10-second review: Some basic questions about college writing that are apparently never discussed.
Title: “What We Say When We Don’t Talk About Creative Writing.” G. Graff. College English (January 2009), 271. A publication of the National Council of teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: “You would think that we would occasionally come together to discuss such questions as ‘Is writing in the sciences fundamentally different from writing in the humanities or are there important areas of convergence?’ And ‘What is good academic writing anyway?’ The answers to such questions are far from self-evident, and you might suppose that we would feel the need for some consensus on them, to help us cope with our own writing challenges if not to help our students with theirs. Yet I’ve never seen or heard of any college faculty meeting to discuss such questions. It’s evidently assumed that we already agree on them and thus don’t need to discuss them or that we disagree on them, so discussing them would probably get us nowhere.”
Comment: I know I missed golden opportunities when working as K-12 English supervisor. I had two opportunities and did not take advantage of either: 1. To bring the English faculty together to agree on what we meant by good writing. 2. To bring the entire faculty together to discuss similarities and differences in writing in their disciplines and in English. Sigh! RayS.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Secondary School Topic: Ethics of Teaching English
10-second review: The teachers’ ethics can be summed up as the Seven Golden Virtues: faith, hope, charity (love), prudence, temperance, courage and justice.
Title: "A Consideration of the Ethics of Teaching English.” L Christenbury. English Journal (July 2008), 32-37. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: “Antique as these may first appear, all are relevant today. Ethical teachers have faith in the efficacy (effectiveness) of their work in the classroom, hope that their teaching makes a difference in students’ lives, love for what they do and also for those with whom thy do it. Ethical teachers exercise prudence and temperance in their work within the educational system and in their words and actions; they exhibit courage to resist what is misguided or wrong; and, above all, they are dedicated to justice for all students in all educational settings and classrooms. These are not impossible goals or unrealistic ideals.”
Comment: I never thought of the Golden Virtues in quite that way. But they do apply to teaching. And, in my opinion, they are effective ethical guides for me as a teacher. The implications of these values for teaching will, for me, extend well beyond my reading them in this article. I’m afraid I didn’t always follow them as I should have. RayS.
Title: "A Consideration of the Ethics of Teaching English.” L Christenbury. English Journal (July 2008), 32-37. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary/Quote: “Antique as these may first appear, all are relevant today. Ethical teachers have faith in the efficacy (effectiveness) of their work in the classroom, hope that their teaching makes a difference in students’ lives, love for what they do and also for those with whom thy do it. Ethical teachers exercise prudence and temperance in their work within the educational system and in their words and actions; they exhibit courage to resist what is misguided or wrong; and, above all, they are dedicated to justice for all students in all educational settings and classrooms. These are not impossible goals or unrealistic ideals.”
Comment: I never thought of the Golden Virtues in quite that way. But they do apply to teaching. And, in my opinion, they are effective ethical guides for me as a teacher. The implications of these values for teaching will, for me, extend well beyond my reading them in this article. I’m afraid I didn’t always follow them as I should have. RayS.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Secondary School Topic: Discussion Technique
10-second review: At any time, while reading an assigned novel or short story in class, students can say out loud, “Stop!” And ask to discuss anything they don’t understand, are surprised at or find confusing.
Title: “Walking the Talk: Examining Privilege and Race in a Ninth-Grade Classroom.” K Sassi and EE Thomas. English Journal (July 2008), 25. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: I think if I were using this technique, I would have students read certain key passages together from the short story, novel or whatever. I like the idea. The questions for discussing are coming from the students. RayS.
Title: “Walking the Talk: Examining Privilege and Race in a Ninth-Grade Classroom.” K Sassi and EE Thomas. English Journal (July 2008), 25. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: I think if I were using this technique, I would have students read certain key passages together from the short story, novel or whatever. I like the idea. The questions for discussing are coming from the students. RayS.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Secondary School Topic: Students as Readers
10-second review: Ask students to write about and discuss their lives as readers.
Title: “Re-readings and Literacy: How Students’ Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces.” TL Lynch. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (December 2008/January 2009), 341. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary/Quote: “The single suggestion that I have for classroom colleagues is to create a space and time to ask students about their lives as readers. See what you hear. [Now that’s an interesting sentence for foreigners to parse.] What were your students like as readers in elementary school? Do they remember being read to as children? What was the effect of that? Did they ever enjoy reading? Do they still? What happens to our joy of reading as we age? I know that opening up a dialogue about whether students actually read their assigned readings is intimidating and uncomfortable. But it might also offer a new trust and dialogue to the classroom culture.”
Comment: One of the shocks of my life occurred recently when a student I taught in high school English, many years later, told me that he never read a book that I had assigned.
Of course, that was before I learned myself and taught my students the following.
1. Establish a purpose for reading.
2. Nonfiction chapters in textbooks. The directed reading assignment: build up background information. Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary. Set purposes in the form of questions after reading the first paragraph, the first sentence of intermediate paragraphs and the last paragraph and using or extending the ideas they had learned from reading.
3. Fiction—novel: Read for ten minutes in four different parts of the novel—near the beginning, half way through, three-fourths through and near the end. After each ten-minute reading, share what has been learned and raise questions about the ideas that have been read. Formulate a list of questions to answer from reading. If the going is slow, read a paragraph a page until you are again caught up in reading everything.
4. Fiction—short story. Read a single sentence on every page or column. Read a paragraph a page or column. What have you read? Questions? Read the first paragraph, the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph and the last paragraph. What have you learned? Questions? Read to answer the questions.
5. Nonfiction books. Read the foreword or preface. Read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. Then read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. If you’re caught, keep reading.
All of these techniques are designed to draw the reader into reading, to become absorbed in reading, to become immersed in reading. RayS.
Title: “Re-readings and Literacy: How Students’ Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces.” TL Lynch. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (December 2008/January 2009), 341. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary/Quote: “The single suggestion that I have for classroom colleagues is to create a space and time to ask students about their lives as readers. See what you hear. [Now that’s an interesting sentence for foreigners to parse.] What were your students like as readers in elementary school? Do they remember being read to as children? What was the effect of that? Did they ever enjoy reading? Do they still? What happens to our joy of reading as we age? I know that opening up a dialogue about whether students actually read their assigned readings is intimidating and uncomfortable. But it might also offer a new trust and dialogue to the classroom culture.”
Comment: One of the shocks of my life occurred recently when a student I taught in high school English, many years later, told me that he never read a book that I had assigned.
Of course, that was before I learned myself and taught my students the following.
1. Establish a purpose for reading.
2. Nonfiction chapters in textbooks. The directed reading assignment: build up background information. Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary. Set purposes in the form of questions after reading the first paragraph, the first sentence of intermediate paragraphs and the last paragraph and using or extending the ideas they had learned from reading.
3. Fiction—novel: Read for ten minutes in four different parts of the novel—near the beginning, half way through, three-fourths through and near the end. After each ten-minute reading, share what has been learned and raise questions about the ideas that have been read. Formulate a list of questions to answer from reading. If the going is slow, read a paragraph a page until you are again caught up in reading everything.
4. Fiction—short story. Read a single sentence on every page or column. Read a paragraph a page or column. What have you read? Questions? Read the first paragraph, the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph and the last paragraph. What have you learned? Questions? Read to answer the questions.
5. Nonfiction books. Read the foreword or preface. Read the first and last paragraph of each chapter. Then read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. If you’re caught, keep reading.
All of these techniques are designed to draw the reader into reading, to become absorbed in reading, to become immersed in reading. RayS.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Secondary School Topic: Re-reading Favorite Books
10-second review: Students brought to class favorite books from their childhood and/or elementary and middle schools.
Title: “Re-readings and Literacy: How Students’ Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces.” TL Lynch. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (December 2008/January 2009), 334-341. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary: First the author asked the students—without re-reading the book—to write down everything they remembered about the book. Then he asked them to re-read the book and to write what they thought of it now. He gave a model of the essay format. The result? An understanding of how one’s reading changes with age and experience.
Comment: A lesson worth teaching. RayS.
Title: “Re-readings and Literacy: How Students’ Second Readings Might Open Third Spaces.” TL Lynch. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (December 2008/January 2009), 334-341. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary: First the author asked the students—without re-reading the book—to write down everything they remembered about the book. Then he asked them to re-read the book and to write what they thought of it now. He gave a model of the essay format. The result? An understanding of how one’s reading changes with age and experience.
Comment: A lesson worth teaching. RayS.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
K-12 Topic: Vocabulary
10-second review: Teachers’ uncertainty about how to teach vocabulary consistently, especially across disciplines.
Title: “What Reading Teachers Say About Vocabulary Instruction: Voices from the Classroom.” JL Berne and CLZ Blachowicz. Reading Teacher (December 2008/January 2009), 314-322. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary of a survey of 72 educators, K-12 to college, with 56% from elementary schools. In last place in the category of “Most Successful Instructional Strategies,” were “Using Context” and “Pre-teaching Vocabulary Prior to Reading” with 3 people out of 72 listing them. The most successful practice with 13 people was focusing on word parts.
Comment: 72 people is not a very large sample, but if that sample represents a great number of educators, I am completely stunned by the scarce attention given to context and pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading.
One of the major questions from the respondents was consistency in vocabulary development across the disciplines. Piecemeal examples of successful practices can’t do it. Pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading does provide consistency in every discipline as part of the Directed Reading Assignment (DRA)—1. building background information on the topic; 2. pre-teaching unfamiliar words; 3. setting purpose and 4. applying or extending what has been learned from reading.
Among other reasons for pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading, is that students will not see words that they do not know. Try this experiment. After students have read the chapter or article, ask students for the meaning of words you are pretty sure they will not know. They will not have any answer, mainly because they avoided words they did not recognize. Call their attention to the words before they read and they will at least see them and, depending on your work with the words, will understand their meaning.
I repeat again Olive Niles’s challenge to American educators: If every teacher in every discipline used the directed reading assignment, there would be no reading problems in the United States.
And not using context? That’s the second approach to consistency in developing vocabulary across the disciplines. How else do students comprehend on their own unless they learn to use context to guess at the meanings of unfamiliar words?
Migosh! Did the directed reading assignment and learning words from context go away with whole language, like every other consistent approach to helping kids learn to read systematically? How on earth did the whole- language people teach students to read? I’m beginning to think that they used the “think system” borrowed from Professor Harold Hill’s The Music Man. RayS.
Title: “What Reading Teachers Say About Vocabulary Instruction: Voices from the Classroom.” JL Berne and CLZ Blachowicz. Reading Teacher (December 2008/January 2009), 314-322. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Summary of a survey of 72 educators, K-12 to college, with 56% from elementary schools. In last place in the category of “Most Successful Instructional Strategies,” were “Using Context” and “Pre-teaching Vocabulary Prior to Reading” with 3 people out of 72 listing them. The most successful practice with 13 people was focusing on word parts.
Comment: 72 people is not a very large sample, but if that sample represents a great number of educators, I am completely stunned by the scarce attention given to context and pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading.
One of the major questions from the respondents was consistency in vocabulary development across the disciplines. Piecemeal examples of successful practices can’t do it. Pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading does provide consistency in every discipline as part of the Directed Reading Assignment (DRA)—1. building background information on the topic; 2. pre-teaching unfamiliar words; 3. setting purpose and 4. applying or extending what has been learned from reading.
Among other reasons for pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary before reading, is that students will not see words that they do not know. Try this experiment. After students have read the chapter or article, ask students for the meaning of words you are pretty sure they will not know. They will not have any answer, mainly because they avoided words they did not recognize. Call their attention to the words before they read and they will at least see them and, depending on your work with the words, will understand their meaning.
I repeat again Olive Niles’s challenge to American educators: If every teacher in every discipline used the directed reading assignment, there would be no reading problems in the United States.
And not using context? That’s the second approach to consistency in developing vocabulary across the disciplines. How else do students comprehend on their own unless they learn to use context to guess at the meanings of unfamiliar words?
Migosh! Did the directed reading assignment and learning words from context go away with whole language, like every other consistent approach to helping kids learn to read systematically? How on earth did the whole- language people teach students to read? I’m beginning to think that they used the “think system” borrowed from Professor Harold Hill’s The Music Man. RayS.
Monday, March 2, 2009
K-12 Topics: Interesting Research (4)
10-second review: Variety of topics and findings in recent research.
Title: “Annotated of Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” ed. R Beach, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (RTE) (November 2008), 188-235. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
1. Knowledge of Writing. Do students who have knowledge of writing write better? “Finds that fourth-grade skilled writers were more knowledgeable than their less skilled peers.”
[Comment: Seems like a no-brainer. Still it shows that teaching writing pays off. Nice to know that. RayS.]
B Saddler and S Graham. (2007). “The Relationship Between Writing Knowledge and Writing Performance Among More and Less Skilled Writers.” Reading and Writing Quarterly, 23 (3), 231-247. RTE (November 2008), 230.
2. Writing Scores. How are 2007’s students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing assessment doing when compared to other years’ tests? “Finds that the average writing scores of eighth- and twelfth-graders were higher in 2007 than in previous assessments in 2002 and 1998.”
[Comment: Doesn’t say by how much. These summarizing snippets of research don’t give the reader much detail. Still the information is encouraging. You can read the entire report online as listed below. RayS.].
D Salahu-Din, H Persky and I Miller. (2008). The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2007. Washington DC: National Assessment of Educational Progress. Retrieved June 22, 2008, from http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2007. RTE (November 2008), 231.
Title: “Annotated of Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” ed. R Beach, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (RTE) (November 2008), 188-235. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
1. Knowledge of Writing. Do students who have knowledge of writing write better? “Finds that fourth-grade skilled writers were more knowledgeable than their less skilled peers.”
[Comment: Seems like a no-brainer. Still it shows that teaching writing pays off. Nice to know that. RayS.]
B Saddler and S Graham. (2007). “The Relationship Between Writing Knowledge and Writing Performance Among More and Less Skilled Writers.” Reading and Writing Quarterly, 23 (3), 231-247. RTE (November 2008), 230.
2. Writing Scores. How are 2007’s students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing assessment doing when compared to other years’ tests? “Finds that the average writing scores of eighth- and twelfth-graders were higher in 2007 than in previous assessments in 2002 and 1998.”
[Comment: Doesn’t say by how much. These summarizing snippets of research don’t give the reader much detail. Still the information is encouraging. You can read the entire report online as listed below. RayS.].
D Salahu-Din, H Persky and I Miller. (2008). The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2007. Washington DC: National Assessment of Educational Progress. Retrieved June 22, 2008, from http://nationsreportcard.gov/writing_2007. RTE (November 2008), 231.
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