The Big Fresh September 29, 2012 Shining a Light

                                                               Donalyn Miller

On Tuesday I walked into Kerri Kennedy’s fourth-grade classroom. It was the end of the day, with kids eagerly stacking chairs, gathering backpacks, getting last words of advice from Kerri before heading out the door.  Only Evan came right up to me and said shyly but proudly, “All the stuff on this table is mine. I’ll show it to you.” The round table he led me to near the door was a jumble of rocks, minerals, brochures, and those cheesy varnished crocodile jaws you can buy at any roadside souvenir stand in Florida. Evan picked up a few of the items one by one and explained where they came from, before his bus was called and he bounded out the door.

I asked Kerri about the table after everyone had gone, in those quiet moments after the last bus pulled out and just before we headed down to the cafeteria for a staff meeting about the new writing standards in the Common Core. “Oh, the spotlight table — that was something the kids came up with. Evan asked if he could bring in some things from home so we could learn about him. It was so much stuff I decided to dedicate a table to it, and we decided as a class that each week a different student would share what they like in a table display. Sabrina is all set to bring in her stuff next week. I had to give up my conferring table, but it was worth it. I can confer anywhere.” The “spotlight” title comes from the small desk lamp Kerri placed in the center of the display.

In the midst of the crazy busyness that is the start of every school year, I loved seeing the spotlight table. Listening to each child and hearing the possibilities for building curriculum from their interests and needs is no small feat when our attention is tugged so many different ways. In the age of the Common Core, we probably need to invest in bigger forklifts to shovel away all the programs, aids, and shiny objects headed our way. Yet underneath it all, there is always a kid who loves animal skulls or ballet or monster trucks — and would like to learn more about them in books. If we want to help students develop the nonfiction reading and writing skills required by the Common Core, what better place to start than a spotlight on what they care about beyond the classroom?

This week we’ve scoured the web for new resources to support your work with the Common Core. Plus more as always – enjoy!