Student Voices

I've been meaning to Post a few parts of my Cultural Learning Inquiry because through my observations about the learning community I was able to capture a few occasions of students taking responsibility for their learning, in turn making me so proud! Here is one example:

“When our vision of community expands to create a culture and climate for thinking – when rigor, inquiry, and intimacy become key components of our definition- it’s essential that we work first to build genuine relationships, establish mutual trust, and create working literate environments. If we look to the months ahead and envision children constructing meaning by spontaneously engaging in thoughtful conversation about books and ideas, asking questions that matter to them and exploring their solutions, and responding independently to a variety of text in meaningful ways, we must deliberate in September” (Miller, 17).

Mrs. Thomsen successfully executes this advice from Debbie Miller and uses morning share circle as an established routine that supports building genuine relationships. The curriculum and pedagogy of reader’s workshop creates a learning culture of thinking, learning, collaboration and responsibility.
This past week I had the opportunity to witness a thoughtful conversation between two students, which stemmed from their mutual respect for one another as well as the responsibility they share in literacy learning.
Peter and Monica are literacy partners; Mrs. Thomsen has thoughtfully assigned literacy partners and explicitly explained the student’s role and responsibility as a literacy partner. Mrs. Thomsen has modeled respectful and appropriate talk while conferring in literacy partners and will often designate or suggest a time for partners to meet following independent practice. On this occasion, students were asked to complete a story summary using a three column comprehension tool. Students were to write the story summary in three sections, stating the setting, characters and problem then providing main events, and lastly explaining the solution. Once students finished their story summary Mrs. Thomsen asked them to turn it into the “in box” and then independently read their non-fiction book.
Since I was aware of the expectation to read non-fiction after finishing the story summary, I quickly noticed Peter and Monica move to an open table with their story summaries in hand. I walked over to the desk where they sat facing each other and observed this scene:

Peter: “Would you like to read your summary first, or should I?”

Monica: “You can read your summary first since it was your idea to share.”

Peter proceeded to read his story summary, and then Monica read hers.

Peter: “You included all the details which is good, but I think you need to take some details out of the middle. I’m not trying to be mean!”

Monica then read her middle section and compared her content to Peter’s. Peter had summarized the main events in two sentences, compared to the four sentences Monica had written.
Peter then showed Monica how he had written a few of her details in one sentence saying “Harriet wasn’t interested in anything fun.”

Monica had listed the specific things the character Harriet, wasn’t interested in- such as eating popcorn and watching television.

After accepting Peter’s advice Monica re-read Peter’s summary to give him advice.

Monica stared at the paper and said, “Hmmm… well you included all the parts in your summary. You need to go back and space these words out.” Monica’s response illustrates her understanding of the components of story summary and the responsibility a reader has to convey his/her thoughts in a clear way.

In Peter’s defense, he does have a cast on his writing hand; yet Monica first evaluated content then moved on to give advice on the appearance of Peter’s work.

The interaction between Peter and Monica was an example of two students taking responsibility for their learning. Mrs. Thomsen had modeled appropriate partner talk which Peter and Monica followed in a respectful way. Peter’s reassurance that he was “not trying to be mean” reassured Monica that she could trust he was simply giving advice in hopes to help her.
In Don’t Forget to Share written by Leah Mermelstein, she states, “Partner shares are a vital learning tool. Many people shy away from partner shares, perhaps because they are harder to manage… partner shares give kids opportunities to practice things by themselves so that they can internalize them” (page 85). Peter and Monica’s interaction was a direct example for me of how two students took responsibility for their learning and worked together to practice having a literary conversation. As a result they were able to have an opportunity to internalize how to identify the components of a summary in writing. Their example supports my assertion that the curriculum and pedagogy of the reading workshop creates a learning culture of responsibility, thinking, and collaboration.
The interaction between Peter and Monica was of their own accord; Peter approached Monica and asked if she would like to share with him. Mrs. Thomsen had not even suggested students work with literacy partners during this particular workshop. Since Mrs. Thomsen had modeled partner work and created a community of sharing, this pair was excited to share and learn from one another.