After reading Chapter 6, I do feel "validated," that what I'm trying to do in my classes is the right thing, but at the same time, I am discouraged. In my "inherited" English 3 class, I have at least twenty students who choose not to read out of the twenty-three students. Perhaps the texts are too difficult; I don't know. I know that they choose NOT to read the assignments even when I scaffold the reading and support it with the audio books. I know that generous amounts of reading, writing, and talking about the reading and the writing are the keys to authentic literacy and intellectual development. I know that education and literacy are the keys to "upward mobility," and the author put it.
My frustration is that I am getting eleventh graders who do not know how to read thoughtfully or how to discuss their reading thoughtfully. I joined the Newberry Middle School SCRI MG group four years ago and met a whole bunch of teachers who are committed to improving literacy and academic achievement. My students this year have had some of those teachers. All of my students have been through two years of the "Janet Allen curriculum." I would think that I would see the benefits and have students who not only knew how to read closely, but also how to discuss the texts. Why are we not seeing the changes in high school?
As I took my notes (yes, I do read with a pen in hand, sometimes even when I'm reading for pleasure), I kept writing "I agree" or "agreed" or some other remark. There is nothing in chapter 6 that I don't agree with, and I am sincerely trying to implement the practices that Schmoker suggests are essential to developing authentic literacy. It's a battle, however. I feel like I'm the "Lone Ranger," although I know that I am not.
Perhaps we are putting too much emphasis on "The Test." We spend so much time preparing students for HSAP, MAP, and other tests that I'm not sure we are teaching students how to learn, how to read, how to think. Give my English 3 students a prompt to consider, they will not try; give them a multiple choice test, they will try. Whether they get the answer correct or not does not seem matter. The thing is that they will complete worksheet-type assignments that require only recall; they will not attempt anything more challenging or anything that requires that they synthesize what they have learned.
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3 comments:
I completely agree with Olivia...there has been so much emphasis placed on tests like HSAP and EOC's that I think many times we forget what's REALLY important-that we do teach students how to think critically and reason...and be thoughtful and successful readers. It's very discouraging sometimes to constantly be drilled about this EOC or that HSAP practice. Since when did we become so obssessed with teaching to the test that we forgot what's really important-teaching students how to be successful in life? Reading is such a wonderful experience, yet it's often portrayed as something students HAVE to do instead of something the WANT to do...I feel that reading would be much more appealing if we could somehow make it into something that is fun and could help them succeed rather than something they need to learn because its on some test!
I had to laugh to myself about Julie's comment about "A Farewell to Arms." "Wuthering Heights" was my book in high school. I simply could not get into it when I had to read it at age sixteen. However, when I was about 28 years old, I read it again, and it is one of my favorite books! Perhaps we need consider the relevance of the literature and readings we assign, and even when we assign the "classics," it is up to us as teachers to build the background knowledge that students need. Of course, there is the whole "life experience" issue that comes into play. I think our life experiences prepare us for the reading we do. Books that are all wrong for us as teenagers are completely right for us as older adults. I think sometimes as literature teachers, we forget that most of what we assign and read in English classes is really written for an adult audience, not a teenage audience.
I agree with Julie and Olivia on the fact that we need to teach students how to think critically and to reason. It is frustrating because our students do give up so easily, because for so many years they have been allowed to do so.I guess we just have to more determined than them. I understand the frustration with testing, but we must remember that the whole accountability issue came about because our schools were teaching watered down curriculum in lecture/memorization format. Accountability is what has caused us, as a state and as educators, to start having these types of discussions and examining best practices for authntic literacy. Can we do both, challenge students to think, form opinions, etc. and still cover all the standards?
Perhaps H.G. Wells' quote in the chapter was correct,"civilization is in a race between education and disaster." Maybe that could be the educational system is in a race between education and disaster.
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