Saturday, October 30, 2010

A Self-Serving Post: Standards

The Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary defines "standard" as "a definite level or degree of quality that is proper and adequate for a specific purpose." Academic standards, then, seek to set the "degree" or the "definite level" of college and career readiness after a k-12 education. Politicians and states have standards so that their public schools are working toward a similar level of academic achievement. Standards also allow state and/or national tests to be designed. Why am I blogging about standards? The new Minnesota 2010 English Language Arts Standards were recently released. To organize and absorb the standards in my own head and to help explain them to my cooperating teacher, I am going to outline the key parts of each of the four strands for sixth through eighth grade ELA. In other words, this is a purely self-serving post.

The four strands of the nicely organized ELA standards are Reading; Writing; Speaking, Viewing, Listening, & Media Literacy; and Language. Here is a broad overview with some key benchmarks from sixth grade:
The Reading strand encompasses two substrands: literature and informational texts. Literature includes understanding what the text says, analyzing structure, theme, purpose, and point of view, and evaluating the argument. Key benchmarks for sixth graders include citing evidence from the text and drawing inferences, describing how the plot unfolds, and being able to compare and contrast different forms or genres. Students should also be self-selecting texts for pleasure. The informational substrand includes similar benchmarks, including determining author's point of view, distinguishing supported from unsupported claims, and selecting texts for "personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks." Another thread that is present throughout the Reading strand is comprehension and evaluation of texts by and about Minnesota American Indians and their history.

Writing is emphasized as being just as important as reading. Benchmarks include having students write an argument with clear support and evidence, writing informative and narrative texts routinely in different styles, using the writing process of revising, editing, etc., and researching using technology.

Speaking, Viewing, Listening, and Media Literacy encompasses participating effectively and clearly in conversations, collaborations, and in speaking, adapting speech and English to contexts, and analyzing information in media sources. Sixth graders should be able to participate in multiple discussion contexts, include and be able to use multimedia in presentations, and to critically analyze mass media.

The fourth strand, Language, includes mastering standard English grammar and conventions, understanding how language functions in different contexts, and acquiring and using vocabulary. Benchmarks for sixth graders focus on pronouns, Greek or Latin affixes, figurative language, and appropriate academic and domain-specific vocabulary.

The four strands of the new standards are meant to build and support one another. Reading, writing, speaking, listening, media literacy, and language are all necessary aspects of the ELA classroom. Although this post may have been a bit mechanical, it has helped me become more familiar with the standards and their subparts. And, they have set a "definite level" for me to work toward as a future ELA educator.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Technology=Time

Our education classes expound the values and merits of technology. Smartboards, blogs, twitter, wiki pages, Google Readers, clickers, and scads of other technology can be beneficial for teachers and students in and outside of the classroom. Teachers need to access technology in order to relate to our texting, television-viewing, gaming students. However, teachers can also extract the benefits of technology by creating our own Professional Learning Network, or PLN, of educational and content-specific resources. After creating my own PLN, I have learned that technology takes time.

Reading the directions for Twitter, choosing my color scheme for a blog, and figuring out how to edit a wiki page all take time. As a student with a loaded class schedule, I wish I had more time to smooth the kinks out of my PLN. For example, I want to read more about Twitter and discover its "etiquette" as well as how to actually read tweets. In addition to the time it takes to set up the technology, I spend a bit too much time looking at my Google Reader and reading the latest posts from the people I'm following. The information I'm gleaning from reading other academic blogs is beneficial, but it's also distracting.

So, technology requires people to spend copious amounts of time discovering and using its many facets, but the time pays off in terms of information acquired and concepts learned.

If you have time, you can check out some of the other blogs I follow:

Or, some of the people I'm following on Twitter:

Friday, October 15, 2010

Challenging Those Noggins

Reading does not only include comprehension of complex texts, but also encompasses actively thinking and questioning. In others words, teachers and students have to work their noggins. One way to challenge our brains is through critical literacy. Critical literacy is, according to Heather Coffey at the University of North Carolina, "the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships."

The "active, reflective" manner of critical literacy is essential for all readers and teachers. Educators must teach students how to engage in texts and reflect on what they are reading in order to foster learning. Students are not only encouraged to comprehend literature, but to also question the message, ideas, and bias of the material. While it is important to critically evaluate literature, a text should not solely be analyzed based on "power, inequality, and injustice." One way to look at power and injustice is to use specific lenses to view literature. But, looking at literature through one narrow lens limits the richness of a text. If we are doing critical literacy and only looking through, for example, an archetypal lens, we may be ignoring a discussion on gender or passing over an opportunity to discuss the literature's social, political, and economic context.

Then, what does critical literacy concretely look like in the classroom? Edward H. Behrman in "Teaching About Language, Power, and Text: A Review of Classroom Practices that Support Critical Literacy," found that there are six educational practices that teachers use in support of critical literacy. They are: reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, reading from a resistant perspective, producing counter-texts, conducting student-choice research projects, and taking social action (492). Based on these strategies that teachers use to try and implement critical literacy, it sounds like critical literacy is, well, being a good teacher. For example, Karen Spector and Stephanie Jones' "Constructing Anne Frank: Critical Literacy and the Holocaust in Eighth Grade English" shows how critical literacy means demystifying the happy play version of Anne Frank's life by using other texts and historical information.

So, while critical literacy in practice resembles good teaching techniques, such as using other texts, being aware of different critical approaches or lenses, and allowing student choice, critical literacy is ultimately only one aspect of the ELA classroom. Similarly, a critical literacy lens should not stifle the book, but the lenses, such as gender, class, race, and authority, are valuable concepts to consider when teaching a text. I am wondering, Is it reasonable and practical to teach multiple "lenses" with one book? And, how do I teach students to read and critically evaluate without overwhelming them? While I challenge my own noggin to discover these answers, I can help my students stretch their brains and question their ideologies through some aspects of critical literacy.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Ask Me No Questions...

And I won't ask you any. How do I do it all? In order to be a teacher, I will be forced to take on unimaginable super powers, but retain my approachability. I will be authoritative yet friendly, organized yet laid back, humorous yet serious. As an ELA teacher, I have to read aloud to my students and allow time for them to read silently and aloud. They have to have time for group discussions and small group discussions, but I have to teach vocabulary, provide pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies and activities. My students are forced to take and, hopefully, pass surface-level comprehension tests to determine their reading "capabilities." I have to assign a letter grade to their reading and writing progress. Students will write in journals, and I will find the time to write back. I will inspire an unheard-of passion for reading in middle schoolers, and they will be writing novels before they hit high school. And, my students and I will be highly motivated, extremely interested in topics we cover, and will simply sprint to our class every day.

Okay. Instead of asking, "How do I do it all?" I want to zero in on Nancie Atwell's reading workshop, outlined in her book, In the Middle. My question: Is the reading workshop successful for student literacy and practical for classroom implementation?

According to Atwell, it is successful. Students pursue their own interests, exercise their relationships, and write about what matters to them. Teachers aren't standing in front of a class and begging for an answer, but are talking and writing with students on a personal level (50). Students choose books they want to read: "If we want students to grow to appreciate literature, we need to give them a say in decisions about the literature they will read" (36). Student choice pays off in the number of insightful letters that students write to Atwell in their journals (she includes many examples throughout chapter eight). Success, in terms of developing strong readers, is achieved through the workshop.

Although the idea of students reading, writing, and discussing independently is attractive, I am unconvinced it is practical in a regular classroom with thirty students. Responding thoughtfully to thirty (times however many classes I teach) students through letters takes a large amount of time. However, Atwell says she implemented her reading journals in an elementary school with an average class size of twenty-five (40). I suppose reading students' dialogue journals takes the place of grading mindless worksheets, so writing letters may not take excessive amounts of time.

What about classroom management? While Atwell mentions mini lessons that intersperse the workshop, the bulk of the class seems to consist of reading silently or in small pairs and writing. She acknowledges that "For too many students, sustained silent reading is just a pleasant study hall," so she understands the teacher's role in challenging the students (40). Atwell also ensures that students are moving: "the physical arrangement calls for motion. In turn, the organization of the workshop structures the motion and keeps it purposeful...I have fewer discipline problems" (75). But, what is the physical arrangement of the room? What if my classroom isn't conducive to it? Atwell sets such idealistic goals because they work for her, but how can they work for me? Where I am searching for some concrete answer, experience seems to be the only one.

Although I am unsure of the day-to-day details of a reading workshop, I admire and will implement aspects of Atwell's idea. Student choice and journals (on a smaller scale) are effective ways to ensure students are motivated and actually reading. I will have an incredible library, and I plan to implement time chunks for reading aloud, silent reading, and vocabulary lessons. Although my classroom may not be as "free" as Atwell's, it will strive to be as inspiring.

While I attempted to answer one of my questions (Is the reading workshop successful and practical?), one of my professors would tell me that I can "do it all" with a good dose of self-efficacy. I also need practice, though, which is why I am anxious to begin the practicum experience. And, in reality, I want you to ask me questions because questions do facilitate learning. Just be prepared to receive my questions, too.