I know, I'm late again! This weeks posting is really just a breather from our last 2 books. Any ahas? I certainly have a few, but I'll abstain until reading yours. This next week we begin our last book Teaching With The Brain In Mind, 2nd edition. I'll see some of you next Tuesday and I'll have an on time post this Sunday... I promise!
Comment at will!
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11 comments:
I just finished reading all the posts from last week. Having taught 2 years of elementary, I know what Brendan was talking about with making connections between subjects. That is harder to do in the middle school. Even though I was able to get into others rooms, I couldn't help them make the connections like I could when I knew exactly what they were learning in the other classes.
Whatever the class subject, the students will need to read and comprehend. We can help them one step at a time.
I agree with Cris regarding the part that refers to reading is personal and that readers help the author create meaning. This gives students permission to see what they see while reading. It is validating to the struggling reader that they aren't wrong. This was my aha moment. Reading is personal!
What I came away with is that a text is, in a sense, living...The reader brings meaning to the text using the strategies set out in this book. Strategies like connecting to the text, using background knowledge, questioning, and making inferences all help to make the text come alive for the reader. But the most important part of this book is the emphasis that all teachers, regardless of the discipline, need to teach comprehension strategies. We can't just assume that the students know how to do them. Also, we must help the students continually practice these strategies. It's not OK to teach the students one strategy and then never bring it up again.
At the early parts of this book, I was thinking how tragic it was to get all of these strategies and insights on ELLs and Reading right at the time when we are losing our common plans and teams. By the end of the second book, my perception had changed. It is rather pertinent that we are reading these books now as we make these changes to our daily schedule and teaching assignments in all the core areas, as well as having a lot of new staff coming on board. My aha moment is on refocusing on TEACHING. This year I have a multitude of changes to face: new schedule, year long classes, multiple grade levels, new district wide curriculum and new resources for science. I could throw my hands up and say too much, but the PST has caused me to refocus on the tasks at hand. What am I doing in my classroom? How am I doing things in my classroom? What strategies do I need to implement to help all my students learn? I am coming up on my second round of having the seven year itch (translation = 14 years of teaching.) As I head in to what I see as the fourth round of my education career, I am still learning and have learned a lot from these two books.
I have an issue with these books and other teaching books as well. They all seem to be filled with wonderful "Apple Pie" ideas on what to do in the classroom. I have only been teaching in K-12 for 4 years, but I have found in my own classroom that some techniques that work well in a class of 15 are a disaster in a class of 25-30. Some techniques that work in a class of 25 "tracked" students do not work when it is 25 non-tracked students. Some things work with 25 students but not with 30. Techniques that work in my high class are often different than the ones that work in my low class. This is just two variables (class size and tracking) that I have had limited experience with. I would suspect (based on the CSAP analysis I have done) that inner city kids or rural kids or immigrant kids would need different classroom techniques that work. I don't think it is reasonable to expect that all the ideas in these books apply to all classrooms. But there is little information in the books to help the teacher identify which specific ideas apply best for the characteristics of his/her classroom. It is unreasonable and counter-productive to have all teachers try all the ideas presented. Choosing what each teacher thinks is best for each class without the authors providing additional information to choose wisely is equivalent copying answers but not knowing if the answer you are copying is to the correct question. Personally I am frustrated with the lack of rigor and clarity and effective guidance that educational research provides to teachers. Teachers should be provided with guidance on picking the correct tools-- not just given a toolbox where they are just as likely to use a screwdriver as a shovel to dig a grave.
The readings so far have looked at all sorts of strategies, techniques, methods, tricks, and reminders on how we can and should be doing a better job of helping our students in the classroom. The challenge is to add them to our repertoire of strategies to be able to use them in the actual classroom trenches, and an even bigger challenge of knowing when to use one strategy over another. One size does not fit all. Trial and error is always an option, but when we are dealing with student’s learning – student’s lives – we would hope to have little chalked up in the error column, and don’t always have time to keep trying new things when something doesn’t appear to be working as well as anticipated in the trial category.
But the biggest Aha for me was the eye-opener on how essential it is to not make assumptions. How easy that is to forget in all aspects of life, both in and out of the classroom! And how much difficulty does it cause when we do make assumptions, both in and out of the classroom? That old saying about not judging a book by its cover is so true - and we all know that - but it is so hard to not do so consciously sometimes, or even realize that we are making unintentional assumptions.
Teaching students to inference- comprehend based on hints and facts given, and being able to piece the puzzle together is an absolute goal when we teach to improve literacy. We need readers that can comprehend facts and piece facts and information together, and use those facts to perform in daily life.
I like the practice model that Tovani describes on page 102. I think the four-step process is a great way to attempt teaching a reading strategy to kids.
To conclude the book, Tovani has given many teaching strategies. She mentions that each student is different. I can imagine once they have been taught in-class, a good strategy that might work for ELL or at-risk students would be for them to make a list (from a master list) of each strategy that works for them. If we had the resources, this would be a good activity to do during SSR. Each student could have their portfolio or card of strategies that work for them.
I don't know if it can be considered an "Aha", but my concluding thought involves a united front-- what if we could put the strategies we have studied into practice throughout the school? I know, this is not revolutionary or anything-- I'm sure everyone has wondered that about something good at some point in time or another-- but it is my thought. If we encouraged kids to utilize these reading strategies in all of their classes with reminders in posters or bookmarks or whatever, I think it would provide a common language about reading for us all.
My Big Ideas or A-Has from “I Read It, But I Don’t Get It”
1.)THINK OUT LOUD.
2.)Don’t assume students make connections just because it seems obvious.
3.)Students need to believe that they can’t sit passively in their seat and wait for the teacher to fill them with knowledge. Make the student responsible for their understanding.
4.)Students need to be taught “how” to read a math text book.
5.)DASOH: Take the time to discuss the objective so that a purpose is established
6.)Students’ job to be conscious of thinking in their heads and monitor their comprehension. Teachers’ job to ask questions to cause reflection.
7.)Visualize. To “see it” often can lead to understand it.
8.)Calling on existing knowledge is crucial to assimilate new information.
9.)Pg 73 Making connections help students relate by…, -visualize, -avoid boredom, -pay attention, -listen, -actively engaged, -remember, -ask questions
10.)Students have to “learn” how to wonder and how to ask questions
I whole heartedly agree with Chitra. There is a wealth of information regarding teaching and I do get overwhlemed by it all and over enthusiastic wanting to implement more of it than reasonably possible. However, I'd rather be given the option of using a screwdriver or a shovel and to make that decision rather than to be left with no tools to dig the grave by my bare hands.
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