What I love/What I'm afraid of - part 1

I love a wonderful anchor chart. This one curates the many tools readers can use during reading workshop be a thinker - a reader who pays attention to ideas. You can even see my post-it reminder on the right side, "Partners", to make sure I emphasize a new addition to the chart. I feel an energy in a classroom when I'm introducing an anchor chart, and kids see the words I've said come alive (sometimes words I've said dozens of times, like "Reading is thinking"!), and get a visual reminder of the work we're doing together.

I often say "Do you want to check an anchor chart?" when I'm conferring with a student, to prompt them that this isn't just a decoration, but a tool that supports our reading and writing and thinking lives.

A teacher I coach does an incredible job of embedding anchor chart features in her morning meeting message, creating a back-and-forth dialogue between them, giving kids more & more at bats with finding text evidence or identifying text features. 

Anchor charts can introduce new pathways toward literacy, like at the start of a unit when we're using new muscles to understand the fantasy genre or write a literary essay. They can also document "all we know" about how to read and write, reminding us of the knowledge we've built or how many tools we have. More and more, I'm adding a few photographs of kids in action to the charts, so students see their reading and writing lives represented in the the environmental print, to double-down on belonging and ensure students see their paths, their approximations, their growth, as valid and important work.

Ah, this is what I love, and tomorrow, I'll share an anchor chart part 2, what I'm afraid of.