Take Notice, make a note!

Review: Notice and Note by Kylene Beers (Author), Robert E. Probst (Author)

Title: Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading

Author: Kylene Beers (Author), Robert E. Probst (Author)

Publisher: Heinemann

Copyright: 2012

Interest: teaching strategies/ reading/ learning

Source: Amazon.com

Summary: www.heinemann.com

In Notice and Note Kylene Beers and Bob Probst introduce 6 "signposts" that alert readers to significant moments in a work of literature and encourage students to read closely. Learning first to spot these signposts and then to question them enables readers to explore the text, any text, finding evidence to support their interpretations. In short, these close reading strategies will help your students to notice and note. (Intro on youtube!)

Notice and Note will help create attentive readers who look closely at a text, interpret it responsibly, and reflect on what it means in their lives. It should help them become the responsive, rigorous, independent readers we not only want students to be but know our democracy demands. 

Okay, I was hoping for a miracle. However, I did know, deep down, sometimes reading isn't about the miracles, it is about doing the reading - again and again and again.

I am dedicating these eight weeks to reading about better ways to learn. I have heard several good things about Notice and Note, and it was recommended to me by Dr. Katherine McKnight. (I talked about her book last week, The Teachers Big Book of Graphic Organizers.) Notice and Note takes six basic reading skills that students may have missed and designates them as "sign posts" - the reading clues all good readers know to look for.  I'll be honest; I wish someone had told me about these signposts when I was learning to reading. I think so many times reading is a mystery to students. Many of my struggling readers seem to think that "smart" students get it when they read and "dumb" students don't. That is not the case. Sometimes it is simply that some students know what to look for and other students don't. It isn't about being smart, but sometimes it is about working hard. I am always amazed at my students' reactions when they tell me they read something, but they didn't get it. I ask them for notes, how many times did they read it, did they ask someone to read it to them? My students usually just stare at me. It is as if they never considered that reading might require more of them then just running their eyes over the words on the page. For their friends that is enough, therefore it should be enough for my struggling students. Wrong. For some people reading is hard work, but if one doesn't know what reading really is, they don't realize they aren't doing it.

I think Notice and Note has many good tips, but it isn't going to make life easier for struggling readers. However, it may give them some tools to help them be successful. I am looking forward to trying some of the techniques next week. In the mean time, I will continue to follow the Notice and Note Facebook page looking for more tips and tricks!

Next week: Worksheet Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia L. Tate (I guess I better find out what does!)



And a Thank you!
Sign Post Image credit: Mrs. Jimenezela, ELA at http://mrsxjimenezela.blogspot.com/2014/09/notice-and-note.html.

New Term, New Topic!

I have been teaching high school English for three years (after many, many years of middle school librarianship). I am ready to try new activities! This term I am focusing my reading on materials that will allow me to change the way my students acquire information. I completed an online course this summer over teaching in a digital classroom, and although I picked up many tips, I don't teach an online class. I teach the students sitting right in front of me. I have the advantage of sitting face to face with my own PLN every school day. How do I make the most of this opportunity?

Although I have picked up several books in the past couple of years, I have not really read them well. I have skimmed them and carried them around, but now I am going to read them. I purchased most of the books for this project, as I am the type of reading who likes to write in books.

Today I will review the books I have read so far this term.

The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion: Loved these books! Adult fiction, these books are fun to read. (Watch out! Simsion is a firm believer in the power of the F-word. He uses it often.) Don Tillman is a geneticist in Australia. He is nearing 40 years old and he wants a life partner. Don is clearly an alternative thinker and learner. What makes sense to the average (Don's word) person does not make sense to him. When told gentlemen were expected to wear jackets at a fancy restaurant, Don does not understand why his windbreaker isn't acceptable. Don has also learned that he must defend himself against people who can't accept his differences. By the end of the jacket conversation, Don has disabled two of the restaurant bouncers and has met the woman of his dreams: Rosie. His goal now is to convince Rosie to spend the rest of her life with him. I enjoyed the book so much, I didn't even wait until I was finished with The Rosie Project to go get The Rosie Effect. (Clearly the title of the sequel lets us know Don's succeeds with his project. Yeah! Happy ending for us!) I hope that my time with Don and Rosie allows me to consider that many of my students will learn or understand concepts in ways I cannot conceive of. I need to work on making sure I understand what they understand before I decide they just don't get it.

The Teachers Big Book of Graphic Organizers by Katherine McKnight: Lots of graphic organizers I have seen before, all pulled together in one book. I purchased this used from Amazon, as the new price was $23.00. Lucky me, I found a clean copy for cheap and will have no guilt over tearing pages out. I heard McKnight speak at conferences twice this summer and found her to insightful and direct. I liked the fact that she often presents information on the manner that thinking does not always have to be assessed by a grade in the grade book. One of my current issues is the idea (often from students) that if it isn't going in the grade book, it isn't important. Life is not graded. We measure success by how we use what we know. Can I find quick and insightful ways for my students to acquire content? McKnight thinks so. Many of the organizers she provides are for younger learners, but she also provides a variety of adaptations to her organizers that may provide me with ideas to adapt them to my own needs.

Next week: Notice and Note by Beers & Probst. Not only does the book have lots of information, I am following the postings on the Notice and Note Facebook page. Lots of teachers are using this resource! I am looking forward to seeing what it is about.