Ashlie, that was such a great comment you made. "If we teach students how to communicate effectively, we can engage them in the lesson and keep them involved." Wouldn't that be a win-win situation for both student and teacher? Teacher's strive to keep students actively engaged in the lesson, but instead of wanting interaction/communication, do we not sometimes expect a quiet learning environment? This has been something that has been difficult for me...allowing students to freely communicate/discuss without me doing all the work. When I first came to NHS (must I always end up talking about Home Economics?)..anyway, an administrator made a negative comment regarding my students talking during their food laboratory. Hey, I wanted them to talk!! I wanted the head cook to go over the list of responsibilities each member of the lab wwas to carry out..I wanted the students asking the head cook questions if they forgot or didn't understand what they needed to do. (The rule was, ask the head cook first, before the teacher)...and when they were sitting at their tables eating, were they not suppose to have appropriate table conversation?? This particular administrator felt the "teacher talked and the students listened." From that point on I become a bit uncomfortable with students talking in the classroom. However, just as the weight lifter needs to lift weights to get stronger and the writer needs to write to become a better writer, our students need to "talk" in order to enjoy (and be able to join in) a good discussion, share opinions, voice concerns, explain what happened, etc. Talking is so natural, so let's be sure we get away from recitation and have more authenic discussions!

Assessments

How do your assessments rank on the rubric based on Wormelli's guidelines? Discuss your personal strengths and weaknesses.

Don't forget to get your video planned prior to March 2nd.

Creating the Confidence to Respond

I sat in on a student book club meeting this afternoon and there was only one thing that really bugged me. I encouraged them to talk about the book by leading them down different paths, but I really wanted to get them to take over the conversation. There were only 6 of us total, so it was a little quiet. We had addressed several different aspects of the book and I asked them, "What else?" One student said, we can talk about the when it took place and what time period.

Now this is not significant, really, to the action of the story. Setting is not so crucial. You just need to know it's a high school in the here and now. But that was the only experience talking about books that this student had. She knew that when she finished the book, she needed to answer some basic comprehension questions about it.

We're a very intimate club and I enjoy meeting with them. Based on what you've read in Beers, what can I do to create a better conversation climate with these young women?

Tom Sawyer, Teaching, and Talking

I've been studying a little bit of Paulo Freire and critical pedagogy recently. (I emphasize the little because it can be dense reading and I can be a little dense myself.) But Freire talks about the banking notion of education. We often view our students as empty vessels that need to be filled up with as much knowledge as we can give them.

Probst also talks about this notion in his chapter in Adolescent Literacy. He quotes another author, Nystrand, who stated that "most schooling is organized, we found, for the plodding transmission o information through classroom recitation. Teachers talk and students listen. And the lower the track, we found, the more likely this is to be true."

How does talk work in your classroom? Who is doing the talking? Which, if any, of Probst's talk strategies are you willing to try in order to engage more students in talk? I have always enjoyed the Socratic seminar and have been met with success in the junior and senior level classrooms. But students have to be trained and the teacher has to be willing to listen. We have to remember that they are not empty vessels that come to us for fulfillment. They come with their own stories, connections, anecdotes, and questions. We have to open to stage for them to share themselves.

Thinking Through Assessment

There are several talking points that I would like to point out. Here they are:

1) "...the kind of instruction that seems furthest from the test--what your teacher calls literacy for the 21st century and a flat world--does prepare stuents for the standardized test. Students who are able to comprehend on the literal, inferential, and critical levels will probably be able to figure out just what the test is asking..." (260)

2) "...assessment is always a means to an end, never an end unto itself." (261)

3) "It seems to me taht the most useful way to think about assessmen to support instruction is by asking, from the outset, two important questions: What is it I want my students to know and be able to do? and What would serve as evidence that students know and can do those things?" (266)

4) "Assessment is about the process and the product." (268)

Based on these thoughts, here are some questions to think about...

• How are our classroom assessments preparing students for both the real-world and standardized tests?
• How are we, as teachers, planning backwards--how do we start with a picture of what the end should look like and then figure out how they will get there?
• How are we assessing both the process and the product in our classes?

Enjoy your holidays!

Due December 12th!

Read chapter 6 and then apply your new knowledge to answer the following questions:

1) Look at my old English test. What did I do right and what did I do wrong? What would make it a more valid assessment?

2) Examine your own assessment. Find one question that would be considered a good question based on Wormelli's guidelines.

3) Find one of your questions that does not meet Wormelli's guidelines.

4) Tell me one way that this article could help you improve assessments in your classroom.

My favorite part of the article (and most interesting) was, “No one is too cool or too old to be touched by the magic of having someone read aloud to him or her.”

My primary object is to motivate my students to read or to enjoy read alouds. Sometimes they will say, “Oh no, you are not going to read again!” However, when I am reading, even if some have their heads down, most are listening. (Oh, I am not saying 100% of my students are listening, but I have the attention of most). Very seldom when I am finished a reading do they not have a question(s) and/or comment(s) about the content of the reading. A student will always ask when I am going to read again, and even though that question may be stated in a negative way, this tells me they are interested in the next chapter or another story I may have for them.

Interestingly, I did not enjoy read alouds in high school…I wanted to be the reader, the person who read who put feeling and passion into the story!! When my teachers read the pace was too slow for me and I became bored. I could not get “hooked” as compared to when I was reading, aloud or silently. Even before reading this article I thought about being in Mrs. Hartley’s class and she was reading The Bronx Masquerade to her class. I sat there and thought, “Now if only my teacher’s would have read with the enthusiasm and expression as Mrs. Hartley, I would have been sitting on the edge of my seat!!!! She keeps the story going at a good, steady pace, yet stops to ask the most pertinent questions, and then quickly moves on. Thanks, Donielle, because I have tried to pick up the pace when I am reading aloud to my students!!

Another good point in the article was; Students want what they do in school to matter; Isn’t this the bottom line with students? They want to see relevance, importance, and significance to what they are doing in school. Special Education students are infamous for asking, “Why do we have to do this?” “How is this going to help us after school?” I have a little dialogue I go through that explains why reading is important and how it does relate to the world after high school. I always put it in plain words and explain to them that reading is like a friend; someone you can spend time with in your leisure time. I want them to realize that reading can keep them keep up to date with what is going on in our world and from there, they will be able to form opinions, compare and contrast ideas and develop new insights into a range of topics. I always mention that reading, of course, increases your reading level skills and before you know it you have developed a like/love of reading.

Reading with Adolescents

"Literature can be the site of self-discovery and intellectual growth for adolescents if we, as their literature teachers, help create the spaces, both in the classroom and out, for them to flourish as readers and thinkers."



Appleman gives 6 pieces of advice to readers in this chapter. Which advice weighs heaviest on you and your personal beliefs about teaching reading to adolescents?



My favorite is, "No one is too cool or too old to be touched by the magic of having someone read aloud to him or her." The best way to hook a reader into a new book is with the first chapter. That's when they hook themselves, so it helps to do a few read alouds. Check out the first chapter of Shattering Glass, Water for Elephants, or Inexcusable. Fill your classroom with the wondrous words of these writers and watch your students fight over who gets to take the book with them. No one is beyond being read to. Not even high schoolers.

Can we read today?

If you had to pick one, what would be your all time favorite book? Why that book?


And, two, how can you share your life as a reader with your students?

Transcending Bias Through Reader Response

"Rosenblatt's theory may have been developed to assist students to become more active readers and participants in their learning, but the theory does not end with the students. For teachers, reader response continues to run deep. ... It reminds us that...we are agents of change and, to be successful facilitators, we too must create change in our lives."

I was moved by the story of Erik and his response to the novel. It showcases reader response and the powerful effects it can have on readers. I doubt that in the public education classroom we can have such a revelation---if it did happen, it would only happen after a solid year of trust and community building. But other small revelations can occur in responses to literature. Our relationships with the characters can bring us to share with our classmates and it can most defintely aid in our comprehension of the text.

This is reader response. This is what Rosenblatt meant. What we get out of a text is dependent of what we bring to it. Erik's response to the novel was stronger because of the way he related to Eric, the main character. Even with this article, I knew the story and brought that with me. It aided in my comprehension and made the reading of the article richer.