By Kimmi Sorg

Yesterday my fourth-grade son told me you can hear sound coming from a black hole — it sounds almost like an annoying cat crying. He had a video from YouTube that NASA released to prove it. Crazy, right?

I remembered this in the wee hours of the morning. My puppy woke up and wanted to go outside around 2:00 am (BAD HABIT #1). After taking the two dogs out, I returned to bed and grabbed my phone (BAD HABIT #2). Then, I opened up Twitter and got sucked into the proverbial black hole that is the Twitterverse (BAD HABIT #3). I found a Tweet that had captured my attention earlier in the night asking about comparing three pieces of data and using only one to group children. I responded with a few questions, like what time of year, what grade level, and what the profiles were of these children, which went unanswered. Then, my spiral began.

I was still thinking about the Tweet. So, after a rude response from another person, I responded with two thoughts that went something like this “1- Children are not levels. The level of the book gives information about the complexity… 2- Accuracy is only one measure of the assessment. Those that understand take a deeper look are using that text reading to gain insight about the processing…”

I was getting sucked down further as 3:00 am approached. I reminded the original author that they are selling teachers short by assuming they do not use data in a more organic, diagnostic way, other than level. By 3:30 am, I responded again by giving my answer to the original question posed about grouping kids. “No — analysis of the data is needed to make instructional decisions.”

I finally went to sleep feeling satisfied that I contributed to the learning of the original author — until about 6:00 am when my reflections began. My first reflection was that I needed to put the puppy in her crate for bed so I won’t get woken up in the middle of the night (ADJUSTMENT #1). Then, I decided that I needed to move my phone away from my bed before falling asleep (ADJUSTMENT #2). The last piece about getting sucked into the Twitter-verse is a little more complicated for me. I want to stop the smack talk, for lack of a better term. However, I remember what Peter Cunningham shared at Teacher Leader Institute this summer about understanding the message I want to send. It isn’t about correcting people that do not want to hear what I have to say (an ego-buster). I need to adjust to sharing all of the amazing things my Reading Recovery colleagues are doing to support children in real-time (ADJUSTMENT #3 AND ego-booster).

We are doing #WhateverItTakes and we know that #ResultsMatter. I need to re-center and swipe by those Tweets that take me down that black hole in the Twitter-verse. As a Teacher Leader, I focus on the advocacy of early literacy support and Reading Recovery, so I need to be a better model for this in real life. I know we are making relationships with children, changing lives by supporting their literacy journey, and supporting the core instruction by sharing our knowledge.

I know that I will continue to read literacy posts and will probably respond to a few that frustrate me. However, I will keep in mind that Reading Recovery has 35 years of results — and parent letters that share the impact that Reading Recovery has made — before being pulled into that never-ending black hole.

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Kimmi Sorg believes all children can learn to read and we can teach them by following the child while developing self-extending and self-regulated learners. She works in Plainfield School District 202 in Plainfield, IL. As a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader of a site that was re-established, advocacy is very important to her. She is passionate about her work with children.

 

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