I will continue to add to the series of blog posts on the importance of student choice in writing, but today I feel compelled to share on the topic of technology in the classroom.

Recently I have been thinking seriously about purchasing an iPad.  It started about a year ago when a friend showed me her new toy.  With her new iPad she had constant access to her Kindle, her e-mail and Facebook, her to-do lists, and more.  I thought that was pretty neat but just couldn’t justify purchasing a new device when I already had a Smartphone that could do most of what she showed me.  But I still thought it was pretty cool!

This school year, as I have attended many meetings, I have often found myself in the minority (sometimes the ONLY person in the room) of people still taking notes with a good old-fashioned notebook and ballpoint pen.  I must say, that as much as I love technology, I do still love the feel of pen on paper and the overall experience of reading books with pages I can turn.  But, as I looked around, I do admit that I had iPad envy as I watched my colleagues navigate from file to file to add notes, look up resources, etc.  Last week as I participated in a kindergarten teacher lab, I watched the facilitator use her iPad to videotape a one-on-one conference so that she could show it to the whole group during our debrief session.  Again, pretty neat!

Still, I wasn’t sure if I could justify getting a new toy just to keep up with the Joneses.

I have now found my justification!  Last Friday a colleague shared with me an app that is available for the iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch).  It is called  "Confer – A Notetaking App for Teachers".  It is amazing!  Everything I have always tried to do with my conferring notebook can be done with this app.  Here are just a few:

• keep track of students I have conferred with
• keep records of compliments, teaching points, and future instruction
• group students with similar needs for strategy groups
• use flexible grouping to meet students’ needs
• track reading levels
• sort students for instruction in a variety of ways

I found this video that explains how this app works way better than I can: Confer – A Notetaking App for Teachers Video Demonstration

So that seals the deal!  I am now going to buy myself a new Christmas present just so that I can use this app! (They haven’t come out with a version for my Android phone yet).  I can’t wait to discover all the other ways this tool can help me in the classroom.  I invite any of you who have been using iPadsin your classrooms to share your suggestions!

I have heard this question many times during the past several months.  I have been working with a number of teachers who are in various phases of implementing a workshop approach for reading and/or writing.  Most of us who have moved to a workshop approach have at some point asked this question and have had to reconcile  doing what we know is best for kids and fulfilling our obligation to report to parents and administrators where kids stand.

When I am asked this question, I usually begin by clarifying the difference between assessing and evaluating our students.  For me, assessment takes place every minute of the day as I observe my students, listen to them, confer with them, watch them interact with text and other students, read what they have written, etc., etc. I assess to inform my teaching and to guide my instruction.  Evaluation happens when I put a value judgment on the assessments I have made.  How do I come up with a grade?  I wish I could tell you that I have this magic formula into which I plug a bunch of numbers and out comes a grade.  It doesn’t work that way.  The best I can tell you is that when I am diligent about observing and taking anecdotal notes on my students in every area of their reading development (sight words, fluency, retellings, book chats, partner discussions, written response logs, reading logs, at-home reading, etc.), I have a clear picture of where each child’s strengths and weaknesses are and it is much easier to give a report card grade.  You can read about about some of my assessment tools by clicking here.

In addition to my tools, I want to share with you a book that I just purchased.  When a teacher shared it at a recent  workshop, I knew I had to have it, so I came home and immediately ordered it.  It is called Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop Making Informed Instructional Decisions in Grades 3-6 by Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak.  When I saw who the authors were, I knew I would like this book—they are the authors of Beyond Leveled Books and Still Learning to Read: Teaching Students in Grades 3-6. When the book arrived just a few days later, I immediately began reading it.  Here is how chapter 1 begins:

“Good teaching begins with knowing our students.  We can teach wisely and well when we have taken the time to understand them, think about what they need, and plan ways to move them toward independence.  We need to know them as learners and as human beings.  And, of course, as teachers of reading, we also need to know them as readers.”

That’s all I needed to read to know that this would be my kind of book.  It is filled with numerous authentic assessment tools, and yes, the authors even share how they translate all of these assessments into grades.

So if you have been struggling with how to make informed instructional decisions during your reading workshop and find ways to give authentic grades, I think you will find this resource to be invaluable.

I always tell teachers that my very best teaching tool is my assessment notebook.  Honestly, I couldn’t teach without it!

At first glance my assessment notebook might appear to be just a glorified gradebook.  The first few pages are actually gradebook types of forms with students’ names listed down the left column and assignments and dates across the top.  But if you page past this section, you will find sections labeled “Reading Conferences”, “Status of the Class”, “Writing Conferences”, and “Spelling Workshop”.  It is in these sections that I record important information about my students’ progress in the form of observations, anecdotal notes, and rubrics.  Each section contains a separate form for each student which I add to throughout the year.  I have my assessment notebook by my side whenever I conduct an individual reading or writing conference, read from a student’s writer’s notebook, evaluate a reading response log, listen to a student-led book chat, etc., etc.  In short, my assessment notebook is a collection of authentic assessments where I assess my students using the methods I use to teach them.

Download Writing Evaluation Form

Download Spelling Assessment Form

Download Status of the Class Form

When I began using portfolio assessment in my classroom, I decided to include a section in the portfolios for each content area, but I also wanted to add an affective element to the portfolios.  I did this by designating one portfolio pocket as the “All About Me” section.  This section includes an All About Me booklet that the students fill out on the first day of school, their Personality of the Week posters and letters from home, and a booklet called the Month-to-Month Me.    

This is a booklet that we compile throughout the entire year.  At the beginning of the school year the students receive the front cover and they complete a handwriting sample and draw a self-portrait.  These pages are stapled together and put into their portfolios.

Click to enlarge.

Each month we add one new page to the booklet. Topics include: 

• hobbies and interests
• likes and dislikes
• favorites
• my family
• my friends
• my school
• my future
• summer plans

I originally got this idea from Linda Schwartz’s book The Month to Month Me.  I used her version for my 3rd through 5th grade students, but found that I needed to adapt it for use with my younger students.  Hers can be purchased at Amazon.  You can download my adaptation below:

In order to best meet my students’ needs, it is vital that I get to know as much as possible about them as quickly as possible.  I have found that parents love to talk about their children and are eager to tell me about them, so I adapted the following parent survey from Easy-to Manage Reading and Writing Conferences by Laura Robb which I send home with a welcome letter before the school year begins.

It is concise enough that parents aren’t overwhelmed by it and open-ended enough to give me lots of valuable information.  Parents seem to appreciate having a vehicle to tell what they feel is important for me to know, and I appreciate the head start in getting to know their child.

At the end of each grading period I ask students to reflect on their own reading and self-evaluate. This self-evaluation is then added to their portfolios.

Click on picture to enlarge. Download Reading Self-Evaluations

These reflections are used to help students set personal reading goals for the following grading period.  See Goal Setting Ideas.