Ten-second review: Why do we read and write?
Title: "Writing and Painting Our Lives into Being: School, Home, and the Larger Community as Transformative Spaces for Learning.” Ralph A Cordova, Jr. Language Arts (September 2008), 18-27. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “So, have you ever asked yourself why painters paint, writers and readers write and read? Why teachers teach? We do it because we are reaching. We reach across spaces for substance and sustenance. We understand our self-realization only in realizing the lived experiences of others. As members of multiple communities, we can learn to reach across spaces and peoples like (sic.) we reach across familiar and unfamiliar books, navigating complex terrains and emerging transformed.”
Comment: The author’s somewhat poetic response to the fundamental questions of why we read, write and teach is worth thinking about. Why do you read, write and teach? And try answering these questions without resorting to clichés.
I read to gather ideas about life and experience. I write to learn, clarify and shape what I think and to share my ideas with others. I teach to help others develop their purposes and skills for learning, reading and writing—without my assistance.
Why do you read, write and teach? And everyone teaches.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Topic: Parents of First Graders and Writing
10-second review: Parents of first graders should focus on meaning in their children’s writing and make only one or two corrections per piece of writing.
Title: “Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children’s Writing.” KF Cusumano. Language Arts (September 2008), 9-17. A publication of the National Council of the Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “In fact, the homework (in first grade) began to come back looking as if a child, instead of an adult, wrote it. Family and community members began to relax a bit, choosing one or two mistakes for a child to correct per piece of writing. Some of my reluctant writers happily reported to me that their family and community members no longer made them write a rough draft, correct all their mistakes, and then rewrite it in their best handwriting”
Comment: Oh! Oh! Another issue. Should student writing be posted without correction? But it is also hard to imagine first graders writing a complete composition, correcting all their mistakes and writing a final copy in their best handwriting.
Perhaps there’s a middle road. My wife, a first-grade teacher, used to have students write paperback books on four or more folded (eight pages or more) that looked like the children’s books she read to them. First came the text. Their stories were wonderful. In the beginning she corrected their stories with them. Then they drew their pictures. They were posted with the corrections. They did not copy it over in their best handwriting. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Title: “Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children’s Writing.” KF Cusumano. Language Arts (September 2008), 9-17. A publication of the National Council of the Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “In fact, the homework (in first grade) began to come back looking as if a child, instead of an adult, wrote it. Family and community members began to relax a bit, choosing one or two mistakes for a child to correct per piece of writing. Some of my reluctant writers happily reported to me that their family and community members no longer made them write a rough draft, correct all their mistakes, and then rewrite it in their best handwriting”
Comment: Oh! Oh! Another issue. Should student writing be posted without correction? But it is also hard to imagine first graders writing a complete composition, correcting all their mistakes and writing a final copy in their best handwriting.
Perhaps there’s a middle road. My wife, a first-grade teacher, used to have students write paperback books on four or more folded (eight pages or more) that looked like the children’s books she read to them. First came the text. Their stories were wonderful. In the beginning she corrected their stories with them. Then they drew their pictures. They were posted with the corrections. They did not copy it over in their best handwriting. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Topic: Technology
10-second review: Technology’s use in the classroom is not centered on the technology itself, but on its uses in teaching English more effectively.
Title: “It’s Not about the Technology.” Carla Beard. Council Chronicle (September 2008), 32. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Noted educator David Warwick says it best: ‘The most important thing to remember about technology in our classroom is that it is not about technology…. The technology comes along because it has become the pen and paper, light and sound, of the twenty-first century.”
Comment: It’s not the technology itself, but its usefulness in teaching English. Couldn’t have said it better.
That’s the reason, back in the early 1980’s, that I rejected the most sophisticated—and expensive—word processing program developed by IBM, for a much simpler version that allowed students to add, delete, substitute, move and spell-check text almost without thinking, as staff and students learned how to use the word processor in writing instruction.
The most sophisticated word processing program might have been able to do more sophisticated things with print, but the simple program enabled staff and students to use it in learning to write. I had seen so many people discouraged by learning the sophisticated word processor, requiring concentration on how the word processor worked, that I knew my purpose needed to be to use the word processor to write almost without thinking in using its basic features. Boy, was I ever criticized for making that decision—but not by the staff or students. They appreciated its ease of use. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Title: “It’s Not about the Technology.” Carla Beard. Council Chronicle (September 2008), 32. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Noted educator David Warwick says it best: ‘The most important thing to remember about technology in our classroom is that it is not about technology…. The technology comes along because it has become the pen and paper, light and sound, of the twenty-first century.”
Comment: It’s not the technology itself, but its usefulness in teaching English. Couldn’t have said it better.
That’s the reason, back in the early 1980’s, that I rejected the most sophisticated—and expensive—word processing program developed by IBM, for a much simpler version that allowed students to add, delete, substitute, move and spell-check text almost without thinking, as staff and students learned how to use the word processor in writing instruction.
The most sophisticated word processing program might have been able to do more sophisticated things with print, but the simple program enabled staff and students to use it in learning to write. I had seen so many people discouraged by learning the sophisticated word processor, requiring concentration on how the word processor worked, that I knew my purpose needed to be to use the word processor to write almost without thinking in using its basic features. Boy, was I ever criticized for making that decision—but not by the staff or students. They appreciated its ease of use. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Topic: Research on Writing
Topic: Research-based Recommendations for Teaching Writing Effectively
10-second review: Length of papers; types of assignments; grammar; collaborative writing; compose in a variety of media; respond to drafts; variety of assessments including portfolios.
Title: “Research-based Recommendations for Effective Writing Instruction and Assessment.” James R. Squire Office for Policy Research. Council Chronicle (September 2008), 20. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary:
Students should write extensively in order to prepare for 5-page papers in high school and ten-page papers in college.
Assignments should interpret and analyze.
Grammar should be functional, i.e., studied in the context of writing.
Students should learn to write collaboratively.
Students should learn to compose using a variety of media—film, slides, tape recorders as well as print.
Respond to student drafts, not just the final copy.
Evaluate writing using a variety of assessment tools—rubrics, scales and portfolios in which student papers are collected.
Comment: Can’t argue with these recommendations. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
10-second review: Length of papers; types of assignments; grammar; collaborative writing; compose in a variety of media; respond to drafts; variety of assessments including portfolios.
Title: “Research-based Recommendations for Effective Writing Instruction and Assessment.” James R. Squire Office for Policy Research. Council Chronicle (September 2008), 20. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary:
Students should write extensively in order to prepare for 5-page papers in high school and ten-page papers in college.
Assignments should interpret and analyze.
Grammar should be functional, i.e., studied in the context of writing.
Students should learn to write collaboratively.
Students should learn to compose using a variety of media—film, slides, tape recorders as well as print.
Respond to student drafts, not just the final copy.
Evaluate writing using a variety of assessment tools—rubrics, scales and portfolios in which student papers are collected.
Comment: Can’t argue with these recommendations. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Topic: Teachers' Uses of Technology in the Classroom
Ten-second survey: Teachers use technology to duplicate what they already do with existing resources. There’s nothing innovative about teachers’ use of technology.
Title: “Learning from Teachers’ Conceptions of Technology Integration: What Do Blogs, Instant Messages and 3D Chat Rooms Have to Do with It?” BC Boling. Research in the Teaching of English (August 2008), 74-100. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Despite increased focus on technology and recognition that teachers must be prepared to provide technology-supported learning opportunities for students, research has shown that little technology is actually being used in classrooms in meaningful and transformative ways. Instead of using technology to contribute to learner-centered teaching approaches which can improve learning, many educators are using technology in ways that replicate what can be done with overhead projectors, television or blackboards…. …educators still face the fact that the highest likelihood of integration will occur only if they value technology integration and see compatibility between its innovative uses and their existing values and beliefs.”
Comment: I think the last sentence, which I have italicized, is significant. If teachers believe in the directed reading assignment (DRA), for example, technology must be used within that framework (build background experience, pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary, preview to raise questions to answer when reading and apply what has been learned from reading) or teachers will not use it.
On the other hand, a superintendent I once worked with gave junior high students a problem in science, made the technology available to them on which they had been trained and students set about trying to solve the problem and produce a presentation to show that they had solved it. Chaotic to be sure, but the students succeeded in using the technology themselves, solved the problem, sometimes using different methods, and made excellent and interesting presentations. I did not think it would work, but it did.
I think that “…the highest likelihood of integration” of technology into classroom activities will occur if teacher educators use technology in innovative ways when teaching the teachers in teacher education classes. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Title: “Learning from Teachers’ Conceptions of Technology Integration: What Do Blogs, Instant Messages and 3D Chat Rooms Have to Do with It?” BC Boling. Research in the Teaching of English (August 2008), 74-100. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Despite increased focus on technology and recognition that teachers must be prepared to provide technology-supported learning opportunities for students, research has shown that little technology is actually being used in classrooms in meaningful and transformative ways. Instead of using technology to contribute to learner-centered teaching approaches which can improve learning, many educators are using technology in ways that replicate what can be done with overhead projectors, television or blackboards…. …educators still face the fact that the highest likelihood of integration will occur only if they value technology integration and see compatibility between its innovative uses and their existing values and beliefs.”
Comment: I think the last sentence, which I have italicized, is significant. If teachers believe in the directed reading assignment (DRA), for example, technology must be used within that framework (build background experience, pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary, preview to raise questions to answer when reading and apply what has been learned from reading) or teachers will not use it.
On the other hand, a superintendent I once worked with gave junior high students a problem in science, made the technology available to them on which they had been trained and students set about trying to solve the problem and produce a presentation to show that they had solved it. Chaotic to be sure, but the students succeeded in using the technology themselves, solved the problem, sometimes using different methods, and made excellent and interesting presentations. I did not think it would work, but it did.
I think that “…the highest likelihood of integration” of technology into classroom activities will occur if teacher educators use technology in innovative ways when teaching the teachers in teacher education classes. RayS.
The purpose of this blog, English Updates, is to review interesting contemporary (2008-2009) articles from professional English education journals at all levels—elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and college.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Topic: The Uses of Stories
Ten-second review: Telling stories is the means of interpreting experience, and learning to compose narratives enriches life.
Title: “Teaching Trickster Tales: A Comparison of Instructional Approaches.” Maria Jarvey, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (August 2008), 42-73. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Storytelling is one of the most powerful means we as humans have to capture, interpret and share…experience…. The creation and sharing of stories is…efficient and powerfully effective…for transmitting cultural knowledge, values and beliefs. From toddlerhood to old age, we use narratives in our lives to articulate, reflect on, and share our interpretations of experience…. Stories create templates for behavior and its interpretation…. Through narrative we develop a deeper understanding of the social world—of how others think, why they behave the way they do, and the implications individuals’ actions hold for others…. In sum, the ability to comprehend and compose narratives is intrinsic to human life, and refining these abilities adds richness and depth to that life.”
Comment: The importance of teaching students to write narratives, not only as stand-alones, but also as supporting details in expository writing.
A thought: “Stories create templates for behavior….” and yet we resist the censors’ claims that stories teach negative behavior. Just a thought.
And another thought: What are the best ways to teach students to write narratives? RayS.
This blog, English Updates, reviews selected articles from current (2008-2009) professional English education journals.
Title: “Teaching Trickster Tales: A Comparison of Instructional Approaches.” Maria Jarvey, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (August 2008), 42-73. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “Storytelling is one of the most powerful means we as humans have to capture, interpret and share…experience…. The creation and sharing of stories is…efficient and powerfully effective…for transmitting cultural knowledge, values and beliefs. From toddlerhood to old age, we use narratives in our lives to articulate, reflect on, and share our interpretations of experience…. Stories create templates for behavior and its interpretation…. Through narrative we develop a deeper understanding of the social world—of how others think, why they behave the way they do, and the implications individuals’ actions hold for others…. In sum, the ability to comprehend and compose narratives is intrinsic to human life, and refining these abilities adds richness and depth to that life.”
Comment: The importance of teaching students to write narratives, not only as stand-alones, but also as supporting details in expository writing.
A thought: “Stories create templates for behavior….” and yet we resist the censors’ claims that stories teach negative behavior. Just a thought.
And another thought: What are the best ways to teach students to write narratives? RayS.
This blog, English Updates, reviews selected articles from current (2008-2009) professional English education journals.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Topic: Researchers as "Mythbusters."
10-second review: Researchers in education need to present their findings to teachers in entertaining and informative ways.
Title: “Professional Resources.” RJ Draper and D Fisher. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL) (September 2008), 88-92. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary: The authors say that the TV program Mythbusters (Discovery Channel), researches “myths” (common beliefs) and concludes either to “bust” or confirm them, reject the “myths” as untrue or accept their truth. The program is quite entertaining. Education researchers complain that teachers do not read their findings and results that also essentially “bust” (reject) or confirm educational theories and “myths.” Why not present their findings and results in a more entertaining and informative way?
Comment: Good thought. I can think of at least two reasons researchers in education do not present their findings and results in entertaining ways:
1. They are locked into the jargon of research.
2. Their findings and results are not clear-cut as are the myths in Mythbusters. Most of educational research “suggests” results and cannot be as definitive as the “myths” that are “busted” or confirmed in the TV show. Still, a more entertaining presentation of results and findings should be considered. Any ideas out there? RayS.
The purpose of this blog is to present articles of interest from professional education journals to teachers of English at all levels.
Title: “Professional Resources.” RJ Draper and D Fisher. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL) (September 2008), 88-92. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary: The authors say that the TV program Mythbusters (Discovery Channel), researches “myths” (common beliefs) and concludes either to “bust” or confirm them, reject the “myths” as untrue or accept their truth. The program is quite entertaining. Education researchers complain that teachers do not read their findings and results that also essentially “bust” (reject) or confirm educational theories and “myths.” Why not present their findings and results in a more entertaining and informative way?
Comment: Good thought. I can think of at least two reasons researchers in education do not present their findings and results in entertaining ways:
1. They are locked into the jargon of research.
2. Their findings and results are not clear-cut as are the myths in Mythbusters. Most of educational research “suggests” results and cannot be as definitive as the “myths” that are “busted” or confirmed in the TV show. Still, a more entertaining presentation of results and findings should be considered. Any ideas out there? RayS.
The purpose of this blog is to present articles of interest from professional education journals to teachers of English at all levels.
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