What happens when three colleagues in a professional learning community want to talk about the same book, but live hundreds of miles apart? The answer is an event we like to call #cyberPD. This year, our now annual #cyberPD event ran through much of July.

The event began spontaneously last year when Jill Fisch of My Primary Passion, Laura Komos of Camp Read-a-Lot, and I were sharing our stacks of planned professional summer reading on our blogs. When we realized we had similar books in our stacks, we thought it might be interesting to discuss the books together. Since we do not live close enough to make coffee and conversation possible, we decided to discuss the books across our blogs. Using Twitter as our main tool for communication, we asked other colleagues if they’d like to join us. Before we knew it, we had a collaborative learning conversation growing across blogs.

This year our conversation doubled to more than 25 blogs chatting about Peter Johnston’s book, OPENING MINDS: USING LANGUAGE TO CHANGE LIVES (Stenhouse, 2012). Laura, Jill and I began by dividing the book into three discussable sections. Then we each hosted a week of conversation on our blog.

After reading each section colleagues could participate in the following ways:

• linking a blog reflection to the host blog
• leaving a comment on the host blog
• commenting on Twitter using the #cyberPD hashtag
• adding comments to our Wallwisher

Over three weeks, participants read the determined selection, shared their reflections, and then commented on one another’s blogs.

• July 11th—Chapters 1-3—Hosted by me at Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community
• July 18th—Chapters 4-6—Hosted by Jill Fisch at My Primary Passion
• July 25th—Chapters 7-9—Hosted by Laura Komos at Camp Read-a-Lot
• July 26th—Twitter Chat

Growing Conversations

In a #cyberPD reflection at Mentor Texts with Lynne and Rose, Rose Cappelli posted this comment about using this format for a professional learning conversation:

I had started reading OPENING MINDS a few months ago, but felt I really needed to talk to someone about it. Although I knew many others who were reading it, there just wasn’t time for a lingering discussion. Being able to share ideas with so many outstanding professionals and incorporate the thinking of others into my thinking has most certainly helped me to deepen my understanding of the book.

Rose’s statement caught my attention as I’ve been trying to wrap my head around why #cyberPD works. I''ve read books on my own, participated in book talks at my school, and even chatted with others informally about professional reading. There is something about participating across blogs in this learning community that brings opportunities to stretch our thinking. Maybe it''s the opportunity to really "hear" what others think and to have time to thoughtfully consider their ideas. Maybe it''s the variety of individuals from around the globe. Maybe it''s the time to think about all that we''ve read and synthesize it in a way that we can share it with others. I''m not really sure. Peter Johnston reminds us:

Our ability to think alone is substantially dependent on our ability to think together. Individual minds are nurtured in the conversations - the interactive thinking - of the community (OPENING MINDS, p. 96).

This year’s #cyberPD conversation was a collaborative learning experience that evolved because of everyone’s expertise and participation. In addition to the posts written by participants and collected at Jog the Web, a Google.doc was started by Julie Balen to collaboratively collect language suggestions for our classrooms. Carol Wilcox has offered to host a final post at Carol’s Corner on Wednesday, August 1st for participants to synthesize their reflections, plan next steps, or share links to other related information.

Why Virtual Learning Communities?

Recently I was in a professional development session. It was the typical session with a speaker, notetaking, and listening alongside other colleagues in my district. We had four real walls and a door. There was a lot of great conversation when a friend asked, “Do you find you can have these kinds of conversations in your building?”

Her question caused me to pause for a moment. There was a time when this was the main network one might develop, a network at the building level. I realized, for the first time, I have cultivated a professional learning community beyond a local level that constantly has these educational conversations. Being part of a community that shares information and pushes my thinking helps me to improve the work I do every day with children in the classroom. Though I value my local network, my learning community has grown exponentially because of connections on Twitter, blogs, virtual book talks, and other social media networks.

My virtual community is passionate about education and learning. The book discussions on #cyberPD grew out of this community and a common interest. These educators are there any time of the day or night to discuss ideas, share resources, or help with a question. It seems, by reflecting online and reading the thinking of other participants, learning is magnified.

The benefits of virtual booktalks like the ones we have in #cyberPD include:

• Convenience: professional development from your couch—or anywhere
• Flexible schedule: work at your convenience
• Time to synthesize learning
• Places to respond to thinking of others
• Equal voices in conversation
• Multiple perspectives
• Benefit from the expertise of others

When we are gathered around a table in the same room for a professional reading conversation, it is sometimes true that the conversation is dominated by a few people in the group. When thinking is shared across blogs, everyone has an equal voice. No one voice dominates the conversation. Our understandings are deepened by the multiple perspectives of participants.

We can now think beyond traditional ways of participating in professional development opportunities. Though, as an educator, I do not have the money to attend every professional conference I would like to attend, through social connections on the Internet I am able to learn from others at any time. While adding a virtual component to a local book discussion would provide benefits in learning, the real benefit in these learning structures is our ability to connect to others from around the world who share our interests and passions.

The real benefit is in the powerful conversations we share.

Cathy Mere is a co-host of #cyberPD, Twitter addict, literacy advocate and participant in virtual learning communities. She is the author of MORE THAN GUIDED READING: FINDING THE RIGHT INSTRUCTIONAL MIX K-3 (Stenhouse, 2005). Her virtual home is Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community.



Summer Learning...for Free!

When I work with my middle school students as they conduct research projects, I find that often, their most pressing concern is to find out exactly how much (i.e. exactly how little) actual research they have to do in order to complete the assigned project. Of course, being the committed, diligent students we know middle school scholars to be, they explain that they don’t want to “waste” time doing research that they don’t need.

Ironically, as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, I often find myself faced with the same dilemma, only from the other side. I love doing research and can easily get caught up in the joy of tracing an interesting anecdote or tracking down a fascinating tidbit. As research or writing projects stretch out longer than I expected, I often find myself worrying that I am “wasting” time doing research that I don’t need, or tinkering with writing that doesn’t need to be tinkered with.

Whenever I face this dilemma, however, I often comfort myself with the words and sentiment of Richard Bausch, in comments he contributed to a book about writing called OFF THE PAGE. Bausch, a professional writer, assures both the inexperienced and experienced writer that “nothing is wasted.” This simple phrase has become my mantra as I do research and as I write rough drafts and it is the response I use with my middle school students when they are wondering how much is too much.

In OFF THE PAGE, Bausch tells about the first thing he ever published, a short story. But unfortunately, when he started writing it, he thought he was writing a novel. And he kept writing that novel to the tune of eight hundred pages. And only after he had done all of that writing did he realize that he didn’t have an eight hundred page novel but instead, a short story of less than one hundred pages.

What did he do? He scraped most of his original work, whittling away the words until he found the story within.

Obviously, Bausch spent a lot of time writing those eight hundred pages. Obviously, it hurt to let them go. But as told himself, “Nothing is wasted.” All of the writing, thinking, and research that went into his 800-page novel was the necessary knowledge base he needed in order to create the story that he eventually wrote.

It is good to have the attitude that no research that you do is wasted, even the gathering of facts and information that isn’t put into your final piece. It is good to have the attitude that no writing that you do is wasted, even the writing that you have to throw away. This is an important mindset because it allows you, the researcher and the writer, the freedom, or maybe it is the courage, to take a risk and to invest time and energy and thought into tracking down information that might never get into your article or working on a piece of writing that may never get beyond a first draft. And even if that writing is eventually thrown away, even if that research doesn’t materialize, it pays off.

How?

Well, first of all, it is practice. Just as in sports, or music, or math, to get good at writing the writer needs to practice. A lot.

Secondly, if you believe that everything you write must be good, you won’t be willing to write something bad. And if you aren’t willing to write something bad, than you won’t risk experimenting with something new, or playing around in a new way with something old. You will be stuck writing the same thing over and over again because that is what you know how to do. As we know, it is a risk to step out of one’s comfort zone, but it is only outside of one’s comfort zone that one gets better and learns something new.

So, how does this thinking translate into the classroom, where you are limited by time and resources and student motivation? I believe that if you, the teacher, understand this concept and truly buy into this philosophy, you will automatically weave it into everything you do and teach in your writing classroom. It will help you, as the teacher, to keep your eye on the process more than, or at least as much as, the finished product. If you operate from this belief you will be more willing to encourage your students to take risks with their writing. You will say things like, “Have you ever thought about doing it another way? Try it and let’s compare the two versions and see which one you like better.” You will reward students who attempt something new even if their attempt isn’t a success. You will know that sometimes even though the writing is not a success, taking the risk always is. You will model this risk taking yourself when you show your students your mistakes or how you played around with a story, telling it from different perspectives or using a variety of formats.

Another way to weave this philosophy into your writing classroom is to design assignments that encourage students to do more writing than they actually need to complete the assignment that is being handed in. For instance, novelists often write biographies for each of their main characters or write about events or situations that don’t take place in the story, so they know the whole back story for each character before they get started. You could require something like this to be handed in along with the finished fiction project.

When I’m writing nonfiction and I get stuck, I often take a step back and write about my topic instead of working directly on it. For instance, when writing my picture book, MONET PAINTS A DAY, I wrote a reflection on Monet’s unswerving passion for his art, wondering on paper about where it came from and what fueled it. That, of course, morphed into a reflection on how I could create or follow my passions in my own everyday life, which then morphed into how to develop passion in my students. That thinking and wondering and writing eventually found its way back to my Monet biography in such subtle ways as my word choice when describing Monet’s work habits, and the facts that I decided to put in and those I chose to leave out.

This kind of additional writing for both fiction and nonfiction is important. Although the exact thoughts or words might never end up in the finished product, the additional thought and research adds depth to what you write because it adds depth to what you think about your topic or your story.

For me, “Nothing is wasted,” is a core belief I have that shapes my own writing and my teaching of writing. It is something that I hope comes through not only in the words I say but the choices I make, the ways I respond to my students and the assignments I give.

If you believe it, you teach it—and I believe it!

Julie Danneberg has taught reading and writing in both elementary and middle school. Currently she teaches 7th grade reading. In addition, Julie is the author of many books for children and young readers, including FIRST DAY JITTERS and her just-released picture book biography, MONET PAINTS A DAY. Visit her website at www.juliedanneberg.com.

Are you a teacher whose class is participating in the 2012 NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program or has in the past? We want to hear from you! Send us an email at engage-membership@reading.org.

Teaching Tips: The 'Fast and Furious' First Draft

I teach eighth grade, and much of what I do feels like a panicked rush to make sure the students are ready for high school. That phrase, said in an ominous tone, replete with hazy images of terrifying upperclassmen the size of titans and teachers more like harpies than humans, is an unveiled threat. Soon our darling cherubs are going to leave the cozy womb of nurturing middle school and be dumped into the arctic waters of high school; if they aren’t ready, they’ll drown! So, we inundate them with note-taking strategies and five paragraph essays and citation formatting and primary source documents and all the other heavy hitting stuff that will make them READY.

If I sound bitter, well … maybe I am. I remember back in the day when I spent months reading every word of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM with my kids, staging episodes of Jerry Springer in which Hermia confronted her domineering dad, Helena revealed Demetrius to be her baby daddy, and the most coveted role for the boys to play was that of the on-screen bouncer.

Man, we had fun then—booing Egeus and cheering Lysander and encouraging the lovers to fight. I don’t feel like I have the time for such fun anymore. My focus has switched from providing students with experiences to providing them with practice. Practice writing essays, practice reading poetry, practice with the classics.

As any reflective teacher does, I find myself questioning—am I doing the best I can for these kids? Is practice important? Of course it is, but is it any more important than laughing our way through a unit, instilling a love of literature along the way? Heck, no.

So, I thought I’d share one of my go-to end-of-year assignments—and maybe inspire some of you to add a little fun back into the serious work of learning.

Haiku Master

Easily accomplished in two class periods, this lesson pairs poetry with something my students can’t get enough of: competition.

Start by turning your classroom into “Haiku Stadium.” The physical set up is important. Try to arrange your desks so there is an outer ring and an inner ring, with two desks facing off in the middle.

You’ll need to give your students a quick review of the basic 5-7-5 haiku. As a class, we practice writing lines with the correct number of syllables. In my class, we begin writing about pretty much anything: video games, football teams, boyfriends. However, since true haiku is about nature, not emotions, we do eventually return to the rules once the class is comfortable with the form.

Here comes the part the kids like: I bring them outside and tell them to collect inspiration. If we’re gonna write about nature, we need NATURE! Rocks, twigs, moss, flowers, leaves—dead and living, everything is fair game. Once I even let kids bring in bugs (but I didn’t make that mistake again).

Then each student sits with their inspiration on their desk and waxes poetic. After a few tries, I begin timing them. I may give the kids five minutes to write and gradually shorten it to three. Then I collect all the haiku and read them aloud without any names attached. If the haiku has the correct number of syllables, is about nature, and makes the reader feel emotion, it goes in the “contender” pile. Students then vote on their favorite haiku. You can select as many semi-finalists as you like.

When semi-finalists are selected, they move to the center ring and are assigned one new piece of nature each. They are given a finite amount of time, and the results are collected and read as before. This time, two finalists are selected. They move to the two desks facing off at the center of Haiku Stadium, and they are given three minutes and the same piece of nature about which to write. The winner at the end is crowned Haiku Master!

As I said, my kids love competition. They buy in almost immediately. You can go all out with ribbons and prizes and certificates and face-offs between class champions. Or it can be a quick little enrichment activity. For as simple and silly as this assignment is, it never fails to produce multiple touching pieces.

Don’t let the laughter and cheering fool you; these kids are learning. With exercises such as these, your students can have a little fun and still be ready for high school in the fall.

Mary Cotillo is an 8th grade ELA teacher at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, MA. Mother to two children, she enjoys engaging in light saber battles and hanging out on soccer fields. She earned her National Board Certification in 2009.

© 2012 Mary Cotillo. Please do not reproduce in any form, electronic or otherwise.