wonderful college professor and writer.
I'll close with a quote from Seymour Simon..."Let's, as teachers, start being as social as our students are. Share what you are doing well in your classrooms with other teachers via the internet." And you know what to do when "Simon Says," don't you?
What a fabulous experience!!! Just from a librarian's perspective, I know how much my young students, especially, but not exclusively, boys, much prefer to read nonfiction, especially in the early grades. They want to learn about so many things. Most truly don't become chapter book readers until around third grade, and many later than that. Since we are avid Seymour Simon fans at my school, I'm both envious and thrilled that you had the opportunity to spend some time in his company. And, I totally agree that we have to become "as social as our students are." Technology is extending that sociability exponentially every day, and as teachers we need to capitalize on that means of making connections, now!
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