Disrupting Thinking In Your Classroom

Happy Monday!

I have been participating in a teacher leadership study with some other teachers in my district this summer. The study was lead by our Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Dr. Anita Hebert! She is fabulous and though I did not get a chance to talk with her personally, I find her very inspiring. It was very informal and an easy going discussion! I felt very compelled to discuss some of the points we hit today at our session as we finished discussing all of our books.

We read three books throughout the course of the summer, the first being Grit by Angela Duckworth, Disrupting Thinking by Kylene Beers & Robert Probst, and Leading Change In Your School by Douglas Reeves. (I won't be discussing the last one, as I am actually still finishing it!)

In regards to the first book,Grit, such a great read. I recommend it for anyone looking to build passion and perseverance (or "grit" as she calls it) in your professional or personal life. There is so much to the book that I won't really get into here. However, if you are interested or have heard of the book she did do a TED talk awhile back and you can view that video here!

There was also this article I found on Forbes that was written earlier this year on the book!

Secondly, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst.

GUYS, I cannot express how amazing this book is. I am a 6th grade language arts teacher and I cannot express how badly I want to get rid of "fake reading" in my classroom. I just want my kids to read because they WANT to. Better yet, I want my kids to read something that makes them FEEL emotion. I am sure I am not alone, whether you teach elementary, junior high, or high school.

To quote the back of the book, it is all about "experimenting with thoughtful and creative solutions to one critical question: How do we teach life-giving and lifesaving thinking to young people?" (as it relates to students finding relevance in what they read in the classroom).

This book is all about disrupting the mundane routine that so many classrooms are used to in the sense of extracting text to get information for students to simply "answer the question". It is all about having students read to feel and empathize and connect with the text. Find relevance in their own lives through the words on the page. It talks about choice in the classroom and how to have students having self realization in what they are reading! Not because we want them to but because they want to. We need to make life long readers!

I know for you teachers who do NOT teach reading, you're wondering why you should read this book. But I have to tell you, I sat with some science and social studies and geography and tons of other teachers who don't teach reading and they had plenty of thoughts on the matter!

When it boils down to it: those students are still reading in your class! We have to figure out how to appeal to students emotionally on all subject fronts and this book really helps you realize how you can do that, even if you aren't an english or language arts teacher.

Below are some amazing quotes that actually didn't come from the book, they came from other passionate teachers discussing this book today:
1. When referring to students, one teacher said, "find what feeds their soul."
2. Learning happens when we attach emotion.
3. Hit the heart first, the rest of those standards will weave themselves in.
To all these things I say... yeessss, preach.

I am crazy passionate about my students. My school has quite a bit of economically disadvantaged students as I'm sure a lot of you teachers out there have. I think this method of teaching can be beneficial for all students but especially them. The children who maybe aren't heard at home and therefore don't think their voice matters. There is nothing more I want for them than to gain the power of literacy early on.

After all the talking today, we had to fill out a commitment form (just for our personal use) where we wrote down what we were going to commit to working on this school year and what results did we expect to see from having this commitment.

I encourage all of you teachers out there who have the extra room in your hearts for the love of all your students to not only go to a library and check out this book, but also to reflect on what you want to commit to doing for your students in YOUR classrooms this year. How will you be a little bit better than you were last year? For both yourselves and for them.

Share with me below! This is only my second year teaching language arts, so I always enjoy cultivating a positive environment with teachers of new and old :)

Any thoughts or comments are more than welcomed, I know I can't be the only teacher who has all these thoughts going around in her head as we prepare for another school year and another group of young learners to pass through our doors. We may only have them for a short period of time, but we should always make it count.

If you are interested in either of the books, you can purchase them on Amazon, here is the link!:
Grit: The Power Of Perseverance
Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters