Teachers are gardeners. I came up with this profound thought while I was……. Yep! Gardening.  I was digging around in the dirt. Planting a new flowerbed.  Picking out what went where. Tugging at stubborn rocks (I have never seen so many rocks!) and it hit me, teachers are gardeners.

How?

1. We pick out what goes where. Even with a set curriculum and state standards that we have to follow, we still pick out how to best reach our students. After all, who is more of an expert on our kids than we are? We decide which method to use, which lesson to use, which passage to read, which activity to do, which assignment to make.

2. We dig around. We hint, we ponder, we question, and all the time we are digging around to discover what makes our students tick, what they like, what they don’t like, and how we can best connect with them.

3. We plant. We teach and re-teach (and re-teach) and assess all of the information that is our responsibility to pass on to our students. We take those seeds of knowledge and press them firmly in, hoping our students reach new depths of knowledge before they move out of our rooms and our lives.

4. We tug at stubborn rocks. We all have had the student (or still do) that tugs at your heart, but you can’t seem to get through to them. You have tried and tried to convince them that you aren’t the enemy. You are on the same team. You are on their side, but they still remain as stubbornly in place as that boulder in the flowerbed.

5. We watch and hope for that light bulb going off. For that “I’ve got it!” look. For that “I understand” smile. For the student that has tried and failed and tried again to reach the finish line. For the closed off student to open the door and let you in. For the moment when everything falls into place.

And, that is how teachers are gardeners.

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And speaking of flowers......

Get ready for May with this informational text resource!

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Teaching informational text does not have to be scary.  I don’t know why teachers steer clear of informational text.  Maybe it’s the name. We could call it nonfiction or real or true. But like a rose, call it by any other name and it’s still informational text.

I admit the first type of book I grab is fiction. When I first learned that secondary students had to read informational text for state testing, I panicked.  Teaching and reading informational text calls for a different set of expectations. In fact, most informational text is written above the reading level of the majority of our students. But, over the years, I have developed methods that have helped to ease my students into informational text that I think will help your students adjust to a change in reading challenges and expectations.

A Tribute to Mothers- informational text

First, find a topic that interests you. Your interest will be contagious. If you like mysteries, find several mysteries and have your students work in groups to solve them. This type of engagement will give them ownership in the reading project, and soon it won’t be about reading boring, nonfiction, but it will become a quest.

The Old Mallory Place: Informational Text

And, remember that just because you like a particular passage, your students may not like it. Try having an engaging activity linked to the read. When you do, you are providing an opportunity for your students to become actively involved in the text, and they might realize that they like it.

The Old Mallory Place: Informational Text activities

Second, just in case your students don’t share your interest, offer them a selection.  Keep your selections short and high-interest.  A passage that is too long will be overwhelming and frustrating. Students that struggle with reading, often look at the number of pages or the length of a passage. Too many words on a page can be defeating.  It doesn’t hurt to have short passages with pictures or illustrations. Show them that informational text can be fun and easy to master.

April Showers: Learning how to read informational text

Third, tie an informational text passage to a literary piece. If you are reading a mystery, find informational text passages about something

mentioned in the mystery. In the picture below, the mystery involved

fog and an owl. The accompanying informational text passages are about

fog and owls. Use them during your fiction read to add depth of knowledge and to enhance the learning experience.

The Old Mallory Place: comparing fiction to nonfiction

You can also provide highlighters in fun colors for students to use when marking text, cute stickies for them to write notes on, or colorful paperclips to mark passages.

These “easy fixes” will help to make the transition from literary text to informational text less painful. For you and your students!

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