StoryWalks encourage collaboration and reflection, and transform the often sedentary act of reading into a dynamic, interactive activity.

Looking for a fun way to engage your students’ minds and bodies using books? That’s exactly what my colleague Jubilee Roth and I were looking for last year—a fun activity to wrap up the semester with our students—when she came across the idea of StoryWalks.

The StoryWalk Project was created by Anne Ferguson in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier, Vermont. Ferguson was looking for a way to get kids and parents active together, and thus the StoryWalk was born. Since then, StoryWalks have been installed in over 300 public libraries in the United States and even worldwide in such countries as Malaysia, Russia, Pakistan, and South Korea.

Reading isn’t generally considered a dynamic activity, but students who participate in a StoryWalk get to not only hear a great story but stimulate parts of their brain that are normally at rest when they sit down with a book. Instead of snuggling up in a cozy reading spot, readers are presented with colorful pages from an illustrated book, displayed one-by-one on stakes as they stroll along an indoor or outdoor walking path. Readers are able to take their time and reflect on the subtle nuances of the story, make inferences about what may happen next, and have co-constructed conversations with any walking partners.

HOW TO SET UP A STORYWALK

You’ll need two copies of whatever book you choose because the pages of most illustrated books are double-sided. After taking the books apart, laminate them and mount them. Make sure you get stakes that are high enough that the pages can be read without crouching down, then place them at a relaxed distance from each other along the path of your choosing.

It’s really important to consider where you place your StoryWalk path. I did not take into consideration, for example, the closeness of my StoryWalk to our third-grade portable classrooms, which had the windows open because it was warm. Not only was the StoryWalk disruptive to that classroom, but all of the third-grade students knew the ending of the story.

CHOOSING BOOKS FOR A STORYWALK

The right book at the right time can make all the difference. Since books bridge the gap between what readers know and what they have yet to experience, careful book selection can make StoryWalks even more powerful. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Picture books are ideal for this activity because they’re short and captivating.
• Social and emotional learning can be supported with illustrated books that include themes like self-awareness, self-management, self-efficacy, and social awareness.
• It’s important to keep readers interested so that they continue to the end of the path. Try choosing a book with a surprise ending and keep them guessing!
• It helps to choose a book with readability and possible relevance to the community.

BEHAVIOR DURING A STORYWALK

Managing behavior during a StoryWalk can be a bit tricky if you don’t provide students with some expectations ahead of time. Much like a field trip, StoryWalks involve a lot of space sharing, which requires a different set of social norms. I found that younger students especially were not accustomed to traveling in a large group.

Explain to students how to ensure that everyone has a view of the pages as you walk. The front row will need to crouch down so the back row can see. Students need to form a half-circle around each page. You can, of course, arrange your StoryWalkers into multiple smaller groups as opposed to an entire class, which could make it easier.

It is also important to show students how to walk and talk about the story, so they are not just quickly walking through the StoryWalk, missing the benefit of reading together in this way. Have students raise their hands to read a page aloud. Ask stimulating questions between pages to help them relate the story to their own experiences, further drawing them in. Encourage students to take their time and interact with each other, sharing their thoughts about the story and characters.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

After completing a StoryWalk, extension activities can provide a deeper understanding for students as well as keep the conversation—and therefore the learning—going.

Students can try to write an alternate ending or even add to the story’s original ending. Our youngest students can draw their responses to these prompts, while we transcribe the words to go with them. Older students can do peer reviews, co-write responses, or illustrate them and even use media to animate.

Invite students to share about a time when they did something that was featured in the story. Before we did our StoryWalk for the book Baghead, I held up a paper bag that I had cut holes out of to make a face. I asked students, “Why would someone wear this?” Students wrote down their predictions. After our StoryWalk, they came back to their predictions to write about what came true or didn’t, and any surprises in the story. Some chose to write about a time when they tried to cut their own hair, as the protagonist had, and what happened next.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/fun-way-engage-students-minds-and-bodies-books?fbclid=IwAR0YQoC0H516RrsuaQy4AI6GpW-r8Pm_7QI66AwtzhbntJql7gyX5Kq33TY

Questioning techniques that prompt all students to come up with a response can raise their spirits and make learning more joyful.

Since I was eight grader, I am afraid of math. Therefore, I totally understand my students’ mindsets. When I took Praxis Exam in math, I was so nervous. Luckily, I conquered it. I am glad to see different perspective that people see math as a language, so it becomes easier. For people like me, who has math-phobia, it is a good news and the innovative way of interpretation helps a bit.

Math isn’t hard, it’s a language | Randy Palisoc | TEDxManhattanBeach

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6yixyiJcos?start=531]

Ex. 7×3=“seven times” 3 = 3+3+3+3+3+3+3

Exposure to a variety of approaches to problem-solving provides students with opportunities to improve their math skills.

1. We can immerse students in problem-solving in all aspects of the math workshop: When teaching a specific computational strategy, embedding numbers in word problems helps students to build operational sense and reasoning behind using a skill. Even number sense and fact fluency can be sprinkled with context. During small group instruction, teachers can strategically and flexibly place students in groups that focus on building specific process skills, not only computation.

Using a simple chart can help you to sort through data and add students to specific groups based on the needs you see as you look through their work. Guided math groups could focus on teach points, such as being able to visualize the problem, utilize a representation to help them solve, or write an answer statement to help students recontextualize the problem after they’ve solved it.

Strategy groups would be focused more on computation or place value needs. If you’re unsure of a student’s understanding, you can place them in the conferring column. Conferring with students one-on-one provides space where the teacher can listen to students thinking out loud to get a better understanding of their mathematical ability.

2. We can give students consistent exposure to high-quality problem-solving:According to Peter Liljedahl, author of Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, “Good problem-solving tasks require students to get stuck and then to think, to experiment, to try and to fail, and to apply their knowledge in novel ways in order to get unstuck.”

The go-to in our district for promoting productive math struggle is Exemplars. This resource encourages students to get stuck and power through really difficult, real-world, multistep situations. The tasks they provide encourage students to show their thinking processes in a variety of ways. You can really tell it’s a great task if all student thinking looks different. In a world where instant gratification has become the norm, we can remind students that when they get stuck, it’s exciting! This challenging moment is part of learning and making new connections in their brain.

3. We can be intentional about providing students with a variety of problems that contain a blend of previously learned skills: This makes it necessary for students to think and make sense of every problem they encounter, instead of being able to anticipate an operation based on current content or the title on the page.

For example, when students practice independently, one or two problems could be on a recently obtained skill, but there could also be a problem from a previous cluster of learning and one for an upcoming concept from a lower grade level. Not only does this provide students with an opportunity to practice their problem-solving skills; it gives the teacher the opportunity to ensure that students are retaining previously learned skills from earlier in the year and from the prior year.

Checking in on skills from the previous year can be a preassessment and helps the teacher to adjust future pacing, since they are informed about student needs before a new cluster of learning is started. Number sense routines are also the perfect time to offer a variety of problems within the math workshop because students get the daily opportunity to see peers solve problems flexibly, observe that computation can be approached in different ways, have a specific time to play with numbers, and build connections across concepts. I’ve compiled some great options for number sense (most of these are free).

4. We can make cross-content connections with reading and math: Utilizing a consistent reasoning routine across grade levels can create a habitual way of thinking for students as they make sense of problems. A good resource for this is Routines for Reasoning. The 3 Reads routine from this resource is great for making connections to reading comprehension. You could ask students, “Who are the characters in this problem? What are they doing? What is the setting? What happened in the beginning, middle, and end?” When students begin to think this way and train their brain to go through this process of visualization, it becomes more automatic, and students start to become sense makers.

5. We can ensure that our grading and assessment practices reflect our values: One way to do this is to bring students into the learning process by using a rubric, such as this one, as a self-assessment tool of the problem-solving processes. I have seen teachers utilize this as a whole class by focusing on one column at a time, where the teacher led the class in scoring teacher-created student work. Students would then later rate themselves and focus on how to move themselves to a higher level within the rubric on that skill. I’ve also seen teachers be very successful with using this rubric during one-on-one conferring.

According to the specific student’s understanding, the teacher can point them to analyze their work based on a specific column of the rubric. The teacher then guides the student to make a plan to focus on that one skill.

This might look like pointing the student to an anchor chart of representations in the classroom as a reference, helping the student with some sentence stems for communication, or even giving the student a word bank to help them learn how to use more math vocabulary within their justification. Teaching students how to use a tool like this one can give them a more concrete way of pushing themselves to deeper levels of learning, not just toward getting the correct answer.

I’ve also seen teachers display “expert”-level student work in the classroom as a guide for other students who are striving toward the same goal. Another encouraging tool could be a checklist with each problem, to give credit for correct representations and justification of thinking in addition to a correct answer.

3. We can be intentional about providing students with a variety of problems that contain a blend of previously learned skills: This makes it necessary for students to think and make sense of every problem they encounter, instead of being able to anticipate an operation based on current content or the title on the page.

For example, when students practice independently, one or two problems could be on a recently obtained skill, but there could also be a problem from a previous cluster of learning and one for an upcoming concept from a lower grade level. Not only does this provide students with an opportunity to practice their problem-solving skills; it gives the teacher the opportunity to ensure that students are retaining previously learned skills from earlier in the year and from the prior year.

Checking in on skills from the previous year can be a preassessment and helps the teacher to adjust future pacing, since they are informed about student needs before a new cluster of learning is started. Number sense routines are also the perfect time to offer a variety of problems within the math workshop because students get the daily opportunity to see peers solve problems flexibly, observe that computation can be approached in different ways, have a specific time to play with numbers, and build connections across concepts. I’ve compiled some great options for number sense (most of these are free).

4. We can make cross-content connections with reading and math: Utilizing a consistent reasoning routine across grade levels can create a habitual way of thinking for students as they make sense of problems. A good resource for this is Routines for Reasoning. The 3 Reads routine from this resource is great for making connections to reading comprehension. You could ask students, “Who are the characters in this problem? What are they doing? What is the setting? What happened in the beginning, middle, and end?” When students begin to think this way and train their brain to go through this process of visualization, it becomes more automatic, and students start to become sense makers.

5. We can ensure that our grading and assessment practices reflect our values: One way to do this is to bring students into the learning process by using a rubric, such as this one, as a self-assessment tool of the problem-solving processes. I have seen teachers utilize this as a whole class by focusing on one column at a time, where the teacher led the class in scoring teacher-created student work. Students would then later rate themselves and focus on how to move themselves to a higher level within the rubric on that skill. I’ve also seen teachers be very successful with using this rubric during one-on-one conferring.

According to the specific student’s understanding, the teacher can point them to analyze their work based on a specific column of the rubric. The teacher then guides the student to make a plan to focus on that one skill.

This might look like pointing the student to an anchor chart of representations in the classroom as a reference, helping the student with some sentence stems for communication, or even giving the student a word bank to help them learn how to use more math vocabulary within their justification. Teaching students how to use a tool like this one can give them a more concrete way of pushing themselves to deeper levels of learning, not just toward getting the correct answer.

I’ve also seen teachers display “expert”-level student work in the classroom as a guide for other students who are striving toward the same goal. Another encouraging tool could be a checklist with each problem, to give credit for correct representations and justification of thinking in addition to a correct answer.

Reference: https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-bolster-students-confidence-math?fbclid=IwAR3-miWdRsjnZAEsGwGcvVLLGFHLeID-4uU7eIGbL7yRjdJKxR0M7RA3ZJs