Taking a Bite!

Reflection #2: What do I need to do in my classroom for students to read complex texts?

 Wow!  What a loaded question.  How do I use all of what I just learned?  How many teaching practices do I already know, use with good results and can keep?  What things, even tried and true, should I let fall by the wayside—those things which have not given me my desired outcomes or have become extremely laborious in a negative way, for students and for me?  Where do I begin, my head swirling with ideas, and my heart bravely not wanting to be wrong?  I decided to just dive into this question, hence my title for this blog, “Taking a Bite!”

My recent teaching experiences tell me that my students will need scaffolding initially to build the confidence and skills needed to be independent readers, thinkers and consumers of texts. 
Scaffolding means…
--helping students access text directly.
--allowing a reader to make first encounters with the text with minimal clarification.
--encouraging rereading.
--guiding the reader with follow-up support.
Scaffolding does not mean…
--reducing complexity of text.
--replacing the text.
--telling students what they are going to learn. (Huh? This one was startling to me!)

 First of all, the two practices I highlighted are things that I currently do when teaching that maybe I should rethink and tweak.  First of all, when introducing students to a text, I usually have them pre-read the story the night before, but then we read again and discuss while reading.  Then we begin to tackle end of the story questions and writing after thoroughly discussing with students all that they need to know.  Then comes the assessment to see how well they’ve learned.  Yikes!  I’ve been teaching the concepts well, but taking away their ability to think independently and figure out the major themes, nuances in vocabulary, metaphors and the like on their own.  As I write and think about my son, the consequences are sinking into my teacher perspective.  I understand that this is one teaching practice that I need to refine.

 The second highlighted statement made me write “Wow” in my notes today.  In fact, on the self quiz, I got this one wrong.  If I am interpreting this correctly, then telling students what they will learn before beginning the lesson, is something I should not have been doing so much of?  I am thinking about the chapter overviews at the beginning of new chapters or lessons, and prominently writing the lesson objectives on the board.  Do I abandon these practices, saving this information for me to know and for them to figure out, or perhaps leave that information but not draw so much attention to it, leaving it for savvy readers to figure it out themselves as they learn?  I don’t know… I am conflicted here and need some clarification from my peers.  I will be asking and seeking your thoughts when we get together.

 Specifically, here are some strategies that I might try to support students in understanding complex texts.  I would definitely teach vocabulary in context, or perhaps model an example of a kind of sentence or text structure present in the text and have students find other examples.  A good example might be finding examples of parallelism in The Gettysburg Address.  Follow-up questions could have students ponder why Lincoln chose to structure his speech in this manner, or what is the effect on the readers as audience?  Students could discuss which one sentence is the most important one to understanding the text, or give their favorite sentence, citing evidence from the text for support of their ideas.

A strategy that I might use when introducing the Narrative of Frederick Douglass might be to have them read the text with a specific question of inquiry in mind, such as the meanings of “bread” as used in the passage, or even better, have them to come up with their inquiry questions (“burning questions”) that will foster discussion and understanding.  I could activate and build prior knowledge for the time period, the institution of slavery, or the master’s Christian values through the use of visuals from the internet, primary sources such as runaway slave posters (also found on line), for example, that students can use to help visualize the text and draw conclusions that they can then write about (e.g., What does Douglass mean when he says, “Learning to read has been a curse rather than a blessing?” What is he saying about slavery?  About humanity?).  A good discussion could also be generated from finding examples of archaic sentence structure or vocabulary (e.g., “As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers.”  What about the strange spelling of the word “offence”?  What is meant by “choice documents”?)  Students can also respond to these questions in writing, blending together reading, writing and vocabulary instruction.

These are a few things that I would try in my classroom to support students in reading, understanding, and analyzing complex texts.  One more practice that I would not abandon falls in the realm of assessment, and that is AR.  I would use AR to help me see where students are pre- and post- year and hopefully see gains in their progress.  I especially think that successful AR participation will encourage independent reading, but also let teachers, students, and parents see such numbers as lexiles.  A comparison of the old lexile standards for grades 6-8 to the new CCSS ranges are eye opening, 860-1010 vs. 955-1155, and many of my students’ reading levels are lower.  I can’t replace the complex texts, but I can help students figure out how to read and understand them more independently, and their lexile scores should increase as well.  At least, that will be my goal.  

Getting Started

I have begun learning in earnest about the new Common Core Standards that are supposed to better prepare our students and our teaching of them for the demands and rigor of the 21st century college and career world.  It is time to pause for reflection, and one of the suggested means of sharing with others is through an electronic forum.  Since I am out of school right now on disability, I decided to try to blog about my learning experiences, and hopefully share with my Prep colleagues who are hard at work in the trenches.  As I learn, I am thinking about my past teaching experiences, and how I can hopefully evolve in my approach to teaching in anticipation of returning to school next year.  As I begin my fledgling mission in fully embracing the common core standards, I ask you to bear with me in my evolution, share your thoughts with me, forgive me when I get too personal (as in my response to the 1st question), and let's learn together--GETTING TO THE CORE.

Reflection #1: What are the CCR standards and why are they important?

This question hits poignantly to home because I have a son who has struggled tremendously his freshman year in college.  Additionally, his struggles have taken me quite by surprise because as a teacher and his mother, I thought he was ready and had been well prepared for college.  But as I look at characteristics of a CCR (College and Career Ready) student, I keep thinking, as a teacher, if I had taught differently (as a school, if we taught differently, along the lines of the common core), would he have been more successful?  Maybe he might be home for the summer looking for a summer job rather than going to summer school, being able to contribute to next fall's college expenses.  Is there anything I can suggest to him so that this summer session is not a waste of finances and effort?  This is my bias and POV as I try to answer the question.

CCR students:
--Demonstrate independence and build strong content knowledge.  I know that Jordan has the foundation.  He got good grades in school and did well on all state tests at the end of the year in every grade level.  But he sucks at being a self-directed learner, it seems.  He seems to flounder at being able to figure out things without being told where to look, or he seems hesitant to reach out for fear of being wrong.  I sometimes wonder if he even knows where/how to seek and find information without being explicitly instructed?  In college, one must be able to dig deeper, independently of the professor, and be willing to share thoughts verbally and in writing in an intelligent way.  I can see now where lectures and mere regurgitation of the teacher's thoughts on pencil/paper tests did not prepare him well.  Perhaps more opportunities for serious, thoughtful projects and presentations driven by student inquiry would have helped...

--Respond to varying demands of task, purpose and disciplines.  Students should be able to read, write and express themselves across disciplines and in real world, tangible ways.  For example, they should readily see how those algebra equations help them to solve velocity problems in physics.  They should be able compare Dr. King's speech to that of Abraham Lincoln's for similarities in structure, meaning, and references.  We as teachers need to be more purposeful and collaborative in our instructional planning to make these opportunities happen for students with more frequency so that we can better instill this requirement.  Jordan definitely could have benefitted from LOTS MORE WRITING ACROSS DISCIPLINES!  Perhaps a better foundation would have helped him to segue into college level writing less awkwardly.

--Comprehend and critique.  Jordan comprehends well, but his ability to critique could be better.  He is an analytical thinker, but these thinking skills were not always exercised across the board.  Again, student driven inquiry projects that encourage independent thinking and self-discovery should be many.  Students should be taught how to question, detect biases, and interpret the subtleties and nuances of complex texts.  Novel studies in ELA could really help in this area as a means of fostering discussion and stimulating intelligent thinking.  Students also need to be reading more challenging texts.  I think AR is OK as in our students are reading more, but what are they doing with those books when they are done reading?  Just taking an AR quiz is not enough.  Being able to interact with and respond to the texts will help better develop these skills.

--Value evidence.  This one really stepped on my toes as a teacher.  We all must encourage at least one, if not more, research projects throughout the school year, even in middle school.  I am still emerging in this area, and want to do more.  I KNOW that Jordan struggles with writing the research paper.  Opportunities in high school, such as history, were not always there.  We did not write a research paper in 8th grade, although we did do research through various novel study projects, such as learning about Poe (biography), the Great Depression (historical fiction, researching real interviews and writing), and the Civil Rights Movement (RAFT reports and research).  Perhaps I am selling myself short here, but I still think I need to focus a little more on the art of writing a true research paper.  As a teacher, I feel the burdens of never having enough time, but somehow I've got to figure out how to find the time and the resources to make this practice more manageable and meaningful.

--Use technology and media strategically and capably.  As a school, we have got to get over our aversions to the use of technology and multimedia.  We also need to implementing these uses across the board daily, and not just for reporting purposes.  I think the common core standards will force our school's hand here in a way that is powerfully overdue.  We need to be teaching our students how to be careful, thoughtful, and intelligent technology consumers.  For one of his classes this summer, Jordan has to make a video presentation for his final exam.  Wouldn't it have been great if he already had this foundation in high school rather than no advanced computer application courses at all?  Even with the courses taken on Blackboard in the virtual high school, there could have been, should have been, more orientation and guidance.  As my youngest son lamented after a field trip to Fort Fisher, "I want a camera."  Why?  Because that was all they were allowed to take pictures with--no cell phones or hand-held video games that take pics were allowed.  To the students, however, that was a very natural way to take pictures (which could have been used in post-learning, formative assessment projects), but would have risked those devices being confiscated and detention.  AS A SCHOOL, WE MUST BETTER SUPPORT AND IMPLEMENT TECHNOLOGY! We can no longer hide behind "we don't have the resources" or "these devices are banned", because the common core standards demand that we make technology accessible and relevant for all students.

--Understand others perspectives and cultures.  This area may be Jordan's saving grace.  He is naturally curious, embracing and accepting of others and likes to learn from and with all types of students.  I think we as a school are doing a good job with global awareness, but we need to pay more attention to those diverse learners within out borders--students with exceptionalities, including ADHD, which Jordan struggles with daily.   I hope that the improvements we are making as a school with exceptional students will also remain a huge focus.  Again, the common core standards demand that these students not be disregarded but taught with high expectations for learning.  Perhaps Jordan would be doing better now if his 504 plan had been more of a working document rather than relegated to a dusty file that was out of compliance.  As teachers, we need to learn how to collaborate with each other, students and parents to create working documents (IEPs, PEPs, 504s, etc.) that we can use for the success of all students.

Reflection # 2:  Identify the 4 strands for ELA CCSS and at least 1 cluster for each strand.

As I viewed these content-specific strands, I reflected on my past teaching practices, and areas of focus as I try to make tentative plans for next school year if I get to return.  As I took notes, I wrote down some clusters of focus that I think need need improvement in my good teaching arsenal for success.  The four strands are: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language.  The strands are divided into clusters: key ideas and details (1-3), craft and structure (4-6), integration of knowledge and ideas (7-9), and range of reading and complexity of text (10).  Within each strand, I have posted a few of the clusters that I would like to give focus in my instructional planning and implementation.  I would also like to say that these strands should be taught in a blended manner and not in isolation as separate concepts.  For example, reading and writing should be done in tandem.

--Reading.  1) Analyzing how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of the text.  2) More access and use of diverse media formats--things like wikispaces, podcasts, Prezis, and video presentations...  3) Teaching with more complex texts from history, social studies and science (Gettysburg Address, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation, etc. Use more INFORMATIONAL TEXTS along with literature, which is one of my strengths.)

--Writing.  1) Writing informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas.  2) Continue process writing and try to incorporate more into reading instruction.  3) Using technology and the internet to produce and publish writing in order to interact and collaborate with others.  4) More research projects, using multiple print and digital sources to determine credibility and avoiding plagiarism.  5) More opps for writing, routinely over extended time frames and shorter times with different tasks, purposes and audiences.

--Speaking and Listening.  In this area, I would like for conversations to be more student-driven with less teacher-talk.  Students need to be more adept, and the best way to make this happen is for them to have more opportunities to practice with comprehension and collaboration, and presentation of those newly acquired knowledge and ideas.

--Language.  In this area, I would like to be a little more explicit with grammar and conventions within the context of reading and discussing texts.  I think this will help students grasp command of writing conventions moreso than drills taught in isolation.  I also want to continue to focus on one of my strengths--vocabulary acquisition.  Working with vocabulary is a definite strength for me that I can build on within the classroom.  I am always seeking ways to enhance my teaching skills that will make a positive impact on students.