Reflecting Pools

While reading and taking notes from Dorn's books on comprehension and coaching, I'm finding a familiar word peeking out of the pages on a frequent basis--reflecting. I have ALWAYS been a reflective teacher. It's just part of who I am. I love to analyze a situation from all angles and I enjoy observing people and thinking about what motivates and drives people in their decisions. However, I tend to over-think all of my own motivations and actions to the point that I drive myself crazy (and all those who live with me).

There is such a circular aspect to the concept of reflecting: teaching, learning, knowing, teaching, learning, knowing. But I never thought about nurturing that same cycle with my students. Teaching first grade, I tended to focus on the art of strategically addressing texts and utilizing the 7 Keys to Comprehension (Keane) as a way to stretch the problem-solving nature of text to lead to the creation of meaning. In fact, I could count on all my fingers and toes 10 times over the number of conferences that I have held with parents & peers that I have shared "The definition is reading is the creation of meaning from text." But, Dorn lifted that understanding (which is valid and relevant to what we do with emergent & beginning readers) to reveal a second and more powerful definition of the concept of what it means to read. It's about what you do outside the text that really drives a reader to love stories and glean the real meaning. Look at our own book clubs--the fun really isn't in the reading, it's in the "coffee talk" where we "talk amongst ourselves" where we connect and...REFLECT on our experiences.

Dorn says that comprehension is going on any time the reader thinks about a text. So, what do we need to do to put that "fire" in the minds of our students that creates the drive to connect to the author's message?

When I gave the skeletal outline of Author's Study that is part of our School Improvement Plan, I found myself getting VERY excited about the idea that I wanted the teachers to think about the authors that they love to read. The ones that write books that make you hide out in your bedroom, pretending to be sick with a cold so that your family will make its own breakfast, lunch and dinner and leave you to your "misery". That's the kind of stuff I want to bring to my students, because motivation is 3/4 of what it takes to be reflective. I want them to WANT to reflect on how "Out of the Dust" is really about themselves and their own experiences with anger and redemption. I want them to WANT to read and re-read all the Twilight series because they want to live vicariously through the characters. I want them to WANT to figure out what that book means to them and then carry that thinking with them into their writing. Meaningful experiences in life begin with connections and reflecting on what those connections truly define in our own selves.

So, I want to try to look every day into the reflecting pool and be connected with the people, places and books I read and share that excitement with my peers and students.