Mrs. Lux

You know what the reading zone is - it is the magical place where you are so entranced by what you are reading that distractions are swatted like flies, connections and reactions pop up effortlessly, and engagement is visible by the continuous flipping of pages and an infectious desire to talk about what you have read.

The reading zone, a phrase coined by students of Nancie Atwell in reading workshop, is discussed in her book titled the same. I recently reread Nancie’s book and marveled at the dichotomy we face in English classrooms. What she talks about - how to help kids become skilled, passionate, habitual, critical readers - is my philosophy on teaching language arts. Her blend of reader and writer workshop, poetry study, mini-lessons, and booktalk discussions is exactly how I would want my ideal classroom to be structured. On the other hand, she talks about the teaching of comprehension strategies, which became big in the 90s and continue to infiltrate the field, as “interfering with the reading zone” (54).

As a new, impressionable teacher I see the benefit of teaching kids how to comprehend, with seven clear cut strategies of proficient readers. The truth is, though, they will only comprehend what makes sense to them. To widen what makes sense to them, we need to give plenty of time for reading books of their choosing. Atwell aptly states, “One of the many virtues of frequent, voluminous reading is how it fills up the file drawers of long-term memory, increases our vicarious experience, and improves our comprehension of the world and the word” (60). The more they read, the more they will know, the more they can understand.

So Nancie’s call to English teachers is this: What kinds of readers do you want to leave your room? What kinds of writers do you want to leave your room? When considering curriculum and planning, how can you establish a community of readers and writers that will leave your room more passionate, habitual, critical and literary?

Image courtesy of Photobucket.

In an article with the DesMoines Register, author Tony Wagner says, “Mastering more content doesn’t equate to more competency.”

Tony Wagner is co-director of the Change in Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His new book, which I haven’t read yet, is titled, “The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need - And What We Can Do About It.”

This quote I chose to lead with is very straightforward, yet it opens up a complex range of conversations. How do we test for competency? Content is easy to test - isn’t that why we teach it?

Maybe many of our schools and educators are focused on getting through the content. Covering more content in a class, however, doesn’t mean the students will be more competent when they get into the world on their own, as Wagner states.

Wagner goes on to say in the question-answer article, “Once we understand there is a core set of competencies - such as the ability to comprehend complex material, write well, the ability to ask questions - then you have to design tests to measure those competencies.”

I believe most educators are becoming aware of the core 21st Century skills that students need to enter the workforce or secondary education, but the problem lies in how to test those skills. My question is, could we ever really know if they have mastered them by a test? He suggests two tests that measure these skills. See the article for more on that.

Besides the testing question, about how we assess the mastery of these skills, my question to you is: do you foster the development of 21st Century skills in your classroom? In more specific terms, is your room or course structured in a way that students leave prepared to collaborate across networks, critically analyze and locate information, be flexible and adaptable, take the reins and start something new, communicate effectively (both written and oral), and most importantly: use their imagination and curiosity?

I hope that when my students leave my room, they have more marketable skills than regurgitating content, or in the case of the cartoon above, acting like a log.

I’ve been at the International Reading Association northern convention this week. I’m learning a ton, which I will blog about shortly, but with a few minutes to spare right now, I thought I’d indulge my favorite part of the conference - meeting famous authors.

On Monday, I met Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, the first novel I taught while student teaching. It was a great first novel to teach because students really were hooked into the complicated story and could identify with the tragic incidents the protagonist went through. I bought her two latest books, Chains, and Wintergirls. The link will allow you to check out Laurie’s Amazon reader video about her process with this amazing young adult text. By the way, my copy of Chains is signed by Anderson, with the message, “Books will set you free.”

In addition to Laurie, I met Jaime Adoff, author of Names Will Never Hurt Me and The Death of Jayson Porter. He is a very down to earth guy who travels and talks to students around the nation. He really gets what students need to read about and why they like to read. In a session in which I heard him speak, he said something to the likes of, “Writing can heal, and so therefore reading can heal.” He mentioned that although his writing may seem dark and impossible, there is always hope, and that is what kids need to know. Jaime writes poetic novels. I recently had a student tear through The Death of Jayson Porter in a few days. She was very moved by it; she was so engaged that she is choosing to write her final research paper on a topic stemming from her personal life and Adoff’s novel.

With the news of schools closing due to the pandemic threat, I’ve been prompted to think about how long my class could continue if we weren’t meeting at school.

Although not all of my students have computers at home equipped with the internet, most of them do. Those that do could visit our class wiki to download videos, PowerPoints, handouts and rubrics. The students could complete assignments and post them to the wiki. Students could have conversations about texts on there as well.

We wouldn’t be meeting face to face, but it would be a temporary classroom without walls. Those of us equipped with the right technology could meet for a while and keep the conversation and learning going without a traditional classroom to do it in (provided none of us got sick). Now let’s hope for the best.

The first step to changing is realizing that change is inevitable. It is bound to happen, and as educators, we inevitably witness and adapt to small changes multiple times during a day. We adapt a plan, modify an assignment, invent a lesson on the spot. Making a BIG change, however, seems to be more daunting. For some, it is overwhelming to consider making a change in a well-established curriculum that has been used for years.

Although my department members are capable of making small changes throughout the day - probably without even realizing they are doing it - they seem overwhelmed with our shift in curriculum. Our department is making a curriculum shift, and as a new educator, I’m excited about it. I realize that change of any nature - big or small - is necessary. Change is the nature of education because our learners will never be the same. We need to grow and adapt to best meet their needs, on a hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually basis.

In the future, I’ll post more about the specifics of this change in approach. Anytime we make a change, big or small, it is nice to have feedback. That is what I’ll look to you for.

My freshmen students have been working on a Greek mythology research project. I prepped them in the first few weeks of the trimester by practicing note taking and writing summaries. I talked them through the thinking process of reading information on the web or in books, taking down important information regarding the purpose of the notes, and turning those notes into a fluent, organized summary. I also prepped them with practice and knowledge on MLA citation for sources used in research papers. We gained background information on Greek culture and heroes while practicing these skills.

Then it was time for me to set them free. They picked a topic of interest to them, mostly from Greek gods and goddesses. The students could work collaboratively or independently - and were well aware of the benefits and drawbacks of each option. It was wonderful to watch them delve into research and rewarding to read their summaries and check their works cited entries. I think they did a great job of applying the skills we had practiced! 

The best part of this project is the online, public component. The students are creating pages on my wiki, posting their summary and works cited, and linking to a visual PowerPoint that represents their character or symbols of their character. The learners are very energized by using this new technology tool. Most did a very good job of exploring it and learning on their own. Some needed a bit more pushing to think for themselves and play around to learn. I set them up for how to log in, create a page, and upload files, but left the rest for them to discover. They realize the space is public, and therefore have more concern for the look and accuracy of their page. I just looked through them all again and don’t see any major problems.

Kudos to the learners for diving head first into a new project!

I never was a cheerleader in school. Never got into the clapping, smiling, kicking, cheering. They wouldn’t have let me anyway - I was very uncoordinated and more suited for roles that didn’t require me to flip in the air while singing chants & cheers.

As a teacher, though, I find myself being a cheerleader. When students need the extra push to get going on a task in class, or when they need the extra push to make up assignments from an absence, or when they need the extra push to pass the class, I find myself being a cheerleader.

I smile, I cheer, I shout, I raise my arms in the air, I clap. Or, in other words, I stay late after school, create modified assignments, make deals with students, do what I can to get the students working.

Athough I don’t think being a cheerleader (motivator) should be a requirement of the teaching profession, it almost seems impossible to get through a day without doing any cheerleading. Students should motivate themselves, but sometimes they just need that extra push.

Where cheerleading got me this trimester - I lowered my course failures from nine last trimester to two this one (and those two were truant students who were absent much more than in class). So, hip-hip-hooray!

Image from: http://www.mgsd.k12.nc.us/emis/lib/emis/cheerleader.jpg

The falling action of Romeo and Juliet moves quickly but is pivotal to the play’s plot. Act 4 of this play can be read in one class period (70 minutes here at Clinton High). To ensure my freshmen students were paying attention to this important, but quick, act, I had them take Jim Burke’s episodic notes from Tools for Thought.

The episodic notes entails three parts.

• Students draw a picture to represent the six (or three, or however many you want to do) most important events, moments, or episodes in a reading piece.
• Next to the picture, they should jot a few notes about what happened (or maybe their picture covers it).
• Finally, they should write WHY the episode is important.

I discovered the WHY step most of my students didn’t do. We’ve done drawings and notes on what happened in a long story before, but I’ve never asked them to include WHY that scene was important. I don’t know if they were rushing or just plain forgot.

Anyway, the students who did all three steps really thought about the play’s events, especially Act 4. Because the ending of Romeo and Juliet is clear from the beginning and we are so far into the play, they could see why each step of Act 4 they drew out was important to the plot. They made some great inferences to the relevancy of each drawing (episode) - I’m looking forward to grading 100% quizzes tomorrow because they thought so hard about the Act.

Student samples:

“The friar is giving Juliet a potion to fake her death. This is important because this is where Juliet gets out of marrying Paris.”

“Juliet is going ‘What if?’ and worrying herself about the plan. This is important because Juliet is thinking of the ways the plan could fail, and we know it does.”‘

“This is a picture of Paris arriving to the wedding. This is important because the wedding is today and Juliet is gone.”

“Juliet is found dead the day of the wedding. Her family starts to plan her funeral. This is important because her plan is working.”

…killed the cat? Right, but it doesn’t kill the learner. Curiosity is one of the habitudes that 21st century learners need to possess.

Some of them have it naturally. Some people are born to ask questions and wonder about the world around them. For those who aren’t born with an innate desire to be curious, we need to develop that habitude within them.

As I was talking to my writing class about choosing a topic for an informative article citing resources, we talked about everything we should consider for selecting a topic:

• something you know about, but not too much
• something you care about
• something your audience will care about
• something that isn’t too broad
• something that isn’t too complex
• something that not everybody knows about

When I got to the one about something you care about, a student piped up. She asked, “Do we have to care about it?” I thought for a moment and said, “Well, yes. Wouldn’t it be hard to write about something you don’t care about at all?” Her response is something I’ll treasure for a long time. She very carefully said, “Well, how about if it is something we’re curious about? Wouldn’t that be like caring?”

I almost leapt out of my skin - Yes, Yes! I want you to write about something you are CURIOUS about! She got it, she got the point, and for that I am very grateful and excited to read her paper. She chose the topic of texting while driving - current, controversial, and it clearly affects her personally. Perfect!