Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Articles

We offer you Short Texts at Your Fingertips. One or two times each week, we provide teaching ideas around a different type of short text that is easily found in the home, so that no family feels under-resourced. These ideas can integrate into virtually any curriculum and pedagogy, from Workshop to basal. If you are a caregiver, teacher, or curriculum director, these brief but mighty texts and lessons are our way of saying thanks. And our way of giving children authentic and enjoyable reading and writing engagements each day. 

Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

SHORT TEXTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: ARTICLES

Articles are a perfect short text.  Found in newspapers (the old-fashioned ones still found in driveways and at newsstands and now also online), in magazines and on websites, they are easy to find and easy to share.  While we all want to be careful about how much of current events we share with children, there are lots of fascinating articles to share with any age group.  Sports stories are often the hook needed to get a reluctant reader interested.  And, if you read about a game you watched or attended, you bring lots of background knowledge to your reading.  We are particular fans of the quirky human interest story: the armored truck with the faulty door that spills thousands of dollars in cash all over the highway or the message in the bottle that washes up a 100 years after it was dropped into the ocean on the other side of the world.  There really is an article for everyone.

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Find an article you want to share.  There are lots of places to find articles.  One excellent source is your local newspaper.  It is a great source of information about your town or neighborhood and is likely to be filled with issues and events of interest to your young readers.  Local papers usually have online platforms, making it easy to share the article or get a printer-friendly copy in readers’ hands. In addition, there are many online sites to peruse so take a look at the resource list provided below.  

First, select a subject matter that will interest readers.  Consider a:

• Current event

• Human interest story

• Sporting event

• Historical event (old newspapers also have fascinating articles)

Next, ask yourself, will you and your students read the article:

• All together?

• Partially together and partially on their own?

• On their own?

Step 2

Discuss the article.  There are many ways to guide the discussion such as:

• Look at the features of the article and talk about their importance. 

  • Headline -- What is this article about?

  • Byline -- Who wrote this article?  Can you figure out their job at the publication?

  • The “Lead” --  How does this article begin?  What’s the pithy sentence or two right at the top to catch readers’ attention?

  • Photograph / Image -- What do you see?  Is there a caption?  If so, what does it teach you?

  • Quotes -- What are some one-liners from the article worth noting?

• To keep the conversation going, considering asking:

  • What are some facts from this article?

  • Do you have any connections or new ideas based on your reading?

  • What are your opinions about this article?

  • What other questions do you have about what you read? 

Step 3

Ask students to brainstorm a list of interesting topics that they may want to learn more about (such as animals, space, rainforest).  Then, invite students to go on an article hunt and find 1-2 articles related to any of the topics that were generated.  Ask students to share the articles with their peers.  This can lead to high interest, voluminous reading filled with texts curated by students for students.  For more on ways to curate texts to inspire voluminous reading, check out this blog post.

Step 4

Give students opportunities to write their own articles for their peers or for online publication submission.  Check out these two resources:

• Time for Kids  - A great site which includes articles by grade level. 

• Google has some free templates that students can use to create their own newspapers. 

FOR MORE  RESOURCES, CHECK THESE OUT!

• DOGO News - A great site that one can search by topic.

• Scholastic News  - A tried and true publication which is organized by grade level.

• News For Kids  - Lots of interesting articles organized by date, with the most recent articles at the top.

• KidsPost  - This the kids’ section of “The Washington Post”. 

• Teaching Kids News - A site started by a parent and a teacher and geared for grades 2-8.

COMING SOON!

Short Texts:  Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (2022)

Co-Planning: Reading & Writing Mini-Unit Focused on Expert Studies [PART 4]

Written by Julie Wright & Barry Hoonan

HOW WE GOT INTO PROFESSIONAL CAHOOTS WITH ONE ANOTHER

We’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with one another for the past seven years.  We met at a school in Harlem, Julie as an Instructional Coach and Barry as a Model Classroom Teacher and Instructional Coach. Our work continued well past that experience.  With Barry out west and Julie on the east coast, we’ve spent the majority of our years working across 3000 miles.  Highlights include Sunday morning co-planning sessions and co-authoring What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book.  We’ve always enjoyed being THINKING PARTNERS and we believe educators need someone to think beside now, more than ever.

A DISCLAIMER OF SORTS

As we navigate and co-plan learning during the weeks ahead, here are a few shared agreements:

1. We are not going to edit these videos which means it might be clunky at times.  You might get a barking dog, tech glitches, or family interruptions.  We know you’ll be able to relate and hope you’ll be understanding.

2. The ideas we share are NOT “the way” or “the right way” -- they are just one way to approach things.  And, we are figuring it out as we go along too. We hope you’ll take the big ideas we are discussing and — adopt, adapt or improve upon them — making them fit your settings, interests and needs. 

3. We suggest focusing on process -- our work will continue to unfold between video segments.  That’s why if you pop back into our shared document links, you’ll notice changes because we’ll be adding ideas.  That’s because responsive plans evolve across the days and weeks.

HERE’S WHAT WE ARE UP TO

• Kids have been learning from home for several weeks now.  Barry and Julie have a co-planning routine and they “meet” about 1-2 times each week.  Sometimes we switch on the video, other times we don’t.

• Barry’s students have settled into a learning from home routine, sort of.  Each week brings about new celebrations and new challenges.  

• Kiddos are knee-deep in an Expert Studies mini-unit. They are taking a 3-day pause from the unit to experience “camp”. During this time, they would typically spend 3 days out in the woods to experience outdoor exploration and learning as a community. Due to the pandemic, camp will take a different form this year.

THINGS WE ARE THINKING ABOUT NOW

• How can kiddos use their “camp” experience to fuel the end of the Expert Studies mini-unit?

• What if kiddos do a 2 minute presentation to a small group focused on their expert study and use that as a dress rehearsal for the end demonstration? If we used this as a mid-process reflection, maybe they could figure out what they need next.

VIDEO

If you are interested in watching a coach and teacher co-plan — working as THINKING PARTNERS in response to the unique times we are currently experiencing — check out this video.

OTHER LINKS & RESOURCES

Our DRAFTY, dynamic, in-motion, evolving plans: Co-Planning: Julie & Barry

Planning Templates: Co-planning Templates

Small Group Plans: Small Group Reading & Writing Lesson Plans to Adopt, Adapt or Improve [During Remote/Distance Learning]

Interested in post-it note planning, check out one of these resources: Chapter 8 & 9 Resources from What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book.

BARRY’S REFLECTIONS

• We’ve got small groups meeting. Do we need to switch them up or would it be beneficial to keep them the same?

• How, when, where can I use some co-created texts from last year [Barbie study] to inspire the work in this mini-study?

• I need to collect artifacts from last year’s students and use them as models for anyone who needs them.

JULIE’S REFLECTIONS

• How can we use the ideas in this Expert Study mini-unit to ignite summer reading, writing, and talking about things that you find interesting?

• What will kiddos do this summer in lieu of some typical summer activities? Are there new ways to host “meet ups” or “check ins” for kiddos who want and/or need it?

WANT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION or CONNECT WITH US?

If something we’ve shared inspires new ideas or ignites some questions, reach out to us using THIS FORM and we’ll do our best to get back to you!

Co-Planning: Reading & Writing Mini-Unit Focused on Expert Studies [PART 3]

Written by Julie Wright & Barry Hoonan

HOW WE GOT INTO PROFESSIONAL CAHOOTS WITH ONE ANOTHER

We’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with one another for the past seven years.  We met at a school in Harlem, Julie as an Instructional Coach and Barry as a Model Classroom Teacher and Instructional Coach. Our work continued well past that experience.  With Barry out west and Julie on the east coast, we’ve spent the majority of our years working across 3000 miles.  Highlights include Sunday morning co-planning sessions and co-authoring What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book.  We’ve always enjoyed being THINKING PARTNERS and we believe educators need someone to think beside now, more than ever.

A DISCLAIMER OF SORTS

As we navigate and co-plan learning during the weeks ahead, here are a few shared agreements:

1. We are not going to edit these videos which means it might be clunky at times.  You might get a barking dog, tech glitches, or family interruptions.  We know you’ll be able to relate and hope you’ll be understanding.

2. The ideas we share are NOT “the way” or “the right way” -- they are just one way to approach things.  And, we are figuring it out as we go along too. We hope you’ll take the big ideas we are discussing and — adopt, adapt or improve upon them — making them fit your settings, interests and needs. 

3. We suggest focusing on process -- our work will continue to unfold between video segments.  That’s why if you pop back into our shared document links, you’ll notice changes because we’ll be adding ideas.  That’s because responsive plans evolve across the days and weeks.

HERE’S WHAT WE ARE UP TO

• Kids have been learning from home for several weeks now.  Barry and Julie have a co-planning routine and they “meet” about 1-2 times each week. 

• Barry’s students have settled into a learning from home routine, sort of.  Each week brings about new celebrations and new challenges.  

• We just wrapped up a mini-writing unit focused on Greek mythology.  Kiddos spent 2 weeks reading Greek myths and then they worked on narrative writing with a twist of Greek mythology.

• Up next—a reading and writing unit focused on Expert Studies.

THINGS WE ARE THINKING ABOUT NOW

• How does workshop play out in terms of synchronous and asynchronous learning?

• How can mentor texts that we choose and that students choose be used to support learning?

• When, where, why, and how will students meet in small breakout groups over the next week?

• How can student work be used for a minilesson using a digital platform?

• How can doing our own assignment [as teachers] become models/minilessons to use for instruction?

VIDEO

If you are interested in watching a coach and teacher co-plan — working as THINKING PARTNERS in response to the unique times we are currently experiencing — check out this video.

In this video, we briefly reflect on this week's plans. Then, we think through a process for responding to students using as asset-based approach. Finally, we begin noodling plans for an upcoming Expert Studies mini-unit.

RESPONSE TO STUDENTS

Whether we are face-to-face or facilitating digital/remote learning opportunities, our response to students matters. Thinking together about ways to support students is an important coach-teacher conversation. Here’s one way to think together to noodle plans for supporting students that starts with students’ assets. Note: It’s important to think about ALL students, not just students who may appear to need extra support due to deficits or weaknesses.

Ask: Who is on your worry / wonder list?

OTHER LINKS & RESOURCES

Our DRAFTY, dynamic, in-motion, evolving plans: Co-Planning: Julie & Barry

Planning Templates: Co-planning Templates

Small Group Plans: Small Group Reading & Writing Lesson Plans to Adopt, Adapt or Improve [During Remote/Distance Learning]

Interested in post-it note planning, check out one of these resources: Chapter 8 & 9 Resources from What Are You Grouping For?, Grades 3-8: How to Guide Small Groups Based on Readers -- Not the Book.

BARRY’S REFLECTIONS

• I am still thinking about the different ways to plan for the Expert Studies mini-unit. I’m thinking about our work during shared experiences and independent work time.

• I need to make a list of end demonstration ideas for this new mini-unit and if I will co-construct ideas with students.

• I am going to begin with the WHY when I share this new mini-unit with students.

JULIE’S REFLECTIONS

• For the kiddos on Barry’s worry/wonder list, did his response plan yield the desired results?

• What topics did Barry’s kiddos choose for their Expert Studies? What are the end demonstration choices?

• With only 2 “days” to teach reading and 2 “days” to teach writing, what are the short and long-term impacts for students’ knowledge, skills and understandings? As a multi-age teacher, how will Barry [and his colleagues] respond in the fall? How will this response be similar or different for single grade classrooms?

WANT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION or CONNECT WITH US?

If something we’ve shared inspires new ideas or ignites some questions, reach out to us using THIS FORM and we’ll do our best to get back to you!

Our North Star: Building Relationships & Collaboration Through Asset-Based Protocols

Barry and I have been colleagues for the last 6 years. We first met while supporting a school in Harlem and then continued our work across the miles — coast to coast — through Sunday morning co-planning calls and writing. We are a great pair because we’ve nudged one another to think deeply about the things that matter to our practices and we hold inquiry and assets at our center. One of the best parts about our work together is the bridge we’ve created between our professional and personal lives. It’s pretty typical for Barry and I to launch or end our planning calls with, “what’s happening with the family?” type of dialogue. We work hard at keeping it real — real people, real lives, real work. We wouldn’t have it any other way. It doesn’t hurt, either, that we really dig each other’s spouses and kids—what blessings they are to each of us!

So, why all this chatter about our connection? For us, relationships, collaboration, and working with an asset-based mindset matters. We’ve worked to put our beliefs about learning, both with adults and students alike, into practice. Specifically, we believe learning is maximized when:

• we build lasting RELATIONSHIPS with our colleagues

• we work toward COLLECTIVE GOALS with SHARED AGREEMENTS about how to get where we are going

• we catch the good — going after ASSET-BASED PROTOCOLS — always

• we approach all problems of practice through MULTIPLE ENTRY POINTS

• we create learning environments where everyone has something to GIVE and everyone has something they can GET

• we use REFLECTION to look back in order to create steps forward

About once or twice a year, Barry and I try to live out our beliefs by working and learning alongside one another in the same space. Whether that’s Barry making his way east to take a class in NYC or my heading west to learn in his classroom, thinking and planning together has been a cornerstone of our work.

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of co-hosting a Learning Lab in Barry’s classroom. The classroom organization and culture, his students, and students’ work became our text for learning. Because collaboration is central to our work, we invited some colleagues to join us. It’s hard to really capture all of the beauty that came about — individually and collectively —from participants. What follows is a snapshot from our Bainbridge Island Learning Lab experience.

Reflection: Our educational North Stars are the things that help us hold steady while other things [priorities, initiatives] continue to move and change. Defining and living within your professional North Star helps you stay grounded in your work, regardless of what comes your way.

Reflection: Using asset-based protocols — catching the good — when observing a classroom builds relationships, fosters trust and safely for everyone involved.

A big thank you to my friend and mentor, Sam Bennett, for sharing this protocol with me 10 years ago. It worked then and it still works today!

Teachers kidwatching — using a note catcher to collect asset-based evidence.

Reflection: Being clear with how time will be used across a workshop — both for yourself as the facilitator of learning and for the kiddos — is directly linked to student independence.

Posted in Barry’s classroom and revisited at the beginning of workshop.

Reflection: Creating efficient, effective and sustainable systems and structures for noting student observations —as you study and interact with students in whole group, small group, and 1:1 — is a key ingredient for future, instructional decision-making.

Graph paper + student headshots + clipboard + pen!

Reflection: If we believe in EYES ON PRINT, EYES ON PRINT, EYES ON PRINT, then choice in text type + seating makes a BIG difference for kiddos buying in and settling in for independent reading time.

Who wouldn’t want to dive into a text when you can sit around the “family room” to read!

Reflection: Biographies come in lots of shapes, sizes, and lengths. Sometimes reading lots of short texts builds reading volume in ways that one long chapter book biography can’t. Giving kiddos the choice is important.

Reflection: When students hold their thinking, it gives them opportunities to make meaning of the texts they are reading.

Reflection: Conferring with students provides insights and is one of the most meaningful, on-the-spot forms of formative assessment.

Reflection: One of the most powerful parts of a Learning Lab is the reflection that follows — cracking open the thinking behind the planning & instructional moves. It’s that metacognition that helps others imagine the implications for their work going forward.

Reflection: Sometimes we write to make sense and/or solidify our thinking or reflections. If you’d like to read some of Barry’s reflections after this Learning Lab, check this out!

Writing to Make Sense of Our Work in Schools

Over a decade ago, a group of amazing women educators came together to study, define, collaborate, and write about what really matters in education. We spent a year — looking at research, creating sustainable professional learning structures, and naming and practicing our beliefs about learning. The positive implications from that time are deep and wide.

Across our year of study, we each kept a notebook filled with ideas, inquiries, and wonderings. Individually, we made a list of book titles that outlined what mattered most to us. These were books-to-be-written in the years to come. They captured what lived in our heads, hearts and guts and came directly from our years of teaching experiences and our love of education.

While miles separate us today, our work from that year continues to resonate with me. That year shaped me. It nudged me to think differently and it created space for me act bravely. I kept that notebook and continued to add to it. Eventually, the one notebook turned into seven—what fun—and out of those notebooks came writing that has helped me make sense of our work in schools.

I’m excited about some new books that I’ve written and co-written that are coming into the world—each with ties to that first writing crew all those years ago.

Side by Side instructional Coaching: 10 Asset-Based Habits That Spark Collaboration, Risk-Taking, and Growth [Benchmark, 2022]

Audience:  Instructional Coaches, Principals, Curriculum Directors, Department Chairs, Team Leaders [anyone who facilitates learning with and for others]

Gist: Every child deserves a teacher who has a thinking partner.  That’s because our work in schools is too complicated and important to go it alone.  The 10 Habits in this book are designed to create support structures for everyone and led by everyone—administrators, instructional coaches, department chairs, team leaders, grade level colleagues.  The key ingredient is working together in asset-based ways to build capacity across the learning community.  Whether you already have a well-established coaching program or you are trying to build support from the ground up, this book will give you lots of practical ideas, tips, tools, how-to lists, and protocols to support your efforts.  Although this book has a literacy focus, the 10 Habits are transferable to all content areas.

This book unpacks these 10 Habits:

1. Develop Relationships

2. Communicate Plans

3. Define Beliefs

4. Design Goals

5. Co-plan

6. Co-teach

7. Create Tracks

8. Reflect

9. Build Capacity

10. Prioritize Across the Year

BUY THE BOOK HERE!

What’s Our Response? Creating Systems & Structures to Support ALL Learners [FIRST Educational Resources, 2021]

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Intervention Specialists, Instructional Coaches, Administrators

Gist: In education time is never on our side.  Too much time is being spent in meetings to discuss students’ deficits and not enough time harnessing their assets. Students come to school each day with individual and collective wants and needs, and it’s our job to harness who and where they are. The RtI process doesn’t have to be a machine model approach with an over-reliance on short sided skill and drill; it can be a dynamic, flexible, in-the-moment response focused on good instruction.   This book explores how to keep students at the center of decision-making so that the focus is fidelity to our students instead of fidelity to content, curriculum or program by addressing 5 Problems of Practice with RtI which include:

• We need to break out of the RtI box.

• We need to honor and increase teacher autonomy and agency.

• We need child study teams focused on students’ assets.

• We need to increase students' thinking and doing time.

• We need good instruction because that makes the best interventions.

This book will provide dozens of ready-to-use, solution-oriented tools to create asset-based systems and structures so that you are better positioned to create an instructional response that will support all students’ growth.

I’ve been blessed with incredible mentors, thinking partners, and editors. I’m inspired by a current writing group called The Radish Writers. Being a part of a writing tribe is one of the greatest gifts—if you don’t have one….go start one! Gather people who want to write and think and do together. It will inspire you. It will unleash you. It will change you.

BUY THE BOOK HERE!

Short Texts: Mighty Mentors for Readers and Writers

Audience: Classroom Teachers [K-5], Intervention Specialists [K-8], Instructional Coaches, Principals, Curriculum Directors

Gist: Short texts are everywhere, and so are the readers who love them.  In this anthology, learn how to select, plan with, and use short texts to increase reading volume and inspire opportunities for writing.  From novel excerpts to the writing on the back of a cereal box, short texts have so much to teach our students about the form and function of reading and writing in the world. And this amazing resource has so much to teach us about the power of “short” to help readers and writers go the long distance.

What you will find in this book:

• CONSUME, PRODUCE, SHARE, EXTEND—a process for considering what texts we choose to consume, how we mine texts for what matters, whether we want to produce something to share with others, and opportunities to extend our reading and writing

• 30 + short texts spanning non-fiction, fiction, poetry, environmental print and more!

• One-page Planning Templates that help you think through the trickiest parts of each text type and the stickiest ideas 

• Completed Planning Templates to give you a running start of ready-to-go lessons

• Ways to use short texts with all your readers (whole class, small groups, and one-to-one) and across the content areas

• Extensions for using each short text to inspire and inform writing

• Resources and templates for you to start finding and using your own short texts

COMING SOON!