A Note from Reggie Biancalani Shared Highlights from a Week of Learning at

Dear MCS Elementary Parents, This past week, I attended an incredible Institute at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) at Columbia University. The Project’s ideas are foundational to literacy instruction across the globe with the goal to help students become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers. I would like to share with you a few highlights from my week, along with some exciting new practices and experiences that you will see implemented at MCS. Our team looks forward to you noticing some new hallway displays of authentic samples of student work in both reading and writing as we celebrate the amazing learning that is taking place on our campus. One of the focuses during the Institute was about moving schools from good to great in our efforts to reach towards new levels of literacy instruction. I was truly inspired by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and Laurie Pessah and their charge to support children to become avid and skilled readers and writers and equip teachers and principals to lead the charge. Together, we are already doing much of this powerful work in our elementary program at MCS and we know that there are always ways we can push ourselves to grow. ~Good to Great!

Growth Mindset versus Fixed Mindset

As part of our learning experience, I shared my time between two sites, Columbia University Teacher College and PS 158, an elementary school in Manhattan. I loved spending time observing classroom instruction at this school which served as an exemplary program where specific methods for coaching teachers were practiced. The student work displayed at the school, both in the classroom and the bulletin boards in the hallways, celebrated student growth in both reading and writing. There was also a clear commitment to the Growth Mindset versus the Fixed Mindset. We even read a new mindset text The Fantastic Elastic Brain which I am excited to share with our students and teachers.

Methods of Staff Development: Classroom Labsites

We also focused on the importance of community building—of relationships as well as of skill development. Throughout the days at the sites, we learned more about the impact of Labsites as a tool for guiding students and teachers as they author richly literate lives and learn about ways to continue to support skill development in both fiction and nonfiction reading. We also watched and demonstrated small group work, and ways in which kids help each other and work together, guided by their teacher. There was a focus on building assessment skills by using the learning progressions in the Units of Study to help students continue to grow.  Participating in the Labsite provides a structure to think about the components of balanced literacy in K-5th grade classrooms. We spent time in our sites unpacking the architecture of an effective minilesson. This experience allowed us to demonstrate lessons as well as practice top coaching methods to help deepen the work in reading workshop.

Building Walk-Through A Focus on Environment in Reading Workshop

In all classrooms we visited, there was a clear focus on Writing about Reading. At the institute we continued to hear from TCRWP staff developers that 10% of every workshop, students should be engaged in quality, authentic writing about their reading. We look forward to thinking more deeply about this and will continue to talk about the importance of engaging in quality, authentic writing about reading during our PLC grade level meetings.

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Classroom Libraries

As part of our walk-throughs, we identified areas of strengths and wonderings throughout the classrooms. One focus of the walk-through was on classroom libraries and the importance of having the volume, interest, and variety within all genres to support the deep work of developing student passion for reading and strengthening their literacy skills.

Teachers - Not Just Students - Need Communities to Learn and Grow

I also attended some powerful small group sessions. One that was particularly impactful was Katy Wischow, co-author with Kate Roberts of the eighth grade unit, The Literary Essay: Analyzing Craft and Theme. She gave a keynote: Teachers Not Just Students Need Communities to Learn and Grow. Katy referenced the work of Eduardo Briceno and his commitment to helping organizations cultivate learning-oriented cultures and systems. During the session, we explored the question: What is the vision of a strong learning community?  Educardo Briceno's work identifies two distinct but critical zones in the learning process. The learning zone and the performance zone. Briceno's work is clear that in order to get better at the things you care about you need to spend more time in the learning zone to ensure you are engaged in activities designed for improvement that allow for deliberate practice. We are committed to examining this idea more in depth as a learning community.

I am excited to be back at MCS and ready to continue to demonstrate the powerful methods of staff development that I practiced during my time at Teacher College Reading and Writing Project.  Our amazing teachers are already practicing many of these skills.  We are so excited to continue to grow in our craft and expertise as professional leaders and educators. Thank you for your partnership, it is a honor to have your children in our program.      If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Sincerely,

Reggie Biancalani Elementary Principal Mariners Christian School