Something to Think About

Question: What is the most important element in teaching reading?

Answer/Quote: “Bringing compelling motives to reading is as important as direct teaching of reading strategies.” P. 581.

Comment: Emphasizes purpose in reading. The best way to help children establish purpose for reading is by completing a survey of the textbook chapter: The students read the title, subtitles, the first paragraph, the last paragraph, the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph, establish what they have learned and then establish what they want to learn from the chapter.

But how would you help establish purpose for reading nonfiction books, novels and short stories?

Nonfiction books: read the foreword, first and last paragraphs of each chapter. Establish what they have learned and speculate on what they want to learn from the nonfiction book.

Novels: Read for ten minutes near the beginning of the novel, for ten minutes half way through the novel, for ten minutes three-fourths through the novel and for ten minutes near the end. Establish what they have learned and speculate on what they want to learn from the novel.

Short Stories: Read a paragraph a page or a paragraph in each column if there are two or more columns to a page. Establish what they have learned from the short story, and determine what they want to learn from the short story. RayS.

Title: “Reading, Writing, and Thinking Like a Scientist.” G Cervetti and P D Pearson. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (April 2012), 580-586.

Rejection and Writing

Question: How should writers deal with rejection when trying to publish?

Answer/Quote: “I submitted 18 different stories 180 times over a period of five years before I sold my fist book. Suppose I had decided to quit after 180 rejections. If you care about writing and can’t imagine doing anything else, if you enjoy the struggle of shaping a story and finding the right words, and if you love impacting others’ lives, you simply cannot give up.”

Comment: This is for the talented writer in your class. I again urge teachers who are among my readers, to subscribe to The Writer which contains frequent advice from real writers about their experiences in writing. The Writer, Kalmbach Publishing Company, 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187. Customer Sales and Service: (800) 533-6644. RayS.

Title: “How I Write: Ann Whitford Paul.” Robert Allen Papinchak. The Writer (June 2012), 58.

Voice in Writing

Question: What does “finding your voice” mean in writing?

Answer/Quote: “I never knew what was meant by ‘finding your voice.’ But I think I know now. I believe it means finding a way to write that is comfortable for you. It’s finding the method to tell your story that seems natural and unaffected. That way you’re not going to get caught out all the time trying to keep up with some kind of style that you think may be appropriate.” P.33.

Comment: I think this is a good answer to the question about “voice” in writing. However, I think, if I believe this statement, as an English teacher, I might have to alter somewhat the way I teach English, in the direction of accepting a variety of writing styles, not just standard English. I don’t know that I can do that. RayS.

Title: “A Little Inspiration from Maeve Binchy.” Maeve Binchy. The Writer (June 2012), 32-34.

Publishing

Question: What causes an editor to publish a book?

Answer:

> It has a great hook. [That’s “hook,” not “book.”]

> It teaches me something new.

> It’s the first. Or the best. Or both.

> The author has the self-promoter gene.

> It features a smart person writing on a fun subject.

> It’s similar—but not too similar—to books we’ve done well with in recent memory.

> It has crossover appeal to kids and adults, men and women.

> It’s quirky/surprising/memorable.

Comment: Any one or a combination of these characteristics can produce a winner, says the author. RayS.

Title: “Why an Editor Says ‘Yes’… to a Book.” Marian Lizzi. The Writer (June 2012), 30-31.

Reading and Writing in First Grade

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas in English education that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: How do young children use the basal texts in their own writing?

Answer: “Students tended to use the style, format and sentence structure of [basal] readers as models in their own writing.” BL Eckhoff. 1986. P. 440.

Comment: Back in the early 1980’s, my wife Barbara, a first-grade teacher in the Downingtown, PA School District, began making blank paperback books of folded sheets of 8 1/2” x 11”paper, stapled length-wise.

She created an author’s center in which her first-graders made their own books. The results were remarkable. As this research says, the students used the basal stories’ style, format and sentence structure. They put the text either at the top or bottom of each page and drew pictures to illustrate the text at the opposite end of the page. Those first-grade students have retained their “books” even after graduation, which either they have told her or their parents have told her. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1987), 422-443.

Reading and Prior Knowledge

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas in English education that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: What is the effect of prior knowledge of a topic in reading?

Answer: “More prior knowledge enhanced [reading] performance….” NM Yochom. 1986. P. 438.

 Comment: The more you know about a topic, the better you will comprehend it. Many research studies say the same thing. That makes building topic knowledge before reading important, including a survey of the chapter—title, sub-title, first and last paragraphs and first sentence of intermediate paragraphs. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1987), 422-443.

Stories

Question: Why tell, listen to, read and write stories?

Book Review: “Our love of stories is as old as humanity, and for good reason, according to a brilliant young scholar/scientist named Jonathan Gottschall (The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall, Houghton Mifflin, 272 pages. Hardcover or digital, $24.). It’s one of the things that makes us human. Stories allow us to share experiences across generations and teach us how to live properly. Stories are the original ‘virtual-reality’ technology, enabling human beings whether around an ancient campfire or grouped in a prehistoric cave, to learn the way the world works from the safe distance of secondhand narrative. The long-lost story of the first caveman to walk into a lion’s den probably saved untold numbers of lives and may have been the first blockbuster story ever.” P. 20.

Quote: “This is a wonderful book, filled with science (especially neuroscience and evolutionary theory) about the primal appeal of story. Our love of story is what makes us human. ‘Until the day we die,’ Gottschall concludes, ‘we are living the story of our lives. And like a novel in process, our life stories are always changing and evolving, being edited, rewritten, and embellished by an unreliable narrator. We are, in large part, our personal stories.’ Little wonder that we seek to share our stories with others: Our brains are hard-wired to construct and absorb stories This provocative and brilliantly accessible book shows us how and why we’ve always been story telling animals.” P. 21.

Comment: Your students may be interested in these two quotes when questioning the value of literature. And in the book itself. RayS.

Title: “A Provocative Book Delves Into the Science Behind Storytelling.” Chuck Leddy. The Writer (June 2012), 20-21.

Publishing

Question: What does it take to become a published writer?

 Answer/Quote: “Like most writers, I always dreamed of being published but found it hard to break into the club. So I worked for years as anything but a writer. I spent my teens and 20s as a student/ waitress/ receptionist /nanny /farmhand/ retailer /makeup artist/ corporate writer and eventually settled into a career as a part-time English instructor, while editing and writing for a small nonprofit organization. But throughout the 18 years that I was not a working writer, I read voraciously and managed, little by little, to churn out a couple of unpublished novels, a memoir, a few short stories, and several articles and essays.

“Needless to say, I could wallpaper a house with all my rejection letters, bookstore receipts and unpublished pages.” P. 14.

 Mary Curran Hackett’s debut novel, Proof of Heaven, was published by William Morrow/ HarperCollins last fall.

Comment: Note the would-be author’s UNPUBLISHED work. AND her voracious reading. RayS.

Title: “Breakthrough: She Broke the Rules, Then Geared Up and Got Published Anyway.” Mary Curran Hackett. The Writer (June 2012), 14.

Encouragement to Publishing

Question: What does it take to sell an article or story?

Encouragement: “You can’t control when you’ll sell your work. But if you keep writing and marketing your writing, you’ll eventually have an editor say ‘yes.’ ”

Comment: Writing AND marketing. RayS.

Title: “What Yoga Can Teach You about Freelance Writing.” Sarah C. Lange. The Writer (June 2012), 7-8.

Early Reading Instruction

Question: What is one problem with early reading instruction?

Answer/Quote: “Indeed, some argue that limited exposure to informational texts serves as a ‘barrier to full access to literacy’ (Pappas, 1991a, p. 461) and that exposure to informational texts in the early years is crucial if students are to succeed in a world that demands the ability to navigate the genres that dominate the later years of schooling and adulthood (Ogle and Blachowicz, 2002; Venezky, 2000). What is this text type that is so crucial to future success? Informational text….” P. 481.

Comment: In the early years, kindergarten and first grad, we have tended to emphasize narrative text. The authors suggest that read-alouds also include extended experience with information texts on a variety of topics. RayS.

Title: “Young Children’s Limited Narrow Exposure to Informational Text.” RH Yopp and HK Yopp. Reading Teacher (April 2012), 480-490.

Productive Meetings

Question: What Are Some “Meeting Killers”??

The following article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2012.

Quote: “When it comes time for a meeting, co-workers can be deadly. Discussions get hijacked. Bad ideas fall like blunt objects. Long-winded colleagues consume all available oxygen, killing good ideas by asphyxiation.”

Quote: “Co-workers wander off topic, send texts, disrupt decision-making or behave in other dysfunctional ways. :

 Quote: “Multitasking at meetings is such a given that unless a leader sets a "no devices" rule or schedules "tech breaks," nearly everyone texts or sneaks a peek at email during meetings. And yet, that is nothing compared with real sabotage.”

Quote: “Naysayers are the ones who "whatever you bring up, it will never work," says Dana Brownlee, founder of Professionalism Matters, a corporate-training company in Atlanta. One of her strategies is to take serial naysayers to lunch before meetings to let them vent and try to reach agreement. Once the meeting begins, she sets ground rules, requiring anyone who complains also to offer a solution.”

Quote: “And for the toughest offenders, ramblers, Ms. Brownlee sometimes puts an Elmo doll in the center of the meeting table and tells participants, "Anytime anybody in the session thinks we're getting off track, pick up the Elmo doll." This allows co-workers to express frustration without interrupting, she says.”

Quote: “People who ramble can be equally disruptive. Samir Penkar, a Minneapolis project-management consultant, was running daily meetings among 20 employees at an insurance company last year when two participants kept taking the conversation off-track. So, he started bringing in chocolates. Whenever either "started their rambling, I handed them a chocolate," he says. He repeated the tactic six times over two weeks until the employees learned to stick to the agenda.”

Advice from executives, meeting planners and trainers on productive meetings:

•Set a clear agenda.

•Impose a 'no devices' rule or schedule periodic tech breaks for email, texts and phone calls.

•Redirect people back to the agenda when they ramble or digress.

•Draw out quiet people by asking them in advance for a specific contribution.

•Do a 'round robin,' when appropriate, to allow everyone to contribute.

•Ask early for objections to keep them from derailing discussions later.

•Limit the length of slide presentations.

•Interrupt people who talk too long or talk to each other.

•Set an ending time for the meeting and stick to it.

 Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared May 16, 2012, on page D1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Meet the Meeting Killers.

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Mandatory School Testing

Raise your hand if you are saying, “I told you so.”

 The following article is from the Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2012

School-Test Backlash Grows

Some Parents, Teachers and Boards Rebel, Saying Education Is Being Stifled

By STEPHANIE BANCHERO

Quote: “The increasing role of standardized testing in U.S. classrooms is triggering pockets of rebellion across the country from school officials, teachers and parents who say the system is stifling teaching and learning.”

Quote: “The efforts are a response to the spread of mandatory testing in the past decade. Proponents say the exams are needed to ensure students are learning and teachers' effectiveness is measured. Critics say schools are spending disproportionate time and resources on the tests at the expense of more-creative learning. They also contend the results weigh too heavily in decisions on student advancement, teacher pay and the fate of schools judged to have failed.”

Quote: "They've turned a generation of kids into test-taking machines who are lacking creative-thinking ability," said Debbie Shaw, whose two children attend Palm Beach schools. She said she intends to enroll her younger child in a private school next year because she is so angered by Florida's "insane" testing regime.”

Quote: “Research on standardized testing suggests that its value depends on how the results are used. For example, in states where students who fail exams are held back, studies show they don't do better unless they get intensive follow-up instruction in the second year.”

Quote: “The biggest complaint is that teacher and schools are compelled to orient their curricula and classroom experience around passing the exams—known as "teaching to the test." Because many of the exams measure basic standards, critics say, that shortchanges students who could be spending time learning more advanced material.”

Quote: "Teachers are rewarded if we do well on the tests and they don't get rewarded if we leave school with the knowledge we need," said Mr. Goldman, whose mother launched the website "Testing is Not Teaching" in response to complaints from her children. "It's messed up."

Quote: “Testing advocates say it is possible to have a broad exam system without teachers focusing exclusively on the tests. "There are a lot of teachers in Florida who spend their time focused on teaching, not on test prep, and their children are doing quite well on exams," said Florida School Superintendent Gerard Robinson. "This is about accountability and making sure kids are learning, not about using tests to punish people."

Write to Stephanie Banchero at stephanie.banchero@wsj.com

Comment: Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, Use tests to help students learn, not merely to punish teachers. RayS.

Reflection

Question: How can teachers help students relate reflection to goal-setting?

Answer: When finished with learning about a topic or a unit, have students reflect on what they have learned and have them set new goals for themselves.

> “Explain what reflection is and how it works”

> “Demonstrate how to reflect.”

> “Guide students to apply reflection to something they have learned.”

> Conclude with “My new goal is to….”

Comment: Reflection is good. Frankly, I never thought I needed to teach students how to reflect. I think it’s a great idea. RayS.

Adapted from Maureen McLaughlin’s Guided Comprehension in the Primary Grades (2^nd ed.) Reading Teacher (April 2012), 477-479.

Reading and Mathematics

Question: What can we use from our understanding of comprehension techniques to help students understand reading in mathematics?

Answer/Quote:

> “During guided instruction, make explicit connections between reading and mathematics strategies.”

> “Look at math curriculum to find opportunities to apply reading comprehension techniques to mathematical problem-solving situations.”

> “Work with students to create an anchor chart showing reading-math connections.” P. 475.

Comment: Use the same strategies with reading in other subject areas. The authors say that the key is “making connections” between reading comprehension and reading in other disciplines. RayS.

Title: “Connecting Reading and Mathematical Strategies.” JL Halladay and MD Neumann. Reading Teacher (April 2012), 471-476.

Vocabulary

Question: What are some frequent prefix “families”?

Answer: Eight Frequently Occurring Prefix Families Based on Baumann et al. (2002).

“Not” family: dis, un, in im, a: disloyalty, dissimilar; unappetizing, unfortunate; inactive, inadvertent; improper; impure; amoral, apathy.

“Number” family: mono, bi, semi: Monorail, monotone; bilingual; biannual; semicircle, semiformal.

“Below” or “part” family: sub, under: subset, submerge; underweight, underdone.

“Again” and “remove” family: re, de: retell, reconsider; redo; decode, deductive.

“Before” and “after” family: pre, post: preshrunk, preview; postgraduate, postwar.

“Against” family: anti, counter: antifreeze, antisocial; counterattack, countermeasures.

“Excess” family: over, super, out: overpopulation, overflow; superhighway, superheated; outrun, outlandish.

“Bad” family: mis, mal: mistrust, mistreatment; malnutrition, maladptive.

Comment: The authors’ message is to call attention to these prefixes when they appear in reading material and discuss their meanings as a way of decoding other unfamiliar words.

I still say the best vocabulary book on the market today and yesterday is Norman Lewis’s Word Power Made Easy, based on the root structure of the English language. Read the reviews on Amazon.com. They are the same glowing reviews that my students gave when I introduced the book to my ninth graders fifty years ago. You, the teacher, will learn so many new words, based on ideas and root structure, that you will not believe it. Buy the book and use it. Your students will thank you as mine continuously thank me. RayS.

Title: “Word Detectives.” A Goodwin, M Lipsky and S Alm. Reading Teacher (April 2012), 461-470.

Critical Reading

Question: How define critical reading?

Answer/Quote: “Reading from a critical perspective involves thinking  beyond the text to understand such issues as why the author wrote about a particular topic, why he or she wrote from a particular perspective and why some ideas about the topic were included and others were not.” P. 438.

Comment; A working definition of critical reading? RayS.

Title: “Reading Comprehension: What every Teacher Needs to Know.” Maureen McLaughlin. Reading Teacher (April 2012), 432-440.

Book Reports

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: How can teachers make book reports less painful and maybe even enjoyable?

Answer/Quote: “Most students I’ve had loathed book reports even more than tests. This is why I have rethought the whole concept of book reports. I asked myself, why should secondary students do them? What role do book reports play in improving reading and writing? How do they fit in with a disabled reader’s program? What althernatives can be offered that extend a student’s thinking about books? Does book reporting affect a student’s attitude toward reading?”

Three good reasons for using book reports:

> “Book reports teach students how to summarize information, an essential writing/Comprehension skill.

> “Book reports encourage students to reflect on their reading.

> “Book reporting gives students practice in identifying literary devises such as plot, setting and theme.”

 Helping students to write interesting book reports:

> “Always provide a model of a good report as well as a poor one before students begin writing. Have students identify the strengths and weaknesses in each report.

> “Offer students a list of sentence starters to help develop their observations and commentary. Examples: One part I found confusing was…. The author did a particularly great job with…. The most interesting character is…. The message in the story seems to be….

> Show students how to spice up their reports, using quotations, strong verbs, or an attention-grabbing lead.”

Comment: Worth thinking about. RayS.

Title: “The Book Report Battle.” Evelyn Krieger. Journal of Reading (December 1991/January 1992), 340-341.

ESL (English as a Second Language)

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: How can teachers provide opportunities for ESL students to become active language users rather than passive language users?

 Answer/quote: “As for the ways in which bilingual students’ language abilities are being stimulated, the study noted teachers’ common tendency to develop passive rather than active language skills in a class. Because teachers do most of the talking in both monolingual and bilingual classrooms, students’ passive language abilities grow more than do their active abilities to make comments, to discuss topics with each other or in the group, and to think aloud. Teachers could provide many more opportunities for students to practice formulating their own thoughts and expressing these in both the school and home languages.”

Comment: OUCH! We teachers talk too much. We need to give students opportunities to express their own ideas in their own words. We need to stop the passive listening to language and to have them use language actively. I’m guilty. I need to change! RayS.

Title: “Three Bilingual Education Methods Are Equally Effective.” Journal of Reading (December 1991/January 1992), 327. A review of Longitudinal Study of Structured English Immersion Strategy, Early-Exit and Late-Exit Transitional Bilingual Education Programs for Language-Minority Children. U.S. Education Department, Office of Planning Budget and Evaluation, Room 4049, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington DC 202402. USA.

Reading Specialists

Question: What is the goal of the reading specialist?

Answer/Quote: “ ‘So you want to be reading specialists? Well, I have news for you… 60% of the kids are going to learn to read no matter what you do. You are here to learn how to teach the others.’ This is what Dr. Jeanne Chall said to my first class in graduate school while studying about teaching children to read.” P. 34.

Comment: Can’t be stated any more clearly than that. RayS.

Title: “School-based Model for Struggling Readers.” Sally Grimes. Reading Today (April/May 2012), 34.

Common Core Standards on Reading

Question: Can you summarize the intent of the Common Core State Standards on reading?

Answer/Quote: “The Common Core State Standards…attempt to coordinate the education of the children in America. Families move often, therefore we need to have continuity in the teaching of reading throughout the country. The standards are interested in children doing close reads of books so they  can restate the gist of a text, describe, interpret, and apply. They want them to be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate short challenging texts and longer texts. The standards ask teachers to expose children to quality texts with equal amounts of informational and narrative literature. The standards want children to read magazines, poetry, novels, newspapers and new literacies. The Common Core State Standards want children exposed to information to increase vocabulary.” P. 30.

Comment: Can’t argue with the intent of the standards for reading. RayS.

Title: “Core Standards: A Primary Grade Science Unit Using the Language Arts/Literacy Common Core State Standards.” LM Morrow. Reading Today (April/May 2012), 30-31.

Round Robin Reading

Question: What is round robin reading?

Answer/Quote: “The classroom is quiet. All the students have the same book open on their desks. One student is reading aloud. Other students are counting ahead or gazing out into space. The student who just finished reading sighs with relief when her turn is over.”

Question: What is wrong with round robin reading?

Answer:

> “Slower reading rates. …oral reading is typically much slower than silent reading.  Round robin reading encourages the audience to follow along and sub-vocalize along with the student reading aloud.”

> Lower quantity of reading. If round robin reading is the main instructional tool for reading instruction, students will not read frequently enough.

> Off-task behaviors. :In round robin reading, all students are expected to follow along while students take turns reading, usually moving up and down rows or tables.” Students can be observed preparing for their turn and once they have read aloud, they will disengage from the activity.

> Models of dysfluent reading. Fluency requires models. The oral reading in round robin reading is often not fluent.

> Problems with comprehension. “By itself, round robin reading will not help students comprehend better. Passively listening to the words as read by a peer does not mirror the comprehension processes used by effective comprehenders. “

> Problems with self image. Poor readers struggle with their reading, projecting their failures as readers.

Comment: Does anyone still use round robin reading? Apparently, yes. Somehow, this dinosaur of a technique has returned under the guise of fluency in reading. Round robin reading is a time-waster, with no purpose other than to embarrass poor readers, RayS.

Title: “A Literacy Spring Cleaning: Sweeping Round Robin Reading Out of Your Classroom.” L Hilden and J Jones. Reading Today (April/May 2012), 23-24.

Vocabulary

Question: What is Ron Clark’s [Disney’s Teacher of the Year] method for teaching vocabulary?

Answer/Quote: “Often my students’ biggest obstacle [in reading] is vocabulary. So I use games and other techniques to pre-teach select vocabulary that they will subsequently encounter in their reading. Sometimes I even use flash cards. Then when the kids get to the reading, they are thrilled that they recognize and understand the new words.”

Comment: Pre-teaching vocabulary is one of the steps in the traditional directed reading assignment. RayS.

Title:  “Annual Convention: Ron Clark, ‘America’s Educator,’ Tapped for Featured Keynote at Second General Session.” Interview by Ron Clark. Reading Today (April/May 2012), 16-17.

Teacher Education

Question: What does Ron Clark, Disney’s Teacher of the Year, think about teacher education?

Question: “ You have sobering things to say about schools of education: ’One of the biggest challenges facing our education system is that we have college professors all over our country sitting behind desks lecturing their education students on how to be dynamic and engaging teachers. The professors are dull, boring, and doing the exact opposite of what they are asking. Most of them haven’t been in a classroom in years, if not decades.’ Do you envision a better regimen for preparing teacher candidates to enter the profession? What would it entail? What message will you give to the teacher educators in your audience at IRJA Chicago?”

Answer/Quote: “Teacher education needs to be very different. To be a surgeon, for example, you have to spend serious time in actual surgeries, observing  and then assisting. It should be the same with [college education] teachers. They should spend more time out in schools than in college lecture halls.

“My advice to teacher educators is to do better at feeding the expectation of excellence. Show your students that teaching can be dynamic, fun, and passionate. You set the tone. Be the example. Get your students engaged, happy, and excited about the role they’ve chosen to pursue.” P. 17.

Comment: The advice about teacher educators being a model for how to teach with their teacher education students reminds me of a paper I once wrote for a teacher educator. I urged him not to talk about individualizing instruction, but to demonstrate ways in which it can be done with his own teacher education students. His response? “It’s hard.” RayS.

Title:  “Annual Convention: Ron Clark, ‘America’s Educator,’ Tapped for Featured Keynote at Second General Session.” Interview by Ron Clark. Reading Today (April/May 2012), 16-17.

Reading and Prior Knowledge

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Question: What is the effect of prior knowledge of a topic in reading?

Answer: “More prior knowledge enhanced [reading] performance….” NM Yochom. 1986. P. 438.

Comment: The more you know about a topic, the better you will comprehend it. Many research studies say the same thing. That makes building topic knowledge before reading important, including a survey of the chapter—title, sub-title, first and last paragraphs and first sentence of intermediate paragraphs. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1987), 422-443.

Professional Writing

Note: Normally, I do not publish my blog, English Updates, on weekends. However, I publish several other blogs during the week having to do with ideas that are not current, but still useful. On weekends, I will publish samples of these ideas. RayS.

Chapter 14 of Teaching English, How To…. By Raymond Stopper (Xlibris, 2004).

Question: How can I get started writing for publication in professional journals?

Answer: You have to read professional journals if you are going to submit articles for publication in them.
Begin by typing “professional education journals” into the Google search engine. The amount of information you will find—links to journals, sample copies, full on-line articles, etc.—will amaze

Beginning Your Article
Most articles will require background information summarizing other articles that have been written on the topic. In writing your article, you need to lay the groundwork. In effect, you are saying, “Here’s what has been written about the topic up to this point, and here is how my idea improves or modifies what we know about the topic.” A good place to begin to look for such articles is “ERIC” (Education Resource Information Center). The format is easy to use. Abstracts for each article or book are available.

Submitting Your Article

Most educational publications require the completed article to be submitted. Note the process of submission for each journal.

Your cover letter should include the following:

Title of your article
Purpose of the article
A one or two-sentence summary of the article.
Your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
Your position and school affiliation.
Statement that the article has not been submitted to another publication. [To submit the same article to two or more publications is considered unethical.]
Past publications, if any.

 Try to keep your cover letter to a single page, if possible.

Here is the cover letter that I submitted for my article, “Reverse the Image: Involve the Public in Reading and Writing” that was published in the English Journal in October 1982.

Title of Article: Reverse the Image: Involve the public in Reading and Writing

Purpose of Article: Written in response to “Call for Manuscripts” concerning the “basics” in English. The specific purpose of this article is to respond to the question: “How do we talk to a public convinced it’s about time to get back to the basics?”

Summary of Article: To reverse the negative image of public education projected by the media and to help parents understand the limited function of the “basics” in the processes of reading and writing, I involve the public in actual reading and writing activities. I describe two of these activities that I have used successfully.

Author Information: Name, position, school district, address, date of submission, phone and e-mail address.

This article has not been published elsewhere and has not been sent for consideration to any other publication.

Previous Publications:

Peer Reviews

Many professional journals are “peer reviewed,” meaning that copies of your manuscript will be sent to two or more professionals who have expertise or special interest in the topic about which you wrote. These professionals could be primary or secondary teachers, depending on the level at which your article is aimed, or professional educators in colleges and universities. The judgments of the peer reviewers will be most influential in the editor’s decision to publish or not to publish.

 Sources of Topics for Publication

You should consult the journals for “Calls” for manuscripts in future issues of the journal.

Payment

Professional publications usually do not pay for publication. They often send the writer copies of the publication in which the writer’s article appears.

Summary

Writing for publication will help teachers empathize with their students. Teachers who write for publication will not only contribute to the growth of their profession, but will engage directly in the writing process and will be better able to identify with their students as they learn how to write. My experience has been that I have continually learned to write throughout my career. Circumstances for writing change with each writing experience, causing me to adapt to those circumstances.

Students will appreciate knowing that their teachers are also learning to write.