There has been some contention on the idea that teachers of all content areas must teach reading. As an English/Language Arts teacher, I know that the expectation is for our department to do the heavy lifting when it comes to literacy instruction. However, as our students emerge from our schools to a drastically different world than we were exposed to as students, it is incumbent for educators to rally together and find new ways to increase attainment and the retention of new knowledge.
It has long been a belief of mine that textbooks aren't sufficient for building skill and understanding. If I could spend textbook money to give every kid a laptop and access to wireless high-speed internet, I would. Textbooks are helpful, of course, but we know they should not be the sole instructional tool. Furthermore, textbooks reinforce the concept of coverage. One might take the book and divide it by the units, divide the units by the number of days to spend on the unit, and assign those pages for homework each night. You mean last night's reading cut off in the middle of a paragraph? Oh well, at least we covered it! Wrong!
What a student needs is the exposure to a balance of reading. In my English 10 course, which focuses on American literature, my sophomores read a balance of fiction and nonfiction. In terms of nonfiction we read journal articles, online articles, newspaper archives, legal documents, editorials, and reviews...for each unit. I have structured the course by conceptual units. Immigration: we study The Crucible and the migration of many cultures to America through a research project on immigration and the American dream, students uncover facts about the world in which we live and why people still choose America as the place to be. The American Family: Death of A Salesman, family dynamics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and some classic American family sit-coms. Civil Rights: students select to read one of the following: Mississippi Trial 1955, The Color Purple, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. We operate in literature circles but in the midst of reading separate novels, we will read a balance of non-fiction and watch the film "Mississippi Burning." Finally, we spend a unit on Making it Big: Students read The Great Gatsby and a study of the 1920's along with the recent stories about big business and the bailouts of gigantic corporations and the housing crisis. My intention is to balance their literary diets through choice, fiction, nonfiction, levels of readability, and the old classics with a touch of some more recent works. So far, it has worked wonderfully.
I know what those who teach anything outside of English are likely saying, "Yeah but English is all about reading!" "I don't have time to read a novel in Algebra!" "Where do I find the time to pick up a short story in my Auto Mechanics course?" Believe me, I understand. Yet in my English class, I weave in history, economics, art, and math although I don't have a degree in any of those areas.
Literacy is more than just decoding. Literacy is the ability to understand. Literacy is the ability to apply what you understand. You have technical writing, instruction manuals, and a plethora of articles that could be tied to career and technical education. Music and art are about the aesthetic experience and the experience can be enhanced through sharing a review of the piece or a profile of the artist to understand why and how the creation is unique to that individual. Reading a science book is vastly different from reading a recipe. Reading a novel is nothing like reading a color wheel or a piece of music. Every content area has a need for literacy instruction. Good teachers model good reading and as we know, good readers excel in school.
I recommend the book Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content Area Reading by Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman. ISBN: 0-325-00595-8. This book has classroom reading strategies for all content areas and an excellent list of novels for the content areas. This book has not only enhanced my teaching but has allowed me to assist my colleagues in understanding some of the most effective reading strategies. Also on the list of good resources: I Don't Get It: Helping Students Understand What They Read by Judy Tilton Brunner. ISBN: 978-1-61048-003-1. A great resource for reading comprehension and vocabulary strategies that identify the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy for the activity.
Do you want to teach or do you want to cover the material? Do you want kids to fill out their homework, or do you want them to learn something. I choose teaching and learning every time.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
I See You and You Are Important
"Kids tend to know who I am." This isn't an ego-stroking statement but rather a statement to reflect, positively or otherwise, upon how your students perceive you.
It is a point of mine to stand in the hallway during passing time. We know it's good supervision practice, but I have other reasons. Working in a rural district in the 7-12 building, there are more than 500 faces to see throughout the day. Teaching primarily sophomores, I like to get in the hall to see former students as well as some of the students I haven't yet had an opportunity to teach. By standing in the doorway of my classroom, I also set the tone for the day by giving each student a positive greeting to the learning environment. I am greeted with pleasantries, high-fives, handshakes and smiles. I also am able to gauge how students are feeling by their response. This gives me a heads-up if a student is having a bad day.
I tend to make students notice that I am there. Most days I have in hand my coffee mug and a meter stick (the spear of knowledge) while students pass my room. I attempt to give each kid a "Hello! How are you?" If they are rushing in order to avoid a tardy, I'll shout a simple "Good day!" Between my colleagues across the hall and me, we will occasionally sing, dance, or do something to share the excitement of being at school. Some days we do this just to stay sane...crazy as it sounds. I don't stand there to force the children to acknowledge me. In fact, some pick up their pace so I don't sing at them. My purpose is to make sure the students passing by understand a simple, significant fact: I see you and you are important. My greeting may not mean much to some; but each kid deserves, at the very least, to be acknowledged.
So when I say, "Kids tend to know who I am," I am confident because little 7th grade students I have never met will greet me with a "Hey Duffy!" A bit informal, but I am okay with that. Some teachers pride themselves on the certain attributes that make them unique. Maybe they are the tough-grader. Maybe they are the teacher who has students hang out in their room after school. Maybe they are the teacher who only gives 5 A's each term. Maybe they are the teacher who changed a kid's life. It is less important to be proud of what we are known as than it is to be authentically present and powerfully positive.
I had the privilege to play the role of principal in mock interviews with student teachers for the last two years. One thing each of them acknowledged was their passion for teaching and kids. Passion is important and perhaps fuels good teaching if the passion is for the elements of being a successful educator. Putting the kids in the best place to succeed and ensuring that they are safe and well cared for trump being really jazzed about my unit on "The Great Gatsby." I can have all the content knowledge in the world and the most gloriously aligned lesson plans but if I am inaccessible to my students through my personality or my teaching style, I have lost the entire point.
Consider...
How do kids know you?
Would you want to be a student in your class?
See how students warm up to you by being present, providing a smile and reminding them that they are important and you see them rather than vice versa. I plan to carry this practice in to my career when I arrive at the role of administrator so that teachers and students know that they are seen and supported by a caring educator. We all deserve that.
It is a point of mine to stand in the hallway during passing time. We know it's good supervision practice, but I have other reasons. Working in a rural district in the 7-12 building, there are more than 500 faces to see throughout the day. Teaching primarily sophomores, I like to get in the hall to see former students as well as some of the students I haven't yet had an opportunity to teach. By standing in the doorway of my classroom, I also set the tone for the day by giving each student a positive greeting to the learning environment. I am greeted with pleasantries, high-fives, handshakes and smiles. I also am able to gauge how students are feeling by their response. This gives me a heads-up if a student is having a bad day.
I tend to make students notice that I am there. Most days I have in hand my coffee mug and a meter stick (the spear of knowledge) while students pass my room. I attempt to give each kid a "Hello! How are you?" If they are rushing in order to avoid a tardy, I'll shout a simple "Good day!" Between my colleagues across the hall and me, we will occasionally sing, dance, or do something to share the excitement of being at school. Some days we do this just to stay sane...crazy as it sounds. I don't stand there to force the children to acknowledge me. In fact, some pick up their pace so I don't sing at them. My purpose is to make sure the students passing by understand a simple, significant fact: I see you and you are important. My greeting may not mean much to some; but each kid deserves, at the very least, to be acknowledged.
So when I say, "Kids tend to know who I am," I am confident because little 7th grade students I have never met will greet me with a "Hey Duffy!" A bit informal, but I am okay with that. Some teachers pride themselves on the certain attributes that make them unique. Maybe they are the tough-grader. Maybe they are the teacher who has students hang out in their room after school. Maybe they are the teacher who only gives 5 A's each term. Maybe they are the teacher who changed a kid's life. It is less important to be proud of what we are known as than it is to be authentically present and powerfully positive.
I had the privilege to play the role of principal in mock interviews with student teachers for the last two years. One thing each of them acknowledged was their passion for teaching and kids. Passion is important and perhaps fuels good teaching if the passion is for the elements of being a successful educator. Putting the kids in the best place to succeed and ensuring that they are safe and well cared for trump being really jazzed about my unit on "The Great Gatsby." I can have all the content knowledge in the world and the most gloriously aligned lesson plans but if I am inaccessible to my students through my personality or my teaching style, I have lost the entire point.
Consider...
How do kids know you?
Would you want to be a student in your class?
See how students warm up to you by being present, providing a smile and reminding them that they are important and you see them rather than vice versa. I plan to carry this practice in to my career when I arrive at the role of administrator so that teachers and students know that they are seen and supported by a caring educator. We all deserve that.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
PD: Productive Discussions
I'm not going to lie...I like meetings.
That's not entirely true...I like productive meetings. I tend to view meetings as unique learning opportunities. They are learning opportunities when we get to talk to each other about issues that are critical to the success of our profession and the betterment of the learning environment. My perspective is that if the material could have been covered in an email, that is how it should be distributed.
Thankfully, I had such learning opportunities today during our professional development. This morning, our Lead Learning Team met with Heather Feuerhelm, our Area Education Agency Literacy Consultant who, quite honestly, is a wealth of knowledge and resources and nothing short of the most passionate educator I know. I may be biased because she was my high school teacher, college professor, role model, and our AEA consultant in my previous school. What can I say? AEA folks are highly valuable and I appreciate the knowledge they are able to share. Needless to say, our time was used wisely as we planned our afternoon of leading discussion groups centered on the use of think-alouds.
Our afternoon was spent in several groups of 8-10 teachers, all of whom had been previously asked in professional development to use the think-aloud reading strategy in a lesson. Each group contained educators from all content areas in our K-12 district. In my room we had a spectrum from high school PE to kindergarten to elementary music. I never know what to expect when I have such a wide range of teacher talent and areas of experience. I was completely impressed today. Each educator brought a great example of how to use the think-aloud reading strategy. It is simply telling your thought process as you read, view, or experience something in your content area. Yes even the "non-reading" content areas of music, art, technology education, and career/technical educators do this too...and well...even though they may not have a prescribed "text." After all, when I look at a painting or hear music, I think and feel things that I can share with my students. Text isn't just words on a page and reading isn't restricted to books. Not surprisingly, we used all of our time together to share, critique, and converse with our colleagues. It was delightful!
A critical component of professional development is the opportunity to engage in a productive, professional discussion. When given the chance to talk, teachers have a great deal to say. These discussions are cathartic, inspiring, and in some cases, all too infrequent. Time to talk, reflect, collaborate, and research are critical to providing meaningful professional development. Lunch isn't enough time for this. In fact, lunch is the one place many educators go for a rest in the middle of the day and the last thing they want to talk about is education theory. Providing these unique learning opportunities for productive discussions should be a focus for those in charge of planning PD. With that in mind, I offer some guiding thoughts on participating in productive discussions.
1. Does the discussion provide a path to improving instruction?
2. Are the ideas shared free of bias or marginalization?
3. Is the discussion accessible for teachers of many content areas?
If you can answer yes to these, the conversation will likely be more beneficial than a complaint session (which may also be cathartic but may not productive). Providing time and resources for our colleagues to discuss professional issues is critical to maintaining professional health and improving the culture of the craft.
That's not entirely true...I like productive meetings. I tend to view meetings as unique learning opportunities. They are learning opportunities when we get to talk to each other about issues that are critical to the success of our profession and the betterment of the learning environment. My perspective is that if the material could have been covered in an email, that is how it should be distributed.
Thankfully, I had such learning opportunities today during our professional development. This morning, our Lead Learning Team met with Heather Feuerhelm, our Area Education Agency Literacy Consultant who, quite honestly, is a wealth of knowledge and resources and nothing short of the most passionate educator I know. I may be biased because she was my high school teacher, college professor, role model, and our AEA consultant in my previous school. What can I say? AEA folks are highly valuable and I appreciate the knowledge they are able to share. Needless to say, our time was used wisely as we planned our afternoon of leading discussion groups centered on the use of think-alouds.
Our afternoon was spent in several groups of 8-10 teachers, all of whom had been previously asked in professional development to use the think-aloud reading strategy in a lesson. Each group contained educators from all content areas in our K-12 district. In my room we had a spectrum from high school PE to kindergarten to elementary music. I never know what to expect when I have such a wide range of teacher talent and areas of experience. I was completely impressed today. Each educator brought a great example of how to use the think-aloud reading strategy. It is simply telling your thought process as you read, view, or experience something in your content area. Yes even the "non-reading" content areas of music, art, technology education, and career/technical educators do this too...and well...even though they may not have a prescribed "text." After all, when I look at a painting or hear music, I think and feel things that I can share with my students. Text isn't just words on a page and reading isn't restricted to books. Not surprisingly, we used all of our time together to share, critique, and converse with our colleagues. It was delightful!
A critical component of professional development is the opportunity to engage in a productive, professional discussion. When given the chance to talk, teachers have a great deal to say. These discussions are cathartic, inspiring, and in some cases, all too infrequent. Time to talk, reflect, collaborate, and research are critical to providing meaningful professional development. Lunch isn't enough time for this. In fact, lunch is the one place many educators go for a rest in the middle of the day and the last thing they want to talk about is education theory. Providing these unique learning opportunities for productive discussions should be a focus for those in charge of planning PD. With that in mind, I offer some guiding thoughts on participating in productive discussions.
1. Does the discussion provide a path to improving instruction?
2. Are the ideas shared free of bias or marginalization?
3. Is the discussion accessible for teachers of many content areas?
If you can answer yes to these, the conversation will likely be more beneficial than a complaint session (which may also be cathartic but may not productive). Providing time and resources for our colleagues to discuss professional issues is critical to maintaining professional health and improving the culture of the craft.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Duffy's Classroom: Waiver-ing on NCLB
Duffy's Classroom: Waiver-ing on NCLB: I have to admit, I was not yet a teacher nor even a high school graduate when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was amended and rea...
Waiver-ing on NCLB
I have to admit, I was not yet a teacher nor even a high school graduate when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was amended and reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002. I was, however, an attentive student with the goal of becoming a high school teacher. I was blessed to have a passionate educator when ESEA was revamped with the goals of school improvement in mind. She spent time discussing the implications of this new law with our English class. Not all of my peers had an interest in this but I knew that perhaps this would someday impact me as a teacher. I am thankful that she was willing to be open with us about issues that would impact our learning environment. In this same way, I talk openly with my students about that which we must learn to be productive contributors in the 21st Century.
Now that I am within inches of finishing graduate work in education administration and have a good foundation of teaching experience, I am beginning to understand just how the re-authorization of the NCLB Act will set the tone for the next era of education in our country.
But summer came and went and while our elected officials spent an inordinate amount of time arguing along partisan lines, the opportunity to do some overhaul on NCLB's misguided and unrealistic mandate was ultimately ignored. Now the opportunity exists for schools to apply for waivers if schools are unable to meet the proficiency threshold. Jason Glass, the State of Iowa's Director of Education, is seeking to apply for these waivers. In a report that identifies over 400 Iowa public schools as "In Need of Assistance" it is a critical juncture for educators, parents, communities, and the elected leaders to carefully consider what to do to provide the optimal learning environment for students and commit the necessary supports for getting our schools to be at their best.
Penalization of low performing schools based solely on test scores seemed foolish even to my high school mind back in 2002. Fear of being on the "watch list" was evident in schools and the policies seemed more focused on sanctions rather than support. The opportunity to overhaul failed education policies is presenting itself and the people we trust to make decisions in the best interest of all are not doing their homework. It will be interesting to see how many states align with the others who have already requested waivers.
I don't know that the waivers will solve any problems. Are we simply going to ignore the schools that need more resources because we can waiver out of having to make significant gains? Are we going to measure student progress in new ways with a wide variety of assessments to show that students are making critical growth? I want to see kids and schools succeed. However, the attacks upon teachers and schools seems to me a sign that many do not respect the hard work that educators and students put in to each day's work. It is a vast and daunting future that awaits all educators and policy makers. For the work to be fruitful, there need to be many partnerships formed; between those who create policy and those who must meet the provisions in the policy, between schools and communities, between parents and educators, and between all levels of educators. This might not be the final answer, but working together to propel our schools in to the future rather than for the past is essential in bringing our society in to a better place. On that, I cannot waver.
Now that I am within inches of finishing graduate work in education administration and have a good foundation of teaching experience, I am beginning to understand just how the re-authorization of the NCLB Act will set the tone for the next era of education in our country.
But summer came and went and while our elected officials spent an inordinate amount of time arguing along partisan lines, the opportunity to do some overhaul on NCLB's misguided and unrealistic mandate was ultimately ignored. Now the opportunity exists for schools to apply for waivers if schools are unable to meet the proficiency threshold. Jason Glass, the State of Iowa's Director of Education, is seeking to apply for these waivers. In a report that identifies over 400 Iowa public schools as "In Need of Assistance" it is a critical juncture for educators, parents, communities, and the elected leaders to carefully consider what to do to provide the optimal learning environment for students and commit the necessary supports for getting our schools to be at their best.
Penalization of low performing schools based solely on test scores seemed foolish even to my high school mind back in 2002. Fear of being on the "watch list" was evident in schools and the policies seemed more focused on sanctions rather than support. The opportunity to overhaul failed education policies is presenting itself and the people we trust to make decisions in the best interest of all are not doing their homework. It will be interesting to see how many states align with the others who have already requested waivers.
I don't know that the waivers will solve any problems. Are we simply going to ignore the schools that need more resources because we can waiver out of having to make significant gains? Are we going to measure student progress in new ways with a wide variety of assessments to show that students are making critical growth? I want to see kids and schools succeed. However, the attacks upon teachers and schools seems to me a sign that many do not respect the hard work that educators and students put in to each day's work. It is a vast and daunting future that awaits all educators and policy makers. For the work to be fruitful, there need to be many partnerships formed; between those who create policy and those who must meet the provisions in the policy, between schools and communities, between parents and educators, and between all levels of educators. This might not be the final answer, but working together to propel our schools in to the future rather than for the past is essential in bringing our society in to a better place. On that, I cannot waver.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Trying New (to me) Tech Tools
It is hard to believe that a month ago, I was getting ready to start in-service meetings once more for another new school year. I didn't bemoan the fact that summer flew by or that I only accomplished a handful of projects around the house. As August began, I was excited to see familiar faces and get back in my classroom and start rearranging the furniture. More importantly, I was excited to get kids back in the classroom and try some new units and learning tools with them.
I have found some great tools thanks to the 21st Century Learning Institute at Grant Wood Area Education Agency. Along with some other staff from my building, we are attending the sessions to better prepare ourselves and our students for effective 21st century learning. Below is a reflection on three of these tools.
TodaysMeet.com is awesome for allowing everyone to have a voice without calling on every student. Students simply join the room created by the teacher and suddenly they are able to express their thoughts and feelings in no more than 140 characters. Many of my students are used to Twitter so the cap of 140 is not a barrier. I have used this for warm-up activities, asking students who they thought was to blame for the hysteria in "The Crucible." Students aren't limited to one response. It is a real time conversation in which everyone can offer their opinion. It is important to note that as the facilitator of the conversation, you may need to bring students back to the starting point if they start to wander.
Bubbl.us has been helpful in creating concept maps for relationships in reading. As my English 10 students move toward a unit on "The American Family in Literature and Art" I am looking forward to using this site to allow students to create a family tree in addition to comparing/contrasting the pieces the pieces we read and view. I am excited to see how else I could use this tool.
PhotoPeach allows the creation of digital photo albums that you can add text and music to. We will be using this tool as we study the American family and create digital photo albums of the American family today in the town in which I teach. I will update as we complete this project to share how it worked.
I love trying new tech tools in the classroom. I have come to the realization that it is necessary for me to challenge myself and try new things for me to stay current for my students. They deserve the effort.
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