New Literacies vs. Outdated Assessments

The more I delved in the 46 page article, (co-authored by our one-and-only Dr. Dana) on new literacies and it's affect on our mental processes, the more something I read recently itched at me as seeming very inconsistent. The article we read on Monday on reading comprehension dazzled me. I took so much from it and fully intend to spead around the teaching staff at my school. One of the things that reverberated through me as I read was this, "Students are asked to read a text in order to answer questions designed to do little more than test whether they have understood and remember the text read." (Pressley?) To me, this is the epitome of linear thinking-read this, answer these, no indepth thinking necessary! And doesn't this encapsulate the nature of standardized testing?

To be literate on the internet, as the article for this week states, you must be able to change and adapt. Very Darwinian. And in order to adapt to this, somewhere along the way, thinking and forming ideas went from a literal process (think/read this and come up with an answer- cause and effect) to cylindrical and tangential and utterly weblike. So how come our educational systems are still set up in a linear fashion? I don't know if what I'm pondering makes sense.

All of this makes me think of a now 6th grade student of mine. Let's call him Marvin. Marvin cannot spell to save his life. His writing is weak and while he is making leaps and bounds on his comprehension and high level thinking skills, when he came to me fresh out of Catholic school he hated reading and couldn't challenge text. So imagine my pleasant surprise to find out that Marvin is a faithful blogger on his MySpace page. I don't want to compromise his privacy and read his page, but I bet on MySpace, he is eloquent, thoughtful and highly literate. Because that arena is set up for casual expression, I'm guessing Marvin sees it as a way to shine without consequence, also using the tools so immediately at his disposal, like spell/grammar check. So who am I to say in a classroom that he's going to get a "c" in language arts because he doesn't study his spelling words, doesn't use appropriate figurative language in his writing, and hasn't shown that he's mastered the reading comprehension skills taught all year. Marvin is writing and publishing his work in the big wide world without me, without school AND without hitting the state standards. He's literate online.

Anyway, other things I was thinking when reading the article this week:

How does instantly recieving information affect our attention spans and level of patience when interacting with the real world?

With the new demands of information-age organizations, it becomes that much more necessary to teach critical thinking skills as opposed to question-answer reading comprehension.

Should I encourage the students to do more reading of texts online instead of paper-based reading? Also, how do I teach my students what are reputable texts online when information is always changing?

Routman's Professional Development

At my school, we are fortunate enough to have professional development every Thursday from 3:30-5pm, (when we are all exhausted.) In theory and as Routman has presented in her chapter "Developing Collaborative Communities," professional development is a great opportunity to meld a faculty of professionals into a cohesive team, all working together toward a common goal. In reality, in my school it has become everything and more Routman describes in "Concerns about Staff Development." It seems like the administration clings greedily onto the control over our professional development sessions. They resist allowing teachers to work together to plan, they bring in outside training that wastes money and our time, and when those on the staff have a graduate pedagogical class during professional development time, eyebrows raise all over the place.

I'm torn on Routman idea's on staff-led prof. dev. sessions. On the one hand, I feel like it's another huge burden to prepare a development session on top of planning, teaching, grading, etc., but I think the staff can grow the most by having sincere dialogue. If we sat in groups and discussed problems we encounter, new theories or research, and air grievances we have been harbouring, I think it would heal a staff that feels overburderned, isolated and underappreciated.

Sounds great, right? Here's the political part. How does the staff win over the administration without making enemies? In my school, we are without a union to safeguard us against any fallout that we might encounter trying to better the school from the ground up. There have been times when a group of teachers have gone right to the board over the heads of the administrators- only to receive dirty looks and a very scarcastic/caustic email the next day.

Ultimately, I'm starting to feel that Routman teaches in a utopia. Parents are appreciative and never hassle, classrooms are large enough for carpets, writing stations and reading centers, and there are floating subs in case you're conducting student conferences on wanna pop in and observe a collegue. Do Routman and Nancy Atwell teach in the same school in Maine where students never goof off during writing conferences? The kicker is when she writes, "I never take the stance that my students failed. If my lesson failed, it's because I didn't set it up so that the kids could be successful, which is my job as a teacher." Don't the kids ever take responsibility for ruining a lesson? I understand that if they don't meet the set objective, then the lesson should be revisited in a new way. I'm all too familiar with that. But I have some lessons in the past when the students did not do what was expected and the lesson suffered. That's my fault?

The more I read this book, the more I feel that Routman is an unreachable ideal exsisting in a manicured, museum of a school. Something we can all aspire to, but in the most generous of conditions.

Assessment- Routman chpt 15

As I read chapter 15 in Routman, "Evaluation as Part of Teaching," I find myself coming up way short in my own self-assessment. As Routman writes on page 558, "Unless we match our beliefs with useful and developmentally appropriate practices, we are just going through the motions." This sums up my academic year- going through the motions. I have given too many assessments that are meaningless out of habit, without ever really questioning the purpose. Therefore, in this blog, I thought I would evaluate some of my old practices, prior to this course:

Portfolios- F
I have been given portfolios of students from earlier grades, that instead of reviewing, I've given back to them and told them to take home. Also, we (my co-teacher and I) keep record of tests for back-up against parent complaints. We have not kept record of the students progress other than these files, and the students sure-as-heck had no say in what went in.

New Outlook:
Portfolios are indeed a great way for students to take pride in their work as well as monitor their own growth. Just the other day I found my own fifth grade writer's notebook. I was astounded at how mature my word choice was then as well as how creative a writer I was- and how as a teacher my own students were not as advanced. However, I question how to find the time to organize them, where to store them (I have the smallest classroom in the school), and if I don't know how to use them to evaluate student growth, how do I coach the students to use them for self-assessment?

Rubrics- B-
While I have created clear rubrics for assignment, distributed them among the students, and reviewed them as a class, I have found very few of the students' products match up to the specifications of the rubrics.

New Outlook:
As Routman writes on page 573, "They have to see and experience was "quality" looks like." Next year I'll include samples of quality work with the rubrics. Also, I'll incorporate the students' ideas so they have ownership over the activity.

Self-Assessment (teacher and student)- F
I have always been afraid of what the students would respond if I gave them opportunity to grade my teaching. So I haven't given them a say. As far as the students' self-assessment, I never knew how to incorporate their own assessment into an assignment. Do they assess their homework? Their writing? Do they assess themselves weekly or once a trimester?

New Outlook:
While I still am unclear how and where to incorporate a self-assessment portion to my instruction, I will certainly try it- both for myself and for the students. Also, something I learned at TC but never did was keep a journal for myself and reflect on each lesson. I find myself constantly crammed for time and it's always escaped me. I resolve here and now to start.

Parent Communication: B
At my school, we have to write narratives on the students' report cards. Some parents have confessed that they don't read them, and the students' teachers in the higher grades confess they don't read them to inform their practice. Writing these narratives is such a time-waster, that in order to get them all done and not consume our time at home with our families, I know teachers who have stopped instruction and shown movies to get them done (i have never done this). I do take pride in being as thorough as I can, but ultimately- what's the point?

I do have to a better job of communicating with the parents more regularly, however. Something Routman doesn't mention is in this litigious world, emailing parents or using a paper-trail sometimes ends in a legal battle. Because of this, my co-teacher and I decided to primarily depend on phone communication, which is more time-consuming and harder to actually contact the parent.

All in all, I am learning a great deal as to how to underhaul my own instruction and assessment practices. My prevailing question in this whole book has been, where do these teachers find the time to do all of this wonderful work? Don't they have homes they have to go to?

Sorry for the novel, Kelly!

Before I comment on chapter four in the Routman text, I wanted to remark upon an interesting conversation I had with my teacher-friend, since I bounce many ideas off her in an effort to understand them better myself. I told her about Maturation Theory and she connected it to reading To Kill a Mockingbird. In the story, despite the fact that Scout gets scolded for being able to read so young, Atticus continues to read the newspaper with her, albeit on the "down-low." Never before had that made sense to my friend, and it brought to me a new understanding of such a perplexing theory.

Okay- chapter 7 in Routman. Admittedly, it's taking me forever to get through this chapter. There is so much about her arguements of phonics vs. whole language that make me question pretty much everything about my practice. As I've said, I teach fifth grade, so I don't do much phonics anyway. But I'm glad I know the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness, because I have many students who have no idea how to spell, and originally I thought it was phonemic awareness.

Because it has been easier to plan and more predictable to teach, I have been using the McGraw Hill reading program, and on top of that, teaching many skills in isolation. I thought I was doing okay, especially when it came back that most of my students were proficient on the ASK. That said, I have many students who don't converse with the text, who can't apply the comprehension skills I teach and worse yet, who hate to read. Routman writes on page 97,"What I and many middle and upper-grade teachers find is that most struggling readers can recognize and read words; their difficulty lies in understanding them." I see this ALL THE TIME! Even this morning in summer school, I had a student read a paragraph to me to hear how he pronounced the larger poly-syllabic words. One word he read was "established." He glided right through it beautifully. I then asked him what it meant- silence. Like a little turtle, he curled up in his shell. I walked him through how to use context clues to find the meanings of unfamiliar words- still nothing. Needless to say, I am so grateful to be learning how to reorganize my practice to teach for understand.

I have many ideas about how to better my language arts curriculum, but my social studies instruction is very teacher-centered. We have so much rich content to get through, I don't know how to employ the same language arts techniques when we're focused on imparting information, not enhancing comprehension skills. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

TIP 5,6,7

In glancing through other blogs, I see a popular theory to remark upon has been Maturation theory. It struck me as odd as well, probably because it contradicts everything I’ve thought about the development of reading (as well as the theories of the social-interactionists, if I understand it correctly). I see, however, that this theory was especially prevalent in the 1930’s-1950’s. I find myself questioning what the historical implications were on this theory- if because of the Depression, many people couldn’t work and had to do whatever to get by, and as a result, the general populace was uneducated and seen as a possible hindrance to their children’s literacy development. Am I reading too much into it?

I am much more aligned with Emergent Literacy Theory and Family Literacy Theory. While I have fond memories of reading with my mother, which no doubt enabled me to become a grade-level, sufficient reader in early grade school, I don’t recall reading being a culture in my household. My parents were busy with their lives, and when it was time to relax, we would gather ‘round the tv. Now, after a busy day, my fiancé and I do the same. Rarely do either of us pick up a book to amuse ourselves.

In the research conducted by Shirley Brice Heath sited in chapter 6, I recognize many of students as primarily a mix of Maintown and Roadville students, with a few Trackton thrown in from the local housing projects. By 5th and 6th grade, I see a huge disparity in not the basic word recognition/lower level comprehension, but in the ability to think on higher levels. Sometimes I feel like I am straddling these two drastic levels of ability, trying to “differentiate instruction” while my middle-of-the road students continue to drift in the current of the status quo. I know, I know- preachin’ to the choir. It’s funny that we’re the ones learning this stuff- that there isn’t some program that can be passed along with food stamps to the at-risk communities to tell them- “Hey- read with your kids and they’ll do much better in school!” Then again, who can read to their kids when working three jobs to make ends meet?

Anyway, all of these socio-learning theories in chapter 6 are a big “Nooooo- really?” (insert scarcasm here). That said, I find the socio-cultural theories particularly interesting. Moll’s application of this theory to marginalized students in rural communities made me wonder about my students from the projects who are either so sheltered that they have little to no experience of the outside world (less severe than Emily Dickison, but you know what I mean) or my latch-key kids- the one who have seen and probably know Hudson county gang members. While kids in the rural communities are raised with a background knowledge to assist the family, kids in at–risk urban communities are raised with a background knowledge of “It’s dangerous out there! It’s safer to stay in and play video games!” If I’m coming off too dramatic, please excuse me.

Blogs are dangerous soap boxes

Language aquisition

After reading the Wikipedia article on language acquisition, I went out Friday night with it in the back of my mind. I ended up discussing the matter with a friend of mine. He had limited knowledge of reading and language acquisition, but had theories nonetheless. I told him about Noam Chomsky's theory that children are born with the innate ability to acquire language, which he agreed with. We ended up discussing that oral language is innate and a natural characteristic of being human, like having opposable thumbs. Reading, on the other hand, is skill that we evolved into acquiring, since systems of writing were "invented" far after our hominid ancestors were communicating orally. Reading has to be taught (beyond the stage of word recognition, anyway), and if someone fails to learn it, they can still communicate fluently.

This brings me to the third article "Mama teached me to talk." While children have the innate ability to pick and use the most meaningful words when just beginning to speak (see the example "daddy go" instead of "daddy is going"), they still learn to speak by modeling adult language. Reading must be somewhat similar. I remember the hours I spent with my mother, her reading books to me like "Are you my Mother," "Harry the Dirty Dog," and my favorite, "Never talk to Strangers" (which may or may not have crippled me socially- but hey, I was never kidnapped!) I recall listening to the rise and fall of her voice and struggling to make sense of the groups of letters on the page. I also remember sitting next to my father holding up the newspaper and pretending to read. In retrospect, I was beginning to learn to read by watching and copying my parents.

Ciaran O'Riodan's site also brought back memories. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to speak, curse, breath, eat and dream in Italian. I took courses here, none of which helped all that much. I moved to Florence to immerse myself in the language, and at the same time I took Italian language courses. I stayed for four months and at the end, I was just starting to be able to take part in conversations. I moved home, and lost it all at once.

Therefore, the difficulty of "second language acquisition" to me only serves to emphasize that true, easy, language acquisition does happen only in childhood. When adults to endeavor to learn a second language, we just flounder in trying to bend our minds to absorb something that used to come as easily and naturally as learning to chew and swallow.

Yet, I every day I spend reading text, I become a better reader, just as I did when I was a child.

three readings- 6/27

Of the three readings, I had the strongest reaction to the Wikipedia article and the article entitled "Silencing Teachers in an Era of Scripted Reading."

The first article, "The Greatest Art for the Littlest Readers," struck me more of a PR piece than anything else. That said, the quote by Yvonne Pollack in the third paragraph reminded me of my experience watching my fifth graders read to local preschoolers. As my students slowly pass over the words, the preschoolers sit beside, transfixed by the plot they're hearing and the pictures they're seeing. This must be the primary step to developing an awareness of (and attachment to) character, setting and plot. In essence, an illustrator of a children's book has the more important role in reaching the intended audience.

The Wikipedia article reinforced concepts about literacy vs. power that I was aware of, but never stopped to truly consider. In social studies, we teach that in ancient civilizations it is only the wealthy boys who can attend school to become scribes and ultimately become either religious or ruling figures. This coincides with the chart displayed that developing countries (where often women continue to be repressed) are the areas that are generally less literate, as it is, most likely, only the affluent citizens of the countries that are taught to read. Everyone else has to tend to the farm/house. Hey, it's easier to control the angry masses if they can't think for themselves! Similarly, the history of reading in our country is quite disturbing, specifically that slaves were kept from reading and when it came to suffrage, only literate citizens could vote. It all brings new meaning to "Knowledge is power." Repression is harder to do if the repressed are educated.

This all brings me to the last article, "Silencing Teachers in an Era of Scripted Reading." What struck me was not that the most devoted teachers who were already successful before Open Court were penalized because of their advocacy for their students. I have seen many times in my own school that the needs of the administrators drastically out weigh the needs of the students (which makes me want to puke!) What really got to me, however, was that the differentiation in the administering of Open Court between schools was ultimately a means to further repress a group of poor immigrants. The fact that the schools catering to the middle/upper class kids were allowed enrichment to the regimented Open Court curriculum to me mirrors the inequality in education present during segregation.

Hello my name is...

Hello Montclair Read 500 Students! I am very excited to be continuing my education in your company:) Some things about me... I am getting married in March in Key West Florida, so while navigating this course, I'll be picking flowers, registering and basically losing my mind amid never ending details. On top of that, I am teaching summer school. I am a humanities teacher in a little charter school, where i deposit all of my livelihood. I love it, but charter schools have a long way to go (or maybe it's just mine).