[BookMuncher]

Wasn't it this time last year I posted a similar blog, called What makes a good reading response? It must be that talk backs start out strong and full of energy, but as they go on, that energy drains a little. One of my biggest barriers seems to be finding different ways to breathe new life into our weekly talk backs. Do I expect too much? I'm starting to think so. Read some of these 2nd grade responses and see what you think:

I've put the below responses into categories (Excellent, Medicore, Off Track) because I need your help! Am I being too tough? Is there something more I could be doing to help my students' brilliant ideas match their writing? So far, what I've tried is:

• modeling talk backs by writing back and forth with the teacher down the hall/ first half of year on-going
• modeling talk backs by writing in a journal at the same time as the kids write in their own (my student teacher and instructional aide also write in one). Kids write back or we just read them to see the kinds of things grown-ups write and think. ongoing
• made a list in the classroom of reasons we write about our reading.
• "status of the class" kind of thing where one workshop, we captured all of the kids thinking in one snapshot and listed them in a long list; to show that readers are constantly having important conversations in their heads.
• sharing circle where we think of ways readers could write about their reading and make a concrete list.
• hanging up 5 kids' "big ideas" of the week, reading them aloud, and discussing what the writer did. ongoing
• writing talk backs directly following an animated read aloud conversation circle when I think a lot of kids will have opinions.
• taught a seed analogy. We refer to the most basic idea as the seed and then we brainstormed questions we could ask ourselves to grow that idea. (visual is on a flower)

Here are some Talk Backs:

Outstanding

Dear Mrs. M.
Remember when you read Love You Forever? But when you read it, remember when we were talking about how the boy knew the song? So I think I might know the answer to the question. I think the answer is he is related to his mom and that love from his mom was so strong that he heared it in his heart. And so I learned from that book that love is a very strong word and a very powerful word.
Love,
A.H.

Dear Miss V.
I'm reading this book called Don't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown and if I were her I wouldn't let birds fly on my head. It might hurt to have birds land on my head but Amber Brown doesn't care. I wonder why? Aunt P. didn't care that she might get a disease. I don't think her Aunt cares about her. I don't even think Amber cares about herself. Amber is a weird girl.
Love,
K

Why I placed these here: A.H.'s talk back has the big idea and the evidence and a wrap up that rephrases her learning. And also- I know this is intangible, but I like it because I can feel her passion. K's entry may not be outstanding in your eyes- I put it here because although it's not perhaps as linear as I model (idea, evidence or theories, plan), it seems to me that K used her talk back to actually authentically explore her ideas. She starts out by putting herself in the character's shoes and then by doing that, it leads her to look more closely at Amber's over all character and relationships.

Mediocore

Dear Miss V.
In Disasters I read a chapter called Meteors. I had a question. When will the next meteor hit? The book said in 3000 years but I think it will come sooner. When do you think one will come? Answer _____.
Love,
C

Dear Mrs. M.
I just finished The Littles Give a Party and I inferred through the whole book is Granny Little going to live? At the end Granny Little was... ALIVE. I was so surprised. I thought Granny Little was going to die because in every book if everyone thinks the person is going to live, they die. Please right back.
Love,
D

Dear Miss V.
We read Horton Hears a Who and it reminds me so much about Green Eggs and Ham that Sam-I-Am was really little but he changed the person in the inside not the outside. He changed that he did not like green eggs and ham and Whoville are little but they still made a big noise.

Love,
G

Why I placed these here: C's has a big idea (a question), but I was disappointed that he didn't offer any evidence at all for why he was disagreeing with the book- which he does a lot, by the way. I love that about him, but I need more proof. D's talk back isn't bad, but he writes the same kind of ideas every week. This week, because of him a few others, I outlawed prediction talk backs temporarily. But in this talk back, I believe that he has managed to disguise a prediction/confirmation in order to stick to what he knows. Finally, I thought G was on a really good track and I could also see this talk back as outstanding (especially for G). But her reasoning is flawed-- the class discussed how in Dr. Seuss books, the little characters always make the biggest difference. Instead of writing about times when that is so, (like in the Grinch) she went with a bit of a stretch.

Off Track

Dear Mrs. M.
I am so happy! Because I am almost ready to start The Boxcar Children or Little House on the Praire. Also in the Spiderwick Chronicles I think that Jared is going to finish the riddle. I also like how the chapters say (In which). Well that's all for now. Ciao.
From,
D

Dear Miss V.
I just finished The Littles and the Terrible Tiny Kid. I'm inferring that the theme is: teamwork. Why I think that is because in the book they do a lot of teamwork.
bye!
Love,
B

Dear Mrs. M.
I'm surprised at how much I'm learning about the Titanic! I did learn some stuff that I did not know. Maybe you can try that!
Love, B

Why I placed these here: Even though I think they speak for themselves, I'll explain. D is all over the place, never really settling on any idea in particular. B had a good idea, but the evidence is SO scant that I can hardly even retype it here without cringing. And B's other talk back is more of the same. Just because the last two talk backs are by the same child, doesn't mean that more kids don't struggle. It just so happens that I only have half the class, and his talk backs show why I'm so frustrated.

My student teacher and I split up the talk backs and write back each week. Right now, I'm looking at a pile that is kind of heavy on my weaker writers. I could have added lots more "off track" ones, but in this pile, I didn't have a whole lot of other "outstandings".

As I typed these up, I did notice that one simple thing I might do that would raise some of the mediocore entries to a higher level would be to explicitly model how we cite specific evidence. Some of those ideas in the middle category could be good if they would have grown the idea. The entries in the off track category, however, are mostly down there because they are scattered, lack any evidence at all, or are devoid of a big idea.

Any comments? I can take the criticism.